2013-2014 Bracketology

[Cdizzle]

I think it was just too much for him. Did anyone give him that much for 2 halves in the regular season like Tekele did? He was probably just not used to it.
Give Tekele some credit. He has unrelenting pressure.

I was under the impression he saw pressure exceeding that during every game in the tough, physical, defensive Big East. Plus, Woodall already knew WSU's gameplan after playing them 4 years prior.

"We're definitely ready for them. We know a lot of their sets." - Woodall

This turned out to be inaccurate as well, though fortuitous:

"We can't cry about it, just be happy with what we got," senior center Dante Taylor said. "We have to just go out and prove to people that we deserve to be higher."

They could, in fact, cry about it.

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/sports/pitt-big-east/pitt-will-play-wichita-state-in-ncaa-tournament-second-round-game-679773/

Remember that time it got old to relive the run to the Final 4? Yeah, me either.

[im4wsu]

Agreed. I don't like his dad, and I don't like that his version of walking on is just having his dad pay his tuition, but there's nothing I dislike about him as a person. Even his defense has improved significantly.

I don't see much improvement in blocks or steals. I couldn't figure out how to delete the turnovers without screwing up the formatting.

2010-11 2011-12 2012-13
Num NR CR Num NR CR Num NR CR

Steals	11	-	-	7	-	-	8	-	-
Steals Per Game	0.3	-	-	0.2	-	-	0.2	-	-
Steal Pct	0.6	-	-	0.3	-	-	0.4	-	-
Turnovers	87	182	2	79	286	6	93	137	3
TOPG	2.2	472	7	2.3	458	8	2.6	266	5
Turnover Pct	18.5	-	36	14.6	-	57	15.8	-	50
A/T Ratio	0.5	-	61	0.5	-	59	0.6	-	57
Blocks	4	-	45	3	-	43	2	-	-
Blocks Per Game	0.1	-	-	0.1	-	-	0.1	-	-
Block Pct	0.3	-	60	0.2	-	58	0.1	-	-

[SubGod22]

I don't disagree that his D has improved significantly, but I still wouldn't call him good and I don't think I'd quite label him as average. It just goes to show how piss poor he was to begin with on that end of the court.

[Dave Stalwart]

I will again bring up Nick. If Nick started at 3 all season and played 30+ minutes with a lot of sets run for him, we would still have had a good season and he would have averaged a million points. We may have still even made the NCAAs. It's just that with Tekele, we made the F4. That is the difference. Case in point, CU had a good season, made the NCAAs and got embarrassed when it counted...even with arguably the best offensive forward in the country.

Friendly reminder. Nick and Tekele will both have improved their opposing weaknesses (nicks d and tekeles o) come next season and with Evan mixed in there, I don't want to be an opposing player trying to play the 3 against that group. It's shaping up to be an impossible gamelong matchup for anyone on the schedule.

There, I said schedule. Now this post is relevant to the thread all the sudden, right?

EDIT: wait this thread was bracketology. Nevermind I'm still irrelevant to it. Oh well

[ShockerFever]

I was under the impression he saw pressure exceeding that during every game in the tough, physical, defensive Big East. Plus, Woodall already knew WSU's gameplan after playing them 4 years prior.

"We're definitely ready for them. We know a lot of their sets." - Woodall

This turned out to be inaccurate as well, though fortuitous:

"We can't cry about it, just be happy with what we got," senior center Dante Taylor said. "We have to just go out and prove to people that we deserve to be higher."

They could, in fact, cry about it.

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/sports/pitt-big-east/pitt-will-play-wichita-state-in-ncaa-tournament-second-round-game-679773/

Remember that time it got old to relive the run to the Final 4? Yeah, me either.

That 18-point beatdown sure feels even better. Let the tears continue.

[Rlh04d]

I don't see much improvement in blocks or steals. I couldn't figure out how to delete the turnovers without screwing up the formatting.

Arguing blocks or steals as defining a player's defensive ability is a bad road to go down. Cotton averaged .2 blocks a game and 1 steal a game, which was third in steals and seventh in blocks for our team last year -- but I'd still say he was the best defender on our team. And one of the best in the country.

McDermott wasn't a good defender, but he put in a lot more effort on the defensive side last season. Two seasons ago it looked like he was actively trying to be bad at defense.

[im4wsu]

Arguing blocks or steals as defining a player's defensive ability is a bad road to go down. Cotton averaged .2 blocks a game and 1 steal a game, which was third in steals and seventh in blocks for our team last year -- but I'd still say he was the best defender on our team. And one of the best in the country.

McDermott wasn't a good defender, but he put in a lot more effort on the defensive side last season. Two seasons ago it looked like he was actively trying to be bad at defense.

