DanMcQ
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Post by DanMcQ on Nov 19, 2014 9:17:55 GMT -5
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njhoya78
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Post by njhoya78 on Nov 19, 2014 11:01:06 GMT -5
Um, these guys don't look too good this season, especially compared to the last few years. Blown out by North Carolina (understandable) and a big loss at home to Lafayette.
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Post by HoyaSinceBirth on Nov 19, 2014 11:06:28 GMT -5
Um, these guys don't look too good this season, especially compared to the last few years. Blown out by North Carolina (understandable) and a big loss at home to Lafayette. Well they were picked 3rd behind St. Francis NY and Central Connecticut in the NEC. "If an eighth title is in the cards for Toole and Co., the Colonials will need to replace the offensive production of 2013-14 NEC Player of the Year Karvel Anderson while seamlessly integrating eight newcomers into the mix. While the spotlight fell on Anderson last season, preseason All-NEC swingman Lucky Jones (Newark, NJ/St. Anthony) will serve as RMU's do-it-all performer in 2014-15. The senior averaged 13.9 ppg, 6.8 rpg and hit 70 shots from long range last season, and in a testament to his versatility ranked in the NEC top-10 in five different individual categories. With 72 wins in their first three years, Jones and classmate David Appolon (Philadelphia, PA/Imhotep Charter) (4.2 ppg, 3.2 rpg) are 20 wins away from becoming winningest NEC men's basketball players of all-time. Senior sharpshooter Charles Oliver (Scotch Plains, NJ/Scotch Plains (Lakeland CC)) (6.3 ppg, 35 3PFG) is another experienced hand who may be given a shot to help replenish Anderson's output at the two spot. Sophomore Kavon Stewart (Paterson, NJ/Hudson Catholic) looks to be the heir apparent at the point after ending his freshman season averaging 4.9 ppg and 2.8 apg in a reserve role. Up front, the Colonials return junior Stephan Bennett (Lake Station, IN/Bowman Academy) (4.6 ppg) and senior Aaron Tate (New Bern, NC/West Craven (Dodge City CC)) (3.1 ppg, 4.4 rpg), a pair of steady producers for the Colonials. Look for 6'8" local product Elijah Minnie (Monessen, PA/Lincoln Park) and 6'9" transfer Lionel Gomis (Dakar, Senegal/Blair Academy (NJ) (Cloud County CC)) to challenge for frontcourt minutes." |
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Post by HometownHoya on Nov 19, 2014 11:23:19 GMT -5
Would like to see us work on our half court offense, our press, and both zone and man defenses.
We know we can run and look good doing it but we need to be able to operate in the half court when an opponent stops our break. Will Robert Morris stop our break? Probably not but I'd like to see an emphasis of getting into half court sets just for the game-time practice.
With how quick and deep this team, I'd love to see some press...especially when Josh is on the bench. I don't recall much pressing last night but it could be a valuable weapon.
Finally, defense is still a work in progress. Freshman need to work on staying in front of their man but most of our secondary rotations look pretty good. I'd also like to see us play some more 2-3; with the length we have, it could be suffocating plus it will help to disguise any weaknesses individual players may have. Although our front-line are probably better man defenders then zone.
No matter what happens, I'd like to see a good win and time for everyone. (Maybe a few minutes for Trey Mourning at the end there).
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Post by HoyaSinceBirth on Nov 19, 2014 11:32:49 GMT -5
Would like to see us work on our half court offense, our press, and both zone and man defenses. We know we can run and look good doing it but we need to be able to operate in the half court when an opponent stops our break. Will Robert Morris stop our break? Probably not but I'd like to see an emphasis of getting into half court sets just for the game-time practice. With how quick and deep this team, I'd love to see some press...especially when Josh is on the bench. I don't recall much pressing last night but it could be a valuable weapon. Finally, defense is still a work in progress. Freshman need to work on staying in front of their man but most of our secondary rotations look pretty good. I'd also like to see us play some more 2-3; with the length we have, it could be suffocating plus it will help to disguise any weaknesses individual players may have. Although our front-line are probably better man defenders then zone. No matter what happens, I'd like to see a good win and time for everyone. (Maybe a few minutes for Trey Mourning at the end there). I think the reason we haven't seen as much press to date if because as you say the half court defense is still a work in progress. I think coach wants us playing well in the half court before working on the press. |
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Post by HometownHoya on Nov 19, 2014 12:46:00 GMT -5
I think the reason we haven't seen as much press to date if because as you say the half court defense is still a work in progress. I think coach wants us playing well in the half court before working on the press. Good point, although nothing wrong with getting a steal of the press then pulling it out to run the offense.  Edit: Actually that would be kind of mean and demoralizing. |
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Big Dog
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Post by Big Dog on Nov 19, 2014 23:05:08 GMT -5
After Game 1 the complaints were focused primarily on Smith and he broke out, and after Game 2 they were mostly about DSR. I think that means DSR goes for 20-5-5 against Robert Morris.
