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(POST GAME) @Georgetown (CAP ONE), Wed. Jan. 8, 6:30p, FS-1 / 970 AM
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Lambsbball
Member
LJ and Dunn were the most productive in this tough game. Earlington did ok with 6 rebounds, 8 points and 25 minutes.
The other guys have to step up if this team has any success. The Johnnies need to win at least 5 conference games. It won't be easy. But there's still a lot of basketball to play.
LJ 5 rebounds 2 assists 23 points 34 minutes
Dunn 9 rebounds 4 assists 18 points 32 minutes
The other guys have to step up if this team has any success. The Johnnies need to win at least 5 conference games. It won't be easy. But there's still a lot of basketball to play.
LJ 5 rebounds 2 assists 23 points 34 minutes
Dunn 9 rebounds 4 assists 18 points 32 minutes
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Play of the night, Heron tries to drill a pass to Roberts, in between 3 defenders, on a semi fast break. Too bad it got picked off, cause the thought of Roberts maybe catching that at about the foul line leads me to think hilarity would have ensued.
Earlington still chunking up jumpers, CHUCKING indeed.
Sears getting manhandled under the basket by a guy half his size, yikes.
Not that it mattered, but at one point in the first half, Johnnies with 11 fouls called against them, Gtown 3, c'mon! In part thanks to drama queen Mclung, getting elbowed in the face by the air.
Earlington still chunking up jumpers, CHUCKING indeed.
Sears getting manhandled under the basket by a guy half his size, yikes.
Not that it mattered, but at one point in the first half, Johnnies with 11 fouls called against them, Gtown 3, c'mon! In part thanks to drama queen Mclung, getting elbowed in the face by the air.
[quote="Boo Harvey" post=371441][quote="mjmaherjr" post=371399][quote="SJU61982" post=371398]Might be best for all involved, to just say goodbye to Heron right now, and wish him luck in the future. If he's not going to come out of this, then as a senior, what's the point of keeping him around? .[/quote] What ????????????????????????????????????[/quote]
Silly comment. Heron is, by all accounts, a good kid and a wonderful representative of the school who has worked hard to become a leader. Kid is in a funk. Much different situation than Akinjo. The only chance we have to salvage a productive season is to get Heron right. I believe he's capable of being a solid contributor, if not a star. Perhaps I'm in the minority now.[/quote]
Agreed. The man is in a slump. We’ve all been there. We handle it by going to a bar and finding a slump buster at 2 am.
Find this gentleman a nice, Rubenesque slump buster. (For free...no Pittsburgh repeat).
Soon enough, his stroke will return. Perhaps he may even see a light, at the end of the tunnel.
Silly comment. Heron is, by all accounts, a good kid and a wonderful representative of the school who has worked hard to become a leader. Kid is in a funk. Much different situation than Akinjo. The only chance we have to salvage a productive season is to get Heron right. I believe he's capable of being a solid contributor, if not a star. Perhaps I'm in the minority now.[/quote]
Agreed. The man is in a slump. We’ve all been there. We handle it by going to a bar and finding a slump buster at 2 am.
Find this gentleman a nice, Rubenesque slump buster. (For free...no Pittsburgh repeat).
Soon enough, his stroke will return. Perhaps he may even see a light, at the end of the tunnel.
[quote="Porgyman" post=371457][quote="Boo Harvey" post=371441][quote="mjmaherjr" post=371399][quote="SJU61982" post=371398]Might be best for all involved, to just say goodbye to Heron right now, and wish him luck in the future. If he's not going to come out of this, then as a senior, what's the point of keeping him around? .[/quote] What ????????????????????????????????????[/quote]
Silly comment. Heron is, by all accounts, a good kid and a wonderful representative of the school who has worked hard to become a leader. Kid is in a funk. Much different situation than Akinjo. The only chance we have to salvage a productive season is to get Heron right. I believe he's capable of being a solid contributor, if not a star. Perhaps I'm in the minority now.[/quote]
Agreed. The man is in a slump. We’ve all been there. We handle it by going to a bar and finding a slump buster at 2 am.
