Post by WilsonBlvdHoya on Nov 27, 2004 13:38:24 GMT -5
this won't be FLesque in its scope or comprehensiveness but I'll do my best. One initial caveat; I've got to believe this was the easiest game they'll play all year and that GU won't be playing Citadel again soon as they were scheduled last year for Courtland Freeman's homecoming game.
Starters: Identical to Temple. They came out on fire as everybody knows by now. One of those games where Cook BANKS in a 3 early (wonder if he called it!)
Since Citadel played a zone all game (must have watched the Temple tapes carefully), there was very little cutting, flashing to the basket. Ball movement was crisp but I noticed that the team went out to leads of 18-2 and then had 36 points by 6:00 left in the 1st half. After that, GU scored 33 for the remainder of the game. There were too many times when the guys whipped the ball around the perimeter, the Citadel zone would adjust, the clock would wind down and there seemed to be a distinct lack of a plan as the shot clock reached 5 or so. Again, something that III is no doubt working on. But the last 26 minutes of the game, offensively, often eerily reminded me of last year. The O worked best when Jeff or Roy touched the ball in the middle or on the baseline and then kicked to somebody for either an open 3 or dribble penetration. For better or worse, it seems that this team will see A LOT of zone defenses this year. Now for some individual summaries:
BB: Very little bad BB but there was one sequence where he just missed a layin, albeit acrobatically. He was on fire early from 3, shooting a Wingate-like line drive ball on a couple of them. The number of boards he got surprised me as well. Clearly, the best talent out there but I would love to see him have a game like this against BE-level competition. He's growing up obviously but I'd like to see him consistently perform at the level he showed last night.
DJ: Classic DJ game, 2-4 or something like that from 3. Took the shots when they were there; didn't force anything when he didn't have to. Wisely pulled up on a couple of baseline drives when nothing was there. Still wish he'd either get more looks or make them happen somehow.
AC: Great shooting, except he threw up an airball at one point from 3. But he also made a sweet hanging fadeaway in the lane to save the team from a shot clock violation (that was happening too often obviously). And he made a couple less than cerebral decisions at times. But his offense made up for it tonight and it's still obvious to me that he's making an effort to play smarter. As he and DJ go, so will the team.
JW: Hit his nice high-arching wide-open 3 from the corner at one point. Just as in the KL, he's well aware that he's a freshman and always plays within himself. I'd like to see him develop his defensive quickness a bit more (I recall him being beat off the dribble a couple of times). His 3% may not be as high as the returning vets after 2 games but he really should be given the green light to shoot it if it's there. I'm concerned how he'll handle BE-defensive pressure, especially if it's full-court.
JG: Active defensively and offensively. Had a nice early steal and breakaway dunk; another which he rimmed but Ross was there for the follow-up. Didn't have a chance to shoot the jumper but passed it reasonably well. Had a nice block down low which the refs must have seen as a body foul. He's developing into a special player. Also, ask yourself who's gotten the most minutes over the first two games?
Off the bench:
RH: Passes well out of the double-team. He needs to hold the ball high when he does receive it as he's vulnerable to having it stripped if it's chest/head-level height or lower. He also still tends to play volleyball with rebounds instead of pulling it down with both hands. Was ruled for a double foul with a Citadel player after tangling a bit and III came out to discuss the situation calmly, get Roy's perspective and then provide some instruction. Nice moment. Roy's very popular with the students.....
RRoss: Hustled on D, nice put-back on the break, seems to instruct well even though everyone knows he has little actual playing time under his belt. He's a big plus off the bench.
RReed: Really needs to improve his decision-making on-court. Hustles well but needs to analyze what he's doing in the context of the action.
Sead: Didn't get much time but seemed comfortable enough.
Amadou: Got more time than against Temple. Provided presence but I don't remember him scoring and I think he had trouble underneath on one offensive sequence.
Tyler: Hustle, hustle, hustle. Guy gotta a nice breakaway layup towards the end but also committed a silly foul on a 3 point shot with 1.6 secs left. Freshman mistake. Shot it well from 3 during warmups.
Beal: Maybe played the most minutes last night in one game for his GU career.
Izzo and Cornelio: III called a timeout to get the two of them in with 54 secs left. Cornelio was active underneath and was fouled but missed both FTs. I hope Cornelio keeps working hard in practice and develops himself enough to earn many more minutes......
Coaches: III wandered up and down the sideline. At one point when someone was shooting FTs (it might have been Cornelio), he walked all the way to the very diagonal corner of the court checking out something (near where Lori Michel sits!). Burke was up at timeouts giving individual instruction/advice as well. Also surprised to see III pick up Roy's sweats after Roy ran to the scorer's table to check in. There definitely seems to be more hands-on instruction than in the past.
Extracurriculars: Didn't have the usual guy singing National Anthem last night (Dr. Vincent forgot-the-last name). The Shaw Jr. High School band put up some legitimate competition to the GU band: helped lead student section (such as it was) in cheers and made lots of noise during Citadel free throws. Seemed like there were an awful lot of tickets given away to local schools last night. The new video is better but there's an hilariously risque sequence where the narrator says, "We are strength," (also the words are shown) and then the video cuts to a crotch shot of a player's shorts. Gotta believe the Jesuits will clip that scene out! Meant to meet 007 for a shirt but couldn't do so due to constraints on my part.
