sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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- Aug 15, 2011
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This has to be fast, buried at work.
I was worried before the game started, even before Buddy was ruled out. Niagara improved a lot over the course of last year, had a lot of experience returning and I think Paulus is a fine young coach.
We caught a break when they got shut down by COVID. Much like us, they did not have a chance to practice much before their first game and it really showed.
That said, I thought they did a pretty good job attacking our zone. Got a lot of open looks. But they shot the ball unbelievably poorly, especially from the outside. Some were speculating that teams might struggle to shoot in the dome without crowds in the stands. There was talk it might hurt visiting teams worse that Syracuse, since the SU players will have a lot more chances to play in front of no one in the giant facility.
We will have to monitor this more as the season progresses, but as of right now, that theory looks dead on.
I ended up not paying as much attention to the game as I normally would, given the blow out nature and the last start time (I gotta get up at 5:15 am each day for work; no one asked me but I say please let's not start games at home after 7 pm...not cool for working folks).
But I think Niagara played mostly man. Guessing if Greg knew Buddy was out, he might have tried some zone but given his Dukie background, he is probably going to man almost all the time.
As Sherman20 foresaw, this caused a major change in the way we run our offense. Marek did get the ball in the high post some, but the half court offense did not generally run through him and his role on offense was greatly diminished.
The Purple Eagles were competitive with Syracuse for a good while in the first half. I think at one point, SU only led 15-14. Around then, SU went on a huge run and got the score to something like 34-16. I think a key here was that we were able to get the ball inside some and got some of their key players in foul trouble.
Was not really happy with our shot selection early in the game, when it was close. We were content to settle for 3s too often. When we are playing against a smaller team, we have to leverage our height advantage and get the ball in the paint.
JG3 is going to get a lot of heat for another bad shooting night and some troubles on defense, but he also made some really nice passes. He is capable of making nice passes, especially in transition. It has to be hard to change from that scorer mentality he probably has had his entire life to becoming a distributor but it seems like he is making some progress on this. Wish he would look to pass it a little more, not look for his shot quite as much. This team has a lot of capable scorers. He does not have to carry most of the scoring responsibility on his shoulders. Hopefully ensuing developments will help here.
This was a key moment in the college career for Kadary Richmond and I was very interested to see how he reacted. Was worried he would try to do too much. Not need for that. He did not dominate the ball on offense. When he got it, he made a quick decision and executed it. No extended dribbling or probing to find a weakness in his defender. This is pretty rare for a young PG and very refreshing to see.
Very happy with his decision making in half court settings. He has excellent court vision and if someone gets open down low, he is going to get them the ball. He get into the paint when he wanted to and again made good decisions from there. I remember he got caught in the air one time but Quincy (I think) made a good cut to the basket and Kadary fed him just before his feet hit the ground.
Looks very capable shooting mid range jumpers or finishing and his FT shooting already looks very solid (such an important attribute for a PG). But the thing I like most about him is that he is a pass first PG. A true PG. A PG who doesn't need the ball 20 seconds a possession. It is so nice to have a true PG on the team again.
As much as I liked what he did on offense, I liked what I saw from him on defense. It appears he is going to contest every inbounds pass thrown near him. That is probably going to have to change...he is going to get in foul trouble trying to outjump players with better position in the ACC, where the athletes are bigger and better than Niagara's. But I like the aggressiveness.
He knows how to bait a player to shoot in front of him, giving him a bit of room, then closing as the shot is taken. Got a couple of blocks/steals that way. Anticipates well, has excellent agility and length. He is going to get a lot of steals during his career here. I almost hope his outside shooting does not develop fully for a while because I want to see him play here for a long time.
In short, he is a true frosh who already plays like a senior. Love players with high BB IQ like him.
When they played together, JG3 played point. I wonder if this might change in future games? I would think Joe will have a lot easier time getting open and getting good looks if he is relieved of his PG duties. Could be a good way to get his shooting going and get some confidence in his stroke. Just a thought.
