[teejers1]

I don't know how the players are keeping it together. We seem to have a reasonable solid 5 with MOC, DeLaire, Ingraham, Reynaud, and Jones and an improving bench. But for some reason, Haase won't stick with a consistent group and instead continues to do things like start Murrell and Keefe (who played well) and then start Beskind in the second half  to "send a message". The only message that is sending is "sorry, I don't really know what I'm doing guys". Keefe played well tonight, so will he stick with him? I'll venture a guess that in another few weeks he's riding pine again. Murrell starts and plays 8 total minutes. It's just so confusing and so hard for the group to get any kind of rhythm. 

We finally get the lead at 63-62 at the 4:31 mark. At 1:13, we find ourselves down 74-67. During that 3:18 of elapsed time, here were our subs from the box score:
Taitz Out
O'Connell In
O'Connell Out
Taitz In
Taitz Out
Beskind In
Beskind Out
O'Connell In
DeLaire Out
Taitz In
Taitz Out
DeLaire In

I understand you can sub two players for offense/defense or things like that, but this was overengineering. Why is Beskind even in the game at this point? He made a crucial turnover. And O'Connell was cooking in the second half, but he's being taken off the floor with 4 fouls. Why? There's 3 minutes left in a close game. Put your best players out there! Very frustrating. Makes no sense to me either, Old Spanish Trail.

Here is my #1 beef with the game tonight:  Haase should have pressured on ball for full court (or at least 3/4 court).  The entire game.  To wear down the Dartmouth players (especially the 3 or 4 they had who could play).  The reason why Dartmouth was so ON FIRE in 1H - and let's face it, they made a TON of shots, including some incredibly well-contested ones - was because they were easily getting the ball up court, at their pace, and initiating the O when and how THEY wanted to.  Make them work to get the ball up court, if only to tire them out.  Also, I think quickening them up on O would have helped us, as we saw a couple times in the 2H.  

Okay, now for a few other observations:  

You can piss on Beskind all you want but the guy was nails on D tonight, and that's why he was in the game.  At beginning of 2H, he was in for an extended period, and that's when Stanford made its first run to cut into the lead.  He also came in later for defensive stoppage purposes.  Having said that, I agree that it's not ideal to have him out there for extended play - but he doesn't hurt the team like walkons of yesteryear, imo.  He's solid overall (and more than that defensively).

Also agree that you can micromanage subs to the detriment of flow and continuity.  

With Delaire, you seemingly take the not-so-good with the good, and he showed it all tonight.  Good scoring; missed some key FTs (who didn't?); good defensive sequences (loved the block and rebound against smaller guard in 2H); poor shot selection at times (really didn't like trey early in shot clock when Stanford had come back, then relinquished the lead, and really needed a score to stay close . . . CLANG!).  But still, JD showed why he is a key component for this team.

Keefe is springy and he will compete in the Pac 12 on D and "clean up" buckets pretty well.  The FTs and mid-range game . . . that's a problem.

Agree that Dartmouth coach "coached 'em up" well tonight.  I suspect we deflated their balloon, and that they will struggle on the rest of their west coast swing (including against Cal).  We'll see.

I realize Frenchie has great upside, but he was out of sorts tonight and getting bounced around.  THAT is going to be the #1 concern with him going forward.  He needs to play with force and assertiveness.  Suspect he'll get there, but didn't have a problem with him sitting a bunch tonight - he just didn't look sharp.  

Maples was a morgue today, and it got morgue-ier and morgue-ier as the reality of a LL to Dartmouth set in (which began in earnest in 2H when Dartmouth built lead back up to 10 points).

In closing . . . WHEW!!

[teejers1]

I don't know how the players are keeping it together. We seem to have a reasonable solid 5 with MOC, DeLaire, Ingraham, Reynaud, and Jones and an improving bench. But for some reason, Haase won't stick with a consistent group and instead continues to do things like start Murrell and Keefe (who played well) and then start Beskind in the second half  to "send a message". The only message that is sending is "sorry, I don't really know what I'm doing guys". Keefe played well tonight, so will he stick with him? I'll venture a guess that in another few weeks he's riding pine again. Murrell starts and plays 8 total minutes. It's just so confusing and so hard for the group to get any kind of rhythm. 

We finally get the lead at 63-62 at the 4:31 mark. At 1:13, we find ourselves down 74-67. During that 3:18 of elapsed time, here were our subs from the box score:
Taitz Out
O'Connell In
O'Connell Out
Taitz In
Taitz Out
Beskind In
Beskind Out
O'Connell In
DeLaire Out
Taitz In
Taitz Out
DeLaire In

I understand you can sub two players for offense/defense or things like that, but this was overengineering. Why is Beskind even in the game at this point? He made a crucial turnover. And O'Connell was cooking in the second half, but he's being taken off the floor with 4 fouls. Why? There's 3 minutes left in a close game. Put your best players out there! Very frustrating. Makes no sense to me either, Old Spanish Trail.

Here is my #1 beef with the game tonight:  Haase should have pressured on ball for full court (or at least 3/4 court).  The entire game.  To wear down the Dartmouth players (especially the 3 or 4 they had who could play).  The reason why Dartmouth was so ON FIRE in 1H - and let's face it, they made a TON of shots, including some incredibly well-contested ones - was because they were easily getting the ball up court, at their pace, and initiating the O when and how THEY wanted to.  Make them work to get the ball up court, if only to tire them out.  Also, I think quickening them up on O would have helped us, as we saw a couple times in the 2H.  

Okay, now for a few other observations:  

You can piss on Beskind all you want but the guy was nails on D tonight, and that's why he was in the game.  At beginning of 2H, he was in for an extended period, and that's when Stanford made its first run to cut into the lead.  He also came in later for defensive stoppage purposes.  Having said that, I agree that it's not ideal to have him out there for extended play - but he doesn't hurt the team like walkons of yesteryear, imo.  He's solid overall (and more than that defensively).

Also agree that you can micromanage subs to the detriment of flow and continuity.  

With Delaire, you seemingly take the not-so-good with the good, and he showed it all tonight.  Good scoring; missed some key FTs (who didn't?); good defensive sequences (loved the block and rebound against smaller guard in 2H); poor shot selection at times (really didn't like trey early in shot clock when Stanford had come back, then relinquished the lead, and really needed a score to stay close . . . CLANG!).  But still, JD showed why he is a key component for this team.

Keefe is springy and he will compete in the Pac 12 on D and "clean up" buckets pretty well.  The FTs and mid-range game . . . that's a problem.

Agree that Dartmouth coach "coached 'em up" well tonight.  I suspect we deflated their balloon, and that they will struggle on the rest of their west coast swing (including against Cal).  We'll see.

I realize Frenchie has great upside, but he was out of sorts tonight and getting bounced around.  THAT is going to be the #1 concern with him going forward.  He needs to play with force and assertiveness.  Suspect he'll get there, but didn't have a problem with him sitting a bunch tonight - he just didn't look sharp.  

Maples was a morgue today, and it got morgue-ier and morgue-ier as the reality of a LL to Dartmouth set in (which began in earnest in 2H when Dartmouth built lead back up to 10 points).

In closing . . . WHEW!!