Gut Reactions

[CU44SE]

- We finally got over the hump, Colgates winning streak is over.

- Really disappointed how we played in the first half. Lost to Colgate 2 years in a row. Got beat pretty handily in both. And immediately spot them a 20 point lead at the half.

- Lazy basketball in the first half. Guys not getting back on defense, going through the motions.

- McLeod is useless. What is he even doing out there? He’s not a threat on offense. He can’t grab a rebound. An offensive player even looks at the rim and he’s leaving his feet. He spun around countless times having no idea where the ball was. We were a disaster with him on the court.

- Browns defense in the press was huge in the second half.

- I have been very vocal about not being a fan of Bell. Don’t care for the way he plays. But man, was he big for us in the second half. Hit some shots and got the guys going. Needed it tonight.

- Too many guys on the team that want to shoot and stop the ball movement. I don’t think we have anyone on the team that would rather give the extra pass to get the better shot. Everyone wants to take the shot. Ball movement needs to improve.

- As frustrating as this game was to watch at times, down 20 at the half. Take over 4 minutes to score our first field goal of the second half. And find a way to win. That’s how teams grow together.

- The team seemed to really come together in that second half. Started to play more like a team.

- Thought it was over with 325 left in the game. We fought all the way back to within 4, two empty possessions in a row and Colgate immediately pushed the lead back to 8 points. Thought Colgate stopped the run and turned the momentum there.

- Although it wasn’t full pressure, I liked that Red didn’t immediately go into half court defense when we tied the game. He stuck with what helped get us back in the game.

- Conditioning is still a problem. Guys were sucking wind in the first half. Even before we made our comeback.

- Still a lot to work on. Colgate is not a good team this year. I’m also of the belief that our program should beat Colgate 98 out of 100 games. So although I’m not happy this game was as close as it was, Im impressed the kids didn’t give up and fought like heck to get back into the game and win the game.

- Gets much harder on Monday. Hope the squad comes out ready to play from the start.

 

[two3zone]

- We finally got over the hump, Colgates winning streak is over.

- Really disappointed how we played in the first half. Lost to Colgate 2 years in a row. Got beat pretty handily in both. And immediately spot them a 20 point lead at the half.

- Lazy basketball in the first half. Guys not getting back on defense, going through the motions.

- McLeod is useless. What is he even doing out there? He’s not a threat on offense. He can’t grab a rebound. An offensive player even looks at the rim and he’s leaving his feet. He spun around countless times having no idea where the ball was. We were a disaster with him on the court.

- Browns defense in the press was huge in the second half.

- I have been very vocal about not being a fan of Bell. Don’t care for the way he plays. But man, was he big for us in the second half. Hit some shots and got the guys going. Needed it tonight.

- Too many guys on the team that want to shoot and stop the ball movement. I don’t think we have anyone on the team that would rather give the extra pass to get the better shot. Everyone wants to take the shot. Ball movement needs to improve.

- As frustrating as this game was to watch at times, down 20 at the half. Take over 4 minutes to score our first field goal of the second half. And find a way to win. That’s how teams grow together.

- The team seemed to really come together in that second half. Started to play more like a team.

- Thought it was over with 325 left in the game. We fought all the way back to within 4, two empty possessions in a row and Colgate immediately pushed the lead back to 8 points. Thought Colgate stopped the run and turned the momentum there.

- Although it wasn’t full pressure, I liked that Red didn’t immediately go into half court defense when we tied the game. He stuck with what helped get us back in the game.

- Conditioning is still a problem. Guys were sucking wind in the first half. Even before we made our comeback.

- Still a lot to work on. Colgate is not a good team this year. I’m also of the belief that our program should beat Colgate 98 out of 100 games. So although I’m not happy this game was as close as it was, Im impressed the kids didn’t give up and fought like heck to get back into the game and win the game.

- Gets much harder on Monday. Hope the squad comes out ready to play from the start.

Excellent post.

 

[Newhouser]

- We finally got over the hump, Colgates winning streak is over.