Find this gentleman a nice, Rubenesque slump buster. (For free...no Pittsburgh repeat).
Soon enough, his stroke will return. Perhaps he may even see a light, at the end of the tunnel.[/quote]
At what point is he not having a slump? At what point is he just having a bad season? And, at what point are we not doing justice to him, by keeping him out there all the time? Because, it seems like the more he plays, the more his confidence goes down.
Silly comment. Heron is, by all accounts, a good kid and a wonderful representative of the school who has worked hard to become a leader. Kid is in a funk. Much different situation than Akinjo. The only chance we have to salvage a productive season is to get Heron right. I believe he's capable of being a solid contributor, if not a star. Perhaps I'm in the minority now.[/quote]
Agreed. The man is in a slump. We’ve all been there. We handle it by going to a bar and finding a slump buster at 2 am.
Find this gentleman a nice, Rubenesque slump buster. (For free...no Pittsburgh repeat).
Soon enough, his stroke will return. Perhaps he may even see a light, at the end of the tunnel.[/quote]
At what point is he not having a slump? At what point is he just having a bad season? And, at what point are we not doing justice to him, by keeping him out there all the time? Because, it seems like the more he plays, the more his confidence goes down.
QueensBall
Member
That was a rough one. Definitely puts a damper on the season and it's a bad enough loss to convince me to recalibrate expectations back to what they were pre-season: the cellar.
I agree this seems beyond a slump for Heron however I don't think there's a better option on this team than hoping that he can break out of it. Heron can shoot. We've seen it. He had the same 3pt % as Markus Howard last season (although he probably took about half as many) That's undeniably good. Something seems wrong mentally. There's just been a loss of confidence. It's sad but by all accounts he's a great kid who I'll be rooting for even if I complain along the way.
I'm glad to hear Anderson accepted responsibility for the way they came out. I was upset about that and just hearing the guy acknowledge his role in this direct of a way was appreciated. I've always been a believer that part of a coach's job is making sure his team is ready to go from the jump so it's only fair I apply that standard to the team I root for. If it was just our normal poor shooting I'd say that Anderson can't shoot for them but this was something else on top of that. We just looked unfocused, clumsy and not up for the moment. I also am completely on board with him benching Roberts and Champagnie like that. No free rides. They're still young players and they got plenty of love early on. Can't coast. Good for coach to shake things up a bit. We're not good enough for guys to feel comfortable.
I agree this seems beyond a slump for Heron however I don't think there's a better option on this team than hoping that he can break out of it. Heron can shoot. We've seen it. He had the same 3pt % as Markus Howard last season (although he probably took about half as many) That's undeniably good. Something seems wrong mentally. There's just been a loss of confidence. It's sad but by all accounts he's a great kid who I'll be rooting for even if I complain along the way.
I'm glad to hear Anderson accepted responsibility for the way they came out. I was upset about that and just hearing the guy acknowledge his role in this direct of a way was appreciated. I've always been a believer that part of a coach's job is making sure his team is ready to go from the jump so it's only fair I apply that standard to the team I root for. If it was just our normal poor shooting I'd say that Anderson can't shoot for them but this was something else on top of that. We just looked unfocused, clumsy and not up for the moment. I also am completely on board with him benching Roberts and Champagnie like that. No free rides. They're still young players and they got plenty of love early on. Can't coast. Good for coach to shake things up a bit. We're not good enough for guys to feel comfortable.
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beast of the east
Active member
The sky isn't falling. I've posted multiple times that the goal would be 5 or 6 conference wins this season, and if we got to 7 it would be exceptional. Four would be disappointing.
Although the wins vs. Arizona and WVU are encouraging, I've maintained that we cannot accurately assess this team until we play half a dozen big east games. All still the case.
This was a road loss to Georgetown , and i think we will beat them at home.
It's a long season. You grind out wins one at a time. CMA is right to bench guys who aren't playing hard, but I'm not sure you call them out publicly. But if the hallmark of a CMA team is to outwork opponents it's absolutely right to demand that anyone who gets minutes busts it 100% of the time.
