Yesterday was the first game I've been to since Davidson 2020 and the first time I've really had the time to watch a game giving it undivided attention since November. Just a quick checklist of observations:

- We were night and day defensively to where we were earlier in the season. Some of this likely had to do with Davidson's personnel (lack of quick guards off the bounce), but we didn't really have any breakdowns off dribble penetration. It also felt like there was a greater commitment to gang rebounding than there was earlier in the season, and I am very pleased with grabbing 18-of-23 available defensive rebounds,
- I know we scored 73 points and in an efficient manner, but I remain lukewarm on the offense. I felt like there was more natural ball movement and flow to things than there was to start the year, in large part because Brayon's ability to collapse a defense and kick off the dribble is something we haven't had since Armel. Still, what jumps out to me the most is our inability to generate layups. I don't have a detailed box score in front of me, but I can't really remember more than 10 points in the paint in the half court and they were mostly tough finishes by Adams and JB in traffic, or a putback by Brown. The shot profile generated still remains my largest gripe with this team because I think JB squared have shown enough talent in their ability to hit tough shots, that it's hard not to wonder if they'd look even better if we could get them better shots. That being said, yes our flaws on offense are more maskable with the way Bishop and Bamisile are shooting now compared to the way they shot in the early season.
- as for making the adjustment on Brajkovic, in fairness to JC, I don't think there was a great answer available that would've solved that problem. We tried a bigger body with Brown, but Brown couldn't keep himself on the floor without fouling. Dean was doing his best to body up, but if he got too physical he got called for a foul and if he played it straight there was nothing he could do. The only thing I really fault Dean for is that he let Brajkovic hit back to back trailer threes early in the 2nd half. It's one thing to not get out to him once, for it to happen a play or two later again is inexcusable. The only other frustration, and I think for me this is more on the players than the coach, is that I'd like to see more situational awareness. It's one thing if you're being told not to double as a general gameplan. But there were a few times in the second half where Brajkovic was backing down Dean with less than 6 on the shot clock, for multiple dribbles, and scored with 2 or 3 left. At some point in time someone's gotta take it upon themselves to read the game and bring that help and make Brajkovic show he can make the right read with the clock running down. This is easier to execute when you have a defensive signal caller on the court, but even if we don't have one I felt like Ricky could have brought a big to big double and it might've been enough to force the ball out of Brajkovic's hands and maybe lead to a shot clock turnover or a worse shot for Davidson at the horn.

Sorry for the long-windedness or if I'm just repeating stuff other people already said, I admittedly didn't read the thread before typing. Overall, though, I am encouraged to see the team playing better, but I continue to hold the belief that the talent we have in the top 7 on our depth chart is good enough that some of the games we lost early are inexcusable. I'm glad the team was able to put it behind them in time for conference play and hopefully we can continue fighting to avoid the play in round of the A 10 tourney