The preseason was rough with the suspension of Pierre. How would the team fare without its best player? I was concerned, however, Steve emerged as better than I expected.He was an excellent rim protector and rebounder.
I was wondering, how would the offense perform with playing with Steve and Kendall on the floor together. The half court offense was sluggish from the beginning. What is the lack of Dyshawn? Was it trying to work in Steve and Kendall on the floor together? Was it something else?
It became apparent early on that Cooke was an excellent on-ball defender. I remember him being switched onto Uthoff in the Iowa game after Uthoff got 12 early in the game. Flyers seemed to have two perimeter defenders that could lock down on defense. I can never remember a Flyer team having that, IMO they rarely ever had one.
The Flyers played pretty well early in the season (other than the hiccup in Orlando) as everyone waited for the return of Pierre. I was hopeful that Pierre coming back would help the offense. As it turned out the struggles in the half court were not fixed by his return and they would continue throughout the season.
Scoochie started off hot early in the season and then a hit a road block that plagued him at times throughout the season. Archie seemed to indicate it was fatigue but that doesn't IMO seem to explain it. Whatever the reason Scoochie had an inconsistent season.
This team could play some of the best basketball we have seen in a long time, won a bunch of road games but then could lay some inexplicable turds (
Lasalle,
URI).
I know some have brought up other issues that may have effected team chemistry but I don't know and really am not interested in speculating.
Things seemed to get better, a 9 game conference winning streak then Kendall got hurt. Every game after that point was a struggle. The Flyers were fortunate to win at
SLU and at home against
Duquesne and VCU. The limped into the NCAA tourney. Banged up and still struggling with half court offense.
I was at the Syracuse game and while they missed a ton of layups the fire seemed to be missing. The Orange had it and just killed the Flyers on the boards. Roberson had almost as many rebounds in the 2nd half as the Flyers did, it reminded of the beating that Tillman put on them in the VCU game. Missed foul shots, missed layups, getting killed on the glass. I would say they were a team that lacked focus and effort.
A season that started with so much promise ended with a whimper, however, it was a successful season. The Flyers shared the conference title, won a bunch a games and made the NCAA tourney for a third time in a row (first time in 50 years).
I want to wish Bobby and Dyshawn success in their future endeavors.
Things look promising moving forward, I will add more a later date about next season. IMO you never really know what might happen over the next month that could things moving forward.
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