FanPost

Recipe For A Loss To The Bonnie’s!


What happened Tuesday night in Dayton was simply an illustration of a team that was ill prepared and unable to change their own offensive course as the game unfolded! Let’s start with defense.

On Defense:

Alford kept his team in a man to man all night refusing to change up defenses in what would have at least been an attempt to alter St Bonaventure’s offensive rhythm. No full, 3/4, or 1/2 court pressure to burn the Bonnie’s shot clock and once again effect rhythm! No double teams in the corners or the post when the Bonnie’s put the ball in these areas of the floor either!

Alford refused to send a double team at Stockard, who scored 26, in an attempt to force the ball out of his hands and break his rhythm; horrible! The Bonnie’s had only 7 assists which indicates a great deal of on one on one Basketball which normally is easier to beat!

The Bruin defense wasn’t bad as the kids played hard and rebounded with desire (41-31 edge) but their coach didn’t help them out staying with the most vanilla defense I can recall!

On Offense:

Inability to attack the Bonnie Zone was maddening! I watched two Bonnie games prior to Tuesday nights play-in game and they didn’t play any real zone to speak of. But this should be no excuse for Alford as he should have had a well practiced offensive game plan for every potential half court zone defense possible!

Either Alford:

A) Didn’t have an offensive game plan to counter-act the Bonnie zone.

Or

B) Couldn’t convey and implement said plan of attack to his players during the game in a fashion that they could understand.

Or

C) Conveyed the game plan to the players but they couldn’t execute it which is ultimately a knock on Alfords offensive preparation , or lack there of, versus the zone whether it be a 3-2, 1-3-1, 2-1-2, 2-3, or any other match up zone combination.

The Bonnie’s were 15-21 from the line and the Bruins were a measly 6-10! Not being able to get to the line was a great concern for me coming into the game and was a trend dating back to the Arizona Pac 12 Tournament game.

I will say the refs were calling the fouls in favor of the Bonnie’s but then again they tend to do that for the more aggressive team. Having said that the same calls against the Bruins were not called on the Bonnie’s!

If I knew that the Bruins would have had the following advantages in this game I would have bet the House; check it out.

Rebounds:

UCLA 41 - Bonnie’s 31

Assists:

UCLA 13 - Bonnie’s 7

3PT %:

UCLA 33.3% - Bonnie’s 21.0%

Lastly let’s pin some fault on individual players.

Tom Welsh:

1-5 from the floor 2 points!

2 offensive rebounds

No free throws

Tom was detached and looked like the moment was far too big for him. Alford could have got him the ball inside or at least tried but Welsh didn’t demand the ball or fight for position inside against much smaller defenders. As if that wasn’t bad enough he refused to roll to open space against the Bonnie zone on Bruin shots tallying only 2 offensive rebounds! Pathetic! Oh yea he had no blocks and only one personal foul.

Toms a great kid and has been a team leader and an amazing role model on and off the court but he laid down this game and is a huge factor why the Bonnie’s beat us!

Goloman:

One shot, 2 points?

0 offensive rebounds. 0!

22 minutes

Played with zero confidence and once again received no touches down low.

Holiday:

10 Turn overs

That turn over stat despite his 20 points, 4 boards, and 7 assists is simply glaring and coupled with Welsh’s poor play killed us.

Tyus Edney For Head Coach.

Go Bruins.....

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.

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