LaChance Has It

[4everwarriors]

Impressed watchin' Riley do it to G-Town. Cat's a gamer and can shoot the rock. Vandy got themselves a fine traditional.

[wadesworld]

Impressed watchin' Riley do it to G-Town. Cat's a gamer and can shoot the rock. Vandy got themselves a fine traditional.

He is certainly a very good shooter, but he's played zone defense his entire high school career.  For someone who probably isn't the quickest kid in the gym when it comes to high major division one basketball, that is going to be a big problem.  Hopefully he does well as Wisconsin kids making some noise in college basketball is never a bad thing, but he is undersize.  He also had an uncharacteristically high number of live ball turnovers and missed a few free throws.  Heck of a game.

Elijah Goodman is a stud in the high school game.  And Lamante Beardon is a punk.

Edit:  One more thought, Jake Showalter shoots like Gasser...aka, he shoots like a chick.  But I'd take a guy who knocks down shots while shooting like a chick over guys who just don't make shots...

[GGGG]

Buzz watched him *a lot* last summer...and never pulled the trigger on an offer.

[4everwarriors]

Buzz has been wrong before.

[GGGG]

Sure.  But he did his due diligence.  He simply wants two guards that are a little bigger and quicker.

[4everwarriors]

Not sayin' LaChance should have been offered by Buzz. Observed a kid who can shoot it. I'd say average quickness. But, it also appears Riley is a hard worker, gets it, and wants to get better. Probably a late bloomer. Will have to work on man defense skills. Agree with #3Universe, I wouldn't have Bearden if he walked on. Didn't care for his body language.

[Freeport Warrior]

BC's 1-3-1 zone will eventually come back to bite them. Last night Germantown just had an off night shooting from outside -- they had a ton of wide open 3s with simple skip passes and just bricked them. Most surprising to me was Showalter -- I've seen him play a lot and if he is not hitting shots, he is just another body out there. He does nothing off the dribble. Can't believe he is a D1 player.

I was at the game and that was one of the worst games I've seen Lachance play. Bearden and McCloud picked him clean a couple times. He had other turnovers and forced some shots. Normally, he is pretty turnover-free and doesn't press. I think the best attribute Riley brings to the game is his toughness. He was having a rough game and you couldn't tell from his demeanor at all -- dude is just stone-cold all game -- he stuck with it and made plays down the stretch. For $5 admission, it was an amazing game to see.

[4everwarriors]

Nice to score 'bout 23 when havin' a rough night, hey?

[1913Kilbourn]

I was at the game as well (not a fan of either, just wanted to see the game). A few GTown starters were  fighting foul trouble all night (especially Jon Averkamp and Evan Wesenberg - both were on the bench when BC went on their runs). If they played more minutes I think GTown would have won. In the 4th quarter GTown couldn't get enough touches on the block for Wesenberg matched against BC's 1-3-1 low post guard, not to mentioned not enough high low with diagonal passing to the opposite block from GTown (the best way to beat a 1-3-1)

Final score was not indicative of the game. Back and forth all night. Nothing larger than a 5-6 point lead. Great game to watch.

p.s. LaChance would benefit from staying focused on his coach/bench and less on his crazy dad. His father was going nuts in the stands, and LaChance was looking at him all game.

[willie warrior]

Buzz watched him *a lot* last summer...and never pulled the trigger on an offer.

And in the Sultan's world, Buzz can do no wrong.

[BrewCity83]

I was at the game, too (Brookfield Central alum).  Five bucks well spent, that's for sure.  Former MU players in attendance:  Tony Smith, Robert Jackson, Shannon Smith (doing TV color commentary for Time Warner Sports), and Tom LaChance.

[Freeport Warrior]

Nice to score 'bout 23 when havin' a rough night, hey?

