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Message: [QUOTE="sutomcat, post: 2389425, member: 27"] Not much time but a few thoughts... Oakland was another team that tried full court pressure. All have failed. It helps to have a veteran backcourt. OB and MD are also very comfortable handling the ball. Those two might be our best pair of forwards in terms of ball handling in a long time. Speaking of talented pairs, the grouping of FH and TB at the top of the zone has been terrific so far this season. Both are long, quick, and good anticipating. At times during the game last night, it was almost a personal contest between the two as to which one could upstage the other with a great defensive play. Lots of blocks, steals and deflections. These guys cover a lot of ground. When opposing players can get off 3s, they are being forced to shoot from really far from the basket. Couple them with MD and PC, both of whom are playing extraordinary defense, and you have the makings of a great defensive team. BS is also good and OB is not bad at all and appears to be improving with each game. GT's physical problems might be affecting his defense a bit but even now, he is not bad up top. I remain amazed at the improvement of Paschal this season. He was much better than last year from day one but appears to be getting better with each game. It will get harder for him when he goes against centers stronger than he is but it is great to see him playing with confidence and aggressiveness on both sides of the court. Even his rebounding is vastly improved. Would never have guess he would have multiple games with double figure rebounds this early in the season. Speaking of rebounds, OB had another strong game rebounding. He is doing great so far on that front; I think he is averaging right about 10 rebounds a game. I thought this would not be a good rebounding team. At this point, that looks 100% wrong, though we have been playing small teams all the way so far. The next four games should be very telling on how good we are rebounding and how good this team really is. We continue to give up 3-5 baskets a game by not hustling back on defense. The good teams coming up are going to notice that and take advantage of it. Hope we get more serious about getting back on defense quickly. I am talking to PC, BS and OB in particular. We have had some great scorers in the past that are capable of taking over a game with their individual brilliance. Tyus is breaking into that group now. When he gets going, he can do amazing damage in a short amount of time. Very impressive player. The thing I like best about him is that he plays just as hard on defense as he does on offense. I think he sets the tone for the team. When he is playing well, this team is very dangerous. FH has been a solid scorer all season, and it is great to see. But he did similar things last year early. The increased focus on defense is new. I thought he looked for his own shot a little too much in the first couple of games but is doing a nice job sharing the ball now. You can talk he is PC's roommate. Watch how he tries to get Paschal the ball down low when he can... Glad Matt got a basket late. I think he needs to get a few scores to gain some confidence. He appears to be forcing things trying to score too much, forcing things when they are not there, trying to give JB reasons for keeping him in the game. MD's excellent play is putting pressure on him and he is not responding well so far. I think he is taking one dribble too many a lot and needs to start taking that mid range jumper that has been available all season. And hitting it. I know he can. Hope he does it. Soon. Great kid who deserves some success on the court. [/QUOTE]

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