Is it time to play Florida yet? I want to find out how leaky our defense really is at maximum intensity.
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hoyainspirit
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When life puts that voodoo on me, music is my gris-gris.
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Post by hoyainspirit on Nov 20, 2014 9:30:15 GMT -5
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prhoya
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Post by prhoya on Nov 20, 2014 10:27:17 GMT -5
Great quote and point of view from JT3:
"I thought AB’s quickness and speed would help. I look at this as very different, but I think that he can have the same type of effect as Patrick Ewing Jr. A couple of years ago Pat was starting and then I brought him off the bench and he affected the game with his energy, much like Aaron, Pat was always getting deflections, getting steals, getting rebounds. I think Aaron can have a similar effect on this year’s team. Pat goes from a starter to the bench and was the Big East Sixth Man of the Year. They are very different plays, I’m not saying that AB is like Pat, but they can have the same effect coming off the bench."
Wow if it happens!!
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GUJook97
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Post by GUJook97 on Nov 20, 2014 11:08:06 GMT -5
Um, these guys don't look too good this season, especially compared to the last few years. Blown out by North Carolina (understandable) and a big loss at home to Lafayette. Well they were picked 3rd behind St. Francis NY and Central Connecticut in the NEC. So, in other words, they dont look too good this year. I admire your attention to detail on all these teams, but there should be no reason we don't crush St Francis, TAM-CC, RM, Towson, Grand Canyon State Community College.... By the way, St. Francis (NY) lost to Army last night....at home. |
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Post by HoyaSinceBirth on Nov 20, 2014 12:22:05 GMT -5
Well they were picked 3rd behind St. Francis NY and Central Connecticut in the NEC. So, in other words, they dont look too good this year. I admire your attention to detail on all these teams, but there should be no reason we don't crush St Francis, TAM-CC, RM, Towson, Grand Canyon State Community College.... By the way, St. Francis (NY) lost to Army last night....at home. I'm just saying that they've been in the NIT the last few years so going from 2nd in the conference to 3rd in the conference isn't really a step down for them. They weren't so good the last few years that they're dramatically worse this year and they still managed to beat Kentucky and St. John's in the NIT those years so if we don't show up they can easily beat us. But yes of course we should crush St. Francis, TAM-CC, Robert Morris and all the others. And we basically had 20 point wins our first two games which is crushing them plenty for me. |
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Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Nov 20, 2014 12:51:38 GMT -5
I want to win these initial OOC games by 40 points too, but I think that's probably an unrealistic expectation given that our team is so much different this year. Should we crush St. Francis, TAM-CC, and Robert Morris by 30+ in March, if we played them? Yes. But we aren't there yet.
JT3 is trying a lot of things this year that he hasn't done before because of our new personnel, DSR hasn't hit his groove yet, and roles and the rotation are not really defined in any solid way. Trying a lot of things (at the expense of possibly having the final margins closer than we'd like to see) is worthwhile if it means we are better experienced and situated for our tougher games, like Florida.
All that being said, we've got 2 games under our belt, and I would like to see two strong halves against Robert Morris. We need to begin putting it together for an entire game if we want to hang with Florida. I think we can do it.
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GUJook97
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Post by GUJook97 on Nov 20, 2014 13:10:47 GMT -5
Of course, and we have crushed them, as you guys said. But, lets face it, no matter how JTII tries to spin it, these are teams we should handle easily and no one is going to care that we beat them down the road, and no one is going to buy any excuse if we lose to them. Regardless of whether they are the 3rd best team in the Southland, NEC, etc...
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Post by aleutianhoya on Nov 20, 2014 13:24:41 GMT -5
Of course, and we have crushed them, as you guys said. But, lets face it, no matter how JTII tries to spin it, these are teams we should handle easily and no one is going to care that we beat them down the road, and no one is going to buy any excuse if we lose to them. Regardless of whether they are the 3rd best team in the Southland, NEC, etc... Yes and no. At the end of the day, no one cares how you beat them, so long as you do. But if you lose, there's a huge difference between losing to a 100-200 vs. 200-300 level team. Those conferences usually have, at most, one to three teams that are better than 150 in the RPI. So, there's a clear advantage to playing those teams. |
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Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Nov 20, 2014 13:31:39 GMT -5
aleutianhoya - I completely agree. There's really no upside to play teams in the 350-200 level if we can instead play somebody in the 100-200 level. While the odds of losing to a team ranked 320 are almost zero, the odds of beating the 100-200 teams are still really high, and the downside of losing a game to a team like that is not nearly as bad as losing to a team ranked in the 300s.
