The Downside- Louisville

[SWC75]

- The refs decided to call 39 fouls in this game. They called 23 in the Virginia game. We are blade-running with our depth and a are hugely vulnerable in a game like this. Brissett missed 8 minutes and fouled out. Dolezaj and Chukwu had 4 fouls at the end. Howard and Moyer had 3. We have no walk-ons with any size and no back-up guards. Braedon Bayer got in for one important minute and was a deer in the headlights. We are at the mercy of the refs, who have been using their whistles conservatively until now. That could change in any game.

- JB praised Paschal Chukwu in his press conference but I’m not sure why. Paschal had no blocks, (neither did anyone else on the team) and Louisville scored almost at will inside in the second half. I suppose Paschal was told to avoid fouls at any cost but it’s going to awfully had to win games with no interior defense.

 

[SBU72]

In the 1st half, Chukwu some how got the ball about 6 ft from the basket with not only nobody in front of him but about a 4 foot wide lane to the basket. He looked at the basket and you could almost see him shake with fear and indecision. He fought it off and passed the ball. Is this his problem? So unsure of himself that he can't decide what to do? Does he fumble passes because of surprise and indecision? Discounting his limited playing time last year because of injury, I didn't know what to exspect and have been pleasantly surprised. In the beginning of the year when he split time with Sibibe, he looked more confident but it looks like the more he plays the more nervous he gets. It looks like he needs lots of encouragement from his coaches, teammates and fans to continue his growth as a player.

 

[sugrad68]

Chukwu was between a rock and a hard place for a while in the 2nd half. Louisville got the ball to the high post at about the foul line. Louisville players had shown that they could make that shot so Chukwu had to come out and guard the guy. When he did, Brissett and Dolezaj were slow covering the other Louisville players down low and it was one dunk after another. Like the announcers said, it was strange that in the last 3 minutes of so that Louisville abandoned that strategy and started hoisting up 3s. Brissett was probably tentative due to his foul troubles. His 5th foul was horrible in that it was a block 20 feet from the basket. Many of the SU fouls were rather dumb fouls in my opinion. Players on this team must conserve their fouls at all costs since there is no bench.

 

[SoBristol]

... In the beginning of the year when he split time with Sibibe, he looked more confident but it looks like the more he plays the more nervous he gets. It looks like he needs lots of encourage ement from his coaches, teammates and fans to continue his growth as a player.

More playing time is not a disadvantage. He has limited skills and footwork -- so he can't be confident in making a move except right at the basket. He needs another off-season of S&C, particularly lower body, and he needs to develop a sky hook and other way or two to finish when he gets the ball inside. It is amazing how far he has come from the beginning of last season, and yet ...

 

[NorSyr66]

Good post. I tend to agree on the reason for Chukwu's passive play last night had to be avoiding fouls at any cost. As it turns out probably the right call since he ended up with 4 fouls, as did Dolezaj, along with Brissett fouling out. We can not afford a ton of foul calls on our front line. Actually we can not afford foul calls period with 6 players.

 

[orangeinnyc]

Good post. I tend to agree on the reason for Chukwu's passive play last night had to be avoiding fouls at any cost. As it turns out probably the right call since he ended up with 4 fouls, as did Dolezaj, along with Brissett fouling out. We can not afford a ton of foul calls on our front line. Actually we can not afford foul calls period with 6 players.

what we absolutely cannot afford is to pick up cheap fouls on offensive rebounds 90 ft away from the basket, Chukwu had two in about 3 possessions late in the second half but luckily that didn't come back to bite us, these fouls are unacceptable and the coaching staff needs to be all over him for this, this also applies to moyer and a lesser extent dolezaj

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

Chukwu was between a rock and a hard place for a while in the 2nd half. Louisville got the ball to the high post at about the foul line. Louisville players had shown that they could make that shot so Chukwu had to come out and guard the guy. When he did, Brissett and Dolezaj were slow covering the other Louisville players down low and it was one dunk after another. Like the announcers said, it was strange that in the last 3 minutes of so that Louisville abandoned that strategy and started hoisting up 3s. Brissett was probably tentative due to his foul troubles. His 5th foul was horrible in that it was a block 20 feet from the basket. Many of the SU fouls were rather dumb fouls in my opinion. Players on this team must conserve their fouls at all costs since there is no bench.

I thought that block was a play on.

 

[Newhouser]

I think that Moyer has been most likely to give up the baseline dunk. Marek usually gets there and gets moved out. OB and Matt seem to miss their rotation from top to bottom.