What I liked today...

[BostonOrange]

1. Rak scored on a post move
2. MCW played more aggressively on offense. Getting into the gaps, hitting a few nice floaters, and making some nice passes (which albeit were not converted). I know he had a few awful turnovers but generally I thought he was the least of our worries.

I am going to totally contradict what I said a week ago by saying that I do think that getting the ball to Rak in the post sometimes is advisable. Not because I have any great faith in his ability, but because defenses do seem to react a bit to him down there, he has created a few open opportunities for other guys recently, and I have absolutely no better ideas.

I also continue to think that MCW off the ball a little more may help a bit, and that we need to show at least some pressure - whether it be halfcourt traps or whatever. I assume that the reason JB won't do it is because of our complete lack of depth, but...we need to create some easy hoops somehow. BT and JS just need to see the ball go through the hoop a few times.

 

[NineOneSeven]

Feeding the post. Basketball fundamentals 101.

 

[jdubs30]

I do kind of like what I've seen from MCW lately, I think he's starting to get it for the most part. This team lives and dies on the shooting of our 2 seniors.

 

[albanycuse]

I liked the fact that the game is over.


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[RF2044]

1. Rak scored on a post move
2. MCW played more aggressively on offense. Getting into the gaps, hitting a few nice floaters, and making some nice passes (which albeit were not converted). I know he had a few awful turnovers but generally I thought he was the least of our worries.

I am going to totally contradict what I said a week ago by saying that I do think that getting the ball to Rak in the post sometimes is advisable. Not because I have any great faith in his ability, but because defenses do seem to react a bit to him down there, he has created a few open opportunities for other guys recently, and I have absolutely no better ideas.

I also continue to think that MCW off the ball a little more may help a bit, and that we need to show at least some pressure - whether it be halfcourt traps or whatever. I assume that the reason JB won't do it is because of our complete lack of depth, but...we need to create some easy hoops somehow. BT and JS just need to see the ball go through the hoop a few times.

Rak played reasonably well. That's something, I suppose. Hope it is a sign of things to come as we enter the post-season.

MCW made some nice plays today, as well as some utterly boneheaded ones. But at least he tried, which is more than I can say for the majority of our players today.

 

[jdubs30]

MCW made some nice plays today, as well as some utterly boneheaded ones. But at least he tried, which is more than I can say for the majority of our players today.

MCW wants to be the guy and wants the ball at the end to win the game, which can be both good and bad.

But really, without him today we lose by 35

 

[longislandcuse]

The reason why I give MCW a pass on the horrible turnovers is because he has to do so much due to the utter ineptness of his fellow backcourt teammates. He has no spacing to work with and is asked to run pick n roll with Keita for some ridiculous reason.

 

[albanycuse]

People mock MCW and his draft status but he has zilch for help. So when hes bad he looks even worse and when he's good he could be excellent. Thats why he's a high draft pick imo.


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[jdubs30]

The reason why I give MCW a pass on the horrible turnovers is because he has to do so much due to the utter ineptness of his fellow backcourt teammates. He has no spacing to work with and is asked to run pick n roll with Keita for some ridiculous reason.

I was on MCW bad a month ago. But I really give him credit he's learned a lot and done fairly well considering he's on a team that can't make outside shots nor can score in the post

 

[RF2044]

People mock MCW and his draft status but he has zilch for help. So when hes bad he looks even worse and when he's good he could be excellent.


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People knock his draft status because [1] his execution is for sh-t most of the time, [2] he is terrible offensively and has gotten exponentially worse as the season has gone on, and [3] he doesn't make his teammates better--an important pre-requisite for a lottery caliber lead guard.

This team's halfcourt offensive struggles have a lot to do with MCW.

 

[albanycuse]

People knock his draft status because [1] his execution is for sh-t most of the time, [2] he is terrible offensively and has gotten exponentially worse as the season has gone on, and [3] he doesn't make his teammates better--an important pre-requisite for a lottery caliber lead guard.

This team's halfcourt offensive struggles have a lot to do with MCW.

He makes some bone headed plays as expected for his 1st year running the point but he also puts the ball in position for players to score. If we had better players he wouldnt need to try to score as much, its out of neccessity.


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[Toga]

39

 

[jdubs30]

People knock his draft status because [1] his execution is for sh-t most of the time, [2] he is terrible offensively and has gotten exponentially worse as the season has gone on, and [3] he doesn't make his teammates better--an important pre-requisite for a lottery caliber lead guard.

This team's halfcourt offensive struggles have a lot to do with MCW.

I don't man it really hurts the PG when you don't have anyone who can consistently hit a shot from the perimeter nor a guy you can dump it to in the post; what exactly do you want MCW to do? Do you think if we had Trey Burke instead of MCW that Rak would be averaging 12ppg and Triche/Southerland would be hitting their shots?