- Really disappointed how we played in the first half. Lost to Colgate 2 years in a row. Got beat pretty handily in both. And immediately spot them a 20 point lead at the half.

- Lazy basketball in the first half. Guys not getting back on defense, going through the motions.

- McLeod is useless. What is he even doing out there? He’s not a threat on offense. He can’t grab a rebound. An offensive player even looks at the rim and he’s leaving his feet. He spun around countless times having no idea where the ball was. We were a disaster with him on the court.

- Browns defense in the press was huge in the second half.

- I have been very vocal about not being a fan of Bell. Don’t care for the way he plays. But man, was he big for us in the second half. Hit some shots and got the guys going. Needed it tonight.

- Too many guys on the team that want to shoot and stop the ball movement. I don’t think we have anyone on the team that would rather give the extra pass to get the better shot. Everyone wants to take the shot. Ball movement needs to improve.

- As frustrating as this game was to watch at times, down 20 at the half. Take over 4 minutes to score our first field goal of the second half. And find a way to win. That’s how teams grow together.

- The team seemed to really come together in that second half. Started to play more like a team.

- Thought it was over with 325 left in the game. We fought all the way back to within 4, two empty possessions in a row and Colgate immediately pushed the lead back to 8 points. Thought Colgate stopped the run and turned the momentum there.

- Although it wasn’t full pressure, I liked that Red didn’t immediately go into half court defense when we tied the game. He stuck with what helped get us back in the game.

- Conditioning is still a problem. Guys were sucking wind in the first half. Even before we made our comeback.

- Still a lot to work on. Colgate is not a good team this year. I’m also of the belief that our program should beat Colgate 98 out of 100 games. So although I’m not happy this game was as close as it was, Im impressed the kids didn’t give up and fought like heck to get back into the game and win the game.

- Gets much harder on Monday. Hope the squad comes out ready to play from the start.

Nobody has a pass first mentality except maybe Maliq and Q. I say it every year, good passing is contagious. It's been a while since we had ball sharers.

 

[UnderHisOwnPower]

- We finally got over the hump, Colgates winning streak is over.

- Really disappointed how we played in the first half. Lost to Colgate 2 years in a row. Got beat pretty handily in both. And immediately spot them a 20 point lead at the half.

- Lazy basketball in the first half. Guys not getting back on defense, going through the motions.

- McLeod is useless. What is he even doing out there? He’s not a threat on offense. He can’t grab a rebound. An offensive player even looks at the rim and he’s leaving his feet. He spun around countless times having no idea where the ball was. We were a disaster with him on the court.

- Browns defense in the press was huge in the second half.

- I have been very vocal about not being a fan of Bell. Don’t care for the way he plays. But man, was he big for us in the second half. Hit some shots and got the guys going. Needed it tonight.

- Too many guys on the team that want to shoot and stop the ball movement. I don’t think we have anyone on the team that would rather give the extra pass to get the better shot. Everyone wants to take the shot. Ball movement needs to improve.

- As frustrating as this game was to watch at times, down 20 at the half. Take over 4 minutes to score our first field goal of the second half. And find a way to win. That’s how teams grow together.

- The team seemed to really come together in that second half. Started to play more like a team.

- Thought it was over with 325 left in the game. We fought all the way back to within 4, two empty possessions in a row and Colgate immediately pushed the lead back to 8 points. Thought Colgate stopped the run and turned the momentum there.

- Although it wasn’t full pressure, I liked that Red didn’t immediately go into half court defense when we tied the game. He stuck with what helped get us back in the game.

- Conditioning is still a problem. Guys were sucking wind in the first half. Even before we made our comeback.

- Still a lot to work on. Colgate is not a good team this year. I’m also of the belief that our program should beat Colgate 98 out of 100 games. So although I’m not happy this game was as close as it was, Im impressed the kids didn’t give up and fought like heck to get back into the game and win the game.

- Gets much harder on Monday. Hope the squad comes out ready to play from the start.

