mfk24
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
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Post by mfk24 on Nov 28, 2018 22:57:44 GMT -5
I hear what you are saying on seeing some incremental improvements offensively but I am left with the nagging feeling that we haven’t really moved the needle meaningfully forward as a whole since the Illinois game. Meanwhile, our kenpom rating and other metrics of “performance” continue to trend in the wrong direction. Syracuse game will be a good litmus test for me of where we are and if we are on the right track. While the Illinois game was a great, tough road win, it’s a pretty bad game to use as a metric to compare pretty much every other game to date just given the style. If someone wants to play in a track meet, up-tempo, fast paced game with us, we’re gauranteed to look better and I like our chances. We weren’t real good defensively in that game either but they took a lot of quick shots and didn’t make it a point to drain 25 seconds from the shot clock every possession. I agree the Cuse game is a good test, but there are some areas where we’re helped a bit in the match up so it’ll be interesting. I’m also not one who was forecasting post season success even before the season started and was a lot more realistic in what I thought this team would be capable of. For me, I think we’re about where I expected we’d be, but I could see folks could be disappointed with higher expectations. Was this our best game? Absolutely not. Are there things we need to work on, definitely. Was it all terrible, no. There are positives and negatives to take away, but I’d much rather the learning happen in a win.
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Bigs"R"Us
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Post by Bigs"R"Us on Nov 28, 2018 22:58:00 GMT -5
Folks here are depressed when we win and when we lose. Maybe, it’s just a national mood. ☹️👎🏻
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hoyainla
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Post by hoyainla on Nov 28, 2018 23:04:48 GMT -5
It seems to me, you only watch games to find negative things to say about the freshman. This dude has hated Mac from even before he committed. As Mac has proven him wrong over and over, he just keeps coming up with new complaints. I would hope no one is listening to his repetitive drivel anymore -- it's clear he's had a bone to pick for going on a year and half now and it's just annoying. If you think Mac has proven me wrong you need to go back and read what I wrote. You also have Mac colored glasses because he has not been very good no matter what you want to believe. His offense was better tonight for a stretch but I think once the advanced numbers come out it won't be very kind to him again compared to others. I have nothing against Mac. He is what I thought he would be. He just shouldn't be getting the minutes he does as the team suffers when he is out there. I also don't see the high ceiling that many others do so I don't agree with giving him the amount of minutes he's getting right now to get him experience. He does have a role on this team though. Sorry you don't agree.
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iowa80
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Post by iowa80 on Nov 28, 2018 23:24:39 GMT -5
This dude has hated Mac from even before he committed. As Mac has proven him wrong over and over, he just keeps coming up with new complaints. I would hope no one is listening to his repetitive drivel anymore -- it's clear he's had a bone to pick for going on a year and half now and it's just annoying. If you think Mac has proven me wrong you need to go back and read what I wrote. You also have Mac colored glasses because he has not been very good no matter what you want to believe. His offense was better tonight for a stretch but I think once the advanced numbers come out it won't be very kind to him again compared to others. I have nothing against Mac. He is what I thought he would be. He just shouldn't be getting the minutes he does as the team suffers when he is out there. I also don't see the high ceiling that many others do so I don't agree with giving him the amount of minutes he's getting right now to get him experience. He does have a role on this team though. Sorry you don't agree. It's a good thing when a poster comes in to answer, so good 4U. I'm inclined to agree that the pre-season hype here on Mac was a bit much, but don't agree on the "minutes" thing. Simply put, I think that Pat has decided that minutes invested in Mac are better than minutes invested elsewhere and may pay dividends later in the season. The bottom line is that Mac's minutes are not depriving the team of something better, and I think we can still see that the guy has the potential to average double figures. Defense? Well, we'll see.
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SFHoya99
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Post by SFHoya99 on Nov 28, 2018 23:24:47 GMT -5
So, umm, are people just figuring out that we're not very good and have to get better? This performance really isn't substantially different than most of our games. Perhaps I'm the only one who didn't watch the Illinois game and think we were really good? So I can't say I'm super disappointed here because I know our defense is not good. But I have seen two decent improvements during this game: - This is the second straight game with few turnovers. The Campbell game was more impressive, but still ... 8 Turnovers! We never do that, no matter the opponent!
- There's a crew on here that likes to on Mac, but that's the other big progression from this game. He's now 4-9 from 3 in his last two games. He's got a foul call on a drive! He's getting to the rim on baskets and he will start hitting those. Only Akinjo brings that kind of dynamism, and it's something we will sorely need if we're going to be good.