Gotta mention Quincy and how well he played last night. He continues to just dominate play inside and was a rebounding machine. Finished well and I think he even hit the one 3 he took (excellent form BTW). He moves without the ball well, is blocking out and hustles his butt off. There is a lot to like. Yes, he was playing against one of the smallest teams in the country and yes, it is going to be harder for him to play like this against bigger teams, and yes, we need to pump the breaks on any conclusions in a game played against a pretty bad team like Niagara, but still, he had a ballgame for himself.
Thought Marek did not try to get open as much as I would like. It seems at times he doesn't really want the ball and is content to just hang around. Rarely saw him try and post his smaller man up down low, which is not cool. He made a couple of mistakes dribbling on the fast break, where a Niagara player stole it from behind. But he also made some nice passes, finished some plays inside well and played some stellar defense. Flashed out to the corner to close on players taking 3s a few times. Think he played a role in the low shooting percentage for NU.
Alan didn't have a great game. Made a few bad decisions. Maybe took a couple of contested shots that he shouldn't have taken. Hopefully he and the rest of the team realize there are lots of scoring options here and if you don't have a great look, you should move the ball to someone else. That said, he also made some nice plays and clearly is a very talented player. He looked comfortable playing at guard, which is good because he is going to make some minutes there in the next couple of games.
Thought Braswell kind of struggled on offense. Seems like he isn't sure of his role. Mostly just hangs around the perimeter and tries to get open for a 3. Thought he looked good on defense. Thought he got a couple nice boards. Clearly is stronger now and it is helping him here.
I think he needs to move without the ball and be willing to do more than pass it around the perimeter or shoot from the perimeter on offense.
That brings up to Woody Newton. He just seemed like a heady player who made a lot of good decisions. To me, he plays like a junior or senior. He seems to know what to do and does it. Thought his defense was terrific (on the backline and up front). More than anything, I liked his confidence. He was out there looking like he belonged. No signs of hesitating (like I see with Braswell). That bodes really well for the future. The kids that do not hesitate and seem to believe in themselves from day one just seem to have far higher ceilings and far better careers than the kids that seem reluctant to do things on the court. Very impressive young player. Good sign that JB went to him relatively early. He must be playing well in practice.
Impressive game. Lots of improvement from game 1. I think I am going to like this team.
I was worried before the game started, even before Buddy was ruled out. Niagara improved a lot over the course of last year, had a lot of experience returning and I think Paulus is a fine young coach.
We caught a break when they got shut down by COVID. Much like us, they did not have a chance to practice much before their first game and it really showed.
That said, I thought they did a pretty good job attacking our zone. Got a lot of open looks. But they shot the ball unbelievably poorly, especially from the outside. Some were speculating that teams might struggle to shoot in the dome without crowds in the stands. There was talk it might hurt visiting teams worse that Syracuse, since the SU players will have a lot more chances to play in front of no one in the giant facility.
We will have to monitor this more as the season progresses, but as of right now, that theory looks dead on.
I ended up not paying as much attention to the game as I normally would, given the blow out nature and the last start time (I gotta get up at 5:15 am each day for work; no one asked me but I say please let's not start games at home after 7 pm...not cool for working folks).
But I think Niagara played mostly man. Guessing if Greg knew Buddy was out, he might have tried some zone but given his Dukie background, he is probably going to man almost all the time.
As Sherman20 foresaw, this caused a major change in the way we run our offense. Marek did get the ball in the high post some, but the half court offense did not generally run through him and his role on offense was greatly diminished.
The Purple Eagles were competitive with Syracuse for a good while in the first half. I think at one point, SU only led 15-14. Around then, SU went on a huge run and got the score to something like 34-16. I think a key here was that we were able to get the ball inside some and got some of their key players in foul trouble.
Was not really happy with our shot selection early in the game, when it was close. We were content to settle for 3s too often. When we are playing against a smaller team, we have to leverage our height advantage and get the ball in the paint.
JG3 is going to get a lot of heat for another bad shooting night and some troubles on defense, but he also made some really nice passes. He is capable of making nice passes, especially in transition. It has to be hard to change from that scorer mentality he probably has had his entire life to becoming a distributor but it seems like he is making some progress on this. Wish he would look to pass it a little more, not look for his shot quite as much. This team has a lot of capable scorers. He does not have to carry most of the scoring responsibility on his shoulders. Hopefully ensuing developments will help here.
