My Take

[sutomcat]

The season turned the day this team started consistently attacking the rim. That made a one dimensional team something very different, and much harder to defend. Things are really getting interesting now that we are seeing some transition offense as well.

I thought A&M was pretty impressive. They have a bevy of good athletes, some good size and they play hard. Collins is a solid PG (and has been for years; can't believe he is still around), their bigs are tough and that frosh with the hair is a nice player. Add in Jones, who was terrific, especially in the first half, and I think this team is a lock for the NCAA tourney. Might even finish second in the SEC this year.

This was a team win, fueled by toughness down the stretch, solid defense, some excellent outside shooting and greet job slashing to the basket. A&M kept in the game in part due to some questionable charges called against Syracuse. That bald Caruso guy is the best flopper I have on the college level that does not wear a Duke uniform.

I am really impressed with how well the team played in the last 5 minutes. Given it was their third game in three days and given how deep A&M was, it is a real tribute to the conditioning of the players.

Great to see Coleman continue to shed rust. We needed him to play some significant minutes today and he stepped up and did it.

Lydon continues to impress. Still can 't believe he made that off balance heavily contested 3 with almost no time left on the 30 second clock. He has some work to do on defense playing in the middle and needs to be more physical rebounding but he is doing a remarkable number of things well for such a young player. His shooting form is unbelievable.

Silent G looked under the weather from the opening tap but somehow he found ways to contribute and ended up having a fine game.

TC continues to show a well rounded game...he contributes in so many ways. Excellent defense, much improved ball handling, good work slashing to the basket and I suspect he probably led the team in assists again too. Even if he is shooting poorly, he is so valuable that he has to play.

KJ continues to struggle. Hope the stretch of OOC games after the B1G Challenge give him the confidence he needs to start playing well again. He is close to a crossroad, time is running out for him and he needs to step up soon.

TRob regressed, got his butt handed to him on the boards and wasn't as aggressive as he could be with the ball. A couple bad calls hurt him. Thankfully, DC2 was able to pick him up (and TL was his usual solid self).

Don't think FH or CO even played.

Very good win. Getting back in the Top 25 is nice and we are positioning ourselves nicely for an NCAA bid. Could we possibly beat Wisconsin, St Johns and Geirgetown and go undefeated in OOC play? That looked impossible for a long time...but isn't sounding really crazy any longer.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

Lydon continues to impress. Still can 't believe he made that off balance heavily contested 3 with almost no time left on the 30 second clock. He has some work to do on defense playing in the middle and needs to be more physical rebounding but he is doing a remarkable number of things well for such a young player. His shooting form is unbelievable.

Lydon is already moving up the charts on many Cuse fan's list of all time favorite players. It's not just him but we have many players that are very versatile and very likable. He did look a little lost out there on defense today but hopefully it will be a good learning experience for him. One thing that no one has seemed to mention yet is how well he passes from the high post. I like how much time he is spending up there and it's allowing the other players the ability to maneuver through the lane. Plus speaking of versatility, it's incredible how good Mali is for a freshmen. So far I'm not sure if he has a downside.

 

[OrangeFoo]

The season turned the day this team started consistently attacking the rim. That made a one dimensional team something very different, and much harder to defend. Things are really getting interesting now that we are seeing some transition offense as well.

I thought A&M was pretty impressive. They have a bevy of good athletes, some good size and they play hard. Collins is a solid PG (and has been for years; can't believe he is still around), their bigs are tough and that frosh with the hair is a nice player. Add in Jones, who was terrific, especially in the first half, and I think this team is a lock for the NCAA tourney. Might even finish second in the SEC this year.

This was a team win, fueled by toughness down the stretch, solid defense, some excellent outside shooting and greet job slashing to the basket. A&M kept in the game in part due to some questionable charges called against Syracuse. That bald Caruso guy is the best flopper I have on the college level that does not wear a Duke uniform.

I am really impressed with how well the team played in the last 5 minutes. Given it was their third game in three days and given how deep A&M was, it is a real tribute to the conditioning of the players.

Great to see Coleman continue to shed rust. We needed him to play some significant minutes today and he stepped up and did it.

Lydon continues to impress. Still can 't believe he made that off balance heavily contested 3 with almost no time left on the 30 second clock. He has some work to do on defense playing in the middle and needs to be more physical rebounding but he is doing a remarkable number of things well for such a young player. His shooting form is unbelievable.

