Looks like Davidson is building their at large resumeā with another quality loss.
[QUOTE=Max Power;274090]Davidson could be staring 3-5 in the face after their next game against UCLA. [/QUOTE] I personally hope they donāt lose a game the rest of the year. We can use the rpi boost.
We appear to be one of those teams that wins ugly. You never really can explain how they do it, but somehow they pull it out. It usually means guys are playing hard and hustling, often playing good defense. Still doesn't sound like we play good team defense, but we've got some good individual defenders out there. We won the turnover margin again.I really wish we wouldnāt shoot so many threes (especially Mack 2-7 and Andersen 1-5). But itās hard to argue if theyāre wide open. I like Andersenās energy, but he appears to need some more seasoning/development, as right now heās a liability on both ends. The main reason for playing him is to nail the threes, but heās shooting at 33% clip right now. He is still just a sophomore, so I hope he turns it around.
One thing I will say for Lutz, he appears to have inspired the guys to play hard, particularly in the 2nd half. What is he saying at halftime? Whatever it is, the guys usually come out strong.
Why didnāt Jones play more? He sat most of the 2nd half. Is he hurt? Seems like his size would help us in a game like this.
Correction: Ian is shooting 39% this year not including tonights 1-5 (33% over his career). Not as bad as I thought.
It really did not look like an ugly win to me. I was actually quite pleased with what I saw. Team defense looked good, not bad - but Davidson (smartly) raced down the floor whenever we celebrated a good basket. Thatās why I think Gaby matched up better than Phil v. Davidson - Gaby can run up and down the court faster than a lot of players his size. Phil probably matches up better against Southern Illinois. I donāt think the first half was uninspired - just nothing seemed to go in.
Iām glad to have Big Phil. I think the reason he didnāt play more was to get players in the game that have speed. Phil will have a great career here, but tonight I have to hand it to Bobby. He did what was needed to set the board up for checkmate. Even if it came down to Lee having a career night, the Kittens needed Curry at least as much. I think Coleyās dunk ramped up the crowd enough to be a true sixth man tonight. I was a bit irked that the TV guys had the camera on and commented on McKillopās looks so much. Nothing beats the looks of Bobby congratulating the losing team on a good effort.
This edition of the Niners will play up to or down to the level of any opposition, it seems. Bobby said on the post game radio show he is personally going to work on free throws with our guys. Weāll need that improved to keep up the pace. Iām pleasantly surprised to be 5-2 at this point. Hopefully these 2 non-conference losses will not be forgotten. If we were 7-0 right now, we would all have unrealistic expectations. Seeing how this group hustles and plays defense, I now have high expectations. We have to have the hustle and enthusiasm throughout the season, and the Niners know nothing will come easy. Great game against a good team and great player tonight. Bring on SIU.
We won because we made more clutch shots than they did. The entire second half was clutch shot after clutch shot. We may have been outrebounded badly but most of that difference was made up in the first half (they had 11 more rebounds than us) so we outrebounded them in the second half. I like to believe that NINER NATION helped out as well, it was awesome tonight.
I think its the power of the headband. Coley puts it on and jumps out the building. Leemire puts it on and drains 9 threes. Give one to Phil and his baby hook shots will fall!
Um, [B]WHY[/B] do you suppose Phil plays left-handed around the basket? Itās killing me.
I havenāt seen anybody discuss this yet.
He doesnāt shoot free throws left-handed. Against Wake, when he drilled that fading jumper with his heels on the 3-pt line, he shot it righty. The one he threw over the backboard, thoughāthat was southpaw. Iāve never seen anything like it.
Um, [B]WHY[/B] do you suppose Phil plays left-handed around the basket? It's killing me.:confused: I haven't seen anybody discuss this yet.
-Taking a page out of Greg Odenās book ā¦ mixing his game up a little bit???..Needs a little work though
Iād like to hear it asked on Lutz Live, but I donāt know-- would it be appropriate to call out a player like that?
seriously, there were times when mack was the big man we had on the court and he was pulling up threes. sure he hit two (i think) but heās pretty bad at them and when heās the big man on the court he should be down low, thatās why our rebounding sucked tonight, or one of the reasons anyway
Running late so I didnāt get to read the thread but that was a very fun game to be at. Poor officiating really killed a lot of momentum at times and some of the calls were just flat out brutal. I like McKillop but Iām not sure why he gets the āclassyā title all the time. His teams play dirty as hell and get away with most of it. They were continuously throwing shoulders, elbows and at times, practically throwing punches.
Thank God for Leemire because we would have been toast without him. Once again, he put the team on his shoulders and shot his way to a victory.
Free throw shooting continues to be terrible. I donāt know what the final stat was but at one point in the game, I saw we had made just 10 of 20. Not going to get it done. As much as we are getting to the line, we have GOT to shoot at least in the upper 60ās (Iām being conservative) to not lose close games.
Crowd was incredible. Thatās the most students in attendance Iāve seen since the big CUSA matchups. Still a lot of empty seats but winning will cure that. And this team is providing a very exciting product to watch so hopefully on Saturday, weāll get another big crowd. S. Illinois is going to be an ugly game. With their physical, low scoring style, it could be hard to watch. We just need to control tempo and try to get the game in the 60ās. If we score 65 points, we win.
This win is more significant than the Wake win. Davidson is a good squad.
Running late so I didn't get to read the thread but that was a very fun game to be at. Poor officiating really killed a lot of momentum at times and some of the calls were just flat out brutal. I like McKillop but I'm not sure why he gets the "classy" title all the time. His teams play dirty as hell and get away with most of it. They were continuously throwing shoulders, elbows and at times, practically throwing punches.Thank God for Leemire because we would have been toast without him. Once again, he put the team on his shoulders and shot his way to a victory.
