Not sure if this has been brought up before, but is the 2-3 being introduced now subtley as a March option. You can't just play a new defense like this well in March without working on it live during the season. It's almost like a different "personnel group" in football, where we bring in a longer group with Ryan, Josh, Bridges, Kris, Chef. I'm wondering if this is being implemented to play against the Cat Barber types who are real dribble penetrate guys and stopping them might not be this teams forte. If we played 2-3 against NC State and forced them to shoot from the perimeter and limited dribble penetration, would that have helped. Also, it makes us longer and stronger on the glass which could also help us against larger, more athletic front lines. Those are typically the two reasons you go 2-3: you don't match up well in man and you don't want to get your boards pounded (as long as you check out...).

Wondering if Jay is playing this now and if we see that NC State dribble penetrate guy with some athletic bigs and limited shooters - the 2-3 becomes an option that we play fairly well as we've worked it during the regular season in a semi-stealth way where a March opponent wouldn't spend much time prepping for it as it's far from our base defense.

Also - looked at the 8/9 line. Lunardi has us playing the ND/UConn winner in Brooklyn. I think we all throw up with that draw. Other 8/9's way more palatable include GW, Cal, Indiana, Valpo, etc. Often in March there is some "be careful what you wish for". I do hope though that one way or another UCONN plays it's way off of our line.

Before the season started I posted that we would be a much better shooting team than last years, but a far worse team in terms of defense and rebounding. So far, it looks like I pretty much had it as wrong as you can be. While like everyone else I am thrilled with this team's effort, I still think we need to improve our shooting if we expect to succeed in March. While we are not a bad shooting team, we could certainly improve. Arch, Brunson, Booth, Josh, Kris and even Bridges all have the potential to be pretty good shooters. I can't put my finger on it, but I suspect that one of the reasons they are not shooting collectively as well as I would like,is that they are still adjusting to the different roles that they play on this team. I know that sounds crazy after 18 games, but it has taken a while to settle the point guard role and that may affect all 3 guards. Jalen and Phil are still adjusting to bigtime prime minutes and Arch has moved around a lot. the same could be said for the 3 forwards who are also still adjusting to their new roles, Josh, obviously less so. I am hoping that the team shooting improves so we don't have grind out every game, but I recognize that it may not and that this is what we got. If so, it ain't pretty, but it ain't bad.

Rutgers loses to Purdue 107-57 at home tonight. Out rebounded by 35 and Purdue didn't commit a turnover until halfway thru the second half. Many fans thought the loss to Nebraska by 35 last week was rock bottom for the Scarlet Knights, but they were wrong.

which class and players have the most wins in four years? How many wins?

Every coach worth his $ has a game strategy. Whether his players execute it is another issue.
Often teams are known for a style of play. 40 minutes of hell, the 2/3 zone, Princeton offense, and so on.
Most coaches recruit players to play their style of play.
The problem lies in reality.
Once players get to the program, their game and growth as a player, and the ability to play within the system may not be everything that was expected, in both positive and negative ways.
Doug Gottlieb made a great point when he said that JTIII was limiting the opportunity for success for his team by having them play the Princeton offense when his long and athletic team was being held back by this offensive strategy. Late in the game when his players started to attack the rim off the bounce abandoning the traditional motion of the Princeton offense did they make a run. Great adjustment. But, will JTIII recognize this as an issue bigger then an in game change of strategy?
I have to give major props to the coaching staff for recognizing what they have and don't have with this year's team. They have tailored a strategy of valued possessions, especially working for effective individual isolations on the offensive end, and an all out effort to crash the boards on the offensive glass. Relentless on the ball defense has limited the effectiveness of the opponents offense and shortened the opportunities on the glass.
The high octane, run and gun offense that we've seen run often has become throttled as the year is progressing, by design.
It's been, so far, a most masterful use of players within the construct of on the floor effectiveness in execution of a game plan/style of play expected by the coach that one could hope for. Jim Calhoun (say what you want about him) won a number of titles because he had that ability.
This year has been so enjoyable because it has been such a work in progress, and the efforts by both the coaches, and the players adapting to the changes expected of them, has been nothing short of remarkable. It has a malleability that is remarkable.
Great Job.

Someone may have been looking for their chiropractor.


http://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2016...ndshake-line-duke-syracuse-college-basketball

LED or Plasma? I kid, I kid.

Serious question. want to mount an new flat screen in bedroom. nothing currently in there. Cable outlet is on opposite wall (behind bed) of where I would mount the tv. I would prefer to not have to put an HD cable box on top of my wife's dresser which would also necessitate running a wire around half of the room. What are my options for keeping a cable box somewhere else out of sight and wiring to a minimum?