Silent G looked under the weather from the opening tap but somehow he found ways to contribute and ended up having a fine game.

TC continues to show a well rounded game...he contributes in so many ways. Excellent defense, much improved ball handling, good work slashing to the basket and I suspect he probably led the team in assists again too. Even if he is shooting poorly, he is so valuable that he has to play.

KJ continues to struggle. Hope the stretch of OOC games after the B1G Challenge give him the confidence he needs to start playing well again. He is close to a crossroad, time is running out for him and he needs to step up soon.

TRob regressed, got his butt handed to him on the boards and wasn't as aggressive as he could be with the ball. A couple bad calls hurt him. Thankfully, DC2 was able to pick him up (and TL was his usual solid self).

Don't think FH or CO even played.

Very good win. Getting back in the Top 25 is nice and we are positioning ourselves nicely for an NCAA bid. Could we possibly beat Wisconsin, St Johns and Geirgetown and go undefeated in OOC play? That looked impossible for a long time...but isn't sounding really crazy any longer.

Shocked to see no mention of Richardson... His and 1 at the end of the game was huge. Also I think he as our leading scorer.

 

[Forza Azzurri]

TC continues to show a well rounded game...he contributes in so many ways. Excellent defense, much improved ball handling, good work slashing to the basket and I suspect he probably led the team in assists again too. Even if he is shooting poorly, he is so valuable that he has to play.

Cooney had three really bad misses from 3 in second half. Last year he would have had to keep shooting. This year, other than the attempt as the shot clock expired, he drove everything towards the rim and either scored, got fouled or found someone.

Amazing how much more space there is when other teams can't play four guys in the paint...

 

[Ghost]

Shocked to see no mention of Richardson... His and 1 at the end of the game was huge. Also I think he as our leading scorer.

That was a very nice finish - he absorbed a lot of contact on all of his drives and just kept attacking. Good job from Richardson - he didn't shoot well from deep, but made up for that by getting to the line.

 

[PeteCalvin]

Great take, Tomcat (as usual).

I have to give the A&M coaching staff some heavy kudos for the charges they drew. They saw how we picked UConn apart with our drives and always had a "spy" waiting to step in at the last second outside of the charge circle. Every time we drove, someone shifted and was ready to draw the charge. That clogged things up for us until we figured out what was going on. G's oop to TR was beautiful, except for the fact that G didn't pull straight up. He was kicking himself after picking up the foul.

I never thought I would see so many charges called in one game after the rule changes, but holy hell these guys looked like Duke circa 1992 with the flops.

 

[rrlbees]

Shocked to see no mention of Richardson... His and 1 at the end of the game was huge. Also I think he as our leading scorer.

LOL. Tom forgot him yesterday too.

 

[bballbeadle]

I haven't read many of the posts yet, but it seemed to my group that after Richardson was flagrantly fouled he became very mad, and played mad for most of the rest of the game. He kept taking it to the basket fearlessly and with attitude.

Speaking of attitude, I have to second all the posts I have read about the team's fierce support of one another. So much FUN to watch! Likability? Oh yeah. I am talking 2003 and 2010 likability. At least from my viewpoint.

 

[Moontan]

LOL. Tom forgot him yesterday too.

Who?

 

[CusefanATL]

The season turned the day this team started consistently attacking the rim. That made a one dimensional team something very different, and much harder to defend. Things are really getting interesting now that we are seeing some transition offense as well.

I thought A&M was pretty impressive. They have a bevy of good athletes, some good size and they play hard. Collins is a solid PG (and has been for years; can't believe he is still around), their bigs are tough and that frosh with the hair is a nice player. Add in Jones, who was terrific, especially in the first half, and I think this team is a lock for the NCAA tourney. Might even finish second in the SEC this year.

This was a team win, fueled by toughness down the stretch, solid defense, some excellent outside shooting and greet job slashing to the basket. A&M kept in the game in part due to some questionable charges called against Syracuse. That bald Caruso guy is the best flopper I have on the college level that does not wear a Duke uniform.

I am really impressed with how well the team played in the last 5 minutes. Given it was their third game in three days and given how deep A&M was, it is a real tribute to the conditioning of the players.

