Anatomy of a 3-point barrage
I've never actually gone through and done something like this but I really wanted to see how Hope was able to get so many good 3-point looks. My caveat is that I will freely admit my x's and o's and terminology is poor so this is purely an amateurs view of things.
Dear Calvin, white numbers on white uniforms is a bad idea. They might look good in person but on TV they are awful. Consequently I can't tell who some players are so I'll reference 'Calvin defender' frequently and may get some names with situations messed up. Also my uncle want to know when this game will be broadcast in HD......I'm still waiting for Hope to set up a tripod and camera.
These are all Hope's 3-point shot attempts, the one thing I didn't really do was count the number of times Hope passed up 3-point shots for something else. Didn't seem to be many anyway.
NVA= Nate Van Arendonk
1st Half
Time Shooter Score
16:13 Eidson 9-4
NVA sets a high screen for Gardner right wing as Gardner dribbles right towards Eidsen in the corner. As NVA rolls to the bucket, Jordan Brink has come off Eidson as if to double but only reaches towards Gardner, Calvin effectively now has 3 guys on Gardner as no one really follows NVA and Gardner's man has fought around the screen. Gardner passes to Eidson who is now open, Brink can't recover in time to defend the shot. Open shot, well taken.
Gardner gets high marks for the recognition, he really had two options to pass and choose the easiest, this was the first of many Calvin defensive mix-ups on screens.
14:45 Eidson 12-4
Eidson is camped in the right corner, Gardner dribbles to right wing passes to Eidson in the corner. Brock Benson comes out to screen Eidson's defender Brink. Brink feels the screen setting up as Eidson tosses the ball back to Gardner, Brink anticipates Eidson running the baseline, turns his back to ball and defender, realizes Eidson hasn't moved as Benson retreats toward the paint, before Brink can recover Gardner has passed it back to Eidson who drains the wide open shot. Wide open, clever play.
Gardner again gets high marks for recognition, but this play is made by Benson who makes sure to contact Brink while essentially faking to set up a screen, selling Brink on a baseline run by Eidson. Brink's mistake is turning his back before being sure Eidson has left his spot.
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12:23 Gardner 15-10
Gardner dribbles right down the lane, Calvin doubles low block right. Gardner finds an outlet on the left wing in Eidson. Calvin is completely screwed up with 3 guys on the baseline defending 2 and 2 guys on the perimeter defending 3. Eidson dribbles left towards the baseline as Benson dives into the lane from the right wing. Gardner curles around from the paint to the spot Benson vacated. Calvin has overplayed Eidson's drive and now has nearly all 5 guys on the left side of the floor. Gardner's defender looks confused and has lost Gardner completely and gets trapped in traffic by his own players. Eidson finds Gardner right wing. Wide open, play of opportunity.
Initially this play starts with Gardner getting out of the double team with a sharp pass to Eidson, Eidson makes the play by drawing so many defenders toward him either intentionally or by accident. Hope had a lot of motion on this play that helped to confuse Calvin but this was one of the worst examples of Calvin being out of sorts on defense in my opinion.
9:00 McMahon miss
Carlson starts on the left wing with a pass to Stuive right wing. Carlson drops down to set a half-hearted screen on McMahon's defender as McMahon runs up from the baseline to the spot Carlson vacates. Stuive dribbles left across the free-throw line and flips the ball to McMahon as he comes free. Stuive's man recognizes this and steps toward McMahon. McMahon's defender has gotten through the screen. Calvin has two defenders close to McMahon but neither gets a hand up. Open shot, miss.
Close quarters and a poor screen from the smallest guy on the floor, but it was there and open. This might have been one of the best defended 3's of the game outside of one shot.
7:24 Stuive miss
Hope pushes the ball up the floor 5 on 5, Stuive runs his man all the way to the basket, as Calvin sets the D Stuive retreats to run back to the top of the key, no one follows him. Hope has the ball right wing Carlson dribbles across the lane left and hits Stuive who is wide-open. Cody might have rushed this shot a little as it was mildly contested.
Tyler Dykstra just loses Cody at the baseline and is late to recognize his man is 20 feet away. I don't know that this is a set play, it kind of looks like it but I'm guessing Stuive was just so open he took the shot. Dykstra running at him may have influenced the miss.
4:36 Eidson miss
Hope fast-break 2 on 2, Calvin has 2 defenders trailing. Gardner finds Eidson right wing for the three. Tyler Dykstra trailing the play comes from behind and swats the ball into row Z. Well defended.
This is just a great individual play. I don't think Eidson had any idea Dykstra was trailing. I'm sure he thought he was wide open as Calvin's two other defenders had back peddled inside the arc.
4:29 Eidson 28-21
Essentially off the in-bounds following the block. From the right wing Eidson passes it to NVA on the elbow below the free throw line. As NVA holds, Eidson slides left to the top of the key. His defender follows but keeps a close eye on NVA and ends up too shallow to defend Eidson as he slides to the middle and is caught at the ft line. Ben Gardner who was just hanging out on the other side floats toward the middle and just kind of gets in the way. Eidson's defender has no chance to close as NVA makes a sharp pass for the wide open 3. Gardner's man never recognizes Eidson is open and never thinks of leaving him. Wide open.
NVA probably has more than one option here but when he see's Eidson's man is too low and Gardner coming over his mind is made up and never really looks anywhere else. Hope puts Calvin in a tough spot here, a little indecision by Eidson's man either in losing track of where he was in relation to his man or not knowing if he should double NVA, which would have been just as bad. I think Gardner is probably freelancing here and just makes a smart basketball play by creating traffic. Gardner's man probably doesn't leave because Ben has moved to a good position and probably fears a cut down the lane. It seems like Calvin should have called out a switch here between Eidson's man and Gardner's but it doesn't happen.