Free throw shooting continues to be terrible. I donāt know what the final stat was but at one point in the game, I saw we had made just 10 of 20. Not going to get it done. As much as we are getting to the line, we have GOT to shoot at least in the upper 60ās (Iām being conservative) to not lose close games.
Crowd was incredible. Thatās the most students in attendance Iāve seen since the big CUSA matchups. Still a lot of empty seats but winning will cure that. And this team is providing a very exciting product to watch so hopefully on Saturday, weāll get another big crowd. S. Illinois is going to be an ugly game. With their physical, low scoring style, it could be hard to watch. We just need to control tempo and try to get the game in the 60ās. If we score 65 points, we win.
In the post game interview Lutz promised that they would work on FTs. Lets hope he follows through and they learn something.
The masses may not like this but I feel like Davidson is a better team than us NOW, but we played an ugly game and dragged them in there with us. They were shooting non-Curry threeās early in the shot clock, making dumb passes and charging etc. Davidson is a team that can effectively score from the inside and has a devastating weapon on the outside. They rebound, play good āDā and make there free throw and run their set play offense. But we made them play grimy, unpretty ball. The same thing happened with Wake Forest and we prevailed.
Weāre the dirty kid playing in the mud and were dragging the preppy kid in with us and making them play by our rules.
The kind of ball we are playing is A10 ball. Itās grimy dirty and painful to watch, but it will generally defeat the finesse game that weāve been playing forever. As of right now, we can play with everyone in the A-10 except X and maybe RI. Iām excited by the progress and Iām very happy with the players we have as they will mature and get better. Coley and Mack will hit the easy ones. Gabby will stop charging and Phil will dominate the glass like the kid from Davidson did last night.
Weāre not great yet, but Iām loving this so far.
Tintin
Anyone know why Bobby runs off the court now after shaking hands? He did it at Wake and last night. We normally get the on court post game interview with him but heās gone straight off the court after the handshakes.
Any idea why?
[QUOTE=Tintin;274180]The masses may not like this but I feel like Davidson is a better team than us NOW, but we played an ugly game and dragged them in there with us. They were shooting non-Curry threeās early in the shot clock, making dumb passes and charging etc. Davidson is a team that can effectively score from the inside and has a devastating weapon on the outside. They rebound, play good āDā and make there free throw and run their set play offense. But we made them play grimy, unpretty ball. The same thing happened with Wake Forest and we prevailed.
Weāre the dirty kid playing in the mud and were dragging the preppy kid in with us and making them play by our rules.
The kind of ball we are playing is A10 ball. Itās grimy dirty and painful to watch, but it will generally defeat the finesse game that weāve been playing forever. As of right now, we can play with everyone in the A-10 except X and maybe RI. Iām excited by the progress and Iām very happy with the players we have as they will mature and get better. Coley and Mack will hit the easy ones. Gabby will stop charging and Phil will dominate the glass like the kid from Davidson did last night.
Weāre not great yet, but Iām loving this so far.
Tintin[/QUOTE]
I think what youāre describing is good Niner defesne. Something perhaps we donāt easily recognize quite yet. :biggrin:
It really did not look like an ugly win to me. I was actually quite pleased with what I saw. Team defense looked good, not bad - but Davidson (smartly) raced down the floor whenever we celebrated a good basket. That's why I think Gaby matched up better than Phil v. Davidson - Gaby can run up and down the court faster than a lot of players his size. Phil probably matches up better against Southern Illinois. I don't think the first half was uninspired - just nothing seemed to go in.
Thatās good to hear not everyone thinks it was ugly. I was basing the āugly winā comment on what others said that saw the game. It also sounded like they had some open 3ās, but werenāt knocking them down (which usually means poor rotation/help defense, but not always). If theyāre playing better team defense, and can cut back on the quick threes early in the shot clock, Iāll be convinced that Lutz is a great coach (Iām getting there with the way weāve started). After the last 2-3 yrs, I never thought we would see that kind of turn around. Hopefully the celebration thing gets fixed, as other teams will notice this from the game tape.
[QUOTE=metro;274013]just saw a crucifiable stat:
Davidson was 8-29 from 3 (.276)ā¦that is devastating[/QUOTE]
No, thatās HALTON ARENA!!!
Lets just go ahead and end the debate.
āUglyā = āAggressive, effective defenseā, especially when its other teamsā fans describing us. 'Dirty", āThuggishā, etc are also synonyms for it. You can literally Mad Libs it. Just replace those terms with defensive in any post or story and youāll get the true story.
This Niner team doesnt play a finesse game. We still have one really great shooter that can sometimes just outgun you, but we stay in games, and win when we are not hitting 3ās, because of our defense, hustle and grit.
People whining about how we play are just not used to this. The halfcourt offense is a work in process with a dozen problems to work through. It will get there. Until then, we are āuglyā.
Lets just go ahead and end the debate.āUglyā = āAggressive, effective defenseā, especially when its other teamsā fans describing us. 'Dirty", āThuggishā, etc are also synonyms for it. You can literally Mad Libs it. Just replace those terms with defensive in any post or story and youāll get the true story.
I agree with everything but the āthuggish.ā Have you ever seen street ball? Most of the time, there is no defense being played. So our style of going all at it is far from āthuggish.ā Besides, I was getting mad bc the people around me were calling our guys a bunch of thugs, not describing their play, describing them. Duke plays a similar style of Defense and Iāve never heard anybody use the word thuggish to describe it.