Bucknell game

Still wondering about Marco and Max? There will be some games this year, Syracuse certainly,where a 3 pt threat needs to be in the lineup for some period of time..Even as a decoy.

We clearly need that for the BE schedule too.. I'm thinking Lavin doesn't have a plan for these 2 guys, except maybe from desperation or blow outs.

One way or the other...Nobody who has played so far will strike fear into any opponent with their 3 pt range.. Jordan has a good stroke but, if he's distributing, he'll be looking for the 3 pt shooter, not taking it himself but, rarely.

I think many of us were hoping this season that Steve would build a 3 pt rotation somewhere..Well, it's been invisible ..
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Marco is a total bust and wont see any significant minutes. (besides garbage time)
Hooper will play limited minutes depending on the match-up. Or in a situation when we desperately need 3's.
Also, please remember that we are currently playing a 9 man rotation (without Marco or Hooper) Most teams play 8. We just don't have space for Hooper right now.
 
Any theories out there as to why our ultra-athletic players continue to be broken down via the dribble by seemingly slower players?
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They weren't consistently moving their feet or just getting lost altogether in man defense. Defense is also a mindset. Just because one is athletic doesn't necessarily make them a good defender. Not to mention, quite a few of these kids aren't properly taught how to play sound man defense in high school and AAU (AAU is where they tend to pick up poor habits).

We also made runs in the first and second half while playing man. They just didn't play it consistently enough, hence the switch to zone. I also believe the switch to zone was to see how Bucknell would react to it. They seemed befuddled, as they were being funneled to the basket to have their shots swatted or altered.
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Good points, as always. But aren't enough of our players removed from AAU that those bad habits should no longer be an excuse? And shouldn't a defensive mindset be drilled into the players by the coaches?
 
Jamal Branch throwing a half court alley oop 13 seconds before halftime speaks volumes.

I want to like Branch. But the basketball IQ simply is not there.
 
It was frustrating to watch three quarters of the game when you think it was top 100 guys against a team that's in a league that doesn't give out scholarships. On the other hand, Bucknell is really good and well coached.

Unfortunately for them, so are we. Kudos for Lavin and crew.

Kudos also for Greene IV, who's taken his share of crap from posters including yours truly. We'll see how many games it'll take before he's back in the doghouse. Hopefully, he's arrived.

This was a good win against a team that's far from being a cupcake.
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Bucknell Players are scholarship players, 13 of them to be exact. They aren't in the Ivy league.
 
I think the biggest takeaway from last night was that Sampson and Obekpa are in no way ready to even be considered for the draft. If I was an NBA GM, I wouldn’t even invite Sampson to the summer league--forget about spending a second rounder on him. Obekpa is probably 2-4 years away from being of any use to an NBA team.
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That was your biggest takeaway? Interesting.. Obekpa was a defensive force and changed the game. Even showed a power post move and rebounded well.

The thought of our guys and the NBA never crossed my mind during or after the game, but was your biggest takeaway, huh?
 
Any theories out there as to why our ultra-athletic players continue to be broken down via the dribble by seemingly slower players?
Click to expand...

They weren't consistently moving their feet or just getting lost altogether in man defense. Defense is also a mindset. Just because one is athletic doesn't necessarily make them a good defender. Not to mention, quite a few of these kids aren't properly taught how to play sound man defense in high school and AAU (AAU is where they tend to pick up poor habits).

We also made runs in the first and second half while playing man. They just didn't play it consistently enough, hence the switch to zone. I also believe the switch to zone was to see how Bucknell would react to it. They seemed befuddled, as they were being funneled to the basket to have their shots swatted or altered.
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Good points, as always. But aren't enough of our players removed from AAU that those bad habits should no longer be an excuse? And shouldn't a defensive mindset be drilled into the players by the coaches?
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Not necessarily. Even moreso, considering we've just truly started playing man defense in games since they've been at St. John's. I heard Duke's man defense was shredded last night by East Carolina. They have lots of experience on their team, as well (and, play man all the time). Duke's man defense might slip a notch now that they can't ride a player once he's past midcourt any longer.

A defensive mindset also comes from within. But I also believe the coaches have done a good job drilling the players, defensively. The man defense is still a work in progress (you can see they are coming along). You also saw how far they've come in the zone. I was like, 'Who's these guys?!' The zone defense had Bucknell all out of sorts. They were done once when we went zone.
 
I think many of us were hoping this season that Steve would build a 3 pt rotation somewhere..Well, it's been invisible ..
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This season is also only 3 games old.
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So ? Think it will appear next game, next semester, next year?
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Not sure when it'll appear. But I know I'm not absolutely basing what's gonna happen this season after 3 outings.
 
A couple of thoughts...

