11-26-2019, 03:39 PM
Some thoughts:
- Agree that shooting is the #1 reason. 3 pointers are such a momentum turner in college hoops, nice to finally be on the good end of that again
- The parallels with the arrival of Terry certainly remind me of what happened with Brevin Knight (and I hope it is the launch of another revival of Stanford MBB). Undersized and underestimated, but really heady players that galvanize the team from the PG position. They are clearly different players with different strengths (Brevin not as good of a shooter, but his on-ball pressure and ability to penetrate or break a press were amazing; Terry can shoot it and has surprising ability to take it to the basket with clever finishes and even dunking at times). Both Knight and Terry also really have a nose for the ball, always seeming to be in the right place at the right time. Terry leads the team in steals currently at 2.6 per game (and the team is coming up with 9 per game, compared to 6 last year)
- Terry reminds me a bit of Steph Curry in regard to being an underrated rebounder. He has been great coming back to help rebound stray balls, has pulled over 10 rebounds in each of the last 2 games, and is the 2nd leading rebounder on the team at 5.1 per game (Da Silva at 5.9 leads)
- So nice to have a steady ball handler, as well as a dead-eye FT shooter at ends of games. Lack of turnovers really help our defense set up as well. Last year, all our primary ball handlers were very turnover prone (Davis and Okpala averaging about 3 per game) which is just a killer at ends of games.
- Seeing less of players passing up open shots and driving into traffic for offensive fouls or turnovers. Still have been some forced drives, Davis, Da Silva, and Delaire last night had some issues with this. Delaire and Wills had some sequences yesterday where they passed up open 3's and drove into trouble. It really works better if you at least take (and preferably make) a 3 first, pump fakes work a lot better if the defender actually fears you making a 3 and has to charge at you harder
- Jones has been a tremendous find, 50% shooter from 3 at this point with a really quick release, great hustling defense and actually leads the team in blocks at the moment.
- I think the defensive improvement stems from team wide hustle and better positioning, more athletic players with quicker feet, and great help defense. In recent years, we seemed to always have at least one weak defender who would get blown by or be out of position. Our starting five may be a bit undersized (but not that much because there really aren't that many great 7 footers in college left), but they are all good to excellent defenders. Davis and Wills can really defend the wings. In the past, we'd rotate our help defense and we'd be left with Sharma or a Reid Travis defending the 3 point line
- I wish Kodye Pugh was healthy this year
- I love the way James Keefe plays, just hustle all the time like his hair is not just red, but really is on fire. Great feet at 6'9". Unfortunately, he seems to have been screwed with some lousy ticky tack calls in some games that have reduced his playing time
- Growth of players from both getting older and also having been in a system for a couple years surely has helped. Da Silva looks stronger. They also look less like they are rotating and double teaming in a random chaotic fashion, which could work on lesser teams, but the good teams with discipline picked this apart
- Last night, we also did something we did a lot of in the Montgomery years. We made the opposing team play defense for most of the shot clock, and had off the ball movement, instead of a lot of isolation plays. Then we locked in on the other side and cleaned up the glass. Obviously we're not a juggernaut and still could use a bit more off the bench, but it has been so much more fun to watch so far
Couple other random things from last night's game:
- Thought it was a bit bogus that Davis got a flagrant foul for hooking the other player, when the Oklahoma player was probably just as guilty and actually initiated the underhook on Davis. Either player could have let go, and it is physically much easier to pull your arm out of the underneath position. So for Davis to get a flagrant on top of the injury didn't seem right to me
- LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the flop warning against Reeves for falling down with minimal contact on his 3 pointer. They need to get flopping out of basketball at all levels. Unfortunately they missed another "flop" on Reeves where he scissor kicked his legs in front of him to draw a foul on another 3 and nearly ended up hurting himself
- Agree that shooting is the #1 reason. 3 pointers are such a momentum turner in college hoops, nice to finally be on the good end of that again
- The parallels with the arrival of Terry certainly remind me of what happened with Brevin Knight (and I hope it is the launch of another revival of Stanford MBB). Undersized and underestimated, but really heady players that galvanize the team from the PG position. They are clearly different players with different strengths (Brevin not as good of a shooter, but his on-ball pressure and ability to penetrate or break a press were amazing; Terry can shoot it and has surprising ability to take it to the basket with clever finishes and even dunking at times). Both Knight and Terry also really have a nose for the ball, always seeming to be in the right place at the right time. Terry leads the team in steals currently at 2.6 per game (and the team is coming up with 9 per game, compared to 6 last year)
- Terry reminds me a bit of Steph Curry in regard to being an underrated rebounder. He has been great coming back to help rebound stray balls, has pulled over 10 rebounds in each of the last 2 games, and is the 2nd leading rebounder on the team at 5.1 per game (Da Silva at 5.9 leads)
- So nice to have a steady ball handler, as well as a dead-eye FT shooter at ends of games. Lack of turnovers really help our defense set up as well. Last year, all our primary ball handlers were very turnover prone (Davis and Okpala averaging about 3 per game) which is just a killer at ends of games.
- Seeing less of players passing up open shots and driving into traffic for offensive fouls or turnovers. Still have been some forced drives, Davis, Da Silva, and Delaire last night had some issues with this. Delaire and Wills had some sequences yesterday where they passed up open 3's and drove into trouble. It really works better if you at least take (and preferably make) a 3 first, pump fakes work a lot better if the defender actually fears you making a 3 and has to charge at you harder
- Jones has been a tremendous find, 50% shooter from 3 at this point with a really quick release, great hustling defense and actually leads the team in blocks at the moment.
- I think the defensive improvement stems from team wide hustle and better positioning, more athletic players with quicker feet, and great help defense. In recent years, we seemed to always have at least one weak defender who would get blown by or be out of position. Our starting five may be a bit undersized (but not that much because there really aren't that many great 7 footers in college left), but they are all good to excellent defenders. Davis and Wills can really defend the wings. In the past, we'd rotate our help defense and we'd be left with Sharma or a Reid Travis defending the 3 point line
- I wish Kodye Pugh was healthy this year
- I love the way James Keefe plays, just hustle all the time like his hair is not just red, but really is on fire. Great feet at 6'9". Unfortunately, he seems to have been screwed with some lousy ticky tack calls in some games that have reduced his playing time
- Growth of players from both getting older and also having been in a system for a couple years surely has helped. Da Silva looks stronger. They also look less like they are rotating and double teaming in a random chaotic fashion, which could work on lesser teams, but the good teams with discipline picked this apart
- Last night, we also did something we did a lot of in the Montgomery years. We made the opposing team play defense for most of the shot clock, and had off the ball movement, instead of a lot of isolation plays. Then we locked in on the other side and cleaned up the glass. Obviously we're not a juggernaut and still could use a bit more off the bench, but it has been so much more fun to watch so far
Couple other random things from last night's game:
- Thought it was a bit bogus that Davis got a flagrant foul for hooking the other player, when the Oklahoma player was probably just as guilty and actually initiated the underhook on Davis. Either player could have let go, and it is physically much easier to pull your arm out of the underneath position. So for Davis to get a flagrant on top of the injury didn't seem right to me
- LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the flop warning against Reeves for falling down with minimal contact on his 3 pointer. They need to get flopping out of basketball at all levels. Unfortunately they missed another "flop" on Reeves where he scissor kicked his legs in front of him to draw a foul on another 3 and nearly ended up hurting himself