Boston College Preview

[JwgreDeux 1,279]

It seems like forever since we have played a game. Auburn (6-1) visits the mecca of college basketball MSG to take on Boston College (4-5). While we have been off, Boston College has been busy, playing two games against two bad teams, and losing them both. This game looks good on the schedule in name only, Boston College is not a good team, end of story. They do very little well, and do a lot poorly. I'd like to say that is due to a difficult schedule, but it isn't (SOS of 326). 

While we have been idle, there have been many rumors swirling about Wiley joining the team at various times. I hope our current bigs have heard the chatter and play to prove something. The one area that Boston College is marginally better at than Auburn, is rebounding. We could use a big effort on the boards, as travel and foreign arenas don't make for great shooting percentages. That being said, I still believe Lang and Brown will break out of their slumps sooner rather than later. 

On to the matchup, this one isn't difficult to break down. They have one very good player. Robinson #1, is a 6'5'' forward who is averaging nearly 20 a game, largely due to volume shooting as he only shoots 42% from the floor. No other player averages double digits, and watching them play, I didn't see another quality player on their roster. A couple of their guys are capable of making a play here or there, but none are anything to be concerned about. Which brings us to gameplan. Do you devote a ton of attention to their primary scorer to try and prevent him from going off, or do you guard him with one man, and be sure to limit the rest of the team. I'm more in the camp of one man can't beat you, even if he gets 20-25 points, as they will need another 50+ to win.

When we are in offense we should be able to get good looks, as we will have some favorable matchups. They are small at the guard position and slow at the post, and other than #1 and #11, both small forwards, they don't boat much athleticism. I keep looking for some strategy breakdown where Boston College out plays us, but I just don't see it. Their isn't much Boston College can do other than hope Auburn doesn't show up to play. Which, with a group of freshman leading the way, is always something to consider. We haven't really had much of a let down game to this point, the second half vs Purdue wasn't pretty, but not really a let down. That is my only concern for this game, how do we show up at tip off. 

I believe Vegas has us favored by 8 or so, and it could easily be 14. I think we score into the 80s and get it done. They haven't played any team with an RPI above 83, and their best win is over a RPI 191 Towson team. I think we get it done with a good defensive effort. If our shooters get it going, it could get ugly. 

Go get em boys. 5:30 on FS1.

Edited December 12, 2016 by JwgreDeux

[FoundationEagle 637]

Thanks. I've begun looking forward to these so I can know what to expect without having to spend too much time researching on my own. Thanks for helping me be a lazy BBall fan!  I really don't have the time anyways, but these sure do help.   Hoping our guys come out refreshed and ready to play instead of rusty and lazy. These long breaks can produce funny results. 

[auburntiger1987 759]

This is a game id like to see brown and mustafa use their athleticism to open it up.  can't wait to see this game on a real tv channel again

[gravejd 3,267]

I'm looking for the team to come out and play with the intention of putting BC away early and not letting off the gas. There have been several games this year where it looked like we were about to run away with the game only to have the other team hang around and make it close at the end. Our young guys have to learn to go hard non-stop regardless of the score. When we get up we tend to get a little sloppy so this should be a good opportunity to work on that issue. 

[JwgreDeux 1,279]

One item I meant to mention in the OP. The court for this game is likely to have the college three point line as well as the NBA three point line. Often times you will see players spot up behind the NBA three, beyond their normal range. Part of it is wanted to prove something, and it can also be unintentional at times. Speaking from some experience, it is almost a pride thing, stepping inside the NBA line and up to the college line. So keep an eye on our shooters for this phenomenon. 

[FoundationEagle 637]

4 hours ago, JwgreDeux said:

One item I meant to mention in the OP. The court for this game is likely to have the college three point line as well as the NBA three point line. Often times you will see players spot up behind the NBA three, beyond their normal range. Part of it is wanted to prove something, and it can also be unintentional at times. Speaking from some experience, it is almost a pride thing, stepping inside the NBA line and up to the college line. So keep an eye on our shooters for this phenomenon. 

Good catch. It seems our shooters like deep threes anyways so I wouldn't be surprised to see them behind the nba line

[jared52 4,354]

Can't count on this AU team yet. Made BC look outstanding all night with poor play everywhere. That's a very, very bad loss. 

[wareagletk 3]

Got killed on the boards tonight 

[tigeraddikt 1,590]

I'm pissed at this effort. I came on here to bust on your analysis for this game, but I re-read the OP and saw your caveat about "if they show up." They didn't until it was too late. What an effing shameful loss against a sorry team that magically shows up and shows off against the Tigers. Dang.

[FoundationEagle 637]

Just now, jared52 said:

Can't count on this AU team yet. Made BC look outstanding all night with poor play everywhere. That's a very, very bad loss. 

Understatement iyam. This was a HORRIBLE team that bested us in every way. If this is just one bad game, then fine. If this is who we are, NIT is way out of reach.  Very disturbed by the complete and total lack of any offensive game plan what so ever. We seriously must have the lowest assist ratio in the country. We literally have 4 guys stand in one spot and pray that the guy with ball can do something. I'd love to hear from sommeone that has seen practices. Do we practice actual plays in practice?  I don't see how as this our game plan every single week. It seems tougher every week because other teams now see we don't run any actual offense and just play man to man defense and know we will miss more than we make. I know at 6-2 is early to throw in the towel, so I'm not yet, but our offense has less planning than a Lebo team, and that is very concerning.  No excuse whatsoever for this amount of talent to have no clue what to do for an entire game on offense. Hell, the literal call out of the time out with time left for one shot was to get the ball to Purifoy and hope he can score on his own without a single pick, screen, misdirection, NOTHING. Just pass him the ball and hope. Unbelievably bad game plan. 

[jared52 4,354]

8 minutes ago, tigeraddikt said:

I'm pissed at this effort. I came on here to bust on your analysis for this game, but I re-read the OP and saw your caveat about "if they show up." They didn't until it was too late. What an effing shameful loss against a sorry team that magically shows up and shows off against the Tigers. Dang.

BC is a bad team. You could tell they don't have the athletes to play with AU. AU cold tell that too but they sort of forgot that they still have to play the game. That red headed guard took AU to the cleaners the last 5 min of the game. Just completely embarrassed Harper, Brown, and anyone else who tried to guard him. That kid wanted it. AU did not. That was the difference in this one. 

Edited December 13, 2016 by jared52

[JwgreDeux 1,279]

15 hours ago, tigeraddikt said:

I'm pissed at this effort. I came on here to bust on your analysis for this game, but I re-read the OP and saw your caveat about "if they show up." They didn't until it was too late. What an effing shameful loss against a sorry team that magically shows up and shows off against the Tigers. Dang.

Too bad our boys didn't show up with that edge last night.  

[boomstick 1,315]

23 hours ago, JwgreDeux said:

One item I meant to mention in the OP. The court for this game is likely to have the college three point line as well as the NBA three point line. Often times you will see players spot up behind the NBA three, beyond their normal range. Part of it is wanted to prove something, and it can also be unintentional at times. Speaking from some experience, it is almost a pride thing, stepping inside the NBA line and up to the college line. So keep an eye on our shooters for this phenomenon. 

Great observation. It happened several times last night. Disappointing loss for sure, but I'm not as down on this team as it seems a lot of Auburn faithful are. With their youth and inexperience, it seems a game or two like this is inevitable. We had a bad night from the floor and seemed to panic and press to make shots go in, which led to taking worse shots and playing out of control. I feel like there's a lot more for this team to learn from a game like this than a game like the Purdue loss. Hopefully, they respond well on Thursday. Getting Dunans back on the court won't hurt either.