Many of those question marks concerned the defense. They are mostly being answered in the negative thus far. There was a question of Dent's defense, whether Dailey and Bilodeau had the foot speed to defend their new positions, and whether Booker and Jamerson had the skills, toughness, strength, and ability to defend the five.
Well, to various degrees all those concerns are impacting the Bruins negatively. Last night the big thing that bit the Bruins on their ass was their inside defense - primarily at the five, but also the four. The Bruin bigs just couldn't stop Gonzaga's bigs. Really, that's where the Bruins lost.
The effort was there. Jamerson is a more limited player and Booker's numbers were respectable, but both tend to be liabilities on defense in the paint. Gonzaga's bigs are very talented but they are also limited. The Bruins kept giving the Zag's bigs their strength rather than taking their strengths away from them. Like Cronin said in his presser, they just didn't play very smart. Both Jamerson and Booker are trying and having moments of effectiveness, but mostly they are non-factors and often just disappear and/or make bad decisions.
Like I said, both Bruin bigs are trying and even improving, but they need to improve more (play better). Perhaps that's a bit unfair, but their position (the 5) is what's needed to improve the most for the Bruins to be successful. That position is so wanting that last night Cronin had Williams at the 5. I like Williams but he is a limited player and way too undersized for the five. To be sure there are other areas in need of improvement, but, IMO, it is improvement at the 5 that will have the most profound impact on the Bruins' fortunes. Until Booker and Jamerson become a more effective presence on the court for 40 minutes the Bruins, IMO, are going to continue to struggle through an up and down season.