Saturday will be the first game we would expect to win. Despite getting whipped by a Georgetown team who is having their own problems, Saturday should tell us a lot. Stay tuned.
Although the wins vs. Arizona and WVU are encouraging, I've maintained that we cannot accurately assess this team until we play half a dozen big east games. All still the case.
This was a road loss to Georgetown , and i think we will beat them at home.
It's a long season. You grind out wins one at a time. CMA is right to bench guys who aren't playing hard, but I'm not sure you call them out publicly. But if the hallmark of a CMA team is to outwork opponents it's absolutely right to demand that anyone who gets minutes busts it 100% of the time.
Saturday will be the first game we would expect to win. Despite getting whipped by a Georgetown team who is having their own problems, Saturday should tell us a lot. Stay tuned.
JohnnyFever
Active member
Just goes against logic that a deep team with fresh legs gets annihilated by a team with an insanely short bench and just lost most of their key players. This was concerning in a must win game for postseason hopes. Got blown out...postseason can be put to bed now. At this point 5 wins is decent and doubt we get that but hope for it. We need CMA to seriously get his recruiting going with legitimate recruits who can play at this level, because the only ones who can truly contribute right now are LJ and Dunn really. I used to think Heron was in a slump, but I wouldn't call it a slump anymore. Been way too long with his struggles. This goes way back well before his injury. He's not a #1 type go-to player and needs a very good cast around him to take pressure off. I simply think this is what we get from him. Maybe once every 10 games he will make a few 3's and have a decent game. But 99% of the time he will go 0-5 from 3 and miss badly. Great kid but extremely overrated IMO. Maybe we just don't have the cast for him. This was my big concern with CMA...all defense and no offense so far...and recruiting has been meh. If he's going to do well here and seriously compete he will need to get lots of 4 stars in here and quick, because right now we look like we have no business in this conference.
Mullins Revenge
Well-known member
[quote="Mike Zaun" post=371466]Just goes against logic that a deep team with fresh legs gets annihilated by a team with an insanely short bench and just lost most of their key players. This was concerning in a must win game for postseason hopes. Got blown out...postseason can be put to bed now. At this point 5 wins is decent and doubt we get that but hope for it. We need CMA to seriously get his recruiting going with legitimate recruits who can play at this level, because the only ones who can truly contribute right now are LJ and Dunn really. I used to think Heron was in a slump, but I wouldn't call it a slump anymore. Been way too long with his struggles. This goes way back well before his injury. He's not a #1 type go-to player and needs a very good cast around him to take pressure off. I simply think this is what we get from him. Maybe once every 10 games he will make a few 3's and have a decent game. But 99% of the time he will go 0-5 from 3 and miss badly. Great kid but extremely overrated IMO. Maybe we just don't have the cast for him. This was my big concern with CMA...all defense and no offense so far...and recruiting has been meh. If he's going to do well here and seriously compete he will need to get lots of 4 stars in here and quick, because right now we look like we have no business in this conference.[/quote]
Heron doesnt look like he wants to play basketball anymore. It doesnt look like the sport is fun for him.
You have to lump the duke into guys who are contributing night in and night out. Hes in the group w/ dunn and lj.
Heron doesnt look like he wants to play basketball anymore. It doesnt look like the sport is fun for him.
You have to lump the duke into guys who are contributing night in and night out. Hes in the group w/ dunn and lj.
JackofVirginia
Active member
A very embarrassing first half. Outhustled for loose balls, turnovers and horrible defense. Heron and Rutherford lunged at McClung in the corner who then drove unguarded for open layups.Offensively Ewing's team look real good, actually the best I've seen them thus far.And not bad defensively although it's pretty hard to tell against a poor offensive squad.Figueroa scores taking very difficult shots such as his running floaters. Dunn was our only penetrater last night, nice spark plug.
