Visitors Welcome
January 24, 2008 9:47 am by Coach OWe all know that the key to success in the BE is to hold home court and steal a few on the road. It is always a large task to win one on the road in conference play. Up until last night that is.
Going into the games last night, the home team had a 36-10 record in conference play. 70% win percentage. Almost a lock. But that was before last night. In four league games last night, only one team, Rutgers (yes, Rutgers) won at home. Pitt went to the Garden and destroyed St. John’s. Louisville bombed USF. And UConn edged Cincinnati. As time goes on, the Georgetowns, Pitts, and Louisvilles will pick off an occasional road victory. And that will separate them from the pack. So UConn had a tremendous win last night. The re-emergence of Jerome Dyson and great play of Hasheem Thabeet brought the Huskies back from a 12 point deficit with 5 minutes left.
Some teams are Jeckyll/Hyde types. ND wins at home easily (3-0) and gets throttled (0-2) away. WVU is 3-0 at home and 1-2 away. SU is 3-1 at home and 0-3 away. Nova is 2-0 home and 1-3 on the road. Pitt is 2-2 on the road and has won both home games. So home losses may doom some teams to the lower reaches of the standings and road wins may elevate teams to byes in March.
Strange, but this is similar to the post “Winning on the Road” i wrote on Jan 22 last year!
Categories: Commentary, Coach O
5 Responses to “Visitors Welcome”
It was a great game at 5/3 last night between the Huskies and Bearcats. It seemed that UC was in contol going up 12 with five left, but UCONN’s press generated many easy baskets for them. This is the third straight home game that UC has allowed their opponent to come back and have a chance to win at the end, and this time it came back to bite them.
I was really impressed with Thabeet, it’s going to be difficult for anyone to zone UCONN as Cincinnati found out. He has such a long wingspan that he’s going to get to the loose ball. I was also impressed with his FT shooting, for a big man, being that tall, he seemed very at ease shooting them, not missing one. Along with the whole team, the Huskies calmly knocked down crucial free throws , while the Bearcats during the same stretch could not.
UCONN had a hard time controlling Deonta Vaughn, he went for 34 and 8-11 from 3 point. This was the best game I’ve seen him in the sense of using screens. He looked like Richard Hamilton running around the court trying to set his man up. The Huskies gave him a few easy ones, by not finding him in transition, but this was a great performance by Vaughn. Also, the men screening for him should get some praise: John Williamson and Adam Hyrcaniuk.
Right…… UConn should ditch the 2-3 zone they’ve been playing. They give up way too many open 3 point looks. ND, PC and Cincinnati have all lit them up from long range. UConn has always been, and should always be a man defense team.
UC is much improved and they will continue to hurt opponents at home. They are a very physical team and Vaughn was superb!
Great, great game. Home court is always a big deal in this conference, but this year it seems even more so. That must mean that St. John’s is going to win the tournament, right?
Only if they make it in the top 12!
Nice.
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