No kidding. He got a bunch of free throws in the end, but it was truly an off night for him. He really looked gassed with all of the ball pressure, and I don't believe he ever went out.  We were right in front of Riley's dad and I didn't see him look at him much at all. His dad gets amped up for sure, but he knows his stuff. He -- like most of the BC faithful -- was yelling to get out of the zone, which was just leaking open 3 looks all night. BC was fortunate GT couldn't take advantage. Once Bearden fouled out, BC went to man and it was over.

[MuMark]

and in your world Buzz can do nothing right……..So Sultan is closer to the truth then you are…...

And in the Sultan's world, Buzz can do no wrong.

[Eldon]

I remember Creighton offered, and i think X, too. Too bad he didnt stay in the BE :/

[willie warrior]

and in your world Buzz can do nothing right……..So Sultan is closer to the truth then you are…...

Sorry--but Buzz has been abysmal this year in many ways--and that is what counts. By the way, are you Sultan's defender? And by the way, tell us what the MU in MU Mark signifies?

[TedBaxter]

p.s. LaChance would benefit from staying focused on his coach/bench and less on his crazy dad. His father was going nuts in the stands, and LaChance was looking at him all game.

I don't know why Buzz didn't offer LaChance.  Parents/family have to be a huge concern for any coach and a big reason the reactions in an out of the gym for the family in Rice Lake have to be considered.  The helicoptors are always on standby for many parents.

[wadesworld]

BC's 1-3-1 zone will eventually come back to bite them. Last night Germantown just had an off night shooting from outside -- they had a ton of wide open 3s with simple skip passes and just bricked them. Most surprising to me was Showalter -- I've seen him play a lot and if he is not hitting shots, he is just another body out there. He does nothing off the dribble. Can't believe he is a D1 player.

I was at the game and that was one of the worst games I've seen Lachance play. Bearden and McCloud picked him clean a couple times. He had other turnovers and forced some shots. Normally, he is pretty turnover-free and doesn't press. I think the best attribute Riley brings to the game is his toughness. He was having a rough game and you couldn't tell from his demeanor at all -- dude is just stone-cold all game -- he stuck with it and made plays down the stretch. For $5 admission, it was an amazing game to see.

While I agree that Germantown didn't shoot the rock well, I couldn't disagree with you more that the 1-3-1 is what will come back to bite them against Germantown.  Teams other than Germantown may attack it better and may make a man-to-man defense more effective, but not against Germantown.  Do you really think LaChance, Newman, or the 3 other little guards could have stayed in front of the Bearden brothers while not getting knocked off of the ball?  LaChance is the only one tall enough and maybe physically strong enough to hang with the Beardens (particularly Lamonte), but he would get absolutely blown by off of the dribble by them, while the other 4 all would be giving up about 5" to each of them.  The Germantown guards are slashers and make a living getting dunks and layups.  I would MUCH rather take my chances of having the Bryan Bearden shoot 10 3 pointers from the corner (the worst spot to shoot it from on the court, and it had to be close to that many for him) over trying to play man to man and watch those 2 slash the heck out of my defense and drive and dish to Showalter who just spots up on the 3 point line.  The only error Brookfield Central made defensively was letting Showalter get a couple of uncontested 3 pointers early in the game.  Once they adjusted to that and started cheating his way and running straight into him on the catch, the only way Germantown scored was in transition.  Don't let the Bearden's get into the lane and they are not nearly as effective.  The 1-3-1 prevented that.  You bring up switching to man-to-man as if it was a game changer, but in reality Lamonte Beardon fouled out with under 90 seconds left in the game and Germantown was fouling to put Brookfield Central on the line and then just heaving up the first semi-open 3 pointer they could find.  They weren't running an offense whatsoever.  The game was more or less won at that point, and Brookfield Central could've let Germantown take uncontested layups on the defensive side of things as long as they made their free throws.

