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THE LATEST WITH COACH LUTZ
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January 27, 2008
We turn the
calendar and head
into February
playing some pretty
good basketball. We
certainly still have
a lot of room for
improvement, but we
are becoming a team.
Early on we knew
that we would have
some growing pains.
With new players we
understood that it
would take some
time. We were
inconsistent through
the early portion of
the schedule, which
was evident by our
trip to the U.S.
Virgin Island and
the following six
games leading into
the Christmas
holiday.
We lost two-of-three
at the Paradise Jam
(Virgin Islands),
but responded with
consecutive wins
over Wake Forest,
Davidson and
Southern Illinois.
Unfortunately we
finished the
pre-holiday schedule
losing two-of-three.
Despite our
inconsistent play we
close out the
calendar year with a
win over Fairleigh
Dickinson, which
improved our record
to 8-4 and we
remained a perfect
7-0 at home.
Following an early
January loss to
Maryland we have
managed five wins in
six games so I do
think we are
continuing to make
progress. Our modest
success in January
is encouraging, but
we still have a
tough road ahead.
Our two most recent
wins illustrate both
our improvement and
our inconsistency.
Against La Salle we
made plays down the
stretch and came
away with a big win
on the road. We
played with poise
and did a really
nice job of
executing in crunch
time. However we did
not carry that
effort over to our
next contest, at
home against
Fordham.
We were outplayed
through the first
twenty minutes.
Fortunately we had a
much better effort
in the second half
and were able to
secure the win. In
the end we came away
with two wins, but
we still have work
to do if we expect
to add to our win
total.
There is no question
that we can get
better as a team. We
have made great
strides since the
start of the season,
but we can continue
to improve.
Throughout the
season we have
consistently done a
nice job on the
defensive end.
Certainly there is
still room for
improvement, but I
overall we have done
a nice job. Over the
past weeks we have
seen similar results
on the offensive
end.
I think we are doing
a better job of
understanding that
we need to value
every possession,
not just the
possessions in the
closing minutes of a
game. Every
possession is
crucial and I think
the team has done a
nice job of
responding to that
fact.
We still have eleven
games remaining
before the start of
the Atlantic 10
tournament. The next
few weeks will
present many
challenges.
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