Missed the game tonight...

[cto]

All I know is what I read in Tomcat's post and the boxscore.

Appalled by the rebound margin.

Like the steals and blocked shots. Those stats may be our salvation this season.

JB is experimenting with playing combos and rotations at this point. All he wants is enough to get a W.

Come March, a W is all that counts at this point in the season. It is barely December, and we have 9 Ws. I will take it.

 

[HoustonCuse]

Marshall is in the Top 10 nationally in rebounding margin. The SU rebounding wasn't great, but it wasn't the end of the world either. Especially since our guys seemed to check-out completely when the lead got > 15 points. In the first half, when the guys in white were trying, rebounding was 18-18 and we had 10 steals. They couldn't even get the ball past the foul line extended on offense.

 

[hungrychuck]

It raises a good point, though.

Who on this team is a good rebounder?

With the possible exeption of Fab, it's hard to think of even one.

(JB talked about CJ tonight, but if he's our guy...yikes!)

Granting that we spent a lot of this one on cruise control, and that Marshall is a good rebounding team, should we worry that rebounding (and poor offensive chemistry) will be our achilles heel in conference play?

 

[mark79]

All I know is what I read in Tomcat's post and the boxscore.

Appalled by the rebound margin.

Like the steals and blocked shots. Those stats may be our salvation this season.

JB is experimenting with playing combos and rotations at this point. All he wants is enough to get a W.

Come March, a W is all that counts at this point in the season. It is barely December, and we have 9 Ws. I will take it.

This was a tough game emotionally
after the Florida win and with everything else going on. It is a win, and even though we played poorly that doesn't define us.

 

[Rocco]

I am surprised that Rak isn't a better rebounder than he is. He doesn't seem aggressive at all.

CJ has very, very quietly become by far the best rebounder on this team. I love his play and hustle.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

I am surprised that Rak isn't a better rebounder than he is. He doesn't seem aggressive at all.

CJ has very, very quietly become by far the best rebounder on this team. I love his play and hustle.

Unfortunately CJ didn't have a good game last night. The best thing about beating Marshall is that we beat them. The defense was active in the first half and it set the tone. Fortunately we were good enough to hold on. This was a game that in past years the Cuse could have lost. This years team found a way to hold the lead and get the W.

 

[Marsh01]

I think it all comes down to being motivated to play based on the team you are playing. While on paper this was going to be a tough matchup hypothetically (their win over Cincy helped that mindset) coming off a big emotional win vs. a top 10 team I was expcting some type of a letdown.

Come BE play I am confident that this team will come to play every night. People keep ragging on CJ. He had a bad game. It happens. What I love about him is that against the top level competition he shines and will stuff the stat sheets once again.

I fully expect this team to come out more focused on Saturday and blow the doors off of GW. Then we get a week to rest until the trip to NC State.

Like CTO said, a win is a win and that's all that matters in my mind.

 

[OttoMets]

I am surprised that Rak isn't a better rebounder than he is. He doesn't seem aggressive at all.

CJ has very, very quietly become by far the best rebounder on this team. I love his play and hustle.

I think Rakeem is pretty aggressive (he looks more aggressive than the recruiting services suggested), but his positioning is really poor. More than half the time, he's nowhere near the rebound.

He had a nice move for that early put-back, but he's got a bit of learning to do.

 

[OttoMets]

Also, I don't know if this is the case for undergraduates, but the exam period has begun for graduate programs.

We don't usually play well (nor should we be expected to) during finals. It's a little disappointing, but that'd fully explain the fact that we sleepwalked through the second half.

 

[Rocco]

I think Rakeem is pretty aggressive (he looks more aggressive than the recruiting services suggested), but his positioning is really poor. More than half the time, he's nowhere near the rebound.

He had a nice move for that early put-back, but he's got a bit of learning to do.

His positioning is poor. This is probably why I think he lacks aggressiveness. You are spot on.

I guess it is because Bernie is gone, so no one is able to teach the big guys like he could. :noidea:

 

[OttoMets]

His positioning is poor. This is probably why I think he lacks aggressiveness. You are spot on.

I guess it is because Bernie is gone, so no one is able to teach the big guys like he could. :noidea:

I wish he'd left behind an instructional skills video for those guys to study. Kind of like Tom Emanski, only for basketball, and much more rotund.

 

[pfister1]

It raises a good point, though.

Who on this team is a good rebounder?

With the possible exeption of Fab, it's hard to think of even one.

(JB talked about CJ tonight, but if he's our guy...yikes!)

Granting that we spent a lot of this one on cruise control, and that Marshall is a good rebounding team, should we worry that rebounding (and poor offensive chemistry) will be our achilles heel in conference play?

Why do you cringe at CJ. He's averaging 6 rpg in just 24 minutes of play - with last night's clunker included. That extrapolates to 10 rpg over 40 minutes.

While last night didn't look good on the boards going into last night we were +6.8 in rebounding margin which is good enough for 43rd in the country. Ranked ahead of us are Standford at #14 and Florida at #24 two teams whose games against us factored into our ranking and average and we have now also played Marshall ranked 9th.

Maybe there is a case for us being a better rebounding team than we want to give ourselves credit for being, given that one common theory is that it is more difficult to rebound out of the zone and the zone puts defenders in poor rebounding position???

 

[HoustonCuse]

KRis has significantly stepped up his rebounding in my opinion. I don't know if the numbers show it, but I believe he is better. I would say he and CJ are our best rebounders.

 

[pfister1]

KRis has significantly stepped up his rebounding in my opinion. I don't know if the numbers show it, but I believe he is better. I would say he and CJ are our best rebounders.

Agree. I think he is 5.9 rpg in a little under 29 mpg.