sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2011
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Be warned. I am tired, grouchy, disappointed and a little ornery. You might want to skip this if you are looking for a seashells and balloons type post.
Don't like 9 pm games. I know this is not SU's fault. I am sure they were very unhappy that the UNC game was scheduled for a Tuesday night and even more so that it was scheduled for 9 pm. Probably dropped attendance by 5000.
Did not hear an attendance number announced at the game. Just checked the box score and it says 'not counted yet'. That is a new one for me. The students haven't been coming to games in large numbers but they showed for this one. Filled their lower sections and almost completely filled three sections in the upper deck. They mostly got there late but almost 100% of them stayed to the very end of the game. And they were loud. Props to them.
It was a weird crowd. Giant student section. Good, not great attendance otherwise but there was an unusual amount of empty seats scattered throughout the dome, as many season ticket holders elected to stay home and watch the game on TV due to the late starting time. Guessing there were about 20K, maybe 21K that actually came to the game. And there were a sizable number in baby boy fancy boy outfits, scattered throughout the dome. Many had good seats. Again, I am sure a bunch of season ticket holders who could come ordinarily chose not to because of the 9 pm start and some elected to sell their seats to fancy boys. Or fancy girls. Not cool.
The guy that sang the NA had a funky, slow, soulful version going. Don't think his voice could quite cover the massive range required for the song but he made up for it with great confidence and a certain joie de vie. He got a big ovation from the crowd, even though he rushed through the 'oh say' part of the song where the students love to mime the letter and shout it. Well done.
There was a fancy boy UNC bus next to stadium control. They surely flew up for the game but it looks like they had some poor bus driver take the bus all the way up from Chapel Hill so it could bring the fancy boy Tar Heels to and from their no doubt fancy boy hotel. How sweet. Not sure I have ever seen a bigger contingent of players come out for the warmups, in their white, fancy boy sweats, with their fancy boy Columbia blue accents. They really need to get their own color some day. Fancy boys.
The refs were bad all game long. Let the game get very physical but to my eyes, it seemed when we got hit in the paint with the ball, it was a no call or a charge call. When they got hit in the paint it was a foul on the defense. Every time. Some of the vast difference in FTs attempted was because we got 3 ball happy in the second half and stopped running our normal offense. That will cut down dramatically on the fouls that are drawn. But some of it was crappy reffing.
O'Connell in particular made a number of bad calls from a distance that were not his to make, basically overruling the other refs. He was the white haired guy. If I were him I would focus on trying to make the calls for the areas he is responsible right, not making ball calls for areas covered by the rest of his crew. My little constructive criticism for the skunk man.
It is a shame Judah again melted down late because everyone is going to forget that he played a pretty terrific game for the first 35 minutes or so. Especially for a true frosh going against a series of more experienced, physically stronger guys. He still (IMHO) looked for his own shot too much (after doing a great job finding others the last game) but he was a lot smarter about choosing when to attack the basket and he made a mid range jumper and even made a 3 pointer (I am sure he has made them before but he hasn't made many this year). And his defense was really really good almost all game long.
Late in games, I think everyone in the conference knows Judah is going to go to the hoop and UNC was ready for him on that last play. Now the refs called a couple of blocking fouls UNC made in Judah charging because they are incompetent but that last charge call was, IMHO, the right call. The flagrant call was crap. Judah was clearly going to the hoop. The UNC guy covering him (#4) did something very unusual defending him. He knew Judah was coming to the hoop hard and he elected to lean forward and stick his chin out as much as possible in the hopes of getting early contact there, so he could act like he got shot. If Judah looks at him and dodges him, #4 is stuck leaning forward and Judah gets an uncontested layup. But Judah again panicked a bit and as he gathered himself to go to the hoop, his elbow made contact with the UNC face a couple of feet early because that player was leaning into him so hard.
I am not a rules expert but I think defenders should not be allowed to lean forward like this and get into the space of the offensive player. They are initiating contact as much as the offensive player in this kind of a situation and I think that kind of move should disqualify them from getting a charge call. I would hope the rules reflect this; offensive players with the ball shouldn't have to contend with defenders trying to impale them with their heads. What does the rule book say here? I never see defenders do this, so I assume it is illegal. But maybe #4 has invented a new way to defend.
Amazing how inconsistent the frosh are. Judah is pretty much a known factor, but Maliq, Chris and Justin are all over the place. Maliq did rebound well but he again disappeared as a factor on offense against UNC. Chris looked pretty damned good. That kid has ice water in his veins. Maybe we will need to think about him as a go to guy late in games. Only 4 rebounds in 36 minutes but his defense is getting better, he is getting some points in transition and has been pretty darned consistent for a true frosh. If only he could rebound more. Really need him to put on 20 pound of muscle in the off season.