1) It was entirely foreseeable to anyone who was paying attention that there would be little or no playing time available for Max and Marco, so stop whining about not seeing them out there. There just are only so many minutes available, and D'angelo is locked in at 30+ as your shooting guard. And, the two of them just aren't good enough to take minutes away from Dom, Jordan, Phil etc.
We don't need a three-point rotation, we need our normal starters (who also contribute by playing defense, passing, and dribbling) to hit their shots when they take open 3's. Harrison, Sanchez, Greene, Jordan, even Dom can hit 3's if they set their feet and square up. None of them are going to shoot 40%, but that's ok.
Our shooting issues need to be solved by those guys getting set and taking shots that are in rhythm.


2) I don't think Jamal Branch is as limited as most people apparently think. The alley-oop was ill advised, but the truth is Sampson was open and their timing was just a bit off. Branch is the fastest guy on the team, our best man to man defender, and probably the best ball handler on the team. He definitely has an important role to play, and I would not be surprised at all if he were to break out in the next month.
Everyone says they see skill in Sanchez and Jordan, but they're off to slow starts; the same could be said for Branch.
 
1) It was entirely foreseeable to anyone who was paying attention that there would be little or no playing time available for Max and Marco, so stop whining about not seeing them out there.
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Especially, after every game.
 
Maybe I missed something. Everyone is asking why we didn't pound the ball inside. CO and, to a lesser extent, Orlando both tried to post up but Bucknell's zone collapsed inside and really took away any interior scoring. They gave us open jumpers that we consistently missed until Phil caught fire. If we tried to force the ball inside, it would have reaulted in turnovers. Teams know that we are not a good shooting team and Bucknell did a good job taking away the inside post up game and clogging the driving lanes.
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So you are basically saying that we are doomed against the Syracuse zone which is the best in the nation and to sell our tickets to Cuse fans.
Do you really think that a post up move is the only offenseive play against a zone as an interior play? We lack spacing and ball movement. Sampson, Greene, Harrison and Pointer are three years out of high school and Sanchez is going on 25. We need to play with smarts and we are not. I suggest you watch a tape of the Syracuse-St. Francis game to see how Braicca prepared for the "zone".
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I have no idea what St. Francis did against Syracuse. Neither am I suggesting we are doomed against them. My point is that the defense last night packed it inside, took away the entry pass and allowed us to shoot mid-range to long jumpers. Unfortunately, we missed many. On another night, Dlo may hit 10 out of 15 and we win easily. Syracuse's 2-3 doesn't necessarily take away the interior. If anything, imo, they defend the exterior real well (at least in the past) due to their length in the backcourt. I think the best way to attack Cuse is to put a big in the high post just inside the foul line for the entry pass and for him to look for cutters on the baseline. I don't know how good their bigs are defensively this year but I would attack them on the interior rather than from the outside. I would also look to drive into the paint and look for the open man if a defender comes to help.
 
A couple of thoughts...

1) It was entirely foreseeable to anyone who was paying attention that there would be little or no playing time available for Max and Marco, so stop whining about not seeing them out there. There just are only so many minutes available, and D'angelo is locked in at 30+ as your shooting guard. And, the two of them just aren't good enough to take minutes away from Dom, Jordan, Phil etc.
We don't need a three-point rotation, we need our normal starters (who also contribute by playing defense, passing, and dribbling) to hit their shots when they take open 3's. Harrison, Sanchez, Greene, Jordan, even Dom can hit 3's if they set their feet and square up. None of them are going to shoot 40%, but that's ok.
Our shooting issues need to be solved by those guys getting set and taking shots that are in rhythm.


2) I don't think Jamal Branch is as limited as most people apparently think. The alley-oop was ill advised, but the truth is Sampson was open and their timing was just a bit off. Branch is the fastest guy on the team, our best man to man defender, and probably the best ball handler on the team. He definitely has an important role to play, and I would not be surprised at all if he were to break out in the next month.
Everyone says they see skill in Sanchez and Jordan, but they're off to slow starts; the same could be said for Branch.
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" Branch is the fastest guy on the team."
?????????????????????
Not even close.
 
A couple of thoughts...

2) I don't think Jamal Branch is as limited as most people apparently think. The alley-oop was ill advised, but the truth is Sampson was open and their timing was just a bit off. Branch is the fastest guy on the team, our best man to man defender, and probably the best ball handler on the team. He definitely has an important role to play, and I would not be surprised at all if he were to break out in the next month.
Everyone says they see skill in Sanchez and Jordan, but they're off to slow starts; the same could be said for Branch.
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Great post.
 
A couple of thoughts...

1) It was entirely foreseeable to anyone who was paying attention that there would be little or no playing time available for Max and Marco, so stop whining about not seeing them out there. There just are only so many minutes available, and D'angelo is locked in at 30+ as your shooting guard. And, the two of them just aren't good enough to take minutes away from Dom, Jordan, Phil etc.
We don't need a three-point rotation, we need our normal starters (who also contribute by playing defense, passing, and dribbling) to hit their shots when they take open 3's. Harrison, Sanchez, Greene, Jordan, even Dom can hit 3's if they set their feet and square up. None of them are going to shoot 40%, but that's ok.
Our shooting issues need to be solved by those guys getting set and taking shots that are in rhythm.


