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As we celebrate our depth the bench shot 2/16
If you take away Owens what was it 0-11?
As we celebrate our depth the bench shot 2/16
Sad when Ponds is our leading rebounder
The game was lost in the first half when mass substitutions were made. Our rotation should be
Ponds - 40 minutes
Lovett - 40 minutes
Ahmed - 30 minutes
Yawke - 30 minutes
Sima - 20 minutes
Owens -20 minutes
Mussini - 10 minutes
Ellison - 10 minutes
The game was lost in the first half when mass substitutions were made. Our rotation should be
Ponds - 40 minutes
Lovett - 40 minutes
Ahmed - 30 minutes
Yawke - 30 minutes
Sima - 20 minutes
Owens -20 minutes
Mussini - 10 minutes
Ellison - 10 minutes
Just my takeaways:
Lovett and Ponds are the most dynamic 1-2 punch in the back court we have ever had. But their offense is light years ahead of their defense. Need to deny penetration and fight or slide through screens better.
Thin is not in in college basketball. The entire front court got man handled, especially in the second half. Glad Ochefu graduated.
Not sure about some coaching decisions, including having the 3 small guard offense in the game in the second half, which made life easy for Coffey. He is a talented player, and had a field day with our smaller guards. If Ellison adds value, it has to be defending the bigger guards, not driving into traffic and hurling the ball into the sky. His drives remind me of the late, great Phillip Seymour Hoffman in "Along Came Polly".
The game was lost in the first half when mass substitutions were made. Our rotation should be
Ponds - 40 minutes
Lovett - 40 minutes
Ahmed - 30 minutes
Yawke - 30 minutes
Sima - 20 minutes
Owens -20 minutes
Mussini - 10 minutes
Ellison - 10 minutes
If you combined Ellison and Mussini into one person you would have a perfectly adequate 7th man
1. 23-4 fast break advantage for gophers. Transition defense was awwwful that's the main reason they had that first half monster run.
2. Lovett & Ponds were terrific
3. Mussini was WIDE OPEN numerous times in drives to the basket for kick out!!
4. If you told me we would be 2 possessions down with 5 to go before the game started I would be ok with that.
If we improve on defense as we go along with gaining experience we will win some games .
The game was lost in the first half when mass substitutions were made. Our rotation should be
Ponds - 40 minutes
Lovett - 40 minutes
Ahmed - 30 minutes
Yawke - 30 minutes
Sima - 20 minutes
Owens -20 minutes
Mussini - 10 minutes
Ellison - 10 minutes
If you combined Ellison and Mussini into one person you would have a perfectly adequate 7th man
Both look too slow.
Early, but as good as Ponds & LoVett are, the 3 spot is a position that usually generates some offense. Staff has to figure out how to get someone going there. Hopefully Ahmed is the guy.
Our defense was awful. Transition especially brutal. I would have liked to see us press more and use our depth and speed to our advantage.
Lovett is a dynamic scorer but he's got to move the ball and get others involved. Way too much one on one and blind drives to the basket. Too many quick shots by everyone and no ball movement. Ponds needed more touches after putting up 10 early points he didn't see the ball for long stretches.
Overall that was glorified street ball by both teams. Hope we make major adjustments because Mich St will crush us if we play like that against them.
This was a good game for our young team. They played on the road against a big team with more muscle but could have pulled put a win had it not been for a few unforced turnovers and Malik Ellison 's poor play. He took 6 shots which is 5 more than he should have taken. His only role should have been to guard the Gopher's 6'8 guard who caused the biggest matchup problem in the game. Add to his ineptitude Musso missing his 3 shots and this game is winnable.
Bashir Ahmed, Ponds and Lovett were the only scoring threats and to the guy who said expecting Ponds and Lovett to score double figures was crazy, enjoy your crow this Thanksgiving because without them we lose by 25 points. Having watched Shamorie play in high school I knew he would be a talent above anyone we had last year and Marcus Lovett is a perfect complement to him. Again we saw how raw Sima and Yakwe are offensively and where Brown and Clark will eventually be their respective replacements unless they develop more rapidly. The new AD needs to hire a dedicated nutritionist for the basketball team because we looked malnourished compared to the Gophers.
We will lose a couple of more games but the experience will be valuable for Big East play where I think we will hold our own in most games.
1. 23-4 fast break advantage for gophers. Transition defense was awwwful that's the main reason they had that first half monster run.
2. Lovett & Ponds were terrific
3. Mussini was WIDE OPEN numerous times in drives to the basket for kick out!!
4. If you told me we would be 2 possessions down with 5 to go before the game started I would be ok with that.
If we improve on defense as we go along with gaining experience we will win some games .
all good points. good and bad. I'd give an asterisk to #2. When we started falling apart they both started forcing really early shots with no passing. We look best when we are playing aggressive, full court defense and sharing the ball on offense. Bashir is gonna slash and that is good but they need to work that into the offense without these solo trips where only one or two guys touch the ball.
This was a good game for our young team. They played on the road against a big team with more muscle but could have pulled put a win had it not been for a few unforced turnovers and Malik Ellison 's poor play. He took 6 shots which is 5 more than he should have taken. His only role should have been to guard the Gopher's 6'8 guard who caused the biggest matchup problem in the game. Add to his ineptitude Musso missing his 3 shots and this game is winnable.
Bashir Ahmed, Ponds and Lovett were the only scoring threats and to the guy who said expecting Ponds and Lovett to score double figures was crazy, enjoy your crow this Thanksgiving because without them we lose by 25 points. Having watched Shamorie play in high school I knew he would be a talent above anyone we had last year and Marcus Lovett is a perfect complement to him. Again we saw how raw Sima and Yakwe are offensively and where Brown and Clark will eventually be their respective replacements unless they develop more rapidly. The new AD needs to hire a dedicated nutritionist for the basketball team because we looked malnourished compared to the Gophers.
We will lose a couple of more games but the experience will be valuable for Big East play where I think we will hold our own in most games.
It was me and I thought we'd "bring Ponds along". Not the case. Our guards are top tier. Everybody else is not. Right now it's Lovett, Ponds and a bunch of guys doing nothing. They can't be criticized as far as I'm concerned, 54 points, 5 assists and 10 Rebs among them. Rest of team has some searching to do.
Next season. Simon is moving into SF spot, and Clark and Bashir will man both SF/PF... I agree.
What are the chances that Lovett is not here next year and pulls an Omar Cook? That's my biggest fear after watching these last two games. Very proud of the way this team hung in there in a tough early season game on the road. Add Clark Simon and Brown to this team with an added year of experience and they go from a 17 win team this season to probably a 23 - 24 win top 25 team next year.