I'm really like the depth that Coach Ewing is using on the court. Got to have fresh bodies to wear down teams during the later part of the year.
Yeah, I think you have to judge these games from the perspective of us playing 10 deep. If we play 6-7 guys that whole game, we would have won by 20-25. Doesn’t mean the D would have been much better, but still...
They are a markedly better team than the two teams we just beat by an average of 12 pts. Top 50 team by any measure.
And you see "no way" we beat Penn State at home?
I suspect it will be about a pick'em by most systems and Vegas. Certainly not the Top 25 team we all hoped for yet, but hardly "there's no way we can beat Penn State."
No obviously it’s a game we can win. Vegas I’m sure will peg it anywhere from +/- 2. I’m just saying given what I’ve seen so far, I would think Penn State would beat us if all remains the same on our side.
We need to make some big strides to win in my opinion, as we can’t beat them on talent and depth alone as we have these first two games. Obviously I’ll be watching and rooting for those strides but a week ago I would have told you I felt more confident about this game then I am now.
Last Edit: Nov 9, 2019 14:24:29 GMT -5 by daveg023
Our D was awful. My sense was that we were too tight on the ball, allowing too many drives past us. When we just played solid D and didn't try to get our chin in their chest, we did OK.
Boy did Mac struggle on both ends. I'm used to him getting blown by, but he too often pre determined what he would do on offense.
In general, we just took what the first offensive action gave us, whether it was open or not. A ton of iso looks. Need to be more patient in the half court.
Yurt was the bright spot. Good constellation of moves. Hard working. Aggressive. Good on the boards.
Way too many sloppy TOs. When you play fast, those numbers will go up. We have to accept that to some degree. But we forced the ball too much for my taste.
I suspect it will be about a pick'em by most systems and Vegas. Certainly not the Top 25 team we all hoped for yet, but hardly "there's no way we can beat Penn State."
No obviously it’s a game we can win. Vegas I’m sure will peg it anywhere from +/- 2. I’m just saying given what I’ve seen so far, I would think Penn State would beat us if all remains the same on our side.
We don't look great, but the rotation ain't exactly what we will run in a close game. I haven't seen a complete box yet for this one, but in the first game we got 10 guys 10+ minutes. The second team isn't great. So there's some clear optimization to be done there.
The full season will hinge largely on whether this team can improve the defensive cohesion. I'm not overly hopeful, but teams do improve over the course of the year. In the early JTIII years, it would happen frequently. With the number of young and new players, perhaps we will see it again this year.
James and Mac had bad games (dear James and Mac fans, for them... neither played as well as they usually do). Josh was limited in minutes. We played a backup five for lengthy segments. I think we will see something better against PSU.
But yes, we aren't clearly a Top 25 team right now.
"The ball should move, bodies should move. You talk about being an undisciplined, unselfish group. That's what you do. If the ball's sticking, great defensive teams are going to load up. If you don't move the ball and [be] unselfish, it's gonna be long nights, so you better learn to move the ball, share, and play with a sense of urgency on every possession. Our teams will always be unselfish, our teams will always be physical, and our teams will always do our best to defend."
I suspect it will be about a pick'em by most systems and Vegas. Certainly not the Top 25 team we all hoped for yet, but hardly "there's no way we can beat Penn State."
No obviously it’s a game we can win. Vegas I’m sure will peg it anywhere from +/- 2. I’m just saying given what I’ve seen so far, I would think Penn State would beat us if all remains the same on our side.
We need to make some big strides to win in my opinion, as we can’t beat them on talent and depth alone as we have these first two games. Obviously I’ll be watching and rooting for those strides but a week ago I would have told you I felt more confident about this game then I am now.
More worried about UNCG. That’s probably the toughest OOC home game.
Last Edit: Nov 9, 2019 14:26:31 GMT -5 by GUJook97
I suspect it will be about a pick'em by most systems and Vegas. Certainly not the Top 25 team we all hoped for yet, but hardly "there's no way we can beat Penn State."
No obviously it’s a game we can win. Vegas I’m sure will peg it anywhere from +/- 2. I’m just saying given what I’ve seen so far, I would think Penn State would beat us if all remains the same on our side. We need to make some big strides to win in my opinion, as we can’t beat them on talent and depth alone as we have these first two games.
This team can obviously beat Penn State. This team looks a lot like the previous years where we are going to win some nobody thinks we can win and lose some nobody thought we could lose. I think the improved schedule should be good enough to get us to the tourney but I am not seeing a lot of progression from year to year so far.
That is all a consequence of being a streaky O team and a team that relies on the other team to miss open 3's on the other end.
Last Edit: Nov 9, 2019 14:27:40 GMT -5 by hoyainla
Post by hoyalove4ever on Nov 9, 2019 14:27:51 GMT -5
It was a sloppy game, with lots of different lineups, and the Hoyas still scored 89. This team has a ton of potential and a lot of good pieces. It will take time.
