LeeMire: Very nice game shooting the ball. Donāt be over aggressive defending in the backcourt trying to get the steal.
Eddie: Steady as always. Lead us in assists for the first half, probably for the whole game since we didnāt hit a shot in the second half. Surely led us in rebounds and steals also.
Martin: Another nice game. Did a good job getting loose balls and low passes. Shouldnāt have been hit for the āT.ā That was ridiculous. When he did get the ball, he made a decision and stuck with it. Look at the results.
Plavich: Stellar first half shooting the ball. Stay out of the paint though. Yikes. I never saw someone call his own rejected shot like it was a fastball from The Big Unit.
My thoughtsā¦ I hope Bama left their best on the court tonightā¦ They scored 114 vs ETSU!!! I didnāt get to the game and ended up watching the Tide. I can only hope they shot their wad tonight.
That was a VERY sloppy game. I think we wound up with like 21 turnovers which wonāt cut it against Bama. But despite the sloppy play, it was good to see the guys pull it together down the stretch and not let the Cajuns get back within reach.
As for the āT.ā Martin does put a little too much emphasis on his dunks but I agree that it was a ridiculous call. But when youāre that tall, dunk that often and lift your knees up, youāre going to get whistled eventually. I didnāt think it warranted it but Iām not surprised the called it. Iti played a great game and tonight is what Iād like to see from him every game.
Withers had a ton of makeable shots that he just couldnāt get to fall in. Just wasnāt his night out there but his presence alone is going to force teams to adjust for it and that in itself will open up opportunities for other guys.
Goldwire was great. Gonna get better and better as the season goes along.
Iām not going to knock Eddie because I love him to death but I wish heād ease up on the street ball antics (spin moves, behind the back, etc.) While it looks fancy and often works out well, itās sloppy and dangerous to play like that. Just too easy to give the ball away and get yourself out of control. Iād rather see Eddie just play straight forward ball which heās so good at.
As I said in another thread, the crowd was bad tonight. Even the 49er Club (upstairs) deck had countless empty spots. I know everyone will come out for Bama since theyāre ranked but we need more support there for games like tonight.
Good win for the guys and I canāt wait for the Tide to roll in.
I think I sat in probably the most uneducated section of the student section. Guys where do I need to get my tickets at so that Iām not surrounded by girls talking about the players bodies and fratties wearing UNC hats?
Most of the guys looked like they were half sleep. Jogging through the plays, sloppy on screens, didnāt feed the post well.
Still need a little work on on-the-ball defense. Guys were getting beat off the dribble a little too much, which cause teammates to have to help and then be out of position.
Free throws looked much better, except for Withers and Plavich (which I cannot understand for such a good shooter, but his free throw motion does look a little different from his regular shot).
One thing they are still doing, is being TOO careless and relaxed with the ball.
All in all, they showed enough desire to pull out a win against a good athletic team. They did what they had to do to win, which shows growth and maturity. Although, they will have to play much better to win on Saturday.
[i]Originally posted by NinerLoudNProud[/i]@Dec 1 2004, 09:52 PM
[b] Just a couple quick ones...
Curtis Withers: Where are you?
LeeMire: Very nice game shooting the ball. Donāt be over aggressive defending in the backcourt trying to get the steal.
Eddie: Steady as always. Lead us in assists for the first half, probably for the whole game since we didnāt hit a shot in the second half. Surely led us in rebounds and steals also.
Martin: Another nice game. Did a good job getting loose balls and low passes. Shouldnāt have been hit for the āT.ā That was ridiculous. When he did get the ball, he made a decision and stuck with it. Look at the results.
Plavich: Stellar first half shooting the ball. Stay out of the paint though. Yikes. I never saw someone call his own rejected shot like it was a fastball from The Big Unit.
Thatās all. [/b]
[b]Martin: Another nice game.[/b]
When was the other one?
Eddie was sick tonight. 7 steals but it seemed like 12. He needs to lose some of the streetball stuff, but overall impressive.
Why canāt Plavich make a free throw? Anyone?? He looked like the Plav of last season tonight the way he forced shots. 5-13, 0-2 FT, 3 TO, 2 asists. Not great.
