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Grade our basketball players, offensively and defensively

I was impressed with Devin Thomas' remaining under control. The big guy for L'ville was getting away with pushing off on him and pulling him out of the way, and Thomas kept his cool.
 
CMM isn't good on offense and doesn't play within himself so it gives Watson an edge.
 
PhDeac said:
CMM isn't good on offense and doesn't play within himself so it gives Watson an edge.
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When CMM is healthy he's one of the best in the league at getting to the rim. I still think he'll get back to form and win a couple of games for us this year. Agreed that he's looked bad offensively this year. We all know that he'll never be a jump shooter, but he's still skilled enough, when healthy, to be a strong contributor on this team.
 
Pretty much impossible to not be a better shooter than CMM at this point, but I hear ya. We won't be counting on Rondale for a ton of scoring. Although I do think he is capable of nailing down the occasional open 3 within the offense.

DC nailed it pretty much. This season will go as Cornelius Hudson goes. Without his contribution to make our offensive attack more balanced and take the pressure off of BC and DT, then we end up becoming too reliant on the streaky shooting of the Greek Deac. When he's hot, we can be hard to handle, but we need another offensive threat who is not one dimensional. So hopefully Yung Crab can find his rhythm offensively and become that X factor I think he's capable of being. Hell, if CMM needs more time to round into form in practice, I think I'd rather have Hudson (backed up by BC, Rondale & Wilbekin) play point forward like he did against UCLA.

That allows BC to do his thing off the wing and then gives you the size in the back court you want unless Wilbekin is in there over Rondale or CMM. And with BC and Hudson together, you have the flexibility to go big or small if Hudson slides back to the 3. But under no circumstances should Danny ever incorporate a lineup in which CMM is playing with Rondale and Wilbekin or even Wilbekin and G-Mc. We can ill-afford to have more than 2 one dimensional offensive players on the court at the same time. Hence why Hudson's production will likely prove to be pivotal for us.

Anyway, while it's nice to have so many options w/r/t guards who can handle the ball, we are still lacking that 4th reliable shooter to keep defenses honest. BC, Dinos and MW combine to shoot 38% from 3. The rest of the team: 17%. SEVENTEEN!!
 
I'm grateful that we've played enough decent to good teams that we have an idea who these players are on Jan 5.
 
:cliffs:
Wakeforest22890 said:
Watson is not a better shooter than CMM. He doesn't appear to be particularly good on offense at all and is just asked to play within himself on that end. If Watson couldn't be trusted to dribble the ball up with a little pressure and play solid defense he wouldn't be on the floor at all. He's not there to take many shots and he's not there to provide an offensive threat as far as I can discern.
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Every WFU fan I talk to prefers Watson over CMM. Watson is not a better shooter than CMM? LOL If you had a choice of either Watson or CMM to take a 3 pointer with your life depending on it, you would let CMM shoot it? That would be suicide. At least Watson has a nice stroke and has made a few this year. Defenses can't leave him to drop into the lane to cover our bigs.
 
Why the Deac Not said:
Pretty much impossible to not be a better shooter than CMM at this point, but I hear ya. We won't be counting on Rondale for a ton of scoring. Although I do think he is capable of nailing down the occasional open 3 within the offense.

DC nailed it pretty much. This season will go as Cornelius Hudson goes. Without his contribution to make our offensive attack more balanced and take the pressure off of BC and DT, then we end up becoming too reliant on the streaky shooting of the Greek Deac. When he's hot, we can be hard to handle, but we need another offensive threat who is not one dimensional. So hopefully Yung Crab can find his rhythm offensively and become that X factor I think he's capable of being. Hell, if CMM needs more time to round into form in practice, I think I'd rather have Hudson (backed up by BC, Rondale & Wilbekin) play point forward like he did against UCLA.

That allows BC to do his thing off the wing and then gives you the size in the back court you want unless Wilbekin is in there over Rondale or CMM. And with BC and Hudson together, you have the flexibility to go big or small if Hudson slides back to the 3. But under no circumstances should Danny ever incorporate a lineup in which CMM is playing with Rondale and Wilbekin or even Wilbekin and G-Mc. We can ill-afford to have more than 2 one dimensional offensive players on the court at the same time. Hence why Hudson's production will likely prove to be pivotal for us.

Anyway, while it's nice to have so many options w/r/t guards who can handle the ball, we are still lacking that 4th reliable shooter to keep defenses honest. BC, Dinos and MW combine to shoot 38% from 3. The rest of the team: 17%. SEVENTEEN!!
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This!
 
