Boise St.

[Clickclack]

Bad loss. Sorry, but suspect coaching.

 

 

I have only three words to say: Bad, BAD Danes!!! .

 

We blew another easy win, and now I'm worried. Why can't Will win these easy wins?

 

Calling a game against the top WAC team "easy" shows how little you know about college basketball..or this team in general. And it's not Will that wins or loses these games, it's the 5 Danes on the floor.

 

It's certainly disappointing to lose this game after the strong first we had, but I was expecting a tough game from the start. A 6 point loss is probably what I would have guessed going into tip-off.

 

Ambrose is an exciting player to watch and certainly provides an offensive spark, but there's more to playing than just individual scoring. The TU blog pointed out that when Ambrose is in, the offense can run no more than 6 offensive sets, compared to the 30+ that are run when he's off the court. That's not going to always help the team as a whole.

 

I might disagree with a move here and there, but I'm never gonna question a coach that brought this team from the AE basement and lauhging stock of the conference to two straight NCAA appearances.

 

GO DANES

 

GODANESGO,

 

Absolutely right, Will set him down in the first half because he blew back to back assignments where Boise hit 2 three's. As you said....there is more to the game then putting the ball in the hoop. Until he grasps the defense and realizes that there is more to it then scoring he'll be great for us. It's not that he isn't trying, he simply lost focus and knew it as soon as the ball went in. Thats maturity that will come with more playing time and experience. I'm just surprised that Iati is getting the minutes he's getting, while Timmy can't seem to get on the floor at times.

[McFan]

According to the radio, 8 points in the last eight minutes. I hope the coaching point with Ambrose was worth the loss.

[Clickclack]

For those that were physically there.....did the reported attendance agree with what the number you thought were in attendance? Box score says just north of 3K. Personally I though it was an accurate representation, interested to see what others thought.

[JustDrastik]

While Boise St. is a very good team, this was a game we should have won, and at one point it seemed to be a easy win - or at least what would have been one of our more convincing wins.

 

NO matter what anyone says, bad coaching lost this gamefor us. Surely, our players didn't execute as well. I'm not saying Will is a bad Coach, obviously he isn't. However, it is bad coaching to leave Iati in, especially after he makes error after error. In addition, Gifford needs to start losing time. I understand he is a sophmore, but I haven't seen much progress. If it means we go with a smaller lineup, so be it - we are pretty big in general and can afford losing some height verus the AE. We did best when we were changing the tempo of the game, sometimes pushing it and other-times being happy with the half-court set.

 

Ambrose needs more playing time. Rookie mistakes or not, we need his athleticism and play making abilities. The more athletic approach will do wonders for us and free up shots for our shooters.

 

Another thing which I was questioning is with which lineups do we see Ambrose being effective? Will he be out there with Scrap with both of them being our 1-2 respectively? Do we lose too much height in that regard?

 

Also, can we hit a free-throw? Please?

[LETS GO DANES!]

I was surprised to see the Large Contingant of Boise fans there...

 

One rather obnoxious one thaat somehow made it into the Student Section in the Endzone... Anyone else see/hear that dude?...

[Dane Pound]

Attendance seemed about right to me. It wasn't a bad crowd although a bit quiet without the students there.

 

Hated to see a pretty good game by Josh Martin wasted in the loss. This team doesn't lack for talent but seems like it's own worst enemy sometimes. I'm waiting for the game where it just clicks, I thought we had it in the first half and then everything went south in the last 15 minutes or so.

 

I understand people questions the lineup in the last 10 minutes of the game or so, I walked out of there shaking my head as well. Some of it was foul related - Connelly and possibly Turley.

[Dane Pound]

I was surprised to see the Large Contingant of Boise fans there...

 

One rather obnoxious one thaat somehow made it into the Student Section in the Endzone... Anyone else see/hear that dude?...

 

I think one of their players, Reggie Larry, is from someplace in NJ. They said before the game a lot of his family made the trip up because they don't get to see him play out west. They got their moneys worth tonight from him.

