I was at the game with some folks I haven't seen for a long time, so I couldn't really check on the board too much, follow the stats closely, or comment. But basically what I thought (and others with me agreed), was that we do look better than last year.... quicker, longer, more energetic. Turnovers seemed like they were mostly from lack of familiarity with each other, and gambling a bit against a really good team. Yes, Florida Atlantic is very, very good.
FAU center Vladislav Goldin took a step up in his defense since last year. His 5 blocks and 4 steals were both career highs, and his 19 points tied a career high. His 10 rebounds were his fourth best of his career, so he appears ready to take a step up in competitiveness from CUSA to AAC. Also, every single member of our group agreed that he had one of the best tans we've ever seen from a Loyola opposing player. It was a perfect November tan-- not ostentatiously dark, not weakish from lack of effort or uneven from negligence-- it was strong, confident, glowing, perfectly even, and as self-assured as the Owls were on the court.
Loyola turnout was another plus. But the biggest plus is that we will likely only face a team this good once more this year, when we face Creighton in less than two weeks. We've got three full games and many practices between now and then to figure out some strategies, refine roles and rotations, and figure out some go-to options. We should win those three games in the interim, and hopefully we can learn from this game against top opposition. We'll have another game against either Colorado State or Boston College 20 hours after the Creighton game, and I feel like winning THAT game, the 2nd game in Kansas City should be a top goal and a very good test of this team.
I can't say I was happy about our performance. We looked nervous, some players looked very unconfident, and the passing was off too much. The 18 turnovers was 3-4 too many even for a game like this, but FAU had 13 turnovers also-- part of the first week of the season for every team, I guess. We're going to be better than last year, by quite a bit. I don't think we're going to be as good as Dayton, but most of the other top A-10 teams struggled a bit out of the gate this year-- Duquesne won by 2 points at home vs. Cleveland State, Fordham went to OT at home against Wagner, St. Bonaventure won by 4 at home against mightly Longwood, and VCU lost by double-digits at home to McNeese State.
I thought we looked good enough to challenge for a top 5 spot in the A-10, especially considering all the new faces, butterflies, unfamiliar rotations, etc. So in that respect, I was a bit encouraged overall...
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