Certainly vs. St. John's, we win that game by 30 if we made some 3's, but that team is the worst BE team I have seen in my life, so all the poor shooting did was reinforce the concerns I've had since the Providence game that our poor shooting will knock us out early yet again. Some thoughts as to why:
We defend like crazy, and that has allowed us to win so many games even when we shoot poorly. But in the Dance, stars make plays despite great defense (see Bentil and Dunn last weekend) and we MUST shoot the 3 well to compete in the tournament. We are limited in how we can beat a GOOD team. We can pull it off in the BE (like Georgetown), but in March it's always different, you know it.
We don't have the NBA stud. I debated with Fannon last night about Josh Hart. He said he's a pro, I said, "Maybe after his senior year." Teams who go deep in the dance have "no doubt" pros (GENERALLY!!!). Guys who can take over even against good defense. The eye test - we don't have those guys. I love our guys, but we don't have that stud. Nothing new there.
These are the types of teams we could face in round of 32: LSU, UCONN, Dayton, Texas, ND. They can all beat us, and in fact, if we shoot in the 30's (like we did vs Prov), if will be like NCST - right down to the last possession. Book it! Each of these teams have athletic players, yes even ND with Jackson.
WE MISS DARRUN HILLIARD! Look, I know, he graduated, move on, but he was so good from deep especially in big games. I had honestly forgotten that until recently. He masked poor shooting by others. No one has stepped up from the 3 point line to help offset the lose of DH. Remember how he went down vs. NCST. He was terrific.
Our guard play. Arch will be fine, no worries there. Unless Brunson and especially Booth get significantly better soon, we are in trouble. Plain and simple. Booth must be a better 3 point shooter, must handle the ball better vs pressure defense, must make better decisions. Honestly, I can't believe our record is 18-3 with the way B & B have played. I feel like it will catch up to us.
So, the sky isn't falling, and yes, we still won on the road yesterday and are 8-1 in conference, but the signs are right in front of us. Ignore at your own peril.
