sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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- Aug 15, 2011
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Small crowd, really bad turnout by the students and the townies. Maybe 14K in the stands.
A group of older people sang the national anthem. It was old school and quaint.
24 cheerleaders for this game. Almost one for every scholarship player. It was quite a horde out there cheering against the Thundering Herd.
We haven't had the huge S flag, which is very hard to carry on a sprint around and then on to the court, for several recent home games, running only with the smaller C, U, S and E flags during the traditional running of the flags. This event, performed during the first timeout inside the 4 minute mark in the 2nd half, is a fan favorite featuring the SSS playing "Can't Turn You Loose", an instrumental staple made famous by the Blues Brothers movies.
It got so bad that during the Thanksgiving vacation for students, a female cheerleader broke what I believe is one of the last great sex barriers in sport, when she picked up and made the run with the letter E in one of the games. She finished in good form, only perhaps a half stride from perfect formation with the letter S. She got several high fives and hugs from the other cheerleaders after her courageous and inspiring performance. Very much like Amelia Earhart except the cheerleader survived and will not be the feature of bad movies to be shown on cable forever and ever.
But I digress. This time, the alpha male of the cheerleaders was in the house, and he carried the S flag beautifully, wielding it with a gusto and pride I can only imagine Arthur did when he pulled his sword from the stone. Yes, it really happened. In my mind anyway.
Back to the game. Same story. Exceptional defense. We played the 2-3 most of the game except for some pressing. Both were, as usual, very effective. Marshall started the game executing their half court offense well, moving the ball around the zone and getting quality inside shots pretty consistently. When SU tightened the zone, Marshall was unable to make them pay by hitting outside shots. They were in fact very reluctant to take 3s for a long time, and this was in retrospect a good idea, as they missed the first 16 3s they tried.
SU got a startling number of TOs in the first half, many of them unforced or barely forced (Marshall looked really intimidated) resulting in a number of easy baskets, and this, fueled in part by an effective press, broke the game open in the first half and led to SU building a healthy lead they would hold the rest of the game. The same thing happened in the 2nd half. SU was really good in the zone most of the half and I do not believe Marshall actually made a FG (they had a couple of baskets via goaltending) for the 1st 7 minutes or so of the 2nd half.
SU again struggled some in the half court, didn't shoot very well from the outside, missed an alarming number of easy shots inside, executed very poorly on the fast break (Scoop played well except in fast break situations, which is quite strange for him). And while I don't have the numbers, I think SU got beat badly on the boards, especially in the 2nd half, when Marshall got a lot of 2nd chance points.
Despite all this, SU won pretty easily. Marshall got within 8 inside a minute with a flurry of late 3s, but it was too little too late and the game's outcome was never in doubt.
What am I concerned about right now?
I think we are not a very good rebounding team, especially on the defensive boards (Fab in particular is much better on the O boards than the D boards). We don't have a reliable true power forward on the team and like I said, Fab really struggles on the defensive boards. Fair does a fair job here but he is an undersized guy and will never be a consistent dominant force on the boards against quality opponents. He gets jumped over and boxed out quite often. Joseph has games where he does a nice job rebounding but he is at heart a perimeter player who usually shies away from the ugliness one finds under the basket. Rebounding is perhaps the biggest single weakness on the team. Not against the Colgates and Cornells of the world, but against teams like Pitt and UConn.
Also concerned about our half court offense. We have a tendency to stand around and work the ball around the perimeter in a slow and plodding fashion, or to force early shots for no apparent reason. Things tend to get better when BT and DW are playing guard but when we play a good defensive team and we are not able to get a lot of points off turnovers or transition, we are destined to struggle to score a lot of points.
Triche barely played in the 2nd half. Not sure why. At first I thought this was an attempt by JB to give PT to Scoop and MCW to help them build up their sagging confidence, but when he didn't go in when the game got relatively close late, and when he covered his upper body with towels, I began to think he is sick. Will read the board afterward to see if anyone confirmed this.
While on that subject, it was good to see MCW and Scoop play well. I am getting worried by Fair, who is having problems finishing these days. Too many blocks and misses on easy shots. Confidence level is low, I think. Impressed by the defensive improvement shown by JS, who continues to struggle to find ways to score against relatively good defenses. If he can just play good defense and rebound well, he will get a lot of PT.
Fab continues to get in foul trouble early. Makes a couple of nice moves every game but only a couple. Misses a couple of easy baskets most every game, still not playing with the confidence and power he is capable of showing. He is blocking a lot of shots, consistently has a major impact on the ability of the opponent to score points in the paint while he is in. Does a really nice job on the offensive boards and is doing a good job deciding when to try and get a block and when to try and draw a charge. He is very close to averaging 12 or 13 points a game. Just needs a little more seasoning and discipline to avoid getting in early foul trouble. His ceiling is really high.
Rak continues to struggle on defense and is getting the super quick hook that signals he is deep in the JB doghouse. Not looking really confident on offense right now either. Was hoping he would get a little more PT than the standard 2 minutes at the start of the game. He did, but not by much. Hope this changes in a major way with the rest of the non conference games. He needs to build up some confidence right now.
BK had a tough game on offense, missed a couple of bunnies rushing his shot and looking really uncomfortable with the ball in his hands. Also continues to struggle to hold on to the ball. Does he have small hands. Too much caffeine before games? I don't know but hopefully he will figure it out soon. He can do damage if he is able to address these issues.
Again, there is a lot to like about this team. Any team that has the athletic ability this one has, and the commitment to defense this one has, is going to get a lot of wins. It remains a fun team to watch, though I have to say, the first 7 minutes of the 2nd half, when neither team could score much and often struggled to even get off a decent shot, was not as enjoyable as I would have liked.
