Marek

[OttoinGrotto]

The ball has to be passed to Marek when he is open or a play needs to be run that is designed to be in position to score. This did not happen often in the Kansas game. Often it was a rushed pass in a crowded space or a blown pass.

While it is still early, I have not seen the ball movement required to get other than Howard, Battle and Brissett open.

Spot on.

 

[BludOrange]

It's not easy to score a ton of points, when no plays are called for you. Also, at times he had a smaller, quicker guy guarding him due to Kansas' lack of size, and wasnt going to try to take them off the dribble. He was never in position or received the ball in position to make a 3-5 foot jumper. I'm not sure, but I dont believe there was a single pass to any of our bigs down on the low block or short corner. Unless you want to count the one off of Marek's face. But that was more of a dump off than an entry pass.

We failed to take advantage of Kansas' backup big men when they were in the game. Our spacing was bad. The high ball screens only helped clog the lane for whoever was trying to drive, Was no room to dump off a pass to a big as a result.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

He's got some potential, but the game is going too fast right now. The word that comes to mind is frantic. Once things slow down, I think he will be fun to watch.

 

[OrangeDW]

I agree about his good passing, steals and boarding but how do we score enough to beat top 25 teams?

Usually, we probably don’t. We’ve got what we’ve got.

 

[SUbear]

I agree about his good passing, steals and boarding but how do we score enough to beat top 25 teams?

Sidibe playing forward as you suggest would not be the answer to that.

 

[Cheriehoop]

I agree about his good passing, steals and boarding but how do we score enough to beat top 25 teams?

We had the same issue in 2013-2014 with a shaky offense, lots of young, inexperienced parts. JB decided to capitalize on their defensive abilities, slow the pace, minimizing the opponent’s offensive possessions(we averaged only 9 turnovers a game) to be highly competitive and make the NCAA’s. That team embraced being elite not on offense but on defense and executed it to become a real competitive force. Maybe this team will embrace hustling, rebounding and continue searching for other game facets they can capitalize on too.

 

[SUbear]

We had the same issue in 2013-2014 with a shaky offense, lots of young, inexperienced parts. JB decided to capitalize on their defensive abilities, minimizing the opponent’s offensive possessions(we averaged only 9 turnovers a game) to be highly competitive and make the NCAA’s. That team embraced being elite not on offense but on defense and executed it to become a real competitive force. Maybe this team will embrace hustling, rebounding and continue searching for other game facets they can capitalize on too.

Maximize the abilities you have and minimize your deficiencies, sounds like a plan.

 

[AlaskaSU]

Eh. Not really. They do different things, but at the end of the day they both average 5 ppg.

Sidibe is not a forward on either end of the court in this era of hoops though. He’s a C.

Georgetown did just fine when they started two centers back in the day. We need to up our scoring. Sibide is a better offensive player than Marek and it isn't close. .

 

[OrangeDW]

Georgetown did just fine when they started two centers back in the day. We need to up our scoring. Sibide is a better offensive player than Marek and it isn't close. .

Like I said “in this era of hoops”.

Starting two centers in 1990 is not the same as starting two centers in 2017. The game has changed.

Also, Sidibe and Chukwu are not exactly Mourning and Mutumbo.

And just because you keep saying “Sidibe is a better offensive player than Marek” doesn’t make it so. They both average 5 ppg. Marek is a better passer and is more comfortable than Sidibe on the perimeter. Sidibe has a better shooting %...because he plays around the rim. Sidibe is a better offensive player within 5 feet of the basket...with that I would agree. And that’s why he plays Center.

By the way, Sidibe is also a center defensively and he would be nowhere near as good as Marek defensively in that forward spot in the zone.

 

[SUbear]

Georgetown did just fine when they started two centers back in the day. We need to up our scoring. Sibide is a better offensive player than Marek and it isn't close. .

If you say so, but I have seen no evidence that he is a better scorer from the forward position. Can he shoot the corner three? Is he able to drive on a mobil forward? How good is his mid range jump shot?
Good and improving center but probably not so good as a forward.

 

[Eric15]

Georgetown did just fine when they started two centers back in the day.

Well it helps when both players are All-Americans and future NBA hall of famers.

 

[AZOrange]

I must have misread this, did you mean everyone? Was it aboard consensus?

Or a few posters making some speculation?

The latter

 

[Jasoncuse]

He was injured. Sibide is better offensive player than Marek. As JB would say, a dead man would have scored as many points. over the last 2 games he averaged 5 pts per game. That leaves us with 3 players that can create their own shot. The Sibide / Chewy combination works, but if we started Sibide we would have 4 scorers on the floor. Chewy cannot play a full game but we could use MM to back him up. We need to give give Sibide more playing time.

So you'd play Sidibe and Chukwu at the same time? Sidibe on the wing of the zone? Sidibe on the perimeter on offense? That has disaster written all over it.

YIKES

 

[721Comstock]

So you'd play Sidibe and Chukwu at the same time? Sidibe on the wing of the zone? Sidibe on the perimeter on offense? That has disaster written all over it.

YIKES

And yet - one of our best teams in history had a bigger, slower guy than Dib play the 4 for us - the 2010 team with RickJack and AO.
AO was always a 5, and RickJack was the 4 when they both played together, which was a decent amount of the time.

