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Post by Ranch Dressing on Dec 11, 2014 15:33:15 GMT -5
Josh is playing for a chance at the next level. And it is showing. He gave us everything we could have hoped for last night.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2014 5:00:10 GMT -5
Smith's body language is a thousand percent better than last year. But still love the fact that he rarely changes expression during the game, except when he gave that "really, dude?" look to the kid on KU who was trying to arm-lock him in the post.
Really hoping he (and the team) turned a corner in the KU game - as a big man it's a two way street ... You demand the ball, and if you get it, you better do something good with it more often than not so your teammates continue to throw it in. The post/re-post was a thing of beauty on a couple possessions. And I continue to be amazed at how quickly he can gather those 350 (320 now?) lbs and get off the floor when he wants to. They'll be glad they have back up stanchions one if these games ...
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NCHoya
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
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Post by NCHoya on Dec 12, 2014 9:48:06 GMT -5
I will be looking forward to seeing how Smith plays tomorrow. That will be a very telling indicator about what to expect for the rest of this season. Can we expect and rely on Smith to be dominant game in and game out or will he be inconistent and pick his spots. If he comes out with vengeance tomorrow and dominates a small team the way he should, then I will be very excited for the rest of his season.
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TBird41
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
"Roy! I Love All 7'2" of you Roy!"
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Post by TBird41 on Dec 12, 2014 9:54:23 GMT -5
We have to keep the big man engaged in the game. Pounding the ball inside to him has to be option 1 or 2 every time down the floor when he is in the game. I loved the block shot he had and I believe it lead to a fast break bucket. Definitely exceeding all expectations that I had. I thought the Hoyas did a pretty good job of staying patient and getting him the ball after he reposted if he passed the initial entry pass out. |
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SFHoya99
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
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Post by SFHoya99 on Dec 12, 2014 10:25:32 GMT -5
I love me some Josh Smith but the 5 turnovers were killers. I know it's probably too late for his hands to get better, but he's got to stop dribbling when he's already double teamed. He's got to work on receiving the entry pass better. And he's got to look more to pass out for the open three.
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rockhoya
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
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Post by rockhoya on Dec 12, 2014 11:50:07 GMT -5
I love me some Josh Smith but the 5 turnovers were killers. I know it's probably too late for his hands to get better, but he's got to stop dribbling when he's already double teamed. He's got to work on receiving the entry pass better. And he's got to look more to pass out for the open three. His hands are almost as good as they can be on a big. He doesn't need to work on getting the entry pass better, our other Hoyas need to learn how to make better entry passes. It's not that hard to put spin on the ball. |
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nychoya3
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
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Post by nychoya3 on Dec 12, 2014 11:54:05 GMT -5
I think his hands are very good. What creates the turnovers is that he too frequently will begin his post move right into the teeth of a double or triple team. I think part of the problem is he can be a bit of a blackhole once he gets the ball in any kind of good position. What I would love to see is him throwing it out a little more often and repost. He did that a couple times against KU to very good effect. It lets him get even better position and it slows down the double team from arriving. However, it requires our guards and forwards to be willing to give him the ball back.
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Post by professorhoya on Dec 12, 2014 11:55:56 GMT -5
I love me some Josh Smith but the 5 turnovers were killers. I know it's probably too late for his hands to get better, but he's got to stop dribbling when he's already double teamed. He's got to work on receiving the entry pass better. And he's got to look more to pass out for the open three. The problem is if he keeps his hands high he gets called for elbowing people. You can't win with these illogical college basketball rules. Also at least two of the turnovers were from Josh trying to throw Princteon backdoor cut passes. He's missing them now but he's willing to try them which shows he's willing to learn and not afraid of failure. That practice should pay off later in the year. As far as the last turnover that was DSR's fault. |
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Post by HometownHoya on Dec 12, 2014 12:09:53 GMT -5
I love me some Josh Smith but the 5 turnovers were killers. I know it's probably too late for his hands to get better, but he's got to stop dribbling when he's already double teamed. He's got to work on receiving the entry pass better. And he's got to look more to pass out for the open three. The problem is if he keeps his hands high he gets called for elbowing people. You can't win with these illogical college basketball rules. Also at least two of the turnovers were from Josh trying to throw Princteon backdoor cut passes. He's missing them now but he's willing to try them which shows he's willing to learn and not afraid of failure. That practice should pay off later in the year. As far as the last turnover that was DSR's fault. And one of them was when he tried to save that ball going out of bounds on the defensive end and just threw it out of bounds past mid court. Obviously I don't want him taking it up against double or triple teams all game (although he can make those shots) but his vision isn't great and I don't want him turning the ball over passing it out, leading to breaks. |
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ksf42001
Silver Hoya (over 500 posts)
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Post by ksf42001 on Dec 12, 2014 12:20:06 GMT -5
The one thing I loved seeing in the 2nd half was Josh receiving the ball, realizing he's too far out to risk dribbling to the basket, passing back out, resetting to receive the ball deeper in the hole. It was a nice adjustment by either the coaching staff or the players themselves. Hopefully we'll see more of it, since there's nothing the other team can do to stop it without making another hoya open.