Great to see Coleman continue to shed rust. We needed him to play some significant minutes today and he stepped up and did it.

Lydon continues to impress. Still can 't believe he made that off balance heavily contested 3 with almost no time left on the 30 second clock. He has some work to do on defense playing in the middle and needs to be more physical rebounding but he is doing a remarkable number of things well for such a young player. His shooting form is unbelievable.

Silent G looked under the weather from the opening tap but somehow he found ways to contribute and ended up having a fine game.

TC continues to show a well rounded game...he contributes in so many ways. Excellent defense, much improved ball handling, good work slashing to the basket and I suspect he probably led the team in assists again too. Even if he is shooting poorly, he is so valuable that he has to play.

KJ continues to struggle. Hope the stretch of OOC games after the B1G Challenge give him the confidence he needs to start playing well again. He is close to a crossroad, time is running out for him and he needs to step up soon.

TRob regressed, got his butt handed to him on the boards and wasn't as aggressive as he could be with the ball. A couple bad calls hurt him. Thankfully, DC2 was able to pick him up (and TL was his usual solid self).

Don't think FH or CO even played.

Very good win. Getting back in the Top 25 is nice and we are positioning ourselves nicely for an NCAA bid. Could we possibly beat Wisconsin, St Johns and Geirgetown and go undefeated in OOC play? That looked impossible for a long time...but isn't sounding really crazy any longer.

A. so much nicer to the opponent this evening
B. 100% correct on taking the ball to the hoop. And it has given us more open looks Lydon was wide open on 2 today.
C. silent G is currently working on a 1st team AA season. He is unbelievable. He may have the best season since Wes Johnson.
D. Texas AM really highlighted Lydon's weakness playing the 5 defensively. We rebound significantly worse across the board when he is at the 5 and he allows the ball to get in way too deep. I have to assume that will be 1 of the better/athletic front courts we'll see this season. I would do anything for Fab Melo this year.

 

[Shrmdougluvr]

I think the take that Roberson "regressed" is uncharacteristically short sighted for you TomCat. With all due respect to Mr. Bilas and his man-crush on Trevor Cooney, no player has to do more physically each game than Tyler Roberson. Considering it was the third game in three days and aTm had some legitimate size to contend with, I think he played very hard and about as well as can be expected under the circumstances.

Can't quibble with anything else and your take on offensive aggression is right on.

 

[CusefanATL]

I think the take that Roberson "regressed" is uncharacteristically short sighted for you TomCat. With all due respect to Mr. Bilas and his man-crush on Trevor Cooney, no player has to do more physically each game than Tyler Roberson. Considering it was the third game in three days and aTm had some legitimate size to contend with, I think he played very hard and about as well as can be expected under the circumstances.

Can't quibble with anything else and your take on offensive aggression is right on.

Yeah I thought Roberson was good on the boards for the most part today. He's going to be up and down scoring throughout the season. he'll avg 10 but he'll score 20, 4, and then 7 in a 3 game stretch.

 

[Antiprodigy]

D. Texas AM really highlighted Lydon's weakness playing the 5 defensively. We rebound significantly worse across the board when he is at the 5 and he allows the ball to get in way too deep. I have to assume that will be 1 of the better/athletic front courts we'll see this season. I would do anything for Fab Melo this year.

Can I give a dislike for this statement? Melo, as I will refer to him, as I can't bring myself to utter his actual name. A basketball player with his abilities his Soph yr, would be great to have. Every other aspect of him deserves nothing but derision.

I thought his name was not allowed to be typed on this board? Why isn't that the case?

 

[bballbeadle]

Can I give a dislike for this statement? Melo, as I will refer to him, as I can't bring myself to utter his actual name. A basketball player with his abilities his Soph yr, would be great to have. Every other aspect of him deserves nothing but derision.

I thought his name was not allowed to be typed on this board? Why isn't that the case?

Too soon?

 

[SUalldway]

That was a very nice finish - he absorbed a lot of contact on all of his drives and just kept attacking. Good job from Richardson - he didn't shoot well from deep, but made up for that by getting to the line.

MR's attacking the rim late came at a strategic time. A&M was getting to comfortable getting up in the faces our our 3-point shooters, and then depending on their big men or the refs to bail them out.

