Need to go small to make deep run

[STEVEHOLT]

We need to have Southerland, Fair, and Grant on the floor at the same time for most of each game going forward.

Rak and Keita are fine in small doses but they are absolutely killing us on offense..and rak is barely noticeable on defense. Keita has a great motor but limited skills..rak has athletecism but no motor.

Neither of them are very tough. I dont see how going with the smaller lineup is going to make our defensive rebounding and coverage much worse.

not many teams have dominant bigs anyway.

 

[NKR1978]

I kind of like that lineup the best, but if Brandon hits a shot, JS doesn't take that ridiculous 40ft shot and Rak doesn't brick that put back dunk, we would be praising a gutty win. I don't understand why JG didn't play more in the 2nd half.

 

[RICuse44]

Rak can be good. Needs some time. And hopefully by time I mean another month. The only way we could go small is by not playing zone. We need one of the bigs to toughen up. Between Keita, Rak, and dajuan one of them has to nut up.

 

[cuseguy]

At this point, Coleman can't get be any worse.

 

[jekelish]

I kind of like that lineup the best, but if Brandon hits a shot, JS doesn't take that ridiculous 40ft shot and Rak doesn't brick that put back dunk, we would be praising a gutty win. I don't understand why JG didn't play more in the 2nd half.

You wonder why JG didn't play more, and I wonder why CJ didn't play at all at the end. For some reason, Dirty was the one forward who was on the floor at all times. He brings shooting to the table, but he was absolutely lost on defense all game. What bugged me was the fact that during the broadcast they mentioned that JB has said he thinks Grant is the best defensive forward on the team. CJ is clearly the best overall forward. Why not play CJ and JG together down the stretch a little, rather than having Dirty repeatedly lose offensive players on the baseline in the second half? Again, I understand what Dirty brings to the table as an offensive threat, but at the same time, CJ was getting good shots whenever he wanted, rebounds well, and is solid defensively and typically makes good decisions. Grant makes good decisions, is very good defensively, rebounds, and can get buckets inside and, occasionally, outside.

Basically, I'm just trying to figure out why CJ Fair was on the bench for the last few minutes of the game. Even when MCW fouled out, just go with the bigger lineup and play BT, CJ, JG, JS, Rak. What would have been wrong with that?

 

[timkay99]

We need to have Southerland, Fair, and Grant on the floor at the same time for most of each game going forward.

Rak and Keita are fine in small doses but they are absolutely killing us on offense..and rak is barely noticeable on defense. Keita has a great motor but limited skills..rak has athletecism but no motor.

Neither of them are very tough. I dont see how going with the smaller lineup is going to make our defensive rebounding and coverage much worse.

not many teams have dominant bigs anyway.

Who sets the screens for an offense designed for screens then?

People seem to overlook this aspect of it. Grant at 200 is going to get the guys the room they need?

 

[Orangezoo]

if we want to make a deep run we need to be able to score in the post.. not every bucket should have to require so much work.. outside of transition points it seems we rarely get more than 1 or 2 easy buckets. last year our guards were so good off the bounce we could get points easily that way.. not this year at all.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

if we want to make a deep run we need to be able to score in the post.. not every bucket should have to require so much work.. outside of transition points it seems we rarely get more than 1 or 2 easy buckets. last year our guards were so good off the bounce we could get points easily that way.. not this year at all.

I can almost guarantee you that our best post scorer, if given the chance to post..would be grant.

 

[Orangezoo]

I can almost guarantee you that our best post scorer, if given the chance to post..would be grant.

i dont doubt that at all

 

[CorduroyG]

when jb took cj out he was yelling at him as cj took a seat, anyone remember what cj did or didnt do?

 

[jekelish]

when jb took cj out he was yelling at him as cj took a seat, anyone remember what cj did or didnt do?

I remember him talking to CJ but could not figure out what he could have done. Bottom line, we don't win many games without CJ Fair on the court.

 

[Garbs]

We need to have Southerland, Fair, and Grant on the floor at the same time for most of each game going forward.

Rak and Keita are fine in small doses but they are absolutely killing us on offense..and rak is barely noticeable on defense. Keita has a great motor but limited skills..rak has athletecism but no motor.

Neither of them are very tough. I dont see how going with the smaller lineup is going to make our defensive rebounding and coverage much worse.

not many teams have dominant bigs anyway.

hmm I didn't see them hoisting up all those 3's

 

[CorduroyG]

hmm I didn't see them hoisting up all those 3's

no but keita literally did not hit the rim on 2 layups

 

[Hoboken Cuse]

hmm I didn't see them hoisting up all those 3's

I did'nt see them rebounding all of those missed 3's either. Oh, I forgot, the ball bounces farther on missed 3's.

 

[Madbiker]

Grant isn't any thinner than Keita...and he has offensive skills. I'd give it a try to play JG in the middle against less physical teams like tonight. But at this point in the season I can't see JB doing it.

 

[SoBeCuse]

Rak can be good. Needs some time. And hopefully by time I mean another month. The only way we could go small is by not playing zone. We need one of the bigs to toughen up. Between Keita, Rak, and dajuan one of them has to nut up.

We don't have that time. 2 weeks til March. I just watched my DVR of the game. Stopped with about 5 min left fed up with the slop and knew we weren't gonna win this one. Haven't really read the board.

1. Small lineup may be the way the go as Steveholt and others have mentioned. At least early in the Tourney maybe before we face some teams with size later on.

2. REALLY disappoining that we couldn't do more inside. Seems like there was very little conceived plan of it. Rak is killing us both ends. James was really struggling at times today on D. Guards weren't moving their feet.

3. Some of the same things haunted us today as in the past. Quick guards playing good m2m. Not being able to turn the corner to make plays on them.

4. The ONE thing Dykes mentioned today which is true and a telling sign with the offense. We don't make the defense work hard quite often. Zero or one pass and a chuck from 3. Not good.

5. Triche was bad but had we played smarter and we could've overcome it. The devil's advocate take is that a team like UConn with pesky guards playing good m2m and compounded with our poor post game is going to beat us the majority of the time. A team like this could send us home early in March.