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Post by RockawayHoya on Feb 13, 2019 23:07:21 GMT -5
So the play and results to this point in the season don’t represent any progress or good results? You’re still holding out for more proof? Really? I get your dogged allegiance to propping up JT3 but it’s getting really tiresome. Considering the Hoyas lost 9 of their last 11 games last season under Ewing, I think with at least 8 games left this season means that the jury is still out. As someone else wrote this morning, coming into the season they felt that progress would be shown by "NIT, 8 or 9 wins in the BE and 20 wins". All three of those goals are definitely attainable, but certainly not guaranteed at this very moment. If you're just talking about how the team has looked, I agree that the talent and quality of play has been better this season, but that only goes so far with convincing people that don't watch every game that the team is making progress. With the regression we've seen the last 2 games, I think it can certainly be argued that the odds of "making progress" are substantially declining. And I'm not in the camp that believes 8-10 qualifies because it's almost certainly not getting us in the NIT.
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Post by RockawayHoya on Feb 13, 2019 22:58:56 GMT -5
Putting in the effort that's required to win a game like this won't even guarantee a win, but that's the first step towards having a chance.
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Post by RockawayHoya on Feb 13, 2019 22:54:47 GMT -5
Malinowski played like a senior with only a month left in his career. And I appreciate that. As for everyone else.... Pickett has a strong game. Pickett was decent offensively, but he started as the primary defender on Powell and got roasted so badly to the point where they had to take him off. I thought it was one of his poorer games defensively.
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Post by RockawayHoya on Feb 13, 2019 22:53:00 GMT -5
Only one team wanted it tonight. Unfortunately it wasn't us. Out-efforted, outcoached, really no positive takeaways. Was never in the game, and that is far more disappointing than losing a game we knew would be tough coming in. Amazing that the team and staff could come out with such a lackadaisical effort given the enormity of the game and the opportunity that lay before them. Beat for nearly every 50-50 ball. So many examples of guys with their hands down on shooters. I get that the SHU role players (Nzei, Mamu, McKnight) all had above average games which didn't help things, but did we have a plan against the Myles? It sure didn't look like it.
That may have been the emptiest 20 and 6 in the history of basketball. Jessie showed life on the defensive end for maybe 2-3 possessions all night. For the rest, he was a turnstile. Sorry, but when you let the Brunks, Frolings, Hankins and Mamus of the conference generally outplay you, you do not deserve to be considered an elite player. Have fun getting your numbers the next 4 weeks and enjoy Europe.
Message to Ewing: it doesn't speak well for your coaching abilities if you're unable to come up with a way to solve a "rinky-dink defense," in his own words. If it was such gimmicky trash, it should not have taken nearly an entire half to figure it out. Credit Willard, who was Pitino-like in his masterful way of not only killing our fleeting momentum with good timeouts, but had a play drawn up for a basket after basically every stoppage in the 2nd half.
How the rest of this season goes is starting to look dicier by the game. Earlier in the year, we were losing because of execution issues and decision-making due to inexperience. The last two games, we're starting to see losses due to lack of effort and focus. That by far is harder to accept.
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Post by RockawayHoya on Feb 12, 2019 10:56:49 GMT -5
The team starts 3 freshmen & a sophomore, how can getting off to a sluggish start to games be the fault of upperclassmen when they're outnumbered on the court? The unquestioned leader of this team should be Jesse Govan. He should be setting the example and demanding his teammates follow. This is his last chance, the urgency should be apparent in his approach. And yet it's been lackadaisical play and poor body language (Nova) or openly criticizing freshman teammates for his own turnovers/mistakes down the stretch of games (Butler). It's time for Jessie to step up with both his play and his leadership. The ticket to the Dance is right there in front of him if he wants it bad enough.
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Post by RockawayHoya on Feb 12, 2019 9:22:45 GMT -5
Oklahoma lost again last night too. I get we don't have the greatest profile, but the day a 3-9 B12 team makes it ahead of us is the day hell will freeze over, computer numbers and other metrics be damned.
We've been included in the field on a 2nd bracket on the Matrix, so despite the Butler loss we're still trending slightly upwards vs. our fellow bubble teams. A win tomorrow could easily have us swapping places with the Hall in many brackets as they are the last team or 2nd to last team in right now in many projections.
