The Downside

[SWC75]

- This team doesn’t lack for a go-to-guy, (or go-to-guys). We lack a power forward, a guy who can score inside and rebound. Rakeem Christmas played all of three minutes. We have Fab, two small forwards and two guards out there. We are getting killed on the boards against these physical teams. If this continues, it’s going to be a bumpy ride from here on in.

- A guy named Otto had 14 points and 13 rebounds against Syracuse.

- Dion Waiters’ funk continues. 3 for 12 from the field and two big misses form the free throw line at the end. They didn’t cost us but we should have had a 5 points lead, not three.

- Our offense had no flow much of the time, no plan. We seemed to have no idea how to attack a zone. We tried getting the ball to CJ Fair at the top of the key but he went 2 for 10. Then we played ring-around-the-rosie until someone decided to try to drive into the teeth of the defense, usually with dire results.

- Kris Joseph’s shooting slump may be over but the team’s isn’t. Kris was 6 for 11 from downtown and everybody else was 2 for 13.

- Our famous 10 man rotation wasn’t rotating much tonight. Rakeem Christmas, Baye Moussa Keita, James Southerland and Michael Carter-Williams played a grand total of 15 minutes between them. Kris Joseph played 45, Fab Melo 39, (who could have imagined that not so long ago), CJ Fair, 38, Dion Waiters 35 and Scoop Jardine 32. Some of those guys looked out of gas at the end of the game. I’m glad there wasn’t a second overtime.

- I don’t think we scared anybody tonight.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

MCW needs to play more. A play making facilitator who can shoot. This is the gauntlet part of the schedule for us and I hope we realize that the goal is to win a championship, not win as many regular season games as possible. MCW MUST play more and the loss or two that may or may not ensue because of it should be viewed as an investment.

 

[SWC75]

MCW needs to play more. A play making facilitator who can shoot. This is the gauntlet part of the schedule for us and I hope we realize that the goal is to win a championship, not win as many regular season games as possible. MCW MUST play more and a loss or two that may or may not ensue because of it should be viewed as an investment.

I think his performance against St. John's warranted more playing time and I thought he was pretty active in his brief period tonight.

But we do have the possibliuty of a #1 seed and playing in Boston on the line and I'm not sure we want to sacrifice losses for playing experince just now.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

I think his performance against St. John's warranted more playing time and I thought he was pretty active in his brief period tonight.

But we do have the possibliuty of a #1 seed and playing in Boston on the line and I'm not sure we want to sacrifice losses for playing experince just now.

agree. but we have one loss. we can afford a couple more and still easily get it.

 

[AccuRater]

- I don’t think we scared anybody tonight.[/quote]

We scared me.

 

[weedsportwarriors]

The rebounding is definitely a downside to our game, but the positive of that downside is that, with being out-rebounded 48 to 30 and 20 to 12 on offensive boards; and shooting just 35% from the field we still managed to win the game. Eventually this may bite us in the butt. I agree with a recent post that said that soon our team will break out from their shooting slump and everyone will do it at the same time; I just hope that is soon or I will take the close stressful wins for now and a great shooting game for the championship game. Bring on DC2 and Noel (fingers crossed, MCW work your magic on him) for next year and our rebounding should get a huge lift. With Cooney playing next year our shooting should get a lift as well.

 

[shermstheman]

MCW needs to play more. A play making facilitator who can shoot. This is the gauntlet part of the schedule for us and I hope we realize that the goal is to win a championship, not win as many regular season games as possible. MCW MUST play more and the loss or two that may or may not ensue because of it should be viewed as an investment.

It's not whether MCW should play more, it's (as SWC points out) we have no real power forward- someone who can score and rebound. CJ is great but Rak has been unable to become that guy. James isn't that guy. We've got 4 terrific guards- their PT is not the decisive factor- our rebounding is.

 

[SoBristol]

Not easy to fix rebounding. It isn't like shooting, where you can have a cold game on occasion.
I don't see where CJ or Kris can do much better. CJ is undersized for the role, but still leads the team.
Fab is the key. Has the height and strength, but too often has bad timing or position. He is averaging 6 plus boards a game -- needs to start moving that up.

 

[Madbiker]

The last 10 minutes of regulation and the 5 minutes of overtime I believe there were zero substitutions. The last 15 minutes of playing time was played by the same 5 guys. So much for the great depth.

 

[SWC75]

The last 10 minutes of regulation and the 5 minutes of overtime I believe there were zero substitutions. The last 15 minutes of playing time was played by the same 5 guys. So much for the great depth.

I'm not sure that is the time to display your depth. Depth allows you to spell players so you can play your best guys, (or the guys playng best that night), in crunch time. It also gives you more of a choise of guys to play in that time. But you aren't goingt to do a lot of subbing at that point of a close game, unless it's an offensive/defesnive switch.