[albanyhoops31]

Ambrose needs more playing time. Rookie mistakes or not, we need his athleticism and play making abilities. The more athletic approach will do wonders for us and free up shots for our shooters.

Overall, I agree with your post exactly. But I point this section out specifically.

 

People keep saying about he doesn't know the plays and stuff, it's so stupid. He will only get better with playing time and practice time. You have to put him out there so he is more in sync with guys out there during conference play.

[danes05]

Very,very dissapointing loss. With all due respect to Boise St., we had this game in our grasp and let it slip away. A couple of thoughts

1. Nobody could handle Larry. A bunch of times he just caught the ball and went up for an easy bucket while two of our defenders just stood there with there arms up

2. Turley seems to get called for every little foul yet can get hacked on the offensive end and nothing is called. Is this cause he is a big guy and the refs are fooled. kinda like Shaq

3. Martin looks great at the point. Seemed more in control tonight

4. Iati is suspect. Don't get me wrong, I love the kid but he is not the same player he once was

5. Giff is still developing.....slowly

6. Ambrose has GOT to see more pt. I see the defensive lapses but let him learn on the court.

7. Disturbing trend (bonnies) of having a big lead and letting it slip away.

8. Good sized crowd but miss the students

Still think were going to have a good year once we put it all together for 40 minutes and I have faith in Coach Brown and the guys to do it. GO UA

[KingDane]

While Boise St. is a very good team, this was a game we should have won, and at one point it seemed to be a easy win - or at least what would have been one of our more convincing wins.

 

NO matter what anyone says, bad coaching lost this gamefor us. Surely, our players didn't execute as well. I'm not saying Will is a bad Coach, obviously he isn't. However, it is bad coaching to leave Iati in, especially after he makes error after error. In addition, Gifford needs to start losing time. I understand he is a sophmore, but I haven't seen much progress. If it means we go with a smaller lineup, so be it - we are pretty big in general and can afford losing some height verus the AE. We did best when we were changing the tempo of the game, sometimes pushing it and other-times being happy with the half-court set.

 

Ambrose needs more playing time. Rookie mistakes or not, we need his athleticism and play making abilities. The more athletic approach will do wonders for us and free up shots for our shooters.

 

 

Also, can we hit a free-throw? Please?

 

Its all true.

 

Is the difference in tempo when Iati plays only noticeable to me? There are guys working their asses off underneath trying to get position, trying to get open - then Iati fires up something off balance and just like that we're trying to set up defensively.

 

Will is a phenomenal coach. His recruitment and success speak for themselves. But there have been, IMO, lapses this year. The losses to St. Bonaventure and Boise St. were again, in my opinion, and in hindsight - which is easy, avoidable. In his own words earlier this week, Brown mentioned his loyalty to Iati and said 'it has limits'. Well last night was the time to show us the extent of those limits, and we learned just how much that loyalty is costing us

 

 

And for the mantra - Iati gives 110%, he is a former AE Rookie of the Year, he is a fan favorite. But he is no longer a 'three-point specialist', barely a three-point threat. Bad back or whatever, he is virtually a non-contributor on defense.

 

Very true that only the five guys on the floor can win or lose, but isnt it the coach who decides who those five guys are going to be?

[Patch]

Brown's loyalty to Iati may be heightened because of the shortcoming of Martin and Ambrose.

 

IMO Martin and Ambrose are going to be fine players but right now.....

 

Martin is shooting almost as bad as Iati and has twice as many turnovers but he's flashy so we tend to give him style points.

 

Iati FG% .309 Martin .321 - 3PFG% (I) .250 (M) .308 - FT% (I) .957 (M) .563 - Assists (I) 19

(M) 21 - Turnovers (I) 9 (M) 26

 

Ambrose is struggling knowing the offensive sets and with his defense - in short minutes last night he scored 2 and gave up 8.

 

I would imagine it's hard to have the two of them out there at the same time. Especially when none of our veterans are playing up to there potential.

 

As expected in the preseason - inconsistency was going to be a problem and hopefully it is something that we can work through.