Today's bubble games:
7th to last team in: Alabama at. Miss. St. (Alabama probably closer to a 10 than 11 seed at this point but a loss won't help them escape the cut line) 1st Four Out: Butler at St. John's (probably rooting for the Johnnies here to solidify a 3rd bid for the BE and help us swap spots with Butler who is currently the first team out) 1st Four Out: Davidson at Fordham (a loss could pop their bubble for good)
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Post by RockawayHoya on Feb 11, 2019 16:04:56 GMT -5
Bizarre world we live in where Depaul is the 3 seed and St. John's is playing on Wed. night.
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Post by RockawayHoya on Feb 11, 2019 13:05:25 GMT -5
From the beginning, my hope has been the NIT, 8 or 9 wins in the BE and 20 wins; however, going into the Butler game, my thinking was getting bigger simply because of the way the BE is lining up right now. I was very disappointed against Butler and that pretty much ended my NCAA thinking unless we can avoid 2 out of 3 possible sweeps by CU, Nova and MU. The NET number is just so hard to overcome right now to give it much more thought for a while. However, for the first time in a long time, I actually feel the team we put on the floor has the capability to win the BET. To me, that is a great sign of progress. NET will actually improve by a bunch with a road win at SHU, and I think it will end up being a Q1 win as well unless SHU tanks down the stretch. I think the second game at Creighton may be the biggest game we have left outside of the return SHU game. You are absolutely right that we can't afford a sweep against them. FWIW, the bubble did weaken significantly over the weekend as Dauster points out (Davidson, Bowling Green, Indiana). We got several results that have kept us in the conversation for now if we can take care of business on Wed.
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Post by RockawayHoya on Feb 11, 2019 12:58:56 GMT -5
Very disappointed by Saturday's loss, but luckily the guys won't have to wait too long for their next chance at a big win. A couple of observations I had re: Saturday that I would like to see addressed against SHU:
1) Not letting the officials dictate the game to us. That's 3 games in a row where we've gotten by far the short end of the stick as far as whistles go. We got on JTIII for years (and deservedly so) for not standing up to the refs and backing his players when the situation was warranted. Ewing's got to put his foot down on Wed. even it it means an early T; we cannot survive another lopsidedly officiated game on the road against a quality opponent. And we certainly can't allow the refs to continue allowing other teams to manhandle us without paying a price; I believe the Mac injury on Saturday was a direct result of the officials unevenness in calling fouls on both ends.
2) Pickett's aggressiveness. If we could bottle the first 7-8 minutes of Jamorko's game against Butler and sustain it for 40 minutes (or even a half), he'd be an all-BE player. He asserted himself as a factor on both ends, hit the glass hard and made plays on offense without the ball. We're going to need more of that if this team is going to make a run down the stretch in conference play.
3) Limiting hero ball from guys who aren't heroes. This isn't mean to be piling on, but when the problems persist they need to be brought up again and again until they are addressed. We are not going to survive Trey continuing to go iso and forcing up shots every time he touches the ball on offense. The percentage of positive plays he makes trying to make 1 on 1 post moves (or worse, forcing his way through double teams) starting more than 5 feet from the basket is exceedingly low. It sounds insane, but if senior Trey could just play with the mindset of freshman Josh (don't force anything, take what comes to you, and just be hyper aggressive without the ball), we would be far better off. I get that Jessie doesn't have the stamina to go hard for 40 minutes, but Ewing's insistence on spelling Jessie using Trey instead of Carter despite these mistakes is hard to understand.
As an extra side note, this is an opportunity for our staff to demonstrate they understand the use of scouting reports and how to exploit another team's weakness. There better not be anyone helping off of Powell and Cale (esp. from 3), and there are guys on SHU that they can expect to leave open on the perimeter without fear. This not a team that can hurt us from outside at 4-5 spots. Knowing who and when to double/hedge on will be critical for this game; I hope we come out prepared and ready to execute.
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Post by RockawayHoya on Feb 8, 2019 11:24:00 GMT -5
The entire athletic department should be fired if they wear teal during a gray out.
