Okay...time for some negatives

[NineOneSeven]

3. carey was completely undressed by tre jones. jalen looked like a deer in the headlights - did they never face each other in summer ball? the scouting report right now on Carey is quite simple... pressure him, give him a shot.

4. marek looked like a typical sophomore out there . . . a high school sophomore. the physicality - not just zion, all of the dukies - overwhelmed him. and at what point can we expect the really stupid fouls to end? the charge he took and pass to hughes were fantastic but overall completely no consistency on o from game to game. as smart as he is at times on offense he's the opposite at times defensively with the fouls. expect it to continue.

5. i don't really have anything bad to say about bourama, for a moment i thought he was going to be able to hold his own, but 3 fouls in 3 minutes deserves a note. two of them were the fault of his teammates, imo, but still . . might lead nation in fouls per minute. has a tendency to go over the back instead of working around defender. I do think the o foul he was called for was dicey at best, but on the defensive end he has a very bad tendency to not keep any sort of verticality (puts arms down, always a foul)..

 

[cuseinseattle]

Or as my boss says... "opportunities". Tons of props to this team on Monday for getting a huge win- Howard's second half, the first half fueled by Battle's aggression and Hughes' shooting, Chukwu's key plays late. Huge.

Have to make a few comments though that I think most can agree with.

1. I have never seen a team worse on a 2 on 1 fast break. This is one of the highest percentage opportunities that exists in this game outside of a 1 on 0 break and we are absolutely terrible at it. What happened to simple passing back and forth? We watched Oshae (point 2 coming) dribble off his knee instead of making a simple pass to Howard (I believe) in the first half. Then we watched Howard attempt a lob to Battle in the second half that was thrown too late, instead of a simple bounce pass. This doesn't even cover the times someone attacks 1 on 2 and doesn't convert (Carey has plenty of these). I LOVE the emphasis on transition and you are never going to convert 100% of the chances you get, but it's unbelievable we are so bad at making simple passes in obvious 2 on 1 situations. We can be better.

2. Oshae. It's strange. Still an elite rebounder and I am confident he can make 3s at a decent clip throughout ACC play (hoping mid-30s, like last year), but otherwise? I don't know. I think we need to eliminate the passes to Oshae at the elbow, where he dribbles out, does that dribble between his legs that looks in slow motion and goes nowhere. Very shaky dribble and tends to head right into people. Hughes, Battle, and Howard should always be the ones looking to penetrate. Oshae should be tailor made to slash to the hoop off of guard penetration or crash the offensive glass. The problem, as has been discussed on here often, is the struggles he has finishing inside. Has been talked about ad nauseam but it's been warranted... never seen anything quite like it. He's actually better this year than last year. I am not sure the best spot for Brissett in this offense. Everyone else seems to have a general role, even though the production is not consistent from game to game (see Marek, centers). He's still very young and providing much needed contributions through volume, but it's frustrating because there is so much room to be better.

Team has so much opportunity to improve, and more importantly, be more consistent.

Negatives? I thought we were supposed to wait a week.

I agree on both points. The fast break thing always drive me crazy. I don't know what to think about OB I really was convinced he was going to come back this year and improve on last year and be a really good player. He has regressed in so many ways. It is really bizarre.