The Road Back

[tbonezone]

too bad the coondog's production never matched his pedometer numbers . he hustled. i'll give him that.
and still must hold the single season record for airballs here. his misses were often major. probably more than a few shots went in the books as assists..

 

[kcsu]

too bad the coondog's production never matched his pedometer numbers . he hustled. i'll give him that.
and still must hold the single season record for airballs here. his misses were often major. probably more than a few shots went in the books as assists..

Some nights i half expected the Coon Dogs right arm to burst into flames.

 

[Ghost]

No, I don't. That's a clear example of Cooney's physical superiority.

But I do think it's close. Beyond the wide-open dunking, I don't think the advantage is that great in a basketball context. Cooney had a very limited sort of athleticism - he could jump some, but only on the first leap and not in traffic. He was kind of quick, but not in a way that allowed him to get past a defender or get a shot off against a physical opponent. Essentially, his abstract athleticism didn't translate very well in a live game.

This is an intriguing debate. I guess it depends slightly on the make-up of the team.

For years we've needed a Buddy type player. In an era of postionless basketball, he's sort of an oddity. He has no position he can play adequately. He's a specialist - and just cannot play 40 minutes. Yet he does.

Cooney was more adept at getting open, but often was so off-balance on his shots that they were worthless. That first shot Buddy took against VaTech was a shot that Cooney couldn't hit regularly as he would have faded into the first row and short-rimmed it, but I think Buddy can with decent regularity. It's slightly more Rautins-esque.

Cooney could likely play multiple positions though - in a pinch, he could get the ball up court. I'm not sure Buddy could get the ball up the court against pressure D. Ever. That versatility becomes important when you recruit PGs that may be PGs in the sense that played PG for Jonestown City Smasherz Big Baller AAU, but are not as adept at PG for the college game. We seem to get a lot of those of late that can't even quite make the transition...

I don't know. I guess it depends on the team but there are situations where I would take Cooney over Buddy, and that pains me. He could D up much better as well. Although, admittedly, he was another guy that benefited tremendously from having players behind him that simply could not practice well enough to play in games.

On most any roster-makeup though, I want Buddy. His shooting is nice and he plays smart, but as a shooter not a big-minute SG.

 

[tbonezone]

- in a pinch, he could get the ball up court.

buddy don't bring the ball up. instead jogs to a corner. it's joe ,eli and marek. and BB's the 2 guard. zero handle.

 

[OrangeDW]

In my opinion, yeah. Mentally it seemed like he picked it up really quickly as a freshman. Physically he's just slow - slow to move laterally, slow to drop to defend the high post, slow to close on a shooter. He knows where the right place is, but usually a little late.

Cant help but wonder if he could get to his spots a little quicker if he was in the game for 5-6 minutes at a time...like he would be for probably any team in the top 25.

He’s a role player whose weaknesses are exposed by being in a role that he’s not good enough for.

 

[creatorsgam]

I-64 through Charlottesville, apparently.

 

[CaptainJ]

It's disheartening to see the posts after a disappointing loss like last night. We knew this kind of game would happen this year and it will be offset by a game we shouldn't have won.

Posters who have always been negative this year showed up on the game thread as soon as we went down by six. They were accompanied by others whose names I've never seen before piling on with the low class remarks.

Your prophecy came true sooner than most expected. Please do that some more!

 

[CaptainJ]

too bad the coondog's production never matched his pedometer numbers . he hustled. i'll give him that.
and still must hold the single season record for airballs here. his misses were often major. probably more than a few shots went in the books as assists..

I thought that was a Penn State thing?