Southerland

[OrangeBlood]

Usually when he does not make 3s, he gets sat and does not contribute. Today, he had 7 points, none from three and pulled down 7 boards. I think that he has played extremely well as of late. He is much more than just a shooter now. He is developing very nicely through the year. After Kris and CJ, there use to be a huge fall-off, now I think they are all relatively equal and offer different things.

 

[pearl31]

Agree, good post. Although he was 3-10 shooting tonight with no 3s, his 7 pts, 7 boards and 2 blocks were big. Especially the 7 boards.

 

[stuckinbig11]

developing into a well-rounded player

 

[HoustonCuse]

I agree he is stepping up in a complete player sort of way but the classification of him as a make shots or sit guy is not correct for this year. He's be contributing in many ways besides shooting all this year.

 

[Cuse_MN]

He had a stretch with a couple tough boards, dunk down low and hard foul on a cinci player under the hoop, to which I commented he looked like the toughest player on the team. What a 180. More minutes than CJ the last two games, may switch if Fab comes back, but think JB realizes he needs more offense. James is boarding just as good as KJ or CJ, if not better with his minutes this season.

 

[marz09cuse]

The 7 boards is the reason he stayed in the game. Wish we could get that kind of production from him on the boards every night. And with his athletic ability and size, there's no reason he can't.

 

[jekelish]

That's as active on the boards as I can remember seeing him. He was fantastic tonight even without shooting well.

 

[jordoo]

I think James is learning to get a body on guys and then use his superior athletic ability and length to get the rebound.

 

[Cuse_MN]

How about the dipsy-doo three point play in the 1st half. Very sweet.

 

[JLine]

He's rebounding much better than CJ right now. CJ just gets lost down there and isn't big enough to do much about it.

 

[longislandcuse]

I think James Southerland is on his way to capturing KJo's vacant starting spot next year.

 

[stuckinbig11]

Best play for James is to make about a 12' jumper early. It gets his juices flowing and his shot falling.

 

[OrangeBlood]

He's rebounding much better than CJ right now. CJ just gets lost down there and isn't big enough to do much about it.

CJ always seems to be just out of position on the boards, JS tonight found bodies and used his unreal vertical.. looked extremely promising.

 

[SUintheVille]

I agree with everyone about JS expanding his role and abilities. However, he still needs to hit that 3. Cuse has been weak from 3 recently and JS is probably their best 3-baller. He must be able to hit that outside J when needed...give the team a needed jolt (like Scoop's late 3). But yes, love his improving all around game.

 

[rstone7727]

At least two of those boards were in very heavy traffic where he was determined to be the guy that ends up with the ball. James impressed me tonight!

 

[RF2044]

Southerland was huge tonight--we don't win without his 7 boards. He was very active in the 2nd half, on the glass and in terms of challenging inside shots Cincinnati had.

His three ball wasn't dropping, but they were all good looks--just one of those nights. Even so, he found a way to score some points inside.

Down a big guy, and playing a stronger, more physical team on the road, we needed to rotate the forwards and get some modicum of productivity inside from them, so that we could "save" both our bigs to man the pivot. Southerland brought it today--despite the fact that the threes didn't drop.