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Post by RockawayHoya on Feb 7, 2019 16:56:44 GMT -5
NET is up from 79 to 73 after the Providence win. A win on Saturday should definitely get us somewhere in the 60s and squarely on the bubble. According to Bracket Matrix, here are the bubble teams ahead of us and how they fared last night: 10. Nebraska (L 60-45 vs. Maryland) 11. Alabama (W 89-74 vs. Georgia) 12. Davidson (W 68-53 vs. URI) 1st 4 out. Clemson (W 65-42 @ GT) Next 4 out. Creighton (L 66-59 @ Nova) 13th team out. Georgetown (W 76-67 @ Prov.) I think that Nebraska, Ohio st and Indiana will fall out. Tonight will determine if San Francisco has at-large potential against Gonzaga. I don't feel like Davidson is a tournament team for an at large, although I really like their team they just don't have those key wins. I also think that UCF isn't a tournament team by any means, they haven't done anything to deserve it with their best win being over Northern Kentucky or Alabama. I also don't think Arizona st. makes it with how awful the Pac-12 is excluding Washington. Utah st. and Fresno st. could just fall down with losses and St. Mary's hasn't beaten anyone. Just to list a few teams on the bubble in some places just to show how weak the bubble is and how possible the at-large is. As you cited in your examples, tonight's a fairly big night for the bubble as well. 9. Ohio St. vs. Penn St. (a loss knocks them down to the cut line) 11. Indiana vs. Iowa (chance at a quality win here) 11. UCF at Houston (NET 7, RPI 4 --> huge chance for a marquee win) Next 4 out. San Francisco at Gonzaga (the marquee win their resume needs) 9th team out. Arizona vs. Washington (current P-12 leaders) 10th team out. UNC Greensboro vs. Sanford Think our win at Providence probably vaulted us up to somewhere around the Next 4 out range; it will be interesting to see where we fall before the Butler game.
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Post by RockawayHoya on Feb 7, 2019 16:33:16 GMT -5
According to the HHC e-mail I just received, those planning to use Metro to get to the game on Saturday should know the following:
"Due to scheduled maintenance, the Metro's red line will not be operational at stops near Capital One Arena. The red line will be closed at Farragut North, Metro Center, and Gallery Place. Instead, shuttle buses will operate between Dupont Circle and Judiciary Square. However, the blue/orange/silver lines will be operational at Metro Center and the green/yellow lines will be operational at Gallery Place. For more information, please visit WMATA's website."
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Post by RockawayHoya on Feb 7, 2019 9:59:15 GMT -5
NET is up from 79 to 73 after the Providence win. A win on Saturday should definitely get us somewhere in the 60s and squarely on the bubble.
According to Bracket Matrix, here are the bubble teams ahead of us and how they fared last night:
10. Nebraska (L 60-45 vs. Maryland) 11. Alabama (W 89-74 vs. Georgia) 12. Davidson (W 68-53 vs. URI) 1st 4 out. Clemson (W 65-42 @ GT) Next 4 out. Creighton (L 66-59 @ Nova)
13th team out. Georgetown (W 76-67 @ Prov.)
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Post by RockawayHoya on Feb 6, 2019 22:01:48 GMT -5
A progress-making win tonight to sweep a team that has pretty much owned us for the last 5 years. It was an absolutely brutal first 19 minutes of the game, but I do think that 60-65 second sequence that ended the half with the sweet entry to Govan for the quick dunk in a 2 for 1 situation followed by the stop and 3 before the buzzer was a huge sign of growth for this team. While it wasn't perfect in the final 4-5 minutes, you also again saw some growth from the team in terms of clock management. Just simply forcing the other team to foul at the end of games instead of jacking up quick shots and turning the ball over makes it a lot easier to hold other teams at bay when trying to preserve a lead. That's a credit to the staff for finally starting to get the message across that the clock can be our friend when we want it to be.
We don't win tonight without Josh. Beast on both ends, slowly starting to develop some reputable range, but most importantly exhibited the toughness that's required to win BE road games. We've lost the physicality battle to so many teams the last few seasons; it's starting to reverse itself of late just a little bit and that's a good sign. Hat tip to Kaleb also for keeping us in it early when we had very little going for us; he's been solid for us for awhile now and his contributions have been significant to these last 3-4 games.
