Congratulations team! You proved last night that you can WIN, now let's go out and win the rest of them. Please follow your shots!

(02-17-2017 06:48 AM)Halz87 Wrote:  From and X's & O's standpoint. Is there anything Rowe could have done to stop the constant drives to the hoop in the second half we gave W & M? Is our team just not able to play man defense well?

It's called FOUL TROUBLE

I loved the effort and play last night. Happy for the seniors.

Go Dukes

Gotta give Northeastern some credit. Down 39-19 at the half to league-leader UNCW last night, they stormed back in the 2nd half and wound up losing by 1 pt, 66-65.

Northeastern has lost 10 of its last 12 and its last 2. Losing at home to Hofstra by 10 last weekend threw away the upset of Charleston on the road 2 days earlier. As Hart pointed out in an earlier reply, for the Dukes to stay out of the first day of games, we need the Huskies to lose their remaining 3 games which very well could happen and the Dukes to win 2 of our last 3. Or, Dukes sweep last 3 (unrealistic) and NE wins 1 of its last 3.

NE has Charleston at home tomorrow at 1pm before traveling to both Elon and UNCW next week. Those last 2 will be very tough games on the road.

If Northeastern loses at home tomorrow and the Dukes can swipe a win at Towson (albeit both happening are unlikely...Towson should open later today around 10 pt favorites), then JMU is sitting in good position going into next week to avoid that 7-or-worse seed and playing on Friday at the CAAT. The flip side is if NE wins tomorrow at home, the Dukes must win out to avoid the Friday game.

Hofstra and Delaware are 1 game back of the Dukes but their schedules are equally tough to Northeastern.

Go Charleston! Go Dukes!

Towson has won 5 straight, sits in 3rd in the CAA only 1 game back of CoC, and has won 10 of their last 11.

Does anyone go to these games?

(02-17-2017 11:08 AM)Dukeman2 Wrote:  Does anyone go to these games?

Yes

(02-17-2017 11:35 AM)Wear Purple Wrote:  

(02-17-2017 11:08 AM)Dukeman2 Wrote:  Does anyone go to these games?

Yes

why can't we pack the convo on February 25 for our last home game
Everybody, including students, make a real effort to go.

Why didn't Brown play last night? Is he hurt? We actually beat W&M with 3 starters out
Go Dukes!

We'll unleash Vodo in the CAAT (hopefully). I know he's not that talented. But he's hard nosed. Reminds me of a poor mans Keith Bradley.

(02-17-2017 12:58 PM)olddawg Wrote:  We'll unleash Vodo in the CAAT (hopefully). I know he's not that talented. But he's hard nosed. Reminds me of a poor mans Keith Bradley.

True, he's not going to light it up on offense. But Vodan the Barbarian wouldn't have allowed William and Mary to have had so many easy layups if he was in the lane. He'd have elbowed somebody in the face.

(02-17-2017 07:37 AM)NJDuke97 Wrote:  

(02-17-2017 07:35 AM)Hart Foundation Wrote:  Our team is just not able to play man defense well. You are spot on.
Rowe, refuses to use much halfcourt zone even though he is well aware of the lack of lateral quickness because it doesn't fit his energy and effort mindset.
Brady spoke to the lack of lateral quickness last year as well and said that is exactly why he used a lot of 3-2 zone. It was extremely effective guarding the 3 and it minimized blow by penetration on the dribble.

Rowe has been fixated on trying to reinvent the wheel when he already had a proven defensive scheme that the boatload of experienced players were very good at.
Perhaps he is sandbagging now and will unleash the 3-2 zone in the CAA tourney? We can only hope.

Hart they play elements of zone defense in every game. I see it with my own eyes. He mixes up defenses- half court, full court, pressure, man, double, zone.

I'm taking about the half court where most of the game is played. Rowe plays mostly man with lots of help and switches every ball screen. It takes opponents one or two simple top of the key screens to get funky matchups on the switch and players easily blow by the 3 or 4 slow guys in JMU's rotation.
The last game Rowe played a lot of 3-2 zone was Towson and he held them to 44 points. Hopefully, he brings it out again tomorrow night at Towson.
JMU was one of the best 3pt defenses in he Nation last year using primarily the 3-2 zone. It works very well with this group of players

Coulda swore we won last night. Maybe not. ;>)

Dukes open as 8 pt dogs at Towson Saturday night.

I'm not griping about the win. But we let a first half lead erode steadily in the second half with layup after layup.. If you weren't concerned, you should be.. I'd like to see us be competitive in the tournament.

(02-17-2017 02:20 PM)Hart Foundation Wrote:  

(02-17-2017 07:37 AM)NJDuke97 Wrote:  

(02-17-2017 07:35 AM)Hart Foundation Wrote:  Our team is just not able to play man defense well. You are spot on.
Rowe, refuses to use much halfcourt zone even though he is well aware of the lack of lateral quickness because it doesn't fit his energy and effort mindset.
Brady spoke to the lack of lateral quickness last year as well and said that is exactly why he used a lot of 3-2 zone. It was extremely effective guarding the 3 and it minimized blow by penetration on the dribble.

Rowe has been fixated on trying to reinvent the wheel when he already had a proven defensive scheme that the boatload of experienced players were very good at.
Perhaps he is sandbagging now and will unleash the 3-2 zone in the CAA tourney? We can only hope.

Hart they play elements of zone defense in every game. I see it with my own eyes. He mixes up defenses- half court, full court, pressure, man, double, zone.