In fact, I would argue that if you're really just looking for a cupcake type, a good Division II team might be a better choice. It doesn't count toward RPI, so you still get to crush an opponent, and yet take no hit on RPI or strength of schedule. I don't advocate that approach either - I'd prefer to always avoid the 300 ranked / Division II type opponents many schools play (and we've played at times).
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Post by aleutianhoya on Nov 20, 2014 13:36:45 GMT -5
aleutianhoya - I completely agree. There's really no upside to play teams in the 350-200 level if we can instead play somebody in the 100-200 level. While the odds of losing to a team ranked 320 are almost zero, the odds of beating the 100-200 teams are still really high, and the downside of losing a game to a team like that is not nearly as bad as losing to a team ranked in the 300s. In fact, I would argue that if you're really just looking for a cupcake type, a good Division II team might be a better choice. It doesn't count toward RPI, so you still get to crush an opponent, and yet take no hit on RPI or strength of schedule. I don't advocate that approach either - I'd prefer to always avoid the 300 ranked / Division II type opponents many schools play (and we've played at times). Right. The problem is that it's sometimes hard to figure out which is which. Based on their previous season and the way they played us, I think we thought Northeastern was going to be that kind of 100-200 team, but they didn't turn out to be. |
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GUJook97
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Post by GUJook97 on Nov 21, 2014 9:44:10 GMT -5
Meh, I disagree on some points. I absolutely understand playing these games for a number of reasons. For one, we need to have games to gel and try things out. We need to learn how not to underestimate anyone, especially pesky, experienced teams that are used to playing together, when we are not. That said, these games mean ZERO for our chances to make the tournament, unless we lose. And, losing to a 150th ranked team isnt much different than the 250th ranked team. The Committee is not going to care that we played 1st or 2nd best team in the NEC, as opposed to the 5th. They are going to focus on our record against the top 50 or 100, and then check to see if we had any bad losses outside that. And, as you said, it's pretty much a crap shoot anyway. What I think III looks to do, and I think it's smart, is maybe play teams that have done well in past years and still have a lot of experience. Makes sense.
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Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Nov 21, 2014 9:53:12 GMT -5
It does matter whether we play 150 or 250 because it affects our RPI and strength of schedule. The NCAA committee isn't necessarily going to care what individual teams we played but in the aggregate it does matter.
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GUJook97
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Post by GUJook97 on Nov 21, 2014 10:03:08 GMT -5
It does matter whether we play 150 or 250 because it affects our RPI and strength of schedule. The NCAA committee isn't necessarily going to care what individual teams we played but in the aggregate it does matter. Im really saying that it doesnt matter whether we lose to the 150th or 250th ranked team. They are both bad losses, especially at home. I guess my only point is that I dont think these games are scheduled with an eye towards improving the NCAA tourney resume. And, I have no problem with that. They are done to get us good reps. |
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Post by aleutianhoya on Nov 21, 2014 10:14:25 GMT -5
It does matter whether we play 150 or 250 because it affects our RPI and strength of schedule. The NCAA committee isn't necessarily going to care what individual teams we played but in the aggregate it does matter. Agreed. Absolutely our aggregate strength of schedule is valuable and depends, in part, on how "not so bad" the cream puffs are. JTIII plainly has understood this from the beginning, whereas Esh most certainly did not. The fact that we almost snuck into the tournament last year was partially a function of our aggregate strength of schedule, which was 32 in the country. (Of course, it also was a function of the number of excellent teams we beat.) In out of conference, we played 12 games. Here's the breakdown: 1-50: 4 50-100: 1 100-150: 0 150-200: 3 200-250: 3 250+: 1 Those 3 games we played against 150-200 teams (Elon, Wright State, and High Point) were key and are the perfect teams to schedule on a purely statistical basis. All three were in the top handful of teams in their league (though none, I think, won their league). If they all were instead 200+ teams, our overall SOS (and RPI) goes down considerably and we aren't even considered for an at-large spot. They're the kind of team we beat 95% of the time but still help the schedule. Also the committee looks at things like "record against the top 100," so playing a team that might win a crappy conference and sneak into the top 100 on that basis is absolutely valuable. |
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