sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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- Aug 15, 2011
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cto gave me a wonderful Christmas gift this year, giving me her courtside tickets to the Montana State game. Many thanks to her; really enjoyed it. It was made even more special given I shared it with my new wife and then Orangeyes' granddaughter. Thanks cto!
Don't have much time but here are some disjointed thoughts on the game...
Mike Hopkins appears to get more comfortable coaching with each passing game. Looks to me as though he is really trying to get everyone on the team playing well and might be spending a little extra time with the players that have been struggling. He is more of a positive reinforcement guy than JB and always made a point of calling struggling players over for a quick chat during breaks in the action, especially after they had made a good play.
JB's seat remains empty all game long. I sat almost directly across from it. Nice tribute to him. I hope it makes those incompetent NCAA dweebs who were publically called out for their prejudice against JB to get just a little more uncomfortable.
Montana State was an interesting group of players. Everyone seemed a little too short, a little too weak and a little too slow. Liked they balding point guard with the pot belly. He looks like he appreciates a good doughnut.
But I was genuinely impressed with #13. His name is Sarp Gobelogiu. He is from Turkey. 6'10, listed at 205 pounds but he was coordinated and highly skilled. Could dribble, pass and shoot too. That kid could play in the ACC, especially if someone ever showed him a weight room and a training table with real food on it.
One thing I like about Hop's substitution patterns recently is that he is generally avoiding the practice of subbing for 2 or 3 starters all at the same time. For this team, that constitutes too much of a talent drain, and gives the other team a great change to go on a run and get some serious momentum. It is much better to only play one sub at a time. Maybe two tops, keeping some people out there that are capable scorers, rebounders and defenders to allow things to run fairly normally.
DC2 looked really good. They got the ball inside a lot, which was great, and DC2 regularly finished, which was great. But the thing that was most encouraging to me was that for the first time since all the injuries started, I saw DeJuan actively calling for the ball, working hard to get open, seal him man off and present himself as a target for a pass inside. That has been the biggest thing his game has been missing. I hope that this wasn't a once-in-a-month glimmer of what could be. We really need DC2 to present some kind of scoring threat inside. Especially in games like this one where we again struggled to make many threes.
Liked the defense a lot. I am a growing fan of the lineup with Frankie playing the point, with Silent G on the back line on defense and TC up top with Frankie. That is IMHO our best defensive lineup and I think against a good defensive team, it might be our best chance to score points in a half court setting. Silent G is a good player with the ball in his hands, running the offense, but he doesn't have himself to pass it to. I think Mike is at his best moving around without the ball, finding openings in the paint and posting up just outside the 3 point circle. Right now Frankie is not much of a threat to score, and teams are largely backing off him to double on other players, but he does a passable job running the offense and it frees Silent G to work off the ball with TC. Those two are the only ones who really run around without the ball and make the defense work and when both are at it, the half court offense just seems to click better.
Silent G is also a better rebounder than MR and a lot better defender on a wing than Malachi right now. If Frankie can start to hit some outside shots, this lineup could really get interesting.
Props to Chino for being really active and making some solid moves to the rim. Yes, it was against some undersized players from Montana State, but it was still good to see. Whenever Chino did something good, Chukwu would get a huge grin on his face and he would gesture to him, congratulating him. You can tell that are good buddies.
Coleman's sneakers are a visual smorgasbord that words cannot adequately describe. I haven't even taken LSD but I think staring at these shoes for a while gives one a glimmer of what it is like to be on an acid trip. Four words in a row with two letters. Very rare.
I digress.
Watching the games from up in section 310, one gets the impression that TC is short and MR is of average height. Watching court side, those impressions are somewhat rudely rebuffed. Looking at Chukwu up close, this observer was in awe of his majestic size. It is quite amazing. That being said, while he is clearly majestic, it is a very skinny kind of majesty he embraces, and he needs to become good friends with the training equipment of the Melo Center. Hopefully, very, very good friends. Perhaps his good friend Chino can introduce him? Judging from his physique, Chino appears to know the training equipment very well.
Other stuff
Some nerdy guy sang the NA. He was a graduate from the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam, which means he is tough and can withstand wind chill factors that would kill an average human being in less than 5 minutes.
The Bville band stood in for the SSS and did a fine job. They looked like they were from 10 to 12 years old.
TGD continues to sit in his courtside seat, and spent most of the game chatting away with The Mattress King. I have not seen Mark Coyle sit at a game yet, though he was in the VIP reception room, again being very accessible and willing to talk to the general public about pretty much anything.
They had Schweppes Ginger Ale in the VIP room. Finally hit the bigtime. The pizza was surprisingly good and the roast beef sandwiches were tasty too. Impressive.
