mobrien
Masters Student
Posts: 402
Loc: New York
Reg: 04-18-17
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02-23-24 12:48 PM - Post#363802
Our first matchup against them was burn-the-tape bad. But Ajogbor was out, Mack was just coming back from mono, and Lee, as good as he is, was making the kind of stepback threes that nobody can make consistently. So I have no idea what to expect here.
On defense, we need active hands on their cuts, we need Ajogbor to make life difficult for them at the rim, we need to run them off the three point line on their kickouts, and we need them to have an off night shooting. It's going to be a big challenge that will require making multiple efforts every possession.
On offense, we need to come up with an answer for their quick doubles on Mack. I still like having Lesmond or Okpara set the ball screen so we either have a shooting or driving threat just a pass away out of the double.
We're going to have to do the same thing for Ajogbor's post-ups. He's so turnover-prone at the same time that he's going to have such a physical advantage that Princeton will obviously double him. We just need him to make quicker decisions: either aggressively get to his spot and shoot it, or kick it back out before the double makes it too hard to pass.
We need to at least be decent from three too.
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CrimsonBlood
Freshman
Posts: 46
Age: 33
Reg: 03-15-18
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02-23-24 10:15 PM - Post#363839
In response to mobrien
Frustrating game. Princeton gave us chances, but we couldn’t capitalize.
Our defense wasn’t aggressive enough on their shooters— gave them too many open looks. Would rather have them drive inside and bring them to Ajogbor and take your chances.
It felt like we played Princeton’s game today.
Nasteski played a lot.. we tried to shoot a bunch of threes and match them three for three… we are never going to win that game.
I felt we needed to slow it down, feed the ball inside, and attack the rim.
Instead we ran around in a 3 point contest and got blown out at home. We got outplayed and outcoached today.
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CrimsonBlood
Freshman
Posts: 46
Age: 33
Reg: 03-15-18
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02-23-24 10:16 PM - Post#363840
In response to CrimsonBlood
And can we please give Lesmond’s minutes to someone else?
I get we were short handed tonight, but if he can’t hit wide open threes in big games, then he doesn’t offer us much.
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HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
Posts: 2692
Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
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02-23-24 11:05 PM - Post#363850
In response to CrimsonBlood
Looks like we just can’t compete for 40 minutes with these injuries. Offense disappeared in last 24 minutes (22 points?). If Pigge and Battie can’t play the second night of this weekend it could be ugly. Penn hit 14 3’s tonight. A Crimson loss likely means a three way tie at 4-7 with Penn lurking at 3-8 and all of the Quakers 4 remaining games at home. Wow.
On the other hand, we played nice defense in the second half. Hoping for a deeper roster tomorrow night.
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mobrien
Masters Student
Posts: 402
Loc: New York
Reg: 04-18-17
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02-23-24 11:41 PM - Post#363854
In response to HARVARDDADGRAD
Very disappointing game. I actually thought we played pretty well the first 15 minutes or so. Yes, we could have done a better job staying with their shooters, but some of that was just them making difficult shots. In any case, we were hanging tough, running okay offense, and then ... it all just fell apart.
Lee got hot again the last 5 minutes of the half, our offense got stagnant, and then we started pressing. Mack in particular was forcing shots, something he rarely does, trying to get something, anything going. They were doing a good job crowding him on the perimeter, and then he did find a crease to get to the basket, he had a bunch of layups just lip out. Tough night.
I've been impressed with Simon every time he's gotten minutes the last couple of weeks. I don't understand why he wasn't playing more before this. He can keep defenses offense, attack closeouts, and guard pretty well too.
Pretty close to a must-win tomorrow night.
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HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
Posts: 2692
Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
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02-24-24 12:56 AM - Post#363855
In response to mobrien
Agreed.
I recall Battie twisted his ankle against Cornell. Pigge is so physical his injur might haven been overlooked. Without them, it’s a long haul.
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Tiger69
Postdoc
Posts: 2816
Reg: 11-23-04
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 Princeton 2
02-24-24 10:03 AM - Post#363863
In response to HARVARDDADGRAD
Always warms my heart to see Amaker do so little with so much.