I didn't define it, but those are the only two really defensive stats,except maybe defensive rebounding also. Someone brought up those two stats earlier. I was simply noting no visible improvement.

As to being a good defender, I observed that SoW generally stayed between his man and the basket most of the time. He didn't play much help defense on other players' men. He tried very stringently to not get called for dumb, usually worthless, reaching in fouls as players, his own or others' responsibility, were driving past him. He did, for the most part, stick with his assignment in 2012-13. Before then, I did not really pay attention.

[Rlh04d]

As to being a good defender, I observed that SoW generally stayed between his man and the basket most of the time. He didn't play much help defense on other players' men. He tried very stringently to not get called for dumb, usually worthless, reaching in fouls as players, his own or others' responsibility, were driving past him. He did, for the most part, stick with his assignment in 2012-13. Before then, I did not really pay attention.

I think that's a pretty fair assessment of his defense last year.

[Aargh]

I don't recall anyone mentioning McD as the MVP of one of the premiere summer basketball camps. Dougie will probably be a nice basketball coach someday, while Early will probably still be collecting an NBA paycheck.

CU had to leave the MVC, or their all-time greatest AA would not have been the best forward in his league.

Early >> McD. Put Early into CU's game plan and Katie Bar The Door!. Dougie makes a lot of low-percentage shots. Early mostly takes a lot of high-percentage shots.

[another shocker]

I didn't define it, but those are the only two really defensive stats,except maybe defensive rebounding also. Someone brought up those two stats earlier. I was simply noting no visible improvement.

As to being a good defender, I observed that SoW generally stayed between his man and the basket most of the time. He didn't play much help defense on other players' men. He tried very stringently to not get called for dumb, usually worthless, reaching in fouls as players, his own or others' responsibility, were driving past him. He did, for the most part, stick with his assignment in 2012-13. Before then, I did not really pay attention.

no, but he rebounds well.. maybe eight per game.. not bad.

big priest won't stop him any more than the valley did.

[Aargh]

no, but he rebounds well.. maybe eight per game.. not bad.

big priest won't stop him any more than the valley did.

The officiating might. Valley officiating discourages physical defense, which Dougie does not possess. If Big Priest teams are allowed to play physical D against Dougie, he might find less success there than he had in the Valley.

Early would be a better fit into the style of basketball played in that league.

[another shocker]

The officiating might. Valley officiating discourages physical defense, which Dougie does not possess. If Big Priest teams are allowed to play physical D against Dougie, he might find less success there than he had in the Valley.

Early would be a better fit into the style of basketball played in that league.

you might be underrating the mvc. bradley played hella' defense in peoria last year.. that's what I saw from them. ilsu really got after it big time, i do mean big time, before the shockers turned the tables. siu looked solid too (there and here). etc etc

mcd will do just fine in the big priest. he should be preseason poy in that league. hands down. yes, the shockers would have wrapped up creighton next year.. but they're gone to easier days now

[shocksrbest]

Hard to say how Dougie will do this year as compared to last.

Teams and coaches in the Big East don't have the experience of having played against Creighton two times a year and know their sets and tendencies--which would bode well for Dougie.

On the other hand, he will be more targeted since the Big guy is now gone and their inside game will be suspect.

[pie n eye]

I don't recall anyone mentioning McD as the MVP of one of the premiere summer basketball camps. Dougie will probably be a nice basketball coach someday, while Early will probably still be collecting an NBA paycheck.

CU had to leave the MVC, or their all-time greatest AA would not have been the best forward in his league.

Early >> McD. Put Early into CU's game plan and Katie Bar The Door!. Dougie makes a lot of low-percentage shots. Early mostly takes a lot of high-percentage shots.

Sorry but the last two sentences here are just not true. Doug is a great 3 point shooter (around 50% the last 2 yrs) but he also works hard off the ball to get a ton of high % looks and put backs.

Based on last year how could you say Cle is better than Doug? Cle is good and has the potential to become the better player but making that claim at this point based on 2nd hand reports from a summer basketball camp seems a bit premature.

[Shoxfan11]

Sorry but the last two sentences here are just not true. Doug is a great 3 point shooter (around 50% the last 2 yrs) but he also works hard off the ball to get a ton of high % looks and put backs.

Based on last year how could you say Cle is better than Doug? Cle is good and has the potential to become the better player but making that claim at this point based on 2nd hand reports from a summer basketball camp seems a bit premature.

While I do think people here are really underestimating how well Doug played last year, don't forget how strong Cle was at the end of the year. He struggled during the year and, despite some amazing performances (@ VCU and vs. Southern Illinois come to mind), I think it took him a little while to get it all together. But in the NCAA tournament he showed just how good he was, not just offensively, but his defense was absolutely amazing and much better than Doug could ever dream of playing. While doing so, he was still able to get his points.