iogyhufi
Masters Student
Posts: 681
Age: 27
Reg: 10-10-17
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03-06-22 09:37 AM - Post#338197
Since there's no real reason to dwell on Game 14, we might as well turn our attention to the tourney. Since I have apparently given the impression that I think Yale is just going to waltz through the ILT (somehow? though I'm not sure how), allow me to now say that no, I do not think that, and each and every remaining game is obviously going to be difficult to win.
On to the substance of things, I think adjustments are going to be what determines who takes the day here. Dingle wasn't able to produce in game 2, but he's obviously a guy who can hurt a team. Can he adjust to how he was defended that game and find ways to produce? There's also a consideration to be made on the Gabbidon question. Does Penn change how they cover him? Do they instead think "well, he hit some shots that he usually doesn't in game 2, so we're probably fine?" I don't think that I have a fantastic answer for this one, but Steve Donahue gets paid a lot more than I do to coach basketball because he's really good at coming up with answers to questions like that.
Yale has some questions to answer of its own. First and foremost, how are you going to handle defense when both Slajchert and Dingle are on the floor? Clark Slajchert very nearly shot Penn into a win in the last game, and he's shown himself to be a substantial offensive threat. Second, can you get enough production to take some of the burden off of Gabbidon? It's a tall order to be both the focal point of a team's offense and the person charged with guarding Jordan Dingle. The more energy he has to use on one, the less he has for the other (which might mean that by the end of the game, he has energy for neither). Can Yale establish a second source of offense to take the pressure off Gabbidon?
I'll be at the ILT, and I expect this to be a close one. If nothing else, the ILT has given us the opportunity to watch more high-quality games between the Ivy's best, and that's a mighty nice thing to have.
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