2nd DePaul Game
- Thread starter paultzman
- Start date
"Will continue to start"
Oy. Get ready for jalen Reynolds and stainbrook to light us up early if he sticks with this lineup.
DePaul is one thing. Doubt he does it v Xavier, GT, Novas of world. If Obekpa is active, I doubt he sits out first half like Creighton game. My opinion is he will sit for first four or five minutes. Hey, maybe Felix is so happy he convinces his buddy Diallo to come.
beast of the east
Active member
It only matters who finishes. Any minutes you can keep Obekpa off the floor and still hold a lead is gravy. Whenever he begins the second half with 1 foul or less we are in good shape as long as we aren't getting crushed. What Lavin is doing is getting value out of his bench. Balamou gives you less value as a bench player than as a starter, Whereas Obekpa should give you value any time he is on the floor.
redfan259999888
Active member
Lavin better not mess around to much, can afford to lose to DePaul.
DePaul is one thing. Doubt he does it v Xavier, GT, Novas of world. If Obekpa is active, I doubt he sits out first half like Creighton game. My opinion is he will sit for first four or five minutes. Hey, maybe Felix is so happy he convinces his buddy Diallo to come.
Good. I was worried that quote meant he might stick with it even though the teams we are about to play are huge.
Agree it doesn't hurt us against DePaul that much. At the end of the day the first DePaul game was awful, because our players were dealing with DLo being useless for the first time due to injury. Now DLo looks heathy and I expect a better offensive performance as a team.
If our offense is better and we suffocate their shooters, we should win this one.
tom in salem
Well-known member
G'town has to be salivating.
Slow down Garrett's production & we should prevail without too much difficulty.. I was pleased to see Dee rebounding well & a bit quicker. He still doesn't appear to have much lift, but perhaps that will evolve as well. With Dee, Jordan & Dom playing well, DePaul should fall. Then things get very difficult. One at a time!
DePaul is one thing. Doubt he does it v Xavier, GT, Novas of world. If Obekpa is active, I doubt he sits out first half like Creighton game. My opinion is he will sit for first four or five minutes. Hey, maybe Felix is so happy he convinces his buddy Diallo to come.
Good. I was worried that quote meant he might stick with it even though the teams we are about to play are huge.
Agree it doesn't hurt us against DePaul that much. At the end of the day the first DePaul game was awful, because our players were dealing with DLo being useless for the first time due to injury. Now DLo looks heathy and I expect a better offensive performance as a team.
If our offense is better and we suffocate their shooters, we should win this one.
Class of 72
Active member
And you called ME an idiot?
This quote should be nominated for quote of the year!
"What Lavin is doing is getting value out of his bench. Balamou gives you less value as a bench player than as a starter."
It harkens back to last year when his redshirt status was pulled over his eyes and he referenced the stellar practices Felix had, so stellar that he started against Georgetown who proceeded to embarrass us at the Garden. Felix has gotten such a bad case of hemmoroids from sitting on the bench that rather than have him stand at the far end of the bench, the wizard likely figured why not start him to get his rectal blood flowing. Consider this---it is likely we will only win 3 remaining regular Big East games. It is likely we will be under dogs in the other remaining games (I anxiously await Tom posting the spread) and a player that was otherwise buried on the bench will be used for "teaching" moments only our wizard can impart. The only lesson learned by Obekpa here is next time punch a player in the balls and not the head.
beast of the east
Active member
What I'm saying is this: Balamou is not a game changer, but can provide solid minutes on the floor, defending, rebounding, and even blocking a shot here and there. Coming off the bench, he is less than whatever he is replacing. On this team, he may actually solidify the man to man defense. Back in the day the Celtics brought Havlicek off the bench because of how quickly he could alter the flow of the game to the Celtics benefit - more than a Don Nelson or whomever he started in Hondo's place. Now Obekpa is not a Havlicek, but clearly Balamou can provide solid minutes in the rotation. If they don't play well, yank him and go with a better player, but I think given the results on Saturday, Lavin feels he earned the slot - for now.
Avon Barksdale
Member
Ballamou actually had his coming out party against Butler and he led us to the closest we were in the second half when he went on that scoring run (i think we cut it to 7).
Saturday he had no business being on the court IMO.
beast of the east
Active member
Are you saying that after the fact, or had thought that before? I thought before that Amar should have gotten the start and that we were giving up a lot of height. After the fact though, it's hard to argue with the outcome. To merely look at his shooting would be a mistake IMO.
Avon Barksdale
Member
I wouldve started Amar based on his size as well, so i agree with you. Additionally, i wouldve hoped to catch lightning in a bottle with Felix coming off the bench just like the Butler game.
Funny though, we got the lightning in the bottle from Amar off the bench, and it worked out.
I think that Lavin started Felix based on his game vs Butler whereas Amar's overall body of work this year is better and shouldve gotten him the start.
And my original post was just saying that in reality, inserting him into the game as a sub vs Butler, he wasnt "less than what he replaced" (your words) he was actually very very good and brought us as close as we would get.
Class of 72
Active member
Fair enough Beast. I am not a Balamou hater and the kid seems very coachable. Not his fault we have a weak bench.
Ricky Smith
Member
Lose this game and getting an invite to the CBI would be a pleasant surprise