I don't think we're going to see a "switch" at any time this year. It's going to be game by game, small improvements. Mac and Akinjo still make some questionable shot choices ... but has anyone noticed that they aren't really making dumb passing or dribble turnovers anymore. They've committed four turnovers amongst the two of them over the last two games. Hell, Mac has only 2 turnovers over the last four games. So yeah, the defense sucks. And offense is dependent on an absurdly efficient Jessie Govan right now, who can't possibly keep this level of performance up against taller and more athletic foes. But we've reduced TOs. We've completely added a dribble drive portion of the game. So not all is lost. On the defensive side of things, I also think people are being way too harsh on the freshmen guards here as well. Down low, Mourning and Govan were atrocious defensively. My issue is less the 12-26 from three and more the nearly 60% we let them shoot from 2. I get that Richmond is good at that ... but man, we simply do not affect shots at the rim (aside from LeBlanc). Josh WILL play more against better opponents, I am sure, but we also need Jessie to work harder here. He's never going to be great but he has to be better defensively in the future, because he's not going to be as good offensively in the future. Perimeter-wise ... this is how I see the defenders. Akinjo is very good when he locks up one on one with a guy who has the ball, but he loses guys off ball and struggles (like everyone) to get over screens. McClung. I wish he would get into a better stance and can be beat off the dribble more, but he's the best guard we have at closing out, stripping driving players and following guys off ball. Yes, I know the announcing staff got him on that one play, but he ball watches less than everyone else. He hasn't been beat backdoor all year while James has gotten beat five or six times. He's the only guy we have who can contest with his hops and runs guys off the line. Jagan. Great at drawing changes ... has been super lackadaisical this year on the perimeter. Just lazy contesting threes and I'm not sure why. Always seems hesitant to allow the drive. Pickett. Should be good. Was doing better. Clearly out of it this game due to lack of PT and didn't earn it once in. Tends to lose guys off ball all the time and over help on drives. Malinowksi. Plays angles well, uses his size and has a little ball hawk on the passes to the perimeter. But because of the latter, he lets his guys get open on the perimeter and is as guilty of leaving three point shooters open as any. He rebounds very well, but I don't see the defender others see. Blair. Playing much more conservatively this year. With Mac, seems to be the player who will use little tricks like heavily shading to the weak hand the most. Doesn't have the athleticism to be a plus defender, and like everyone, has lost guys from time to time. But to me, has shored up some of his biggest defensive deficiencies in terms of getting lost. The reality is that there's a few guys there with the tools. But even if they shore it up, you can't expect someone to contest tightly on outside shots AND keep the driver in front of them. As long as we have no one defending the rim, we have to give something up. So I don't expect it to get better unless Josh takes over and if Pickett -- who has the size to do so -- makes a bit of a leap. The latter is concerning given the trending. But if you roll out more effort for Govan, flank him with two long guys with high effort, suddenly Mac and Akinjo (and everyone else) are going to look a lot better.
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sleepy
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Post by sleepy on Nov 28, 2018 23:25:55 GMT -5
This dude has hated Mac from even before he committed. As Mac has proven him wrong over and over, he just keeps coming up with new complaints. I would hope no one is listening to his repetitive drivel anymore -- it's clear he's had a bone to pick for going on a year and half now and it's just annoying. If you think Mac has proven me wrong you need to go back and read what I wrote. You also have Mac colored glasses because he has not been very good no matter what you want to believe. His offense was better tonight for a stretch but I think once the advanced numbers come out it won't be very kind to him again compared to others. I have nothing against Mac. He is what I thought he would be. He just shouldn't be getting the minutes he does as the team suffers when he is out there. I also don't see the high ceiling that many others do so I don't agree with giving him the amount of minutes he's getting right now to get him experience. He does have a role on this team though. Sorry you don't agree. The team built their biggest lead when he was out there though...
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sleepy
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Post by sleepy on Nov 28, 2018 23:30:26 GMT -5
So, umm, are people just figuring out that we're not very good and have to get better? This performance really isn't substantially different than most of our games. Perhaps I'm the only one who didn't watch the Illinois game and think we were really good? So I can't say I'm super disappointed here because I know our defense is not good. But I have seen two decent improvements during this game: - This is the second straight game with few turnovers. The Campbell game was more impressive, but still ... 8 Turnovers! We never do that, no matter the opponent!
