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Originally posted by molly jabali
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I didn't hear Mike, but I assume #2 Jaret Valencia was the player to whom he was referring. Valencia played a few minutes via Rutgers in his first action of the season and while he's certainly a cog in their machine, and his inclusion limits their reliance on a (much) less talented and experienced other player, he's not their best player. He does certainly make them better.
I'm not going back and watching this debacle again. There is nothing to be gained from that exercise.
Here's our post situation:
Ronnie DeGray 6'6" more of a 3 than a 4 but for us, a stretch 4 as much as anything. Fell in the first half, hurt his wrist, held it like it was broken for the remaining time he was in the game, after a brief stint in the 2nd half (and my wife and I basically screaming at Todd to take him out of the game) went to the locker room and was not cleared to return. Learning there is a slight fracture in his hand/wrist area today will not surprise me in the slightest. I certainly hope he's ok. If he doesn't play Friday, we're screwed for the season.
Zane Meeks 6'9" definitely a stretch 4, but hasn't seen the floor yet. We need him badly, but are unlikely to see him in the near future.
Quincy Ballard 6'11" elite defender, did not dress last night. If this is lasting, and to be clear, he didn't seem to be bothered one bit by it, obviously we're toast.
Matej Bosnjak 6'9" (honestly seems to be shrinking to me) 5.
That's it. 4 post men. 2 didn't dress. 1 played maybe 1/4 of the game effectively. You don't win basketball games with short, small teams. Not at this level.
There may come a day where we realize the Monmouth end goal was off last night. Combined 14-32 FTs on that end. Never even heard of that kind of % on volume at the collegiate level.
If they don't go 6-18 from the line (are you freaking kidding me) we lose.
If Corey doesn't save our bacon late, we lose.
Ok, important disclaimer. I don't know how much we practice running our stuff without Quincy, but it's less than with Quincy, by a ton. And even less, without Q and Matej. AND even less without all of them, which was the case for much of the last 27 minutes of the game (when Matej was winded). We had guys playing out of position and it showed a bunch especially on help defense.
And I'm kind of ok with that, at least I can understand and dismiss the struggles. And while the challenges are also there on the offensive side, I am NOT OK with the way we approached that end of the game. 1 on 1 bullshit pull up guarded 3s and 1 on 2, 3 or 4 takes to the cup.....unacceptable. I know that's a problem accentuated when you have a lot of transfers, but IDC. Be better.
I can hardly remember a "good" shot at the goal other than strong takes for layups or dunks. Corey's open 3 near the end was wide open and a great shot. Otherwise our shot selection was poor. Now, again, we did get to the basket with frequency and drew a lot of fouls...and that's good. Free throws were 11-21 1st half bad 9-10 2nd half good. Can't be twice as bad as good though.
For all the struggles with personnel, and I DO get it, rebounding is effort and you can't get beat by TEN in a half. We barely cut into that in the 2nd half. Obviously this is a major issue going forward, regardless if QB is back. We MUST do better on the boards because bigger, stronger, longer, faster teams occupy basically every spot on the schedule from here on out.
I think I have a fairly decent understanding of what works and what doesn't work in the game of basketball. Matej, like all players, has his strengths and weaknesses. Why do we keep throwing him the ball 13 feet in the corner when he's posting? I get he hasn't learned that post defense in the collegiate game is a war. He'll get better, BUT, if you are a post man who can't dribble effectively (and that's almost every post man) and you get the ball that far from the basket, the passer must move to an open area to receive a pass, the post needs to pass out of the post and then "re-post" deeper into the paint or closer to the basket. It's simple. And this is NOT all Matej's fault, in fact it may be almost none of his fault. Don't give him the ball there in the first place. Teach it to him. I KNOW Quincy Acy knows better than that. I hope this gets better, fast. And the really frustrating thing about this is Matej is an excellent passer out of the post. We aren't moving and cutting enough to give him options. He WILL find open players. He's very skilled there. He's looked at several behind the back bounce passes to where guys could be cutting to the basket but it's just not quite there. A guy can't pass you the ball if you aren't getting open.
Now, staying on Matej, he's got to be stronger with and without the ball. He's getting stripped too frequently. He's not bodying well enough. Improvement has to be made there. But he has excellent court awareness and he's not the least mobile player ever, by a long shot. His doubles are pretty darned good....now we need to do better turning those doubles into turnovers, but we're close and he's doing a darned good job in understanding when to recover and for the most part, getting to his recovery spot in good shape. For a kid this new to the game, I think he's doing a fantastic job there. Plenty to work with and work on. BUT he needs help.
I don't disagree with ShockRef very often, if at all, mostly because doing so would mean I'm wrong...but I was watching a different Joy last night. Maybe it was just that he was out of sorts a bit being thrust into that spot, idk, but he seemed lost and slow and indecisive when he was in. I'm willing to admit I misjudged here, but he didn't seem like a guy we could count on a bunch going forward, even though we probably HAVE to count on him somewhere. He did go get the ball on the boards, and that was something we desperately needed, so there's that.
Speaking of Coach Acy, he was INTO it during the game. Love that passion! And the crowd makes a difference. I just wish there were more of us.
It was great to see PJ in the house. LOVE seeing alumni successful. One of my favorites and was always so kind and cordial to me. Makes my heart swell knowing he's doing good and what he loves to do.
I wish I had paid attention, but I didn't learn until after the game that former assistant coach Rick Callahan was part of the Monmouth staff as GM for men's basketball. I assume he was there last night, and I'm really saddened I missed the chance to say hi and catch up a bit. I always enjoyed the time I spent with Coach those 3 years he was here. That made me sad.
This team has been fun to watch so far, at least prior to last night. And I really like the young men on the team, as to who they are and how they handle themselves.....I'm willing to forget last night as a one off. But if we don't get healthy, it doesn't matter. No idea what to expect Friday in KC but it doesn't feel good.
I believe we are who we are, and mostly I'm ok with that, but I need some of what Quincy Acy has to rub off onto Coach Mills. I need some of that fire.
We are HOSED next year. And if Corey has a good year and is picked off in Free Agency (and admit it, that's 50/50 at best for us) then we go into next season with Zion Pipkin (who apparently isn't going to play this year for reasons I can't articulate), TJ Williams (who is hurt now and might not play all season), Yanis and Joy. That's not a D1 team. That's not close to a D1 team, much less a competitive D1 team. I can't believe I'm saying this, but this is a make or break year. If we aren't successful this season, we better try again because it's a complete reboot anyway.
The ENTIRE PROGRAM right now needs a good dose of "want to"....from the players, to the coaches, staff AND the fans. A bit too much complacency for my taste.
, it happens.
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