Even with 17 TOs, we actually did well against them. They average forcing 20, so to me, that made me think we might give up 25 or so. Most all of our TOs were in the half-court, just like all our other games, so we actually performed very well against their full-court press. That gives me hope as these players mature and take care of it better in the half-court. If we couldnât beat a full-court trap, sure, Iâd be VERY concerned about not having any ball-handlers, but even tonight it was silly dribbling in the post and paint and bad passes on the perimeter.
17 is a good number for this team with where we are right now.
ENough of this PC bullshit. Look, ken, I appreciate you trying to take the high road, but letâs call this what it was - horseshit. This was a 7 point game and their entire team should have fouled out shortly after halftime. That is absolutely zero hyperbole. They literally foul everytime down the court, multiple times. They make UAB of old look like clean basketball.
My favorite anecdotal posession was the 4 fouls on PH when he drove the lane and was hip checked almost to the ground on his shot and the whistle thatw as finally blown was against us.
Itâs garbage. If this is where the game is headed, Iâm not interested.[/quote]
Bilas has written about how âletting them playâ shouldnât mean let them kill each other. Heâs called out the trend of letting some teams just get away with murder and that the physical play is hurting the game. Heâs right.
VCU did foul on every single possession. Thatâs not an exaggeration. If they get into any game where itâs being called tight hey will lose and lose royally.
Our penchant for turnovers kills us. We simply canât hang onto the ball. Part of that is being young and I hope it gets better.
I have to say Major disappointed me tonight. He never and mean NEVER, shows any passion or works the refs. I donât want him to be Bobby but if youâre not in the refs ears they ignore you. Smart was in their ear every time play stopped. Major should have gotten a T tonight for how lax the calls were being. He needed to do that and pump some people up.
Frustrating game to watch. This is a brutal stretch and we have a big hole to dig out of at this point.
^This. We shot 51%. Thatâs a helluva number against VCU. I think itâs time everyone shuts the hell up about our offense being terrible, including niner fans. We have a FG% in the top third of D1 which is a result of smart shot selection. The day we stop turning the ball over so much and start converting those possessions at the same percentage is the day weâre back where we all want to be, 3-pointers or not. Do we need 3-pointers when we fall behind? Of course, but not taking a 3 in the first half should not cause this much moaning, we shot 56% in the first half.
As for everyone bitching about how VCU plays, give me a break! If we could get away with it the way they do, weâd only b**** if refs called fouls on us for trying to do so. I commend not only their effectiveness, but more so how Shaka gets 10 guys to give that kind of effort for 40 minutes. The objective is to win games and Shaka is deploying the best system he knows and is getting full buy-in from his players. I have read you all gloating after games where our defensive intensity and physical play knocked our opponent out of their game and thanked the refs for letting us play that way. Itâs time you all put on some big-boy pants and stop your whining about VCUâs style and admit that they spanked us with a real example of defensive effort and intensity. The refs? Sure, tie them to a pole and take your turn with a rubber hose. Theyâre terrible, but I tip my cap to VCU for knowing how to take full advantage.[/quote]
THIS!!!
What they did to us is what we want to do to every other team. Hard physical play to frustrate the other team.
[quote=â919R, post:38, topic:27476â][quote=âcakewalk5, post:5, topic:27476â][quote=âGMadness, post:4, topic:27476â]We get almost a dozen more rebounds, shoot over 50% from the field and the game is still never really close.
Itâs ALL about turnovers. That and the lack of any kind of 3-pt shooting to help us make up a 10-pt lead. Yet again, Ivan gets no PT, which I simply canât comprehend. He hits three threes for us vs. Temple, then canât see the floor tonight. What gives?
-G-[/quote]
Benk got some time in the first half. He was not good handling the ball.
But it does bring up a question as to why do the deep bench players get zero meaningful minutes in the second half every game? Thorne and Benk are to who I am referring.
If Major does not get a couple of shooters, Iâm guessing his tenure could be a short one. Donât bring up the record. His team has not had a good win in awhile.[/quote]
3-4 minutes is NOT getting a chance[/quote]
Benk had no business being on the floor against these guys. You could tell they had scouted us well because every time he touched the ball they doubled him. He simply is not a good enough ball handler to handle their pressure. And we couldnât get him any looks from behind the arc. If we canât get him looks then he doesnât need to be on the floor.
[quote=âMKNiner, post:45, topic:27476â][quote=â919R, post:38, topic:27476â][quote=âcakewalk5, post:5, topic:27476â][quote=âGMadness, post:4, topic:27476â]We get almost a dozen more rebounds, shoot over 50% from the field and the game is still never really close.
Itâs ALL about turnovers. That and the lack of any kind of 3-pt shooting to help us make up a 10-pt lead. Yet again, Ivan gets no PT, which I simply canât comprehend. He hits three threes for us vs. Temple, then canât see the floor tonight. What gives?
-G-[/quote]
Benk got some time in the first half. He was not good handling the ball.
But it does bring up a question as to why do the deep bench players get zero meaningful minutes in the second half every game? Thorne and Benk are to who I am referring.
