18 TOs is crazy bad as that is what killed us last year and the beginning of this season.

Lucky to have won this as it got messy with missed passes and shot clock violations. We had a difficult time with St Joes D. I was also wondering if we were being outcoached somewhat.

Good to see FTs continuing to do well.

I like that Drew plays 11 guys. St Joes played 7 and 3 played all 40 minutes.
We probably have the deepest bench in the A10, or close to it.
Playing so many guy keeps many in good spirits and mostly fresh and let's hope able to handle the stretch of games forthcoming and into tournament play.

Would have liked a better turn out, but it is Valentine's Day.

As we are now tied for 1st, let's just let that sink in!
Go Blers!

This just in from the A10!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ILu_eBE657uuNMn70O62q67IoeRt-Q2v/view?usp=drivesdk

Just kidding, but A10 should consider sending it!

1. There 7 footer did not play. YOu can tell they wanted this game as the two Brown's and Reynolds all played 40 minutes. Reynolds and X Brown are two of the quickest guards.lightening fast. I am thinking we did not see a whole lot of Dolan because coach may have thought he was a defensive mis-match for those two guards. I thought Norris really played some hard defense on those two but man they hit some-difficult shots.Talking to a St.Joe fan after the game and he said X Brown was one of the top high school players in PHilly. They are very excited about him. With NLI will be interesting to see if they can keep him. Hope our centers get more efficient handling double teams.Feels like Phil is getting a little better. His assist to Adelekun was big. I know 18 turnovers is a lot but I thought St.Joes played good defense and had a good defensive plan. They struck me as being well coached. We got zoned again today maybe 5 or 6 possessions. Seems like everyone zones us a little these days. 81% from the line.Braden Norris had 7 assists tonight , what are we going to do without him...Gonna miss his tenacity and intelligence. I think he has worked his way into my personal Loyola top 10.
This team has so many parts and Coach seems to mixing and matching the pieces. Thought he played to the defensive side of things tonight which seemed to be the right decision.
Exciting game again...

Worst to first in one year is, obviously, a pretty impressive turn around.

The next game against RI should be a win.

After that, we have a tricky three game stretch against GM, @ St. Bon and against Dayton. It seems like we awakened GM with a win on their court last week. I expect them to be gunning for us.

@Rhode Island will not be easy. They have an excellent coach (Archie Miller) and winning on the road is always tough. URI has home wins over Joe's, UMass and La Salle. In their last two games, they blew out GW on the road by 23 (much better score than our road game @GW...) and barely lost to 5th place UMass by 2 points @UMass.

Six games left. We are a couple wins away from clinching the double bye. And obviously right in line for at least a share of the regular season championship.

Winning ugly.

Couple pet peeves and observations from last night: What was up with all of those lolli-pop lobs from top of the key/corners into our guys down low? That was an invitation for more turnovers. Another move was Drew removing some of the starters, while up 16-0. Quickly afterwards, Joes entered back into the game, and stayed in the game until the end. Nobody was in foul trouble, so why not ride them?

We suck at breaking apart zone.

One thing that's noticeable about this team is under 5 minutes left in the game, we've become a dangerous team (late game comebacks, the runs, holding others scoreless, etc). I don't think there's anyone better at controlling the situation, closing out the game, and doing so with patience. We excel at it. We play very comfortably in these tight games which have been almost each of the 10 A-10 wins.


The old official (Jamie Luckie) needs to retire. He's had some really bad games with us. Found some really entertaining info on the Athletic this am, because I wanted to learn about who this guy is.



He does not like section 104, and the guys on the end of the bench.

Couple of Add-ons
1. Was Jamie Luckie the old official last night? If so seems like one of those refs that wants to be the guy....just baiting coaches hoping he can call a technical....the other officials just kind of disappear.
2. Although Sheldon has really done a great job . did people at the game think he passed up some 3's in the last 5 minutes? like he didnt want to shoot them ?
3. Lot of fouls called away from the ball last night..on screens etc.
4. Mwamba seems to be getting a little more comfortable, taking the ball to the hoop rather than chucking up 3's
5. I wonder if our Bulgarian recruit was at the game last night? Oops just saw Sloth's post.

Noticed this too, think it was the result of the ill advised step back 3 he took in the second half, immediately put his hand up saying “his bad” on the way back down on D. Think he was a little hesitant after that

Agree with everything that’s been said. I’m a broken record on this, but I’m curious if (especially with Phil out and another shooter) doing a high or short corner pick and roll with Miles might result in some more dunks/opps for him. It’s simple, but there’s a reason NBA offenses are built around that action

A couple more add-ons to the add ons:

1. Drew is on a roll - as much as he did not impress me the first month of the season, he is impressing me more now. He has figured out the strength of each of his players and is pushing all the right buttons. Somebody mentioned how the guard match ups did not favor Dolan....so he limited his minutes. Mwamba had his best game of the season - by far - and Drew read it and increased his minutes. Had Mwamba guarding Reynolds a bit in the first half - and I think that helped slow him down toward the end of the first half.

2. St Joes is a really good team. Unbelievable guard play. I think X Brown is the best player I have seen at the Joe this year. Their bigs don't provide a lot of offense - but they are very active and play great defense. We were fortunate to catch them with 2 starter out. Though if Greer plays, the minutes and contribution of Brown would be reduced. This is a dangerous team in the A10 tourney.

3. Braden didn't have a lot of points. But a great and gutsy performance. For all Brown's brilliance - I thought Braden played really good clean defense all night. Was also terrific on breaking the press down the stretch....and of course the 2 huge free throws after taking one in the mouth.

4. We were on the refs pretty hard last night - especially our friend Luckie (we sit in section 104). But after watching the game on the DVR - they actually called a pretty good game. We HAVE to stop the offensive fouls away from the ball
and the defensive fouls 30 feet from the basket (Miles!). Putting teams in the bonus with 12 minutes to go is going to catch up to us.

5. The re-emergence of Sheldon is a godsend. What a sweet stroke. And while I don't think he passed up any shots. He hesitated on one that he should have fired - and head faked his way into a tougher shot. But he knew it immediately and was pointing at himself. I am sure he has a license to fire away....as he should.

6. Dawson is struggling with his shot since returning. But he will get it back....and he and Sheldon will make a lethal combo.

We in 107 were also riding the refs pretty hard and honestly i think thats the job of fans. In order to have a proper home court advantage we absolutely need to be vocal beyond just clapping and cheering. I love hearing fans get on the refs.