Yep. Chris, same # of rebounds as a dead guy. this team is destined for small ball with Maliq manning the 5. JJs late rebounds were huge, looking more like J Wrights Nova teams each game

 

[UpstateSM]

McLeod is going to have the worst Hawaiian vacation of all time next week.

Except for maybe dasher

 

[Cheriehoop]

Nobody has a pass first mentality except maybe Maliq and Q. I say it every year, good passing is contagious. It's been a while since we had ball sharers.

Marek Dolezaj was the last very good passer that I recall. Passing sadly is becoming a lost art.

 

[billsin01]

- We finally got over the hump, Colgates winning streak is over.

- Really disappointed how we played in the first half. Lost to Colgate 2 years in a row. Got beat pretty handily in both. And immediately spot them a 20 point lead at the half.

- Lazy basketball in the first half. Guys not getting back on defense, going through the motions.

- McLeod is useless. What is he even doing out there? He’s not a threat on offense. He can’t grab a rebound. An offensive player even looks at the rim and he’s leaving his feet. He spun around countless times having no idea where the ball was. We were a disaster with him on the court.

- Browns defense in the press was huge in the second half.

- I have been very vocal about not being a fan of Bell. Don’t care for the way he plays. But man, was he big for us in the second half. Hit some shots and got the guys going. Needed it tonight.

- Too many guys on the team that want to shoot and stop the ball movement. I don’t think we have anyone on the team that would rather give the extra pass to get the better shot. Everyone wants to take the shot. Ball movement needs to improve.

- As frustrating as this game was to watch at times, down 20 at the half. Take over 4 minutes to score our first field goal of the second half. And find a way to win. That’s how teams grow together.

- The team seemed to really come together in that second half. Started to play more like a team.

- Thought it was over with 325 left in the game. We fought all the way back to within 4, two empty possessions in a row and Colgate immediately pushed the lead back to 8 points. Thought Colgate stopped the run and turned the momentum there.

- Although it wasn’t full pressure, I liked that Red didn’t immediately go into half court defense when we tied the game. He stuck with what helped get us back in the game.

- Conditioning is still a problem. Guys were sucking wind in the first half. Even before we made our comeback.

- Still a lot to work on. Colgate is not a good team this year. I’m also of the belief that our program should beat Colgate 98 out of 100 games. So although I’m not happy this game was as close as it was, Im impressed the kids didn’t give up and fought like heck to get back into the game and win the game.

- Gets much harder on Monday. Hope the squad comes out ready to play from the start.

Yeah, lots of good thoughts here. Didn't see it live and just watched the replay. Probably for the best -- I would have been hyperventilating in the first 25 mins or so of that game.

Some thoughts:

• We spent a lot of time on here hammering the zone and, perhaps, for good reason. What we saw tonight was a man-to-man get torched. Whatever defense you play, you need the personnel (which I think we have, by and large) and execution (this is a question mark).
  
  
• Give the kid Smith and the big Records credit -- those kids are good players and gave us fits all night, even during the comeback.
  
  
• I too struggle with Bell's game. I think we're just going to have to love the nights when he goes 6-for-14 from three and hope we don't see a lot of the 1-for-7 nights. His line other than the scoring is incredibly poor. No rebounds, no assists, 1 steal, no blocks. He has to knock down shots but, to his credit, he did that tonight and he had a couple nice takes to the basket as well. Good for him. Still feel uneasy about him being such a big part of this team but for this night you can at least see why Red has him out there.
  
  
• Taylor played hard. Not terribly well, but hard. Hit a big three late, had a big steal late and battled defensively. So I'll give him hustle points and hope he can find a way to be a bit more of a factor offensively.
  