Germantown had won 69 straight games, with only 6 of those games being decided by single digits.  One of those 6 games was against Brookfield Central last year when Germantown won on a last second tip in by our newest team member at Marquette University.  Brookfield Central then broke their streak last night.  I would say when it comes to playing Germantown, they're doing alright compared to everyone else.  Switching out of the 1-3-1 that they play for 97% of the total minutes in a season would have led to a BLOW OUT for Germantown.  A team like Rufus King who is known for playing the toughest, most aggressive man-to-man defense and has better/quicker athletes on the perimeter than Brookfield Central have been blown out by Germantown playing a man-to-man defense.  I'm sure Mr. LaChance knows his basketball as he has coached for quite some time and done a great job raising a great player with a high basketball IQ, but if he wanted Brookfield Central out of the 1-3-1 he's crazy.

The craziest thing is that I thought Brookfield Central had room to have played better moreso than Germantown did.  LaChance isn't going to turn the ball over as much as he did on a typical night, which led to about half of Lamonte Beardon's points on dunks.  Also, I thought offensively Brookfield Central faulted by not going inside to Goodman enough.  There was a 3-4 minute period in I believe the 3rd quarter where you could see they made an effort to get it to him on the blocks and he scored and/or drew a foul every time down the court and they made a nice run.  Outside of that, the only time he got the ball on the block was off of offensive rebounds.  If Central runs it through him more on offense he might score 35 points.  He's just a load underneath, the high school version that I thought Davante Gardner was going to be this year.  I also thought in the first half that Brookfield Central played right into Germantown's gameplan by rushing quick pullups while breaking the press.  To have success against Germantown, unless you have an open layup, you have to be disciplined enough to break the press and then pull it out and run your offense.  When Brookfield Central did that (the 2nd half), they scored on about 80% of their possessions.  Brookfield Central also missed a ton of free throws.

Just one man's opinion, anyways.

[Jay Bee]

Lachance was excellent in several games out in Vegas during the last evaluation week/end. His dad had the whole team working hard and doing well.

PS - Bearden could do better than Buffalo. Not saying he should or should have.

[muvanwilder]

I remember Creighton offered, and i think X, too. Too bad he didnt stay in the BE :/

If he went to a BE school then he wouldn't be able to transfer to MU in a yr or 2!

[wadesworld]

Lachance was excellent in several games out in Vegas during the last evaluation week/end. His dad had the whole team working hard and doing well.

PS - Bearden could do better than Buffalo. Not saying he should or should have.

If he focused a bit more on school he may have had that opportunity.

[Aircraftcarrier]

37 points last night with 7 3-pointers.

[wadesworld]

37 points last night with 7 3-pointers.

Yeah but let's put that one into perspective. He did that against the Marquette High Fighting Teamdees, who were awful before 3 of their players transferred to Dominican and are now even worse.

[Aircraftcarrier]

Who cares who they played.The point is he made 7 3- pointers.The dude can shoot and MU needs shooters.Al had shooters,Sewell,Tatum,Rosenberger and Toone.I am sure I am missing some.O'neill had Logterman and Hutchins.Crean had Novak and Diener..Even if LaChance is limited on some other aspects of the game,Mu should have signed him.Rosey,Logterman and Diener had some limitations and they did just fine.

[wadesworld]

Who cares who they played.The point is he made 7 3- pointers.The dude can shoot and MU needs shooters.Al had shooters,Sewell,Tatum,Rosenberger and Toone.I am sure I am missing some.O'neill had Logterman and Hutchins.Crean had Novak and Diener..Even if LaChance is limited on some other aspects of the game,Mu should have signed him.Rosey,Logterman and Diener had some limitations and they did just fine.

OK Mr. LaChance.

[Aircraftcarrier]

Always a wise guy.How about I respect your opinion but I disagree.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Always a wise guy.How about I respect your opinion but I disagree.