- There's a crew on here that likes to on Mac, but that's the other big progression from this game. He's now 4-9 from 3 in his last two games. He's got a foul call on a drive! He's getting to the rim on baskets and he will start hitting those. Only Akinjo brings that kind of dynamism, and it's something we will sorely need if we're going to be good.
I don't think we're going to see a "switch" at any time this year. It's going to be game by game, small improvements. Mac and Akinjo still make some questionable shot choices ... but has anyone noticed that they aren't really making dumb passing or dribble turnovers anymore. They've committed four turnovers amongst the two of them over the last two games. Hell, Mac has only 2 turnovers over the last four games. So yeah, the defense sucks. And offense is dependent on an absurdly efficient Jessie Govan right now, who can't possibly keep this level of performance up against taller and more athletic foes. But we've reduced TOs. We've completely added a dribble drive portion of the game. So not all is lost. On the defensive side of things, I also think people are being way too harsh on the freshmen guards here as well. Down low, Mourning and Govan were atrocious defensively. My issue is less the 12-26 from three and more the nearly 60% we let them shoot from 2. I get that Richmond is good at that ... but man, we simply do not affect shots at the rim (aside from LeBlanc). Josh WILL play more against better opponents, I am sure, but we also need Jessie to work harder here. He's never going to be great but he has to be better defensively in the future, because he's not going to be as good offensively in the future. Perimeter-wise ... this is how I see the defenders. Akinjo is very good when he locks up one on one with a guy who has the ball, but he loses guys off ball and struggles (like everyone) to get over screens. McClung. I wish he would get into a better stance and can be beat off the dribble more, but he's the best guard we have at closing out, stripping driving players and following guys off ball. Yes, I know the announcing staff got him on that one play, but he ball watches less than everyone else. He hasn't been beat backdoor all year while James has gotten beat five or six times. He's the only guy we have who can contest with his hops and runs guys off the line. Jagan. Great at drawing changes ... has been super lackadaisical this year on the perimeter. Just lazy contesting threes and I'm not sure why. Always seems hesitant to allow the drive. Pickett. Should be good. Was doing better. Clearly out of it this game due to lack of PT and didn't earn it once in. Tends to lose guys off ball all the time and over help on drives. Malinowksi. Plays angles well, uses his size and has a little ball hawk on the passes to the perimeter. But because of the latter, he lets his guys get open on the perimeter and is as guilty of leaving three point shooters open as any. He rebounds very well, but I don't see the defender others see. Blair. Playing much more conservatively this year. With Mac, seems to be the player who will use little tricks like heavily shading to the weak hand the most. Doesn't have the athleticism to be a plus defender, and like everyone, has lost guys from time to time. But to me, has shored up some of his biggest defensive deficiencies in terms of getting lost. The reality is that there's a few guys there with the tools. But even if they shore it up, you can't expect someone to contest tightly on outside shots AND keep the driver in front of them. As long as we have no one defending the rim, we have to give something up. So I don't expect it to get better unless Josh takes over and if Pickett -- who has the size to do so -- makes a bit of a leap. The latter is concerning given the trending. But if you roll out more effort for Govan, flank him with two long guys with high effort, suddenly Mac and Akinjo (and everyone else) are going to look a lot better. Agree with much of this. My biggest issue is our interior defense, namely Mourning who couldn't defend or out jump me.
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SFHoya99
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
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Post by SFHoya99 on Nov 28, 2018 23:35:18 GMT -5
This dude has hated Mac from even before he committed. As Mac has proven him wrong over and over, he just keeps coming up with new complaints. I would hope no one is listening to his repetitive drivel anymore -- it's clear he's had a bone to pick for going on a year and half now and it's just annoying. If you think Mac has proven me wrong you need to go back and read what I wrote. You also have Mac colored glasses because he has not been very good no matter what you want to believe. His offense was better tonight for a stretch but I think once the advanced numbers come out it won't be very kind to him again compared to others. I have nothing against Mac. He is what I thought he would be. He just shouldn't be getting the minutes he does as the team suffers when he is out there. I also don't see the high ceiling that many others do so I don't agree with giving him the amount of minutes he's getting right now to get him experience. He does have a role on this team though. Sorry you don't agree. 80&+ of your posts are anti-Mac or pro someone who you think should take Mac's minutes. You're a bit obsessed. You have about thirty posts in this thread alone just picking on Mac and "the freshmen" or making outrageously weird claims like Greg is our best passer or that you invented the question mark. I don't really mind; I was just commenting to the other poster that no one should really listen to your opinion on the topic. You picked your hill ages ago and you're going to die on it. You will view Mac through a negative lens no matter what he does. People shouldn't be surprised.
