Quote from: Marty Peretz on February 14, 2010, 04:38:42 PM
Just back from NYU and a great afternoon of D3 basketball. Today's atmosphere was excellent...if you were one of the literally hundreds of Wash.U fans. Bear friends, family, and LOTS of alumni turned Coles Gym into a legitimate home court advantage for WUSTL, a fact that really shouldn't be understated. Sundays on the road in the UAA are notoriously difficult to get up for if you're the visitor and the chants of "Wash.U home game" and other WU revelry gave the team at least a slight lift today.
As for the game itself...The final score was reasonably close (I believe 8 or 10 points) but after Wash.U's huge run to open the second half, you knew the game was never in doubt. NYU sucks the life out of each and every one of their offensive possessions, regularly taking 25 or 30 seconds off the shot clock and though that strategy keeps them from getting blown out, it also ensures that the chances of a comeback (at least against a team with a terrific transition offense like Wash.U) are highly unlikely. Wash.U. took NYU out of its slow-down offense for the first four of five minutes of the second half and after that, it was clear to anyone watching that the game's ultimate outcome was never really in doubt. In under three minutes, the Bears went on a 13-3 run and with 13 and change to go, Wash.U. led by a comfortable 15. In the first 10:30 of the second half, the Bears put up 30 points. AT hit four 3's in that stretch and the game was over.
DJ Glavin (spelling?) helped NYU in the second half, but Nesci seemed reluctant to push the tempo and almost more content with taking an 8 or 10 point loss than with taking the risk of getting into a run game and trying to make a dent in the lead. On some level, you can't blame him. Who wants to get into a run game against a team that loves nothing more than to push tempo and that has a pair of all Americans in its backcourt? On another level, though, you have to question the tactic. NYU NEEDED a win if it wanted to stay in the Pool C hunt and they have a steady point guard manning the ship. Why not at least try and cut the lead? I don't think anyone in that building really believed NYU had a chance even when they got the lead to 6 with seven plus minutes to play. The Violets continued to slow the tempo and scored nine points for the duration of the game. Nine. And it wasn't as if Wash.U.'s defense was legendarily exceptional. Certainly, the Bears got rebounds and made stops, but by and large, NYU's lack of scoring stemmed from a stagnant offense that would move the ball around and burn clock before attempting shots from 15 or 20 feet out. Just not sure what they were trying to do.
As for Wash.U.: always nice to get an 8 point win against a quality league opponent on the road on Sunday. The Bears played very well today and continue to play their best basketball at the most opportune of times. With AT back at MVP-type form, it's going to be very difficult for teams to defend Wash.U. come tournament time. You can try to zone them, but with AT stroking again, you'll get the same result as NYU did today. You can try to play man, but their offensive sets are so fluid after four years of running them with this core group of guys that it's very difficult to limit their offense. You can try, as Emory did, to run a triangle and 2 on AT and Wallis, but this may prove to be the least effective of all (as Emory found out). Sean and AT had their worst offensive performances of the season and yet Wash.U put together arguably its most dominating performance of the year.
I think people forget how effective a scorer Spencer Gay has become. When Emory triangle and 2'd the Bears, Gay went 7 for 8 and finished with 18 points. Today, he put up 16 on 7 of 9. A triangle and two opens up the passing lanes and enables him to get easy buckets. And lest we forget, the Bears' X factor: Cam Smith. People have overlooked him his whole career because he's always been a 3rd or even fourth offensive option. Triangle and 2 the Bears and Cam hits five 3's. This is a guy who can flat out score and has always produced when necessary, but simply hasn't really had to.
Looking forward to seeing how things shape up. The way to beat the Bears will be to hope that their big guns are simply not hitting. A superior post player will also give the Wash.U bigs real trouble. The UAA is down this year, so Wash.U. has not had to deal with the issue of a dominant post man (save Hollins on Deis, who did give Wash.U trouble) and that is my primary concern come tournament time. Otherwise, I'm beginning to feel pretty confident, certainly much better than I was 3 or 4 weeks ago.
Wash U. definitely did have a home court advantage this afternoon--not only did the Bears fans come out in large numbers, but they were also loud.
As for NYU's offensive strategy, that issue comes up a lot with this team. It can be frustrating to watch the Violets burn clock when they're behind, but I still think it's an exaggeration to say that everyone in the gym knew they didn't have a chance. They were a stop and a score away from making it a one-possession game with about seven minutes left, and they weren't able to get it done. For much of the season their incredibly slow offense has been effective enough to get wins. I think what was worse about their offense today than its pace was the fact that it didn't result in good shots.
Wash U. was by far the best team I've seen visit NYU this season. Anytime NYU threatened to make a run, the Bears answered. Their offense was crisp, and even if their defense wasn't perfect, I certainly thought they did a great job making sure that NYU didn't have any easy shots.