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rockhoya
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 3,830
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Post by rockhoya on Dec 12, 2014 14:11:13 GMT -5
I love me some Josh Smith but the 5 turnovers were killers. I know it's probably too late for his hands to get better, but he's got to stop dribbling when he's already double teamed. He's got to work on receiving the entry pass better. And he's got to look more to pass out for the open three. The problem is if he keeps his hands high he gets called for elbowing people. You can't win with these illogical college basketball rules. Also at least two of the turnovers were from Josh trying to throw Princteon backdoor cut passes. He's missing them now but he's willing to try them which shows he's willing to learn and not afraid of failure. That practice should pay off later in the year. As far as the last turnover that was DSR's fault. Yeah and one of those was a pass Jabril should've caught |
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Post by Ranch Dressing on Dec 12, 2014 15:35:56 GMT -5
Anyone else notice that Copeland is surprisingly adept at feeding Smith in the post?
Copeland adds some height on the wing (like Whittington) and has some pretty good skills to make quick passes around the perimeter, use the dribble to set up cutters, make cuts himself, and feed the post. On defense, I think he was the lateral quicks to defend perimeter passing and drives and speed to close out effectively on 3s. I see him very much able to develop into that Whittington-style SF role.
I look for Isaac's minutes to stabilize at the 20+ minute level from here on out. He has shown me something the last 2-3 games that I was not seeing the first several. Really glad to see him become a part of the rotation and gain confidence within the offense. Copeland and White make a very nice 1-2 punch off the bench with their continued development.
If he can add a consistent 3-ball to his offense, Isaac could be a heckuva player for the Hoyas.
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Post by HometownHoya on Dec 12, 2014 15:55:50 GMT -5
Anyone else notice that Copeland is surprisingly adept at feeding Smith in the post? Copeland adds some height on the wing (like Whittington) and has some pretty good skills to make quick passes around the perimeter, use the dribble to set up cutters, make cuts himself, and feed the post. On defense, I think he was the lateral quicks to defend perimeter passing and drives and speed to close out effectively on 3s. I see him very much able to develop into that Whittington-style SF role. I look for Isaac's minutes to stabilize at the 20+ minute level from here on out. He has shown me something the last 2-3 games that I was not seeing the first several. Really glad to see him become a part of the rotation and gain confidence within the offense. Copeland and White make a very nice 1-2 punch off the bench with their continued development. If he can add a consistent 3-ball to his offense, Isaac could be a heckuva player for the Hoyas. Agreed...probably deserves his own thread. Can't wait to see him progress on the year and career! |
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Post by hoyasaxa18 on Dec 12, 2014 16:03:30 GMT -5
I think Josh deserves enormous credit for his progress this season. Sure, he still makes mistakes and probably turns the ball over too often, but more than anything else, I have been extremely impressed with his energy level. He is grabbing almost twice as many rebounds per game as last season, and seems hungry out there on the court most of the time.
Ever since St. Francis (NY), I don't think there has been a game where we could question Smith's effort level, and that is an enormous improvement for a player whose effort level has been spotty at best throughout his entire college career.
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kchoya
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Post by kchoya on Dec 12, 2014 17:27:41 GMT -5
I love me some Josh Smith but the 5 turnovers were killers. I know it's probably too late for his hands to get better, but he's got to stop dribbling when he's already double teamed. He's got to work on receiving the entry pass better. And he's got to look more to pass out for the open three. I think we've already seen improvement over the course of the season. Seems like he tossed the ball out and re-posted more in the KU game than he has all season. He also appeared better about bringing the ball down when there were help defenders around. Look, that's always going to be the defense the opponent uses against Josh - it's not like any team has a big man has someone who can body him up 1-on-1, so they're going to send smaller guys at him to try and strip the ball (or draw an offensive foul). Another point to keep in mind, Josh wasn't here over the summer to work out with his teammates every day, so he has a bit of learning curve on the finer points like where he likes the entry pass, etc. |
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