ND Postgame

[EnviroSciGuy]

Any insight on why Donnie was benched?

0% chance it was “strategic”.

Red’s comments postgame against NCST about Sadiq being the only guy trying makes me think Donnie gave poor effort.

I noticed Donnie just standing around looking at rebounds against NCST

The cynical side of me notes that he was playing a weak opponent and thought it would be a good game to "do something" (i.e. benching Donnie) to claim that "something worked" when in reality it was more of a function of beating an in-conference cream puff.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

The cynical side of me notes that he was playing a weak opponent and thought it would be a good game to "do something" (i.e. benching Donnie) to claim that "something worked" when in reality it was more of a function of beating an in-conference cream puff.

I’m guessing Donnie and JJ got into a pushing match at practice and this was his punishment.

 

[EnviroSciGuy]

I’m guessing Donnie and JJ got into a pushing match at practice and this was his punishment.

 

[IthacaMatt]

He has a total lack of effort especially in the winning elements. Loose balls, D, etc.
He plays with a nonchalance that his game is better than it is. The Frosh from ND was on another planet compared to Kiyan.

This is what I mean when I talk about guys who make winning plays.

 

[Orangezoo]

Autry wins all the next four games, then his head coach job at SU will come back to life. And it is very doable.

It’s not very doable. The only reason we won last night was because we shot lights out vs a bad team. We did everything defensively we have in the losing streak in terms of giving up way too many easy looks. Last night is a loss giving up 90 or 100 to nearly the entire rest of the schedule. We played good defense for all of maybe 11 mins last night. We gave up 12 pts over the first 11 mins and 60 over the final 29 and did so vs a really bad team.

Edit - im happy for the kids we won after such a bad stretch and another likely coming.

 

[Ozone!]

The spirit of Lawrence Moten and…​

a great effort by the team gave us a much needed win!

 

[RedtheGOB]

I mean regardless of what happens with Kiyan or JJ or George or Donnie, the real key is that either Kingz or Betsey make 3's especially in the 2nd half of games. We just will never beat better teams if no one on our team can hit a 3 in critical moments especially late in games.

 

[AZOrange]

He has a total lack of effort especially in the winning elements. Loose balls, D, etc.
He plays with a nonchalance that his game is better than it is. The Frosh from ND was on another planet compared to Kiyan.

That’s what gets me. He does not move with purpose, quickly etc. everything half speedish

 

[tbonezone]

this team will not lose many games in which they get 20+ assists

its really that simple

GET ASSISTS!!

league scoring title should be based and points and assists combined. like hockey.

 

[Cheriehoop]

As others have alluded to, I think the real story of the game is Kiyan not getting minutes in the second half. I think this is more of a reflection of the improved offense then Sadiq starting over Donnie.

Everything flows better without Kiyan, offensively and especially defensively. It is what it is.

Every minute without Kiyan is potentially an extra minute for Kingz.

It is a learning curve. He’s a young player who has worked hard. It can be difficult for a player who has high expectations for himself to assimilate and understand his role on a team. Hopefully he watches film and realizes what the team needs from him and how he best contributes to not just his but his team’s success. Playing one on one is totally different than playing on a team. He’s young and hopefully embraces making not just himself but his teammates and team better. It’s a matter of learning and using good judgement in the flow of the game in a team environment - not easy nor always intuitive. Time, experience and patience will be needed by both him and the staff. Just my opinion.

 

[richmondcuse03]

It is a learning curve. He’s a young player who has worked hard. It can be difficult for a player who has high expectations for himself to assimilate and understand his role on a team. Hopefully he watches film and realizes what the team needs from him and how he best contributes to not just his but his team’s success. Playing one on one is totally different than playing on a team. He’s young and hopefully embraces making not just himself but his teammates and team better. It’s a matter of learning and using good judgement in the flow of the game in a team environment - not easy nor always intuitive. Time, experience and patience will be needed by both him and the staff. Just my opinion.

