EAGLES AT HOKIES 01-23-10-- GAMEDAY THREAD AND SCORE GUESS

[bobcarrington]

If you think Trapani is playing well, you are nuts. And I am positively shocked that his FG% has changed because it looks like he is shooting 30% while the game is going on.

We can debate what "playing well" means. Maybe the team is so bad that nobody is playing well.

But Trapani leads the team in both points and rebounding and is managing to do what he did last year (he's up in points, rebounds, assists and steals) despite having effectively no PG to get him the ball. That's far from perfect, but it's not completely nuts to point out that he's not the big problem.

[twballgame9]

If you think Trapani is playing well, you are nuts. And I am positively shocked that his FG% has changed because it looks like he is shooting 30% while the game is going on.

We can debate what "playing well" means. Maybe the team is so bad that nobody is playing well.

But Trapani leads the team in both points and rebounding and is managing to do what he did last year (he's up in points, rebounds, assists and steals) despite having effectively no PG to get him the ball. That's far from perfect, but it's not completely nuts to point out that he's not the big problem.

Don't remember anyone pointing to Trapani as the "big problem". Most of the board said "No PG." Commavegarage said "Sanders"

What I said was Trapani is not playing anywhere in the ball park of as well as he did last season. You have shown me that statistically he is about the same and I accept that. But it looks fucking awful on the floor, so I guess he just sucked last year and I didn't notice. Many others have regressed as well.

Today was nice, because Elmore was the first guy to have a game this season where I said, wow he is really improving.

[Shredder]

Wait, the main problem is Biko Paris? Are you fucking kidding me?

Not Sanders dropping in ppg, rpg, increasing in turnovers and fg% dropping by 10%?

Seriously, you must be related to Sanders.

Although Sanders has not stepped up to be the player we were expecting him to be, I think the main root of this team's problems is in the point guard and almost as significantly, at center.

Biko is the biggest change in the lineup. The prior three years we had Rice playing point most of the time and while some of us here (myself included) were not expecting as big a drop-off with his graduation, but that must be it. Rice wasn't a great distributor but he was a great scorer. Biko is neither. Had a capable, true point-guard (think Louis Hinnant) taken over, this team would be in better shape. Sanders would not be dribbling around outside as much and jacking up shots he shouldn't be taking. Jackson isn't an optimal point guard but I think he should be starting over Paris at this point.

We're getting next to nothing out of our centers. I was hoping Southern would improve but like Sanders, he has also regressed (despite some good moments, as in the Duke game). He has no offense but not much defense or rebounding ability either. Dunn was been playing well as a backup but is still only a backup. Same with Ravenel. The announcer today said Southern does a good job clogging up the lane--at this point I think that's all he's doing well. I don't know if Noreen or Papa can contribute next year but the bar is pretty low for centers. From what I've read, Noreen appears to be more of a big small forward anyway.

With the limitations to Southern and Paris, Al is responsible for sticking with a bad starting lineup. The starters have fallen into holes each of the last few games. Ellmore is improving--he and Jackson should start in the backcourt. Sanders should play sf with Trapani at pf and pick your poison at center. Raji and Roche should back up the forwards. I do think that Roche has improved in his time here and the team appears to play well when he's on the floor. The lineups in the middle of the first half and the end of the second were working--Al should not wait until his starters suck it up to put in his best players.

[HJS]

I was listening to the game on Sirius/XM which had the VT feed. And... the very, very homer refs were SHOCKED at the jump ball call. They harkened back to last year's ACC Tourney where VT tied-up Hansborough at the end of the game and had a foul called on them. They said something like "Well, VT fans, as unlucky the call against Hansborough was, this was lucky." Mentioned that they barely got a hand on the ball... might've been fouled... but Paris was calling timeout over and over again and the refs didn't hear it I immediately wished I could listen to Teddy (who undoubtedly would be in full meltdown). After the bucket... they came from bucket and said "Man... how about that jump ball call. Wow... that was just huge." When then pulled 5 seconds off the clock, they were going crazy over what a horribly unlucky 22 seconds it was for BC.

All that said, the problem with this team is (a) Biko not being a good PG (I've been saying FOREVER that Al had to bring in a PG... he just freaking ignores the position... preferring to go with some combo guys... and it is a huge mistake); (b) Sanders regressing and settling for jumpers (he plays so freaking soft) and (c) Trapani just sucking (his inconsistency makes his sucking even worse).

Seriously, as bad as the refs were in the last minute of the game, Trapani is over all. Al should be shot if he ever lets Trapani in-bound the ball again. He is the worst in-bounder we have ever had... and that includes John Oates. That "jump-ball" bullshit only happens because Trapani makes a terrible decision to give Biko (fresh off the bench the ball in the corner with a double team.

[AdamBC]

Does anyone have the BC-VT game on their Tivo? This is the comment on ATL's blog:

Also, I know no one wants to complain about the refs, but the inbounds play with 21 seconds left was absurd. The Tech defender on Trapani crossed the baseline, which should have been a technical, and Biko was "tied up" by a guy standing with both feet out of bounds. The officials in this league are consistently atrocious.

Can anyone confirm/post a video of it?

[apbc12]

Does anyone have the BC-VT game on their Tivo? This is the comment on ATL's blog:

Also, I know no one wants to complain about the refs, but the inbounds play with 21 seconds left was absurd. The Tech defender on Trapani crossed the baseline, which should have been a technical, and Biko was "tied up" by a guy standing with both feet out of bounds. The officials in this league are consistently atrocious.

Can anyone confirm/post a video of it?

I didn't notice that/if he was standing out of bounds. I did notice that he had at best one hand on the ball, and the other wrapped around Biko's arm. There was also a blatant travel on Tech's final basket (post player dribbled, stepped together, stopped for about a second and a half, then took two more steps). And the blocking foul on Elmore in the last minute was also very, very iffy. I thought it was either a charge or a no-call. He absolutely beat him to the spot, but may have flopped a little bit.