Early observations

Though it's been mentioned before, can admnistration break down and buy walk ons the same warmups and uniform as everyone else? It's bad enough having these kids at the end of the bench huddled together with a continental divide between them and the guys who will play. Giving them older warmups does nothing but further isolate them as temps who have little in common with the scholarship players.
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I think it has to do with those walkons not being cleared yet by the NCAA, therefore the different warmup (aka not in uniform). But what confused me was Gerald Rivers was not in uniform and was in those black warmups last night and yet he played last game.

Also it looked like Jeff Ashamole was behind the bench. He was looked pretty big.
 
Though it's been mentioned before, can admnistration break down and buy walk ons the same warmups and uniform as everyone else? It's bad enough having these kids at the end of the bench huddled together with a continental divide between them and the guys who will play. Giving them older warmups does nothing but further isolate them as temps who have little in common with the scholarship players.
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I think it has to do with those walkons not being cleared yet by the NCAA, therefore the different warmup (aka not in uniform). .
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That's exactly what the announcers said at the beginning of the game.
 
Though it's been mentioned before, can admnistration break down and buy walk ons the same warmups and uniform as everyone else? It's bad enough having these kids at the end of the bench huddled together with a continental divide between them and the guys who will play. Giving them older warmups does nothing but further isolate them as temps who have little in common with the scholarship players.
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I think it has to do with those walkons not being cleared yet by the NCAA, therefore the different warmup (aka not in uniform). But what confused me was Gerald Rivers was not in uniform and was in those black warmups last night and yet he played last game.

Also it looked like Jeff Ashamole was behind the bench. He was looked pretty big.
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At this rate, it will take the walk-ons just as long to clear the NCAA as Amir!! IMO, a non-scholarship student should not need NCAA clearance if they are paying their own way and are full-time students in good academic standing at a school.
 
depth will be an issue as we all know but I like what I see. Especially Pointer and Nuri. Harkless appears to be worth the hype. GGs hands, foot work and speed are a pleasant surprise as is his BE ready body. Pointer too. Greene seems to be a Wild Card to me. Harrison will need to knock down his shot. Stith will need to be a steadying presence. Need Amir and + 1 would be huge. Pelle specifically. I am looking forward to the season. I know there will be ups and downs but it only took me watching the Post game and talking to some friends who were at the St Marys game to see and know that there is major talent here.

Let's get this started. I think what you will see in Feb will be a completely different product than Nov. 
 
Seems as I'm one of the few that gets ESPN3.
Anyway, heading into next week's first real game:

Gift is so impressive.
Best center we've had since Ty.
Mo, Dom, Greene, Harrison as good as advertised
Lindsey is so disappointing.
I expected Smoosh Parker from what I had heard/read.
Not getting Kyle Anderson was more critical than I had ever thought.
Youth shows in defensive lapses and intensity but that will improve with time.
I really hope these guys stay healthy and Amir is here in 5 weeks.
I expect a long season but as Lav said, it was going to take 3 years.
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Tom, I was at the game and to me it was Harrison that was disappointing in this game. His shooting and defense were shaky and he, more than any SJ player, looked like a true freshman last night.
Thank God we landed God's Gift is all I can say as this kid is a MAN!
Perimeter defense was non-existant. That seemed to be a coach's decision as no adjustments were made to stop Spencer and LaGuerre when they touched the ball.
Shoot 50% FT and they got to the line 44 times! That does not bode well for BE play where, in a game like this, they could have lost by 20 points or more. No one is guarding you on the line!! That is freshman lack of concentration.
Not sure why folks think it was a good crowd. It seemed like only the students showed up and without them CA would have been a morgue. These exhibition games should be FREE for all students and staff!!
 
