Cleveland St. - Bonas Recap

[bonniesareback]

The Bona Blog has posted their thoughts on tonight's game.

thebonablog.wordpress.com/

[MFS]

Didn't see the game, so this is purely based on what others have written and from the box score. At what point does Schmidt bench Eleby and start Matthews at PG, with Davenport at the 2-spot?

[keplerjd]

Eh, I wouldn't do that just yet. Malcolm played a solid role, he wasn't careless and neither was Ogo for the most part. It's just the way this offense is ran.

I would like to see Chris start to hold the ball on the outside while Andy is posting up on the same side. CSU was playing Andy tough on the post AND dropping Mike's man off a bit basically daring him to take the three. If Chris can get hot and take advantage of sagging defenses on the strong side we could be lethal.

As for Davenport, I only with he was a bit taller so he could take Da'Quan's spot in the lineup. That's our one glaring weak spot tonight and with Brett out indefinitely it appears and Jake completely hopeless out there we could be hurting at the four unless we go small with Wop at the four. Mike is a valuable commodity off the bench and he provides an athletic punch to take on an opponent that may be on its heels later on in the half.

Like what I saw today for sure, hopefully the fans come out to Rochester similar to how it was tonight. A win over a NCAA tourny team AND a Big East member within one week? Dynamite!

[njbona02]

I am not a malcolm fan but calling for his head after one game in which he wasn't terrible is a bit premature.

[bonniesareback]

We should not call for Malcolm's head. He played fine. He does turn the ball over a lot though, which is a cause for concern for me. Rather than attacking the gaps in the zone with his dribble, he seemed passive as well. I still think he is the best option at the starting point guard for this team, but my thinking is there is plenty of room for improvement.

[MFS]

Again, I didn't see the game, so I am hardly calling for his head. From what others posted (mostly about how great Chris was at distributing the ball), I simply posed a question for which those that saw the game could, and did (thanks kleperjd!) provide clarification. With or without a true PG, it's great to see the Bonnies get a W to start the year.

[Chuck]

Encourage everyone to visit the Bonablog, as Ryan gave a fantastic recap of the game. Without a doubt the most in depth review of the game. He gave a great analysis of Bonas': Trio of Scorers, Ability to Respond, Bonnies’ Pressure Defense. He also accurately questions the play of our "bigs" playing beside Andrew. Last night Cook, House and Simmons provided minimal production.

Just looking at the stats, MFS asks a reasonable question about Malcolm. Malcolm actually played better than his stats. He handled Cleveland State's press and was aggressive with taking the ball to the basket, which is reflected in him attempting 6 foul shots. Malcolm's only basket occurred on a physical drive to the hoop. Much prefer Malcolm being an aggressive player than the passive PG of last year, who only passed the ball around the perimeter. Overall he had an alright game.

[portpasses]

Matthews isn't exactly out there creating opportunities. His assist totals are high because he knows how to make the RIGHT pass. Most of his assists are in the half court offense where he can actually make an entry pass or gives the ball up to an open man. The most impressive part of his statistical game, as wgt mentioned, was CSU playing him box and one or triangle and two most of the second half. It took some time for the rest of the team to figure it out, but once they did, there was no stopping Hall and Davenport. I thought Eleby and Ogo both played pretty well under constant defensive pressure. Both had a couple of bad turnovers, but it was opening night and they looked comfortable in the offense and transition.

[Chuck]

Nov 14, 2009 9:42:47 GMT -5 portpasses said:

Matthews isn't exactly out there creating opportunities. His assist totals are high because he knows how to make the RIGHT pass. Most of his assists are in the half court offense where he can actually make an entry pass or gives the ball up to an open man.

Above is correct. Chris does not create opportunities, but he is the best on the team in seeing all the players in a set offense. Finding open players in a half court offense is an important skill that should not be taken for granted.

[Sipowicz]

I agree with a lot that has already been said, FRIAR may have hit it on the head with the team looking a little tired in the second half. One of my fears for this year is the opponents wearing ANDREW down. ANDREW did a fantastic job having to face 3 different guys last night(POGUE, CUNNINGHAM & LATAS)all bigger than him. The team will be needing a SIMMONS-HOUSEKNECHT-COOK-ROSEBORO rotation against the bigger teams. BTW, ROSEBORO-is it know the extent of his shoulder problems? Is the staff even considering red shirting him? I realize I am splitting hairs and it is still extremely early but our PGs have to make better decisions and personally I expect a PG's FT% to be 80%+. Also I was a little disappointed with OGO on the fastbreaks last night, could have been nerves or still adjusting to a higher level of play, etc. but he looked like the second coming of RAY BLACKBURN in transition. OGO looked much better in the exhibition and scrimmage. For some reason yesterday at work I kept wondering how this team would handle getting out to early lead. To my surprise I did not expect this to happen as it did last night. Between poor shot selection, turnovers, and an ole defense by our guards making their guards look even quicker the game got somewhat closer in the second half, not that the BONNIES should be beating the CLEV STs by 20+ yet. Although MATTHEWS has flaws in his game, I still may be in the minority but like him in there. However, last night a CLEV ST guard was breaking down the court and CHRIS had 4 or 5 steps on him, the guard blew by him for an easy score. I hope some of these problems will go away with experience, this is a very young team but in the future having a PG like CARTER who I expect to have a higher basketball IQ than many on the team now possess, there will be improvement. Finally, even with improved play, and with the staff enjoying an up tempo style, the turnover problem will not be going away anytime soon.

[Sipowicz]

In all my rambling I forgot the most important part of last night(excet for the win itself) the STUDENT SECTION was tremendous!!!! Great job students!!! I only wish we had some visitors on campus last night.