After a grueling weekend in which they played three games in three days, The College’s cagers got on the bus Sunday night in Lynchburg with their first win of the season. Overall, it was an uneven weekend for the Tribe. They put together two good halves and two horrendous halves in games one and two before rebounding Sunday to come up with a gritty, last-second victory; and on a conventional three-point play no less! If this weekend did nothing else, it solidified a couple of things about this year’s team: (1) the preseason injuries are a bigger issue than everyone originally thought – and not just because of the absence of Rusthoven, JML and Gaillard (elaboration below); and (2) just because they’ve started slow, don’t count these boys out just yet. Reflecting on the lessons learned this weekend, here are The Starting Five from the Coaches vs. Cancer Regional in Lynchburg.

1. & 2. The Real Preseason

As the first game against St. John’s approached, there was unbridled excitement amongst the Friends of the Feather about the upcoming season. To be clear, that is exactly how it should be. The beginning of the season is like a breath of fresh air, a chance to start anew filled with the hopes of what could be. And with the Tribe returning so much from last year’s team, there was good reason to be optimistic. The Gale submits that the first two weeks of the season are no reason to flush those feelings of goodwill and write this team off so soon.
Basketball is a beautiful game, paced by the rhythmic cuts of an offensive play and the crisp passes that turn into net-tickling baskets. Such precise choreography takes repetition after repetition by all involved in order to achieve the confidence necessary for flawless execution. With so many key pieces of the Tribe’s projected starting lineup missing for the bulk of preseason, the required chemistry to precisely execute Coach Shaver’s offense has yet to evolve. As his preseason First-Team All-CAA selection indicates, Quinn McDowell is the most important player on William & Mary’s team. Most nights, as he goes, they go. Proper conditioning is vital in order to perform at peak levels for 35-40 minutes during a high-intensity basketball game. As of Sunday, Quinn has only been going full speed for about three weeks. He is literally playing himself into basketball shape with each practice and game. Additionally, John Mark Ludwick and Tim Rusthoven were seen as vital pieces in the Tribe’s gameplan. Rusthoven’s bulked up frame was going to allow The College to have an inside game to balance their outside game. JML’s size and range from beyond the arc present match-up problems for opposing defenders not used to guarding the perimeter and increases the ability to spread the floor. Adding those two strategic weapons makes defending the Tribe’s offense a much scarier proposition. Not only would it put two more scoring threats on the floor, but it would allow Brandon Britt more room to maneuver in the lane and do what he is most comfortable doing, which is driving to the basket. And the list goes on and on for each player on the floor.
The positive to take away from all of this is, hopefully, JML and Rusthoven both come back by the first of the year and play almost the entire conference schedule. In their absence, young players like Thornton and Schalk are getting to play valuable minutes early, in games that really don’t matter (William & Mary was never going to get a bid without winning the CAA tournament). By the time the conference schedule hits, the Green & Gold will have a 10-deep rotation consisting of players who can legitimately contribute. In a conference as competitive as the CAA, having fresh legs come tournament time the first weekend in March will be crucial to the Tribe making a run. The Gale knows it’s been tough early, but hold on tight folks, this ride is just beginning.

3. T/O – Turnovers – Tribe Obliterators

All season long, wasted possessions have killed William & Mary. Coming into this past weekend’s action, the Tribe was -28 in turnover ratio for the season. Translated, that means the Tribe gave their opponents 28 extra possessions to score points. As The Gale pointed out in this season’s initial S5, controlling the turnovers would be crucial to The College’s success. This weekend’s results gave additional weight to that thesis. In Friday night’s game against Lehigh, W&M turned the ball over 21 times leading to 35 Mountain Hawk points. After a first half that no one wants to remember, Lehigh pasted the Tribe 82-57. In Saturday’s game against Eastern Kentucky, whose smaller, guard-heavy lineup should have favored the Tribe, William & Mary committed 18 turnovers that turned into 20 EKU points en route to a 19-point defeat. Sunday’s rematch with Liberty was a different story. For the first time all season, the Tribe won the turnover battle and finished +3 for the afternoon. They also scored more points off turnovers than the Flames, another first for the season. Due to their newfound pension for protecting the basketball, Liberty was forced to play W&M possession-for-possession and the Tribe earned a thrilling first victory. If they protect the basketball and force their opponents to trade possessions with them, the Tribe can beat anyone on their schedule.

4. Passing Their Boards

An area that looked like it could be an Achilles’ heel for The College proved to be inconsequential this past weekend in Lynchburg. With no true five on their roster and their most prolific returning rebounder hobbled by injury, many pundits felt that William & Mary would struggle mightily in the rebounding department this season. Although this issue did rear its ugly head against Hampton in game two (-12 on the offensive boards), the Tribe has held its own for the most part. That proved to the case this weekend as well. In its first two games, The College out-rebounded Liberty 36-35 and pulled down 34 boards in game two to match Eastern Kentucky’s work on the glass. The only game where they failed to stay even or surpass their opponent was against Liberty and the Flames only grabbed two more boards than the Tribe on the afternoon. For the weekend, W&M ended up -1 in the rebounding differential. Whether they can continue to stay fairly even with their opponents on the glass for the duration of the season is yet to be seen, but thus far, The Gale should have known better than to question the Tribe’s acumen for the boards.

5. The Big 3

This point can certainly be argued, but The Gale is of the opinion that The College has three players on the roster who can legitimately take over a game and propel the Tribe to victory in the form of Quinn McDowell, Brandon Britt and Marcus Thornton. Each of these players has the ability to score points in bunches, in multiple ways, from any point on the court. For The Gale, they are the three most important players on the roster from a scoring perspective. Now, due to their proclivity for putting the ball through the hoop, they tend to have the ball in their hands a good amount. As such, it is crucial for them to protect the basketball and not contribute to the Tribe Obliterators mentioned above. Even though the sample size is small, look at the Tribe’s lone win against Liberty on Sunday evening as proof of the necessity that they score, while also limiting their turnovers. The Big 3 combined for 46 of the Tribe’s 65 points and only turned the ball over three times. In the five losses prior to that they were averaging only 29.2 points per game as a trio, while averaging 10 turnovers per contest. Most notable in the three is the play of Brandon Britt. His 15 points and zero turnovers against the Flames was easily B-twice’s best game of the young season. Prior to that he had struggled mightily, topping the 10-point mark just once, while averaging only 1.6 more points per game (6.0 ppg) than turnovers (4.4 t/o). As the season progresses, it will be interesting to monitor how direct the Tribe’s success is linked with the play of McDowell, Thornton and Britt.

HARK