Post game thoughts (Rutgers)

[godeacsplate]

39% from the floor, 29% from 3, 18 turnovers, and won on the road against a big 10 team. The glass is half full.

 

[TownieDeac]

I actually think Hudson is a very good defender. He's quick and has long arms and generally stays in front of his guy. He's not getting any help from awful team defense, but he's also not going to let his man have a wide open 3 or drive right past him. Wilbekin and Dinos are so bad at D I think they almost can't be on the floor at the same time. Neither can keep a man in front, and Dinos is too slow and Wilbekin too small. Huge defensive liability there.

Turnovers are also still a huge problem. Gotta value the ball. Two turnovers on inbounds plays last night that were unguarded. Come on.

I actually really like this team offensively and think if we can be a mediocre defensive team instead of dreadful, we could surprise some folks in the ACC.

Having Codi back is going to really change the complexion of this team. I hope it takes a big weight off Crawford's shoulders and he can learn to play within himself a lot more.

Between Devin and Collins in the paint, we really should have a decent inside out game.

 

[jaybone]

Just finished watching on TiVo. I have been too busy to watch anything live lately and so I usually don't get to the games until the next day. Hence no post game threads so far.

1. We defend the dribble drive about as poorly as I could possibly imagine. We don't defend over the top. We don't defend the baseline drive. We don't defend the dribble pull-up. It was not coincidence that when we finally decided to defend our man and give early help to dribble penetration that we held them without s field goal for about the final 6 minutes.

2. We could be a great rebounding team if we want to. With the return of CMM hopefully around the corner and oversized lineups aplenty I love our ability to rebound. If only we could defend better.

3. Devin is really good.

4. Our guards outside of Wilbekin played like dog crap. Hudson was particularly awful. If he doesn't make that last shot he would have been completely worthless. Crawford made mistake after mistake and still has a long ways to go. CMM will help him more than anyone.

5. Collins is better than Dinos right now. He should start. I understand why he doesn't but both are awful defensive players at the moment and Collins doesn't really on a 22 foot jumper to be valuable on offense. Collins defense is getting better and he will pass Dinos eventually in this area (although he had 2 REALLY boneheaded defensive plays tonight). It was good to see that Danny had a quick hook with Dinos in the second half. If he is ice cold he has to come out of the game.

6. Van Horne is putrid. He simply can't play at this level. He made one nice pass to Collins tonight but everything else was garbage on both sides of the ball.

7. I thought manning got us into good offensive sets for the most part. Our zone offense is very effective. We just missed a to. Of wide open threes and continually threw the ball away for no reason. Defensively I would love to see our principles improve. Last year it was about this time that we started playing with better fundamentals. Most of those have not carried over and that is disappointing. We don't close out with our hands up and then break down. We don't do a good job of jumping to the ball and we open up driving lanes way too easily off the dribble.

8. This could be an NCAA tourney team if CMM comes back strong and we tighten up our principles.

9. That was an ugly game. But so much fun to leave with a win. These kind of games happen. It is vital that we sneak out wins when we aren't playing our best.

Trying to think of more but that is all I have at midnight on a work night. Peace.

Haha. I don't think you understand the definition of "putrid" and "awful" Those adjectives don't usually define what you say, "could be an NCAA tourney team."

My thoughts:

1. We have really bad hair. I thought perhaps we had the worst hair in college basketball until we played Rutgers

2. Greg McClinton has hair that reminds me of the black guy in Fargo Season 2. Truly awful doo. And his game is not far behind. Outside of rebounding and two dribble short jumpers, he lacks basketball skills. I don't think I can remember a Sf incapable of successfully passing into the post. He passing turnovers are horrific for someone in the program for three years now through two regimes.

3. Doral has a looooong way to go. And I am not holding my breath

4. Van Horn is better than McClinton. The game is slower for him so he can do things like throw not only a basic bounce pass into the post but also the lob, which is extremely useful

5. Impressed with Rondale. He blocks out, rebounds, defends the perimeter well. He may be a Josef Amonette shooter for his career where you wonder why a 40% 3-point shooter in high school hits for 15% in college, but his fundamentals are solid and he has solid athleticism. Could lose 10 pounds and be a somewhat quick player.