No obviously it’s a game we can win. Vegas I’m sure will peg it anywhere from +/- 2. I’m just saying given what I’ve seen so far, I would think Penn State would beat us if all remains the same on our side.
We don't look great, but the rotation ain't exactly what we will run in a close game. I haven't seen a complete box yet for this one, but in the first game we got 10 guys 10+ minutes. The second team isn't great. So there's some clear optimization to be done there.
The full season will hinge largely on whether this team can improve the defensive cohesion. I'm not overly hopeful, but teams do improve over the course of the year. In the early JTIII years, it would happen frequently. With the number of young and new players, perhaps we will see it again this year.
James and Mac had bad games (dear James and Mac fans, for them... neither played as well as they usually do). Josh was limited in minutes. We played a backup five for lengthy segments. I think we will see something better against PSU.
But yes, we aren't clearly a Top 25 team right now.
Agreed. Yurtseven had 17/15 in 20 minutes. It’s a different game with a tighter rotation.
Last Edit: Nov 9, 2019 14:28:43 GMT -5 by GUJook97
Post by Nevada Hoya on Nov 9, 2019 14:29:08 GMT -5
Was this a game where we played down to the opposition? Was it that Patrick wanted to played everybody at once, instead of waiting for the end, when we were ahead by 20-25? On paper it looks good, so we shall see what happens against PSU. Will the real team please stand up.
The defense wasn't good, but the problem was 19 turnovers.
Not only is that 19 shots we didn't take shooting at 50%... we were also grabbing offensive boards at a 40% rate and drawing fouls. Take those 19 turnovers down to a reasonable 12, and it's probably another 10-11 points we would've scored.
You can't turn the ball over 19 times against Central Arkansas. That's just terrible.
"The ball should move, bodies should move. You talk about being an undisciplined, unselfish group. That's what you do. If the ball's sticking, great defensive teams are going to load up. If you don't move the ball and [be] unselfish, it's gonna be long nights, so you better learn to move the ball, share, and play with a sense of urgency on every possession. Our teams will always be unselfish, our teams will always be physical, and our teams will always do our best to defend."
These games feel like unless we win by 20+, there’s naturally room to be critical. Last year was the same thing early on and we then went to Illinois and won, and then Syracuse and should have won. The difference this year is we have a lot more tough games early.
But I agree with the general sentiment our rotations will be different and the thought that we play up/down to our competition.
Last Edit: Nov 9, 2019 14:33:34 GMT -5 by daveg023
I'm really like the depth that Coach Ewing is using on the court. Got to have fresh bodies to wear down teams during the later part of the year.
Yeah, I think you have to judge these games from the perspective of us playing 10 deep. If we play 6-7 guys that whole game, we would have won by 20-25. Doesn’t mean the D would have been much better, but still...
I'd prefer approx 8-9 guys though to deploy, but that's just me.
“The lone wolf will always die in the winter, but the pack will survive all four seasons.”
We don't look great, but the rotation ain't exactly what we will run in a close game. I haven't seen a complete box yet for this one, but in the first game we got 10 guys 10+ minutes. The second team isn't great. So there's some clear optimization to be done there.
The full season will hinge largely on whether this team can improve the defensive cohesion. I'm not overly hopeful, but teams do improve over the course of the year. In the early JTIII years, it would happen frequently. With the number of young and new players, perhaps we will see it again this year.
James and Mac had bad games (dear James and Mac fans, for them... neither played as well as they usually do). Josh was limited in minutes. We played a backup five for lengthy segments. I think we will see something better against PSU.
But yes, we aren't clearly a Top 25 team right now.
Agreed. Yurtseven had 17/15 in 20 minutes. It’s a different game with a tighter rotation.
I actually like that Pat is giving everyone PT. Accelerated player development.
I remember in the last years of III, the team struggled to play low ranked OCC teams and consequently he could never bring in bench players to get any PT during OCC
Last Edit: Nov 9, 2019 14:38:22 GMT -5 by professorhoya
Agreed. Yurtseven had 17/15 in 20 minutes. It’s a different game with a tighter rotation.
I actually like that Pat is giving everyone PT. Accelerated player development.
I remember in the last years of III, the team struggled to play low ranked OCC teams and consequently he could never bring in bench players to get any PT during OCC
Agree. He is preparing for the future. You sub-optimize today for a better future tomorrow. There will be a time this season when we need those player on the bench. And it should pay dividends in future seasons.
Agree that this team has been underwhelming, but I also think that the coach is using these games to see how different combinations work. So far there have several positives and negatives. Most impressive to me has been the play of Yurtseven, Pickett and Mosley. Encouraged by the contributions of Alexander and happy to see LeBlanc appears to have no rust. The defense still sucks,. I would really like the coach to make McClung look to pass more and shoot less. He is a volume shooter, not necessarily a high percentage shooter. Yet with the ball in his hands and driving into the lane he seems to always create—an opportunity for himself, or an opportunity to dish to an open perimeter player. Taking the ball on the perimeter with blinders on and launching shots or forcing shots against good defense is not his strength..