LSU Postgamer

[STEVEHOLT]

However, Taylor turns out to be a good (our best) rebounder

grading on a curve.

 

[Sbucketball]

If only Judah (and maybe Benny ...) leave next year, this is our roster:

C: MacLeod, Hima, Carey, Patterson
: Donnie Freeman, Chris Bell, Maliq Brown, Justin Taylor, Benny
G: Chance Westry, Kyle Cuffe, JJ Starling, Copeland, Elijah Moore

Even if a guy or two leaves, that's a talented team.
Maybe one more shooter, if someone leaves,

We need to upgrade the bottom few players with portal talent in my opinion.

 

[Newhouser]

I suspect that’s part of the reason why he left.

Thus far from what I've seen he's not a worse defender than JJ who loses track of his man all the time.

 

[OptimusOtto]

Ball movement was good all night from everyone I thought. They also kept Judah off the ball. Red has definitely made some adjustments.

One of the best things all night was with about 7min left in the 2H, they showed Red yelling “stop talking and get the back on defense” - not sure who it was directed to but it was good to see that Red is definitely on top of these guys

It was Bell. Red was on him after multiple made shots and looked like Jimmy for a little bit. He’s clearly sick of all the easy transition baskets we’ve given up.

 

[AZOrange]

JJ is still a problem. I’m not sure how long we can allow our 2 guard to go 1 for the season from 3. He had zero fg’s tonight

He looks hurt to me. Something isn’t right

 

[kuethstheman]

grading on a curve.

Sure, but he's the least of our rebounding problems. Need much more from the center position.

Although tonight, the centers were good on the boards.

 

[longtimefan]

If only Judah (and maybe Benny ...) leave next year, this is our roster:

C: MacLeod, Hima, Carey, Patterson
: Donnie Freeman, Chris Bell, Maliq Brown, Justin Taylor, Benny
G: Chance Westry, Kyle Cuffe, JJ Starling, Copeland, Elijah Moore

Even if a guy or two leaves, that's a talented team.
Maybe one more shooter, if someone leaves,

That's 14. You're one over the limit.

 

[mark79]

Weird game. Final score looks great. 1H was mainly a Judah FT fest. LSU couldn’t shoot at all.

I’m happy with the win but this might be the least exciting 23pt romp vs an OOC P5 team in a long time? Judah was great; Bell was hot in the 2nd half; McLeod looked good early; ball movement was way better.

I don’t think we learned much tonight other than Judah maybe has another level that we haven’t seen yet.

One additional thing I learned is that Chris Bell is putting in a lot of effort on defense. He moves very well laterally and is actually turning into a pretty good defender. Now we need him to rebound, but at least he got a few tonight. Great game he and Judah had!

 

[sufandu]

It was awesome seeing the LSU guys get off the bus in the snow. Loved that it was right up front on sportcenter.

I liked that we had better ball movement on offense. There was less dribble up and shoot and more looking for other guys, even if shots weren't always falling.

Defense has a couple guys that play good individual but team defense often continues to look disorganized. Hopefully we see that get better.

 

[rrlbees]

We’re one of the top 5 teams in the ACC.

 

[mark79]

He looks hurt to me. Something isn’t right

Agree, something seems off.

If I were to guess, it looks to me like Red has JJ playing the 1 with Judah in there as the 2 when they are in there together.

I think we may also be seeing JJ sacrificing some of his game for the benefit of the team and for the benefit of continuity. He is deferring to Judah a lot to make most of the plays. That isn’t easy and may be affecting his confidence.

I’m sure his confidence is also affected some by his poor shooting. He’s gonna need a game where he is the man and Judah takes a bit of a back seat maybe.

 

[bevosu]

If only Judah (and maybe Benny ...) leave next year, this is our roster:

C: MacLeod, Hima, Carey, Patterson
: Donnie Freeman, Chris Bell, Maliq Brown, Justin Taylor, Benny
G: Chance Westry, Kyle Cuffe, JJ Starling, Copeland, Elijah Moore

Even if a guy or two leaves, that's a talented team.
Maybe one more shooter, if someone leaves,

Draft Notes​

Chance Westry is a big combo guard with great ball handling, creativity, and a deep bag. He can play off the ball as needed and is a versatile player but is at his best breaking down the defense with the ball in his hands.

He’s great at penetrating the lane, collapsing the defense, and dishing to teammates. He’s got special passing ability, quick, on point and perfectly timed.

Chance plays with a ton of confidence and seems to know he’s the man on the court. He’s a big shot-maker and a leader in the clutch. His shooting form is solid and he’s got a soft touch. And he has all the makings of a future NBA range 3pt threat.

He has very quick hands-on defense and is a pickpocket, getting a lot of on-the-ball steals. And he’s got the size to guard the 2 and some 3 as well.

He’s not the most explosive player and has more of a below-the-rim game (although he’s made big strides since his freshman season).

An evaluation coming out of high school.


Chance Westry - NBA Draft Room

 

[OrlandoCuse]

JJ is still a problem. I’m not sure how long we can allow our 2 guard to go 1 for the season from 3. He had zero fg’s tonight

Our best lineup right now is probably Judah, Cope, Bell, Taylor, and Brown. Love JJ, but he’s struggling right now. Hope he gets it figured out because we’ll need him.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

Our best lineup right now is probably Judah, Cope, Bell, Taylor, and Brown. Love JJ, but he’s struggling right now. Hope he gets it figured out because we’ll need him.

from the opening tip, Mc "so tall his head is in the cloud" was causing LSU a ton of problems on both ends. when he sat, LSU went on a run (for them..i know..their runs were weak) but we went quite a while without scoring a FG. I can't quite put my finger on it..but somehow him just being in the game opens things up on offense and tightens things on defense, even if he himself seems like he's not doing much.