6. Love Collins. He is DThomas without the OCD. I really look forward to a junior/senior Collins who WON'T airball coast-to-coast layups, lead fast breaks or throw not one but two inbounds passes after made baskets away for turnovers

7. Love Devin but see #6. He would drive me crazy if I were a coach

8. I think Dinos was sick

9. I think Crawford's bad D was because of the back injury. I did notice he was less in pain when on offense though ;-)

10. Our defense during the comeback was really good on the perimeter, which tells me we CAN play good perimeter D on mediocre teams.

11. We should have been up 15 at the half; they were so bad we went through the motions after getting an 8-point lead and thus, their 12 point run put them up 12 not scratch back to within 3-5. Hopefully a learning lesson.

12. Wilbekin is solid and our most confident shooter

13. Crawford is even more confident than Wilbekin when a basket is needed - a critical need for any team hoping to be very good in tournaments.

14. Liked the substition patterns tonight, kept 8 guys pretty active. I was curious to see Rondale on Rutger's frosh point when he heated up and was beating Mitch, but it didn't happen.

 

[ChaosDeac]

A win is a win is a win. Glad to get any win. At the end of this season, no one is going to remember that this was an awful game. It'll just be another win in WF's record. This game can benefit the team if the players and coaches can learn from it.

A positive is that a lot of the issues from last night seemed to be mental mistakes or effort issues. You can fix mental mistakes much more easily than a lack of skill or physical attributes, but mental mistakes are horribly frustrating since they are normally easily avoidable. Examples include losing your man on defense, low percentage passes, drifting under the basket for awful rebounding position, trying to rely solely on athletic skill to rebound (no proper positioning or blocking out), jumping in the air with no plan-panicking-then throwing the ball away to avoid traveling, Devin trying to be a guard a few times, etc.

I think the players bought into the "Rutgers is awful" narrative and thought all they had to do was show up. Hopefully this game serves as a wake up call that while the team is more talented than recent years, they're going to have to put in max effort every night to win.

Also, CMM is a huge part of this team's post-season dreams. There are some guys playing right now that need to become situational players since they regularly provide very little to the team while on the court. Agree with the poster that said that CMM's presence will help out Crawford. Crawford has a lot of nice skills and physical attributes but having a playmaker like CMM is going to help take pressure off Crawford having to run the entire offense right now and rather just play within himself.

 

[TownieDeac]

5. Impressed with Rondale. He blocks out, rebounds, defends the perimeter well. He may be a Josef Amonette shooter for his career where you wonder why a 40% 3-point shooter in high school hits for 15% in college, but his fundamentals are solid and he has solid athleticism. Could lose 10 pounds and be a somewhat quick player.

I will absolutely die on this cross, but the people who think Rondale is playing well amuse the hell out of me. 5 rebounds and 4 free throws do not a good player make. That he doesn't trip over himself or throw the ball into the third row every time he touches it are endearing traits, yes.

But he didn't "block out" on any of his rebounds last night. He was well out of position on 3 of the 5, leaving his man to go collect a board, and the other two were long rebounds that came right to him. He didn't start the break right away on those long rebounds and get us in our offense, and his movement in the offense was horrible. And if he can't hit the open three, his utility is zero.

It speaks to our glaring lack of guard depth that we're praising Rondale Watson.

 

[Tin Cup]

There are a number of player combinations that should never see the court together. One being Moore, TVH and Rondale together, who were on last night at the same time. Danny's sub patterns are truly bizarre.

 

[DeacsOrDie]

I will say that while Rondale still should transfer next year, with CMM out he is a better option than TVH and even MCClinton. Surprised by his vertical, rebounding, and Atleast he doesn't turn the ball over. Can't believe I'm saying these "well Atleast he doesn't..." Comments. this is how far we have fallen, Thanks name redacted

 

[BudatWake]

We need to improve on defense. Just too many easy baskets. When we played better defense the shots stopped falling for Rutgers. Our players need to learn and accept their roll on a team. Devin is not a point guard. We score more points going inside than jacking up the three ball. I am not sure why everyone thinks they can be a three point shooter. We need to get tough on the boards. Too many times we had our hands on the ball and lost it out of bounds. We should never run a set offense that does not go inside at least once. Collins and Devin can score against anyone. I think Washington will develop into a nice player. Danny needs to instill some team defense concepts. There is little help defense. But hey in the past we would have lost last night so things are improving.

 

[Buttermaker]

Really?
Most of these kids are so far above their level of competition in HS they don't have to defend. They make up for bad technique with exceptional athleticism.

Of course they are and do. But they are taught absolutely nothing as they come up, apparently, on defensive fundamentals. That surprises, no, amazes me.