Agree. He’s also physically overmatched. He needs to spend a lot of time getting stronger. He needs 15 pounds of muscle added to his frame. He’s really skinny compared to other guys. And not in a strong way. He’s got really strong skills but that only works against weaker teams. Until he gets stronger he’s not going to be great against acc competition. Even NDs bad defense caused him problems because they’re stronger. Honestly they backed down JJ at will too. Jj has a stronger handle on offense and is quicker.

 

[kingtidge]

It’s not very doable. The only reason we won last night was because we shot lights out vs a bad team. We did everything defensively we have in the losing streak in terms of giving up way too many easy looks. Last night is a loss giving up 90 or 100 to nearly the entire rest of the schedule. We played good defense for all of maybe 11 mins last night. We gave up 12 pts over the first 11 mins and 60 over the final 29 and did so vs a really bad team.

Edit - im happy for the kids we won after such a bad stretch and another likely coming.

This.

We're not good, but ND is pretty bad.

We shot lights out and JJ had one of his 1 in 7 games where most of his shots dropped... Kingz obviously his best performance. There was actually off-ball movement in the offense with cutters on the move regularly. It opened up lanes and perimeter shots and we actually got in an offensive rhythm for stretches.I am not sure where this has been for a large part of the season, but it was good to see.

Defensively, was still poor. Way too many simple drives virtually uncontested for easy baskets for ND. If that doesn't get solved, the likelihood of more wins is not good. ND was bad enough that our firing offense with terrible D was more than enough... Perhaps we could do the same with Pitt... The rest will be a lot harder to scrape wins against with our D.

 

[tbonezone]

so no bowl game and no NCAA tournament for the irish fans ! bwahahaha !!!

 

[Scooch]

It certainly doesn’t appear that Freeman didn’t start because he was suspended. Based on everything Frreman, White and Red said after the game, it was meant to shake things up defensively and give the team a lift off the bench.

“He just said this is what he wanted to do and why,” Freeman said. “We talked about it. Went through it, discussed it and that’s what we came up with. But it worked, so … “

That’s not the type of explanation you get from someone who was suspended. Freeman would have been more reserved and less forthright with his answer.

That’s my take.

You're 100% entitled to that take. Personally, I'd wager heavily that it was a punishment. There's no coach that would bench their best player solely because of some perceived "strategic matchup" against one of the worst teams in the conference.

Red doesn't even change the starting lineup after halftime, and I'm expected to believe he did it against Notre Dame due to strategy?

 

[Cheriehoop]

This.

We're not good, but ND is pretty bad.

We shot lights out and JJ had one of his 1 in 7 games where most of his shots dropped... Kingz obviously his best performance. There was actually off-ball movement in the offense with cutters on the move regularly. It opened up lanes and perimeter shots and we actually got in an offensive rhythm for stretches.I am not sure where this has been for a large part of the season, but it was good to see.

Defensively, was still poor. Way too many simple drives virtually uncontested for easy baskets for ND. If that doesn't get solved, the likelihood of more wins is not good. ND was bad enough that our firing offense with terrible D was more than enough... Perhaps we could do the same with Pitt... The rest will be a lot harder to scrape wins against with our D.

Poor or no communication on defense. They need to talk to one another so help defense is aware. No one should be able to beat one defender and streak in untouched, unguarded for a layup.

 

[MikeSU02]

Agree. He’s also physically overmatched. He needs to spend a lot of time getting stronger. He needs 15 pounds of muscle added to his frame. He’s really skinny compared to other guys. And not in a strong way. He’s got really strong skills but that only works against weaker teams. Until he gets stronger he’s not going to be great against acc competition. Even NDs bad defense caused him problems because they’re stronger. Honestly they backed down JJ at will too. Jj has a stronger handle on offense and is quicker.

His lack of strength is going to limit his upside to his big time potential on offense.

On defense, he has to play some. It's not even just that he has bad form, it's that he doesn't try. You can't fix the former without the latter. It won't matter.

And you can get away with being a sieve on D if you are dropping 20+ ppg efficiently and have a good defense behind you to make up for it, but that's not the case.

