My Take

[FrancoPizza]

I think for the most part, Judah, JJ and Justin play good man defense. Bell, Benny, Nadeem , Kyle and Q seem to have limited attention spans and usually let their man go by them and get to the basket.

I think it’s easy to get hung up on individual defensive skills or instincts, but I believe the greater issue is the other players NOT knowing how to help when someone gets beat. Help defense and communication is by far the biggest issue. Even good players will get beat off the dribble quite a bit just by the nature of having to react.

 

[CardiacCuse]

What have you seen from any of our guards that suggests that they any have any post up game at all?

ive seen them post up and hit shots hanging in the air...theyve done it already this year...but only a few times

 

[sutomcat]

Yeah...I know we're speculating that Brown is hurt, but who knows...all I know is he looks like a different guy on the boards so far this year. His TRB% was 12.9 last year vs 9.9 so far this year not counting this game. Maybe Jesse taking up space helped? Regardless...It's very disappointing. We need him on the glass if he's going to play.

The way he went for that long ball looked like he was trying not to re-pull a muscle.

I think a big reason his rebounds are way down is because a big of his game last year was getting offensive rebounds. Most of his scores were on putbacks. He can’t score from the high post but he can from 8 feet and in.

He played power forward almost exclusively last season. This year he is playing center exclusively and is far from the basket almost all the time. It negates his biggest strength on offense.

I hope Red gives him some minutes at the 4. Could help us rebounding and make it harder to score against us in the paint. Not feasible to play Brown and McLeod together against a Colgate but against someone like Purdue, it would be something we should definitely try.

 

[Madbiker]

So wrong. Taylor is our best shooter. Benny also has to be “ accounted” for.

Taylor needs a ton of open space to shoot. Which is why he takes so few shots.

 

[CardiacCuse]

Taylor needs a ton of open space to shoot. Which is why he takes so few shots.

should just run the buddy and joe plays for him

 

[skeeter223]

Agree about Mintz. I don't think he ever looked for Taylor. This is college ball--not an NBA tryout

 

[mark79]

The way he went for that long ball looked like he was trying not to re-pull a muscle.

I think a big reason his rebounds are way down is because a big of his game last year was getting offensive rebounds. Most of his scores were on putbacks. He can’t score from the high post but he can from 8 feet and in.

He played power forward almost exclusively last season. This year he is playing center exclusively and is far from the basket almost all the time. It negates his biggest strength on offense.

I hope Red gives him some minutes at the 4. Could help us rebounding and make it harder to score against us in the paint. Not feasible to play Brown and McLeod together against a Colgate but against someone like Purdue, it would be something we should definitely try.

Good post. We need to at least test what McLeod and Brown look like together.

 

[Doc5120]

The way he went for that long ball looked like he was trying not to re-pull a muscle.

I think a big reason his rebounds are way down is because a big of his game last year was getting offensive rebounds. Most of his scores were on putbacks. He can’t score from the high post but he can from 8 feet and in.

He played power forward almost exclusively last season. This year he is playing center exclusively and is far from the basket almost all the time. It negates his biggest strength on offense.

I hope Red gives him some minutes at the 4. Could help us rebounding and make it harder to score against us in the paint. Not feasible to play Brown and McLeod together against a Colgate but against someone like Purdue, it would be something we should definitely try.

I haven't noticed the positioning, but if that's true about Brown - my question is, why?! Why would our 5 man be so far from the hoop? He's obviously not an outside threat, so starting (and remaining) far from the basket seems odd. I know we can initiate offense through the high post, but he should spend a lot more time closer to the hoop on or around the block.

 

[kcsu]

Good take as always Tom. I would like to see Judah play off the ball more. Switch positions with Starling. Id also like to see Brown at the four more and Brown Benny Mc Taylor and one of Guards as a line up.

 

[sutomcat]

I haven't noticed the positioning, but if that's true about Brown - my question is, why?! Why would our 5 man be so far from the hoop? He's obviously not an outside threat, so starting (and remaining) far from the basket seems odd. I know we can initiate offense through the high post, but he should spend a lot more time closer to the hoop on or around the block.

I assume it is to open the paint to the cutters.