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Mullins Revenge
Well-known member
[quote="JackofVirginia" post=371483]A very embarrassing first half. Outhustled for loose balls, turnovers and horrible defense. Heron and Rutherford lunged at McClung in the corner who then drove unguarded for open layups.Offensively Ewing's team look real good, actually the best I've seen them thus far.And not bad defensively although it's pretty hard to tell against a poor offensive squad.Figueroa scores taking very difficult shots such as his running floaters. Dunn was our only penetrater last night, nice spark plug.[/quote]
Its easy to score when you get wide open 3s. I do not understand why our defense does this.
When you give up open 3s, the other team makes them. Then their confidence goes up. Now everyone is confident shooting jumpers and we are getting buried. If we can stop giving up wide open 3s, we have a better chance of staying in these games.
Its easy to score when you get wide open 3s. I do not understand why our defense does this.
When you give up open 3s, the other team makes them. Then their confidence goes up. Now everyone is confident shooting jumpers and we are getting buried. If we can stop giving up wide open 3s, we have a better chance of staying in these games.
Goes without saying Heron at his peak is in our first offensive lineup.
But Heron even at his peak probably isn't in our first defensive lineup.
Need Heron to get back to being an every down type guy on offense. In addition to the obvious need to get more total offensive production, it optimizes our lineup because Heron on the floor not producing on offense doesn't really work. Almost better served going all-defense...which clearly isn't ideal or working either.
But Heron even at his peak probably isn't in our first defensive lineup.
Need Heron to get back to being an every down type guy on offense. In addition to the obvious need to get more total offensive production, it optimizes our lineup because Heron on the floor not producing on offense doesn't really work. Almost better served going all-defense...which clearly isn't ideal or working either.
Ray Morgan
Well-known member
I knew a guy that sometimes said crazy and nonsensical things. He told me he fell out of a helicopter in Vietnam and landed on his head. His name is Jim. Seems like there are a lot of Jims posting these days. Get rid of or bench Heron? That's falling on one's head material. He is a skilled player that should only be benched for lack of effort. He drew a charge in the second half and seemed plenty motivated and excited. He is obviously down on himself. He has to play out of this slump, and probably will.
We all knew, or should have known, how tough this year was going to be. The team's Big East difficulties should remind us that conference play is like the NBA playoffs. Every shot, every rebounded, is contested. It's a totally different dynamic than the OOC. . Every team has been scouted to the max, and every tendency a player has is known. The shooting difficulties are no surprise. A longer 3 point line for a poor shooting team is not a good fit. our lack of energy early allowed Georgetown to make the first half a half court game. I can't imagine how bad this team would be without CMA. yes, his double teaming defense will give up open looks, but it's our only chance to stay in games and avoid the half court games of attrition. Everyone needs to take a deep breath, and thank their lucky stars that Coach Anderson took this job.
We all knew, or should have known, how tough this year was going to be. The team's Big East difficulties should remind us that conference play is like the NBA playoffs. Every shot, every rebounded, is contested. It's a totally different dynamic than the OOC. . Every team has been scouted to the max, and every tendency a player has is known. The shooting difficulties are no surprise. A longer 3 point line for a poor shooting team is not a good fit. our lack of energy early allowed Georgetown to make the first half a half court game. I can't imagine how bad this team would be without CMA. yes, his double teaming defense will give up open looks, but it's our only chance to stay in games and avoid the half court games of attrition. Everyone needs to take a deep breath, and thank their lucky stars that Coach Anderson took this job.
[quote="Duke of Earlington" post=371484][quote="JackofVirginia" post=371483]A very embarrassing first half. Outhustled for loose balls, turnovers and horrible defense. Heron and Rutherford lunged at McClung in the corner who then drove unguarded for open layups.Offensively Ewing's team look real good, actually the best I've seen them thus far.And not bad defensively although it's pretty hard to tell against a poor offensive squad.Figueroa scores taking very difficult shots such as his running floaters. Dunn was our only penetrater last night, nice spark plug.[/quote]
We need to make wide open 3's!!!!
Its easy to score when you get wide open 3s. I do not understand why our defense does this.