I'm taking about the half court where most of the game is played. Rowe plays mostly man with lots of help and switches every ball screen. It takes opponents one or two simple top of the key screens to get funky matchups on the switch and players easily blow by the 3 or 4 slow guys in JMU's rotation.
The last game Rowe played a lot of 3-2 zone was Towson and he held them to 44 points. Hopefully, he brings it out again tomorrow night at Towson.
JMU was one of the best 3pt defenses in he Nation last year using primarily the 3-2 zone. It works very well with this group of players

They have mixed some zone defense in in the half court at times.

So JMU went 1-2 vs. W&M last year playing zone 100% of the time right? The game they won Dixon shot 0-9 from outside. I believe Curry was on him and I'm sure that had something to do with it but I recall that Dixon missed some that he typically doesn't. What defense did JMU and Brady play vs. W&M when we got killed a week later in Baltimore?

This team is somewhat limited defensively especially as the season has gone on and they have lost some players. They are without Curry who made a difference no matter what defensive system they employed last year. I think mixing it up it smart and if Rowe believes in man I'm ok with that. Zone is mostly a gimmick and you are relying on other teams to have off nights. Brady/JMU's zone wasn't Syracuse's. It's not going to consistently stymie teams that have good ball movement and multiple 3 point shooters like W&M, UNCW, or Northeastern Elon or even Hofstra at times. You want to say against Towson or COC Delaware or Drexel to play zone I can see it but against W&M I think he had the right game plan given the circumstances. Plus isn't your boy Mike Deane calling the defense anyway? Or is that the conspiracy theory on why he was suspended earlier this year because Deane wants to run his zone and Rowe is too "stubborn" and won't allow it?

(02-17-2017 10:10 AM)nyduke Wrote:  I loved the effort and play last night. Happy for the seniors.

Go Dukes

Was nice to see McLean come back from being sick and have a very good game. Also good to see Snowden playing well down the stretch and even Johnson showing some potential. Gives you some hope for next year with those 3 Holmes Mosely and Scissum as 6 rotation guys to go with 2-3 impact freshmen. Was also happy to see Serb rediscover his offensive game - will need some more contributions from him down the stretch to get a respectable seed and compete/win in the CAAT.

Deane gives a lot of advice that Rowe ignores. At least Lou has admitted that much as he wanted to play a certain style. Hence the atrocious record this year. He is a self proclaimed defensive minded coach and his defense is WORSE than last year.

Of course W&M is tough to defend and you can't play one defense against their well coached offense. That includes not playing mostly man defense in half court.
The Dukes winning formula in the CAA tournament will not be man to man defense because they don't have the athleticism to hang with the top teams.

This group of players can only win the tournament with more reliance on the 3-2 zone and more reliance on 3 PT shooting for offense. Both aspects go against what Rowe feels should be done.
There is still hope though. The season story hasn't been told yet and he can change his strategy and win everyone's hearts with a CAA tourney title. Even I would pardon him for the brutal regular season.

(02-17-2017 08:54 PM)Hart Foundation Wrote:  Deane gives a lot of advice that Rowe ignores. At least Lou has admitted that much as he wanted to play a certain style. Hence the atrocious record this year. He is a self proclaimed defensive minded coach and his defense is WORSE than last year.

Of course W&M is tough to defend and you can't play one defense against their well coached offense. That includes not playing mostly man defense in half court.
The Dukes winning formula in the CAA tournament will not be man to man defense because they don't have the athleticism to hang with the top teams.

This group of players can only win the tournament with more reliance on the 3-2 zone and more reliance on 3 PT shooting for offense. Both aspects go against what Rowe feels should be done.
There is still hope though. The season story hasn't been told yet and he can change his strategy and win everyone's hearts with a CAA tourney title. Even I would pardon him for the brutal regular season.

Is your perception based on first hand knowledge or are you just watching Rowe talk to Deane during timeouts like he does with other member of his staff and assuming that one gives advice that the other doesn't take? I think you are looking at things too simply as if Rowe played more zone and told his guys to launch more 3s that regardless of the personnel they would be a good team. Most of us know better than that.

Btw one of your salvos this year has been that coach Rowe is too stubborn and doesn't shoot enough 3s. Do you realize that the number of 3s attempted per game for McLean and Kent are up this year? Shaq is roughly taking the same number but shooting a lower percentage. Grays took close to 3 3s a game and Curry took over 6. I guess we could criticize Rowe for not bringing in more 3 point shooters who were immediately eligible this off season to replace Curry and Grays but aside from Serb no ones 3 point shot attempts are down and his poor play has been well documented this year and is evident to anyone with two eyes who watches the games.

The lower number of attempts and the lower shooting percentage is a product of the personnel not the system. If you have good 3 point shooters who look for their 3 you shoot more 3s if you don't you don't.

They've actually been a much better team without standing around launching 3s and instead going to the basket. That other style of play is what they did early in the year and it was lazy offense and caused the season to start off so badly.

Hart:

If you were one of our fans that has not been watching, then I would understand your negativity against Rowe. We all agree he was not a good hire based on his experience as a head coach. That doesn't mean he won't develop into a good head coach.

What impresses me about this team is how hard they play. This teams effort on the court has willed them to some wins. It is so obvious what they are missing...Curry! They need an all CAA caliber point guard who can hit the outside jumper, penetrate and not turn the ball over.

This team has been in almost every game with five minutes left. They then turn it over multiple trips down the floor without getting a shot off. The lack of a player who can handle the ball and find the open man when defensive pressure is elevated late in games is killing this team. What we saw in the last minutes of regulation Thursday has been repeated in every close loss this year. The difference Thursday was the guys gutted out the win despite falling apart in the waning minutes of regulation.

I give these guys a lot of credit. They want to win. Their coach is continuing to motivate them and not giving up on the season even after injuries depleted his starting line up. Rowe can't change the talent level and perhaps there is more he could do in the way of X's and O's but from what I see, he is making the most of what he has.