Like most teams, it's hard for this team to win when its top scorers don't play well.
Dickinson struggled today. He didn't have much patience in trying to establish post position, as those two wildly inaccurate shots off the glass demonstrated. He needs to learn the fine art of passing it out and re-posting when he doesn't have the right positioning.
Livers made some tough shots here and there, but didn't really cut to the basket much. That was the one area where I thought the refs did a poor job - there was a ton of off-the-ball contact and grabbing on cuts. Freedom of movement was a myth in this game. He had a good look at that three late in the game, down 5. You gotta make those.
Franz came on late, but played passively and poorly until that point. In a game against MSU at the Breslin Center, you're going to get hit driving to the rim. You have to concentrate on drawing the foul and making the shot. He took himself out of too many plays by trying to avoid contact. And he threw the ball to MSU on passes at least three times. We can't have that. He also "kinda" stayed with Aaron Henry, but not enough to make him have a bad game.
One potential defensive weakness we have is size at the guard position. Duane Washington shot the ball well against us two weeks ago, today it was Rocket Watts.
Obviously losing Eli early to an injury is a major problem.
With that said, I think he'll be back in two weeks.
What's our ceiling if Eli somehow does not return this year? I think we're still a 1 seed, which means we need to simply win our opening game and then beat an 8/9 (none of whom look great) to make the Sweet Sixteen. Then you generally need to beat a 4/5 seed, so that will be tough. Not impossible by any means, but much tougher without Eli. I was actually encouraged by Zeb's play today on offense - that drive down the baseline and feed to Livers in the corner in the first half was a great play. But he wasn't good defensively - started off rough, improved a little, but he needs work there.
Unfortunately Johns gave us nothing today, including missing a wide open three which is a shot we really need him to make. Davis had one nice move down low, but he's usually a negative defensively.
It would be great to come out and take 2/3 from MSU on a neutral court next weekend, assuming they get past Maryland, which is no guarantee. It would be nicer to get Brooks back before the year ends, whenever that is.
No one likes losing to Sparty - especially when a win would have given us a sweep and possibly knocked them out of the tourney entirely - but we'll be fine. When you compare the state of each program, I would surely rather be us than them at this point.
If you had told any of us that on March 7, 2021, we would be 14-3 in conference play and in prime position for a #1 seed in the NCAA tourney, we would all take that result no questions asked, not worrying about who the 3 losses came against. Right? I know I would.
Dickinson struggled today. He didn't have much patience in trying to establish post position, as those two wildly inaccurate shots off the glass demonstrated. He needs to learn the fine art of passing it out and re-posting when he doesn't have the right positioning.
Livers made some tough shots here and there, but didn't really cut to the basket much. That was the one area where I thought the refs did a poor job - there was a ton of off-the-ball contact and grabbing on cuts. Freedom of movement was a myth in this game. He had a good look at that three late in the game, down 5. You gotta make those.
Franz came on late, but played passively and poorly until that point. In a game against MSU at the Breslin Center, you're going to get hit driving to the rim. You have to concentrate on drawing the foul and making the shot. He took himself out of too many plays by trying to avoid contact. And he threw the ball to MSU on passes at least three times. We can't have that. He also "kinda" stayed with Aaron Henry, but not enough to make him have a bad game.
One potential defensive weakness we have is size at the guard position. Duane Washington shot the ball well against us two weeks ago, today it was Rocket Watts.
Obviously losing Eli early to an injury is a major problem.
With that said, I think he'll be back in two weeks.
What's our ceiling if Eli somehow does not return this year? I think we're still a 1 seed, which means we need to simply win our opening game and then beat an 8/9 (none of whom look great) to make the Sweet Sixteen. Then you generally need to beat a 4/5 seed, so that will be tough. Not impossible by any means, but much tougher without Eli. I was actually encouraged by Zeb's play today on offense - that drive down the baseline and feed to Livers in the corner in the first half was a great play. But he wasn't good defensively - started off rough, improved a little, but he needs work there.
Unfortunately Johns gave us nothing today, including missing a wide open three which is a shot we really need him to make. Davis had one nice move down low, but he's usually a negative defensively.
It would be great to come out and take 2/3 from MSU on a neutral court next weekend, assuming they get past Maryland, which is no guarantee. It would be nicer to get Brooks back before the year ends, whenever that is.
No one likes losing to Sparty - especially when a win would have given us a sweep and possibly knocked them out of the tourney entirely - but we'll be fine. When you compare the state of each program, I would surely rather be us than them at this point.
If you had told any of us that on March 7, 2021, we would be 14-3 in conference play and in prime position for a #1 seed in the NCAA tourney, we would all take that result no questions asked, not worrying about who the 3 losses came against. Right? I know I would.
