Just walked into the house after attending the fiasco of a BB game today. I know there are other threads but here is my take.
It is going to be a long year. There simply is not much talent on this team. TL didn't leave much for Fran to work with. I know Gatens wasn't there and when he returns that will definitly help, but we will also be playing alot better teams in the Big Ten than what we played today.
1) Their guards couldn't miss today. Even when we occasionally guarded them they made the 3s.
2) Cully is still slow and not a very good ball handler. He also isn't much of a scoring threat. The quicker point guards in the Big Ten will eat him alive (like they did last year).
3) Cartwright (sp) is quicker and better defensively, but really didn't impress me. He tried to score more than Cully, but didn't look very good with his shot. Jury is still out on him. Remember he wasn't very heavily recruited.
4) McCabe needs a lot moore strength and stamina. He really looked lost out there on defense. At the end of the game he was standing around alot and getting beat badly on defense.
5) May works hard for his points but isn't a great shooter. Remember last year he would get hot about every 5th or 6th game and can a bunch of 3s. Otherwise he has to work for points. Working hard is good, but he shouldn't be our number 1 option for points. Simply to inconsistant.
6) Basabe (sp) disappointed me. I know he was the leading rebounder, but he really needs more strength and weight (just like McCabe). He didn't look as quick as I had hoped and doesn't look to be a scoring threat.
7) Brommer, another skinny inside player. He looked completely lost most of the time. Sorry, but if he gets a lot of playing time I think we are going to be in a ton of trouble.
8) Cole. He is the one player I thought gave us evrything he had. He worked hard on both ends of the court. He isn't the greatest scorer in the world, but for an undersized center he will give you everything. He was also the only player on the floor that I saw switching on defense. SDST would run a screen and he always switched. Unfortunately our guards never did. I don't know how many times I pointed out to my wife that Cully didn't switch off with Cole and left a SDST player all alone under the basket. Fortunately they rarely took advantage of it, but it made it look like Cole had lost his man and was at fault.
Finally coaching. Hey it was Frans first game and as I said TL didn't leave him much. That said,I didn't come away thinking "this is the guy". In the first half all we did on offense was throw a bounce pass inside and let our bigs try to force up a shot. As far as I can remember we only took maybe 2 3s in the entire half. Even my wife commented that we needed to be more balanced. The 2nd half we took a few more but still not many. I think we only shot 10 3s for the entire game. Fran also didn't call timeouts late in the first half when things got out of hand.
Ok, that's my take from being there and seeing the game first hand. It was bad, but it was only the first game and Gatens will help when he gets back. But, I don't see this team winning very many games this year. The talent isn't there.
It is going to be a long year. There simply is not much talent on this team. TL didn't leave much for Fran to work with. I know Gatens wasn't there and when he returns that will definitly help, but we will also be playing alot better teams in the Big Ten than what we played today.
1) Their guards couldn't miss today. Even when we occasionally guarded them they made the 3s.
2) Cully is still slow and not a very good ball handler. He also isn't much of a scoring threat. The quicker point guards in the Big Ten will eat him alive (like they did last year).
3) Cartwright (sp) is quicker and better defensively, but really didn't impress me. He tried to score more than Cully, but didn't look very good with his shot. Jury is still out on him. Remember he wasn't very heavily recruited.
4) McCabe needs a lot moore strength and stamina. He really looked lost out there on defense. At the end of the game he was standing around alot and getting beat badly on defense.
5) May works hard for his points but isn't a great shooter. Remember last year he would get hot about every 5th or 6th game and can a bunch of 3s. Otherwise he has to work for points. Working hard is good, but he shouldn't be our number 1 option for points. Simply to inconsistant.
6) Basabe (sp) disappointed me. I know he was the leading rebounder, but he really needs more strength and weight (just like McCabe). He didn't look as quick as I had hoped and doesn't look to be a scoring threat.
7) Brommer, another skinny inside player. He looked completely lost most of the time. Sorry, but if he gets a lot of playing time I think we are going to be in a ton of trouble.
8) Cole. He is the one player I thought gave us evrything he had. He worked hard on both ends of the court. He isn't the greatest scorer in the world, but for an undersized center he will give you everything. He was also the only player on the floor that I saw switching on defense. SDST would run a screen and he always switched. Unfortunately our guards never did. I don't know how many times I pointed out to my wife that Cully didn't switch off with Cole and left a SDST player all alone under the basket. Fortunately they rarely took advantage of it, but it made it look like Cole had lost his man and was at fault.
Finally coaching. Hey it was Frans first game and as I said TL didn't leave him much. That said,I didn't come away thinking "this is the guy". In the first half all we did on offense was throw a bounce pass inside and let our bigs try to force up a shot. As far as I can remember we only took maybe 2 3s in the entire half. Even my wife commented that we needed to be more balanced. The 2nd half we took a few more but still not many. I think we only shot 10 3s for the entire game. Fran also didn't call timeouts late in the first half when things got out of hand.
Ok, that's my take from being there and seeing the game first hand. It was bad, but it was only the first game and Gatens will help when he gets back. But, I don't see this team winning very many games this year. The talent isn't there.
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