 

[deac29]

I will absolutely die on this cross, but the people who think Rondale is playing well amuse the hell out of me. 5 rebounds and 4 free throws do not a good player make. That he doesn't trip over himself or throw the ball into the third row every time he touches it are endearing traits, yes.

But he didn't "block out" on any of his rebounds last night. He was well out of position on 3 of the 5, leaving his man to go collect a board, and the other two were long rebounds that came right to him. He didn't start the break right away on those long rebounds and get us in our offense, and his movement in the offense was horrible. And if he can't hit the open three, his utility is zero.

It speaks to our glaring lack of guard depth that we're praising Rondale Watson.

It's a matter of expectations. Watson is not going to be an all ACC player (obviously), but hopefully he can give 5-10 minutes a game and keep Manning from ever having to play Van Horn. If he can do that - just be better than Van Horn - he'll be useful

 

[jaybone]

Greg McClinton's hair:

 

[Biff Tannen]

It's a matter of expectations. Watson is not going to be an all ACC player (obviously), but hopefully he can give 5-10 minutes a game and keep Manning from ever having to play Van Horn. If he can do that - just be better than Van Horn - he'll be useful

 

[Frosty]

It's a matter of expectations. Watson is not going to be an all ACC player (obviously), but hopefully he can give 5-10 minutes a game and keep Manning from ever having to play Van Horn. If he can do that - just be better than Van Horn - he'll be useful

You know that Watson really doesn't belong here when the goal for him is to just be better than our best walk-on. That should be a given for any scholarship player.

 

[Bubble Boy]

Sorry, but that was a hideous game to watch both ways. Nice to get a win, but we're still an awful defensive team, and we don't value the ball on offense. It's good that Devin is buying in, but Danny needs to tell him the same thing that Songaila should have been told - you dribble it more than once and you're getting pulled. Thank goodness for FTs the last few games. The record is pretty good, considering the pretty tough schedule, but I really need to see improvement on the defensive end in order to start believing we're out of the woods.

Pretty much agree with all of this. Would love to see more intensity on the defensive end. The guys just seem to be giving 50% effort on that end.

 

[cville deac]

People who think our team has bad hair need to watch UVA.

 

[Biff Tannen]

You know that Watson really doesn't belong here when the goal for him is to just be better than our best walk-on. That should be a given for any scholarship player.

 

[liveanddiedeac]

Pretty much agree with all of this. Would love to see more intensity on the defensive end. The guys just seem to be giving 50% effort on that end.

I hope they were just jet lagged or something last night. I don't know what percentage Rutgers ended up shooting in the 2nd half, they cooled off a lot down the stretch, but for at least 10-12 minutes they had to be shooting 70 percent or so and I don't hardly think Rutgers is capable of doing that against air.

 

[Bubble Boy]

Actually, the highlight for me was that we actually drew a charge. A real, help on defense and stand your ground charge. Based on the fact that our guys are almost always late on help defense and/or love to just try and reach in as the opponent goes by them on the way to the rim, I figured we would go the entire season without drawing one.

 

[RChildress107]

We need to improve on defense. Just too many easy baskets. When we played better defense the shots stopped falling for Rutgers. Our players need to learn and accept their roll on a team. Devin is not a point guard. We score more points going inside than jacking up the three ball. I am not sure why everyone thinks they can be a three point shooter. We need to get tough on the boards. Too many times we had our hands on the ball and lost it out of bounds. We should never run a set offense that does not go inside at least once. Collins and Devin can score against anyone. I think Washington will develop into a nice player. Danny needs to instill some team defense concepts. There is little help defense. But hey in the past we would have lost last night so things are improving.

Rutgers got up by 12 in the second half mostly by hitting long 2's and 3's at a ridiculously high percentage. The defense certainly could have made some of those shots tougher but sometimes a team just gets hot. Our defense wasn't the problem last night, it was our offense.

I thought the majority of our threes were in the rhythm of the offense but we just didn't have the legs. Dinos was 0-5 but all of his shots were just a hair short. With Devin and Collins down low and Crawford and Codi's ability to get into the paint we are going to get a ton of open looks from three this year. We have the shooters to hit more than 28% of those.

 

[RChildress107]

I actually really like this team offensively and think if we can be a mediocre defensive team instead of dreadful, we could surprise some folks in the ACC.

Agree with this. If we can cut down on the turnovers this could be a really good offensive team. I also think a large problem on defense is getting 40 minutes of effort on that end. Added depth when Codi returns will help a little with that, I hope.