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I know we are expected to win by over 20 tonight. But being such a gimme game I wouldn't be surprised if the game is closer and Lavin uses it to try out different line-ups, plays, rotations, and defensive strategies. As long as we win by 10 ill be happy.
 
I know we are expected to win by over 20 tonight. But being such a gimme game I wouldn't be surprised if the game is closer and Lavin uses it to try out different line-ups, plays, rotations, and defensive strategies. As long as we win by 10 ill be happy.
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Better to win one by twenty.
 
Lavin is always tinkering with the team early in the season, he does it every year. I wouldn't bet with that spread but i'll take the under.
 
Very early but one area I'd like to see us make big strides these next two games is creating easy baskets off the pass. We are 246th in the country in assists. That's obviously based on an extremely small sample, but not so much when you consider how deficient we were in that area last year. We averaged a mere 12 team assists last year, with Dom leading the way at 2.7. We are averaging 11.7 this year and don't have anyone over 2.3 individually. At some point someone should stumble into averaging 3-4 assists per game, and that's still low.

This has to get better. Ball movement was much improved against Bucknell vs. what we had seen previously, but the purposeful passes that lead to hoops are still lacking. I think Rysheed is this guy for us and these next two games are a great opportunity for him to get more comfortable being our primary creator.
 
Very early but one area I'd like to see us make big strides these next two games is creating easy baskets off the pass. We are 246th in the country in assists. That's obviously based on an extremely small sample, but not so much when you consider how deficient we were in that area last year. We averaged a mere 12 team assists last year, with Dom leading the way at 2.7. We are averaging 11.7 this year and don't have anyone over 2.3 individually. At some point someone should stumble into averaging 3-4 assists per game, and that's still low.

This has to get better. Ball movement was much improved against Bucknell vs. what we had seen previously, but the purposeful passes that lead to hoops are still lacking. I think Rysheed is this guy for us and these next two games are a great opportunity for him to get more comfortable being our primary creator.
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+1
 
Very early but one area I'd like to see us make big strides these next two games is creating easy baskets off the pass. We are 246th in the country in assists. That's obviously based on an extremely small sample, but not so much when you consider how deficient we were in that area last year. We averaged a mere 12 team assists last year, with Dom leading the way at 2.7. We are averaging 11.7 this year and don't have anyone over 2.3 individually. At some point someone should stumble into averaging 3-4 assists per game, and that's still low.

This has to get better. Ball movement was much improved against Bucknell vs. what we had seen previously, but the purposeful passes that lead to hoops are still lacking. I think Rysheed is this guy for us and these next two games are a great opportunity for him to get more comfortable being our primary creator.
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If we get a player or two averaging around 3 or 4 assists a game, then that isn't particularly low, if the others continue to average around 2 assists per outing. The 1998-'99 team had two players average 4 assists per game (Barkley at 4.7 and Artest at 4.2), while the next closest player (Jessie) averaged 2 per game. That was the best passing team I've ever witnessed since watching St. John's basketball.

I, like yourself, also liked the ball movement in the Bucknell game. My main concern is them continuing to improve on ball movement, and continue to limit their turnovers, which they seem to be doing at this juncture. Keep the turnovers to a mininum and create more turnovers, so we can get out and run. Good post, nonetheless.
 
Very early but one area I'd like to see us make big strides these next two games is creating easy baskets off the pass. We are 246th in the country in assists. That's obviously based on an extremely small sample, but not so much when you consider how deficient we were in that area last year. We averaged a mere 12 team assists last year, with Dom leading the way at 2.7. We are averaging 11.7 this year and don't have anyone over 2.3 individually. At some point someone should stumble into averaging 3-4 assists per game, and that's still low.

This has to get better. Ball movement was much improved against Bucknell vs. what we had seen previously, but the purposeful passes that lead to hoops are still lacking. I think Rysheed is this guy for us and these next two games are a great opportunity for him to get more comfortable being our primary creator.
Click to expand...

If we get a player or two averaging around 3 or 4 assists a game, then that isn't particularly low, if the others continue to average around 2 assists per outing. The 1998-'99 team had two players average 4 assists per game (Barkley at 4.7 and Artest at 4.2), while the next closest player (Jessie) averaged 2 per game. That was the best passing team I've ever witnessed since watching St. John's basketball.

I, like yourself, also liked the ball movement in the Bucknell game. My main concern is them continuing to improve on ball movement, and continue to limit their turnovers, which they seem to be doing at this juncture. Keep the turnovers to a mininum and create more turnovers, so we can get out and run. Good post, nonetheless.
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Agreed, but we are a long way from that. Barkley's nearly 5 per game would have been good for Top 50ish in the country last year, a strong number. To follow that up with Artest over 4, you have guys who are creating at a high level.

I'm not saying we can't get there, but we essentially need 2 players to double their output in order to do so. There's no way to spin being outside the top 200 in team assists (as we were last year, and so far this year). It's an area of weakness, and I think Jordan is our most direct route to legitimate play-making for others on a consistent basis.
 
Rysheed out for tonight. Violation of team rules. I hope it is not serious, but Lavin states he must meet team rules.
 
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