I don't think anyone disagree's that Lachance is a good shooter...but he's committed elsewhere, so we don't really care anymore

[Freeport Warrior]

While I agree that Germantown didn't shoot the rock well, I couldn't disagree with you more that the 1-3-1 is what will come back to bite them against Germantown.  Teams other than Germantown may attack it better and may make a man-to-man defense more effective, but not against Germantown.  Do you really think LaChance, Newman, or the 3 other little guards could have stayed in front of the Bearden brothers while not getting knocked off of the ball?  LaChance is the only one tall enough and maybe physically strong enough to hang with the Beardens (particularly Lamonte), but he would get absolutely blown by off of the dribble by them, while the other 4 all would be giving up about 5" to each of them.  The Germantown guards are slashers and make a living getting dunks and layups.  I would MUCH rather take my chances of having the Bryan Bearden shoot 10 3 pointers from the corner (the worst spot to shoot it from on the court, and it had to be close to that many for him) over trying to play man to man and watch those 2 slash the heck out of my defense and drive and dish to Showalter who just spots up on the 3 point line.  The only error Brookfield Central made defensively was letting Showalter get a couple of uncontested 3 pointers early in the game.  Once they adjusted to that and started cheating his way and running straight into him on the catch, the only way Germantown scored was in transition.  Don't let the Bearden's get into the lane and they are not nearly as effective.  The 1-3-1 prevented that.  You bring up switching to man-to-man as if it was a game changer, but in reality Lamonte Beardon fouled out with under 90 seconds left in the game and Germantown was fouling to put Brookfield Central on the line and then just heaving up the first semi-open 3 pointer they could find.  They weren't running an offense whatsoever.  The game was more or less won at that point, and Brookfield Central could've let Germantown take uncontested layups on the defensive side of things as long as they made their free throws.

Germantown had won 69 straight games, with only 6 of those games being decided by single digits.  One of those 6 games was against Brookfield Central last year when Germantown won on a last second tip in by our newest team member at Marquette University.  Brookfield Central then broke their streak last night.  I would say when it comes to playing Germantown, they're doing alright compared to everyone else.  Switching out of the 1-3-1 that they play for 97% of the total minutes in a season would have led to a BLOW OUT for Germantown.  A team like Rufus King who is known for playing the toughest, most aggressive man-to-man defense and has better/quicker athletes on the perimeter than Brookfield Central have been blown out by Germantown playing a man-to-man defense.  I'm sure Mr. LaChance knows his basketball as he has coached for quite some time and done a great job raising a great player with a high basketball IQ, but if he wanted Brookfield Central out of the 1-3-1 he's crazy.

The craziest thing is that I thought Brookfield Central had room to have played better moreso than Germantown did.  LaChance isn't going to turn the ball over as much as he did on a typical night, which led to about half of Lamonte Beardon's points on dunks.  Also, I thought offensively Brookfield Central faulted by not going inside to Goodman enough.  There was a 3-4 minute period in I believe the 3rd quarter where you could see they made an effort to get it to him on the blocks and he scored and/or drew a foul every time down the court and they made a nice run.  Outside of that, the only time he got the ball on the block was off of offensive rebounds.  If Central runs it through him more on offense he might score 35 points.  He's just a load underneath, the high school version that I thought Davante Gardner was going to be this year.  I also thought in the first half that Brookfield Central played right into Germantown's gameplan by rushing quick pullups while breaking the press.  To have success against Germantown, unless you have an open layup, you have to be disciplined enough to break the press and then pull it out and run your offense.  When Brookfield Central did that (the 2nd half), they scored on about 80% of their possessions.  Brookfield Central also missed a ton of free throws.

Just one man's opinion, anyways.

Haven't been on the board for a while, but let's just say I disagree with a lot of what you write here. All just my opinion as well. No venom at all.

