SWC75
Bored Historian
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
- Messages
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- We were playing a team that won 25 games last year and beat Pittsburgh at Pittsburgh. They had four starters back from that team and the fifth guy was a Michigan State transfer who was “Mr. Basketball” in Michigan in high school. We committed 18 turnovers against them and missed 14 of 19 three pointers, (9 out of 10 in the first half). And we won by 31 points.
- We did that because of our defense, which made it so hard for the Seahawks to score than, through all our fumbling we built a 36-23 halftime lead. When we played better offense in the second half, we pulled away until it became a blow-out. Wagner wound up shooting 33% with 11 assists and 23 turnovers.
- We out-rebounded them 49-36. They weren’t a big team so maybe that wasn’t a surprise but how many early season games have we had against smaller teams and still not out-rebounded them? They missed 41 field goals and 10 free throws, a total of 51 shots and rebounded 13 of them, (25%). We missed 32 field goals and 8 foul shots- a total of 40 shots and rebounded 15 of them- 38%. A big part of that is that our guards- Brandon Triche and Michael Carter-Williams, had 13 rebounds between them. MCW could use his long arms and Triche his size and strength to get to those balls. We may do better on the boards this year than we normally do.
- Baye Moussa Keita is suddenly an offensive force. They were nothing fancy. He was in reach of the basket for every one of his 6 field goals. The cause of this offensive explosion was MCW, who is the best I’ve seen at rifling a pass through the defense to someone under that basket since Leo Rautins. I used to think that that was what an assist was. T5he fact is, that’s so hard that most assists come from sideways passes to jump shooter. But MCW can make the “true” assist and Keita and Christmas, through to be purely defensive players, are going to benefit from his presence on the court.
- Christmas showed a couple of moves I didn’t know he had early when he made a corkscrew lay-up and a sort of fading jump hook. James Southerland did the same, creating his own shot by dribbling up to a defender and then setting his shot up with the dribble and making it over the head of the defender. Carmelo Anthony has given up two great gifts: he helped us get a national championship and then helped us get the Melo Center. Since that opened, it has become routine for players to come back the next year with skills you didn’t see before. Since the Melo Center opened in 2009, we are 93-16, (.853), despite losing several key players each year. We keep making more of them.
- Brandon Triche continued to drive to the basket for his points and got tangled up in the defense in the first half. In the second half he let the game come to him more, went 4 for 4 and wound up with 21 points. I think he will perform better thinking like a 2 guard than trying to compete with MCW in breaking down the defense, at least when they are both in there together.
- Trevor Cooney was wide open. He bobbled the pass to him, having to turn to secure it. Everyone groaned. Opportunity lost! But he went up with the shot anyway as the defense was closing on him. He looked off-balance but managed to square himself to the basket anyway and launched the shot, which barely rippled the net as it went through. Everyone gasped, then turned to the person next to them and smiled. But the biggest thing with Trevor is that he’s not just a shooter. He had three assists and was credited with 6 steals. I think I agree with JB who said that the scorer must have been a relative of Trevor’s. But I was impressed with how he played the passing lanes and his overall basketball IQ. He’s going to be a good one.
2-0 and here we go!
LET’S GO ORANGE!!!
- We did that because of our defense, which made it so hard for the Seahawks to score than, through all our fumbling we built a 36-23 halftime lead. When we played better offense in the second half, we pulled away until it became a blow-out. Wagner wound up shooting 33% with 11 assists and 23 turnovers.
- We out-rebounded them 49-36. They weren’t a big team so maybe that wasn’t a surprise but how many early season games have we had against smaller teams and still not out-rebounded them? They missed 41 field goals and 10 free throws, a total of 51 shots and rebounded 13 of them, (25%). We missed 32 field goals and 8 foul shots- a total of 40 shots and rebounded 15 of them- 38%. A big part of that is that our guards- Brandon Triche and Michael Carter-Williams, had 13 rebounds between them. MCW could use his long arms and Triche his size and strength to get to those balls. We may do better on the boards this year than we normally do.
- Baye Moussa Keita is suddenly an offensive force. They were nothing fancy. He was in reach of the basket for every one of his 6 field goals. The cause of this offensive explosion was MCW, who is the best I’ve seen at rifling a pass through the defense to someone under that basket since Leo Rautins. I used to think that that was what an assist was. T5he fact is, that’s so hard that most assists come from sideways passes to jump shooter. But MCW can make the “true” assist and Keita and Christmas, through to be purely defensive players, are going to benefit from his presence on the court.
- Christmas showed a couple of moves I didn’t know he had early when he made a corkscrew lay-up and a sort of fading jump hook. James Southerland did the same, creating his own shot by dribbling up to a defender and then setting his shot up with the dribble and making it over the head of the defender. Carmelo Anthony has given up two great gifts: he helped us get a national championship and then helped us get the Melo Center. Since that opened, it has become routine for players to come back the next year with skills you didn’t see before. Since the Melo Center opened in 2009, we are 93-16, (.853), despite losing several key players each year. We keep making more of them.
- Brandon Triche continued to drive to the basket for his points and got tangled up in the defense in the first half. In the second half he let the game come to him more, went 4 for 4 and wound up with 21 points. I think he will perform better thinking like a 2 guard than trying to compete with MCW in breaking down the defense, at least when they are both in there together.
- Trevor Cooney was wide open. He bobbled the pass to him, having to turn to secure it. Everyone groaned. Opportunity lost! But he went up with the shot anyway as the defense was closing on him. He looked off-balance but managed to square himself to the basket anyway and launched the shot, which barely rippled the net as it went through. Everyone gasped, then turned to the person next to them and smiled. But the biggest thing with Trevor is that he’s not just a shooter. He had three assists and was credited with 6 steals. I think I agree with JB who said that the scorer must have been a relative of Trevor’s. But I was impressed with how he played the passing lanes and his overall basketball IQ. He’s going to be a good one.
2-0 and here we go!
LET’S GO ORANGE!!!
