Hampton Coach

[Cheriehoop]

Anyone notice him? He was on the court most of the game and really demonstrative towards the refs on calls. Thought it was great experience (and decision by Hampton) with a young PG and our shooting woes to use zone defense (are they a zone team?). Hoping opponents don't use last year's strategy and take almost all 30 seconds to take a shot again. Seeing Hampton's coach from a distance, he reminded me physically of Coach Q.

Another weird thing - 2 double fouls? Don't think I've ever seen 2 in one game at my youthful age.

 

[bballbeadle]

Yeah, at some points I became so interested in watching the coach that I forgot to watch the game. I was mucho distracto tonight. If he had been a better known coach, the Dome would have been booing him, but as it was we had bigger fish to fry. There was a point early in the second half when he called a TO and I said to my daughter, "He knows that if he is going to win, it has to start NOW." They probably came to the Dome expecting to be whipped and at some point realized, "Hello! We might have a chance!"

 

[HoustonCuse]

Regarding zone, we did see tonight that we have several good options to man the foul line area though. Roberson, G, and McC all showed themselves to be capable there. They can dump down to Xmas or skip to Cooney, BJ or Buss for a 3.

 

[Libero2]

Regarding zone, we did see tonight that we have several good options to man the foul line area though. Roberson, G, and McC all showed themselves to be capable there. They can dump down to Xmas or skip to Cooney, BJ or Buss for a 3.

I thought McC was the best decision maker at the line. His ridiculous size clearly helps as it lets him see the floor really well from there. Plus he has now put on film multiple made shots from the elbow, which is huge. Roberson will get better at it, some times he caught the ball and hesitated, other times when he caught the ball he knew exactly what he was going to do (sometimes to the point of forcing a play that isn't there). Xmas shouldn't be the guy at the foul line, he needs to be on the receiving end of a high-low pass.

G is the Swiss Army knife do it all kinda guy, and that's just one more role he can play in a pinch, but isn't the primary option at that spot.

 

[Orangezoo]

Yeah he was over the top. It was a weirdly called game but his postgame rant was foolish. They could have called a foul on hampton on nearly every syracuse possession as they were very physical and used their hands excessively. Sore loser on that part. Not to add his guys were better actors than duke a couple times and did get some phantom calls of their own. Just because they attacked inside somewhat recklessly does not mean they were fouled.

 

[suttree]

Yeah he was over the top. It was a weirdly called game but his postgame rant was foolish. They could have called a foul on hampton on nearly every syracuse possession as they were very physical and used their hands excessively. Sore loser on that part. Not to add his guys were better actors than duke a couple times and did get some phantom calls of their own. Just because they attacked inside somewhat recklessly does not mean they were fouled.

Used their hands excessively? It was worse than that. We've all seen the old trick where a player pinches his opponent's arm under his own arm and then acts like he's being held, thrown down, or otherwise being violated. The Hampton guys took this tactic to an extreme I'm not sure I remember seeing before tonight. I don't think it was a wretchedly-called game, but those Hampton set-ups really stood out to me. And considering how many of the players were doing this, you know the directive has to be coming from the top.

 

[Cheriehoop]

What happened at the very beginning of the game when Rak and #30 (what a bull he was) were on the ground - Rak got called for a foul? It was an off the ball play so I didn't see what happened but Rakeem was pretty upset about it.

So he spouted off after the game in a press conference? He sure likes the spotlight. Hollywood Hampton

 

[suttree]

What happened at the very beginning of the game when Rak and #30 (what a bull he was) were on the ground - Rak got called for a foul? It was an off the ball play so I didn't see what happened but Rakeem was pretty upset about it.

So he spouted off after the game in a press conference? He sure likes the spotlight. Hollywood Hampton

Indeed, this was the very first instance of the trap-and-flail arm-pinning tactic I described above. And in this case, it worked like a charm. Fie upon those Hampton blackguards! Thirty losses this season would be too good for them.

 

[llandz]

Yes Cherie, those double fouls were definitely different. I don't ever remember seeing one, unless it was involving some type of altercation.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Yes Cherie, those double fouls were definitely different. I don't ever remember seeing one, unless it was involving some type of altercation.

Yes, and both of them were 2 guys fighting for post position (maybe a bit too hard). How is it a foul on both guys? Either one guy gets an unfair advantage over the other, or there's no foul. You don't call a double foul when guys are pushing against each other for post position.

 

[PeteCalvin]

That guy reminded me a lot of Mike Jarvis when he would come to the Dome. On the floor all the time, jumping up and down, and so on. He was ridiculous. It was VERY evident early on what their gameplan was: use their strength to push us around and get in our heads...as well as try to bait Christmas into early fouls. I havent seen a center get beat on like that since Shaq and AO. They wanted XMas out of the game because they knew he was our most physical player. The double fouls were a cop-out, IMHO. The refs should have blown a technical on one of the Hampton players, or they should have blown a double T on the first one to send the message.

This was a good game for us to have early. it will get the guys to undrstand how they need to play physical teams...because Pitt and Louisville are around the corner.

 

[Orange Barrel]

I can't believe this dude was whining about the officiating. His team pushed, grabbed and elbowed for every rebound. There could/should have been twice as many calls against them.

 

[OttoMets]

I thought McC was the best decision maker at the line. His ridiculous size clearly helps as it lets him see the floor really well from there. Plus he has now put on film multiple made shots from the elbow, which is huge. Roberson will get better at it, some times he caught the ball and hesitated, other times when he caught the ball he knew exactly what he was going to do (sometimes to the point of forcing a play that isn't there). Xmas shouldn't be the guy at the foul line, he needs to be on the receiving end of a high-low pass.

G is the Swiss Army knife do it all kinda guy, and that's just one more role he can play in a pinch, but isn't the primary option at that spot.

Yep.

Roberson could be good up there, but the hesitation hurts. He's got a little of the Todd Burgan unnecessary (and unconvincing) shot fake in his game.

Christmas can do good things on the high post (he's the best passer of the big men, he can hit the shot, and he'll draw a center out there with him and open things up down low), but he's less effective if we don't have a forward who can convert open dunks to points like 90% of the time. We'll get there.

Gbinije made a bad decision from that spot yesterday, taking a contested jumper when Rakeem had sealed his man and demanded the ball. Would rather see him on the perimeter and maybe cutting to the hoop. We've got better options on the high post.

 

[OttoMets]

I can't believe this dude was whining about the officiating. His team pushed, grabbed and elbowed for every rebound. There could/should have been twice as many calls against them.

Their second-half run was helped greatly by a long stretch of no-calls by the officials. Hampton was sitting on three fouls for a very long time; we'd have seen a Christmas parade to the free throw line if the officials hadn't taken the third quarter off.

Also, no technical foul on the grabbed rim/offensive basket interference? Easy call.