Bishop Brossart 75 Mason County 47

[mcpapa]

Final. Eilerman and Schumacher easily outscored the Royals by themselves (34 and 21). Jumped out 11-0, Lofton with 3 fouls in the first 5 minutes and that was all she wrote. At one point the score was 40 to 16. Royals cut it to 46-32 but that was as close as they would get. A couple of observations.

 

Mason County is extremely vulnerable in what is by all accounts a bad district.

 

For a a team who pretty much plays nobody over 6’4”, they have the ten longest arms of any basketball team I’ve seen in a while.

[mcpapa]

And a question for my Brossart friends. How did the team I watched tonight lose to Calvary?

[Mustang]

And a question for my Brossart friends. How did the team I watched tonight lose to Calvary?

 

I'll take a whack at it. This is hindsight and not second guessing.

First of all, Mason Rusch is very, very, good and extremely quick. He was the best player on the floor on that afternoon, and since we play man to man, exploited our guards who could not contain him on defense, which contributed to his scoring 26 points, which is a bunch when our offense was less than stellar.

Me thinks that most of the D-III teams that have defeated them play 2-3 zones which would encourage them to shoot from the perimiter where they would be ordinary.

We played with nothing close to the intensity that we brought with us to the Fieldhouse tonight.

I think that a combination of them being better against man to man, where Rusch can shine and our not being at the top of the game contributed to our demise.

 

I also think, after watching us play tonight, that we need to send them gift cards for perhaps providing a welcome wake up call.

[XregCoach]

I'll take a whack at it. This is hindsight and not second guessing.

First of all, Mason Rusch is very, very, good and extremely quick. He was the best player on the floor on that afternoon, and since we play man to man, exploited our guards who could not contain him on defense, which contributed to his scoring 26 points, which is a bunch when our offense was less than stellar.

Me thinks that most of the D-III teams that have defeated them play 2-3 zones which would encourage them to shoot from the perimiter where they would be ordinary.

We played with nothing close to the intensity that we brought with us to the Fieldhouse tonight.

I think that a combination of them being better against man to man, where Rusch can shine and our not being at the top of the game contributed to our demise.

 

I also think, after watching us play tonight, that we need to send them gift cards for perhaps providing a welcome wake up call.

 

Mustang is spot on his analysis. At some point people need to take the "Yeah, but he plays at a small school" tag off of Mason Rusch. This is a kid who had representatives from multiple top tier Region 10 teams asking him to come be with them. He's really that good.

 

Also like Mustang said, the diii teams who have knocked off Calvary packed a tight zone, took good care of the ball, and sent multiple bodies at Rusch. The Cougars don't start anyone over 6'0. Also, they have shooters like Rusch and Cross Dugan, but perimeter shooting isn't really their MO. So they typically don't thrive in a slow, grind-it-out game. But if you let them get in transition and play a fast-paced up and down game where they can play in space... they're not an easy out. When they played at Scott a couple weeks, it was a 6 point game with two minutes left. Fouls and free throws ballooned the loss to 12-14, I think. But that was deceptive to how competitive they were.

 

But what it came down to in the BB game, was they showed up defensively. Several coaches and players said it was the best defensive effort they've had -- maybe ever.

 

37th District is shaping up nicely.

[flipdaddy31]

I'll take a whack at it. This is hindsight and not second guessing.

First of all, Mason Rusch is very, very, good and extremely quick. He was the best player on the floor on that afternoon, and since we play man to man, exploited our guards who could not contain him on defense, which contributed to his scoring 26 points, which is a bunch when our offense was less than stellar.

Me thinks that most of the D-III teams that have defeated them play 2-3 zones which would encourage them to shoot from the perimiter where they would be ordinary.

We played with nothing close to the intensity that we brought with us to the Fieldhouse tonight.

I think that a combination of them being better against man to man, where Rusch can shine and our not being at the top of the game contributed to our demise.

 

I also think, after watching us play tonight, that we need to send them gift cards for perhaps providing a welcome wake up call.

 

Zones have definitely slowed Calvary and Rusch down this year. Making for some boring, drawn out games. Against Dayton (at Dayton), Calvary literally held the ball for the whole 3rd quarter up by 5 waiting for Dayton to come out of their packed zone. They did not come out of their zone and Calvary won the chess match in the end and then blew Dayton out at home. Calvary is fun to watch in the open floor. I wonder has mcpapa seen Calvary play? One of the reporters from the region finally came to a Calvary game, but it was at Silver Grove, because he thought that he would see a good game between the two teams. That seemed a little insulting, especially to Calvary who plays at a much higher level. It was sad that they didn't know that. Who covers the upper 10th region and the 37th district besides Mustang? I appreciate the positive, honest, and thorough job he does in covering Brossart and who they play against.

[XregCoach]

Zones have definitely slowed Calvary and Rusch down this year. Making for some boring, drawn out games. Against Dayton (at Dayton), Calvary literally held the ball for the whole 3rd quarter up by 5 waiting for Dayton to come out of their packed zone. They did not come out of their zone and Calvary won the chess match in the end and then blew Dayton out at home. Calvary is fun to watch in the open floor. I wonder has mcpapa seen Calvary play? One of the reporters from the region finally came to a Calvary game, but it was at Silver Grove, because he thought that he would see a good game between the two teams. That seemed a little insulting, especially to Calvary who plays at a much higher level. It was sad that they didn't know that. Who covers the upper 10th region and the 37th district besides Mustang? I appreciate the positive, honest, and thorough job he does in covering Brossart and who they play against.

 

Couldn't have said it better. Top to bottom. I completely and totally understand that with such a spread out region its tough to see everything. And ranking 17 teams is really tough even if when you do see everything. And typically the Cougars aren't a team to give much attention to. And maybe Calvary gets bounced by Scott in the 2/3 matchup. But from what it sounds like... the Cougars really believe they can win that game. And that by itself is a very very big change.

[Jack of all Trades]

So I have to ask. My seed is on the line as to whether I play Scott or Campbell to advance to the region and I do not switch to a zone when nobody can guard the best player one on one?

[Mustang]

So I have to ask. My seed is on the line as to whether I play Scott or Campbell to advance to the region and I do not switch to a zone when nobody can guard the best player one on one?

 

Brossart led 12-8 after one, and were tied at 18-18 at the half.

We went 1-3-1 in the third and Calvary hit three 3's. Trailed 39-31 after three, so forced back to man-to-man.

We overcame a 10 point deficit in the last few minutes, only to have Calvary score the game-winner at the buzzer.

[XregCoach]

Brossart led 12-8 after one, and were tied at 18-18 at the half.

We went 1-3-1 in the third and Calvary hit three 3's. Trailed 39-31 after three, so forced back to man-to-man.

We overcame a 10 point deficit in the last few minutes, only to have Calvary score the game-winner at the buzzer.

 

Plus like I said in my first post, while the Cougars are better than most realize especially offensively... the Brossart game was an outlier in the sense that... Calvary scored way way below their season average and was able to win the game. I would bet that if you told the Mustangs before the game "you're going to keep Calvary in the 40s," they probably would have liked their chances.

[Jack of all Trades]

Brossart led 12-8 after one, and were tied at 18-18 at the half.

We went 1-3-1 in the third and Calvary hit three 3's. Trailed 39-31 after three, so forced back to man-to-man.

We overcame a 10 point deficit in the last few minutes, only to have Calvary score the game-winner at the buzzer.

 

Okay. Got it. Thanks.