  
• Red's defense and offense both feel really, really rudimentary. The number of times one screen messes up our entire defense (the two easy pick-and-roll buckets in the first half, a couple pull up threes off basic ball screens, the non-stop buckets on mismatches on the right block) is painful. You cannot have a big watching a ball-handler drive toward the basket with a guard chasing from behind taking a wide path around a screen. That's brutal. You can't allow a big all day to back down smaller defenders with zero help. You can't have one slide for help but no reaction from the other three defenders. Can't happen. Offensively, we've played five opponents and all five run laps around us with their movement off-ball on offense. We don't have to mirror smaller, less talented teams in that respect, but we spend at least 60% of our time offensively watching someone dribble with no movement. Easily my biggest concern.
  
  
• McLeod may be almost unplayable in man. I know people hate zone, but if we need to play him we may need to play some zone. I'm fine with it not being a basic 2-3 but if we're going to use him, we need to find him from time to time for dunks on offense and hide him on defense.
  
  
• Judah was huge. Much better defense in the second half, got to the line a ton, made some shots and added 8 assists for good measure. BUT, he has to stop gambling in the backcourt and letting his teammates play 4-on-5. His take foul, which turned into a flagrant 1 was absolutely brutal.
  
  
• JJ did a lot of nice things, not the least of which is playing 39 mins and turning it over just twice. Hit a couple jumpers, which was great to see. Can occasionally take some bad shots and I'm not sure he's an opportunistic defender, but he was solid and is proving a nice addition for us.
  
  
• Not incredible nights for Cope and Cuffe, but thought both still contributed. Nice defensive play late by Cuffe on the block and Cope had a nice pass to JJ, who made the extra pass to Bell for a wide open three after a Cope drive. Just nice to see Cope not force a wild shot or turn the ball over there. Cope with a few nice defensive plays too. Hope he continues to grow and improve.
  
  
• Brown was good. Not great, but good. Weird decision to pass on a layup at one point but man, the dude gets his hand on the ball a ton. Hope he's healthy and the arrow points up the rest of the way.
  
  
• Benny. I don't know. We need him ... but I just don't know. The first three looked good but I'm not concerned with the shots and points, to be honest. Just didn't do much in the way of rebounding or creating havoc defensively. Doesn't move off the ball. Not sure here.
  
  
• The rebound margin is brutal but I will say I think Colgate collected two airballs and three early long rebounds, which made it look a bit worse. Bell, Taylor, McLeod and Brown all got outworked/outmuscled for a board that turned into a putback. Have to be tougher there.

All in all, great to get a W against a well-coached team with a little talent. It's something. Not sure what, but it's something. The key will be doing more to play team defense and really drilling home rotations. We absolutely have to show more sophistication in our approach on both ends of the floor. That's red's job ... we'll see how it goes.

 

[UnderHisOwnPower]

Yeah, lots of good thoughts here. Didn't see it live and just watched the replay. Probably for the best -- I would have been hyperventilating in the first 25 mins or so of that game.

Some thoughts:

• We spent a lot of time on here hammering the zone and, perhaps, for good reason. What we saw tonight was a man-to-man get torched. Whatever defense you play, you need the personnel (which I think we have, by and large) and execution (this is a question mark).
  
  
• Give the kid Smith and the big Records credit -- those kids are good players and gave us fits all night, even during the comeback.
  
  
• I too struggle with Bell's game. I think we're just going to have to love the nights when he goes 6-for-14 from three and hope we don't see a lot of the 1-for-7 nights. His line other than the scoring is incredibly poor. No rebounds, no assists, 1 steal, no blocks. He has to knock down shots but, to his credit, he did that tonight and he had a couple nice takes to the basket as well. Good for him. Still feel uneasy about him being such a big part of this team but for this night you can at least see why Red has him out there.
  
  
• Taylor played hard. Not terribly well, but hard. Hit a big three late, had a big steal late and battled defensively. So I'll give him hustle points and hope he can find a way to be a bit more of a factor offensively.
  