When you give up open 3s, the other team makes them. Then their confidence goes up. Now everyone is confident shooting jumpers and we are getting buried. If we can stop giving up wide open 3s, we have a better chance of staying in these games.[/quote]
We need to make wide open 3's!!!!
Its easy to score when you get wide open 3s. I do not understand why our defense does this.
When you give up open 3s, the other team makes them. Then their confidence goes up. Now everyone is confident shooting jumpers and we are getting buried. If we can stop giving up wide open 3s, we have a better chance of staying in these games.[/quote]
I know everybody, myself included, is frustrated with our play recently especially last night. I've discovered my own personal solution to these scenarios. With about 2 min. left in the first half, after we clanged another shot and they came down and hit a wide open 3 to take a 29 point lead I shut the game off, got up and poured myself a Redbreast Lustau Edition double, added a few drops of water and enjoyed the rest of my evening.
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Boy was I wrong about McClung:
FROM PRE-GAME:
"Let's guard the pants off of McClung. I hate seeing guys like him on other teams constantly having good games against us. In this case with now having MA as coach I think we shut down McClink."
Dammit.
FROM PRE-GAME:
"Let's guard the pants off of McClung. I hate seeing guys like him on other teams constantly having good games against us. In this case with now having MA as coach I think we shut down McClink."
Dammit.
[quote="Mike Zaun" post=371466]Just goes against logic that a deep team with fresh legs gets annihilated by a team with an insanely short bench and just lost most of their key players. This was concerning in a must win game for postseason hopes. Got blown out...postseason can be put to bed now. At this point 5 wins is decent and doubt we get that but hope for it. We need CMA to seriously get his recruiting going with legitimate recruits who can play at this level, because the only ones who can truly contribute right now are LJ and Dunn really. I used to think Heron was in a slump, but I wouldn't call it a slump anymore. Been way too long with his struggles. This goes way back well before his injury. He's not a #1 type go-to player and needs a very good cast around him to take pressure off. I simply think this is what we get from him. Maybe once every 10 games he will make a few 3's and have a decent game. But 99% of the time he will go 0-5 from 3 and miss badly. Great kid but extremely overrated IMO. Maybe we just don't have the cast for him. This was my big concern with CMA...all defense and no offense so far...and recruiting has been meh. If he's going to do well here and seriously compete he will need to get lots of 4 stars in here and quick, because right now we look like we have no business in this conference.[/quote]
Put away any sharp objects.
Seriously.... Although, I'm not directly speaking to you via in person or phone, but I've been able to pick up on the tone of your posts throughout the years. Relax, my man.
Put away any sharp objects.
Seriously.... Although, I'm not directly speaking to you via in person or phone, but I've been able to pick up on the tone of your posts throughout the years. Relax, my man.
[quote="MJDinkins" post=371540][quote="Mike Zaun" post=371466]Just goes against logic that a deep team with fresh legs gets annihilated by a team with an insanely short bench and just lost most of their key players. This was concerning in a must win game for postseason hopes. Got blown out...postseason can be put to bed now. At this point 5 wins is decent and doubt we get that but hope for it. We need CMA to seriously get his recruiting going with legitimate recruits who can play at this level, because the only ones who can truly contribute right now are LJ and Dunn really. I used to think Heron was in a slump, but I wouldn't call it a slump anymore. Been way too long with his struggles. This goes way back well before his injury. He's not a #1 type go-to player and needs a very good cast around him to take pressure off. I simply think this is what we get from him. Maybe once every 10 games he will make a few 3's and have a decent game. But 99% of the time he will go 0-5 from 3 and miss badly. Great kid but extremely overrated IMO. Maybe we just don't have the cast for him. This was my big concern with CMA...all defense and no offense so far...and recruiting has been meh. If he's going to do well here and seriously compete he will need to get lots of 4 stars in here and quick, because right now we look like we have no business in this conference.[/quote]
Put away any sharp objects.
