What we need to win it all

[Alsacs]

Fab Melo was a great defensive player however, with his strengths there were weaknesses. Fab was great at stepping up in the middle of the zone and disrupting any penetration. However, Fab DID A TERRIBLE job after challenging shots of getting a body on a player and putting himself in rebounding position. Melo got all his rebounds on height he never put the work in to want to rebound. Rick Jackson who was 3-4 inches shorter than Fab played the middle of zone and average almost 4 rebounds more a game last year, and the question is why? The answer is Rick didn't challenge as many shots (he was still the BE Defensive player of the year) instead he boxed players and got the rebounds.
If Keita and Christmas BOX OUT and prevent offensive rebounds then the presence in the middle that Melo was will be canceled out. Melo may have disrupted about 10-12 pts a game with his stepping up in the middle of the zone and/or flopping, but his lack of rebounding fundamentals probably has cost us 4-5 offensive rebounds a game and if they convert 2-3 of those offensives rebounds all we are losing 4-6 points a game.
To win the national title is Kris Joseph must play with more energy. Kris you HAVE TO COMMIT to rebounding you have get your butt in the paint and want to rebound. We need to wings to want the ball, and not be lazy. C.J. Fair you need to rebound on the strong side as you have shown you can do. If Kris and Fair REBOUND then we can overcome Melo. Melo on offense was probably the 4th-5th option he his loss there is mainly lobs from Scoop. We can replace that. Only Gates, Elezi, and Sullinger are post players where not having beef in the middle will hurt us. We will only have to play 2 of the 3 to get to New Orleans.

 

[Upstate]

People soon forget that Fab was also good for 4-6 points per game the other way in goaltends in the last 5 games

 

[Marsh01]

Fab Melo was a great defensive player however, with his strengths there were weaknesses. Fab was great at stepping up in the middle of the zone and disrupting any penetration. However, Fab DID A TERRIBLE job after challenging shots of getting a body on a player and putting himself in rebounding position. Melo got all his rebounds on height he never put the work in to want to rebound. Rick Jackson who was 3-4 inches shorter than Fab played the middle of zone and average almost 4 rebounds more a game last year, and the question is why? The answer is Rick didn't challenge as many shots (he was still the BE Defensive player of the year) instead he boxed players and got the rebounds.
If Keita and Christmas BOX OUT and prevent offensive rebounds then the presence in the middle that Melo was will be canceled out. Melo may have disrupted about 10-12 pts a game with his stepping up in the middle of the zone and/or flopping, but his lack of rebounding fundamentals probably has cost us 4-5 offensive rebounds a game and if they convert 2-3 of those offensives rebounds all we are losing 4-6 points a game.
To win the national title is Kris Joseph must play with more energy. Kris you HAVE TO COMMIT to rebounding you have get your butt in the paint and want to rebound. We need to wings to want the ball, and not be lazy. C.J. Fair you need to rebound on the strong side as you have shown you can do. If Kris and Fair REBOUND then we can overcome Melo. Melo on offense was probably the 4th-5th option he his loss there is mainly lobs from Scoop. We can replace that. Only Gates, Elezi, and Sullinger are post players where not having beef in the middle will hurt us. We will only have to play 2 of the 3 to get to New Orleans.

We are going to miss Fab's ability to take a charge more than his shot blocking/rebounding.

 

[Madbiker]

Rak needs to play like he did at Cincy and the BET game against UConn. If Rak and Keita can combine for 6 points, 7 rebs, and 2 blocks they can replace Fab from a statistical standpoint. That's possible. The thing we miss with Fab is the "fear factor" of his imposing presence and rep which somewhat kept people out of the lane. They will have to play aggressive on D and not just sit back passively.

 

[EastCoast2]

People soon forget that Fab was also good for 4-6 points per game the other way in goaltends in the last 5 games

Not only that, but he ALWAYS went for the block in stead of playing straight up, often jumping at pumpfakes and giving up wide open lay-ups.

 

[PauliePeppas]

I just hope this lights a fire under every players ass ..i want them to play pissed off for a change and take no ...too bad all these guys dont have kong's mentality

 

[pearl31]

kong's mentality

 

[HakAttack]

If we had KONG on this team, we'd already be National Champions this year!

