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MBB Game 8: Northwestern Wildcats @ LJVM: 9 pm ESPNU Tuesday

Walton having 4 rebounds is mind blowing. He is an absolutely horrendous rebounder. Playing 30+ minutes there is 0 reason he shouldn't have 10+ every game.
 
Walton was triple teamed at one point and didn’t pass out of it. Yet later had a beautiful dish to the cutting Laravia. So the innate basketball talent is there and just hope he can become a more consistent rebounder. A solid second big will also help him rebound. Glad to have him on our team.
 
Wake did its part in the challenge!

The rest of the ACC teams so far.... not so much. :sick:
 
Dallas Walton played 33 minutes each of the last two games. In his previous 90 games as a college player, Walton never played more than 28 minutes in a game. Last year, he averaged 12 minutes a game for Colorado. Understand that Sy essentially took himself out of the game in the first half with his meltdown and then in the 2nd half with foul trouble, and Marsh is coming back from a concussion, but as ATS noted above, this team has to get more from its bench.

Realize that WF has stepped up the competition recently, but Cam Hildreth had 4 double figure games over WF's first five games of the season, over the last 3 games Hildreth has scored a total of 5 points, including going scoreless over the last two with 6 TOs in 20 minutes. Finally, hope Carter Whitt finds his confidence. Not expecting him to be a big time scorer, but IIRC, against WSSU in the exhibition, Whitt was 3 for 3 behind the arc. Now, 8 games into the season, after playing 125 minutes Whitt has 3 treys on the season (in 16 attempts). He is a better player than he has showed, but he's now 26 games into his college career, time for the light to come on for him.

Bottom line is that eventually injuries and/or foul trouble will force WF to get more from the non-starters than the Deacs are currently getting. Heading into the season, felt like this was a reasonably deep team, but it's looking more like a very limited roster.
 
Yeah, one of my questions coming into the game was whether the McCray/Marsh/Taylor crew might continue to get increased spot minutes even against decent teams.

Instead, Hildreth only gets 8 minutes despite going to OT and nobody past him on the bench even got a glance.

I think Forbes sees what we see - a weak ACC where games like Northwestern could really matter come tourney time. We have 2 more cupcakes and a should-win against BC after Saturday. Think you'll see a lot more run there for the bench to determine the lineups for ACC play in that stretch.
 
DCDeac said:
I feel exactly the opposite. When we leave an offensive player on the same side with our bigs, particularly Dallas who is both slow to develop a shot and lanky/rangy when he does, it's way too easy for a defender to cheat down and get a hand in while still having time to return to contest a 3. When you rotate to through the help has too far to come. We got a great critical 3 from Daivien when his man tried to disrupt Walton on a post up coming from the top of the key and another from Alondes I think. Walton was 2nd in assists for us. We simply don't have a post guy that can operate quickly in traffic right now, if we don't clear out Walton gets it ripped like 50% of the time.

Really loved the Forbes presser after. Made a great point about how the timeout would have meant zone to close out regulation, 100% agree that Alondes against man is a better scenario, he just missed it.

I find some of the criticism odd here. Mucius went for 12/5/2 and only one Northwestern player outscored him. Clearly still finding his way on a team with actual talent but we'll take that every night from him. And Dallas had to play 33 minutes for us to even have chance in this one with Sy in meltdown mode. Not sure if folks are expecting him to turn into something he's not or just hate that 3 he took, but he hit some shots, got some blocks, was extremely disruptive all night on defense... Nance and Young average 30 a game combined, only had 20 despite Nance getting hot at the end.

Good win against a solid team. Critical to get this one before a really tough road game Saturday.
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Didnt realize Mucius had 12 and yes would take that every game. But all 3 pointers and a couple of free throws. would be good to see some drives to the bucket and some offensive rebound put backs. Anyway it is a new team and I think finding his fit is a good way to put it.
 
Mucius isn’t a reliable playmaker. He’s a streaky catch and shoot. That’s about it. He should be a better rebounder.
 
I'm perplexed by Forbes coaching. This game and Oregon St. has very similar feels in the second half. Laravia disappears and we look terrible. Big runs and Forbes sits there and watches. Team switches to zone and we look like we've never seen it before.

His teams look like they're ready to play, start the game playing hard but in the second half lose focus and seem to lack coaching from the bench. In both these games I was yelling at the TV for a timeout half a dozen times. What's he saving them for?

We're so much better than we were under Manning, but ultimately this team seems to only play well when we're keeping Laravia engaged and running plays for him. Williams is a nice scorer, but he's not a shooter and is a pretty poor free throw shooter for a guy with the ball in his hands.
 
PhDeac said:
Mucius isn’t a reliable playmaker. He’s a streaky catch and shoot. That’s about it. He should be a better rebounder.
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Such a confounding player. He has ideal size for a power conference wing. He has a nice stroke. He is a high effort guy, and likeable but it just seems like the game doesn't come naturally to him. He's often money when games start or when WF is hopelessly behind, but when the game is on the line, he disappears or forces a shot that is not in his arsenal. It helps when WF jumps out to 12-5 lead because Mucius drains early threes, but you would think that his production would go beyond that role at this point.
 
