Two Big A10 Games Tonight ....

[CBFan]

4 minutes ago, Taj79 said:

Ace Baldwin plays hero —— NOT.  Dumb final rush as Davidson wins 63 to 61.  He had ten seconds —-more than enough time.

Ha ha Lester his precious VCU lost at home.  Lester’s post makes me want anyone playing VCU to beat them.

Davidson could be ranked with a couple more consecutive wins.

Dayton is a hard place to play.

[HoosierPal]

Heavyweight battle at VCU with Davidson prevailing. Quite impressive by both teams. Davidson withstood an early Havoc blitz to go up 10, but VCU came back. One of the top D in the league V one of the top O. 17 TO for Davidson and at one point mid second half VCU had 26 points on TO. Baldwin took Lee out of the game. VCU contested every dribble, every pass. It looked like Davidson was wearing down but they withstood a furious defensive effort. 

Davidson stays on top of the league but VCU will be a tough out, particularly at home. 

One buried piece of the game, twice Loyer a 91% FT, missed the second of two FT shots, but VCU had a lane violation both times. He made the third shot both times. Two point game…..two extra points for Davidson. 

[Dr. Holly Hills]

I always think we are going to crush the conference each year, but this is when reality starts to set in…

[A10Ref]

5 minutes ago, Dr. Holly Hills said:

I always think we are going to crush the conference each year, but this is when reality starts to set in…

The reality that we’re much happier as billiken fans than if we were Bonna fans?

[wgstl]

Not sure anyone is even close to Davidson. 

[Taj79]

Athletically, Davidson is not good.  Jones is a slow, three point shooter.  Brajkovic is a pilsbury dough boy in the middle.  Mennenga is a mystery.  Lee is decent and I'll give him that.  Loyer is proving to be a dead eye shooter and runs the team very well.  But I asked in another thread, who would you rather have, Loyer or Grady?  The real key, to me, is McKillop's system which trumps the lack of athleticism.   The bench is extremely weak once again .... Boachie-Yiadom, Huffman and Watson give minute breaks, that is all.  Time will tell.

Given that everyone has to go through Dayton and given Davidson's stellar play to date, they are neck and neck for one and two right now in the conference.  Three and four will likely come down to us, Bona and VCU.  

[billiken_roy]

my views of the 3 times i have seen davidson on tv thus far is they have the inner guts to just win.   they do stuff right and coupled with great coaching put themselves in the position to succeed.   

[3star_recruit]

I don't understand this need to underplay the talent on Davidson's team.  When Davidson had two first-team all-conference players and they crapped the bed like they did two years ago, it's because of reasons.  When they bring in a 4 star transfer to replace Grady, have a likely POY anchoring their offense and a "soft" big man averaging 13.5 ppg 7.2 rpg on 59%(!!) shooting, it's because of McKillop's genius. 

Davidson has talent.  It's not skywalking talent but a team with the ability to make shots inside and outside the arc plus being good passers is a talented team.  McKillop recruits more players who can shoot and pass than any coach in the conference.  Yes, he is a good coach but without a legion of guys who can both shoot AND pass, it wouldn't matter.

[slu72]

26 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

my views of the 3 times i have seen davidson on tv thus far is they have the inner guts to just win.   they do stuff right and coupled with great coaching put themselves in the position to succeed.   

They are us back in the 11-12 season. No great athletes but well coached to the extreme, ala Rick. 

[HoosierPal]

29 minutes ago, 3star_recruit said:

I don't understand this need to underplay the talent on Davidson's team.  When Davidson had two first-team all-conference players and they crapped the bed like they did two years ago, it's because of reasons.  When they bring in a 4 star transfer to replace Grady, have a likely POY anchoring their offense and a "soft" big man averaging 13.5 ppg 7.2 rpg on 59%(!!) shooting, it's because of McKillop's genius. 

Davidson has talent.  It's not skywalking talent but a team with the ability to make shots inside and outside the arc plus being good passers is a talented team.  McKillop recruits more players who can shoot and pass than any coach in the conference.

Agree 100%.  Davidson has talent and they have a great coach.  They play smart basketball. Their bench fits their style perfectly and was needed last night with the pace of the game.  They go 8 deep (sound familiar). 

Loyer was on fumes late in the game, with VCU hounding him every step, every dribble.  Brajkovic was a load, hitting 3 of 3 from the arc.  He was A10 Player of the Week last week.  Baldwin took POY candidate Lee out of the game last night with his D, holding him to 6 points.  Braj, Jones, Loyer and Huffman picked him up with their O. 

As a team, Davidson is hitting 50% from the field 42% from the Arc.  Until someone knocks them off their first place perch, they are the team to beat in the A10. TODAY, their NET is 35, which is securely in At-Large territory.  (Hope for the A10 being a two bid league)

What a game that was last night!  The Seigel was roaring. And as @billiken_roy said, Davidson had the guts to win.   I'm looking forward to the rematch on Jan 26.

[HoosierPal]

I just read that Dayton is now 22-2 against St. Bonaventure since Jan, 2004.  That is the definition of 'owning'.

[NH]

25 minutes ago, slu72 said:

They are us back in the 11-12 season. No great athletes but well coached to the extreme, ala Rick. 

I think our 11-12 team was a lot more athletic than this Davidson team. Davidson is a poor rebounding team and just ok defensively. But those shortcomings only matter so much if you can still out score your opponent every game. 

What Dayton lacks in ability to play above the rim or in transition, they make up for by having five elite shooters on the floor. They’re also pretty long defensively.

