Saturday, March 01, 2008

Rice's best not enough for BC

I don't think I could be any more effusive than Nessler and Dykes were on the broadcast. Rice had probably the best first half I've ever seen in college basketball. His second half was very good, but not enough to lead BC past the Tar Heels. When the game started getting away from us, I hoped that he'd have one more spurt and get to 50.


Likes: In addition to Rice's heroics, there were a couple other good takeaways.
-- The guys fed off of Rice and made some good shots (Sanders and Blair were the only ones who shot below 50%).
-- They also rebounded much better on the offensive end.

Concerns: The defense still lacks.
-- Assignments were missed allowing for too many open 3s.
-- Each of a big men has major defensive flaws. Blair doesn't rebound well. Oates has trouble with big men who can dribble. And Southern doesn't move enough.

What does this mean for next year? This is the question that keeps coming back. Rice's outburst can be a looked at a few different ways. I am sure to him and those close to him, it shows that he has done all he can at this level and is ready to move on. To BC fans, it shows what he could do if he came back for one more season. To Al...I am sure he'd love to have Rice back, but he's just saw Rice nearly break the school's single game scoring record and lose. Rice is a great talent and there are some very promising players on our roster. The key to our success in the next week and next year is getting the pieces to come together and not wasting great individual performances. Oh, and you can't just outscore everyone. You need to play defense too.

With all that said, Rice has at least three games left. I hope he goes out with a bang.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Haven't seen Conte rock like that since Duke last year, or maybe the Syracuse win a few years ago. Can't help but agree with Atl, however, that we not only don't get the win but might be losing Rice now. That is a polished, athletic UNC team, and although I wish we had won it was encouraging to see confidence in some younger guys.

Joe Bags said...

ATL - Thanks for recommending Meat Market. I'm almost done with it and it has forever changed the way I will look at recruiting rankings and sites like Rivals, Scout, etc...

Dports1 said...

Lets not bid goodbye to Ty Rice just yet.

The 2008 draft should be deep with underclassmen PG this year. Bayless, Rose, Augustin, Lawson, Collison are all projected 1st rounders. SGs like Eric Gordon and OJ Mayo are planning to jump as well.

Scoring 46 points is phenomenal, but Rice needs to show he can run the point and get the team involved at the next level. He's also considered undersized, whatever that means for a PG. He'll be back.

WI_Eagle said...

Is it true that Rice has a kid? I have heard that rumor from a few different people (I have also heard that Spears has one). This might be completely false, but can anyone confirm or deny this? I think it would make it that much more likely that he enter the draft if he has child support obilgations.

JoeyMethod said...

Rice does have a son. Check the facebook pictures.

Eagle0407 said...

As much as I'd love to have him back, I'm not sure that would be the best thing for him from a draft position standpoint. Even a great senior year is not going to make him a lottery pick. Coming out early lets teams still view him as someone with potential. Staying for a senior year, you don't get that same benefit of the doubt: "if he can improve x and y" becomes "x and y are flaws in his game." If he has any chance of going in the first round, it'll most likely be this year. Duds was a rare exception to this, I think based more on his intelligence, enthusiasm and ability to sell himself pre-draft, rather than anything he proved during his senior year.

He might be best served by not hiring an agent but going to the pre-draft camps to see how he plays. If it turns out he's going to be a second round pick at best either way, he might as well enjoy another great year at bc. With a family to support my guess is that he at least tests the waters.

Claver2010 said...

Rice has a son
Shamari has one or two.

Big Jack Krack said...

Are they married?