As Brendan so eloquently put it in his last article, “This is not [our] year,” and he’s OK with that. I, however, am feeling blue — Delaware blue — about our performance in this year’s basketball season and Colonial Athletic Association Tournament, where the 8th-seeded Tribe men’s team fell to No. 9 Northeastern 68-63 in overtime.
While Brendan and John enjoyed the play-in game courtside at our nation’s capital, I stayed home and shed Green and Gold tears as Huskies forward Chris Doherty dropped 26 points on perfect 10-of-10 shooting on William and Mary. In a rollercoaster ride of game in which the lead changed nine times and both teams came out icy in the first half and then fiery in the second — the halftime score was 18-17 and before 77 total points were scored after the break to force overtime — it was a heartbreaker to see the season end this way with Brandon Carroll having played his first and last game in the CAA postseason. (“Let’s go Brandon!” Or is that Republican joke getting old?)
Plus, it was a bitter end for preseason All-CAA Second Team guard Connor Kochera and Tribe head coach Dane Fischer to see William and Mary’s tournament run cut short after making it to the CAA Quarterfinals last year (also against Northeastern, to whom we fell 67-43).
For Tribe fans less hopeful than Brendan (or John), many questions remain as we remain lonely and uninvited to the Big Dance. In the offseason, two questions should be on everyone’s mind, particularly that of Fischer and our rising young talent, including sophomore forward Ben Wight and All-CAA Rookies Julian Lewis and Tyler Rice: What went wrong? And more importantly, where do we go from here?
To help answer these questions, I’ve listed three separate categories that explain the Tribe’s first round exit and 4-14 finish in the CAA. To improve our chances going into next year, we’ll need to address each of these galling deficiencies in our offense if there’s any hope of Fischer keeping his job and of the Tribe rising from the murky depths of the CAA.
- TURNOVERS: William and Mary was ranked 344th in the NCAA, averaging 16.2 lost possessions per game. If you watched the games against Wake Forest (non-conference) or James Madison (25 turnovers at home) like we did, your eye test would tell you that our offense was terrible at keeping control of the basketball. Merriam Webster’s Dictionary defines “possession” as “the act of having or taking into control” — or more specifically, “control of the ball” — and that was something that utterly escaped us this year. With bad pass after bad pass, or risky move by Rice (97 turnovers, though he finished the season with 112 assists) or Lewis (88 turnovers to only 72 assists), the Tribe’s offense has a lot to improve with its ability to move the ball around the three-point line and up and down the key. The “turnover problem” (as we’re now calling it) was so bad that even sophomore reserve Yuri Covington couldn’t escape it coming off the bench. He finished the season with 67 lost possessions of his own, compared to 66 turnovers when he was a starter. However, this is still an improvement when we bear in mind that the Tribe played only 17 games last year because of COVID-19, and Covington saw action in 31 contests this year.
- BLOCKED SHOTS: In KenPom, the Tribe is ranked 352th out of 358 NCAA teams in adjusted offensive efficiency. In layman’s terms, that means — adjusted for opponent — William and Mary was only able to score 90 points for every 100 possessions on the court. Pardon my French, but that’s horrendously bad. That is what the Spanish call mierda, which means “goose egg.” Part of the reason William and Mary was so unable to score this year was because of our high block percentage: 357th (second-to-last) nationwide. With opponents blocking 14.4 percent of our total shots, while stealing another 12.9 percent of our not-so-possessory “possessions,” it’s little wonder that we finished eighth in the CAA and faltered against Northeastern, who blocked eight of our shots (and grabbed five steals) in the First Round alone. During games in which it was Wight or bust — or occasionally Covington or bust, coming off the bench — it was far too easy for opponents to stand back and simply let their bigs go to town on us above the rim.
- POOR SHOT SELECTION: The Tribe finished 294th in three-point shooting percentage (31.1 percent, well below my Nando’s prediction of finishing 35 percent at three) and 329th in field-goal shooting nationwide at 46 percent. Part of the reason that the Tribe shot so badly this year was intangible: Guys often looked out of rhythm and out of sync coming up the court and trying to find a good look from three. Some of that is nerves — both Rice and Lewis were rookies after all, but I thought they showed great poise at various points throughout the CAA. And some of that is just bad luck. Sophomore guard Jake Milkereit was banged up again and hurt his ankle against Charleston (Feb. 3). And so was senior forward (my guy) Quinn Blair, who saw action in only four CAA games this year. (But was a beast against Drexel Feb. 17, putting up a team-high 15 points on perfect 4-of-4 shooting. Clearly, somebody was inspired by former Detroit Lion Matthew Stafford’s performance in the Super Bowl.) Injuries are always a factor, and we can’t blame them any more than we could COVID-19 last year, having played a full 32-game season without pauses or breaks.
On behalf of No Bid Nation, I want to thank you for following the William and Mary Tribe through the rocky terrain that was the 2021–22 men’s basketball season. We do have Tribe pride no matter, and hope springs eternal, as Brendan has written, so we are all very excited to see you next year at Kaplan Arena and at the Precarious Beer Pavilion for some more hoops! (Your support is what motivates me to get off my ass and create content for this very blog, so thank you God.)