The Upside

[SWC75]

- Our defense was overwhelming. It’s a team of tall, long-armed, athletic and very active players. Nobody seems too slow for his position, as in past years. We produced 28 turnovers, held them to 31.6% shooting , (they were worse inside the arc- 29.6% than outside of it- 33.3%), and got 40 points out of fast breaks. Down 5-8 we went on a little ’ol 27-3 run to remove all doubt as to who was going to win this one. When w e had that dry streak at the beginning of the second half we actually increased our lead because the other team wasn’t scoring either and we were getting to the foul line.

- Dion Waiters this year is the explosive scorer we rarely got t see last year, the guy who can get you a lot of points in a hurry, (31 in 41 minutes so far), and completely change the situation in the game. He’s also handling the ball well and has passed for 7 assists. We can see now why JB wanted this guy since he was in the 9th grade. We didn’t’ have a guy who could what he does last year.

- James Southerland has been filling up the stat sheet: in two games he’s played 39 minutes, scored 22 points, pulled down 10 rebounds, passed for 6 assists and gotten two blocks and two steals. He’s playing like a guy who knows that if he wants a spot in the rotation, he’d better make his case now.

- Kris Joseph continues to play so well despite his injury maybe JB should twist everybody else’s leg so they will play the same way. He looks smooth and explosive and is shooting the ball well. He had 3 three pointers and 15 points to go with 7 rebounds.

- JB mentioned how CJ Fair was a guy who might play more on another night because he’s playing well, as opposed to this night, when Southerland was playing well. CJ had 6 points, 6 rebounds and 5 steals. And he played the most of anybody.

- Baye Keita had 4 points and 4 rebounds in only 11 minutes. He and Fab combined for 15 and 13 with 5 blocks.

- Fab Melo continues to play like a happy warrior. He was so aggressive on defense that he was guarding guys 30 feet from the basket. That’s not my preference for a center but it was impressive nonetheless.

- We played man for man and pressed for long periods and did both effectively. They seem to be available weapons for us this year and so far JB seems willing to use them proactively. Will he continue to do so? If so that gives us an extra dimension that other teams of recent years haven’t had.

 

[OttoMets]

- Baye Keita had 4 points and 4 rebounds in only 11 minutes. He and Fab combined for 15 and 13 with 5 blocks.

This is so cool. That's a terrific stat line for our center position (minus Fab's four turnovers, of course), yet after watching them last night, I still see a lot of room for improvement. Our center could be an asset at both ends of the court this season for the first time in a long time.

Great recap.

 

[SWC75]

This is so cool. That's a terrific stat line for our center position (minus Fab's four turnovers, of course), yet after watching them last night, I still see a lot of room for improvement. Our center could be an asset at both ends of the court this season for the first time in a long time.

Great recap.

I think our biggest concern at this point is that against the better teams we won't be getting 28 turnovers and fastbreaking all night and so we'll be in the half-court offense and we'll need some consistent inside scoring. We need somebody with good post-up moves. Melo is superman on defense compared to last year but still has a limited offensive game, even thugh he has a bity of a jump shot. Christmas is purely a banger at this point. Keita, amazingly, is the one guy I've seen with some "inside moves" of the sort we've seen from AO and Rick in recent years. It's embryonic at this point but he seems to be the only one trying to develop a post-up game at this point. '-' Steve

 

[OttoMets]

I think our biggest concern at this point is that against the better teams we won't be getting 28 turnovers and fastbreaking all night and so we'll be in the half-court offense and we'll need some consistent inside scoring. We need somebody with good post-up moves. Melo is superman on defense compared to last year but still has a limited offensive game, even thugh he has a bity of a jump shot. Christmas is purely a banger at this point. Keita, amazingly, is the one guy I've seen with some "inside moves" of the sort we've seen from AO and Rick in recent years. It's embryonic at this point but he seems to be the only one trying to develop a post-up game at this point. '-' Steve

Bingo. Last night was fun, but we'll beat every team that turns it over 28 times - and most teams won't.

Keita looks good, but it's as if there aren't any designed plays for him. Christmas was on the receiving end of a very nice high-post pass from Southerland and converted, something that I didn't think he had in him as recently as last week. Fab's making strides; he's got to keep the ball up, since hack-a-Fab seems to be an effective method of defending him. There's a picture in today's paper of Fab skying for an entry pass last night; if he catches it and goes right back up, it's an automatic bucket. Alas, he didn't.

 

[SouthCampusHero]

In game #2 last year (against Canisius), the center position combined for 8 points, 19 reb and 0 blocks. Fab fouled out after 13 minutes. BMK accounted for most of those boards with 15 (9 offensive). Fab and BMK played a combined 30 minutes last year in game 2 vs. 33 this year. Obviously, the biggest difference are the number of blocks this year which can be attributed to a better understanding of the zone and better positioning (and conditioning). Also, Fab does a lot more this year that doesnt show up in a boxscore than he did through the first two games last year (he fouled out of both).

 

[Madbiker]

Fun game to watch and team looked great. But also keep in mind the level of the competition which made it easy to get out in transition all night. We always will look great when we can just get out and run. The real test will come when we have to run a half court offense against teams that are much more equal talent wise.