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