I don't think anybody could play better than Cody

[salty dog]

from the San Francisco Chronicle

Steve Kroner
Updated 11:48 p.m., Tuesday, December 4, 2012
USF honored one of its greatest ballhandling guards at halftime Tuesday night.

Fittingly enough, the Dons got a virtuoso performance from a ballhandling guard.

Junior Cody Doolin controlled the game against St. John's the way you'd picture Cap Lavin controlling a game 60 years ago. Doolin scored 18 points and dished out a career-high 14 assists as the Dons took apart the Red Storm 81-65.

Doolin has the ball in his hands for a good portion of almost every USF possession. On Tuesday, his decision-making was just about impeccable. He committed all of two turnovers.

"I think Cody could play a better game than Cody played tonight," said swingman De'End Parker, who led the Dons with 21 points, "but I don't think anybody (else) could play better than Cody played tonight."

Doolin helped the Dons (5-1) extend their winning steak to five games. He played 36 hard minutes against a Big East team.

"I got pretty tired at the end of the game, honestly," Doolin admitted.

Someone who could compare Doolin to Cap Lavin is Cap's son, Steve, the St. John's head coach. Steve Lavin said Doolin put on a "Steve Nash-like performance."

Said Lavin: "Cody dictated tempo, orchestrated their offensive attack. He played with great poise and his game was very precise offensively - and I thought he made great reads."

After the Red Storm (6-3) cut what was a 15-point USF lead to three with 7:41 to go, Doolin went to work. In a three-minute stretch, he converted two tough layups, had an assist and hit two foul shots.

USF head coach Rex Walters provides Doolin with plenty of leeway to run the Dons' offense.

"For him as a third-year starter," Walters said, "you kind of give him the keys a little bit early and say, 'Hey, where are we going?' "

After an opening loss to Stanford, the Dons are going in the right direction. Parker admitted facing a Big East team gave him added motivation.

"We know when we play St. John's, you've got to bring your 'A' game," Parker said. "No matter what people say - Oh, it's another game - it's not. You're going to bring a little extra fire into it."

Said Doolin: "That was a pretty fun game for all of us."

Halftime ceremony: The Dons paid tribute to their 1949 NIT title team, their 1955 and '56 NCAA champion teams and Cap Lavin, 82. Cap, a guard in the early 1950s, was inducted into the USF Hall of Fame in 1997.



Read more:http://www.sfgate.com/collegesports...ast-St-John-s-81-65-4091672.php#ixzz2ECk1amQc

 

[L J S A]

I'm going to launch a preemptive strike against Joe3 here and say that it doesn't matter whether he could do it every night in the Big East. he did it against us, and that's all that counts. And if they finish second in the conference, they may sneak into the tournament, and he could absolutely do it against a first round opponent.

 

[tom in salem]

They are better than us, and that's not the end of the world.
We're still a few players short of where everybody wants to be, which makes this year's recruiting paramount.
Jordan and Lawrence are must gets.
We need PG help and a rebounder, and obviously the staff was aware of that.
If everybody of significance returns, we can be pretty good next year.
I think the reason people are so down now is that expectations were set unrealistically high by some.
We lost Harkless.
16-14 was a reasonable expectation for this team based on the deficiendies at hand.
I'd be happy with that.

 

[ras]

Still to early to evaluate this team. The 2010 team looked mediocre in NOV/DEC and look what they did in Jan. We are younger and should improve more. We will also get Branch and hopefully Sanchez. If we get those 2 ,we will be able to play 40 min of hell. Lavin is still experimenting.

 

[Section9]

Still to early to evaluate this team. The 2010 team looked mediocre in NOV/DEC and look what they did in Jan. We are younger and should improve more. We will also get Branch and hopefully Sanchez. If we get those 2 ,we will be able to play 40 min of hell. Lavin is still experimenting.

You're basing your "40 minutes of hell" theory on someone we haven't seen and someone who played less than 1/2 a season of college ball. There are too many people on here who were expecting 20+ wins this year, based on hype about returning/incoming players. The bottom line is this is a team that is lost in the half court offense. Fails to rotate on defense, leading to blow-by dribble penetration and/or wide open looks. Is so enamoured of blocking shots that there is nobody left to rebound, thus leading to many offensive put backs. Doesn't make in-game adjustments well. Sure we've won games on athleticism, but as the BE approaches we'll be facing plenty of skilled/athletic teams.

Last night we got schooled by a team that was not as athletic, but was well coached and had heady players who could hit open shots or break us down of the dribble. When they shut down Dlo we had nobody besides Sampson who could function in the half court offense.

We were beaten in every aspect of the game and our weaknesses were exposed, this team's going to get better but we need to rein in some of the lofty expectations.

 

[1and1sju]

Still to early to evaluate this team. The 2010 team looked mediocre in NOV/DEC and look what they did in Jan. We are younger and should improve more. We will also get Branch and hopefully Sanchez. If we get those 2 ,we will be able to play 40 min of hell. Lavin is still experimenting.

You're basing your "40 minutes of hell" theory on someone we haven't seen and someone who played less than 1/2 a season of college ball. There are too many people on here who were expecting 20+ wins this year, based on hype about returning/incoming players. The bottom line is this is a team that is lost in the half court offense. Fails to rotate on defense, leading to blow-by dribble penetration and/or wide open looks. Is so enamoured of blocking shots that there is nobody left to rebound, thus leading to many offensive put backs. Doesn't make in-game adjustments well. Sure we've won games on athleticism, but as the BE approaches we'll be facing plenty of skilled/athletic teams.