If Major does not get a couple of shooters, Iâm guessing his tenure could be a short one. Donât bring up the record. His team has not had a good win in awhile.[/quote]
3-4 minutes is NOT getting a chance[/quote]
Benk had no business being on the floor against these guys. You could tell they had scouted us well because every time he touched the ball they doubled him. He simply is not a good enough ball handler to handle their pressure. And we couldnât get him any looks from behind the arc. If we canât get him looks then he doesnât need to be on the floor.[/quote]
DisagreeâŚ3 minutes is not enough of a chanceâŚsome of you guys just continue to repeat these âcritiquesâ of Bennyâs game with little evidence to actually support it.
[quote=âMKNiner, post:43, topic:27476â]Our penchant for turnovers kills us. We simply canât hang onto the ball. Part of that is being young and I hope it gets better.
I have to say Major disappointed me tonight. He never and mean NEVER, shows any passion or works the refs. I donât want him to be Bobby but if youâre not in the refs ears they ignore you. Smart was in their ear every time play stopped. Major should have gotten a T tonight for how lax the calls were being. He needed to do that and pump some people up.
Frustrating game to watch. This is a brutal stretch and we have a big hole to dig out of at this point.[/quote]
I saw you leaving tonight⌠Almost came over to say hi, but I was a little too annoyed. I think you and I see this in pretty much the same light.
About Major - I am not certain how I feel about this. I get his point, but at some point, you have to have a strategy for when you are going to react to obviously poor officiating. Perhaps it is only in very limited situations. However, you cannot say never, because it is quite obvious that many other coaches get away with working the refs (look at Shaka tonight). So I think I more or less agree with you. I would just like to know or see what Majorâs tipping point is and what his strategy to not get worked over is.
Little evidence? I watched the game. There was plenty of evidence in the 4 minutes he played that it wasnât a good match up. Thereâs been plenty of evidence of what his strengths and weaknesses are.
Benk has shown no ability to create his own shot, handle the ball effectively or play solid enough defense to warrant significant minutes. There will be games where those arenât as much of a liability but against a team like VCU that plays like they do in a game where fouls simply arenât being called he shouldnât be on the floor. It was compounded by the fact that we were unable to get any decent looks from 3 pretty much the whole game. VCU played excellent on the perimeter tonight. If you canât run Benk off some screens heâs not going to get you anything.
Good kid. I think he has potential. But tonight simply wasnât a game where he matched up well.
Little evidence? I watched the game. There was plenty of evidence in the 4 minutes he played that it wasnât a good match up. Thereâs been plenty of evidence of what his strengths and weaknesses are.
Benk has shown no ability to create his own shot, handle the ball effectively or play solid enough defense to warrant significant minutes. There will be games where those arenât as much of a liability but against a team like VCU that plays like they do in a game where fouls simply arenât being called he shouldnât be on the floor. It was compounded by the fact that we were unable to get any decent looks from 3 pretty much the whole game. VCU played excellent on the perimeter tonight. If you canât run Benk off some screens heâs not going to get you anything.
Good kid. I think he has potential. But tonight simply wasnât a game where he matched up well.[/quote]
The style f defense we play makes it difficult for any player who canât handle their own on D and we don;t do our shooters any favors to free them up on the outside. Wish Benny had played a little more in the second half, but more than that I think Thorne should have gotten more time.
If we hit some more free throws, the game is a completely different game down the stretch. Also, why did we not start fouling until inside of a minmute to go when we still had fouls to give. We were down 3 possessions at the 2 minute mark and let them run the shot clock all the way down.
I thought we would win the rebounding war, but we DOMINATED the boards. We handled their press better than I thought we would. We can beat this team, especially if the refs call it closer than they did tonight.
I have one more statement but it deserves a separate post.
[quote=âNinerAdvocate, post:53, topic:27476â]How did Big Mike look tonight?
I thought he more or less held his own, given the travesty that was occuring. His statline is completely empty though.[/quote]
I thought he looked fine and Iâd like to see him get more minutes. Problem is heâs not a scoring threat and when youâre down itâs tough keep him in there. I think with JT out for the season weâll see him more and more, at least I hope we do.
Little evidence? I watched the game. There was plenty of evidence in the 4 minutes he played that it wasnât a good match up. Thereâs been plenty of evidence of what his strengths and weaknesses are.
Benk has shown no ability to create his own shot, handle the ball effectively or play solid enough defense to warrant significant minutes. There will be games where those arenât as much of a liability but against a team like VCU that plays like they do in a game where fouls simply arenât being called he shouldnât be on the floor. It was compounded by the fact that we were unable to get any decent looks from 3 pretty much the whole game. VCU played excellent on the perimeter tonight. If you canât run Benk off some screens heâs not going to get you anything.
Good kid. I think he has potential. But tonight simply wasnât a game where he matched up well.[/quote]
I watched it tooâŚand 99% of our games this seasonâŚhe is here to shoot,not run the pointâŚeven against VCU he could be utilized much better. ExactlyâŚget better at screening for himâŚits beeen 2/3 of the season already.