 

[boog7]

Mintz is at his best when he plays off the ball. It’s easier to attack the lane from the wing. McCloud totally got in LSU’s head in the first half. He’s also shooting the three well. Maybe JJ should stay at the point.

Agreed. Said this a few games back: with JJ struggling w/ his outside shot right now, his best chance at making a positive contribution is to become more of a distributor/floor general running the point, while Judah can play off the ball and do what he does best - get buckets.

Larry Brown's playbook during the Iverson era can work at SU - letting his dynamic, high-scoring "point guard" (insert Mintz) play off the ball and get buckets, while guys like Eric Snow (insert JJ) actually ran the point.

And I think that's already happening. I noticed last night - more than in previous games - whenever Judah got the ball he often looked for JJ, passed to him and let him run the point. I think that's the best way to maximize JJ's other talents while he figures his shot out. And last night that approach freed Judah up to drop a career-high 30 piece.

Hope Red sticks with it and builds on the strategy. Prolly best for JJ and the team.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

It was awesome seeing the LSU guys get off the bus in the snow. Loved that it was right up front on sportcenter.

I felt confident we were going to win when they showed that. Those dudes looked miserable.

 

[shu 49]

For the "why did we play in Maui" crowd.

This is why.

We needed games vs better teams. We needed to get stomped a couple times. Effort is what will win us games. The boys are starting to realize that, I hope.

Well the defense really picked up. Thought Bells d is getting considerably better every game.

 

[shu 49]

Team is still growing together. Baby steps. Great ball movement and better rebounding in the second half. And I’m sure many didn’t notice but Bell had a very good game defensively.

Ball movement was phenomenal.

 

[SmilinBob]

Not getting my hopes up for UVA. The pack line defense will not be kind to a driving team like Cuse

Playing offense vs UV is like driving a Ford Pinto with bald tires up Seeley Hill in a snowstorm.

 

[HtownOrange]

Mintz 33 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, on 72,000 free throws.

You win the interwebs!

 

[721Comstock]

That's 14. You're one over the limit.

Yup. But that won’t be a problem.

Red will surely have “the talk” with Hima.
Dude hasn’t seen the floor at all, even in blowouts.

And, depending on how the season goes, I wouldn’t be shocked if Benny decided to look for an opportunity elsewhere.

Lastly - given it’s the Portal Era, there could always be a surprise guy who bolts, but I surely hope not -
the rest of the guys are all keepers.

The roster ‘issues’ always work themselves out.
Always.

 

[Cuse181]

He’s also not playing extended minutes. I think he took defensive plays off last year to conserve energy.

He’s playing 30 mins a game

 

[Seng85]

Until we can get JJ contributing more, I think we need a couple things to happen to beat good teams.

Judah needs to get calls on over half his drives. If he doesn’t, he’s on the ground and it’s 5 on 4 the other way. As someone else pointed out, he is also much more engaged defensively when he does.

We need 5+ threes from Bell/Taylor.

Effort and focus from all 5 on the court. We’ve been a lot better at this for spurts, and those spurts have lasted longer. This shows up in rebounding effort and passing. As Jake pointed out, LSU essentially gave up when it got to 18, but except for a 2 minute span with a couple of bad passes, the second half was good.

 

[Scott11]

A few thoughts
-the biggest takeaway for me was Judah’s increased maturity. He dropped 33 but all of his shots were ones we’d want him to take. He looked for his teammates and frequently got them in a position to score. He dove on the court to save a possession early in the first half. With only one exception, he didn’t complain to the refs and got back on defense. It started with his unselfishness against Charminade, and he really seems to be getting it. In my opinion, his best game on the hill.
-I like the way Red is substituting guys out for mental mistakes or bad decisions but not for missing open shots. Keeps guys focused and unselfish, but doesn’t have them looking over their shoulder.
-JJ had his worst game of the year last night. He has to take care of the ball or else Quadir should get some of his minutes. Right now they basically are doing the same thing although JJ is a far better defender. I think he comes back with a better game on Saturday.
-we all know his limitations, but McLeod has proven to be useful. I think he gives it everything he can, and if he can dunk, block shots, and get rebounds, that’s all we can ask for. His free throws have looked solid surprisingly. Feels like Red has a pretty good handle on when he needs to come out and get a rest.
-obviously rebounding is an issue, but Benny doesn’t seem interested in helping in that regard. He just stands there and fails to put a body on anyone and misses more rebounds than anyone with his athleticism and size should. I wish he could be more of a factor on the offensive boards as well. But he seems content lurking around the perimeter looking for his shot.
-Taylor didn’t shoot as well as he can, and made a couple of careless turnovers late but all around he played a good game with his rebounding and assists. He also did a nice job covering a guy who clearly was bigger and stronger.
-whoever that analyst was was excellent. Very candid and called guys out.
-felt like this game was a continuation of some of the good things we saw the team do in Hawaii, and it feels like that competition was helpful. The man-to-man defense was very good at times last night. Will be interesting to see how we do against a solid, but not spectacular Virginia team on the road on Saturday. But it was really encouraging to beat LSU so easily.

 

[Newhouser]

from the opening tip, Mc "so tall his head is in the cloud" was causing LSU a ton of problems on both ends. when he sat, LSU went on a run (for them..i know..their runs were weak) but we went quite a while without scoring a FG. I can't quite put my finger on it..but somehow him just being in the game opens things up on offense and tightens things on defense, even if he himself seems like he's not doing much.

I agree. He is a presence on the floor. We need to try both bigs at once.