This was a key moment in the college career for Kadary Richmond and I was very interested to see how he reacted. Was worried he would try to do too much. Not need for that. He did not dominate the ball on offense. When he got it, he made a quick decision and executed it. No extended dribbling or probing to find a weakness in his defender. This is pretty rare for a young PG and very refreshing to see.
Very happy with his decision making in half court settings. He has excellent court vision and if someone gets open down low, he is going to get them the ball. He get into the paint when he wanted to and again made good decisions from there. I remember he got caught in the air one time but Quincy (I think) made a good cut to the basket and Kadary fed him just before his feet hit the ground.
Looks very capable shooting mid range jumpers or finishing and his FT shooting already looks very solid (such an important attribute for a PG). But the thing I like most about him is that he is a pass first PG. A true PG. A PG who doesn't need the ball 20 seconds a possession. It is so nice to have a true PG on the team again.
As much as I liked what he did on offense, I liked what I saw from him on defense. It appears he is going to contest every inbounds pass thrown near him. That is probably going to have to change...he is going to get in foul trouble trying to outjump players with better position in the ACC, where the athletes are bigger and better than Niagara's. But I like the aggressiveness.
He knows how to bait a player to shoot in front of him, giving him a bit of room, then closing as the shot is taken. Got a couple of blocks/steals that way. Anticipates well, has excellent agility and length. He is going to get a lot of steals during his career here. I almost hope his outside shooting does not develop fully for a while because I want to see him play here for a long time.
In short, he is a true frosh who already plays like a senior. Love players with high BB IQ like him.
When they played together, JG3 played point. I wonder if this might change in future games? I would think Joe will have a lot easier time getting open and getting good looks if he is relieved of his PG duties. Could be a good way to get his shooting going and get some confidence in his stroke. Just a thought.
Gotta mention Quincy and how well he played last night. He continues to just dominate play inside and was a rebounding machine. Finished well and I think he even hit the one 3 he took (excellent form BTW). He moves without the ball well, is blocking out and hustles his butt off. There is a lot to like. Yes, he was playing against one of the smallest teams in the country and yes, it is going to be harder for him to play like this against bigger teams, and yes, we need to pump the breaks on any conclusions in a game played against a pretty bad team like Niagara, but still, he had a ballgame for himself.
Thought Marek did not try to get open as much as I would like. It seems at times he doesn't really want the ball and is content to just hang around. Rarely saw him try and post his smaller man up down low, which is not cool. He made a couple of mistakes dribbling on the fast break, where a Niagara player stole it from behind. But he also made some nice passes, finished some plays inside well and played some stellar defense. Flashed out to the corner to close on players taking 3s a few times. Think he played a role in the low shooting percentage for NU.
Alan didn't have a great game. Made a few bad decisions. Maybe took a couple of contested shots that he shouldn't have taken. Hopefully he and the rest of the team realize there are lots of scoring options here and if you don't have a great look, you should move the ball to someone else. That said, he also made some nice plays and clearly is a very talented player. He looked comfortable playing at guard, which is good because he is going to make some minutes there in the next couple of games.
Thought Braswell kind of struggled on offense. Seems like he isn't sure of his role. Mostly just hangs around the perimeter and tries to get open for a 3. Thought he looked good on defense. Thought he got a couple nice boards. Clearly is stronger now and it is helping him here.
I think he needs to move without the ball and be willing to do more than pass it around the perimeter or shoot from the perimeter on offense.
That brings up to Woody Newton. He just seemed like a heady player who made a lot of good decisions. To me, he plays like a junior or senior. He seems to know what to do and does it. Thought his defense was terrific (on the backline and up front). More than anything, I liked his confidence. He was out there looking like he belonged. No signs of hesitating (like I see with Braswell). That bodes really well for the future. The kids that do not hesitate and seem to believe in themselves from day one just seem to have far higher ceilings and far better careers than the kids that seem reluctant to do things on the court. Very impressive young player. Good sign that JB went to him relatively early. He must be playing well in practice.
Impressive game. Lots of improvement from game 1. I think I am going to like this team.
