iogyhufi
Masters Student
Posts: 681
Age: 27
Reg: 10-10-17
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02-27-22 08:01 PM - Post#337807
The last game of the regular season will only have meaning for the Bulldogs if things go their way at the Palestra. Otherwise, all it is is a get-right game for Yale, who hasn't exactly looked phenomenal in recent games. A grand total of forty (40, count 'em) turnovers in the last two games bespeaks an issue that absolutely needs to be fixed prior to the tournament. I think that ceteris paribus, when going up against a set Yale defense, there are very few teams in the league who can consistently get great looks. But live-ball turnovers and bad missed shots lead to transition looks, which have proven deadly for Yale of late. I have a sneaking suspicion that the iso-heavy ball they've been playing isn't helping with this - Evbuomwan in particular is a poor defender in screening actions, so failing to involve him in such is just making things harder on the Yale offense.
Brown presents almost the perfect opponent for a situation like this: they play strong defense, which will force the Bulldogs to be patient and run their offense if they want points. There's going to be nothing easy from here on out, so if they want a trip to the Big Dance, now is the time to buckle down and figure things out.
Unrelatedly, it's Senior Night for a mess of players, including Jalen Gabbidon and Azar Swain. Azar has been a fantastic player from the get-go. He's blasted past the Yale career record for 3PM, and he's had some truly fantastic performances in his career. Even though the Ivy League's awfully-handled COVID policies meant that he wouldn't get to play his senior year with Atkinson on a presumptive IL favorite, he stuck it out with Yale anyway, and he's managed to produce even with defenses keying on him every step of the way.
As for Gabbidon, what more can you say about him than pointing to his performance will do? He came to Yale with a broken foot his freshman year and was still hampered by injury in his sophomore year. He paid his dues as the defensive stopper on the 2020 team, and this year, he stepped up in a big way on offense when the team desperately needed him to. Both guys are excellent players and people, and they'll be missed when they graduate.
But let's not get too hasty, they've got at least three more games beyond this weekend's before they hang it up 
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