Thoughts fwtw

[Hoov50]

There were a lot of reasons why this game was a loss. Playing without Fab, and having no time to practice without him and ND's hot shooting are definitely on the list.

With that being said two things that stood out to me were two areas that we have been inconsistent in all year: half court offense and slashing to the hoop. Even in the first 20 games we are very inconsistent in our half court sets. Just like in years past there is a lot of dribbling and passing around the perimeter and very little movement of players without the ball. We are at our best when we are in transition and ND did a good job of slowing the pace last night.

We also settle for shots from the outside. This is most frustrating since we have three guards and a slashing forward who we know can get to the rim and score or kick out to open shooters.

We were 20-0 with these glaring areas of "weakness" but last night these weaknesses along with Fab's surprise absence (and little or no practice time to work without him) and ND's hot shooting and overall play led to this.

As others have posted as much as we dreamed of an undefeated season we knew it was a near impossibility. We have to have to play harder Monday and regardless of the result get to next weekend. By then we will either have Fab back or have time to practice without him. I think either scenario will lead to better play than last night.

 

[IthacaMatt]

On Monday, we have to defend inside. Christmas has been dreadful when he's been in the center spot so far this year. He doesn't stop ANYONE. They have to push Yancy Gates further up the lane away from the basket when he's in the post.

And my God, does ANYONE on this team WANT to rebound ?? We were over 10 minutes into the game yesterday and we had TWO rebounds. Two !! We aren't winning any games if we don't rebound. We stopped them defensively tons of times, but then gave up an offensive rebound, and then another, and wound up playing defense for 90 straight seconds on several occasions. That just wears a team down, both physically and emotionally.

 

[Upstate]

Really surprised the guards didn't try to get to the bucket more often, especially with ND having 6 fouls with ~11 minutes to go in the second half. you get Cooley in foul trouble and it changes the game.

 

[OttoMets]

And my God, does ANYONE on this team WANT to rebound ?? We were over 10 minutes into the game yesterday and we had TWO rebounds. Two !! We aren't winning any games if we don't rebound. We stopped them defensively tons of times, but then gave up an offensive rebound, and then another, and wound up playing defense for 90 straight seconds on several occasions. That just wears a team down, both physically and emotionally.

Part of the reason we had so few rebounds was that Notre Dame was making all of its shots, leaving us with fewer rebounds to get (or, more accurately, fewer rebounds to fumble away to their players).

But no, there's virtually no "want" on this team. It's disappointing, but the rebounding problem isn't a symptom of the zone. We've got a front line of guys (minus CJ) who show no strong desire to get every rebound. Our guards crash with more gusto than Baye or Kris.

Forget a loss, that is frustrating to watch. No matter how well they shoot or how poorly they do, our guys should never get outworked. And if that's the effort they give coming off a long practice week against a bad team, what happens after the short turnaround against a good team tomorrow night?

 

[SWC75]

They have to push Yancy Gates further up the lane away from the basket when he's in the post.

And who is going to do that?

 

[SBU72]

There were a lot of reasons why this game was a loss. Playing without Fab, and having no time to practice without him and ND's hot shooting are definitely on the list.

Actually in this mornings paper JB said they had practice all week long with out Melo because they knew this could happen.

 

[Noexcuse]

Actually in this mornings paper JB said they had practice all week long with out Melo because they knew this could happen.

Wow. That's really disheartening.

 

[realorange]

Actually in this mornings paper JB said they had practice all week long with out Melo because they knew this could happen.

Assuming that is true, I think we have some attitude problems based on last nights game. There was little energy particularly in the first part of the game. Watching the clips on TV this morning, the defense was not close to getting out on shooters early. Even before the shot they were just going through the motions in the zone. Not the in your face zone we are capable of playing.

 

[Noexcuse]

Assuming that is true, I think we have some attitude problems based on last nights game. There was little energy particularly in the first part of the game. Watching the clips on TV this morning, the defense was not close to getting out on shooters early. Even before the shot they were just going through the motions in the zone. Not the in your face zone we are capable of playing.

I guess the thing that is most frustrating is how quickly ND was able to take us out of our game. We were never really in it right from the start as you point out.

 

[orangecuse]

Really surprised the guards didn't try to get to the bucket more often, especially with ND having 6 fouls with ~11 minutes to go in the second half. you get Cooley in foul trouble and it changes the game.

I just think our guards were frightened and in complete awe of Cooley's shot blocking prowess.

 

[IthacaMatt]

And who is going to do that?

Christmas had better start playing with some intensity. He has been awful for the most part this year.

 

[JeremyCuse]

On Monday, we have to defend inside. Christmas has been dreadful when he's been in the center spot so far this year. He doesn't stop ANYONE. They have to push Yancy Gates further up the lane away from the basket when he's in the post.

And my God, does ANYONE on this team WANT to rebound ?? We were over 10 minutes into the game yesterday and we had TWO rebounds. Two !! We aren't winning any games if we don't rebound. We stopped them defensively tons of times, but then gave up an offensive rebound, and then another, and wound up playing defense for 90 straight seconds on several occasions. That just wears a team down, both physically and emotionally.

This is the biggest issue, no one can rebound. Keita got abused down low yesterday and KJ has never boarded in his whole career here. Fair tries but he has a bit of Paul Harris syndrome when he gets among the trees.

 

[realorange]

This is the biggest issue, no one can rebound. Keita got abused down low yesterday and KJ has never boarded in his whole career here. Fair tries but he has a bit of Paul Harris syndrome when he gets among the trees.

If CJ was as heavy and strong as Paul, he'd be a rebounding machine. He tries like Hell, but he just gets abused on the boards because he doesn't have the body to do the job.

 

[br801]

Fair tries but he has a bit of Paul Harris syndrome when he gets among the trees.

Paul Harris was an incredible rebounder. If CJ could rebound like that he'd be All-Big East.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Paul Harris was an incredible rebounder. If CJ could rebound like that he'd be All-Big East.

Im not saying Harris wasnt a good rebounder but against better teams he would struggle because guys would be 6'9, 6'10 7 feet and just go over him, the same is happening to CJ.

 

[realorange]

Paul Harris was an incredible rebounder. If CJ could rebound like that he'd be All-Big East.

Well, Paul avg. about 8 rpg his senior year playing 30 minutes. CJ is avg. just over 5 rpg averaging 25 minutes. Only Fab is getting more rebounds.

 

[SWC75]

Rebounds per 40 mintues of play:

as freshmen: Paul Harris 13.1 CJ Fair 8.2

as sophomores: Paul Harris 9.1 CJ Fair (so far) 8.1

as junior: Paul Harris 10.5

Harris had no senior year.

 

[realorange]

Rebounds per 40 mintues of play:

as freshmen: Paul Harris 13.1 CJ Fair 8.2

as sophomores: Paul Harris 9.1 CJ Fair (so far) 8.1

as junior: Paul Harris 10.5

Harris had no senior year.

Whoops! My bad.