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We looked better tonight than any game last year

I thought we looked decent. I liked how everyone was playing hard all the time and there is just no selfishness or egos seemingly on this team.

I like that CJ and Travis act like they own the court now. They both appear completely confident in what they are doing and, to me, they are the de facto in-game leaders. After that, Carson and TC are playing with much more confidence and ability, too. Anthony looks especially good and I think he may be our starting PG for 3 1/2 years. Right out of the gate, he looks very good, and has way more upside than I thought. CMM may be backing up Anthony and CJ at the 1 and 2. Chase is doing fine. Once he gets his feet under him, the shots will fall. The effort and floor game are solid for a freshman. Daniel was a little surprise in that I think he can contribute more than I thought. Yes, he needs to eat and lift weights, but he is long and athletic, and more importantly, he's got good hands and can hold onto the ball in traffic. At height and length, if he has position and good hands, he will get rebounds, which we need desperately. Nikita, hmmm. Tough start. Hopefully senior jitters and just trying to do too much to show what he's got his last season. I think he is just trying to to too much, and reaching.... Settle down, dude. We need you for more than 10 minutes and 5 fouls/game.

Overall, I am a little more optimistic, and maybe the goal is a .500 season, especially if TY can contribute rebounds and solid defense.
 
SDeacz said:
I don't think anything in this game means anything. Nothing to be optimistic or pessimistic about.
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Considering Wake lost to Presbyterian last year, I would have to disagree with this statement.
 
We were one point dogs last night. Had we hit FTs we would have had a 20 point win.

Baby steps. It's good that Daniel, Anthony and Daniel got some real minutes. It's good Carson showed some intensity.
 
If we looked better last night than any game last year, it's a good a thing that RC22 wasn't around to witness the nightmare that was last season. I felt bad for him last night as he sat behind the bench to witness some truly terrible basketball. I wish I heard him on the radio during the scrimmage - did he talk about the state of WFU basketball or just tell stories about his college/pro career?

Also - I think our pre-game introductions are over-the-top and embarrassing. Just introduce the team and play ball. The balloon-men/motorcycle simply don't work right now (particularly when there are about 500 people in the arena when the game starts). Our program is at a low point, we should just go back to the basics. I've never seen a game won during player introductions. After the hype generated during introductions, the actual performance/product on the court is a real let down. I know the pre-game hoopla was Skip's concept - but when is Bz going to put his mark on the program (other than producing historically bad seasons)?

-22
 
If you gave 22 a ten pound brick of gold, he'd bitch that you didn't give him ten bricks.
 
DEAC22 said:
If we looked better last night than any game last year, it's a good a thing that RC22 wasn't around to witness the nightmare that was last season. I felt bad for him last night as he sat behind the bench to witness some truly terrible basketball. I wish I heard him on the radio during the scrimmage - did he talk about the state of WFU basketball or just tell stories about his college/pro career?

Also - I think our pre-game introductions are over-the-top and embarrassing. Just introduce the team and play ball. The balloon-men/motorcycle simply don't work right now (particularly when there are about 500 people in the arena when the game starts). Our program is at a low point, we should just go back to the basics. I've never seen a game won during player introductions. After the hype generated during introductions, the actual performance/product on the court is a real let down. I know the pre-game hoopla was Skip's concept - but when is Bz going to put his mark on the program (other than producing historically bad seasons)?

-22
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i agree with this part
 
TBR said:
When he's in the game he seems to take way too many of shots and most of them are ugly. He had one good shot that I saw tonight (mind you I didn't see the first 5 minutes of the game).

And on defense he's a walking foul.
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Fouled out in only ten minutes of play!?!?!?!?!!? That's got to be some kind of record.
 
deacfreke2 said:
If Loyola doesn't get into foul trouble and start losing guys mid second half, we don't win. Still, our offense is designed to create fouls with dribble penetration and that's what happened.
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While I was there (missed the first 5 minutes of the first half) we never trailed. Loyola was on a nice little run when they started losing guys, but that doesn't mean we wouldn't have hung on.