Lot of potential. But he has to put in the work to reach it.

 

[Archimedes]

People are being too tough about defense last night.

Haralson was the big problem and he is an absolute unit -- strong, fast and smart. He is better than a lot of the guys we're going to see the rest of the way. We did OK.

 

[kingtidge]

People are being too tough about defense last night.

Haralson was the biggest problem and he is an absolute unit -- strong, fast and smart. He is better than a lot of the guys we're going to see the rest of the way. We did OK.

It is what it is and you can't sugarcoat it. The defense is still very bad.

It wasn't just Haralson that was a problem. Shrewsbury was driving uncontested layups at will a lot of the time.

 

[richmondcuse03]

It is what it is and you can't sugarcoat it. The defense is still very bad.

It wasn't just Haralson that was a problem. Shrewsbury was driving uncontested layups at will a lot of the time.

Right. Against pretty much all of our guys. Not sure why folks just focus on Kiyan’s D. We were bad without him too.

The issue has been more Kiyan’s approach on offense against better teams. We were much better with the ball yesterday without him. A lot of that was George and Starling both passing more. Only five turnovers if I recall.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Agree. He’s also physically overmatched. He needs to spend a lot of time getting stronger. He needs 15 pounds of muscle added to his frame. He’s really skinny compared to other guys. And not in a strong way. He’s got really strong skills but that only works against weaker teams. Until he gets stronger he’s not going to be great against acc competition. Even NDs bad defense caused him problems because they’re stronger. Honestly they backed down JJ at will too. Jj has a stronger handle on offense and is quicker.

This is true, but aside from getting stronger, he needs to work on his dribble. Do high speed dribbling exercises to develop better fingertip control of the ball, and more 'feel'.

He also needs to get faster. You know those running drills football players do dragging weight behind them while they sprint? He needs to do a lot of that.

 

[phil77]

Was Melo not there yesterday? They didn't show him on TV? That was the first game I remember him missing in a while especially at home.

 

[007]

This is true, but aside from getting stronger, he needs to work on his dribble. Do high speed dribbling exercises to develop better fingertip control of the ball, and more 'feel'.

He also needs to get faster. You know those running drills football players do dragging weight behind them while they sprint? He needs to do a lot of that.

You should email some of those drill work tips to Melo

 

[007]

Was Melo not there yesterday? They didn't show him on TV? That was the first game I remember him missing in a while especially at home.

He was not there - sure it was due to other obligations.

 

[phil77]

He was not there - sure it was due to other obligations.

Find it interesting that Melo wasn't there and that is the day Red didn't play Kiyan the second half maybe Red didn't feel the pressure to play him because Melo wasn't sitting courtside? Probably nothing, just interesting.

 

[crv1728]

So no one yet knows why Donnie didn’t start? Hopefully we will know the truth soon. Also, the man sitting behind me said that Donnie and JJ were in some kind of enemy mode. Their body language towards each other was terrible. Now, I didn’t - of course - notice any of that, but I am wondering if anyone else did? I am counting on the board to shed light on these issues so I can take it back to my “team” sitting around me. Thanks!

The crowd was perhaps the biggest we have had all season. The students once again were there. I was thinking people would be pretty apathetic and not show up, but it was great that they did and great that we won. It was - darn it! - it was just so great!

There was a middle-aged overweight VT fan sitting in front of us and every time he stood up you could see 1/3 or half of his buttockal area. I cannot tell you how much fun we had with that. I wish we could have that every game. It would ease the pain somewhat.

At halftime we were all standing around talking and someone asked if we were going to get tickets again next year. To a man, woman and child (who have no say so) we all said yes.

Very nice tribute to Lawrence Moten at halftime. JB was there and he choked up talking about Lawrence. He was such a good player. I have forgiven him, at long last, for calling the time out we didn’t have in the Elite Eight game his senior year. What a terrible way for him to end his college career! John Wallace was on the floor with about 20 family members. Still can’t believe he’s gone.

So happy we won! Wonder if we will again?

Buttockal! Love the word - is that found in Webster’s?