Can we talk about Euro Dude...

[OttoMets]

its the zone. It allows unathletic but nonetheless good shooting guys who can't deal and play as effectively as well in man to man to do this on occasion.

Man or zone, we're ill-equipped to defend a skilled big man like that.

Switch to man, Rakeem's pulled 22 feet away from the basket, the lane is open, and he's still giving up three inches to a player who can elevate and shoot.

Pretty valuable asset on that team; I'll look forward to watching Wake play in the future.

 

[longislandcuse]

its the zone. It allows unathletic but nonetheless good shooting guys who can't deal and play as effectively as well in man to man to do this on occasion.

Which a lot of teams in the ACC have. The Big East had more athletes, the ACC has more mediocre teams with these dudes.

 

[Cusefan0307]

I'll tell you what, Manning coached a good game. On offense, at least. Wake was pretty poor on the other end; failure to help on Christmas for much of the game cost them.

They helped off Roberson after the catch and shaded one guy to Rocs side. They used the same strategy against Duke and "held" Okafor to 12. Manning said after the game they didn't want to straight double Christmas before he got into the post because he was afraid of us getting hot from three.

 

[OttoMets]

They helped off Roberson after the catch and shaded one guy to Rocs side. They used the same strategy against Duke and "held" Okafor to 12. Manning said after the game they didn't want to straight double Christmas before he got into the post because he was afraid of us getting hot from three.

They got more consistent with that late, but I'll watch it again later; seemed their help man was non-existent for long stretches early in the game. Maybe Christmas was posting on Gbinije's wing on those possessions.

 

[jordoo]

I think Manning will be a good coach there. He will obviously have to recruit good players first and foremost but he called TO's when needed and actually changed thing up during the game. He also stayed with what was working something that isn't done enough. I think he knows what he's doing.

 

[jgeorge322]

You mean Elvir Pittsnoggle? He was unconscious.

lol. too bad he didn't attempt any behind the back passes. long live ovcina

 

[Hoo's That]

its the zone. It allows unathletic but nonetheless good shooting guys who can't deal and play as effectively as well in man to man to do this on occasion.

Which a lot of teams in the ACC have. The Big East had more athletes, the ACC has more mediocre teams with these dudes.

Serious question - Were the Big East teams able to attract the athletic players because they were in/near the big cities of the Northeast?

 

[Alsacs]

Serious question - Were the Big East teams able to attract the athletic players because they were in/near the big cities of the Northeast?

Big East basketball was just a physical league because the refs let kids bang bodies. Most of the schools recruited NYC hard and you had kids who went up against each other in HS and then onto college. Pickney-Nova, Mullin-St. John's, Pearl-Syracuse, all played with many of their opponents in HS. Also, everyone hated Georgetown and their Bad Boys foul hard style.

The Big East recruited NYC/Baltimore/Philly and ESPN putting the conference on TV helped. The ACC always was more offensive conference while the Big East was the rough defensive conference.

 

[Alsacs]

My Greek brother from Wake played well, but all of his shots were open. Give the kid credit for a quick release and making the shots. We can't complain when a player makes open looks. We got exactly what we wanted jump shots being taken and the kid just made the shots.

 

[reedny]

some stats to wrap your head around

Dude MADE three more FG than he had attempted in any single game

had not shot above 60% in a game, tonight hits 77%

also, he aint this dude

http://www.goal.com/en-us/people/greece/18602/konstantinos-mitroglou

It's actually worse than those stats if you look at his numbers at WF. Let's just start out with a few basic figures: 7.6 average; 28% from deep going into the game; and a combined 11 points in his last 3 contests. Are you kidding me? He didn't (couldn't) miss in the first half - 16 points. Even after being face guarded down the stretch, he still wound up going 4 for 7 from 3, 10 for 13 overall and 26 points!! And he's 6'10"!

What Aegean stone did Manning turn over to find this kid? This is an instant 'Cuse bar story, and should be enshrined in the 'out-of-nowhere' hall of fame (next to Kyle Kurric and a few others).

Thank god it was a happy ending. They usually aren't.

http://www.syracuse.com/orangebaske...did_his_career-game_against_syracuse_com.html

 

[Col. Bleep]

Big East basketball was just a physical league because the refs let kids bang bodies. Most of the schools recruited NYC hard and you had kids who went up against each other in HS and then onto college. Pickney-Nova, Mullin-St. John's, Pearl-Syracuse, all played with many of their opponents in HS. Also, everyone hated Georgetown and their Bad Boys foul hard style.

The Big East recruited NYC/Baltimore/Philly and ESPN putting the conference on TV helped. The ACC always was more offensive conference while the Big East was the rough defensive conference.

I generally agree...with one important fix: Everyone STILL hates G-town...but no one loathes them like we do.
In fact as soon as I post this I'm going to watch the clips of CJ jamming in Otto Porter's face in OT during the BE tourney followed by Fieler's jam for FGCU in the NCAA's.
Can't get enough of those clips enough.
Kind of like having to stop and watch any time I come across The Godfather or Goodfellas on TV.

One other point...ESPN wound up being the great equalizer in terms of recruiting outside of the NE.
For a while we had the California connection going.
I doubt it would have happened without ESPN showing the wild BE and 30,000 fans in the Dome.

 

[dyedorange]

Not many teams have a big guy that can hit the short and deep corner shot like that. The threes up top could definitely have been guarded better. It seemed like towards the end christmas and g started to communicate better. I still think is the zone from what I have seen its the center who is mostly asked to run out and challenge that shot. The kid had a quick release and height so he got it off before Christmas could get out their or before G could recover from taking away the next pass to the wing.

He also seemed to have an extremely high release point. Put all that together -- quick release/height/high release point -- and that's pretty close to un-guardable if he's on.

 

[longtimefan]

Great. 3 more years of this guy. Maybe i'll be able to pronounce his name by 2018.

I think he'll be long gone back to Greece by then. They said on the telecast that he was very close to signing with a Greek pro team last summer before changing his mind and coming to the States. If he has a decent year going forward, the Euro pro offer will be sweetened.