Also, 22, I'm kind of in agreement. Drop some of the pageantry until we're better. Use it as a motivational tool of sorts (ex: let them set a goal of wins for OOC play. If they meet it then the motorcycle is back for ACC play). Last year it was just kind of sad.
 
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RC hit exactly the right tone, he was very constuctive and positive yet straightforward about areas of improvement needed in individual and team performance. I tend to think star players don't always make the best coaches but I learned a lot by listening to him about game of basketball. Count me in as very impressed.
 
RJKarl said:
We were one point dogs last night. Had we hit FTs we would have had a 20 point win.

Baby steps. It's good that Daniel, Anthony and Daniel got some real minutes. It's good Carson showed some intensity.
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I like the work Carson put in. He's stronger, more intense and his footwork is better. He has a chance to be a very solid player at Wake.
 
As I've said since last March, Carson is the key to this year's team. If he progresses we'll be much more competitive.
 
Coach Bz has done a good job in putting Carson in better position to utilize his skills. Those adjustments such as double teaming in the post and the motion offense really benefit Carson and should help us not lose to the lesser teams.
 
Fuck Your Couch said:
Carson didn't have a huge game but he is giving me hope that he can be a good C for us moving forward.
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Brevin Knight went on and on about Carson being a beast down low on defense. The one possession where he had 3 straight blocks made me misty.
 
TheTwinAndreBen said:
Really liked what I saw out of Fields and Green last night.
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agreed. i was really surprised by both (i was expecting absolutely nothing from green though). fields has a nice pull-up j that should keep defenders honest once he gets a little stronger and can get to the rim.
 
Green was a more fluid athlete than I expected. I was impressed with the one dunk finish he had on the break.

Fields looks like he has more potential than TC to succeed at Wake.

We missed our FTs, but Loyola missed a ton of wide open shots. D was pretty bad at times.
 
deacswin said:
Loyola was better than, at least, 5 teams we lost to last year. Last year, that game would have been a loss.
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I'd prefer not to use the miserableness of last season as a benchmark for any season for Wake Forest basketball. If we must, let us use the seasons when Hale was our PG as comparison, because we were at least competitive those years.

ChrisL68 said:
Per kenpom, Loyola would have been our 3rd best win last year.
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That has nothing to do with how good they are this year, and again, can we please not use last season as a benchmark for any other season in Wake Forest history?

Loyola was not a good basketball team last night. At all.

RJKarl said:
We were one point dogs last night. Had we hit FTs we would have had a 20 point win.

Baby steps. It's good that Daniel, Anthony and Daniel got some real minutes. It's good Carson showed some intensity.
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I'm pretty sure we were 1.5 point favorites, just for the record.

We missed a ton of FTs, but they missed a ton of wide open 3 pointers. I only recall them forcing 1 three and having another 2 with hands in their faces as they shot a 3. They shot 14 three pointers, so you do the math on how many open ones they missed.

DirkTheDeac said:
I like the work Carson put in. He's stronger, more intense and his footwork is better. He has a chance to be a very solid player at Wake.
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Footwork is so much improved, but he still plays too soft for me. He got the ball stripped out of his hands by a guard on a rebound in the first half. That is just unacceptable for a big man. He needs to develop some sort of mean streak and get tough.

buckets said:
agreed. i was really surprised by both (i was expecting absolutely nothing from green though). fields has a nice pull-up j that should keep defenders honest once he gets a little stronger and can get to the rim.
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Fields used that pull up J very well. There was also a point in the first half where TC was wide open for a 3, but knew his limitations so stepped in a step or two and took a 2 pointer instead. He made it. Smart of him to do that, IMO.

seventwofour said:
We missed our FTs, but Loyola missed a ton of wide open shots. D was pretty bad at times.
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The fact that there were 35 combined turnovers spoke more of each team's lack of ability to handle the basketball than each team's intensity and effectiveness on defense.

I'm very happy to get the win, but there is still much room for improvement as that was a poor game of basketball overall.
 
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