Seriously.... Although, I'm not directly speaking to you via in person or phone, but I've been able to pick up on the tone of your posts throughout the years. Relax, my man.[/quote]
I think some might also be confusing "deep" with just playing a lot of players. To say a team is "deep"- typically means that no matter who they plug in from 6 to 11... they should be able to sustain a high level of play and are talented.
I would say, at this junction, it is fairly obvious to see there is a talent drop off with our guys compared to the rest of the BE. Do they typically give maximum effort that masks their deficiencies, yes they do, and that is what should appreciate this season.
As many have said, the WV and Zona victories have raised expectations in lots of minds, but those could have very easily been losses and we'd be sitting here at 9-7 looking forward to Posh/Cole and others....
Are our guys capable of surprising and pulling out wins, i think so, but they can't afford late defensive rotations or missed assignments... our offense isn't capable of making up that ground consistently.
Hopefully the guys collect themselves and CMA has them ready to give Max effort for Depaul- cause, that should be the barometer for this season- our talent just isn't there this year to expect wins
Put away any sharp objects.
Seriously.... Although, I'm not directly speaking to you via in person or phone, but I've been able to pick up on the tone of your posts throughout the years. Relax, my man.[/quote]
I think some might also be confusing "deep" with just playing a lot of players. To say a team is "deep"- typically means that no matter who they plug in from 6 to 11... they should be able to sustain a high level of play and are talented.
I would say, at this junction, it is fairly obvious to see there is a talent drop off with our guys compared to the rest of the BE. Do they typically give maximum effort that masks their deficiencies, yes they do, and that is what should appreciate this season.
As many have said, the WV and Zona victories have raised expectations in lots of minds, but those could have very easily been losses and we'd be sitting here at 9-7 looking forward to Posh/Cole and others....
Are our guys capable of surprising and pulling out wins, i think so, but they can't afford late defensive rotations or missed assignments... our offense isn't capable of making up that ground consistently.
Hopefully the guys collect themselves and CMA has them ready to give Max effort for Depaul- cause, that should be the barometer for this season- our talent just isn't there this year to expect wins
[quote="Brian3" post=371542]I think some might also be confusing "deep" with just playing a lot of players. To say a team is "deep"- typically means that no matter who they plug in from 6 to 11... they should be able to sustain a high level of play and are talented.
I would say, at this junction, it is fairly obvious to see there is a talent drop off with our guys compared to the rest of the BE. Do they typically give maximum effort that masks their deficiencies, yes they do, and that is what should appreciate this season.
As many have said, the WV and Zona victories have raised expectations in lots of minds, but those could have very easily been losses and we'd be sitting here at 9-7 looking forward to Posh/Cole and others....
Are our guys capable of surprising and pulling out wins, i think so, but they can't afford late defensive rotations or missed assignments... our offense isn't capable of making up that ground consistently.
Hopefully the guys collect themselves and CMA has them ready to give Max effort for Depaul- cause, that should be the barometer for this season- our talent just isn't there this year to expect wins[/quote]
Good post, Brian.
I believe the West Virginia and Arizona games where we built on our lead in the former with Figueroa and Heron on the bench, and beat the latter on a neutral court without Heron and Figueroa not doing much in the second half (similar to LJ in the second half of the WVU game) raised expectations. Although, we didn't get the win, we did the same versus Butler without the services of Heron and Figueroa but lost at the end. A pattern developing there, huh?
Those situations may have been the worst thing to happen to our fan base. It teased us and raised the bar on a season where most didn't think we'd do anything. Now, this season is far from being over but we're teetering on things slipping away from us. I'm hoping those games weren't simply fool's gold and we're somewhere in the middle of those games versus WVU, Arizona and Butler and the poor showing versus Xavier and G'town. We may not be as good as the former, but damn we can't be as bad as the latter.
I'm not as bothered or upset about our shooting, as I kinda figured that is what we'd be during the season. Maybe not as a bad as we've been lately, but I still wasn't expecting us to be snipers by any means. What bothered me last night was our defense and turnovers.