[johnbj14]

No clue if numbers back this up, but I feel like SLU plays awful at Belk Arena, and I’m already mentally prepared for Davidson to make 20 threes that game. Hope I’m wrong! 

[Pistol]

Davidson has size, skill, and shooting ability. Now they also have a real PG, something they didn't really have last season. And every pretty much returner's production has increased year-over-year. It's wild that they're 6th in the nation in shooting and 2nd in three-point shooting.

The Richmond game was so fun because both of those teams are pretty similar - skilled, experienced, not great defensively or on the glass - and they were both clicking offensively.

[Pistol]

Just now, johnbj14 said:

No clue if numbers back this up, but I feel like SLU plays awful at Belk Arena, and I’m already mentally prepared for Davidson to make 20 threes that game. Hope I’m wrong! 

We've still never won there. I don't think that changes this season.

[3star_recruit]

10 minutes ago, NH said:

I think our 11-12 team was a lot more athletic than this Davidson team. Davidson is a poor rebounding team and just ok defensively. But those shortcomings only matter so much if you can still out score your opponent every game. 

What Dayton lacks in ability to play above the rim or in transition, they make up for by having five elite shooters on the floor. They’re also pretty long defensively.

Agree with everything except the rebounding part.  Davidson outrebounds their opponents by 4 boards a game.  They outrebounded VCU by 12 last night, 32-20.  There usually aren't that many total rebounds in Davidson games because their shooting percentage is so high.

[NH]

8 minutes ago, 3star_recruit said:

Agree with everything except the rebounding part.  Davidson outrebounds their opponents by 4 boards a game.  They outrebounded VCU by 12 last night, 32-20.  There usually aren't that many total rebounds in Davidson games because their shooting percentage is so high.

I was wrong about the rebounding, and you’re right. They’re actually a very strong defensive rebounding team per the numbers. 

[slufanskip]

1 hour ago, 3star_recruit said:

I don't understand this need to underplay the talent on Davidson's team.  When Davidson had two first-team all-conference players and they crapped the bed like they did two years ago, it's because of reasons.  When they bring in a 4 star transfer to replace Grady, have a likely POY anchoring their offense and a "soft" big man averaging 13.5 ppg 7.2 rpg on 59%(!!) shooting, it's because of McKillop's genius. 

Davidson has talent.  It's not skywalking talent but a team with the ability to make shots inside and outside the arc plus being good passers is a talented team.  McKillop recruits more players who can shoot and pass than any coach in the conference.  Yes, he is a good coach but without a legion of guys who can both shoot AND pass, it wouldn't matter.

We frequently confuse body and athleticism with talent. 

[wgstl]

I feel like most teams have a good chance to out-rebound vcu because vcu takes a lot of shots at a pretty low %. 
 

also haven’t watched Davidson much, but foyer seems like the type of PG yuri excels against. Smaller, not to explosive or athletic 

[AnkielBreakers]

23 minutes ago, Pistol said:

We've still never won there. I don't think that changes this season.

I don’t know. This group of Bills can play Davidson’s style of play at their house. We can score, and we don’t need bully ball. That means we can play good defense without fouling and stay with Davidson’s scoring. We have to dominate the boards and hit some shots. It will be a different game to watch. 
 

So far, we have shown that we really struggle playing the VCU style teams.

[HoosierPal]

6 minutes ago, AnkielBreakers said:

I don’t know. This group of Bills can play Davidson’s style of play at their house. We can score, and we don’t need bully ball. That means we can play good defense without fouling and stay with Davidson’s scoring. We have to dominate the boards and hit some shots. It will be a different game to watch. 
 

So far, we have shown that we really struggle playing the VCU style teams.

After watching VCU's intense defense last night, I hope our game against VCU (last currently scheduled game of the season) has very little meaning to Tourney Seed or to NET.  VCU started out on high heat, cooled a little about half way through the first half, then turned it up again.  Every dribble was contested.  17 TO for Davidson, but many, many deflections.   I am glad the game is at Chaifetz, but we have not been a lock it down home court team so far this season.

[Taj79]

Davidson also has a strong sixth man going for it right now ---- momentum.  They are inb the right state of mind since the Alabama upset and I think hold the longest current win streak in the nation at 14 straight wins.  Currently 15 and 2 I can't see them being challenged except at Bonaventure (2/01) and at Dayton (3/05).  They do get us but it it ids al Belk where we have never won.  Maybe Rhode Island (2/12) gives them a test in Kingston.  The VCU rematch is at Belk on 1/26.  We shall see.  Interesting note --- Davidson onyl plays us, the Bonnies and Dayton once each.  

Bonaventure fell apart last night due to horrible shooting and horrible shot selection.  Plus Schmidt never called a timeout when the roof started to collapse.  Holmes shot 1 for 12.  Welch was 1 of 6.  Lofton went 3 for 11.  That's a combined 5 for 29 or 17%.  Once again, Adaway proved to be their only glue.  Coulibay and Adams got about 10 minutes each off their bench while two other guys logged a minute each.  JUCO All-American Linton Brown has yet to make any splash of note.  At the 12:45 makr, the Bonnies went up 17 to 12 on a dunk by Welch (his only made shot of the night).  From there to halftime, they scored six points ---- missing 14 shots while committing only one turnover.  Shots were rushed.  Shots were early in the shot clock.  Everybody missed everything.  Dayton closed at half up 35 to 23 and I questioned if the Bonnies would score 40.  Schmidt took nary a timeout and only used his use=or-lose timeout with 42 seconds to go.  

Both games were interesting in showing one team having Might Mo' on it's side and the other not so much.