Thoughts after first game in the Post-Marshall Era?

[Dan]

I saw poor rebounding and too little play making from AG. I really expected more effort. Team play may be do to lack of 5 on 5 practice. But their enthusiasm appeared to suck. If TE had not got hot, this would have been an embarrassing loss. D has to improve

AG still feeling the team out. He has tools to get in the lane, now he just needs to know who he can trust to pass it to. Tends to get a little too fancy with some of his passes, but that will come out in film review. Regarding Tyson, I don’t think he got hot, I think he was letting AG run the offense and was forced to take over when AG got pulled for foul trouble. That was an eye opener for the team - Tyson is a guy we can ride, just took them a while to figure it out.

[WeWillShockU]

AG still feeling the team out. He has tools to get in the lane, now he just needs to know who he can trust to pass it to. Tends to get a little too fancy with some of his passes, but that will come out in film review. Regarding Tyson, I don’t think he got hot, I think he was letting AG run the offense and was forced to take over when AG got pulled for foul trouble. That was an eye opener for the team - Tyson is a guy we can ride, just took them a while to figure it out.

AG had a great assist on the Morris bucket late in 2nd half. Play will be better with a full bench. I really liked the newcomers last night. Solid play by them.

[Stickboy46]

I saw poor rebounding and too little play making from AG. I really expected more effort. Team play may be do to lack of 5 on 5 practice. But their enthusiasm appeared to suck. If TE had not got hot, this would have been an embarrassing loss. D has to improve

If Obannor doesn't get hot this is a blowout win

Obannor is a good shooter, TE is a good shooter. Of course if you take away one of a teams key weapons things would have been worse

[Stickboy46]

AG had a great assist on the Morris bucket late in 2nd half. Play will be better with a full bench. I really liked the newcomers last night. Solid play by them.

He also found CJ for the wide open 3 late in the game.

[pie n eye]

I'm starting to think that Dennis is a somewhat more talented and taller version of Kyles.

Anybody who thinks Brown didn't earn his job as interim and consideration for HC doesn't understand the situation of replacing a coach that's either loved or hated by his previous players.

I got the feeling that Etienne didn't mind the change of coaches.

Etienne has been the most vocal supporter of Marshall. Even last night on the post game show he said “I came here to play for coach (Marshall).”

[SB Shock]

Huge difference in how you can play when you CAN play 10-12 but only need to play 8 vs literally only having 8. You can play/coach way more aggressive in the first scenario

Yes, I can see that.

So I went an looked back at WSU last year to see if my perceptions were correct. In general, Marshall only played 7-8 for majority of minutes, but there generally were 2 guys coming off the bench to snag somewhere between 1-10 minutes. When the game was close, Marshall tightened his lineup up, but there still were a couple minor guys coming in and putting some minutes in. So it would seem that for Marshall last year the optimum numbers was 7-8 main rotation guys, with 2 other guys able to pick up the slack when needed.

WSU Season Average

>= 10 minutes/game: 8.3 players
<10 minutes/game: 2.6 players

WSU Average when game was withing 10 points

>= 10 minutes/game: 7.2 players
<10 minutes/game: 2.2 players

So I would say that 1-2 more players would be optimum.

Lineup.JPG

[MelvinLoudermilk]

I am eagerly awaiting 1976's analysis of the IB post game press-conference.

[FlyingWheat]

Fortunately, we won't be playing our first game of the season every night.

We also won’t be missing half the team.

[wichshock65]

I saw poor rebounding and too little play making from AG. I really expected more effort. Team play may be do to lack of 5 on 5 practice. But their enthusiasm appeared to suck. If TE had not got hot, this would have been an embarrassing loss. D has to improve

No lack of enthusiasm on D from CJ.

[Stickboy46]

No lack of enthusiasm on D from CJ.

He did get beat multiple times though especially on backcuts. Wasn't an effort thing but just not knowing where to be and to watch out for. That will come with time I hope.

[pie n eye]

I just don’t think it’s wise to draw definitive conclusions after one game in a normal year let alone one like this.

I saw enough good and bad last night that I think the future of this team is still undetermined. Too many unknowns remain. How good are the guys who weren’t able to suit up? Can the coaching staff effectively identify, communicate, and correct the issues we all saw? How much difference will it make to have all thirteen guys at practice for a good stretch of time?

[wichshock65]

He did get beat multiple times though especially on backcuts. Wasn't an effort thing but just not knowing where to be and to watch out for. That will come with time I hope.

Absolutely. As someone used to say, he's going to be our "ball getter, playing like his hair is on fire, with a certain fervor".

[ShockTalk]

Yes, I can see that.

So I went an looked back at WSU last year to see if my perceptions were correct. In general, Marshall only played 7-8 for majority of minutes, but there generally were 2 guys coming off the bench to snag somewhere between 1-10 minutes. When the game was close, Marshall tightened his lineup up, but there still were a couple minor guys coming in and putting some minutes in. So it would seem that for Marshall last year the optimum numbers was 7-8 main rotation guys, with 2 other guys able to pick up the slack when needed.

WSU Season Average

>= 10 minutes/game: 8.3 players
<10 minutes/game: 2.6 players

WSU Average when game was withing 10 points

>= 10 minutes/game: 7.2 players
<10 minutes/game: 2.2 players

So I would say that 1-2 more players would be optimum.

Lineup.JPG

Which "extra" players can also be determined by the opponent and their particular strengths and weaknesses. Last night, no one was under 10 minutes and 7 were 18+minutes with DD and TrW playing 35 and 34 respectively. Ideally, you do not want to play 2 players that many minutes against what is a lesser opponent than say a Missouri. We missed not having JB and CP last night.

[Stickboy46]

I just don’t think it’s wise to draw definitive conclusions after one game in a normal year let alone one like this.

I saw enough good and bad last night that I think the future of this team is still undetermined. Too many unknowns remain. How good are the guys who weren’t able to suit up? Can the coaching staff effectively identify, communicate, and correct the issues we all saw? How much difference will it make to have all thirteen guys at practice for a good stretch of time?

Absolutely .. but me personally, i saw much more out of the 3 newcomers than I was expecting for the first game. That gives me reason for hope. The other guys all were in line with what I was expecting. Dexter will figure it out. Only major concern for me is the post. I PERSONALLY saw more last night to be excited about than to be negative about. It's going to be a crazy and likely throw away year for most teams anyways.

[shock-it-to-me]

Main problems were help side defense and loose ball/50-50 ball acquisition. Not willing to draw any conclusions at all from a first game with eight players. To do so it would be pretty ridiculous, IMO.