The defense is slowly improving, but I think it needs to be caveated somewhat tonight. That was a bad Providence offense we just faced. They had a number of opportunities that they just couldn't capitalize on. But I do think it speaks volumes to win on the road when we didn't play our best either. That's another sign of growth.
Officiating... that's two games in a row the stripes have been pretty questionable. Confusing calls all over the place, guys getting wrecked with no whistle, touch fouls being called aplenty. I'm sure James is wondering at this point what it takes to get a charge, because I don't know anymore.
Welcome to the bubble, Hoyas. A win on Saturday and we'll be popping up on more brackets than not in the 2nd week of February. That's a long ways away from where we were post Creighton.
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Post by RockawayHoya on Feb 3, 2019 14:34:36 GMT -5
I was really proud of our effort today. Who could have anticipated that we would be right there at the under 8 second half time out while getting absolutely nothing from Govan and very little from Mac? Solid games from Akinjo and Mourning, but for the most part the rest of the team couldn't make any shots. And Villanova's defense had something to do with that. I think there should be a lot of good takeaways from this game. We were not embarrassed. Onward. And now a word about the officiating. I thought it was universally awful, with quick whistles regularly on both sides. However - the obvious bad calls all went against us. At least two of Govan's fouls looked like phantom calls. There was a clear charge on Booth that would have been his third foul that was called as a block on Akinjo. And there was the deflection into the backcourt that was called a turnover. And speaking of turnovers, props to the team today for taking good care of the ball. I hope we are turning the corner on the terrible unforced turnovers that we have accumulated regularly this season up until the last game and a half. Echoed my sentiments exactly, especially the officiating. Thought Ewing's comments in the huddle were spot on: stop taking NBA 3s and step in. Team didn't listen to him; that's on the players. One thing I will say about Jessie: obviously he had an extremely poor game and likely was the biggest culprit for our loss today (those 2 missed open 3's at 53-all were really the emotionally deflating moments that turned the game), but good god man... you're the senior leader of this team. I understand he's not really a vocal leader, but to openly sulk on the bench and look completely out of it mentally after fouling out instead of trying to keep the team engaged and fighting... production aside I expected more leadership from him. That was not a good moment. Lost a major opportunity today, but a run at the postseason is still in front of them if they can put this behind them and take care of business on Wed.
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Post by RockawayHoya on Feb 1, 2019 11:15:08 GMT -5
This is the biggest game the Hoyas have played since the 2015 loss to Utah. They finally had what I would consider a progress making win against Xavier. That is, taking another step forward instead of 2 steps back like they've tended to do in recent years after wins. There was not only growth in securing the victory, but how we did it (Akinjo stepping up, role players looking like they're starting to settle in their roles, somewhat better execution in the end game which is a credit to both staff and players).
I have to admit it did feel like the wheels were falling off after the Creighton game. For these guys to rally and produce 2 monster wins to climb out of the hole they had dug is huge.
This is without a doubt our toughest game remaining on the schedule, so I'm tempering my expectations. But the opportunity does lie in front of our guys now: steal a win on Sunday and we can start realistically talking about being in the NIT discussion and playing our way towards the bubble. It's been 4 years since we've had a conversation like that.
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Post by RockawayHoya on Jan 28, 2019 9:48:30 GMT -5
Thoughts: - I'm not sure we actually deserved to win this game. We shot really well from 3, and admittedly from good shots. But there were still 5-8 completely moronic turnovers and some of the worst defensive rebounding I've seen in a long time. Does anyone jump for the ball on our team over than LeBlanc, Greg and Mac? Everyone else stands and watches.
- Putting in Mourning as a defensive replacement is baffling. I know Govan had four fouls, but I hate to tell Ewing, Carter is a better defender and rebounder right now. And like everyone else, I was baffled by the fact that apparently 5 game minutes plus 2 TV timeouts wasn't enough rest for Mac and Akinjo at the same time -- they really should never BOTH be out of the lineup. There's simply no real ballhandling with them out even if Mosely has really played solidly the last few games.
- In Big East play, Mac is shooting over 40% from 3 and has a 110+ offensive rating on some pretty massive shot usage. It's only four games, so we'll see how it goes, but that's pretty impressive so far for a frosh. Since his 0-14 start, he's at 36%.