Can't imagine Dib not being at least as good at the 4 as RickJack was - he's much more mobile and agile than Rick ever was, and has an O game that works more than 5' away from the basket to boot, unlike Rick.

 

[Newhouser]

I don't get the Marek concern - he is the least of our question marks moving forward because the role that has been defined for him is easy. Defend, rebound, be active and score what you can. IF we are relying on that role to hit double figures for us we are in trouble.

 

[AlaskaSU]

I don't get the Marek concern - he is the least of our question marks moving forward because the role that has been defined for him is easy. Defend, rebound, be active and score what you can. IF we are relying on that role to hit double figures for us we are in trouble.

He did not even hit single figures.
We need more scoring and we do not have many options. Why not try Sibide at PF against some cupcakes?

 

[Funk Doc]

He did not even hit single figures.
We need more scoring and we do not have many options. Why not try Sibide at PF against some cupcakes?

While I think he would be fine on defense on the wing, I don't think this would fix the offensive problem that you are bringing up. Defenders would sag off him if he went out further than 6 or 7 feet and just clog up the middle even more for Battle, Howard, and Brissett to drive to the basket. We'd continue to settle for longer jumper, which isn't our strength, and our offense would continue to struggle. If your looking for an offensive boost, I think we'd get more scoring with Washington in, and Battle on the wings. With either Pascal or Sidibe at the 5. But that lineup would be a defensive liability. With all that said, our best lineup has Marek in it, whether he's scoring or not.

 

[Waltdods]

And yet - one of our best teams in history had a bigger, slower guy than Dib play the 4 for us - the 2010 team with RickJack and AO.
AO was always a 5, and RickJack was the 4 when they both played together, which was a decent amount of the time.

Can't imagine Dib not being at least as good at the 4 as RickJack was - he's much more mobile and agile than Rick ever was, and has an O game that works more than 5' away from the basket to boot, unlike Rick.

AO and Rick really didn't play together very much. AO only played 22 minutes a game. (Jackson averaged a bit more, but this is somewhat misleading because of the games he played without AO). So they were probably both in the game about 6 minutes or so a game - the first few minutes of each half.

Jackson was not a great fit for the 4 (which is why he didn't play it much), but the idea that a freshman Sidibe is going to be better than junior Rick is extremely optimistic. Jackson was a 60% shooter that year. While he wasn't the athlete Sidibe is, he was a great rebounder who knew the zone well.

Also, part of the reason JB was able to play both AO and Rick together was that both were very skilled offensive players and the rest of the lineup was stacked with shooters. Neither of those things are true now.

 

[Knicks411]

AO and Rick really didn't play together very much. AO only played 22 minutes a game. (Jackson averaged a bit more, but this is somewhat misleading because of the games he played without AO). So they were probably both in the game about 6 minutes or so a game - the first few minutes of each half.

Jackson was not a great fit for the 4 (which is why he didn't play it much), but the idea that a freshman Sidibe is going to be better than junior Rick is extremely optimistic. Jackson was a 60% shooter that year. While he wasn't the athlete Sidibe is, he was a great rebounder who knew the zone well.

Also, part of the reason JB was able to play both AO and Rick together was that both were very skilled offensive players and the rest of the lineup was stacked with shooters. Neither of those things are true now.

Yeah my memory of this was they would play the first few minutes of each half, then Kris would come in for one and basically play the rest of the half. 6 minutes together is probably a very good guesstimate.

 

[Doc5120]

lol so you want to start Sidibe together w Chukwu :bat:

If only we could pair that duo with Billy Celuck, Craig Forth & Jeremy McNeil. Unstoppable!

 

[Jasoncuse]

Like I said “in this era of hoops”.

Starting two centers in 1990 is not the same as starting two centers in 2017. The game has changed.

Also, Sidibe and Chukwu are not exactly Mourning and Mutumbo.

And just because you keep saying “Sidibe is a better offensive player than Marek” doesn’t make it so. They both average 5 ppg. Marek is a better passer and is more comfortable than Sidibe on the perimeter. Sidibe has a better shooting %...because he plays around the rim. Sidibe is a better offensive player within 5 feet of the basket...with that I would agree. And that’s why he plays Center.

By the way, Sidibe is also a center defensively and he would be nowhere near as good as Marek defensively in that forward spot in the zone.

And neither player is any good offensively. Sidibe has shown slightly more ability, but we aren't talking about #1 or 2 offensive options here.

I can't believe anyone would entertain starting both Sidibe and Chukwu together in 2017. We already struggle enough with 2 non-offensive players on the court, and this would be that, but with a player playing out of position on defense, as well.

 

[JOC44]

When Frank got in foul trouble, I thought we were too small on the perimeter to contest three point shots. I think we should use Sidibe as the third guard because the zone would be CRAZY long with him up top.

 

[l'orange]

...I would consider starting Sibide in his place and use MM to give a rest to Chewy.

Great idea! I think it would be a good benefit to have Moyer as an understudy at the 5 spot.

 

[Funk Doc]

When Frank got in foul trouble, I thought we were too small on the perimeter to contest three point shots. I think we should use Sidibe as the third guard because the zone would be CRAZY long with him up top.

Yeah...maybe go for the gut and put Chukwu and Sidibe up top...no way does anyone get a three off over them!