 People are a bit too down on what is essentially half of a roster comprised of all freshmen after two wins. Certainly they need a lot of work, but it seems at many don't remember the Jarvis and Norm year where we'd go 15 minutes without being able to buy a basket. Now that was truly horrible ball. On a very poor shooting night with a young team we are putting up between 77-100 ppg, regardless of the competition and that is a big positive. The defense will come with time and practice as will the Ft shooting, All young teams have shooting woes. I think peopl have become a bit spoiled, expecting us to be perfect every time out, but we have w looong way to go to get up to steam. Give these young kids time. 

I'll reiterate that adding Amir is really important for this team not only for this seson's depth and talent, but for next season and beyond. Hopefully all goes smoothly and he is practicing in a few weeks and in the rotation.
 
 People are a bit too down on what is essentially half of a roster comprised of all freshmen after two wins. Certainly they need a lot of work, but it seems at many don't remember the Jarvis and Norm year where we'd go 15 minutes without being able to buy a basket. Now that was truly horrible ball. On a very poor shooting night with a young team we are putting up between 77-100 ppg, regardless of the competition and that is a big positive. The defense will come with time and practice as will the Ft shooting, All young teams have shooting woes. I think peopl have become a bit spoiled, expecting us to be perfect every time out, but we have w looong way to go to get up to steam. Give these young kids time. 

I'll reiterate that adding Amir is really important for this team not only for this seson's depth and talent, but for next season and beyond. Hopefully all goes smoothly and he is practicing in a few weeks and in the rotation.
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Agreed 100%
 
Seems as I'm one of the few that gets ESPN3.
Anyway, heading into next week's first real game:

Gift is so impressive.
Best center we've had since Ty.
Mo, Dom, Greene, Harrison as good as advertised
Lindsey is so disappointing.
I expected Smoosh Parker from what I had heard/read.
Not getting Kyle Anderson was more critical than I had ever thought.
Youth shows in defensive lapses and intensity but that will improve with time.
I really hope these guys stay healthy and Amir is here in 5 weeks.
I expect a long season but as Lav said, it was going to take 3 years.
Click to expand...
 

Tom, I was at the game and to me it was Harrison that was disappointing in this game. His shooting and defense were shaky and he, more than any SJ player, looked like a true freshman last night.
Thank God we landed God's Gift is all I can say as this kid is a MAN!
Perimeter defense was non-existant. That seemed to be a coach's decision as no adjustments were made to stop Spencer and LaGuerre when they touched the ball.
Shoot 50% FT and they got to the line 44 times! That does not bode well for BE play where, in a game like this, they could have lost by 20 points or more. No one is guarding you on the line!! That is freshman lack of concentration.
Not sure why folks think it was a good crowd. It seemed like only the students showed up and without them CA would have been a morgue. These exhibition games should be FREE for all students and staff!!
Click to expand...
 

If our guys like Harrison are "disappointing" with 12 points and 5 Rebs, then we will be fine down the stretch. No, he didn't torch the nets with 75% from 3 nor lockdown defense, but we must temper expectations a bit. To me 2 points and 3 T/O's might have been a disappointing stat line. Not 12 points and 5 boards. Remember, good defense will come in time. The fact that we have any freshmen scoring double digits is a feat in and of itself, nonetheless kids double-doubling in their first outings. Most of these kids played no defense their entire HS career. 
 
Not sure why folks think it was a good crowd. It seemed like only the students showed up and without them CA would have been a morgue. These exhibition games should be FREE for all students and staff!!
Click to expand...
 

Agree about the crowd. It was less than the 1st game. However yesterday was a Holy Day so school was not in session. Still a pretty good student turnout. It was less of the other fans. 
 
 People are a bit too down on what is essentially half of a roster comprised of all freshmen after two wins. Certainly they need a lot of work, but it seems at many don't remember the Jarvis and Norm year where we'd go 15 minutes without being able to buy a basket. Now that was truly horrible ball. On a very poor shooting night with a young team we are putting up between 77-100 ppg, regardless of the competition and that is a big positive. The defense will come with time and practice as will the Ft shooting, All young teams have shooting woes. I think peopl have become a bit spoiled, expecting us to be perfect every time out, but we have w looong way to go to get up to steam. Give these young kids time. 

