Seawolves Fans

Here's what I've seen from what I've watched so far:

1. With a freshman point guard, we've been at the wrong end of a mismatch at that position - and that's not McKenzie's fault! He's just a frosh, and we've played Maryland, UConn and Ball State. But right now, it's throwing everything off, especially at the end of games. This'll work itself out with McKenzie's improvement and experience (and maybe Cornish's return), plus the fact that we don't have many players the caliber or Cowan, Adams and Persons to deal with during the rest of the season. I'm not worried about it.

2. I am worried about Sturvidant's shot selection. It's not just the threes. He's hitting them well enough, so keep shooting. My problem is  that it's only threes. We need him down low. He's not asserting himself, and we all know he can.

3. Boals is still figuring out the rotations. He'll get there. When is Garcia coming back?

But here's the long view: We have a young team at the America East level, and we just hung tough with Maryland for a half, UConn for 37 minutes and Ball State (with a great player in Persons) for 35 minutes. Yes, it would have been great to have pulled one of these games out, but honestly, we should be 0-3 right now, with 0-4 looming. The results are disappointing. The process, however, is uplifting and optimistic.

Keep at it, team. Great job, Coach.

you guys all sound like me now.  threes all the time.  and never can shoot over 40%.  what has it got us in the past?  a win at washington?  third place in the AE tourney?  a CBI invitation???

One thing we all have to remember:  Shooting 33% from 3-land is equivalent in points to shooting 50% from 2, given the same # of shots.  We're shooting 35.7% from 3, through our first 3 games, so we're OK in that department.   I personally question some of the 3-point attempts; namely, Sturdivant in the first 2 games, despite his 3-3 last night.  Our free throws killed us last night.  Our inability to contain Persons killed us last night.  Our committing of fouls killed us last night.  Our inability to finish killed us last night.  All a work in progress, but losing games where your are winning most of the game, creates self-doubt which can only hurt this team moving forward.  Tomorrow will be a beat down any way you slice it, but the ship needs to be righted in these areas moving forward.  Rough OOC schedule, no doubt, but IMO we should be 2-1 right now.

true, but we've missed 54 attempts in three games.  that's 18 possessions where we likely lose the ball, unless warney is in the paint grabbing those boards for a second chance.

would you like to have, let's say, even four back per game?  five?  what could we do in close games we lost over the years with ONE more possession.  remember peter hooley?

Nice updates on this game.

My armchair assessment of the 3 ball for SBU and many teams right now is it's simply part of the culture and comes down to stats. As OldSeawolf correctly notes, SBU's current 3-pt stats equal better than 50% shooting from 2 at the end of the day. The assumption arguing against so many 3's is that a team would shoot better from 2 in those instances. Obviously the closer one gets to the basket the greater tendency that the shot will be contested by one or two opposing players, plus have you seen pretty much ANY college/pro "shooter" these days who can hit a mid-range jumper? Especially curling off a screen or pulling up off a dribble? How about using the glass on a short 12-footer from an angle? Sorry, just ain't happening any more. Young kids watch Curry and want to be that, and this has been going on for a long time.

So should a coach buck years of habit and culture and spend hours during the season with his shooters working to get them close to 50% from 2, or just try to do all you can to free them up for what they are probably more comfortable shooting already and leave it at that 30/35% success rate?

Painfully obvious, too, among mid/lower major college teams is while they might hit a couple of 3's and go on a nice run, that's usually followed by a lot of misses. Timing can be brutal in a lot of cases because of this (UConn for example).

Re Sturdy, who is obviously a subject when it comes to 3's this year, at about 38% at the moment he's shooting pretty well from 3. In the previous 3 years I never thought he had much of an inside game (he has some funky arm release that seems to send the ball spinning sideways on his close shots and free throws, yet oddly doesn't seem as pronounced when he shoots from distance). I'd say he pretty much is what he is from inside and with free throws, and the 3 ball this year adds a significant dimension to his game.

I think Yeboah and perhaps at some point Ochefu are our inside guys (and in a limited role, Petras) and I do hope Sturdy develops a more confident inside/outside game, and I think that's simply what Boals has to work with this year. As many have stated, hopefully all manner of things improve gradually heading into conference. Gazing into my tremendously obvious crystal ball, they realistically have a shot at one home playoff game and then just see where things go from there.

PS, I didn't see this game, but related to all of this I do think Chairman's point about critical possessions came into play at UConn where SBU had a real shot at winning IF they had been a bit better down the stretch perhaps shifting a little away from the 3. Hindsight 20/20 as they say, and my feeling was that a combination of UConn talent and SBU inexperience simply turned the tide. Have to assume that "experience" element will get better in the months ahead for SBU.