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Monday, December 04, 2006
Bucknell coach Pat Flannery shook up his starting lineup and the Bison responded with a big win against George Mason.
By CHRIS A. COUROGEN
Of Hoop Time
Donald Brown is not a three-man. Never has been. Probably never will be.
Not that Pat Flannery didn't try to make him one. And why not? It seemed like an obvious solution to Bucknell's need to replace Charles Lee at the small forward spot.
Brown has the athleticism. A long, springy 6-6 kid, he has the prototypical three-man body.
After two stellar seasons off the bench, moving Brown, who had already played starter-like minutes, into the starting lineup made sense.
Except for one small problem.
Donald Brown is not a three. Doesn't have the handle. Doesn't have the range.
Brown is what Dickie V. might call a Windex kind of guy. He needs to be around the glass to be effective.
So it was no surprise when Flannery called off the Brown-as-a-three experiment after seven games and reconfigured his starting lineup prior to Sunday's 60-57 win over George Mason in the BB&T Classic in Washington. How he did it might have been a little surprising, though, moving Brown to the power forward spot that has been occupied by junior Darren Mastropaolo for the better part of the past two seasons and inserting sophomore Jason Vegosky on a wing.
The move surprises a little because it results in the loss of Mastropaolo's beefy, 6-8 presence in the starting lineup. Even though Brown probably played more minutes at the four than Mastropaolo last season, he did it coming off the bench because of Flannery's desire to set a tone early with the officials.
Mastropaolo's physical presence lost out to Brown's offensive potency. With Bucknell struggling to find its rhythm on offense, making a strong first impression on the refs take a back seat to making a favorable impression on the scoreboard.
How well it works will best be judged at the end of the season, but for one game anyhow, it was a smash success. Brown went 6 for 6 from the field, finishing with 16 points and 9 rebounds. The guards tied a season high with 8 three-pointers, and the Bison won a showdown between two of the east coast's mid-major media darlings.
The move paid off early, with Vegotsky hitting a pair of early treys that stabilized Bucknell while it found its legs. Then Brown got going. It was his rebound of John Vaughn's missed three-pointer that got Bucknell the ball, down 8-6 with 15:05 to play in the first half. And it was Brown's offensive rebound putback 40 seconds later that tied the game at 8-8 and started a 9-0 run that gave the Bison a lead they never relinquished. Brown had another bucket in that run, a layin after he came up with his first of two steals.
The other five points on that run came from Justin Castleberry, who appears to have won the role of first guard off the bench. Castleberry, who grew up near D.C. and went to high school at Archbishop Spalding, finished with 7 points and three assists in 17 strong minutes of action.
"(Bucknell) hit a couple of threes early that gave them the lead and some confidence," said Mason coach Jim Larranaga.
Later in the half, after Mason had closed the gap to 5, Brown again got Bucknell going, putting together a pair of old-fashioned three-point plays to push Bucknell's lead to 10.
"We wanted to get another handler in there. That opened up the lane a little bit for Donald Brown," Flannery said. "We wanted to stretch the floor and get another shooter in there."
The Bison led by 13, 33-20, at the half and pushed it to 15 on their first possesion of the second half on a John Griffin off-balance jumper at the top of the key that came as the shot clock was expiring. It was the first of four shot-clock beaters in the second half for the Bison, who got some sort of karmic payback for all the threes Northern Iowa racked up Saturday in clock down situations. Badmus, who finished with 8 points, all in the second half, did it twice, once for a three-pointer, on back-to-back possessions with around five minutes to play. Griffin (13 points) also had a huge trey with the clock down to two seconds and just under two minutes to go.
"They were coming down and hitting big shots," said Mason's Folarin Campbell, who hit some big shots for the patriots, finishing with a game-high 20 points.
That proved to be a huge bucket. It was the last field goal Bucknell would score and provided a 53-44 margin that was big enough to allow a weary ballclub to hold on despite a desperate Mason charge in the final 1:34. Twice the Patriots cut the Bison lead to three, each time Bucknell responded by making clutch free throws, going 5 for 6 at the line in the final 16 seconds, all of which proved neccessary when Mason's Folarin Campbell hit a 40-foot heave at the buzzer.
NOTES: Chris McNaughton struggled on offense (1 for 4, 6 points, 3 turnovers), but his defensive presence was huge. Unable to find gaps in Bucknell's matchup zone much of the night, mason tried and tried to toss it down low to 6-7 junior Will Thomas, who then would try to back down McNaughton or Mastropaolo, Thomas, who came in averaging 13.8 points, finished with just 8 after a 4 for 12 shooting night . . . Bucknell outrebounded Mason 29-24 . . . In addition to leading Bucknell in scoring and rebounding, Brown also had two big blocked shots . . . Bucknell shot 56.5 percent in the first half (13 of 23) and finished the game at 52.8 percent from the field . . . The Bison shot fairly accurately in the second half, but not very often, going 6 for 13 (46.2 percent) . . . 3 of the 6 second half field goals for the Bison came outside the arc . . . For a change, no Bison in foul trouble, Nobody had more than 3 . . . Bucknell's defense solid throughout, especially in the first half when Mason shot 9 of 24 (37.5 percent) . . . Mason improved to 45.2 percent in the second half, finishing 23 of 55 (41.8 percent), 7 of 21 (33.3 percent) from the arc . . . In 24 back-to-back game situations under Flannery, Bucknell has now won the second game after losing the first 7 times . . . After 4 games in 8 days and 2 in 24 hours, the Bison are off until Dec. 16 for finals . . . after finals, the Bison will play five more non-conference games, all away from home, before opening league play against Navy Jan. 6
Postgame audio (Bucknell and GMU press conferences)
Gameblog
GAME STORY LINKS: | | | |
By CHRIS A. COUROGEN
Of Hoop Time
Donald Brown is not a three-man. Never has been. Probably never will be.
