Saturday, March 5, 2011

Five halftime thoughts: College of Bill Lawrence

C'mon Dutchmen! Too many people drove too far to go home too early tomorrow morning!

1.) The Flying Dutchmen are down 27-25, but all things considered it could be a lot worse. The slow start we expected was a monster of a slow start as the Dutchmen fell behind 9-0 before taking an 11-9 lead. The Richmond Coliseum rims have been cruel to both teams (combined shooting: 22-of-53). Charles Jenkins (five points on 2-of-7 shooting and 1-of-3 from the free throw line) has been nearly silent, as has Mike Moore (2-of-7 shooting) and Greg Washington picked up his second foul with seven minutes to play. So, yeah, down two, the Dutchmen will take it.

2.) Washington was getting into a nice rhythm, draining a pair of long jumpers, before he got his second foul. He has to avoid that third as long as possible because the Dutchmen were clicking with him out there.

3.) The Dutchmen are taking advantage of a favorable matchup with the undersized Tribe and have limited William & Mary to one offensive rebound. David Imes has five rebounds and four points and seems primed for a big second half and another double-double.

4.) The pace of the game favors the Dutchmen. At some point in the second half the Tribe may begin to feel the effects of playing two straight tight games and the Dutchmen are playing smart, mostly error-free ball (one turnover) as Brad Kelleher (2-of-4 from 3-point land) has been their best player.

5.) While the Dutchmen could certainly use a return to form by Moore, this second half is all about Jenkins and why we bestowed upon him The Wolf nickname. With his college career on the line, he needs to snap out of the funk, solve problems and deliver in a Eric Maynor- or Matt Janning-esque fashion to ensure the Dutchmen get a shot against Old Dominion in tomorrow’s semifinals.

Email Jerry at defiantlydutch@yahoo.com or follow Defiantly Dutch at http://twitter.com/defiantlydutch.

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