BG vs EMU Game Thread

[Rollo83]

Crawford was not nearly as bad as you are making him out to be. Calhoun was awful with horrible passes and shots. Just did not play a smart game. And we shot 34% from the field. Crawford was not all that bad tonight.

True. He wasn't as bad in this game as he often is. But his mistakes in this game came at crucial points of the contest. Last five minutes he took it to the hoop against their seven footer and got it blocked (doesn't show up as a turnover but should), makes an errant pass that gets picked off, misses the front end of a crucial one-and-one situation.

Not saying he lost the game single handily for us, because you're right...what the hell was that no-look, behind the back pass in a crowded key by Calhoun?

We desperately need a point guard we can hand the ball to at crunch time and
know he'll make good decisions.

[BleedOrange]

At 5-6, Crawford is NOT quick enough to compensate for his lack of height. Furthermore, at 5-6, you need to be a consistent shooter to justify minutes.

At any height, to be an effective full-time point guard, you must make good decisions with the basketball. Crawford is obviously trying to prove something by constantly trying to score against players 14 inches taller. In reality, he's proving the exact opposite: he's too short and not a smart enough.

[Globetrotter]

I still think you are underrating what he brings to the table. He is a headache for the other team on both sides of the ball and a ridiculous ball handler. At many times tonight we saw what will basically be our starting lineup next year with Clarke-Crawford-Thomas-Calhoun and Black (probably with Sealy in place of Thomas).

The players seem unprepared and the offense is atrocious for the athleticism we have. Time to move on.

[Globetrotter]

At 5-6, Crawford is NOT quick enough to compensate for his lack of height. Furthermore, at 5-6, you need to be a consistent shooter to justify minutes.

At any height, to be an effective full-time point guard, you must make good decisions with the basketball. Crawford is obviously trying to prove something by constantly trying to score against players 14 inches taller. In reality, he's proving the exact opposite: he's too short and not a smart enough.

He is plenty quick enough. I do agree that he needs to stop trying to challenge big guys but he has to penetrate and take it all the way in so that this is atleast a threat in the offense. He has been succesful at times. For all of the hate on him on here he is probably the best PG we have had since Brandon Pardon. And I dont see him as a shoot first point guard at all. Is that part of his game...sure but I think he would much rather penetrate and dish...He can't pass it to himself.

I do want to caveat all that with I am in complete agreement that he needs to slow down and take more control of his game. There are times when he does that that he is the most dangerous guy on the court. When he does not he can be a turnover machine.

PSS. Near the end of the game when he attacked the basket he clearly got fouled and they no called. He has to take it hard to the basket and act better apparently.

[zete]

I'd venture that if a Herb Sendek, Gary Waters, Ben Braun, Thad Matta, or Jim Callipari (UMass circa 1992), they'd have BG winning 23+ per year and in ...



someone posted this a while back and it still holds true today

[hammb]

At 5-6, Crawford is NOT quick enough to compensate for his lack of height. Furthermore, at 5-6, you need to be a consistent shooter to justify minutes.

At any height, to be an effective full-time point guard, you must make good decisions with the basketball. Crawford is obviously trying to prove something by constantly trying to score against players 14 inches taller. In reality, he's proving the exact opposite: he's too short and not a smart enough.

He is plenty quick enough. I do agree that he needs to stop trying to challenge big guys but he has to penetrate and take it all the way in so that this is atleast a threat in the offense. He has been succesful at times. For all of the hate on him on here he is probably the best PG we have had since Brandon Pardon. And I dont see him as a shoot first point guard at all. Is that part of his game...sure but I think he would much rather penetrate and dish...He can't pass it to himself.

I disagree about that entirely. I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've seen Crawford drive and dish the ball. He just doesn't see the floor well and he's not a crisp passer. He's really more of a SG but he's way too small to play that position.

And you may be right that he's our best PG since Brandon Pardon (although I think Steven Wright was probably on par with Crawford), but that's really not saying much. Our guard play has been abysmal (other than 2 years of Ron Lewis) since '02. It continues to be abysmal and that is, again, why we suck.

[Globetrotter]

What guys who are open and moving without the ball is he missing? I definitely dont think he is some elite passer allthough he does flash that ability. He is just woefully inconsistent. He will make a tight pass to a cutting Calhoun and then throw it directly to a guy for the opposing team. I don't think what he is today is necessarily what he has to be next year.

