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Observations After Two Games

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These are Not Your Father’s Friars
I can’t remember the last time that the Friars were this tall. At one part last night PC had a lineup on the floor consisting of 7’0 Carson Desrosiers, 6’10 Kadeem Batts, 6’9 Tyler Harris, 6’6 LaDontae Henton, and 6’5 Josh Fortune. Having all this height will enable Cooley to play a number of different combinations in games and should give the Friars the opportunity to exploit match-ups against other teams. The down side is that teams with great speed may cause their own matchup problems for the taller Friars. It is almost physically impossible for PC to “go small” with the players they currently have in their rotation.

Make Your Free Throws
The Friars shot 17 for 19 against Brown last night and over two games they are shooting an incredible 85.5% from the free throw line. Obviously, maintaining that percentage for a season’s entirety will be tough, but PC does have a number players with a nice shooting touch from the free throw line. In a year when more free throws may be taken than ever before, due to the new rules changes, this is huge.

Cotton’s Threes
Through the first two games Bryce Cotton has only made two three point shots, he’s currently 2-8 from beyond the arc. What is missing from his game right now? Having the ball in his hands for 85% game has severely eliminated Cotton’s “catch and shoot” three point opportunities. Although he has a very good pull up jumper, this shot has been effectively contested by opposing teams so far. The Friars are going to have to find ways to free up Bryce for some “catch and shoot” three point opportunities. He was able to contribute 9 assists in the Brown game though.

Rebounding
LaDontae Henton said before the season that he wanted to lead the Big East in rebounding. So far he is off to a great start averaging 10.5 RPG through two contests. The Friars in general have been great on the boards so far, out rebounding their opponents by over 13 per game. This trend will need to continue as they face tougher teams and hopefully rebounding will wind up being a big advantage for the entire season.

Field Goal Percentage
The Friars were not a great shooting team last year and they are not off to a good start this year either. In particular, Bryce Cotton (.344) and Tyler Harris (.368) will need to pick up their shooting percentage in order for the Friars to have success and improve on their overall .408 field goal percentage which right now is 254th in the country.

One Comment

  1. Dan Duffy

    November 15, 2013 at 1:20 pm

    Where was Kofane against Brown?

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