Withers is not getting the ball and now he seems to be sulking because of it. He mailed in the 2nd half and that is on Lutz. 6 points against a team that had no answer for him is pathetic. What a waste of talent.
EJ looked good again tonight. 5-6 free throws and 0 TOās. I like his game when he is under control.
Baldwin was solid tonight and is clearly our best FT shooter. 6-7 from the line with 6 assists and 3 TO along with 10 points & 2 steals. This is all we really need from him.
Goldwire showed some shooting skills tonight (except the one off glass). Does the āDemonā in him scare anyone else. 4-5 3 pointers with 3 TOās and 1 assist is a very Demon-like stat line. At least he can make free throws!
Overall a sloppy game against a bad team. Saturday will be a good test.
[i]Originally posted by 49erpi[/i]@Dec 2 2004, 01:59 AM
[b] BTW, anyone in attendance buying the announced crowd of 6059?
Come on, at least make it close. Maybe 3800 there, at best. [/b]
6,059 wasnāt even close. Place was a ghost town. There were even sections of the lower-level alumni area where I could have tossed a baseball into the crowd and had a better chance of hitting a seat than a person.
I guess everyone has their gripes whether it be media coverage, lack of quality merchandise, overall marketing, etc. Mine is attendance. At the risk of getting off on a rant here, I think itās absolutely pathetic that we canāt get more people out for a game like last night. Yes, I know it was Louisiana-Lafayette. Yes I know it was cold out. Yes it was a work/school night. And yes, I know that the Heels were coming on at 9:00pm for all the closet UNC fans. But cāmon. Absolutely no excuse for Halton to be as empty as it was last night when we were 2-1, coming off a nice road win and have Bama on the horizon. You should come to support the HOME team and not just show up based on who the opposition is.
I have zero respect for anyone who chose not to show up unless they had a valid excuse. Tired, putting up Christmas lights, traffic, etc. are all copouts. Iām sure Halton will be packed on Saturday but it should be that way for every single home game. And in my opinion, the students did a better job of showing up last night than alumni. Guess they were all out Christmas shopping or something. :rolleyes:
Did not see it last night, but if we do have an āAā game we better bring it Saturday night. I guess it was ok to win with our āCā game. It was a win.
[b]It was also nice to see us win the game so easily with only 6 points and 4 rebounds from our superstar. [/b]
hard to place the word āsuperstarā with that stat lineā¦maybe it will delay his nba jump by a year though. wonder if he forgot his narcolepsy medicine or something?
goldwire will be better than demon, heās smarter and less thuggish. both good things, doubt heās as hard headed either.
Aside from the sloppy play near the end of the game, I was pleased with the overall performance against a very athletic team. The Cajuns were picked to dominate their conference. To have five guys in double figures for the second game in a row is a very good sign that things are clicking and the guys are sharing the load. In fact, we have five guys averaging in double figures: Brendan at 15.3, Curtis and Mitch are both averaging 15.0 points, Eddie is at 13.7, and EJ at 10.3. I donāt remember a time when we had that many scoring threats. Itās this type of balance that will make it tough for our opponents to gameplan against.
We will get a good look at our post season potential against Bama.
[i]Originally posted by BigTimeNiner[/i]@Dec 2 2004, 09:01 AM
[b] You will have a bad experience at most games if you worry about the crowd. Just go support your team. [/b]
Well said. I was disappointed too, but for me it's futile to get upset over it. I think at some point we need to accept the fact that in our neck of the woods (read middle of ACC land), unless we are ranked and make deep tourney runs, we will never have stellar attendance at every game. I do however think that compared to when I was in school (late 80s), the home game experience is great. Maybe it's all perspective.
As far as the poor attendance goes, several factors (other than lack of student interest & the average Joe Sports Fan not embracing the team):
-Loss to Rutgers
-UL lafayette
-Wed night - church night (Yes, this is actually a major factor. The Ath department hears about it all the time)
-ACC games
The Green Jacket 49er club pregame dinner was packed. There were no open seats by 7:00.