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SFHoya99
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Post by SFHoya99 on Nov 28, 2018 23:38:12 GMT -5
Agree with much of this. My biggest issue is our interior defense, namely Mourning who couldn't defend or out jump me. Yeah, it's a freaking shame. Because he plays pretty smart. He has a pretty nice shot. He works hard inside. But he got his hops from his mother, presumably. If Trey could jump like Zo ... this wouldn't even be a question. And it's not to say he couldn't be a better defender as is; I'm sure he could. But holy crap, he really can't jump.
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SaxaCD
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Post by SaxaCD on Nov 29, 2018 0:09:44 GMT -5
Folks here are depressed when we win and when we lose. Maybe, it’s just a national mood. ☹️👎🏻 Eh, I'm not depressed about the win or nationally... but definitely a bit concerned that we let that team score so many easy buckets in the paint. I felt that mostly overshadowed a really nice, fun-to-watch effort on the other end of the court, where we really passed it around well and found guys in the best positions for shots. Still a very fun (although frustrating at times) team to watch out there. And I LOVE that for the first time in years, I actually expect to win these games, even when the other teams make it closer at the end. Even with our sometimes out-of-control play, I just feel this year that we will do the right thing at the end of games -- even if somebody just did something dumb. I just have the feeling that this year it isn't a spiral, like the past couple of years, when it seemed one bonehead play spelled doom, and guys looked like they were playing not to lose instead of to win. That's the biggest takeaway from this year for me so far.
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vv83
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Post by vv83 on Nov 29, 2018 0:18:54 GMT -5
There is a reason that our first two recruits for next year are super long, shot blocking bigs with a relatively raw set of offensive skills. Pat knows that we don't have any rim protection, and he is focusing on this in recruiting. I can't see Yurtseven being much better as a rim protector next year, he did not provide a whole lot of shot blocking at NC State. We'll probably have to wait until 2020-21 to really see the kind of defense pat wants to play, when hopefully the Ighoefe/Wilson combination (plus perhaps another good defensive big that we recruit over the next year or two) will be ready to at least play solid rim protecting defense.
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hoyainla
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Post by hoyainla on Nov 29, 2018 0:37:22 GMT -5
If you think Mac has proven me wrong you need to go back and read what I wrote. You also have Mac colored glasses because he has not been very good no matter what you want to believe. His offense was better tonight for a stretch but I think once the advanced numbers come out it won't be very kind to him again compared to others. I have nothing against Mac. He is what I thought he would be. He just shouldn't be getting the minutes he does as the team suffers when he is out there. I also don't see the high ceiling that many others do so I don't agree with giving him the amount of minutes he's getting right now to get him experience. He does have a role on this team though. Sorry you don't agree. 80&+ of your posts are anti-Mac or pro someone who you think should take Mac's minutes. You're a bit obsessed. You have about thirty posts in this thread alone just picking on Mac and "the freshmen" or making outrageously weird claims like Greg is our best passer or that you invented the question mark. I don't really mind; I was just commenting to the other poster that no one should really listen to your opinion on the topic. You picked your hill ages ago and you're going to die on it. You will view Mac through a negative lens no matter what he does. People shouldn't be surprised. Just want to get this straight. You think Mac has been good or even exceeding expectations? Do you think he should be playing the minutes he has been? The reason I talk so much about Mac is that many people seem to think this team should sacrifice another year of being bad to get him experience. I'm personally sick of being bad. I'm sick of kicking the can down the road. When do we put our best players out there and try to win. Last season Blair and Pickett got tons of run even though they were highly inefficient to make sure they were good this season. Now they are almost non factors. Now our least efficient player by far is getting tons of run while some of our our most efficient getting much less. This season doesn't have to be a lost cause but some decisions are making it seem like last year all over again.
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blueandgray
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Post by blueandgray on Nov 29, 2018 1:32:15 GMT -5
Sorry gang...haven’t read through the thread. Anyone know why Blair didn’t play?