  
• Red's defense and offense both feel really, really rudimentary. The number of times one screen messes up our entire defense (the two easy pick-and-roll buckets in the first half, a couple pull up threes off basic ball screens, the non-stop buckets on mismatches on the right block) is painful. You cannot have a big watching a ball-handler drive toward the basket with a guard chasing from behind taking a wide path around a screen. That's brutal. You can't allow a big all day to back down smaller defenders with zero help. You can't have one slide for help but no reaction from the other three defenders. Can't happen. Offensively, we've played five opponents and all five run laps around us with their movement off-ball on offense. We don't have to mirror smaller, less talented teams in that respect, but we spend at least 60% of our time offensively watching someone dribble with no movement. Easily my biggest concern.
  
  
• McLeod may be almost unplayable in man. I know people hate zone, but if we need to play him we may need to play some zone. I'm fine with it not being a basic 2-3 but if we're going to use him, we need to find him from time to time for dunks on offense and hide him on defense.
  
  
• Judah was huge. Much better defense in the second half, got to the line a ton, made some shots and added 8 assists for good measure. BUT, he has to stop gambling in the backcourt and letting his teammates play 4-on-5. His take foul, which turned into a flagrant 1 was absolutely brutal.
  
  
• JJ did a lot of nice things, not the least of which is playing 39 mins and turning it over just twice. Hit a couple jumpers, which was great to see. Can occasionally take some bad shots and I'm not sure he's an opportunistic defender, but he was solid and is proving a nice addition for us.
  
  
• Not incredible nights for Cope and Cuffe, but thought both still contributed. Nice defensive play late by Cuffe on the block and Cope had a nice pass to JJ, who made the extra pass to Bell for a wide open three after a Cope drive. Just nice to see Cope not force a wild shot or turn the ball over there. Cope with a few nice defensive plays too. Hope he continues to grow and improve.
  
  
• Brown was good. Not great, but good. Weird decision to pass on a layup at one point but man, the dude gets his hand on the ball a ton. Hope he's healthy and the arrow points up the rest of the way.
  
  
• Benny. I don't know. We need him ... but I just don't know. The first three looked good but I'm not concerned with the shots and points, to be honest. Just didn't do much in the way of rebounding or creating havoc defensively. Doesn't move off the ball. Not sure here.
  
  
• The rebound margin is brutal but I will say I think Colgate collected two airballs and three early long rebounds, which made it look a bit worse. Bell, Taylor, McLeod and Brown all got outworked/outmuscled for a board that turned into a putback. Have to be tougher there.

All in all, great to get a W against a well-coached team with a little talent. It's something. Not sure what, but it's something. The key will be doing more to play team defense and really drilling home rotations. We absolutely have to show more sophistication in our approach on both ends of the floor. That's red's job ... we'll see how it goes.

I don't think people hate zone, at all. What we hate is 100% zone no ifs, ands or buts!

 

[Nicknack]

Yeah, to hate the zone and never play it is as ignorant as only playing zone and nothing else.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

Yeah, to hate the zone and never play it is as ignorant as only playing zone and nothing else.

If we played as much zone tonight as we would have previously, we lose by 20

 

[cliftonparksufan]

1) Great point about finishing the comeback. A lot of teams will run out of steam and come close.

2) We can still beat Colgate 98/100. Right now uts 55/57. We just need to win 43 straight.

3) Technically it was a 16 point deficit at the half and they opened the 2nd with eight straight points to make it 24. That's when Red called time, leaving him with only one left and McLeod and the team got loudly booed. Who would have thought they could come back

4) Red and the coaches were very active. We outscored them 49-21 over the last 16 minutes. Very impressive. Can't wait to rewatch it today.

 

[swish7]

Good call outs, especially on the lack of movement on O & D.

 

[billsin01]

I don't think people hate zone, at all. What we hate is 100% zone no ifs, ands or buts!

Probably true. Switching up defenses occasionally should prove to be beneficial at some point. I would argue the point still stands, however, that we have to have a good approach and execute it well. We may even have a slight personnel issue with our bigs -- Brown has been solid, feel like Benny can contribute but not sure he will contribute, and I'd say McLeod has to be in a defense where he can hang near the basket.