Still no sign of Dino Babers at a basketball game. Are they saving him for the first ACC game? Probably want a big crowd to welcome him here...
Good win. I wish the coaches, the players and all SU fans a great holiday season.
Don't have much time but here are some disjointed thoughts on the game...
Mike Hopkins appears to get more comfortable coaching with each passing game. Looks to me as though he is really trying to get everyone on the team playing well and might be spending a little extra time with the players that have been struggling. He is more of a positive reinforcement guy than JB and always made a point of calling struggling players over for a quick chat during breaks in the action, especially after they had made a good play.
JB's seat remains empty all game long. I sat almost directly across from it. Nice tribute to him. I hope it makes those incompetent NCAA dweebs who were publically called out for their prejudice against JB to get just a little more uncomfortable.
Montana State was an interesting group of players. Everyone seemed a little too short, a little too weak and a little too slow. Liked they balding point guard with the pot belly. He looks like he appreciates a good doughnut.
But I was genuinely impressed with #13. His name is Sarp Gobelogiu. He is from Turkey. 6'10, listed at 205 pounds but he was coordinated and highly skilled. Could dribble, pass and shoot too. That kid could play in the ACC, especially if someone ever showed him a weight room and a training table with real food on it.
One thing I like about Hop's substitution patterns recently is that he is generally avoiding the practice of subbing for 2 or 3 starters all at the same time. For this team, that constitutes too much of a talent drain, and gives the other team a great change to go on a run and get some serious momentum. It is much better to only play one sub at a time. Maybe two tops, keeping some people out there that are capable scorers, rebounders and defenders to allow things to run fairly normally.
DC2 looked really good. They got the ball inside a lot, which was great, and DC2 regularly finished, which was great. But the thing that was most encouraging to me was that for the first time since all the injuries started, I saw DeJuan actively calling for the ball, working hard to get open, seal him man off and present himself as a target for a pass inside. That has been the biggest thing his game has been missing. I hope that this wasn't a once-in-a-month glimmer of what could be. We really need DC2 to present some kind of scoring threat inside. Especially in games like this one where we again struggled to make many threes.
Liked the defense a lot. I am a growing fan of the lineup with Frankie playing the point, with Silent G on the back line on defense and TC up top with Frankie. That is IMHO our best defensive lineup and I think against a good defensive team, it might be our best chance to score points in a half court setting. Silent G is a good player with the ball in his hands, running the offense, but he doesn't have himself to pass it to. I think Mike is at his best moving around without the ball, finding openings in the paint and posting up just outside the 3 point circle. Right now Frankie is not much of a threat to score, and teams are largely backing off him to double on other players, but he does a passable job running the offense and it frees Silent G to work off the ball with TC. Those two are the only ones who really run around without the ball and make the defense work and when both are at it, the half court offense just seems to click better.
Silent G is also a better rebounder than MR and a lot better defender on a wing than Malachi right now. If Frankie can start to hit some outside shots, this lineup could really get interesting.
Props to Chino for being really active and making some solid moves to the rim. Yes, it was against some undersized players from Montana State, but it was still good to see. Whenever Chino did something good, Chukwu would get a huge grin on his face and he would gesture to him, congratulating him. You can tell that are good buddies.
Coleman's sneakers are a visual smorgasbord that words cannot adequately describe. I haven't even taken LSD but I think staring at these shoes for a while gives one a glimmer of what it is like to be on an acid trip. Four words in a row with two letters. Very rare.
I digress.
Watching the games from up in section 310, one gets the impression that TC is short and MR is of average height. Watching court side, those impressions are somewhat rudely rebuffed. Looking at Chukwu up close, this observer was in awe of his majestic size. It is quite amazing. That being said, while he is clearly majestic, it is a very skinny kind of majesty he embraces, and he needs to become good friends with the training equipment of the Melo Center. Hopefully, very, very good friends. Perhaps his good friend Chino can introduce him? Judging from his physique, Chino appears to know the training equipment very well.
Other stuff
Some nerdy guy sang the NA. He was a graduate from the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam, which means he is tough and can withstand wind chill factors that would kill an average human being in less than 5 minutes.
The Bville band stood in for the SSS and did a fine job. They looked like they were from 10 to 12 years old.
TGD continues to sit in his courtside seat, and spent most of the game chatting away with The Mattress King. I have not seen Mark Coyle sit at a game yet, though he was in the VIP reception room, again being very accessible and willing to talk to the general public about pretty much anything.
They had Schweppes Ginger Ale in the VIP room. Finally hit the bigtime. The pizza was surprisingly good and the roast beef sandwiches were tasty too. Impressive.
Still no sign of Dino Babers at a basketball game. Are they saving him for the first ACC game? Probably want a big crowd to welcome him here...
Good win. I wish the coaches, the players and all SU fans a great holiday season.