 

[RF2044]

I don't man it really hurts the PG when you don't have anyone who can consistently hit a shot from the perimeter nor a guy you can dump it to in the post; what exactly do you want MCW to do? Do you think if we had Trey Burke instead of MCW that Rak would be averaging 12ppg and Triche/Southerland would be hitting their shots?

I want the PG to do a better job executing half court sets. I'm far less impressed by a point guard who makes exciting passes on the fast break. Guess which MCW excels at, and which he does poorly?

All year long, I've watched MCW over-dribble, try to do too much, and do a poor job of getting the ball to the team's best player, CJ Fair, at the end of several close losses we've had.

I'm not putting all of the team's issues on MCW. I agree with what you say above about the lack of shooters, lack of inside game, etc. But as the team's QB, he deserves a significant amount of blame--especially when he's touted as a prospective lottery pick level prospect. Unfortunately, this year he's often set a poor tone with his execution / unforced turnovers, and hasn't done much to make anybody better--outside of when he's running the fast break, that is. If I have to watch him drive into the lane with nowhere to go, leave his feet, and then try to pass it back out to a teammate that isn't there, triggering a fast break for the opponent, I'm going to break my remote. Maybe his ability to run half court offensive sets will improve as he gains experience and improves his offensive skill set. But right now, his glaring limitations are things that the opposition is taking advantage of to great effect.

 

[jdubs30]

I want the PG to do a better job executing half court sets. I'm far less impressed by a point guard who makes passes in the open floor in transition. Guess which MCW excels at, and which he does poorly.

I also think that MCW over-dribbles, and tries to do too much, and should have done a better job of getting the ball to the team's best player, CJ Fair, at the end of several close losses we've had.

I'm not putting all of this on MCW. I agree with what you say above about the lack of shooters, lack of inside game, etc. But I do think that he sets a poor tone with his execution / unforced turnovers, and doesn't do much to make anybody better. Maybe that will change as he gains experience and improves offensively. But right now, his limitations are things that the opposition is taking advantage of to great effect.

MCW isn't great in halfcourt, you're right. But JB doesn't exactly have a Princeton style system, a lot of it free flowing, he lets his players play. Was Scoop tremendous in the court? I don't think so, I think he had an NBA lottery pick in the backcourt with him, and a senior in KrisJo was very capable in creating his own shot. We can't really totally blame MCW for a lack of half-court execution, a lot of that blame could fall on JB.

MCW at times definitely tries to do so much, and that was my main beef with him in December. But lately it seems like he only does that when no one has their offense working (he always has those 3pt shots out of nowhere which are awful).

Agreed that CJ needs more looks. But he was draped by Porter today, and has had 36 shots combined in the last 2 games vs DePaul and Ville. Their making more of an effort to get him the ball lately.

The fact is Triche is 15/52 from the field and 1/17 from 3 since the Seton Hall game. Southerland is 20/65 and 11/38 sicne the first Georgetown game. That's 30% from the field and 22% from 3 from our 2 best shooters. That is the issue.

Could MCW be better? Sure. But he's not really what I'm worried about right now.

 

[RF2044]

MCW isn't great in halfcourt, you're right. But JB doesn't exactly have a Princeton style system, a lot of it free flowing, he lets his players play. Was Scoop tremendous in the court? I don't think so, I think he had an NBA lottery pick in the backcourt with him, and a senior in KrisJo was very capable in creating his own shot. We can't really totally blame MCW for a lack of half-court execution, a lot of that blame could fall on JB.

MCW at times definitely tries to do so much, and that was my main beef with him in December. But lately it seems like he only does that when no one has their offense working (he always has those 3pt shots out of nowhere which are awful).

Agreed that CJ needs more looks. But he was draped by Porter today, and has had 36 shots combined in the last 2 games vs DePaul and Ville. Their making more of an effort to get him the ball lately.

The fact is Triche is 15/52 from the field and 1/17 from 3 since the Seton Hall game. Southerland is 20/65 and 11/38 sicne the first Georgetown game. That is the issue.

Could MCW be better? Sure. But he's not really what I'm worried about right now.

I want to be clear--I'm not trying to thrown anybody under the bus. Anyone who's seen me post over the years knows that I am very, very critical of our point guards' play in particular--it is something that I focus on, and I'm disappointed in general with MCW's play this year.

As stated above, he is not the lone cause of the team's slide. I do not--in any way--dispute that Triche has played shockingly poorly the last third of the season, that the centers collectively haven't gotten the job done, or that as a team our collective ability to shoot the basketball is subpar.

I also agree that if Triche / Southerland starting making a reasonable number of their jump shots, more of MCW's passes would result in assists, his issues wouldn't be as magnified, and it would give us better floor balance, which would open up driving lanes, give CJ more room to operate from mid-range, etc.