 

[arbitragegls]

Needs to win:
1. Scoop to play to level prior to BE tournament and last two games of conference
2. KJ not disappear on the boards...0 boards in 33 minutes against Cincy was spectacular in a negative way
3. Triche needs to hit one of first three shots--then his mind is offensively focussed
4. & 5. Christmas and Keita...8 boards, 6 points, 2 blocks and that fills the Fab void
6. CJ needs to step up and show some bounce--last couple of games seemed to be sleepwalking
7. Dirty needs to hit 2 3s a game
8. MCW gets in and contributes on offensive end with assts and/or points
9-forever: Dion being Dion...doing what is required to be the DUDE...but he cant do it alone hence the 1-8 above...who would have ever thought that if Dion scored 28 we would lose...not on Dion but all the other players! Just goes to show that even when you have the Dude...you can still lose.

Do this and 'Cuse will be golden.

 

[orange03]

Needs to win:
1. Scoop to play to level prior to BE tournament and last two games of conference
2. KJ not disappear on the boards...0 boards in 33 minutes against Cincy was spectacular in a negative way
3. Triche needs to hit one of first three shots--then his mind is offensively focussed
4. & 5. Christmas and Keita...8 boards, 6 points, 2 blocks and that fills the Fab void
6. CJ needs to step up and show some bounce--last couple of games seemed to be sleepwalking
7. Dirty needs to hit 2 3s a game
8. MCW gets in and contributes on offensive end with assts and/or points

Do this and 'Cuse will be golden.

Funny you didn't mention our best player.

 

[arbitragegls]

Funny you didn't mention our best player.

Waiters will do his thing...even with 28 points we lost. It is the talent around him we need to help out...i will add that back in.

 

[bigf1973]

I just hope this lights a fire under every players ass ..i want them to play pissed off for a change and take no ****...too bad all these guys dont have kong's mentality

Just the mention of Kong lit a fire under me... hopefully the team is watching footage of the waffle!

 

[armory]

been saying it all year ... the reason we don't get rebounds is because everybody is too busy trying to block the shot, nobody but CJ is looking for the ball after it is shot. Melo was the #1 culprit, he cared more about making exciting plays than making the right play (this was made clear when he said he doesn't care about his goaltends and he will keep swatting em). The few times he used his body, kept his arms straight up and only went for blocks when there were clear opportunities he not only was a better defender but a better rebounder. He seemed to have stopped doing this entirely about midway through the season... about the same time our rebounding went in the tank, we stopped blowing out bad teams, and we started seeing a lot less transition game.

 

[newmexicuse]

Fab Melo was a great defensive player however, with his strengths there were weaknesses. Fab was great at stepping up in the middle of the zone and disrupting any penetration. However, Fab DID A TERRIBLE job after challenging shots of getting a body on a player and putting himself in rebounding position. Melo got all his rebounds on height he never put the work in to want to rebound. Rick Jackson who was 3-4 inches shorter than Fab played the middle of zone and average almost 4 rebounds more a game last year, and the question is why? The answer is Rick didn't challenge as many shots (he was still the BE Defensive player of the year) instead he boxed players and got the rebounds.
If Keita and Christmas BOX OUT and prevent offensive rebounds then the presence in the middle that Melo was will be canceled out. Melo may have disrupted about 10-12 pts a game with his stepping up in the middle of the zone and/or flopping, but his lack of rebounding fundamentals probably has cost us 4-5 offensive rebounds a game and if they convert 2-3 of those offensives rebounds all we are losing 4-6 points a game.
To win the national title is Kris Joseph must play with more energy. Kris you HAVE TO COMMIT to rebounding you have get your butt in the paint and want to rebound. We need to wings to want the ball, and not be lazy. C.J. Fair you need to rebound on the strong side as you have shown you can do. If Kris and Fair REBOUND then we can overcome Melo. Melo on offense was probably the 4th-5th option he his loss there is mainly lobs from Scoop. We can replace that. Only Gates, Elezi, and Sullinger are post players where not having beef in the middle will hurt us. We will only have to play 2 of the 3 to get to New Orleans.

Skip the details, I'll sum up what we need to win it all in two words

Perfect Storm

 

[HarrisonJBounel]

On the offensive end, I think this will actually help because it will open the middle for our slashers. But that will have to include KJ, who has been reluctant IMO to dirive into contact since his concussion. Fab actually clogged up the middle for us and hindered us - he was not as good as he thought he was offensively.

On defense, hopefully this will force us to focus and turn up the intensity.

Bottom line is that on any given night, we can still beat anybody in the country.