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SFHoya99
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Post by SFHoya99 on Nov 29, 2018 1:40:30 GMT -5
Just want to get this straight. You think Mac has been good Overall, Mac hasn't been good yet. But his play hasn't cost us anything yet. Our only loss was a full team loss in which he only played 20 minutes, and can't possibly account for losing by 13. Similar to you this year, I actually called for Pickett to get less time last year. Of course, at that point, he had played very poorly in a couple of close losses, so his development time had actually cost us. I was probably wrong -- he turned it around very quickly almost immediately after that. Mac hasn't been nearly as bad as people say. For one, despite the fact that this team has a major issue with turnovers, you constantly seem to ignore the value that players like Mac bring because they really don't turn over the ball very much. You love to criticize his decision making on shots, but those are much better decisions than many of the dumb turnovers we see most of our team make all the time. And missed shots can lead to offensive rebounds. So many of our turnovers are live ball in the backcourt, which lead to easy opposition baskets. A turnover is much worse than a missed shot ... especially when there's good reason to believe that he will start to make more of those shots. For second, his defense has not been nearly as bad as people like to make out. He had a bad start shooting from outside, which will correct. And as he starts to figure out how to finish at the college level -- and you can see him doing that, his efficiency is going to rise. I think it's pretty pointless to discuss expectations. He's about meeting mine right now, except he's been better on defense and worse shooting from outside at the beginning of the season. I imagine he is vastly exceeding yours, since you thought he couldn't play at all at this level. ABSOLUTELY. One, he's the only qualified backup PG we have. We need him to be ready for BE play. Two, he's the only player other than Akinjo who is going to reliably create off the dribble this year. He's quick, aggressive, crafty and a pretty good passer off the drive. The upside of him learning how to draw contact and finish is EASILY worth a few games where we might win by 8 instead of 13, if that is even true. Three, I'm glad we have a player like Malinowski on the team and I'm glad he's playing pretty well. But he has high efficiency on very low usage against a mid-major slew of competition. He struggles against pressure and can't drive or dribble under pressure so far. Certain elements of his game are likely to be greatly reduced against more talented, stronger and bigger competition. I still think he'll be useful, especially as a shooter and glue guy, but he's not going to develop Mac's handle with more time. Think of it this way: the good version of this team doesn't rely on Greg Malinowksi. We're too far away. We need certain things like Pickett to re-find his game (seriously, the most concerning thing right now); Govan to really work on defense; and for Akinjo and Mac to make big improvements over the course of the year. Because our starting 5 of upside is James, Mac, Jamorko, LeBlanc and Govan. I know you say you don't see it with Mac, but the dude can get to the rim, he can create space and he has good court sense. I don't really get how you can't see the upside versus a player like Greg or Blair or Jagan, all of whom I like ... but c'mon. And he's improving as we go. Pat isn't dumb. Mac has had some quick hooks and this is his first game over 30 minutes. The last three games before this he averaged 20 mpg. It's a good amount of time for a developing player.
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Post by nattybumpo3152 on Nov 29, 2018 2:31:50 GMT -5
Coach Ewing is trying to identify the strengths and weaknesses of his players. His approach is to develop a team with deep experience. This is a wise strategy, because you need players to enter a game with confidence and experience if any of the starters suffer unexpected injuries. At the same time, he's trying to give his best athletes the greatest number of minutes. Govan, Akinjo, McClung and LeBlanc are the best athletes on the team. McClung and LeBlanc are the most natural athletes but Govan and Akinjo have the better developed skill sets. Trey Mourning is also a very good athlete who plays with tremendous heart. Ewing is doing a great job as a head coach. His experimental tactics are paying good dividends. Most of his players are getting battle-tested. You have to have good players coming off the bench. Georgetown will become a very good team and be very competitive in Big East play. It's going to be a very good season. Attitude is altitude.
On a side note, Greg Anthony is not going to let his good friend down. A wild guess, but I think Cole Anthony will be wearing a Hoya uniform next year. (I know: from my mouth to God's ears)
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HoyaFanNY
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Post by HoyaFanNY on Nov 29, 2018 5:55:37 GMT -5
Great game offensively. Good job on the glass and limiting turnovers. Defensively, the team was very lazy. Lots of ball chasing and not staying with your man.
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DanMcQ
Moderator
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Post by DanMcQ on Nov 29, 2018 6:44:06 GMT -5
Posting from the flight back home.
The Great Pumpkin’s Tree Lighting Ceremony snarled traffic making the crowd later arriving than usual. The student buses didn’t make it until midway through the first half so calling them out would be unfair. My daughter left campus shortly after 7 when her last class ended and her Uber didn’t get to C1A until halftime.
I don’t have any major problems with the offense and it is light years ahead of any zone ‘offense’ we’ve had for about 5 years.
