Sycamore Game Thread

[jdshock]

brown killed that cheerleader...

Also it looked like his foot was over but was lifted before touching the ball.

I think I've established in past posts that I am not the forum's preeminent expert on rules, but my understanding was that if you step out of bounds you would have to step back in-bounds before touching the ball. It would not matter if he lifted his foot if the foot was out of bounds prior to touching the ball.

[Shocker_Power]

brown killed that cheerleader...

Also it looked like his foot was over but was lifted before touching the ball.

It almost appears that cheerleader is dropping an f-bomb on him after the fact.

[Play Angry]

I was pleased to see the tempo stay at a healthy pace in a Valley road game (70 possessions per KenPom) - despite the OSU debacle, I think this team is built to perform best in games with an average to slightly above average number of possessions (a.k.a. LIGHTNING SPEED by MVC standards of recent years).

Still plenty to work on but as @ShockerFever: and others said earlier, road wins are tough and I will never complain about registering a dub in an unfriendly environment. We had our chances to fold and maintained our composure reasonably well.

Although neither brought their A game, I really enjoyed watching both CF and DS man the point yesterday. The stat sheet does not reflect the tactical change that occurs when they sub for each other - it is very difficult for opponents to adjust their defense midstream depending on who is running the offense. There is a natural tendency for many to want one or the other to "win" the job and earn the bulk of the minutes, but I am surprised to find myself partial (at least for now) to the two-pronged strategy that we seem to be pursuing.

Willis is an absolute beast. This feels almost sacrilegious to type, but he is so much better than Carl Hall was at this stage and it's not close. Postseason accolades remain TBD, of course, but he is hands down the most gifted pure post player (I don't put Cle in this category) recruited by HCGM IMO.

[WSUwatcher]

DW's toe was almost definitely on the line, but what a great hustle play from him and Brown, not to mention the heads up catch and score from MM: https://gfycat.com/NeedyAjarGavial

I watched it a bunch of times without trying to slow it down, and I couldn't tell one way or the other -- too fast, too mesmerizing. I suspect the refs had a hard time watching toes and endlines, too, and understandably so. You won't see many better hustle sequences than that.

[Dan]

Willis is an absolute beast. This feels almost sacrilegious to type, but he is so much better than Carl Hall was at this stage and it's not close. Postseason accolades remain TBD, of course, but he is hands down the most gifted pure post player (I don't put Cle in this category) recruited by HCGM IMO.

I've been thinking this as well. The fact that he can play 32 min with only 2 fouls is something we haven't had from a big man in a long time.

[jdshock]

Willis is an absolute beast. This feels almost sacrilegious to type, but he is so much better than Carl Hall was at this stage and it's not close. Postseason accolades remain TBD, of course, but he is hands down the most gifted pure post player (I don't put Cle in this category) recruited by HCGM IMO.

In my memory, Hall was a great defender from basically day one. Am I misremembering? I'd been thinking that Willis was slightly behind Hall on the defensive end, but it's possible that I am exaggerating Hall's early contributions.

On the offensive end, Willis should have no trouble putting up crazy numbers this year in the Valley. In the first half, I had flashes of Cle's 39 point game against SIU.

By the end of the year, Shaq and Willis should be able to impose their will against most teams in the country.

[Play Angry]

In my memory, Hall was a great defender from basically day one. Am I misremembering? I'd been thinking that Willis was slightly behind Hall on the defensive end, but it's possible that I am exaggerating Hall's early contributions.

On the offensive end, Willis should have no trouble putting up crazy numbers this year in the Valley. In the first half, I had flashes of Cle's 39 point game against SIU.

By the end of the year, Shaq and Willis should be able to impose their will against most teams in the country.

Carl was the better defender at this stage, but he had his share of lapses during the first half of his junior year on that end. CH would have the edge there, although DW is making tremendous strides and quickly.

On offense, the gap is nearing Grand Canyon proportions IMO.

[asiseeit]

DW still could improve quite a bit. He needs to learn to use his
right hand close to the hoop so he can spin either way. He is
so much quicker than most other centers. If he gets a right hand
and right hand move anywhere close to his ability left he will be
nearly unstoppable. And, of course, there is room to improve
defensively.

[Rocky Mountain Shock]

Big D has some of the quickest moves around the basket I have seen from any post player anywhere. Dude is a bolt of lightning.

[Stickboy46]

DW's toe was almost definitely on the line, but what a great hustle play from him and Brown, not to mention the heads up catch and score from MM: https://gfycat.com/NeedyAjarGavial

Brown went face first into that table too

[ShockingButTrue]

DW still could improve quite a bit. He needs to learn to use his
right hand close to the hoop so he can spin either way. He is
so much quicker than most other centers. If he gets a right hand
and right hand move anywhere close to his ability left he will be
nearly unstoppable. And, of course, there is room to improve
defensively.

Kick it back out if he feels the D on his hip rather than turning into a double team with the ball at chest level, thus getting trapped. He did it a couple of times yesterday. That would help the Offense become more effective. He's getting better every game so I'm not worried about something like that continuing.

[shockmonster]

DW still could improve quite a bit. He needs to learn to use his
right hand close to the hoop so he can spin either way. He is
so much quicker than most other centers. If he gets a right hand
and right hand move anywhere close to his ability left he will be
nearly unstoppable. And, of course, there is room to improve
defensively.

You stated it very well (he has probably the best one on one moves we've seen for a while) that he can improve in many ways, but I might add that he takes a lot of shots (that's alright if successful), and some very bad ones. Some of his shots are too quick and then the 3 pointer he shot. :)

[lmor1971]

anybody have film of Mcduffie dunk last night?

[wusphlash]

Carl was the better defender at this stage, but he had his share of lapses during the first half of his junior year on that end. CH would have the edge there, although DW is making tremendous strides and quickly.

On offense, the gap is nearing Grand Canyon proportions IMO.

I'm remembering that Carl, his junior year, never took a shot more than 3 feet from the basket. It took until the second half of his senior year for him to show us he had 8-10 foot range. Range that proved valuable against Gonzaga.

[Chickenhawk hunter]

i thought CF had some really nice passes.