A group of older people sang the national anthem. It was old school and quaint.
24 cheerleaders for this game. Almost one for every scholarship player. It was quite a horde out there cheering against the Thundering Herd.
We haven't had the huge S flag, which is very hard to carry on a sprint around and then on to the court, for several recent home games, running only with the smaller C, U, S and E flags during the traditional running of the flags. This event, performed during the first timeout inside the 4 minute mark in the 2nd half, is a fan favorite featuring the SSS playing "Can't Turn You Loose", an instrumental staple made famous by the Blues Brothers movies.
It got so bad that during the Thanksgiving vacation for students, a female cheerleader broke what I believe is one of the last great sex barriers in sport, when she picked up and made the run with the letter E in one of the games. She finished in good form, only perhaps a half stride from perfect formation with the letter S. She got several high fives and hugs from the other cheerleaders after her courageous and inspiring performance. Very much like Amelia Earhart except the cheerleader survived and will not be the feature of bad movies to be shown on cable forever and ever.
But I digress. This time, the alpha male of the cheerleaders was in the house, and he carried the S flag beautifully, wielding it with a gusto and pride I can only imagine Arthur did when he pulled his sword from the stone. Yes, it really happened. In my mind anyway.
Back to the game. Same story. Exceptional defense. We played the 2-3 most of the game except for some pressing. Both were, as usual, very effective. Marshall started the game executing their half court offense well, moving the ball around the zone and getting quality inside shots pretty consistently. When SU tightened the zone, Marshall was unable to make them pay by hitting outside shots. They were in fact very reluctant to take 3s for a long time, and this was in retrospect a good idea, as they missed the first 16 3s they tried.
SU got a startling number of TOs in the first half, many of them unforced or barely forced (Marshall looked really intimidated) resulting in a number of easy baskets, and this, fueled in part by an effective press, broke the game open in the first half and led to SU building a healthy lead they would hold the rest of the game. The same thing happened in the 2nd half. SU was really good in the zone most of the half and I do not believe Marshall actually made a FG (they had a couple of baskets via goaltending) for the 1st 7 minutes or so of the 2nd half.
SU again struggled some in the half court, didn't shoot very well from the outside, missed an alarming number of easy shots inside, executed very poorly on the fast break (Scoop played well except in fast break situations, which is quite strange for him). And while I don't have the numbers, I think SU got beat badly on the boards, especially in the 2nd half, when Marshall got a lot of 2nd chance points.
Despite all this, SU won pretty easily. Marshall got within 8 inside a minute with a flurry of late 3s, but it was too little too late and the game's outcome was never in doubt.
What am I concerned about right now?
I think we are not a very good rebounding team, especially on the defensive boards (Fab in particular is much better on the O boards than the D boards). We don't have a reliable true power forward on the team and like I said, Fab really struggles on the defensive boards. Fair does a fair job here but he is an undersized guy and will never be a consistent dominant force on the boards against quality opponents. He gets jumped over and boxed out quite often. Joseph has games where he does a nice job rebounding but he is at heart a perimeter player who usually shies away from the ugliness one finds under the basket. Rebounding is perhaps the biggest single weakness on the team. Not against the Colgates and Cornells of the world, but against teams like Pitt and UConn.
Also concerned about our half court offense. We have a tendency to stand around and work the ball around the perimeter in a slow and plodding fashion, or to force early shots for no apparent reason. Things tend to get better when BT and DW are playing guard but when we play a good defensive team and we are not able to get a lot of points off turnovers or transition, we are destined to struggle to score a lot of points.
Triche barely played in the 2nd half. Not sure why. At first I thought this was an attempt by JB to give PT to Scoop and MCW to help them build up their sagging confidence, but when he didn't go in when the game got relatively close late, and when he covered his upper body with towels, I began to think he is sick. Will read the board afterward to see if anyone confirmed this.
While on that subject, it was good to see MCW and Scoop play well. I am getting worried by Fair, who is having problems finishing these days. Too many blocks and misses on easy shots. Confidence level is low, I think. Impressed by the defensive improvement shown by JS, who continues to struggle to find ways to score against relatively good defenses. If he can just play good defense and rebound well, he will get a lot of PT.
Fab continues to get in foul trouble early. Makes a couple of nice moves every game but only a couple. Misses a couple of easy baskets most every game, still not playing with the confidence and power he is capable of showing. He is blocking a lot of shots, consistently has a major impact on the ability of the opponent to score points in the paint while he is in. Does a really nice job on the offensive boards and is doing a good job deciding when to try and get a block and when to try and draw a charge. He is very close to averaging 12 or 13 points a game. Just needs a little more seasoning and discipline to avoid getting in early foul trouble. His ceiling is really high.
Rak continues to struggle on defense and is getting the super quick hook that signals he is deep in the JB doghouse. Not looking really confident on offense right now either. Was hoping he would get a little more PT than the standard 2 minutes at the start of the game. He did, but not by much. Hope this changes in a major way with the rest of the non conference games. He needs to build up some confidence right now.
BK had a tough game on offense, missed a couple of bunnies rushing his shot and looking really uncomfortable with the ball in his hands. Also continues to struggle to hold on to the ball. Does he have small hands. Too much caffeine before games? I don't know but hopefully he will figure it out soon. He can do damage if he is able to address these issues.
Again, there is a lot to like about this team. Any team that has the athletic ability this one has, and the commitment to defense this one has, is going to get a lot of wins. It remains a fun team to watch, though I have to say, the first 7 minutes of the 2nd half, when neither team could score much and often struggled to even get off a decent shot, was not as enjoyable as I would have liked.