JG3 was awesome most of the game but I think he got gassed near the end of both halves. Especially the second. UNC played a lot of guards and they beat the hell out of Joe all game long. I wish JB gave Joe and Judah a good 5 minute rest each every half. I think it would make a difference. Symir quietly again provided quality minutes backing them up and he should be someone JB is comfortable playing now. It would be good to have Symir in the game when we decide to press too. Such a good athlete. So good in the press. I would suggest we employee the press at least 5 minutes each half of each game now. Put Hima in for the press too and use that time to rest Joe and Jesse.
The hot dog finished second in the big race between mustard, ketchup and hotdog that they have every game. That is big news because the hot dog costume apparently has a horrible setup for the eyes. It appears most competitors have little ability to see wearing it and the hot dog usually loses the ball dribbling early and falls out of contention right away. He (zir?) beat mustard because mustard lost his hat and went back to get it and elected to hold it in place as he dribbled to the basket. Not smart mustard. Pretty sure you do not need your hat to win.
I took a look at the western side of the cross truss on my way in. There is scaffording (is that the word?) in place near the top of the western rim of the crown truss that I believe was recently installed to hold one of the letters of the JMA logo in place. No letters have been put up there yet but there is a giant A down by the base of the crane and it looks like it might get installed today. I did not see the two semi circle wireless waves that appear over the A in the JMA logo (that we saw getting spray painted with a gradient in that video posted yesterday. Guessing that will appear on site today and should also go up shortly.
I thought our defense was inspired for the last 30 minutes of the game. It has been a while since we had a good defensive team and while this team often has lapses, usually at the start of games, it is capable of playing long stretches of inspired defense. Bacot was a non factor for most of the game and when he scored, it was usually in transition. Jesse did a nice job on him and was ably helped out by all the forwards, who doubled him most time jelly belly got the ball. Bacot is really physical and kind of a dirty player and I wish the refs would stop ignoring all the crap he gets away with. He almost killed Judah on one of his 'picks', where he looked a lot more like a pulling OG than a basketball player.
Proud of the team. They are capable of beating anyone on the schedule and I think we will see some great wins by this group before the season ends. It is hard to root for a young team. They will break your heart more than once. We are all feeling it now but I am excited for the rest of the season. It is great to watch a number of promising young players get better.
Don't like 9 pm games. I know this is not SU's fault. I am sure they were very unhappy that the UNC game was scheduled for a Tuesday night and even more so that it was scheduled for 9 pm. Probably dropped attendance by 5000.
Did not hear an attendance number announced at the game. Just checked the box score and it says 'not counted yet'. That is a new one for me. The students haven't been coming to games in large numbers but they showed for this one. Filled their lower sections and almost completely filled three sections in the upper deck. They mostly got there late but almost 100% of them stayed to the very end of the game. And they were loud. Props to them.
It was a weird crowd. Giant student section. Good, not great attendance otherwise but there was an unusual amount of empty seats scattered throughout the dome, as many season ticket holders elected to stay home and watch the game on TV due to the late starting time. Guessing there were about 20K, maybe 21K that actually came to the game. And there were a sizable number in baby boy fancy boy outfits, scattered throughout the dome. Many had good seats. Again, I am sure a bunch of season ticket holders who could come ordinarily chose not to because of the 9 pm start and some elected to sell their seats to fancy boys. Or fancy girls. Not cool.
The guy that sang the NA had a funky, slow, soulful version going. Don't think his voice could quite cover the massive range required for the song but he made up for it with great confidence and a certain joie de vie. He got a big ovation from the crowd, even though he rushed through the 'oh say' part of the song where the students love to mime the letter and shout it. Well done.
There was a fancy boy UNC bus next to stadium control. They surely flew up for the game but it looks like they had some poor bus driver take the bus all the way up from Chapel Hill so it could bring the fancy boy Tar Heels to and from their no doubt fancy boy hotel. How sweet. Not sure I have ever seen a bigger contingent of players come out for the warmups, in their white, fancy boy sweats, with their fancy boy Columbia blue accents. They really need to get their own color some day. Fancy boys.
The refs were bad all game long. Let the game get very physical but to my eyes, it seemed when we got hit in the paint with the ball, it was a no call or a charge call. When they got hit in the paint it was a foul on the defense. Every time. Some of the vast difference in FTs attempted was because we got 3 ball happy in the second half and stopped running our normal offense. That will cut down dramatically on the fouls that are drawn. But some of it was crappy reffing.
