Basketball observations..

[Liverpooldawg]

I went last night. I thought the crowd, while obviously small, wasn't bad when compared to historical attendance for mid-week games during Christmas break. It's obvious that our crowd has forgot how to act during the last few years. To their credit they did get into it when the team made a run at the end.

As for the team, it sucks to say this but they just aren't very good right now. The most disappointing thing last night was that they got out worked on their home floor. They never matched ETSU's energy on either end of the floor. I don't know what the class mix for ETSU was but I don't think it was a bunch of freshmen and sophomores. That showed. It is obvious that, for now, we go as Q goes. A lot of decent teams, and ETSU is a decent team, are going to be able to frustrate him like we saw last night. The only way to free him up is for the others to step up. Our lack of an inside game is killing us. ETSU was defending the three point line like maniacs but letting a lot of the penetration gonot so contested because they knew that we weren't going to hurt them inside. Expect to see that a lot more till we develop some semblance of an inside game. On defense our energy level was abysmal. We were not fighting through pics and screens and we we switching off late. ETSU did a good job of creating mismatches and open looks because of that. That last sequence summed up the defensive end to a T. The only criticism I would have of Howland was continuing to let IJ inbound the ball. That's going to have to change I think. Howland can only do so much till these guys figure out exactly just how intense they have to play every night out. It would also help if the bigs figure things out. Unfortunately they are a lot like offensive linemen, it just takes time.

[Big4Dawg]

Any guy who played last night for ETSU was a senior or junior. If you look at their team, they have 0 sophomore and 1 freshmen. wow

[MetEdDawg]

This is the kind of team that needs a rhythm. I think the more they play the better they are. They don't need long periods of time to think. They just need to ball. Getting 10 days off from games was not good for this group.

Think it's time to go back to the drawing board on us taking off that amount of time during exams and break. We lost to UMKC last year after I believe an 11 day layoff from games during this same period of time. Now we lose to ETSU after a 10 day break. Think we have to consider making a change there.

The lack of box out on the last play sums up what we lack. Killer instinct, win at all costs mentality. We aren't there. It's clear we have talent, but they just don't know how to play together yet and don't know what playing hard looks like. That's the biggest adjustment for talented kids. Have to work a lot harder on the college level and ours just aren't there yet. Like you said, it's gonna take time.

[Cooterpoot]

I'm not going to lie. I'm a little concerned with the discipline (or lack of) with this team. From kids over-sleeping and missing a game to the lack of effort. Yes, we're young. But that's not an excuse for lack of effort.

[BrunswickDawg]

ETSU has a pretty good history of strong teams over the past 25 years. They are like an old school mid-major. That team would have run us out of the gym 2 years ago.

[ScreenCaptureThis]

I think the team is going to take some time to look the way we all hope they would look at the beginning of the season. For comparison, UK brings in talent that is NBA ready the minute they step on campus, we have talent that is NBA ready in game 1 of year 2. This team will get better, Howland will figure out the combinations that play together well, and roles will start to unfold on the team as the season goes on. I watched ETSU warm up last night and was concerned immediately. That ETSU team is extremely athletic and will most likely win or challenge for their conference title. When Peters was caught and blocked from behind, that should tell you plenty about the speed and athleticism of one of their guys, and there were plenty of other examples.

Plus, as Big4Dawg said, most of their guys had 2 years and at least 5-15lbs on each of our guys, not to mention the complete mismatch on anyone vs. IJ last night. Give this team some time, they will be one of those teams EVERYONE hates to see at the end of the season. We're probably NIT/CBA level right now, but we will give teams FITZ in the SEC tourney.

And anyone that thinks this isn't a better coached team has extreme short term memory. Our shots were off (we were shooting just over 30% from the field in the first half) and we simply did not have good rhythm in the first half, but we came back from 8-10 down to make it a game in the 2nd half. It's not doom and gloom just yet, just be patient.

[Ari Gold]

I went last night. I thought the crowd, while obviously small, wasn't bad when compared to historical attendance for mid-week games during Christmas break. It's obvious that our crowd has forgot how to act during the last few years. To their credit they did get into it when the team made a run at the end.

As for the team, it sucks to say this but they just aren't very good right now. The most disappointing thing last night was that they got out worked on their home floor. They never matched ETSU's energy on either end of the floor. I don't know what the class mix for ETSU was but I don't think it was a bunch of freshmen and sophomores. That showed. It is obvious that, for now, we go as Q goes. A lot of decent teams, and ETSU is a decent team, are going to be able to frustrate him like we saw last night. The only way to free him up is for the others to step up. Our lack of an inside game is killing us. ETSU was defending the three point line like maniacs but letting a lot of the penetration gonot so contested because they knew that we weren't going to hurt them inside. Expect to see that a lot more till we develop some semblance of an inside game. On defense our energy level was abysmal. We were not fighting through pics and screens and we we switching off late. ETSU did a good job of creating mismatches and open looks because of that. That last sequence summed up the defensive end to a T. The only criticism I would have of Howland was continuing to let IJ inbound the ball. That's going to have to change I think. Howland can only do so much till these guys figure out exactly just how intense they have to play every night out. It would also help if the bigs figure things out. Unfortunately they are a lot like offensive linemen, it just takes time.

That's not all on IJ.. if no one screens and the play isn't ran correctly and no one is open it doesn't matter who inbounds the ball..

[trob115]

ETSU is picked 2nd in their conference. They most likely will be a tourney team. We had a lot of missed opportunities last night. We had several missed layups and didn't shoot well from the stripe. The lack of a true center right now is hurting us. We definitely are improved this year as a team and will be dangerous as the year progresses.

I am looking forward to Herard developing as a center. He has potential to be a monster on the block.