Not that Pat Flannery didn't try to make him one. And why not? It seemed like an obvious solution to Bucknell's need to replace Charles Lee at the small forward spot.
Brown has the athleticism. A long, springy 6-6 kid, he has the prototypical three-man body.
After two stellar seasons off the bench, moving Brown, who had already played starter-like minutes, into the starting lineup made sense.
Except for one small problem.
Donald Brown is not a three. Doesn't have the handle. Doesn't have the range.
Brown is what Dickie V. might call a Windex kind of guy. He needs to be around the glass to be effective.
So it was no surprise when Flannery called off the Brown-as-a-three experiment after seven games and reconfigured his starting lineup prior to Sunday's 60-57 win over George Mason in the BB&T Classic in Washington. How he did it might have been a little surprising, though, moving Brown to the power forward spot that has been occupied by junior Darren Mastropaolo for the better part of the past two seasons and inserting sophomore Jason Vegosky on a wing.
The move surprises a little because it results in the loss of Mastropaolo's beefy, 6-8 presence in the starting lineup. Even though Brown probably played more minutes at the four than Mastropaolo last season, he did it coming off the bench because of Flannery's desire to set a tone early with the officials.
Mastropaolo's physical presence lost out to Brown's offensive potency. With Bucknell struggling to find its rhythm on offense, making a strong first impression on the refs take a back seat to making a favorable impression on the scoreboard.
How well it works will best be judged at the end of the season, but for one game anyhow, it was a smash success. Brown went 6 for 6 from the field, finishing with 16 points and 9 rebounds. The guards tied a season high with 8 three-pointers, and the Bison won a showdown between two of the east coast's mid-major media darlings.
The move paid off early, with Vegotsky hitting a pair of early treys that stabilized Bucknell while it found its legs. Then Brown got going. It was his rebound of John Vaughn's missed three-pointer that got Bucknell the ball, down 8-6 with 15:05 to play in the first half. And it was Brown's offensive rebound putback 40 seconds later that tied the game at 8-8 and started a 9-0 run that gave the Bison a lead they never relinquished. Brown had another bucket in that run, a layin after he came up with his first of two steals.
The other five points on that run came from Justin Castleberry, who appears to have won the role of first guard off the bench. Castleberry, who grew up near D.C. and went to high school at Archbishop Spalding, finished with 7 points and three assists in 17 strong minutes of action.
"(Bucknell) hit a couple of threes early that gave them the lead and some confidence," said Mason coach Jim Larranaga.
Later in the half, after Mason had closed the gap to 5, Brown again got Bucknell going, putting together a pair of old-fashioned three-point plays to push Bucknell's lead to 10.
"We wanted to get another handler in there. That opened up the lane a little bit for Donald Brown," Flannery said. "We wanted to stretch the floor and get another shooter in there."
The Bison led by 13, 33-20, at the half and pushed it to 15 on their first possesion of the second half on a John Griffin off-balance jumper at the top of the key that came as the shot clock was expiring. It was the first of four shot-clock beaters in the second half for the Bison, who got some sort of karmic payback for all the threes Northern Iowa racked up Saturday in clock down situations. Badmus, who finished with 8 points, all in the second half, did it twice, once for a three-pointer, on back-to-back possessions with around five minutes to play. Griffin (13 points) also had a huge trey with the clock down to two seconds and just under two minutes to go.
"They were coming down and hitting big shots," said Mason's Folarin Campbell, who hit some big shots for the patriots, finishing with a game-high 20 points.
That proved to be a huge bucket. It was the last field goal Bucknell would score and provided a 53-44 margin that was big enough to allow a weary ballclub to hold on despite a desperate Mason charge in the final 1:34. Twice the Patriots cut the Bison lead to three, each time Bucknell responded by making clutch free throws, going 5 for 6 at the line in the final 16 seconds, all of which proved neccessary when Mason's Folarin Campbell hit a 40-foot heave at the buzzer.
NOTES: Chris McNaughton struggled on offense (1 for 4, 6 points, 3 turnovers), but his defensive presence was huge. Unable to find gaps in Bucknell's matchup zone much of the night, mason tried and tried to toss it down low to 6-7 junior Will Thomas, who then would try to back down McNaughton or Mastropaolo, Thomas, who came in averaging 13.8 points, finished with just 8 after a 4 for 12 shooting night . . . Bucknell outrebounded Mason 29-24 . . . In addition to leading Bucknell in scoring and rebounding, Brown also had two big blocked shots . . . Bucknell shot 56.5 percent in the first half (13 of 23) and finished the game at 52.8 percent from the field . . . The Bison shot fairly accurately in the second half, but not very often, going 6 for 13 (46.2 percent) . . . 3 of the 6 second half field goals for the Bison came outside the arc . . . For a change, no Bison in foul trouble, Nobody had more than 3 . . . Bucknell's defense solid throughout, especially in the first half when Mason shot 9 of 24 (37.5 percent) . . . Mason improved to 45.2 percent in the second half, finishing 23 of 55 (41.8 percent), 7 of 21 (33.3 percent) from the arc . . . In 24 back-to-back game situations under Flannery, Bucknell has now won the second game after losing the first 7 times . . . After 4 games in 8 days and 2 in 24 hours, the Bison are off until Dec. 16 for finals . . . after finals, the Bison will play five more non-conference games, all away from home, before opening league play against Navy Jan. 6
GAME STORY LINKS: | | | |
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