Thinking more about this team, there's an interesting breakdown in terms of roles.

We've got three stars who know they're stars and play like it (Devin, Crawford, and Collins). We have one player who knows he's a role player although we need him right now to be a star (Dinos). We have two players who need to be a role player because they struggle trying to be stars (CMM and Crab). Finally we have role players who understand that they're role players and play like it (Wilbekin and Watson, maybe McClinton).
 
wfu22fan said:
:cliffs:

Every WFU fan I talk to prefers Watson over CMM. Watson is not a better shooter than CMM? LOL If you had a choice of either Watson or CMM to take a 3 pointer with your life depending on it, you would let CMM shoot it? That would be suicide. At least Watson has a nice stroke and has made a few this year. Defenses can't leave him to drop into the lane to cover our bigs.
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I like Watson and am hopeful that his shot starts falling (see my comment in CMM Really? thread) but Watson has not "made a few this year". He and CMM have exactly 1 make in essentially the same number of 3 pt. attempts.

As to your first sentence... have you started talking to yourself again?:)
 
DeaconSig said:
Collins is a star?
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He plays like one. He's not shy about putting up shots when he gets the ball. He doesn't defer. He doesn't play like a role player and doesn't produce like one either. Collins is 5th on the team in FGA, 4th in scoring, and 3rd in rebounding despite being 10th in MPG (8th in total minutes).
 
PhDeac said:
Thinking more about this team, there's an interesting breakdown in terms of roles.

We've got three stars who know they're stars and play like it (Devin, Crawford, and Collins). We have one player who knows he's a role player although we need him right now to be a star (Dinos). We have two players who need to be a role player because they struggle trying to be stars (CMM and Crab). Finally we have role players who understand that they're role players and play like it (Wilbekin and Watson, maybe McClinton).
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A fair breakdown to be sure. Although I would hazard to think that Dinos' ego still thinks he has "star" potential and he's just starting to realize that certain deficiencies in his game are forcing him to take on more of a role player set of responsibilities. He certainly looked like a star in the first half against IU, but we also know that the Hoosiers play zero to minimum defense.

As for Hudson vs CMM, at this point, and not to slight Codi for his past contributions and leadership, but wouldn't y'all rather put more of the onus on Hudson at this point to emerge from the "role player" category and become more of a reliable "star" than wait for CMM's foot and perhaps ego to realize that the only way he will help his team be successful is to play the way DC Deac hit upon above (or in another thread) by focusing on shut-down defense, ball distribution and rebounding?

My biggest concern is that teams will continue to sag and slough off of CMM knowing he is no threat to make an outside shot, thus putting more pressure on the rest of the team to create and score. Other than Crawford, who will be able to do that? Only Hudson when it comes to Rondale/Wilbekin/CMM/Hudson list of options. It'll only make life worse for Devin if Codi's defender can cheat into the lane and take away the penetration and passing lane to Devin. Or they zone us to death and dare us to win that way (not impossible but we're not in the top half of the league in terms of 3 pt efficiency).

Even if the foot isn't an issue and CMM has the requisite athleticism to break down a D off the dribble, we will still need Hudson to find his shooting touch as the 3 in this offense. But teams will hedge like crazy to push CMM away from the basket and keep him on the perimeter if we use PnR with him. As long as he is willing to get rid of it quickly and not dribble away valuable time off the shot clock, the offense can be successful with him at the point. But not without Hudson playing better IMO.
 
PhDeac said:
I wouldn't hold out hope on Watson becoming a scorer. His shot looks busted and he doesn't seem to have much ability to get off a shot. We could really use a guy who can help get the ball to our 3 scoring options and who can hustle for those long rebounds.
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If only Matthew Fisher-Davis' visit had not gone so poorly with [Redacted]. He would add a lot to this team.
 
if we don't make the ncaa tournament everybody gets an F
 
If we beat Duke everybody gets an A. Grade inflation will be encouraged!
 
That was a strange weekend with MFD. When he left the hotel Childress was livid.
 
Staying at the downtown Marriott for a football game, the last guy,Battle and Chldress were hosting Mfd. On Sunday while at breakfast Childress came in to the restaurant and went to the bathroom. So I time it to go introduce myself as he exits however, instead I just walk away. You could see the smoke coming out his nostrils. He was mad about something. Then a couple hours later word came out that MFD was headed to Vandy. I guess he told them no thanks. A lot of effort went down the drain.
 
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