I'll reiterate that adding Amir is really important for this team not only for this seson's depth and talent, but for next season and beyond. Hopefully all goes smoothly and he is practicing in a few weeks and in the rotation.
Click to expand...
 

Agreed 100%
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also agree. Since we have not picked up a true center Pelle looms large making this team more tha competitive
 
Seems as I'm one of the few that gets ESPN3.
Anyway, heading into next week's first real game:

Gift is so impressive.
Best center we've had since Ty.
Mo, Dom, Greene, Harrison as good as advertised
Lindsey is so disappointing.
I expected Smoosh Parker from what I had heard/read.
Not getting Kyle Anderson was more critical than I had ever thought.
Youth shows in defensive lapses and intensity but that will improve with time.
I really hope these guys stay healthy and Amir is here in 5 weeks.
I expect a long season but as Lav said, it was going to take 3 years.
Click to expand...
 


Tom, I was at the game and to me it was Harrison that was disappointing in this game. His shooting and defense were shaky and he, more than any SJ player, looked like a true freshman last night.
Thank God we landed God's Gift is all I can say as this kid is a MAN!
Perimeter defense was non-existant. That seemed to be a coach's decision as no adjustments were made to stop Spencer and LaGuerre when they touched the ball.
Shoot 50% FT and they got to the line 44 times! That does not bode well for BE play where, in a game like this, they could have lost by 20 points or more. No one is guarding you on the line!! That is freshman lack of concentration.
Not sure why folks think it was a good crowd. It seemed like only the students showed up and without them CA would have been a morgue. These exhibition games should be FREE for all students and staff!!
Click to expand...
 

If our guys like Harrison are "disappointing" with 12 points and 5 Rebs, then we will be fine down the stretch. No, he didn't torch the nets with 75% from 3 nor lockdown defense, but we must temper expectations a bit. To me 2 points and 3 T/O's might have been a disappointing stat line. Not 12 points and 5 boards. Remember, good defense will come in time. The fact that we have any freshmen scoring double digits is a feat in and of itself, nonetheless kids double-doubling in their first outings. Most of these kids played no defense their entire HS career. 
Click to expand...
 

Harrison was used to hoisting how many shots a game in HS. He has to adjust now to still putting up points with a lot less looks. Not saying he's a ball hog and needs to shoot all those times, but it will take a bit to adjust to that. Again I refer back to the first 5 games of last year and the numbers Hardy put up. Sometimes shooters take some time to get out of a funk and go on a tear. I do think he's rushing he's shot. You watch video from last year and he is not that quick to the trigger.
 
 People are a bit too down on what is essentially half of a roster comprised of all freshmen after two wins. Certainly they need a lot of work, but it seems at many don't remember the Jarvis and Norm year where we'd go 15 minutes without being able to buy a basket. Now that was truly horrible ball. On a very poor shooting night with a young team we are putting up between 77-100 ppg, regardless of the competition and that is a big positive. The defense will come with time and practice as will the Ft shooting, All young teams have shooting woes. I think peopl have become a bit spoiled, expecting us to be perfect every time out, but we have w looong way to go to get up to steam. Give these young kids time. 

I'll reiterate that adding Amir is really important for this team not only for this seson's depth and talent, but for next season and beyond. Hopefully all goes smoothly and he is practicing in a few weeks and in the rotation.
Click to expand...
 

Good post, MCN. I watched Arizona play last night (versus Humboldt State), and they were in another fight until the last 5-6 minutes of the game. They were actually down by 14 early in the game.

They've lost key cogs in Williams and MoMo and you can see the team trying to find their way. We're talking about top 15 team in D-1. They seem to be having trouble in their man-to-man and post defense. Not to mention, they didn't seem to shoot the ball that well behind the arc.