2) I don't think Jamal Branch is as limited as most people apparently think. The alley-oop was ill advised, but the truth is Sampson was open and their timing was just a bit off. Branch is the fastest guy on the team, our best man to man defender, and probably the best ball handler on the team. He definitely has an important role to play, and I would not be surprised at all if he were to break out in the next month.
Everyone says they see skill in Sanchez and Jordan, but they're off to slow starts; the same could be said for Branch.
Click to expand...

" Branch is the fastest guy on the team."
?????????????????????
Not even close.
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And Dom is the best man-to-man defender on the squad
 
A couple of thoughts...

1) It was entirely foreseeable to anyone who was paying attention that there would be little or no playing time available for Max and Marco, so stop whining about not seeing them out there. There just are only so many minutes available, and D'angelo is locked in at 30+ as your shooting guard. And, the two of them just aren't good enough to take minutes away from Dom, Jordan, Phil etc.
We don't need a three-point rotation, we need our normal starters (who also contribute by playing defense, passing, and dribbling) to hit their shots when they take open 3's. Harrison, Sanchez, Greene, Jordan, even Dom can hit 3's if they set their feet and square up. None of them are going to shoot 40%, but that's ok.
Our shooting issues need to be solved by those guys getting set and taking shots that are in rhythm.


2) I don't think Jamal Branch is as limited as most people apparently think. The alley-oop was ill advised, but the truth is Sampson was open and their timing was just a bit off. Branch is the fastest guy on the team, our best man to man defender, and probably the best ball handler on the team. He definitely has an important role to play, and I would not be surprised at all if he were to break out in the next month.
Everyone says they see skill in Sanchez and Jordan, but they're off to slow starts; the same could be said for Branch.
Click to expand...

" Branch is the fastest guy on the team."
?????????????????????
Not even close.
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Sir Dom
 
It was frustrating to watch three quarters of the game when you think it was top 100 guys against a team that's in a league that doesn't give out scholarships. On the other hand, Bucknell is really good and well coached.

Unfortunately for them, so are we. Kudos for Lavin and crew.

Kudos also for Greene IV, who's taken his share of crap from posters including yours truly. We'll see how many games it'll take before he's back in the doghouse. Hopefully, he's arrived.

This was a good win against a team that's far from being a cupcake.
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Bucknell Players are scholarship players, 13 of them to be exact. They aren't in the Ivy league.
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My brother was a wrestler and went to Colgate [Patriot league, same as Bucknell]. They didn't give athletic scholis, but they gave financial aid. Cost him the equivilant of a state school.
 
It's not out of order to ask a legitimate question about a 3 pt game in our arsenal. I can recall many posters last season, heralding the shooting of Hooper as the missing ingredient in our offensive game plan.. That was based on his shooting in practices and scrimmages..

Many of you , who cook up their own game plans on offense and defense, to suit their agenda of posting kept insisting he was the real deal,etc.

I'm not picking on Hooper but, rather those soothsayers who , made those comments and you know who you are.... I hope he gets the chance at some point this year because we aren't a contending team, without better outside shooting ...Which means getting 3 or 4 3's to drop regularly in most games. Hooper doesn't have to do anything else for this team but, create the impression he can shoot 3's.. I doubt he can do it from the bench..

It doesn't matter if its' only 3 games into the season...Outside shooting is the weak link in this team. It is and will continue to be a exploitable component over the long haul..
 
The benefit of the zone was it stopped all the back-doors and blow bys for easy inside layups.
if Laving doesn't make that switch, we don't beat these guys tonight.
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I know we were over playing perimeter shooting, but was still surprised at how easy the Bison was putting it on the floor and getting to the rim. CO was not good at help D out of the man, but was a big help when we were in zone. I get the idea our guys hit the court thinking they can win without busting ass. When the light goes off they got to play their hardest for 40 minutes they might get somewhere. They have cruise control, and desperate mode. Am I seeing it right?
 
A couple of thoughts...
2) I don't think Jamal Branch is as limited as most people apparently think. The alley-oop was ill advised, but the truth is Sampson was open and their timing was just a bit off. Branch is the fastest guy on the team, our best man to man defender, and probably the best ball handler on the team. He definitely has an important role to play, and I would not be surprised at all if he were to break out in the next month.
Everyone says they see skill in Sanchez and Jordan, but they're off to slow starts; the same could be said for Branch.
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I hope you are right. I've only seen a flash or two and am surprised to hear all of the superlatives: "fastest" "best man defender" "best ball handler"
 
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