Last night we got schooled by a team that was not as athletic, but was well coached and had heady players who could hit open shots or break us down of the dribble. When they shut down Dlo we had nobody besides Sampson who could function in the half court offense.

We were beaten in every aspect of the game and our weaknesses were exposed, this team's going to get better but we need to rein in some of the lofty expectations.

Excellent, excellent post.

 

[paultzman]

Still to early to evaluate this team. The 2010 team looked mediocre in NOV/DEC and look what they did in Jan. We are younger and should improve more. We will also get Branch and hopefully Sanchez. If we get those 2 ,we will be able to play 40 min of hell. Lavin is still experimenting.

You're basing your "40 minutes of hell" theory on someone we haven't seen and someone who played less than 1/2 a season of college ball. There are too many people on here who were expecting 20+ wins this year, based on hype about returning/incoming players. The bottom line is this is a team that is lost in the half court offense. Fails to rotate on defense, leading to blow-by dribble penetration and/or wide open looks. Is so enamoured of blocking shots that there is nobody left to rebound, thus leading to many offensive put backs. Doesn't make in-game adjustments well. Sure we've won games on athleticism, but as the BE approaches we'll be facing plenty of skilled/athletic teams.

Last night we got schooled by a team that was not as athletic, but was well coached and had heady players who could hit open shots or break us down of the dribble. When they shut down Dlo we had nobody besides Sampson who could function in the half court offense.

We were beaten in every aspect of the game and our weaknesses were exposed, this team's going to get better but we need to rein in some of the lofty expectations.

Super post, right on point!

 

[Moose]

Makes you wonder how he ended up at USF. He sure didnt play like WCC level player last night.

Ironically Lavin mentioned him first during the pre game reception not Parker or Dickerson. Can't help but wonder if we had Branch if he would neutralize him?

 

[mjmaherjr]

I blame all the overhyping on CrGreen and his prediction of 50 wins this season

 

[ras]

Still to early to evaluate this team. The 2010 team looked mediocre in NOV/DEC and look what they did in Jan. We are younger and should improve more. We will also get Branch and hopefully Sanchez. If we get those 2 ,we will be able to play 40 min of hell. Lavin is still experimenting.

You're basing your "40 minutes of hell" theory on someone we haven't seen and someone who played less than 1/2 a season of college ball. There are too many people on here who were expecting 20+ wins this year, based on hype about returning/incoming players. The bottom line is this is a team that is lost in the half court offense. Fails to rotate on defense, leading to blow-by dribble penetration and/or wide open looks. Is so enamoured of blocking shots that there is nobody left to rebound, thus leading to many offensive put backs. Doesn't make in-game adjustments well. Sure we've won games on athleticism, but as the BE approaches we'll be facing plenty of skilled/athletic teams.

Last night we got schooled by a team that was not as athletic, but was well coached and had heady players who could hit open shots or break us down of the dribble. When they shut down Dlo we had nobody besides Sampson who could function in the half court offense.

We were beaten in every aspect of the game and our weaknesses were exposed, this team's going to get better but we need to rein in some of the lofty expectations.

Im not disputing your points. Im just saying the team will improve and the way the team is now we only have CO and Sampson as dependable bigs. If we add Sanchez we will be able to play more aggresive and worry a little less about fouling. The team is to small IMO playing Amir or Dom at the PF. That may be a reason for our rebounding difficiencies. Branch will also provide depth and a true PG which I feel we need. Of course we may never get Sanchez.

 

[Section9]

Still to early to evaluate this team. The 2010 team looked mediocre in NOV/DEC and look what they did in Jan. We are younger and should improve more. We will also get Branch and hopefully Sanchez. If we get those 2 ,we will be able to play 40 min of hell. Lavin is still experimenting.

You're basing your "40 minutes of hell" theory on someone we haven't seen and someone who played less than 1/2 a season of college ball. There are too many people on here who were expecting 20+ wins this year, based on hype about returning/incoming players. The bottom line is this is a team that is lost in the half court offense. Fails to rotate on defense, leading to blow-by dribble penetration and/or wide open looks. Is so enamoured of blocking shots that there is nobody left to rebound, thus leading to many offensive put backs. Doesn't make in-game adjustments well. Sure we've won games on athleticism, but as the BE approaches we'll be facing plenty of skilled/athletic teams.

Last night we got schooled by a team that was not as athletic, but was well coached and had heady players who could hit open shots or break us down of the dribble. When they shut down Dlo we had nobody besides Sampson who could function in the half court offense.

We were beaten in every aspect of the game and our weaknesses were exposed, this team's going to get better but we need to rein in some of the lofty expectations.

Im not disputing your points. Im just saying the team will improve and the way the team is now we only have CO and Sampson as dependable bigs. If we add Sanchez we will be able to play more aggresive and worry a little less about fouling. The team is to small IMO playing Amir or Dom at the PF. That may be a reason for our rebounding difficiencies. Branch will also provide depth and a true PG which I feel we need. Of course we may never get Sanchez.

I don't doubt the team is going to improve over the season, with or without Sanchez. I just don't think we're going to be a team that's going to be able to put 40 minutes of hell on anybody, nor do i think this team is going to win 20 regular season games. When we're on. like SC, we're great, but that's only happened once so far this year, and come January it'll BE time and there will be very few easy games left.