Monmouth Postgame

[McCuse]

So I’ve avoided the immediate over reaction because my optimism took a beating last night.

A few thoughts.

1- Agreed on needing better rotations, FT shooting and that there was zero flow and just a general disaster in terms of the officiating. To me it seemed without the constant stoppages we pull away and stay 15-20 pts ahead if not for those.

2- I’m hopeful this is our bad game that counts to then correct course in Vegas. Arkansas is ranked and has had close losses to MSU then a 1 point win over Winthrop and weaker wins vs other lesser teams. They aren’t alone looking across the board. That awful Drexel team just pummeled NJIT 75-43. The results are all over the map. So is it a an anomaly? I hope

3- I hope chemistry with JJ playing gets better. He played hard and within himself but the team seemed disjointed with him on the floor and in the rotations where they just didn’t look that way otherwise.

4- I respect King Rice but no thank you to playing Monmouth anymore. Not because of the challenge but just because of this garbage foul every possession approach that only results in injuries and games that go 40 minutes too long. I get lesser teams are trying different strategies in this new world to be competitive but meh

Good take. It's definitely hard to to be a fan after the last few years. Can relate about optimism taking a hit. We will certainly know a lot more by the end of next week. Hope Betsey can get back, he's an interesting piece of the puzzle I think. Still cautiously optimistic for the season. A little at a time I guess.

 

[sufan59]

So I’ve avoided the immediate over reaction because my optimism took a beating last night.

A few thoughts.

1- Agreed on needing better rotations, FT shooting and that there was zero flow and just a general disaster in terms of the officiating. To me it seemed without the constant stoppages we pull away and stay 15-20 pts ahead if not for those.

2- I’m hopeful this is our bad game that counts to then correct course in Vegas. Arkansas is ranked and has had close losses to MSU then a 1 point win over Winthrop and weaker wins vs other lesser teams. They aren’t alone looking across the board. That awful Drexel team just pummeled NJIT 75-43. The results are all over the map. So is it a an anomaly? I hope

3- I hope chemistry with JJ playing gets better. He played hard and within himself but the team seemed disjointed with him on the floor and in the rotations where they just didn’t look that way otherwise.

4- I respect King Rice but no thank you to playing Monmouth anymore. Not because of the challenge but just because of this garbage foul every possession approach that only results in injuries and games that go 40 minutes too long. I get lesser teams are trying different strategies in this new world to be competitive but meh

Even the exhibitions and the first 3 games we've seen some gimmes that the team hasn't been fully able to take advantage of, the blowouts of the first 3 games could've easily been an even larger MOV than they were. That pretty much was the case again last night, but a better opponent that exposed some things that needs to be recognized and cleaned up for Las Vegas. Fortunately they have a larger talent advantage in that one to still pull off the win. Adversity with a win is probably not the worst thing for this team right now. What I mentioned on not fully taking advantage of the gimmes is not going to fly against the power conference teams. Will they clean it up before next week, I don't know. But with the hope of performing well enough to improve metrics last night, I'm sure this does kind of feel like a loss for them, so I think going into next Monday no matter what happens, they won't let the result on Monday affect what happens on Tuesday and the third game. If Monday was the first test of real adversity could they bounce back quick enough to still have a good week out there, it would be harder. Hopefully the response to being humbled is a team that comes out next week that plays together, relaxed, and focused on having fun out there.

 

[McCuse]

His attitude is the problem. He does not care enough about being in the right position on defense. He doesn't battle through/above screens, and he loses his guy which forces rotation. It's no coincidence they hit more 3s and scored more points than the other teams we played.

I was watching his defense last night and noticed he was trying to be aggressive on defense and rush up close to his man with the ball. His man could go around him quickly to the side. It seems he would benefit from not rushing up so close to the man with the ball, but give himself 2 or 3 feet of separation to gauge which way his man will try to drive. Armchair quarterback, I know.

 

[23Zone]

Did JJ sneak in a practice free throw as well? The broadcast guys were confused at what he was doing, like he tool shot before he was supposed to.

That was foreshadowing of what horror was to follow lol

 

[23Zone]

With Starling playing, the chemistry was off. Everything was out of balance.

 

[Orangezoo]

Even the exhibitions and the first 3 games we've seen some gimmes that the team hasn't been fully able to take advantage of, the blowouts of the first 3 games could've easily been an even larger MOV than they were. That pretty much was the case again last night, but a better opponent that exposed some things that needs to be recognized and cleaned up for Las Vegas. Fortunately they have a larger talent advantage in that one to still pull off the win. Adversity with a win is probably not the worst thing for this team right now. What I mentioned on not fully taking advantage of the gimmes is not going to fly against the power conference teams. Will they clean it up before next week, I don't know. But with the hope of performing well enough to improve metrics last night, I'm sure this does kind of feel like a loss for them, so I think going into next Monday no matter what happens, they won't let the result on Monday affect what happens on Tuesday and the third game. If Monday was the first test of real adversity could they bounce back quick enough to still have a good week out there, it would be harder. Hopefully the response to being humbled is a team that comes out next week that plays together, relaxed, and focused on having fun out there.

I finally watched the replay and came away a little less deflated than watching live ( note a little not any sort of absolution lol) 8 more free throws, no more awful ref sequences like the one they gave Monmouth 4 FTs on two bad calls when we were getting separation, the multiple momentum interruptions in the second half as well, the missed travel that led to a 3 pt play when we were creating more separation again… and that’s more comfortable win. All things that “should” get cleaned up.

The coaching staff needs to look long and hard at their own mistakes down the stretch as well. This was in many ways a trap game and shouldn’t have been with a team needing to fight for its reputation. Vegas needs to show a program that’s locked in and committed to the goal here.

 

[tptcuse]

I finally watched the replay and came away a little less deflated than watching live ( note a little not any sort of absolution lol) 8 more free throws, no more awful ref sequences like the one they gave Monmouth 4 FTs on two bad calls when we were getting separation, the multiple momentum interruptions in the second half as well, the missed travel that led to a 3 pt play when we were creating more separation again… and that’s more comfortable win. All things that “should” get cleaned up.

The coaching staff needs to look long and hard at their own mistakes down the stretch as well. This was in many ways a trap game and shouldn’t have been with a team needing to fight for its reputation. Vegas needs to show a program that’s locked in and committed to the goal here.

My biggest concern in the grand scheme is the threes we allowed. I also hope Betsey comes back 100% soon because I think he is a bigger piece of this team's success than it appears right now.