SWC75
Bored Historian
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- Aug 26, 2011
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- Frank Martin didn’t eat us.
- For the first time in along time we looked like the team that roared to a 20-0 start. We out-scored those foes by 392 points (19.6 per game). In the next 14 games we went 12-2 but only outscored the opposition by 83 points, (5.9 per game). Some of that is the caliber of opposition but a lot of it was the aggression and confidence- the “swagger” if you will- we played with in those first 20 games. After sleep-walking though the much of the BET and the first round game against UNC-Ashville, we looked like the ‘Cuse of old in this one.
- And part of that is that we were facing a man-to-man defense. This team gets as confused against a zone as we always hope the opposition will be when we get into the tournament. We don’t have a post-up scorer and are mediocre outside shooting team. It’s all dribble-drive and dish, which is hard to do against a zone. But this team can carve up a man-to-man and I think that’s what we’ll primarily see from here on in.
- We were 6 for 9 from the arc. The 6 is great but the 9 is good, too. It’s not what we do best so we need to pick our spots better than the 5 for 23 performance vs. Ashville. Threes are more open and the shooter more squared to the basket when the ball goes inside first so those threes were largely a by-product of our dribble-drives.
- The other aspect is our own defense, which had grown more conservative as the season wore on. Where were the traps? The tipped balls? The in-your-face extended zone.? It was back in this game, although we didn’t get an usual amount of turnovers or fast breaks. Still, we held the ‘Cats to 31% shooting- while we shot 51%, (67% in the second half). That won the ball game. They were 17 for 50 (34%) on two point shots. I guess we can play defense without Fab Melo.
- We lost the battle of the boards but it didn’t matter because they kept missing and had a lot of empty trips anyway. They were a second short of going ten minutes with one field goal in the first half while we went on a 19-2 run to take a lead we never relinquished.
- Scoop Jardine continues to pull out of his slump. He didn’t have a great first half but he was lights out in the second half, scoring 14 points on 3 for 3 three point shooting and an amazing “Scoop” shot and getting 5 assists. In two NCAA games he has 27 points and 15 assists.
- James “X-factor” Southerland continued his great play in the Big Dance with 15 points and 6 rebounds after getting 15 and 8 vs. Ashville. He hit a huge “We’re gonna win this!” three down the stretch.
- “Neon” Dion Waiters licked his chops when he saw Will Spradling was going to be trying to guard him in a man-to-man defense. He was the game’s high scorer with 18 points in only 24 minutes, including 7 for 7 from the line while fouling poor Spradling out. He was antsy on the bench at the beginning of the second half as JB went with a combination that was working and apparently pleaded his case passionately. Our offense slowed down and JB finally relented and Dion never looked back.
- Rakeem Christmas looked like he’d been starting all year, scoring 8 points, (most of Scoop’s assists went to him), pulling down 11 rebounds, blocking three shots and making a steal. Fab who?
- Kris Joseph still has to get his jump shot in order, (in two games he’s 5 for 17 from the floor and 0 for 6 from the arc). But he’s done a great job of getting to the line and making his foul shots, 13 for 15 in two games. And his aggressiveness in the early going seemed to set the tome for the team.
- 33-2! At worst this team is going to wind up winning 30 games more than they lost. 30!
- ‘4’ is a pretty small looking number.
33-2 and 4 to do….. Impossible is nothing!!!!
LET’S GO ORANGE!!!
- For the first time in along time we looked like the team that roared to a 20-0 start. We out-scored those foes by 392 points (19.6 per game). In the next 14 games we went 12-2 but only outscored the opposition by 83 points, (5.9 per game). Some of that is the caliber of opposition but a lot of it was the aggression and confidence- the “swagger” if you will- we played with in those first 20 games. After sleep-walking though the much of the BET and the first round game against UNC-Ashville, we looked like the ‘Cuse of old in this one.
- And part of that is that we were facing a man-to-man defense. This team gets as confused against a zone as we always hope the opposition will be when we get into the tournament. We don’t have a post-up scorer and are mediocre outside shooting team. It’s all dribble-drive and dish, which is hard to do against a zone. But this team can carve up a man-to-man and I think that’s what we’ll primarily see from here on in.
- We were 6 for 9 from the arc. The 6 is great but the 9 is good, too. It’s not what we do best so we need to pick our spots better than the 5 for 23 performance vs. Ashville. Threes are more open and the shooter more squared to the basket when the ball goes inside first so those threes were largely a by-product of our dribble-drives.
- The other aspect is our own defense, which had grown more conservative as the season wore on. Where were the traps? The tipped balls? The in-your-face extended zone.? It was back in this game, although we didn’t get an usual amount of turnovers or fast breaks. Still, we held the ‘Cats to 31% shooting- while we shot 51%, (67% in the second half). That won the ball game. They were 17 for 50 (34%) on two point shots. I guess we can play defense without Fab Melo.
- We lost the battle of the boards but it didn’t matter because they kept missing and had a lot of empty trips anyway. They were a second short of going ten minutes with one field goal in the first half while we went on a 19-2 run to take a lead we never relinquished.
- Scoop Jardine continues to pull out of his slump. He didn’t have a great first half but he was lights out in the second half, scoring 14 points on 3 for 3 three point shooting and an amazing “Scoop” shot and getting 5 assists. In two NCAA games he has 27 points and 15 assists.
- James “X-factor” Southerland continued his great play in the Big Dance with 15 points and 6 rebounds after getting 15 and 8 vs. Ashville. He hit a huge “We’re gonna win this!” three down the stretch.
- “Neon” Dion Waiters licked his chops when he saw Will Spradling was going to be trying to guard him in a man-to-man defense. He was the game’s high scorer with 18 points in only 24 minutes, including 7 for 7 from the line while fouling poor Spradling out. He was antsy on the bench at the beginning of the second half as JB went with a combination that was working and apparently pleaded his case passionately. Our offense slowed down and JB finally relented and Dion never looked back.
- Rakeem Christmas looked like he’d been starting all year, scoring 8 points, (most of Scoop’s assists went to him), pulling down 11 rebounds, blocking three shots and making a steal. Fab who?
- Kris Joseph still has to get his jump shot in order, (in two games he’s 5 for 17 from the floor and 0 for 6 from the arc). But he’s done a great job of getting to the line and making his foul shots, 13 for 15 in two games. And his aggressiveness in the early going seemed to set the tome for the team.
- 33-2! At worst this team is going to wind up winning 30 games more than they lost. 30!
- ‘4’ is a pretty small looking number.
33-2 and 4 to do….. Impossible is nothing!!!!
LET’S GO ORANGE!!!