 

[pfister1]

That was a very nice finish - he absorbed a lot of contact on all of his drives and just kept attacking. Good job from Richardson - he didn't shoot well from deep, but made up for that by getting to the line.

He seemed to leave a bunch of shots from deep short yesterday, they appeared on target but hit the front of the rim. Is that tired legs after playing three consecutive days? I'm not sure, but those misses didn't bother me in terms of looking at him as a shooter.

 

[Ghost]

He seemed to leave a bunch of shots from deep short yesterday, they appeared on target but hit the front of the rim. Is that tired legs after playing three consecutive days? I'm not sure, but those misses didn't bother me in terms of looking at him as a shooter.

I mentioned that in another thread, my guess was tired legs as well. Shots were all on-line, but very short for a good shooter.

 

[pfister1]

I haven't read many of the posts yet, but it seemed to my group that after Richardson was flagrantly fouled he became very mad, and played mad for most of the rest of the game. He kept taking it to the basket fearlessly and with attitude.

Speaking of attitude, I have to second all the posts I have read about the team's fierce support of one another. So much FUN to watch! Likability? Oh yeah. I am talking 2003 and 2010 likability. At least from my viewpoint.

I was a little bit confused by Bilas' analysis of the foul on Richardson. He seemed to be on the fence as to whether it should have been called a flagrant one foul? It seems to me that that was the exact play that the rule in in place to address. He may not have intended the result and he may have been trying to make a play on the ball, but he essentially drove through Richardson to try to make that play on the ball. Seemed to me to be a perfect example of excessive contact and a great example for trying to defined the difference between flagrant one and flagrant two.

 

[ssbriefcase]

Sorry for the late post, but just getting back and back to normal. But I can't believe no one told Tomcat there were 2 tuba's in the Bahamian police band at the half. I mean in proportion to the venue, that has to be a record.

 

[tbonezone]

i would have thought that the fire code in that bahamian bandbox strictly prohibited tubas.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

The season turned the day this team started consistently attacking the rim. That made a one dimensional team something very different, and much harder to defend. Things are really getting interesting now that we are seeing some transition offense as well.

I thought A&M was pretty impressive. They have a bevy of good athletes, some good size and they play hard. Collins is a solid PG (and has been for years; can't believe he is still around), their bigs are tough and that frosh with the hair is a nice player. Add in Jones, who was terrific, especially in the first half, and I think this team is a lock for the NCAA tourney. Might even finish second in the SEC this year.

This was a team win, fueled by toughness down the stretch, solid defense, some excellent outside shooting and greet job slashing to the basket. A&M kept in the game in part due to some questionable charges called against Syracuse. That bald Caruso guy is the best flopper I have on the college level that does not wear a Duke uniform.

I am really impressed with how well the team played in the last 5 minutes. Given it was their third game in three days and given how deep A&M was, it is a real tribute to the conditioning of the players.

Great to see Coleman continue to shed rust. We needed him to play some significant minutes today and he stepped up and did it.

Lydon continues to impress. Still can 't believe he made that off balance heavily contested 3 with almost no time left on the 30 second clock. He has some work to do on defense playing in the middle and needs to be more physical rebounding but he is doing a remarkable number of things well for such a young player. His shooting form is unbelievable.

Silent G looked under the weather from the opening tap but somehow he found ways to contribute and ended up having a fine game.

TC continues to show a well rounded game...he contributes in so many ways. Excellent defense, much improved ball handling, good work slashing to the basket and I suspect he probably led the team in assists again too. Even if he is shooting poorly, he is so valuable that he has to play.

KJ continues to struggle. Hope the stretch of OOC games after the B1G Challenge give him the confidence he needs to start playing well again. He is close to a crossroad, time is running out for him and he needs to step up soon.

TRob regressed, got his butt handed to him on the boards and wasn't as aggressive as he could be with the ball. A couple bad calls hurt him. Thankfully, DC2 was able to pick him up (and TL was his usual solid self).

Don't think FH or CO even played.

Very good win. Getting back in the Top 25 is nice and we are positioning ourselves nicely for an NCAA bid. Could we possibly beat Wisconsin, St Johns and Geirgetown and go undefeated in OOC play? That looked impossible for a long time...but isn't sounding really crazy any longer.

Good use of "bevy."