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I think it was Marvin "Bad News" Barnes. The big difference between The Rave and Bad News was that Dave's nickname came from his performance on the court. Barrnes' nickname came from his frequent off-court problems which make the Illinois State players look like choir boys.
We're gonna play a helluva lot better in Maryland than we did last game in Wichita. Koch Arena can be hard on a newbie's nerves. Nuts will be hanging. Hopefully MM harnesses all the east coast love and returns to the tough, gritty player we all know he can be.
Things to think about as we move on from Louisiana Tech and onto the next portion of our OOC schedule:
Rebounding: Last year we snatched up 77% of defensive opportunities (35% offensive). Can we improve to around those numbers? We did about 13% worse in both metrics versus Louisiana Tech, a team that has not historically put much emphasis on the boards. Providence should be a good test, as they snatched up 44% of their offensive attempts vs Siena, a value the Shockers only matched once last season. If we can hold their own here it will be a big statement.
Jitters: Samajae has at numerous times talked about his struggles with anxiety, but he's not the first player we've seen get jitters; I recall a time where Conner Frankamp seemed to be a different player away from home. Will we see a calmer team away from the hustle and bustle of Charles Koch Arena, led by a different Haynes-Jones?
Free-Throws: Can we bounce back from the 4th worst shooting FT performance under Marshall? History says yes. Each of the 3 worse performances were one-ofs in their year, and I can recall several times we had early shooting woes for little to no reason (ie, 2017 midseason tournament) on a team that ending up shooting pretty well. If we shot even 75% from the line versus Louisiana Tech, we are looking at heading into the final stretch up 3 instead of down 4 and likely winning the game.
The offense and defense are still works in progress, but if these three things are better against Providence it could be a difference of 15-20 points. The problem is that Providence is a decent chunk better than Louisiana Tech; we could play our A- game and still easily lose at this stage in our progress. But if we falter like we did in our previous game, the Friars are way more likely to capitalize than a mid-tier CUSA team.
Last edited by CBB_Fan; November 9, 2018, 09:17 AM.
Things to think about as we move on from Louisiana Tech and onto the next portion of our OOC schedule:
Rebounding: Last year we snatched up 77% of defensive opportunities (35% offensive). Can we improve to around those numbers? We did about 13% worse in both metrics versus Louisiana Tech, a team that has not historically put much emphasis on the boards. Providence should be a good test, as they snatched up 44% of their offensive attempts vs Siena, a value the Shockers only matched once last season. If we can hold their own here it will be a big statement.
Jitters: Samajae has at numerous times talked about his struggles with anxiety, but he's not the first player we've seen get jitters; I recall a time where Conner Frankamp seemed to be a different player away from home. Will we see a calmer team away from the hustle and bustle of Charles Koch Arena, led by a different Haynes-Jones?
Free-Throws: Can we bounce back from the 4th worst shooting FT performance under Marshall? Historical says yes. Each of the 3 worse performances were one-ofs in their year, and I can recall several times we had early shooting woes for little to no reason (ie, 2017 midseason tournament) on a team that ending up shooting pretty well. If we shot even 75% from the line versus Louisiana Tech, we are looking at heading into the final stretch up 3 instead of down 4 and likely winning the game.
The offense and defense are still works in progress, but if these three things are better against Providence it could be a difference of 15-20 points. The problem is that Providence is a decent chunk better than Louisiana Tech; we could play our A- game and still easily lose at this stage in our progress. But if we falter like we did in our previous game, the Friars are way more likely to capitalize than a mid-tier CUSA team.
I would prefer the leader and or point guard of a team to not be the guy who has "jitters"... Just saying... You got 13 schollies... Need minimum one to steer the ship
I'm just looking for improvement over that last debacle. Gotta fix that rebounding issue. Oh, and the defense, gotta keep in front of the opponents. Oh yeah, and make those wide open shots. And perhaps, hit just a couple more free throws. Yeah, that's the ticket.
But seriously, 3G has been very clear about this from the get go, the season is going to have a lot of ups and downs and unfortunately, we don't really schedule cupcakes any more and the opponents just get tougher as the season goes on. Improvement in any, but preferably all, the above is all I'm looking for. I don't expect us to win but I do expect to see a much more competetive team than what we witnessed Tuesday.
But specifically, I'd really like to see better guard play. We still have no one who can penetrate and draw defenders. And we struggled to get the ball in to the Bigs. We've got some serious size but until we figure out how to get the ball to those guys, we're not going to have much success on the perimeter.
With our lack of rebounding, every time one of our Seniors chucks up an off-balance prayer too soon in the clock, it's basically just a turnover.
It's worse than that.
When SHJ pushes the pace and causes our guys to truck down the court with him without rhyme nor reason, then he fires off a quick shot or turns it over, the majority of our players are completely out of defensive shape (no fault of their own, they are scrambling to get into offensive shape but SHJ is damn fast). Which means not only is it effectively a turnover -- it's a turnover with a high likelihood of a transition bucket for the other team. It's a possession with -2 points for us (missed bucket/turnover) and +2 points for them. Realistically this play is not a net +4 advantage for the other team (because he doesn't always miss and because they don't always make the transition bucket), but I wouldn't be surprised if it's like a +2 overall for them (which is really, really bad).
He just needs to slow down a bit as PG, start focusing on court vision more and the rim less, and be much more selective when being aggressive.
It took Ragland and Hannah at least a half season to adjust to the switch from Juco to D1. Maybe Torres will come along and SHJ can go back to his comfort zone? If that happens, good things will follow.
Kung Wu say, man who read woman like book, prefer braille!
Yes, but we were hunting for a PG last year and he was being put in that role, and unfortunately he just doesn't appear to be a PG (he wasn't in high school, he wasn't in Juco, he wasn't recruited to be one here). But he might be one heck of a shooting guard -- we just don't know without having a true PG in there like Torres that can set him up for success. From where I stand, our hope needs to be in Torres developing like Juco transfer PGs of years past.
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