- Mac and Akinjo both have still a long way to go with identifying the right pass when driving, but today was an improvement. Baby steps, but 12 assists is good, even if 6 TOs is a bit too much. the real TO probelm is the guys who commit them without the playmaking responsibility.
- LeBlanc's #1 improvement point is staying on the court. The bench is not good; him simply being out there instead of Mourning is a massive improvement. Also great to see the 3 and the FT shooting.
- I still maintain that Mullin is not a good coach.
- People focus so much on endgame, but the difference between this team and a tourney team is the bench and stupid mistakes. Remove 3-4 of our 5-8 dumb turnovers a game and we have maybe one, maybe no losses this year? Every team has bad mistakes on both offense and defense but this team has neither the focus nor personnel to play anywhere close to forty minutes. No team does ... but we are playing a good 15 minutes every game and holding on for the rest.
- That McConnaughey-Lincoln commercial is amazing. I hated it at first, but now I appreciate the brilliant layers. Matthew is both the life of the party and an introvert who leaves it to shoot trick shots by himself. We've all been that person, except he's cooler and he really appreciates the safety features of the Lincoln with the most brilliant of reactions in the car. Just amazing and I am fully convinced that Lincoln is trolling us all at this moment.
Agreed on all points minus the car commercial. The worst turnovers we are committing aside from the end game ones where we freeze up against pressure are the simple outlet passes we don't seem to be able to make without putting the ball in danger. Pickett is especially bad at this; treats it like a hot potato that he has to give up to James or Mac as quickly as possible. This is partially on the PGs to demand the ball and go to it to get it, but the nonchalant outlet passes need to stop; those 3-4 turnovers a game SF is referring to is a direct result of that. That being said, Picket looked a lot more confident offensively; especially with his jump shot. That was a welcome sight to see and probably the biggest thing I took away from the game. He needs to be more of the guy we saw yesterday offensively for us to take the next step. I thought our bigs competed a little bit better defensively overall; Jessie wasn't great but he was passable. We need passable and not insufficient from him to have a shot. It was kind of amazing to see SJU burn all their timeouts by the under 8 minute mark. With how many stoppages they were giving us and for how long we continued to rely on the bench regardless of stoppages in play, it wasn't a great coaching moment for either Ewing or Mullin. Thought James played much more under control and didn't force many of the haphazard drives into the lane that he's had in previous games. Good adjustment by him. Good road win, if we can finally take care of business at home vs. our physicality bellweather, the team will have me finally believing that they are taking a small step in the right direction.
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Post by RockawayHoya on Jan 23, 2019 16:57:39 GMT -5
People can tell who you are referring to by looking at which players are coming off the bench and are not getting much playing time. I am still waiting for McClung and Mourning to get back to full strength as this will this will turn around the season. You'd be surprised. It has nothing to do with playing time. Its some of the guys that are getting ample playing time. For those blaming or wanting to replace the asst coaches, I honestly don't think talent is the root cause. I think it has more to do with in-game adjustments. There have just been too many games where we blow late leads because of poor coaching and poor execution. But isn't that part of the job description of an assistant? To me, an assistant needs to be able to provide some combination of 1) bringing in talent, 2) assisting with player development, and 3) positively impacting the game with X's/O's and development of schemes. If an assistant is not excelling in at least 1 of these 3 areas, there's no reason to keep him on the staff. That's a bare minimum. Can't really speak to #2, but given our current 2019 class and what we've seen on the court so far this season, I think it could be argued that there are suits on our bench right now that aren't cutting it in any of these areas.