Half court defense needs so much work. Switches were better but Richmond correctly took advantage of our guys not fighting over screens. McClung was the only one I recall even making an effort. Against that team last night if you went under a screen it was a 3. Lack of lateral movement and crappy positioning by our front line led to countless blowbys and easy looks at the rim. It wasn’t just Mourning: Cayo abused pretty much any of our forwards guarding him. If you’re going to let guys get into the lane that easily help defense needs to clean it up. Far from a strength of this team at present.
Love the 8 assist zero TO stat line from Mosely.
I can see the progression in McClung’s game each time out. Effort not a problem with that guy. He had a gorgeous pass in traffic to Mourning, who promptly got stuffed.
Akinjo is far and away the most talented guard, but taller athletic guards make it harder for him. He took some shots last night that would have been better as passes to get into the offense.
Pickett hasn’t seemed comfortable on offense yet. You can see the effort to be better on D though he still has a long way to go.
Govan great on offense but he seems almost too nice a guy on defense.
I don’t think the equation is simply that this team will only go as far as the freshmen guards take them. It’s this team will only go as far as their defense takes them. Plenty of time to work on that in practice (which likely won’t be all that fun this week).
From the Voice article (linked in the Article Links thread):
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SSHoya
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"Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown."
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Post by SSHoya on Nov 29, 2018 7:58:16 GMT -5
Sorry gang...haven’t read through the thread. Anyone know why Blair didn’t play? See DanMcQ's post above. Ewing's decision. Given Ewing's post-game comments, I am speculating that Blair did not have a good week of practice. Apparently, the whole team did not. I attended the game with a former work colleague (a Yalie so take his observation FWIW). He observed that Govan was gifted offensively but said "where's his defense" given his size. Sigh.
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Post by aleutianhoya on Nov 29, 2018 8:21:10 GMT -5
Handful of thoughts:
(1) The defense continues to be a big concern. You'd like to think that our relatively simple system would make defense easier, but you'd apparently be wrong. Our scheme appears to be to play good old-fashioned "solid" man defense. We don't trap, really. We pressure the ball, but not crazily. We hedge ball-screens and try to not switch. It's almost exclusively in the half-court. We're just....not...very good at it. Aside from Jesse, who too often is going through the motions, it doesn't seem to be a lack of effort (which is, in some ways, more concerning). We do seem to understand what we're trying to do. To be honest, I'd like to see us try some different things and see if we might luck into something that actually suits our strengths (whatever those may be). The time to try all that is now. Maybe a zone (heaven forbid!!) every now and again. Or a bit less ball pressure in our M2M to try to prevent penetration. I don't know the answer. But it's a significant enough problem that experimentation is called for.
(2) Seems to me Mac is learning. In the first half he took it strong, but somewhat out of control, through the paint a fair amount and found that finishing was difficult. Second half? In 15 minutes, he took a solitary two-point shot and made it. And had no turnovers. I'm not suggesting he played well overall, especially relative to the competition, and you can't just ignore the first half, but it's a good sign that he apparently took stock of what was working and what wasn't and adjusted. Needless to say, his ability to at least competently shoot the three will be a huge factor in whether he will be able to consistently drive and create against high-major defenses.
(3) We can certainly surmise from Malinowski and Pat's post-game comments that he was unhappy with certain players (Blair) in practice and cut playing time accordingly. Good. No issue with that whatsoever. Pickett is a completely different issue....seemed like his PT may have been cut due to what was happening in the game. Again, I've got no issue with that either. And let's not forget, he played 19 minutes. It's not like he played six minutes or something.
(4) I'm very happy that Pat recognized that this wasn't a good win and that things need to improve a good deal. Hanging on against a bad team is better than not hanging on against a bad team. But the efficiency stats don't lie, and continuing to beat bad teams by two or three possessions isn't going to translate into a successful (or, frankly, even middling) Big East season. The league may be wide open in some respects, but it's not nearly as bad as I think some people think. Half of the league is currently ranked in the Pomeroy top 50, three more are in the top 75, and then we and DePaul are hanging out around 100. We haven't yet defeated a team that is ranked above 88 (Illinois).
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Post by augustusfinknottle on Nov 29, 2018 8:26:00 GMT -5
At one point Pickett was waiting to report in. I think he was to replace LeBlanc who was shooting fouls. I don't think I am reading too much into the situation to say he had a major pout on his face. There is no question that his body language "stunk". He was slumped against the scorer's table. Immediately thereafter Ewing engaged him, shall we say, in conversation. All may not be well there.
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