 

I still think (if they're willing to work) Ambrose, Turley and Martin are going to be very good at UA.

[Dane Pound]

I agree Iati threw up some wild looking shots last night. I think if you watch the replay on TW3 you'll see that a lot of times he was handed the balll with 6 or 7 seconds left on the shot clock and 30 feet from the hoop after our offensive set didn't produce a good shot. Pretty much the same situation we would have given the ball to Jamar in but he would have pulled our a circus shot while Iati had it blocked or missed.

 

I'll admit there have been games where Iati has driven me crazy but I didn't think last night was one of them (alright, maybe a little). I thought Connelly going out of the game with his fourth foul hurt us the most and we didn't look good on offense after that.

[scrabbleship]

4. Iati is suspect. Don't get me wrong, I love the kid but he is not the same player he once was

 

I was thinking about this morning, and I noticed something that Boisy and other Mets fans on this board might relate to. Will's unquestioned loyalty to Iati in spite of Iati's decline and inability to perform reminds me more and more of Randolph's unquestioned loyalty of Mota last season and everyone knows how that ended up. To see Will fall victim to this genuinely worries me, I understand that Iati's the elder statesman of the team but as of late he's been a buzzkill and the team's slid with him when he's on the court.

 

Will has to put more faith in his freshmen given the output from them so far and he has to be blunt and cut back his Iati use. Yes, this may be Iati's last gasp of glory, but a underperforming player coming off of injury has no spot on the court in close games unless it's an extreme situation and it might be better to keep him as a reserve on the bench.

[haggyland]

Here comes my contribution that might not be popular:

 

Easy turnovers aside, in a game that I thought was very physical, I was pleasd to see more emotional development by Gifford. He showed an intensity at times on the floor that I have not seen before, even though it was not consistent, and it did not generate some of the positive numbers that many of us have been patiently waiting for.

 

I am still under the impression that Gifford needs to be more hostile and aggressive on the court, and I think this game will help.

[OrangeDane]

This was a disappointing loss..in that there is no doubt or debate...as Dane Pound said...many of us left last night shaking our heads trying to figure out what happened...well..hoops is a team game that's played by various combinations of 5 people for 40 minutes all the time guided by coaches and that means that in a game like this there is no single reason why we lost, rather lots of little things/events that you reflect on...that said I think that many of the posters to this thread have hit on some of the issues the team faced in this game and the season thus far...Ambrose and Martin (both gifted but both young and inexperienced..)...the lack of reliable offensive options (last year while Jamar was da man...Jason S could also be counted on to pick up the slack if the first option was having an off night, the year before that Lucious could be similarly counted on) last night I thought Connelly was trending toward that position as he had a terrific game until foul trouble took him out of the flow...also clear that Brent was hurting...and with fouls mounting the team basically ran out of offensive options and physically ran out of gas...they had no legs left at the end of the game...lots of complaining overheard in the stands about Will's coaching moves..(primarily regarding Iati's play and lack of PT for Ambrose...)...some may think Will blew this one, I overheard that a couple of times on the way out and Ms. Orange Dane felt this game was not one of Will's better benching performances...I will risk domestic tranquility here and say that I'm not going to second guess him...he gets paid to make the decisions...and one of the reasons he get compensated handsomely is that some of these decisions are difficult and open to controversy/debate and sometimes those decisions work and sometimes they don't ..that said I fully understand and appreciate the frustration of others in this case since this was such a tough loss...I gotta say though that if the Danes play in the league season like they did in the first 25 mins or so of this game they will be extremely tought to beat.

 

Finally....best Holiday wishes to everyone on this board, I am always impressed by the quality of the dialog here and by the fact that there is so little acrimony between and amongst posters, you don't have to look at too many online forums/blogs to see that that is highly unusual, and refreshing....(special greeting to Dane Pound for stewarding the board...it can't be an easy task by any stretch, I am sure...) and everyone let's get ready and pumped for what I think will be a very succesful America East Campaign...I hear its even better the third time around!

 

Happy Xmas to all and to all a good night!