0:01 Eidson 34-31
With 2.6 on the clock it was fairly obvious that Eidson would get the ball in the corner and shoot. Hope makes little movement or effort anywhere else on the floor. Dykstra is all over him, Eidson turns left and fires a shot that goes in. Well defended
Dykstra makes one small mistake in reaching for the steal on the inbounds. Going for the steal puts him out of position to get both hands up and can only flail at the shot late. If he just stands there, lets him catch, puts his arms up and lets Eidson shoot, I think its a tougher shot. Small thing on a still well defended shot and really the only prayer shot of the game.
Second Half
18:16 Neil miss
This is a screen the screener action. Neil screens Stuive's man as he cuts from right wing to the left baseline. NVA quickly screens Neil's man DeVries. DeVries follows NVA into the low post, Dykstra originally Stuive's man seems to be switching and also follows NVA. Other movement on the floor seems to confuse Calvin and Neil is wide open near the top of the key. Dykstra is somehow back on Stuive and flies out at Neal from 20 feet away. Neil's shot barely draws iron. Wide open.
A confusing play to follow and even after watching it a half dozen times I'm not exactly sure what happens defensively and who follows who or who was supposed to follow who. All I know is Neil was as open as any shooter on the day. I don't think Calvin handled this well but Hope set two good screens and had good movement as well. I think Dykstra is the one who gets lost here but its really hard to tell without knowing Calvin's assignments. It looks bad though.
14:06 Eidson 46-41
Hope sets up a triangle left of Gardner, Neil, NVA. All the action looks like its here. Eidson has set up deep corner right. Byers sets up to screen Eidson's man on the low block as Eidson breaks to run the baseline, Calvin defender plays over the screen to chase turning his back on Eidson. Byer's man, DeVries has slid to the middle under the basket protecting the baseline. Eidson breaks back to the corner, meanwhile Neil has the ball on the left wing looking into NVA who's posted up around the elbow, as Eidson breaks open in the far corner Neil fires a long pass on the mark for the wide open shot. Byer's has now set up a backscreen on Eidson's defender and neither he nor DeVries has a prayer of getting out on Eidson. Wide open.
This was just a wow play for the pass Neil executed here. All five guys were involved in this one and high marks for the design. I don't think many teams could pull this one off.
13:22 Eidson 49-41 "the heatcheck shot"
This was playground basketball. Eidson goes corner right and loses his man without making a single move because he has no man. Gardner has dribbled to the right wing and Eidson wanders back to the top behind Gardner. Gardner just turns around, shields his man and flips the ball to Eidson who hits the wide open 25 footer. Gardner was the closest defender.
Gardner and Eidson get high marks for recognizing that nobody had picked up Eidson. This was a complete defensive breakdown on Calvin's part and the point in the game where Hope started to pull away.
10:27 Stuive 56-45
Hope sets a backscreen on the low block right for Stuive, Eidson dribbles baseline left and Calvin doubles. The backscreen and dribble action has screwed up Calvin here a little. NVA dives into the paint to screen Stuive's man who is nowhere to be found. Eidson is trapped and in trouble but squirms out of it and hits Stuive on the right wing who is wide open. NVA has now set up to screen whoever decides wants to take Stuive and no one from Calvin has a prayer of getting around him. Wide open.
Good action from Hope but Calvin had Eidson dead to rights and let him out of it. Credit Eidson for finding an outlet. The comedy part of this play is either Gardner or Carlson is standing on the 'C' in the center court logo with his man 5 feet away, neither are in the play. This was essentially a 4 on 4 play and isn't until too late that the 5th Calvin defender joins the play.
9:19 Carlson 59-45
Inbounds play, Carlson runs the baseline to the right corner, ball comes in to Stuive low block left. As the ball is in play Carlson's defender turns his back to him and stands between him and the ball. Carlson slides up to the right wing. Stuive is doubled and appears to have the ball knocked out of his hands and somehow falling left, gathers and one hands a bounce pass strike through traffic to Carlson who drains the shot. Wide open.
Almost like the previous play where Calvin had them dead to rights trapped but Hope squirmed out of it. However its another case of a Calvin defender simply losing track of his man resulting in an open look. Stuive gets high marks here because that was one sick pass, and credit to Carlson for wandering his way to an open spot.
1:49 Gardner miss
Hope's just trying to milk clock here. A switch on a screen results in Tyler Dykstra defending Garder on the wing right. As the shock clock winds down he dribbles something fancy and tries to heave a shot over Dykstra. Defended well.
Gardner may have been influenced by the crowd counting down, he seemed to have a few more seconds. Somewhere there was a bad match-up but Hope couldn't find it in time to take advantage of it. This and the end of first half shot were the only two three's Hope forced all day.
1:32 Stuive miss
Great block by Dykstra, credited in the box score as a 3-point attempt, but this was clearly not a 3-point shot, Stuive is standing on the old 3-point line.
For the day Hope was 9-14. Almost all of them were good wide open looks, with regards to 3's Hope's shot selection was excellent. Calvin had a really tough day with Hope's screening action and too often just simply lost their man. Watching some of these plays more closely I'm really surprised how poorly Calvin's guards appeared to play defensively.
A closer look at this and I think its clear to see this was a little more than just one player having a really great day shooting the basketball. There was a lot of great team play here that resulted in a number of wide open looks.
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