The Lightning Rod.....

[newmexicuse]

That's Trevor Cooney. Everybody with hugely strong opinions about this kid.

If you ask for my two pennies worth - too much opinion on both sides. His admirer's think he is another GMAC. I hope he gets there, but he has a long ways to go. The ice in GMAC's veins cannot be replicated regardless of the underlying skillset. Trevor can be Trevor and hopefully evolve to a better & better Trevor, but he is simply not GMAC, and I do not mean that as a criticism.

Those that dis him jump on every mistake or bad game. Shooters are always streaky and always will be. No reason to get on the kid's case overall, though specific bad games can be acknowledged.

Personally, he has exceeded my expectations by a wide margin overall. However, I think it is fair to say that yesterday's effort was weak. Please - no rationalizing about how lanes opened up for Tyler because Trevor's man didn't play help D. If his man was that much in trevor's face, he should have been able to drive around him quite easily. That is what good well-rounded 2 guards do. Proof of the pudding that he was having a bad game is that the Coach pulled him at crunch time.

The next step in Trevor's evolution is to find a way to score when the bombs are awry. A mid-range j, a drive & finish at the rim, getting himself to the FT line...I don't care, but as a 2G he needs to get his 10+ every game somehow some way.

My bottom line is that I am thrilled with the progress Trevor has made so far this season, but he is clearly a work in process. The next game should be a no contest affair, but I want to see what Trevor brings to the table against Nova.

 

[KaiserUEO]

Please - no rationalizing about how lanes opened up for Tyler because Trevor's man didn't play help D. If his man was that much in trevor's face, he should have been able to drive around him quite easily. That is what good well-rounded 2 guards do. Proof of the pudding that he was having a bad game is that the Coach pulled him at crunch time.

time to link that article again bees...

 

[Jack Hall]

That's Trevor Cooney. Everybody with hugely strong opinions about this kid.

If you ask for my two pennies worth - too much opinion on both sides. His admirer's think he is another GMAC. I hope he gets there, but he has a long ways to go. The ice in GMAC's veins cannot be replicated regardless of the underlying skillset. Trevor can be Trevor and hopefully evolve to a better & better Trevor, but he is simply not GMAC, and I do not mean that as a criticism.

Those that dis him jump on every mistake or bad game. Shooters are always streaky and always will be. No reason to get on the kid's case overall, though specific bad games can be acknowledged.

Personally, he has exceeded my expectations by a wide margin overall. However, I think it is fair to say that yesterday's effort was weak. Please - no rationalizing about how lanes opened up for Tyler because Trevor's man didn't play help D. If his man was that much in trevor's face, he should have been able to drive around him quite easily. That is what good well-rounded 2 guards do. Proof of the pudding that he was having a bad game is that the Coach pulled him at crunch time.

The next step in Trevor's evolution is to find a way to score when the bombs are awry. A mid-range j, a drive & finish at the rim, getting himself to the FT line...I don't care, but as a 2G he needs to get his 10+ every game somehow some way.

My bottom line is that I am thrilled with the progress Trevor has made so far this season, but he is clearly a work in process. The next game should be a no contest affair, but I want to see what Trevor brings to the table against Nova.

I'm not worried about TC. He had one off game and we won.. Now if he doesn't show against nova I might get concerned or they can blanket him with one guy again. But zero question his presence and how they chased him out beyond the line opened things up for awhile for TE and grant to drive it IMO...good team game...

 

[JOC44]

I think Cooney is a good but limited shooting guard. If an opponent puts an athletic defender on him, and commits to not helping off of Trevor, he can be neutralized. I do think that it's 100% true that teams' reluctance to help off of Cooney makes it easier for our forwards (and Ennis, I suppose) on the drive.

If teams commit instead to stopping the forwards, Cooney is a real problem because he can kill defenders with kick out jumpers.

I haven't figured out if this makes me part of the anti-Cooney cabal or a pro-Cooney apologist.

 

[KaiserUEO]

I think Cooney is a good but limited shooting guard. If an opponent puts an athletic defender on him, and commits to not helping off of Trevor, he can be neutralized. I do think that it's 100% true that teams' reluctance to help off of Cooney makes it easier for our forwards (and Ennis, I suppose) on the drive.

If teams commit instead to stopping the forwards, Cooney is a real problem because he can kill defenders with kick out jumpers.

I haven't figured out if this makes me part of the anti-Cooney cabal or a pro-Cooney apologist.

it makes you a shaky waffle instead of a shaky potatoe.

 

[moqui]

right problem, wrong answer

Taking away Cooney was clearly Lavin's defensive strategy. While he was able to take Cooney away, however, the defensive strategy failed. Syracuse opened up a big lead and scored easily and efficiently. If you really want to, any team can take any one player away in any given game, but this effort proved that SU has too many other options. The Johnnie's didn't give Syracuse a game because they took Cooney away.

They make a run because they were able to get into the lane repeatedly in the 2nd half and either convert or get to the line. That was not entirely Cooney's fault - he and Ennis both had their worst defensive games in a while - but JB subbed in Gbinije for Cooney at the 10 minute mark and left him in the rest of the way. The move didn't pay immediate dividends - SJU scored 10 points on their next 6 possessions - but then the defense tightened up and they went scoreless in their next 8 possessions (and got just 3 free throws in their final 11 overall).

So, yes, Cooney was the a problem. But, no, it was not because of his offense - it was his defense.

 

[dollarbill44]

I think people need to get off players' jocks a little bit and let them play and develop without scrutinizing what a guy does every possession of every game. Either a lot of you never played competitive sports or are too old to remember what it's like, or maybe you were just so awesome that you never made mental or physical mistakes while you did play.

 

[pearl31]

Lightning Rod Strickland:

 

[woody44]

Every player is entitled to an off game, Harrison from St. Johns was all over Cooney like a cheap suit, and he wasn't willing to help on Ennis when he was driving to the basket for fear of him kicking it out to TC for an open three, so Cooney just being out there affects the game and to his credit he didn't force any shots that weren't there to try and "get his"