redmen1969
Active member
I haven't heard Pete Lamantia's name in years. Nice guy.
VCU, Thur. Nov. 24, 7pm, AXS/570AM-B4A
- Thread starter Knight
- Start date
I haven't heard Pete Lamantia's name in years. Nice guy.
Tonight hurt most because VCU is just not a good team. Extremely winnable game. But, as you say, we haven't learned how to win. There are moments in the game that dictate patience and we simply do not show it.
Hoping for similar story as Penn State football. Thought they were on their way to another mediocre season and figured coach would be canned. then, they beat Ohio State and everything changed.
Let's keep our fingers crossed.
Tough loss.
I really liked the way we played tonight. We had a few lapses where we get away from team basketball. Too much dribble that always cost us...turnovers, bad shots turning into quick transition baskets, some showboating. Got to play team ball for all 40. 12 assists tonight needs improve.
Ellison looks clueless out there. I'll take Ricos defensive liabilities because 1. He can really shoot 2. He doesn't turn the ball over. Ellison is a turnover machine and he can't finish at the rim.
Overall there was improvement in a lot of areas. Defensively especially. 66% from the line needs to get much better.
Hopefully we get a W tomorrow.
I really liked the way we played tonight. We had a few lapses where we get away from team basketball. Too much dribble that always cost us...turnovers, bad shots turning into quick transition baskets, some showboating. Got to play team ball for all 40. 12 assists tonight needs improve.
Ellison looks clueless out there. I'll take Ricos defensive liabilities because 1. He can really shoot 2. He doesn't turn the ball over. Ellison is a turnover machine and he can't finish at the rim.
Overall there was improvement in a lot of areas. Defensively especially. 66% from the line needs to get much better.
Hopefully we get a W tomorrow.
Class of 72
Active member
Penn State is a poor example. Makes me think of coach Sandusky doing the canning.
VCU is a very good team with a veteran backcourt that owned our two newbies. Teaching defense has not been a coaching strength thus far.
Looks like it's going to be Old Dominion at 9:30 pm tomorrow night. LSU leads them by 6 with under a minute to go.
I think I would have preferred LSU. ODU has a big guy, #15, who could cause us problems. I didn't see anyone like that on LSU.
That being said, Old Dominion really can't shoot, but they seem to do a good job of making the game ugly (I mean that genuinely).
As I typed this, ODU just hit a 3. 60-57 LSU, 40 seconds left.
I think I would have preferred LSU. ODU has a big guy, #15, who could cause us problems. I didn't see anyone like that on LSU.
That being said, Old Dominion really can't shoot, but they seem to do a good job of making the game ugly (I mean that genuinely).
As I typed this, ODU just hit a 3. 60-57 LSU, 40 seconds left.
Class of 72
Active member
Forcing things on offense and playing dreadful defense. More of a mental adjustment. Mullin rewarded us with Ellison whose dad must have a secret video tape of Mullin in bed with Larry Bird.
Forcing things on offense and playing dreadful defense. More of a mental adjustment. Mullin rewarded us with Ellison whose dad must have a secret video tape of Mullin in bed with Larry Bird.
I wish we could take a small dose of Ahmed's DNA, and insert it into Freudenberg. Both would be better players for it, IMO.
g FWIW , I believe Ahmed shot 50 % today. And Freud has showed nothing so far , maybe he made 2 fgs all year. Ahmed should have played more and Ellison less IMO.
Forcing things on offense and playing dreadful defense. More of a mental adjustment. Mullin rewarded us with Ellison whose dad must have a secret video tape of Mullin in bed with Larry Bird.
I wish we could take a small dose of Ahmed's DNA, and insert it into Freudenberg. Both would be better players for it, IMO.