But, good luck to you tonight iat the Palestra.
Edited by Tiger69 on 02-24-24 10:05 AM. Reason for edit: No reason given.
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HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
Posts: 2692
Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
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02-24-24 11:15 AM - Post#363875
In response to Tiger69
Penn At Lavietes tonight.
Tonight will be meaningful in the race for 4th for Harvard/Penn, and next Friday for Harvard/Brown. Two huge games. Will Batties/Pigge play?
Did anyone notice that Harvard plays its final regular season game @ Dartmouth on Tuesday, March 5th, whereas everybody else finishes up on Saturday, March 9th? Why? That’s 3 games in 5 days for two short handed squads.
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84grad
Junior
Posts: 277
Age: 64
Reg: 11-09-17
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02-24-24 12:09 PM - Post#363880
In response to HARVARDDADGRAD
Assuming no upsets of big 3, it's likely we get in with 5 wins, as long as we beat Brown. If we lose to Brown, it's unlikely we get in with 6 wins. Want to win tonight, but not much change if we lose. Penn and Columbia at 4 wins may require rankings to break a tie (I think). We could have same record against all teams, except we would have two wins over Columbia and Brown would have 2 wins over Penn.
My train is booked to Providence.
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HARVARDDADGRAD
Postdoc
Posts: 2692
Loc: New Jersey
Reg: 01-21-14
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Princeton 2
02-24-24 12:36 PM - Post#363882
In response to 84grad
Thanks 84, I am very concerned about tonight, so it's good to hear there's hope beyond this weekend.
The injuries are just ridiculous - Nelson, Pitcher, Batties, Pigge and whatever happened to Silverstein and Hemmings. Starting the ivy slate without Ajogbor and waiting for both Mack and Ajogbor to round into form was painful as well. We're 4-3 with a semblance of our roster, even though that squad is still missing key players.
So, we get into position to survive and make the tournament and now Batties and Pigge go down before a stretch of 5 games in 12 days, including two back to backs. The survivors played Princeton even for but the last 4 minutes of the first half. Not surprising with talent, but no depth.
When assessing player absences, I look at where the minutes go. In beating Columbia last weekend, Ace-Nestaski, Wojcik and Nesbit played 9 minutes, last night they played 44 minutes. Tyler Simon, who had his best collegiate game ever last night, played 30 minutes as opposed to 11. That's two full positions going to guys normally far down the depth chart - at least numbers 7 and below. Worse if Simon and others were available.
So, Penn will press the full game tonight and double Mack, Okpara and Ajogbor tonight, the tail end of a back to back. Lesmond and Simon have to hit 3's, and we have to make Penn pay for their full court defense. On the other hand, Penn will again try and run through Spinoso. If Ajogbor can't successfully defend without help - or if Ajogbor gets in foul trouble - Penn's strong 3 point shooting (14-31 last night) will mean points that we just don't have the horses to keep up with.
Having said this, we can (and have) stayed close to better teams like Princeton, Yale and Cornell while diminished. So I'll be rooting.
By the way, I know every team suffers injuries, and Penn fans seem to fall back on the lack of Dingle and Martz. No one has the injuries and loss of players Harvard does. Ledlum, Dingle and Martz all started in the same class. It appears Dingle and Martz took off the COVID year, while Ledlum graduated on time. Similar to expectations of Dingle and Martz playing, we could have had Ledlum this year, or Dingle and Martz should have graduated this last year. Slachert's absence was devastating to Penn as well, but so is the missed time/diminished return of Mack, Ajogbor, Silverstein, Hemmings, Pitcher and now Batties and Pigge. Again, this is not close to being comparable to anything any other squad has had to endure when you discount the 5th year seniors. On the other hand, keeping the playing field level, what fun it would have been if Harvard had Ledlum, Nelson and Silverstein, while Penn had Dingle and Martz. This would be a five team race at a competitive level probably not seen here before.
So, I don't see how Harvard prevails tonight, but I'll be rooting. Regardless, if Pigge and Batties aren't back for the game at Brown next Friday, I'll be equally concerned.
Edited by HARVARDDADGRAD on 02-24-24 12:45 PM. Reason for edit: No reason given.
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