That's it. Nice to see a win but the road back stretches rather long ahead for now.......WBH
Starters: Identical to Temple. They came out on fire as everybody knows by now. One of those games where Cook BANKS in a 3 early (wonder if he called it!)
Since Citadel played a zone all game (must have watched the Temple tapes carefully), there was very little cutting, flashing to the basket. Ball movement was crisp but I noticed that the team went out to leads of 18-2 and then had 36 points by 6:00 left in the 1st half. After that, GU scored 33 for the remainder of the game. There were too many times when the guys whipped the ball around the perimeter, the Citadel zone would adjust, the clock would wind down and there seemed to be a distinct lack of a plan as the shot clock reached 5 or so. Again, something that III is no doubt working on. But the last 26 minutes of the game, offensively, often eerily reminded me of last year. The O worked best when Jeff or Roy touched the ball in the middle or on the baseline and then kicked to somebody for either an open 3 or dribble penetration. For better or worse, it seems that this team will see A LOT of zone defenses this year. Now for some individual summaries:BB: Very little bad BB but there was one sequence where he just missed a layin, albeit acrobatically. He was on fire early from 3, shooting a Wingate-like line drive ball on a couple of them. The number of boards he got surprised me as well. Clearly, the best talent out there but I would love to see him have a game like this against BE-level competition. He's growing up obviously but I'd like to see him consistently perform at the level he showed last night.
DJ: Classic DJ game, 2-4 or something like that from 3. Took the shots when they were there; didn't force anything when he didn't have to. Wisely pulled up on a couple of baseline drives when nothing was there. Still wish he'd either get more looks or make them happen somehow.
AC: Great shooting, except he threw up an airball at one point from 3. But he also made a sweet hanging fadeaway in the lane to save the team from a shot clock violation (that was happening too often obviously). And he made a couple less than cerebral decisions at times. But his offense made up for it tonight and it's still obvious to me that he's making an effort to play smarter. As he and DJ go, so will the team.
JW: Hit his nice high-arching wide-open 3 from the corner at one point. Just as in the KL, he's well aware that he's a freshman and always plays within himself. I'd like to see him develop his defensive quickness a bit more (I recall him being beat off the dribble a couple of times). His 3% may not be as high as the returning vets after 2 games but he really should be given the green light to shoot it if it's there. I'm concerned how he'll handle BE-defensive pressure, especially if it's full-court.
JG: Active defensively and offensively. Had a nice early steal and breakaway dunk; another which he rimmed but Ross was there for the follow-up. Didn't have a chance to shoot the jumper but passed it reasonably well. Had a nice block down low which the refs must have seen as a body foul. He's developing into a special player. Also, ask yourself who's gotten the most minutes over the first two games?
Off the bench:
RH: Passes well out of the double-team. He needs to hold the ball high when he does receive it as he's vulnerable to having it stripped if it's chest/head-level height or lower. He also still tends to play volleyball with rebounds instead of pulling it down with both hands. Was ruled for a double foul with a Citadel player after tangling a bit and III came out to discuss the situation calmly, get Roy's perspective and then provide some instruction. Nice moment. Roy's very popular with the students.....
RRoss: Hustled on D, nice put-back on the break, seems to instruct well even though everyone knows he has little actual playing time under his belt. He's a big plus off the bench.
RReed: Really needs to improve his decision-making on-court. Hustles well but needs to analyze what he's doing in the context of the action.
Sead: Didn't get much time but seemed comfortable enough.
Amadou: Got more time than against Temple. Provided presence but I don't remember him scoring and I think he had trouble underneath on one offensive sequence.
Tyler: Hustle, hustle, hustle. Guy gotta a nice breakaway layup towards the end but also committed a silly foul on a 3 point shot with 1.6 secs left. Freshman mistake. Shot it well from 3 during warmups.
Beal: Maybe played the most minutes last night in one game for his GU career.
Izzo and Cornelio: III called a timeout to get the two of them in with 54 secs left. Cornelio was active underneath and was fouled but missed both FTs. I hope Cornelio keeps working hard in practice and develops himself enough to earn many more minutes......
Coaches: III wandered up and down the sideline. At one point when someone was shooting FTs (it might have been Cornelio), he walked all the way to the very diagonal corner of the court checking out something (near where Lori Michel sits!). Burke was up at timeouts giving individual instruction/advice as well. Also surprised to see III pick up Roy's sweats after Roy ran to the scorer's table to check in. There definitely seems to be more hands-on instruction than in the past.
Extracurriculars: Didn't have the usual guy singing National Anthem last night (Dr. Vincent forgot-the-last name). The Shaw Jr. High School band put up some legitimate competition to the GU band: helped lead student section (such as it was) in cheers and made lots of noise during Citadel free throws. Seemed like there were an awful lot of tickets given away to local schools last night. The new video is better but there's an hilariously risque sequence where the narrator says, "We are strength," (also the words are shown) and then the video cuts to a crotch shot of a player's shorts. Gotta believe the Jesuits will clip that scene out! Meant to meet 007 for a shirt but couldn't do so due to constraints on my part.
That's it. Nice to see a win but the road back stretches rather long ahead for now.......WBH