It doesn't mean 'Zona is gonna be pedestrian-like as the season progresses. It means they probably have a ways to go before they are a finished product. I still believe they'll win their share of games and end up being an NCAA tourney team. I don't believe we'll be go dancing, but I do believe we're capable of winning 17 games.

Some folks are kinda quick to scurrying towards the ledge. Let's see how things play out for the next 2 1/2 months.
 
Most of these kids played no defense their entire HS career. 
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This was mentioned by the color analyst (can't remember his name at the moment) during the Humboldt State/Arizona game on last night. I was in total agreeance.

Pointer is certainly way ahead of the curve when it comes to being a defender. He and Garrett probably would wreak havoc at the top of our zone. We already got a taste what Pointer is capable of doing.
 
[

If our guys like Harrison are "disappointing" with 12 points and 5 Rebs, then we will be fine down the stretch. No, he didn't torch the nets with 75% from 3 nor lockdown defense, but we must temper expectations a bit. To me 2 points and 3 T/O's might have been a disappointing stat line. Not 12 points and 5 boards. Remember, good defense will come in time. The fact that we have any freshmen scoring double digits is a feat in and of itself, nonetheless kids double-doubling in their first outings. Most of these kids played no defense their entire HS career. 
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MCNPA while I agree, it was only my commentary for this particular game re. Harrison. The two non-scholarship St. Mary's kids had better strokes and LaGuerre is a frosh! Spencer shot 38% on treys last year so coaches should have had him better guarded. Allowing 13 three pointers by a D3 team is unheard of! What I observed was a lack of depth if Moe sits. We become the smallest and youngest team in the Big East when that happens. This team will take some serious lumps this year as a result. With some size next year they will be tremendous.
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 Guess Freshmen will be Freshmen, Even the greatest likeJordan did not set the world on fire at the beginning of his college career
Stil like the team feel we have a big up side . If we get 500 out of big east games will be happy. If we get pelle
things it will be a new ballgame Just going to enjoy their play and enthusiasm
 
Not sure why folks think it was a good crowd. It seemed like only the students showed up and without them CA would have been a morgue. These exhibition games should be FREE for all students and staff!!
Click to expand...
 

Agree about the crowd. It was less than the 1st game. However yesterday was a Holy Day so school was not in session. Still a pretty good student turnout. It was less of the other fans. 
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Thank God there are 3000 students living in dorms! There would have been less than 500 folks at the game! You just cannot charge any student for an exhibition game. To me it is immoral!!
 
Not sure why folks think it was a good crowd. It seemed like only the students showed up and without them CA would have been a morgue. These exhibition games should be FREE for all students and staff!!
Click to expand...
 

Agree about the crowd. It was less than the 1st game. However yesterday was a Holy Day so school was not in session. Still a pretty good student turnout. It was less of the other fans. 
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Thank God there are 3000 students living in dorms! There would have been less than 500 folks at the game! You just cannot charge any student for an exhibition game. To me it is immoral!!
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Personally I would tack on an activity fee 100-150 bucks to their tuition which many schools do and like you said then offer free admission for students.
 
[Harrison was used to hoisting how many shots a game in HS. He has to adjust now to still putting up points with a lot less looks. Not saying he's a ball hog and needs to shoot all those times, but it will take a bit to adjust to that. Again I refer back to the first 5 games of last year and the numbers Hardy put up. Sometimes shooters take some time to get out of a funk and go on a tear. I do think he's rushing he's shot. You watch video from last year and he is not that quick to the trigger.[/quote] 

Great point; the adjustment for freshman is in the speed of the game and that is especially so for shooters; Harrison will be fine.
 
 Guess Freshmen will be Freshmen, Even the greatest likeJordan did not set the world on fire at the beginning of his college career
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That's only because Dean Smith wouldn't let him! If he went to any other school, Jordan would have been national player of the year as a freshman.

But yes, it takes most freshman time to adjust, not only to the college game, but to their new college lives as well, so it's a double adjustment.
 
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