And one more thing, Kegler is a walking mismatch. He is going to be fun to watch. He should be a double double machine.

[Liverpooldawg]

That's not all on IJ.. if no one screens and the play isn't ran correctly and no one is open it doesn't matter who inbounds the ball..

True, very true.

[Liverpooldawg]

I think the team is going to take some time to look the way we all hope they would look at the beginning of the season. For comparison, UK brings in talent that is NBA ready the minute they step on campus, we have talent that is NBA ready in game 1 of year 2. This team will get better, Howland will figure out the combinations that play together well, and roles will start to unfold on the team as the season goes on. I watched ETSU warm up last night and was concerned immediately. That ETSU team is extremely athletic and will most likely win or challenge for their conference title. When Peters was caught and blocked from behind, that should tell you plenty about the speed and athleticism of one of their guys, and there were plenty of other examples.

Plus, as Big4Dawg said, most of their guys had 2 years and at least 5-15lbs on each of our guys, not to mention the complete mismatch on anyone vs. IJ last night. Give this team some time, they will be one of those teams EVERYONE hates to see at the end of the season. We're probably NIT/CBA level right now, but we will give teams FITZ in the SEC tourney.

And anyone that thinks this isn't a better coached team has extreme short term memory. Our shots were off (we were shooting just over 30% from the field in the first half) and we simply did not have good rhythm in the first half, but we came back from 8-10 down to make it a game in the 2nd half. It's not doom and gloom just yet, just be patient.

The shots were off for the most part because they were defended well. I was really impressed with the defensive intensity that ETSU brought. You can't always shoot the ball well. You CAN play with intensity on the defensive end every night. That's controllable.

[MarketingBully]

This is the kind of team that needs a rhythm. I think the more they play the better they are. They don't need long periods of time to think. They just need to ball. Getting 10 days off from games was not good for this group.

Think it's time to go back to the drawing board on us taking off that amount of time during exams and break. We lost to UMKC last year after I believe an 11 day layoff from games during this same period of time. Now we lose to ETSU after a 10 day break. Think we have to consider making a change there.

The lack of box out on the last play sums up what we lack. Killer instinct, win at all costs mentality. We aren't there. It's clear we have talent, but they just don't know how to play together yet and don't know what playing hard looks like. That's the biggest adjustment for talented kids. Have to work a lot harder on the college level and ours just aren't there yet. Like you said, it's gonna take time.

I think the ten day layoff effected us in a very negative way especially since we are so young. A veteran team can take a layoff like that and not have as many issues. We came out flat for the first 30 minutes of a 40 minute game. Our lack of making layups (we missed 3-4 and a dunk) off great interior passes also hurt. Both Ready and Carter had 0 rebounds. ETSU's style of play also had a lot to do with our struggles but with all that stated we got it tied with ten seconds to go. If we didn't have the layoff I'm confident we could have handled them.

I do think we are a better team then what Liverpool is saying and we are just now full strength as Xavian and Ado are practicing with the team. We have Southern Miss who I think we will beat by double digits then get Xavian back for Morehead State on the 22nd. When SEC rolls around, we will be ready.

[MarketingBully]

The shots were off for the most part because they were defended well. I was really impressed with the defensive intensity that ETSU brought. You can't always shoot the ball well. You CAN play with intensity on the defensive end every night. That's controllable.

There were several open shots from the three point line that Q missed last night he normally makes. They didn't defend everything from the perimeter and left several of our guys wide open. We just didn't knock them down. Their main advantage they had early was they would foul our players Would complain and not get back on defense and they had easy transition points. You could say that was the difference in the game because they got at least 10 points doing that. It's the Bruce Pearl/Nolan Richardson defensive way. You foul and foul. The refs won't call them all and if they don't you get easy opportunities on the other end.

[chef dixon]

We are gonna be fine. We got some boys that can flat out hoop. Just keep feeding it inside and let our big guys get reps. It will be frustrating.

[kojak]

Are they encouraging our fans, especially our larger fans, to fold their arms and stay seated?

[MarketingBully]

We are gonna be fine. We got some boys that can flat out hoop. Just keep feeding it inside and let our big guys get reps. It will be frustrating.

With Ado practicing with them now, I think it will really help Datcher and Herard's development.

[BB30]

Yea, we have to develop an interior game. We are extremely athletic and young they will get there and probably finish fairly strong. I don't follow basketball recruiting other than what is posted on here. Question, I know we have some guys with height but do we have anyone that is just all around big. We get pushed around quite a bit underneath the basket. Any lawrence Robert type builds on campus or in the upcoming class? Anyone that will eventually be able to put some weight on?

[chef dixon]

With Ado practicing with them now, I think it will really help Datcher and Herard's development.

If we can get just a moderate inside game, our guards will feast. They are very talented.

[louisvilledawg]

Herard played 12 mins, got three rebounds, and completely whiffed on a dunk that helen keller could've made.

Why is he struggling so mightily? I know "he's raw" or whatever, but the dude is 6'10" 250.

Raw or not, a "top 50" player coming out of high school should be better than that.

Hopefully he comes along sooner rather than later because we need an inside presence something fierce.

[sleepy dawg]

We suck, and that's all there is to it. Sugar coat it all you want. Will we get better? Probably, but so will most teams.

The SEC is probably the 5th or 6th best conference, and we're one of the worst teams in it.

[DudyDawg]

I think the biggest issue was lack of dribble pen. Our dribble weave turned to a dribble hand off with no one looking to penetrate. I think I could count drive and kicks on one hand. No guard penetration will make your bigs look bad (missed bunnies didn't help), keep assists low, and lead to a lot of contested jump shots.