O'Connell in particular made a number of bad calls from a distance that were not his to make, basically overruling the other refs. He was the white haired guy. If I were him I would focus on trying to make the calls for the areas he is responsible right, not making ball calls for areas covered by the rest of his crew. My little constructive criticism for the skunk man.
It is a shame Judah again melted down late because everyone is going to forget that he played a pretty terrific game for the first 35 minutes or so. Especially for a true frosh going against a series of more experienced, physically stronger guys. He still (IMHO) looked for his own shot too much (after doing a great job finding others the last game) but he was a lot smarter about choosing when to attack the basket and he made a mid range jumper and even made a 3 pointer (I am sure he has made them before but he hasn't made many this year). And his defense was really really good almost all game long.
Late in games, I think everyone in the conference knows Judah is going to go to the hoop and UNC was ready for him on that last play. Now the refs called a couple of blocking fouls UNC made in Judah charging because they are incompetent but that last charge call was, IMHO, the right call. The flagrant call was crap. Judah was clearly going to the hoop. The UNC guy covering him (#4) did something very unusual defending him. He knew Judah was coming to the hoop hard and he elected to lean forward and stick his chin out as much as possible in the hopes of getting early contact there, so he could act like he got shot. If Judah looks at him and dodges him, #4 is stuck leaning forward and Judah gets an uncontested layup. But Judah again panicked a bit and as he gathered himself to go to the hoop, his elbow made contact with the UNC face a couple of feet early because that player was leaning into him so hard.
I am not a rules expert but I think defenders should not be allowed to lean forward like this and get into the space of the offensive player. They are initiating contact as much as the offensive player in this kind of a situation and I think that kind of move should disqualify them from getting a charge call. I would hope the rules reflect this; offensive players with the ball shouldn't have to contend with defenders trying to impale them with their heads. What does the rule book say here? I never see defenders do this, so I assume it is illegal. But maybe #4 has invented a new way to defend.
Amazing how inconsistent the frosh are. Judah is pretty much a known factor, but Maliq, Chris and Justin are all over the place. Maliq did rebound well but he again disappeared as a factor on offense against UNC. Chris looked pretty damned good. That kid has ice water in his veins. Maybe we will need to think about him as a go to guy late in games. Only 4 rebounds in 36 minutes but his defense is getting better, he is getting some points in transition and has been pretty darned consistent for a true frosh. If only he could rebound more. Really need him to put on 20 pound of muscle in the off season.
JG3 was awesome most of the game but I think he got gassed near the end of both halves. Especially the second. UNC played a lot of guards and they beat the hell out of Joe all game long. I wish JB gave Joe and Judah a good 5 minute rest each every half. I think it would make a difference. Symir quietly again provided quality minutes backing them up and he should be someone JB is comfortable playing now. It would be good to have Symir in the game when we decide to press too. Such a good athlete. So good in the press. I would suggest we employee the press at least 5 minutes each half of each game now. Put Hima in for the press too and use that time to rest Joe and Jesse.
The hot dog finished second in the big race between mustard, ketchup and hotdog that they have every game. That is big news because the hot dog costume apparently has a horrible setup for the eyes. It appears most competitors have little ability to see wearing it and the hot dog usually loses the ball dribbling early and falls out of contention right away. He (zir?) beat mustard because mustard lost his hat and went back to get it and elected to hold it in place as he dribbled to the basket. Not smart mustard. Pretty sure you do not need your hat to win.
I took a look at the western side of the cross truss on my way in. There is scaffording (is that the word?) in place near the top of the western rim of the crown truss that I believe was recently installed to hold one of the letters of the JMA logo in place. No letters have been put up there yet but there is a giant A down by the base of the crane and it looks like it might get installed today. I did not see the two semi circle wireless waves that appear over the A in the JMA logo (that we saw getting spray painted with a gradient in that video posted yesterday. Guessing that will appear on site today and should also go up shortly.
I thought our defense was inspired for the last 30 minutes of the game. It has been a while since we had a good defensive team and while this team often has lapses, usually at the start of games, it is capable of playing long stretches of inspired defense. Bacot was a non factor for most of the game and when he scored, it was usually in transition. Jesse did a nice job on him and was ably helped out by all the forwards, who doubled him most time jelly belly got the ball. Bacot is really physical and kind of a dirty player and I wish the refs would stop ignoring all the crap he gets away with. He almost killed Judah on one of his 'picks', where he looked a lot more like a pulling OG than a basketball player.
Proud of the team. They are capable of beating anyone on the schedule and I think we will see some great wins by this group before the season ends. It is hard to root for a young team. They will break your heart more than once. We are all feeling it now but I am excited for the rest of the season. It is great to watch a number of promising young players get better.