The defense the past two games doesn't necessarily have me overly-concerned but I'm paying attention to see if this is a pattern. Late defensive rotations and missing assignments as you stated above has allowed both Xavier and G'town to either get wide open perimeter looks or easy layups and dunks. We're too offensively challenged, as you also mentioned, to allow those things to happen. IMO, those easy looks behind the arc at Xavier was the difference in the game. Last night's game was combination of things, but the Hoyas was getting free looks, no doubt. So, I'm going to be keeping my eye on that one and see if this is gonna be an issue going forward. Don't be surprise other teams attempt to spread us out because they know (or assume) we'll sell out on the dribble-drive which will in turn afford our opponent open looks as we're left scrambling to recover.
I think the turnovers last night was likely an aberration. So, I'm not sweating that. The turnovers, along with the poor defensive rotations and horrible shooting, compounded things and created a recipe for a blowout.
I do agree it's best to wait till around late January or early February to get a better gauge of this team. But I will pay attention to any particular patterns whether good or bad. I just wanna see improvement, competitive play for the most part, and a team who'll keep fighting. It's also about confidence. I think a much-needed win on Saturday may help this bunch regain their confidence.
I would say, at this junction, it is fairly obvious to see there is a talent drop off with our guys compared to the rest of the BE. Do they typically give maximum effort that masks their deficiencies, yes they do, and that is what should appreciate this season.
As many have said, the WV and Zona victories have raised expectations in lots of minds, but those could have very easily been losses and we'd be sitting here at 9-7 looking forward to Posh/Cole and others....
Are our guys capable of surprising and pulling out wins, i think so, but they can't afford late defensive rotations or missed assignments... our offense isn't capable of making up that ground consistently.
Hopefully the guys collect themselves and CMA has them ready to give Max effort for Depaul- cause, that should be the barometer for this season- our talent just isn't there this year to expect wins[/quote]
Good post, Brian.
I believe the West Virginia and Arizona games where we built on our lead in the former with Figueroa and Heron on the bench, and beat the latter on a neutral court without Heron and Figueroa not doing much in the second half (similar to LJ in the second half of the WVU game) raised expectations. Although, we didn't get the win, we did the same versus Butler without the services of Heron and Figueroa but lost at the end. A pattern developing there, huh?
Those situations may have been the worst thing to happen to our fan base. It teased us and raised the bar on a season where most didn't think we'd do anything. Now, this season is far from being over but we're teetering on things slipping away from us. I'm hoping those games weren't simply fool's gold and we're somewhere in the middle of those games versus WVU, Arizona and Butler and the poor showing versus Xavier and G'town. We may not be as good as the former, but damn we can't be as bad as the latter.
I'm not as bothered or upset about our shooting, as I kinda figured that is what we'd be during the season. Maybe not as a bad as we've been lately, but I still wasn't expecting us to be snipers by any means. What bothered me last night was our defense and turnovers.
The defense the past two games doesn't necessarily have me overly-concerned but I'm paying attention to see if this is a pattern. Late defensive rotations and missing assignments as you stated above has allowed both Xavier and G'town to either get wide open perimeter looks or easy layups and dunks. We're too offensively challenged, as you also mentioned, to allow those things to happen. IMO, those easy looks behind the arc at Xavier was the difference in the game. Last night's game was combination of things, but the Hoyas was getting free looks, no doubt. So, I'm going to be keeping my eye on that one and see if this is gonna be an issue going forward. Don't be surprise other teams attempt to spread us out because they know (or assume) we'll sell out on the dribble-drive which will in turn afford our opponent open looks as we're left scrambling to recover.
I think the turnovers last night was likely an aberration. So, I'm not sweating that. The turnovers, along with the poor defensive rotations and horrible shooting, compounded things and created a recipe for a blowout.
I do agree it's best to wait till around late January or early February to get a better gauge of this team. But I will pay attention to any particular patterns whether good or bad. I just wanna see improvement, competitive play for the most part, and a team who'll keep fighting. It's also about confidence. I think a much-needed win on Saturday may help this bunch regain their confidence.
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