[Flipper]

None of our guards are that good at looking for the open man off a screen..when a big sets a screen in the high post and rolls to the basket you have to be looking for that pass quickly. We either don't see it or see it after the defense has reacted to it. Crawford's biggest problem...in my view..is that he drives the lane and doesn't look for an opportunity to pass and then finds himself to deep within the lane to do anything but attempt a shot in close over guys a foot to a foot and a half taller than he is.

I thought he looked like a guy who was going to come on at the outset of this season...but he's just so inconsistent...I'm getting to the point where I think he's not going to be able to do enough to overome his height

[Flipper]

And I think hammb and Globe are selling John Floyd short...Opie would assault Crawford

[HoopsFan]

John Floyd....now there's a nightmare from the past.

The point is, BG Men's basketball has been pretty mediocre since Dakich II.

I'm real close to bagging this season.

[hammb]

None of our guards are that good at looking for the open man off a screen..when a big sets a screen in the high post and rolls to the basket you have to be looking for that pass quickly. We either don't see it or see it after the defense has reacted to it. Crawford's biggest problem...in my view..is that he drives the lane and doesn't look for an opportunity to pass and then finds himself to deep within the lane to do anything but attempt a shot in close over guys a foot to a foot and a half taller than he is.

I thought he looked like a guy who was going to come on at the outset of this season...but he's just so inconsistent...I'm getting to the point where I think he's not going to be able to do enough to overome his height

That's exactly what I think too, Flip. When he drives, I don't see him looking to create for his teammates off that at all. It's almost always to get to the basket himself or to take a step back jumper off the penetration.

The problem is that he is A) not a good jump shooter, B) not big enough to finish near the rim in traffic, and C) not good enough to draw fouls either (quite likely because of his size people don't foul him). Either way, I think he's a liability as a PG. Now that's not to say that I think there is a better option on this team, I haven't seen enough of Clarke to think that just yet. I'm just saying I don't think Crawford is a good enough PG to win with.

And while I'm not ready to say he's going to be the same player next year he is today, I will argue that he's largely the same player today that he was last year....not seeing a whole lot of improvement from him yet. He's shooting a little better, and his assists per game are up, but his turnovers are WAY up, his Assist:TO ratio is way down.

I loved Crawford as a part time guy, and I still think he can bring some things to the table in that role. I just don't think he's consistent enough to be counted on as your full time PG if you want to win a MAC title.

[Globetrotter]

Shoot first point guards don't usually end up fourth all time in assists for their schools. I know numbers are not everything but that one is pretty staggering. He is on pace to be just that.

[hammb]

With an assist to turnover ratio as bad as Crawford's I wouldn't care if he set the NCAA record for total assists. All that tells me is that he played so many minutes he racked up a big counting stat. Largely because we're so devoid of PG talent that we have to play a player of his ability 30 minutes a night.

In Pardon's 2 years here his Assist to Turnover ratio was 1.89 as a Jr. and 2.32 as a Sr. Crawford's has been 1.23, 1.88, and now 1.23. All of these ratios are also with pretty low apg numbers (a career high 4.6 apg this year).

If he could have increased his assists this year while maintaining last year's ratio, I would have been happy, but that hasn't happened at all. And I cannot remember more than one or two "highlight" type passes from him in 3 years time.

If you're telling me that he is on pace to finish top 5 assists all time I'm going to respond that BG must not have had many decent PGs that played for 4 years. And Flip's right, even the terrible John Floyd managed a better A:TO ratio than what Crawford is putting up in his 3rd year in our system.

I'm sorry, I don't see him as worthy of starters' minutes. His speed and quickness is an asset off the bench, but we'd be much better off if we had a more consistent starter at PG.

[Globetrotter]

I'm sorry, I don't see him as worthy of starters' minutes. His speed and quickness is an asset off the bench, but we'd be much better off if we had a more consistent starter at PG.

I cant argue with wanting him to be more consistent and less turnover prone, but I still don't see a shoot first guy. He was clearly better then JoeJack last year and I am not sure I disagree with you on him being worhty of starters minutes. About 20-25 a game makes sense to me..and although that seems like starters minutes I would start him and when he is hot keep him in and when he is Akron game cold ice him. I am pretty confident in saying that he will start next year, seeing where he played with Clarke on the floor last game does not make me confident to say it will be at the 1.

[Flipper]

Watch him when he drives the lane....he's looking for his shot first..not a dish to a big. I'm not looking solely at numbers I'm looking at his approach to the game.