Posting a link to a video I found on Barstool sports, didn't know Lowry was funny.

http://www.barstoolsports.com/bosto...ng-about-simple-math-is-laugh-out-loud-funny/

with the nasty throw-down:
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Xavier #5 (LOVE that all the networks use this poll!)

Providence 16
Butler 18 (don't get that move up but I'll take it!)

http://collegebasketball.ap.org/poll

Probably fall out of the Top 25, although it's early in the week and ranked teams are falling left and right.

http://www.foxsports.com/college-ba...jay-wright-ryan-arcidiacono-motivation-011816

Great article by our partner Fox Sports!

OU-ISU. Great battle. Hield is just silly good. This conference is fun to watch this year.

Typically, we have it at the Pavillion. Is Senior Night the DePaul game or Gtown game?

Second team at LB, and for the second year in a row, Academic All-American. Players must have a 3.3 and be a major contributor to the team. Don finished his degree from VSB in 3.5 years. Will workout in Fla at an NFL combine in Jan and Feb (after signing with an agent). Return to campus in March to continue working out and attend pro day.
Nova will have at least two players in an NFL camp, Don and QB John Robertson.

http://www.slamonline.com/college-hs/college/caroline-katherine-coyer-villanova/#3v8xZJbdZTtDweK6.97

Are these twins the best guard combo in the country?? Is Caroline the best pg in the country?? In those discussions.. I heard Harry at the the game the other day yell out he doesn't know what he's going to do without them and he's frightened for next year's guard play!!! Louin has been playing well..Tucker is coming..Hahn was playing really well but now her minutes are low (should he have red shirted her?)..

Let's hope the Coyers can lead Nova Nation to a BE title and into the NCAA tourney...

Classic BET.

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nm

Enjoy:
http://www.slamonline.com/nba/kyle-lowry-interview-video-raptors-villanova/#HcEHD6ZJAfx0p7Md.97

They deserve to lose tonight.....

I think our defense is the best in recent memory

Our offense comes and goes but I don't worry about our 3 point defense like I did in other years

As I watched from the VZ Center the final seconds tick off as we secured another victory over the hated Georgetown Hoyas on Saturday, I turned to high five all the people I was with and we celebrated yet another BE victory to push our record to 16-2; 6-0 in conference. I thought to myself, yet another truly special year in store for us die-hard Cat fans. Just so amazing what a terrific game coach Jay has become. We don't discuss it much, but he has improved over the years to become a truly special basketball coach.

However, with all the victories and the high rankings that go with it, I can see our fan base - and I can be as guilty as any of us - starting to raise expectations again about what can happen in March. I do see this being a wide open year where there are no dominant teams like Kentucky last year where you thought no way we can beat them. But I also see that we are essentially the same team as last year - talented, play really hard, well coached and defend like crazy (perhaps even better this year). The down side is we still need to make lots of 3s to beat really good teams or teams that have an explosive guard with athletic bigs. Nothing has changed in that regard.

Now that we are into full conference play and moving further and further from the OU and UVA games, I think we believe we've solved many of our deficiencies, or at least found other ways to overcome them - and perhaps we have - but I also think there aren't many tournament teams in our league to give us the true tests we need or with which could help us down the road.

Example #1: - Are we now good at stopping quick guards with good dribble-drive games from getting in the lane? UVA absolutely killed us with that as did NCST last year. Have we gotten better there or have we not faced many good guards since that game? I'm afraid it's the latter. Georgetown is very weak at the guard position and DSR doesn't dribble-drive that well. Nobody else on Georgetown does. Creighton had the one guard, Seton Hall's are solid and gave us some problems. Even X's strength isn't quick explosive guards.

Example #2: - Teams with size and athleticism in the front court - Can we rebound effectively vs. teams like that? Can we stop inside scoring? Again, UVA killed us on second shots and inside scoring (much coming off dribble-drive). Had Marquette had any decent guard who could get in the lane or make open 3's, would that game have gone to the wire? Their bigs were hurting us for a while, then we sagged off their guards to help down low, but their guards couldn't make open shots to make us pay.

Look, I think we are getting better and better and are putting ourselves in a position to make a deep run, but I think it's important to keep our PERSPECTIVE as this season progresses and we continue to roll to another BE crown. Is our conference truly better this year and giving us the tests we need or not?

Let's keep enjoying the ride and appreciating what Jay has built. We are a top 10 national program now and can beat anyone. I still am cautious in my enthusiasm in that there a a good number of teams that have a talented, quick, play-making guard(s) with athletic, active bigs that can give us a problem come March, especially if we aren't making 3s.

Will be off crutches in a couple weeks and back playing full speed in June.