I was at the Arrowhead/BC game at the Al over Xmas and we (my kids go to BC schools) were getting killed by the lazy 1-3-1 by 10 points well into the second half. Like I stated earlier, a fake pass down to the baseline, then a quick skip pass over to the opposite wing gets you as many open 3s as you desire. Arrowhead was drilling them. Adams finally went out of the zone toward the end of the third quarter and we went from being down 10, to being up 10 by the end of the game. If Showalter doesn't entirely "crap the bed" with a bad shooting night, this could have easily have been the result last Tuesday. I don't think BC would have been so patient if say Showalter would have hit 3 or 4 of his threes (which he commonly does). I think this could have changed the game entirely. Again, just my opinion.

In regards to the Lamonte Bearden getting to the rack, I think Terry Wallen is an outstanding defender and shutting guys down is what he does. He has the football player's mentality and combined with Malensek, they get charges out of the best players whenever they leave their feet. Bearden is a great player, but I have seen him shoot his teams out of games. All the GTown guys play for the WI Swing and guys like Lachance and Brady Ellingsen (both not known for their D or athleticism) blew Bearden, his brother and Showalter out of the gym this summer with straight up man-to-man D. I would say Terry Wallen has Reed Timmer's quickness on defense and he held Bearden in check without a problem (I'm not saying Wallen has Timmer's entire game because offensively it is not even close). You put anyone to apply ball pressure on Showalter and he isn't getting a shot off.

You also said BC was 5" shorter than GT besides Riley. Mortag is 6' 5" but he can jump out of the gym and Goodman is 6' 4.5" and a "quick" jumper -- without any Fischer, they looked pretty even to me. And Showalter's height is irrelevant as he seems to just fish the outside of the arc for shots.

The one thing you wrote that made me chuckle at was saying Goodman was similar to Davante. I have been saying the exact thing for the last couple of years. They both run on the tips of their toes and play a great "under the rim" game. I'll date myself, but it reminds me of growing up and watching Fred "Twinkle Toes" Flintstone running down the bowling alley. BC will live and die by that zone -- here's hoping is works perfectly for the rest of the year.

[jesmu84]

Who cares who they played.The point is he made 7 3- pointers.The dude can shoot and MU needs shooters.Al had shooters,Sewell,Tatum,Rosenberger and Toone.I am sure I am missing some.O'neill had Logterman and Hutchins.Crean had Novak and Diener..Even if LaChance is limited on some other aspects of the game,Mu should have signed him.Rosey,Logterman and Diener had some limitations and they did just fine.

do you type every post on your phone? or just not care about making it readable?

[Freeport Warrior]

For those of you not in the area, Brookfield Central gave up 11 wide opens threes last night to get bounced from the tourney by Rufus King. I had a bad feeling all season about using the 1-3-1 exclusively all season and it was a wide open shooting range last night in the corners. Feel bad for Lachance because he was playing so well recently. Just wasn't his night last night. He uncharacteristically forced a bunch of shots and Binyoti from King never let him breathe. Great atmosphere and such a great sports value for $5. Gosz (coach from King) sure gets the most out of his squad.

[wadesworld]

For those of you not in the area, Brookfield Central gave up 11 wide opens threes last night to get bounced from the tourney by Rufus King. I had a bad feeling all season about using the 1-3-1 exclusively all season and it was a wide open shooting range last night in the corners. Feel bad for Lachance because he was playing so well recently. Just wasn't his night last night. He uncharacteristically forced a bunch of shots and Binyoti from King never let him breathe. Great atmosphere and such a great sports value for $5. Gosz (coach from King) sure gets the most out of his squad.

You are right, you did call that one.  I would've liked to have seen Central sag their 1-3-1 a little more once King started driving into the teeth of the zone and then dishing it out (they started doing it starting in the 2nd quarter).  They did that against Germantown and were able to contest the outside jumpers because the defense didn't have to collapse to a driving guard.  Central kept 4 guys in their zone extended a full step beyond the free throw line or more and kept Mortag out to a step inside half court the entire time.  It worked in the 1st quarter because King was trying to pass it around the outside of the zone leading to turnovers, but once they started driving and dishing it was useless.  I think a standard 2-3 would have even been better after the 1st quarter just to limit the penetration King was getting.  Personally I'm not sure Central having to play man-to-man defensively would've lead to much success either, as Mortag was a huge liability on that end of the court once they went to man, and King could have even pulled Goodman out to the perimeter if they needed to, as all 5 of their players could (Buzz specialty) pass, dribble, and shoot.