Right. He works as a starter for that reason. But we need Cam to develop so he can replace Mucius in the lineup as a closer.
 
IAppreciateIt said:
more similar to james johnson, imo.

put me in the pro-walton camp. his defense is good and if he's truly a ~35% 3-point shooter, i want him to continue jacking them up with confidence when open; thinking back i think NW was really sagging into the paint during the end of the game which impacted our ability to finish in the lane (but gave us some open 3s)
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I was thinking more Harpring with his build and how he backs his guy down and then can roll to the cup for a shot or take the fadeaway from the baseline as Harpring hit those regularly. As well as how he seems so strong and controlled with the bball looking to dish it first. He could really turn into something special once he adjusts pulling the trigger more often as he passed on some opportunities where I think he gets a higher % shot vs. what others can get when he passes it away. Especially late in the game clock.
 
PhDeac said:
Mucius isn’t a reliable playmaker. He’s a streaky catch and shoot. That’s about it. He should be a better rebounder.
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But I much prefer that over him trying to create. Zero turnovers last night. Decent rebounding and defense. That'll work.

He has the size to be more than what he is... But I don't see that happening at this point in his college career.
 
Pilchard said:
Such a confounding player. He has ideal size for a power conference wing. He has a nice stroke. He is a high effort guy, and likeable but it just seems like the game doesn't come naturally to him. He's often money when games start or when WF is hopelessly behind, but when the game is on the line, he disappears or forces a shot that is not in his arsenal. It helps when WF jumps out to 12-5 lead because Mucius drains early threes, but you would think that his production would go beyond that role at this point.
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I agree and I think he actually has upside if he would focus on the inside more and trying to streak to the basket or run around a pick down low so he can get open or at least be in a good position to block out and rebound by attacking the glass vs hanging out on perimeter. He could be such a great junk basket player with his length and athleticism, but unfortunately he fancies himself a 3 point ace which he is not.
 
Responded before I read other responses. We're all on the same page with Mucius, it seems.

Agree that we need Cam to step-up. He has a history of doing that at other places in his career... Taking a while to get comfortable before really improving. Feels like the opposite is happening now, but maybe that is just the step-up in competition and he'll figure it out as we get into the ACC part of the schedule.
 
DeacsATS said:
But I much prefer that over him trying to create. Zero turnovers last night. Decent rebounding and defense. That'll work.

He has the size to be more than what he is... But I don't see that happening at this point in his college career.
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Definitely. We have creators. He’s not one.

Yes, Mucius COULD be Jamaal Levy with a streaky jumper. That would be a welcome but highly unlikely development.
 
WRS said:
Wow I’m genuinely perplexed by this. He’s soft with the ball, got bullied down low and offers very little in terms of post offense.
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You can tell he is hustling. I honestly don't think he is better than Doral Moore or even David DreamWeaver, but he is working his ass off.

Almost like an old guy with bad knees, he is a little slow, a little soft, does not play great defense, but he does hustle. I mean Forbes will be working on boxing out for 3 hours with him, this afternoon. That is what I would do after reviewing the tape last night.

And he had 2 blocks. That's not Ty Walker territory, but 1, 2, 3 blocks per game from our starting Center will help. He's averaging 1.6 BPG, and we need him to get that up to 2.0 BPG or higher.

We could use a wide body space eater to grab boards, but Marsh is not ready and Ingraham left. So, we got what we got.
 
The defense is the biggest difference to me. We can survive bad offensive possessions. That was impossible under Mannequin.

I am hoping the offense will come along as the season progresses. The ball movement really stagnated in the second half. Williams is a good scorer, he shouldn't be the solo go-to down the stretch on iso plays. The whole game opens up when LaRavia gets going. Walton sketchy on offense. I don't know what Marsh can offer there, but hope he can grab more minutes to see.

Who is the third guy that emerges on O? At this point, it is Williamson. He is pesky on D and a great role player on offense when he is hitting 3s. If he could get to the line more that would be huge, but he doesn't look really comfortable driving to the basket. Whitt feels like he is a step away from being an effective college player. Not sure it will click this season, but I love that he looks to attack the basket and get easy buckets via an assist. Know his shooting has been rough, but doesn't look like he has a bad stroke. Cam looked good against lesser competition, but barely got minutes yesterday. Mucius is a streaky jump shooter. Sy doesn't offer much offensively.

Hoping that Cam comes into his own more as the season goes on, and Marsh can develop a more consistent rotation with Walton.
 
Walton is definitely a good passer so I’ll give him that. And he’s a good enough 3 point shooter. The only problem is that when he’s taking 3s we have nobody rebounding. Between him and Laravia our big man passing is better than any time in recent memory though.
 
Pilchard said:
Realize that WF has stepped up the competition recently, but Cam Hildreth had 4 double figure games over WF's first five games of the season, over the last 3 games Hildreth has scored a total of 5 points, including going scoreless over the last two with 6 TOs in 20 minutes.
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Hildreth really has 2 points in 3 games against P6 teams. He accidentally made a 3 when he was trying to lob an alley oop to Alondes against Oregon State. He was impressive against the cupcakes but has really struggled to do much of anything when he's not a far better athlete than the player guarding him.
 
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