 

[jdubs30]

I want to be clear--I'm not trying to thrown anybody under the bus. Anyone who's seen me post over the years knows that I am very, very critical of our point guards' play in particular--it is something that I focus on, and I'm disappointed in general with MCW's play this year.

As stated above, he is not the lone cause of the team's slide. I do not--in any way--dispute that Triche has played shockingly poorly the last third of the season, that the centers collectively haven't gotten the job done, or that as a team our collective ability to shoot the basketball is subpar.

I also agree that if Triche / Southerland starting making a reasonable number of their jump shots, more of MCW's passes would result in assists, his issues wouldn't be as magnified, and it would give us better floor balance, which would open up driving lanes, give CJ more room to operate from mid-range, etc.

That's the key to our season in my mind. If those 2 can get to about 45% from the field and 38% from the 3 the rest of the way, we will make a run in NYC and in the tournament. But if they continue their 30/22 clip we won't win more than 2 games the rest of the year.

 

[anomander]

I want to be clear--I'm not trying to thrown anybody under the bus. Anyone who's seen me post over the years knows that I am very, very critical of our point guards' play in particular--it is something that I focus on, and I'm disappointed in general with MCW's play this year.

As stated above, he is not the lone cause of the team's slide. I do not--in any way--dispute that Triche has played shockingly poorly the last third of the season, that the centers collectively haven't gotten the job done, or that as a team our collective ability to shoot the basketball is subpar.

I also agree that if Triche / Southerland starting making a reasonable number of their jump shots, more of MCW's passes would result in assists, his issues wouldn't be as magnified, and it would give us better floor balance, which would open up driving lanes, give CJ more room to operate from mid-range, etc.

today i think mcw and rak were the least of our problems

 

[RF2044]

today i think mcw and rak were the least of our problems

So do I, which is why I made this post earlier in the thread:

Rak played reasonably well. That's something, I suppose. Hope it is a sign of things to come as we enter the post-season.

MCW made some nice plays today, as well as some utterly boneheaded ones. But at least he tried, which is more than I can say for the majority of our players today.

 

[anomander]

That's the key to our season in my mind. If those 2 can get to about 45% from the field and 38% from the 3 the rest of the way, we will make a run in NYC and in the tournament. But if they continue their 30/22 clip we won't win more than 2 games the rest of the year.

it seems like this team needs a few days off to clear their heads. there is no way they are as bad as they played today. at least the 3 prior losses we showed some fight and tough defense. today there was an obvious lack of intensity, and it seemed that was coming from the sidelines. you can sense the blow out beginning in the 2nd half and JB did absolutely nothing to try and stop it. at that point i just wanted to see our guys/coaches continue to fight, and at least try to find something to build on going into the conference tournament. to just see them roll over and play dead was the most discouraging part of the day

 

[RF2044]

That's the key to our season in my mind. If those 2 can get to about 45% from the field and 38% from the 3 the rest of the way, we will make a run in NYC and in the tournament. But if they continue their 30/22 clip we won't win more than 2 games the rest of the year.

Heck--I'd settle for 33% from three from them...

Sad commentary.

 

[OttosBestFriend]

I want to be clear--I'm not trying to thrown anybody under the bus...

I'd like to throw the whole team under a bus... Then after the bus drove over 'em, I'd have the driver put it in reverse and repeat the process all over again.

 

[CiceroCuse]

Rak played reasonably well. That's something, I suppose. Hope it is a sign of things to come as we enter the post-season.

MCW made some nice plays today, as well as some utterly boneheaded ones. But at least he tried, which is more than I can say for the majority of our players today.

I agree with both ... I think Rak was active and did play relatively well. There just seems to be know fight at all.

This is 90 percent mental. The shots that JS and BT are missing generally aren't even close. They have the deer in the headlights look like you would expect from a 15 year old kid. Just don't understand it.

 

[Alsacs]

What I liked today

 

[Ghost]

Rak should have been getting touches all season, DC too - it wasn't a mystery to some that this team couldn't shoot. At best we had some streaky guys - who as it turned out are barely that at this point. I don't think many expected it was quite THIS bad though tbh.

We needed to use the post for a lot of reasons - one, it forces the defense to at least move around and hopefully create other passing lanes. Two, repetition/more touches allows the bigs to stay active and hopefully improve as their comfort level grows in the post (although Baye has a pretty good motor regardless of touches). Instead, once the cupcakes were gone so were all the passes to the post.

Even with CJ, in the past month I remember him posting up on the blocks twice, scored twice. Keep trying it. Try something....

The whole offense is baffling - we have our bigs running around trying to set screens that nobody waits for, we never throw it into the post - I'm not sure what we're doing since we have no players with decent one-on-one skills and no shooters.

Blah....