Seems to me that Bashir's role is to drive the middle and draw fouls. This is one part of the offensive threat. He and Lovett put pressure there especially since our bigs aren't. This helps the other threat which is the three. The work they've done even when the shot hasn't gone down, has helped. For the most part Lovett has hit his Free Throws off of this. Bashir seems to miss his first and hit his second on almost every trip but working the defense and getting the fouls helps. I'd like to actually see more of this from both of them but I'd like to see some more movement leading up to it. Make the defense work harder. The other thing that I'd like to see is to mix it up with a kick out to the shooter every once in a while. And by shooter I don't mean Sima, Yakew or Owens from 12'. I mean Ponds, Mussini or Lovett/Bashir for 3, and option 2 when the bigs learn to finish, a dish and quick dunk.
redfan259999888
Active member
A loss tonight vs. ODU and things might start getting alittle ugly on here.
Not from me. I know on the job training as a coach, with a very young team.
With that said, I'd like to see some improvement with the in game coaching / adjustments by February.
That's all of last year, and more then half of this year. He has to show some improvements there.
There are many areas that need improvement for this team. I would start by making sure Ellison never sees the floor again. His minutes should go to Mussini or Freudenberg, who i think will show marked improvement with more minutes. Ellison is what he is. He is not getting any better.
Ray Morgan
Well-known member
There is more to watching basketball than following the player with the ball in his hands. Ellison had 6 boards in 21 minutes. Seemed like most were down the stretch, in traffic battling their bigs . He also had a block and dove to the floor for a tie up sometime in the last 8 minutes. Also drained 2 free throws late when everyone else was missing.
While fans are short sighted, Mullin is thinking about the long term. That includes developing talent by giving them experience on the court, and protecting your freshman by not burning them out with too many minutes. Mullin played in the Big East, and knows how physical things get. Ellison is the only guard we have with size. I like that Mullin is using the bench and giving everyone a chance to prove if they belong or not. That's good for recruiting.
The players everyone wants on the court for 40 minutes are making plenty of mistakes on defense. Both Ponds and Ahmed walked away from the shooter, resulting in open 3s. That's simple fundamentals, and no one here said a word. I think Ponds is an amazing talent, but he makes mistakes, too. Hard to correct mistakes if you aren't on the court making them.
While fans are short sighted, Mullin is thinking about the long term. That includes developing talent by giving them experience on the court, and protecting your freshman by not burning them out with too many minutes. Mullin played in the Big East, and knows how physical things get. Ellison is the only guard we have with size. I like that Mullin is using the bench and giving everyone a chance to prove if they belong or not. That's good for recruiting.
The players everyone wants on the court for 40 minutes are making plenty of mistakes on defense. Both Ponds and Ahmed walked away from the shooter, resulting in open 3s. That's simple fundamentals, and no one here said a word. I think Ponds is an amazing talent, but he makes mistakes, too. Hard to correct mistakes if you aren't on the court making them.
This is the third (Minny, MSU and VCU) disappointing loss of what turned out to be "winnable" games. Going in I didn't think we had a shot at Minny or MSU. After watching those teams we had chances and could have won those games. VCU is another game we could have won. Instead we go 0-3. Its easy to say well this is a young team and we are learning. We also use the old well next year we will get better at this or have better players here. In fact, we have no idea who will come and who will leave. Sorry but it is ok to be disappointed. Results matter. 0-3 in games we could have won is 0-3. Let's try and get a win against ODU. That would be a start.
whats frustrating is unlike last years team, this team has enough talent to win. These three losses could of easily been three wins. I don't want to hear they are young anymore, owens, lovett and everyone else except ponds and rf were with the team last year through our learning phase, there are tons of teams that win big games with sophs and frosh, when will our time come? Enough talk!!! WIN!!! I truly thought we'd take two of three of our last games. I'm disappointed and a win vs ODU should be a given and nothing to hold our hat on. Im sorry I'm usually pretty positive but this team has plenty talent, enough bs already.
I am sick and tired of "waiting until next year".
Mullin and company have earned a grade of "A" in increasing the level of talent on this team from the 3 practice team players they inherited from the TV Announcer. That having been said, Mullin and company have yet to prove that they can blend talent. IMO the current players lack any semblance of a cohesive offense. The current offense seemingly consists of 2 plays: 3 passes then chuck from the outside, or a guard drives the lane without attempting to set the offense. This team plays with passion.
As above poster "sjc88"said the past 3 games were winnable. The fact StJohn's lost the 3 winnable games is telling. Based upon recent game performances, a winning record this season seems remote.