Olympic Fan
12-17-2011, 04:00 PM
Just got through watching Miami hold off Florida Atlantic, 93-90 in double overtime.
Significant because it marked the return of Reggie Johnson. Returning from his knee injury, Johnson went 36 minutes and had 15 points, nine eounds, five assists and five blocked shots.
Yet, even with that and 14 of 20 shooting from the free throw line and 62 percent shooting from the field, the 'Canes had to play 10 extra minutes to beat a 4-7 Florida Atlantic team on a neutral court.
The problem is that Miami remains one of the worst defensive teams ever and are still prone to boneheaded plays. That all came together at the end of regulation, when with Miami up 3 and under 10 seconds left, they decided not to foul (which is a defensable, if debatable decision), but then allowed Florida Atlantic's best 3-point shooter Omari Grier (who had seven 3-pointers en route to a 27-point performance) to get wide open for the tying 3-pointer with 1.6 seconds left. They gave up a potential game tying 3 (again wide open) at the end of the second OT when Malcolm Grant (last year an 85.3 percent FT shooter) missed two FTs with 10 seconds left.
I guess my point is that Miami looks like the same bad defense/bad decision making team we've gotten used to in recent years -- even with the change in coaches. Now that Johnson is back and apparently healthy enough to play, they will be dangerous, but until they show me some smarts and some defense, I can't see them as one of the second-echelon ACC teams (along with FSU, Virginia and maybe NC State).
I watched Ohio State, playing again without Sullinger, struggle before beating a really bad South Carolina team. I've been switchinhg over to watch Baylor -- playing their first real opponent this season -- fight back after trailing most of the way ... now looks like they're going to hold off BYU in Provo. Oops, may have typed that too soo ... BYU just cut it to one with 90 seconds left. I'll be signing off to watch the endof that one.
Stay tuned fr Syracuse at NC State later today.
Significant because it marked the return of Reggie Johnson. Returning from his knee injury, Johnson went 36 minutes and had 15 points, nine eounds, five assists and five blocked shots.
Yet, even with that and 14 of 20 shooting from the free throw line and 62 percent shooting from the field, the 'Canes had to play 10 extra minutes to beat a 4-7 Florida Atlantic team on a neutral court.
The problem is that Miami remains one of the worst defensive teams ever and are still prone to boneheaded plays. That all came together at the end of regulation, when with Miami up 3 and under 10 seconds left, they decided not to foul (which is a defensable, if debatable decision), but then allowed Florida Atlantic's best 3-point shooter Omari Grier (who had seven 3-pointers en route to a 27-point performance) to get wide open for the tying 3-pointer with 1.6 seconds left. They gave up a potential game tying 3 (again wide open) at the end of the second OT when Malcolm Grant (last year an 85.3 percent FT shooter) missed two FTs with 10 seconds left.
I guess my point is that Miami looks like the same bad defense/bad decision making team we've gotten used to in recent years -- even with the change in coaches. Now that Johnson is back and apparently healthy enough to play, they will be dangerous, but until they show me some smarts and some defense, I can't see them as one of the second-echelon ACC teams (along with FSU, Virginia and maybe NC State).
I watched Ohio State, playing again without Sullinger, struggle before beating a really bad South Carolina team. I've been switchinhg over to watch Baylor -- playing their first real opponent this season -- fight back after trailing most of the way ... now looks like they're going to hold off BYU in Provo. Oops, may have typed that too soo ... BYU just cut it to one with 90 seconds left. I'll be signing off to watch the endof that one.
Stay tuned fr Syracuse at NC State later today.