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Post by RockawayHoya on Jan 22, 2019 17:32:26 GMT -5
Where you are on Ewing is most likely dependent on your assessment of the talent on the team. For me, I think the talent level, especially once you incorporate the age of the players involved, is very low. Similar to last year, and honestly, the last two years may be most similar to the end of the Esherick era, in the one year with Gerald Riley and no Mike Sweetney. One real upper classman of talent (Riley, who is nowhere near as good as Govan), three promising sophs (Bowman, Cook and Owens) and a floppy-haired freshman guard from a Southern state (Causey). OK, Causey was pretty low impact, but he was a freshman PG, which is key for this discussion. Players like Courtland Freeman, Ray Reed, Dizdarevic and the Irish-African Assassin, Amadou Kilkenny-Diaw played good minutes but gave little overall. The sophomores and frosh had flashes of brilliance but weren't really net positives. One upperclassman can't carry a team. This team has more talent than that, if only because Govan > Riley and LeBlanc is better than most frosh. But it's pretty close. If you disagree with me on this, no doubt you are seriously questioning Ewing. If you are roundabouts on my opinion, it's easier to trust the process. What I see from Coach: 1. I think his offensive system and play calls are fine. It's clear players aren't executing what he wants, but there's enough strong execution and smart plays to make me think that while he might not be the best schemer out there, that he's not incompetent. 2. I think his skill development skills are pretty good. I admit I base this mostly on Govan and Derrickson and even early development of Josh and Mac -- Pickett is the one player who has taken a step back, but I'm going with the averages. No one bats 1.000. 3. I'm uncertain, amazingly about his defensive chops. I expected more. 4. See above for motivation. This team takes more breaks than I'd like. 5. Recruiting-wise, I think he's been very good at talent evaluation. Despite Pickett's struggles offensively, I think everyone he's recruited has looked as good or better than their rankings. he's also closed on some quality recruits but also missed on some others. Not a superstar on conversion, but not terrible. This class will be telling. All in all, I would put Patrick at a B. Lots of positives, promising, but no home run yet. But I can see that if you have a different feel for our talent, the grade is going to be much lower. I just think we need to get to a place where we have more than one or two players who is reliably above average in more than three out of every four games. Right now, I've got Govan and Leblanc in that bucket. I agree with most of this. I think the following additional caveats bring the grade down some, however. 6. In-game clock management (using timeouts strategically, playing slower/smarter with the lead, etc.). We struggle badly here. Ewing has shown a pattern of not being able to use timeouts to get the correct people back in the game when the situation warrants it OR when we need to stop an opponent's run and break their momentum. We always seem to have multiple timeouts heading into the final minute when one of them could have been used earlier in a big spot. Also, a lot of these blown leads occur because we simply have no concept of milking the shot clock when score/time dictates that we should. I understand he wants the team to maintain an aggressive mentality, but there's a delicate balance between being aggressive and being smart and we're not there. 7. Substitution patterns and minutes distribution. Can you imagine if Esh had benched Bowman for the last 13 minutes of a game and in crunch time told Courtland Freeman to get in there and make something happen? Seems crazy to me too, but essentially that's what Pat did freezing out Leblanc and relying on Trey down the stretch. The fault of Pat's right now is that we're nearly 20 games in and still don't have a defined rotation. Guys have no idea what's expected of them from game to game, and especially for younger players that's a tough thing. Play calls and schemes aside, there's been several games this year where we have not had the right people on the floor at the right time. I get the experimenting earlier in the year, but there is no way the tinkering should still be going on at this point in the season. At this point he should know what he has. Yes, the talent and experience level on this team isn't great. But for Pat to have earned a B, he should've coaxed at least another two wins out of this group at this point in the season. It's not the talent/experience that has prohibited this team from earning those wins, it's been his decision making. I'll leave the assistants for a separate thread when the time comes, but you better believe their grade is worse than Pat's.
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Post by RockawayHoya on Jan 22, 2019 13:50:22 GMT -5
Despite Akinjo shot not falling....I think he played the best half of basketball we’ve seen from him all year. I really respect how the kid bounced back from a benching. This kid possesses mental toughness. I don't think it's a matter of his shot "not falling." He's been shooting well from 3 point range. It's that he can't produce good opportunities for himself or his teammates off of the bounce and in the paint. Akinjo from within the arc in conference play 0-5 Butler 0-5 St Johns 0-2 Xavier 4-11 Providence 1-10 Marquette 0-6 Creighton total 5-39 (12.8%) So outside of Providence, that's 1-28 (3.6%) from 2 in conference play? Going to need to work on using that mid-range J or floater a little bit more until he gets stronger. Right now, he has a tendency to get lost amongst the trees when he gets too deep into the paint.
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