It's too bad everyone but Binyoti and #30 on King were punks and were "sizing up" the Central players every time they did something good or a Central player messed up.  That team was fun to watch.  Very good.  Stay after it for the entire game.  Gosz is a nut, but he knows what the heck he is doing.  He was FIRED UP running out into the hallway after the game, as he should've been.  Really liked Binyoti.  Not a scorer or shooter really, but man could he handle the ball and get into the lane at will, and always made the right pass for the open shooter and on time.  He also was in LaChance's jersey the entire game (LaChance had 9 points in the 1st quarter and then only 1 free throw up until his game tying 3 pointer, and I think almost all 9 of those first quarter points came when Posey - punk - was guarding him until he got his 2nd foul and they switched to Binyoti on him).  Binyoti kept pretty quiet and just did his part.  Reminds me of Kwamain Mitchell when he was at Dominican.

As for LaChance, he has some work to do if he's going to be more than a shooting specialist at Vanderbuilt (nothing wrong with that though).  Both this game and last year's King game he struggled with the aggressive defense.  Couldn't get any separation from quick, strong defenders like Binyoti.  Those will be the lower end types of guys he will see day in and day out at the next level.  Then again, he won't be the focus of the opponents' defense night in and night out like he is at Central.  (I would give Brady Ellingson the same scouting report at Iowa next year.) We will see, hopefully they have success, and if nothing else they certainly can knock down the open jumper when they get it.

[wadesworld]

Also heard that almost all of King's major contributors transferred in just this year. Isn't there a WIAA rule that if you're an upperclassman you have to sit out a year of athletics if you transfer? How does that happen?

[Dawson Rental]

Not sayin' LaChance should have been offered by Buzz. Observed a kid who can shoot it. I'd say average quickness. But, it also appears Riley is a hard worker, gets it, and wants to get better. Probably a late bloomer. Will have to work on man defense skills. Agree with #3Universe, I wouldn't have Bearden if he walked on. Didn't care for his body language.

It sounds to me like LaChance is a shorter Jake Thomas. 

[Dawson Rental]

Who cares who they played.The point is he made 7 3- pointers.The dude can shoot and MU needs shooters.Al had shooters,Sewell,Tatum,Rosenberger and Toone.I am sure I am missing some.O'neill had Logterman and Hutchins.Crean had Novak and Diener..Even if LaChance is limited on some other aspects of the game,Mu should have signed him.Rosey,Logterman and Diener had some limitations and they did just fine.

Derrick Wilson and Jake Thomas have some limitations, and they did just....Uh oh.

Geez, its one thing to make guys coming to MU as freshmen out to be saviors, now we've got to make guys that Buzz passed on the team's saviors as well?

[We R Final Four]

For the students--Jimmy Gosz is the son of Don Gonz.  His Dad wasnt inimidated by the oppenents record---Great win for the City Conference.

[Freeport Warrior]

It sounds to me like LaChance is a shorter Jake Thomas. 

Not even close. Jake is a three or nothing. LaChance has an unbelievable mid-range game and can hit the 3s. He just had a bad game on Thursday. I've seen him dominate athletic guys like Binyoti before -- just wasn't his night.

[Dawson Rental]

Not even close. Jake is a three or nothing. LaChance has an unbelievable mid-range game and can hit the 3s. He just had a bad game on Thursday. I've seen him dominate athletic guys like Binyoti before -- just wasn't his night.

Thanks for the additional information.  I haven't seen him myself.