SWC75
Bored Historian
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
- Messages
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- Even though this team was clearly never going to be in the class of the 2010 and 2012 teams, it could have been better than it is. The failure of the big men to develop into more of a force was never more felt than tonight when 6-8 290 Davante just had his way inside with the skinny orange centers, going 7 for 7 from the field and 12 for 13 from the foul line to score 26 points and pull down 8 rebounds.
- Trevor Cooney actually made some good plays in the first half, hitting a trey and getting a couple of assists. He saw the second half from the bench anyway. His failure to develop into a reliable performer leaves us with no backcourt depth and an inadequate outside game. He and Southerland should have been able to shell opponents this year from either side of the court.
- But the biggest disappointment is the unreliable play of Brandon Triche. As a four year starter, he should have been the rock of this team, getting consistent production in each game and being the emotional leader of the team. He and MCW both look like sophomores.
- As with the team, those disappointed in Michael Carter-Williams are the victims of their own expectations. It’ his first year starting. He needs to get stronger and develop a better shot, as well as better judgment. It will come if he isn’t foolish enough, (and the NBA isn’t foolish enough) to try to jump to the next level after this season. Those are big ifs.
- It was the second straight game we got beat, basically, by one guy having a career game. Aren’t you supposed to find a way to take that guy out of the game? The other team keeps doing it to our guy, (Fair).
- People are making all kinds of suggestions regarding the line-up to fix this team: Play Coleman. Play Cooney more. Play grant at center. Play Southerland at guard. The fact is, you can’t going to improve a team at this stage of the season playing guys who haven’t been playing or playing guys at a new position. The one adjustment I would like to see is in the minutes between Southerland and Grant. In these last two games, James played 65 minutes and Jerami 17. The disparity, (if there is one) between their abilities and what they can do for the team isn’t as great as those numbers indicate. With Jerami in there we’ve got rebounding, interior defense and even some inside scoring, as well as the occasional jumps shot. With James we’ve got unreal range, (for both hits and misses), bad judgment, mediocre board work and bad defense. I think their playing time should be close to even with Jerami’s minutes coming more when we are ahead and James more when we are behind or the offense is stagnant.
- If you want to criticize the coach, do it for our complete inability to attack a zone defense. It’s about more than just making shots. We look like those teams we play in the NCAAs who can’t figure out the zone. Only now more and more teams are using it so it’s our turn to figure it out. Those geniuses who always attack JB for using the zone should give him their dissertation on how to beat it. I would think Fair or Southerland would be ideal guys to put at the top of the key, which usually IS the key to beating a zone.
- JB doesn’t waste much time criticizing the refs these days but he did tonight. I know we fouled a lot at the end on purpose but a discrepancy in attempts of 7-35 is a bit much. Some of that was justified by their inside dominance and our guys not hustling to get into position enough but that discrepancy in attempts was 2-28 in the second half. 2-28! The number of fouls shot they had was not as much of a problem as the number we had. I saw many plays were SU players were clearly fouled and there was no whistle. The game was simply not being called the same way on both ends and it was the first game all season where I can say that with certainty. Some people may not want to hear this but this was a three point game and how the game was called mattered a ton.
- Trevor Cooney actually made some good plays in the first half, hitting a trey and getting a couple of assists. He saw the second half from the bench anyway. His failure to develop into a reliable performer leaves us with no backcourt depth and an inadequate outside game. He and Southerland should have been able to shell opponents this year from either side of the court.
- But the biggest disappointment is the unreliable play of Brandon Triche. As a four year starter, he should have been the rock of this team, getting consistent production in each game and being the emotional leader of the team. He and MCW both look like sophomores.
- As with the team, those disappointed in Michael Carter-Williams are the victims of their own expectations. It’ his first year starting. He needs to get stronger and develop a better shot, as well as better judgment. It will come if he isn’t foolish enough, (and the NBA isn’t foolish enough) to try to jump to the next level after this season. Those are big ifs.
- It was the second straight game we got beat, basically, by one guy having a career game. Aren’t you supposed to find a way to take that guy out of the game? The other team keeps doing it to our guy, (Fair).
- People are making all kinds of suggestions regarding the line-up to fix this team: Play Coleman. Play Cooney more. Play grant at center. Play Southerland at guard. The fact is, you can’t going to improve a team at this stage of the season playing guys who haven’t been playing or playing guys at a new position. The one adjustment I would like to see is in the minutes between Southerland and Grant. In these last two games, James played 65 minutes and Jerami 17. The disparity, (if there is one) between their abilities and what they can do for the team isn’t as great as those numbers indicate. With Jerami in there we’ve got rebounding, interior defense and even some inside scoring, as well as the occasional jumps shot. With James we’ve got unreal range, (for both hits and misses), bad judgment, mediocre board work and bad defense. I think their playing time should be close to even with Jerami’s minutes coming more when we are ahead and James more when we are behind or the offense is stagnant.
- If you want to criticize the coach, do it for our complete inability to attack a zone defense. It’s about more than just making shots. We look like those teams we play in the NCAAs who can’t figure out the zone. Only now more and more teams are using it so it’s our turn to figure it out. Those geniuses who always attack JB for using the zone should give him their dissertation on how to beat it. I would think Fair or Southerland would be ideal guys to put at the top of the key, which usually IS the key to beating a zone.
- JB doesn’t waste much time criticizing the refs these days but he did tonight. I know we fouled a lot at the end on purpose but a discrepancy in attempts of 7-35 is a bit much. Some of that was justified by their inside dominance and our guys not hustling to get into position enough but that discrepancy in attempts was 2-28 in the second half. 2-28! The number of fouls shot they had was not as much of a problem as the number we had. I saw many plays were SU players were clearly fouled and there was no whistle. The game was simply not being called the same way on both ends and it was the first game all season where I can say that with certainty. Some people may not want to hear this but this was a three point game and how the game was called mattered a ton.
