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Chaminade vs Hazelwood Central this Saturday


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Game time is 1pm at Lindenwood. Features some dude named Tatum and another dude named Sneed.

If you haven't seen Xavier Sneed before, he's a big-time athlete who is learning to play basketball. Shoots way too many threes but is good from distance. Makes his free throws. Weak handle. Virtually no mid-range game. Good rebounder. Needs to become a more consistent defender but he's no worse than Tatum in that respect.

Central gets off to notoriously slow starts against good teams. If that happens on Saturday, this could be over early. Steve Holloway, their point guard, is the key. He's a good ballhandler and can shoot the three. But you never know what kind of decisions he's going to make with the ball. If he can feed the post, Central has mobile bigs who can score inside against Chaminade's frontline. If the game is close in the fourth quarter, Sneed has the length to force Tatum into tough shots. And Chaminade at crunch times becomes really one-dimensional. If Tatum doesn't make those shots or doesn't get to the line, Chaminade can be beaten.

Defensively, Central doesn't really have anybody who can deal with Cook. But other than Tatum, no one has really shown an ability to get him the ball.

Mike Lewis, Chaminade's 6'1 shooting guard, could play a key role for if Tatum isn't making shots early. Tatum is by far their best scorer but Lewis is their best shooter.

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Game time is 1pm at Lindenwood. Features some dude named Tatum and another dude named Sneed.

If you haven't seen Xavier Sneed before, he's a big-time athlete who is learning to play basketball. Shoots way too many threes but is good from distance. Makes his free throws. Weak handle. Virtually no mid-range game. Good rebounder. Needs to become a more consistent defender but he's no worse than Tatum in that respect.

Central gets off to notoriously slow starts against good teams. If that happens on Saturday, this could be over early. Steve Holloway, their point guard, is the key. He's a good ballhandler and can shoot the three. But you never know what kind of decisions he's going to make with the ball. If he can feed the post, Central has mobile bigs who can score inside against Chaminade's frontline. If the game is close in the fourth quarter, Sneed has the length to force Tatum into tough shots. And Chaminade at crunch times becomes really one-dimensional. If Tatum doesn't make those shots or doesn't get to the line, Chaminade can be beaten.

Will you need to get tickets somehow in advance or do you think if we show up half hour before game time we can ge in. I would like to see both Tatum and Sneed play.

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Game time is 1pm at Lindenwood. Features some dude named Tatum and another dude named Sneed.

If you haven't seen Xavier Sneed before, he's a big-time athlete who is learning to play basketball. Shoots way too many threes but is good from distance. Makes his free throws. Weak handle. Virtually no mid-range game. Good rebounder. Needs to become a more consistent defender but he's no worse than Tatum in that respect.

Central gets off to notoriously slow starts against good teams. If that happens on Saturday, this could be over early. Steve Holloway, their point guard, is the key. He's a good ballhandler and can shoot the three. But you never know what kind of decisions he's going to make with the ball. If he can feed the post, Central has mobile bigs who can score inside against Chaminade's frontline. If the game is close in the fourth quarter, Sneed has the length to force Tatum into tough shots. And Chaminade at crunch times becomes really one-dimensional. If Tatum doesn't make those shots or doesn't get to the line, Chaminade can be beaten.

Defensively, Central doesn't really have anybody who can deal with Cook. But other than Tatum, no one has really shown an ability to get him the ball.

Mike Lewis, Chaminade's 6'1 shooting guard, could play a key role for if Tatum isn't making shots early. Tatum is by far their best scorer but Lewis is their best shooter.

Having seen Hazelwood Central play, physically they may match up with Chaminade as well anyone in the area with their length, but as a team they do not overly impress me. This game will be interesting because I am assuming Hazelwood Central is one of the few teams that has a guy in Sneed who can play Tatum straight up and guys who will be able to contest shots and rebound with Chaminade. The key will be Hazelwood Central attacking and not settling for perimeter shots although they will probably need Holloway to get a streak going where he hits some shots. I see your comment about them not having anyone that can handle Cook, Cook is so limited offensively and loose with the ball on his moves that you should almost welcome him getting the ball posting up. His damage is primarily done dunking in transition or getting looks right at the rim, he isn't going to kill you going one on one.

The teams that seem to give Chaminade the most trouble are those that can press or at least defend aggressively (Chaminade is TO prone against aggressive defense, don't really have a true pg), have a pesky guard who can deny Tatum the ball on the perimeter making him really work to get the ball and hound him as he starts his move, and have a big who can contest at the rim and rebound. Defensively Chaminade can struggle to stop penetration and their bigs are not very good defensively in my opinion (Cook and Gladson). Keeping Chaminade out of transition is also key, so limiting TOs is a must. A quick quality pg really can do a lot of damage against them.

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Tickets have to be purchased at Lindenwood on game day because the game is sponsored by the state, not the schools. I have been told by many Hazelwood Central fans that the coach is not good and has wasted the talent on a lot of very talented Central teams.

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Tickets have to be purchased at Lindenwood on game day because the game is sponsored by the state, not the schools. I have been told by many Hazelwood Central fans that the coach is not good and has wasted the talent on a lot of very talented Central teams.

Do you know what time they will go sale?

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samslu, on 12 Mar 2015 - 09:04 AM, said:

Do you know what time they will go sale?

The doors opened yesterday an hour before game time. The same may happen Saturday. The lines formed way before 5:00 p.m. but as Cowboy said there were seats available. However, Hazelwood Central and Chaminade will most likely be sold out so the lines will be long and parking will be hard to find.

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Having seen Hazelwood Central play, physically they may match up with Chaminade as well anyone in the area with their length, but as a team they do not overly impress me. This game will be interesting because I am assuming Hazelwood Central is one of the few teams that has a guy in Sneed who can play Tatum straight up and guys who will be able to contest shots and rebound with Chaminade. The key will be Hazelwood Central attacking and not settling for perimeter shots although they will probably need Holloway to get a streak going where he hits some shots. I see your comment about them not having anyone that can handle Cook, Cook is so limited offensively and loose with the ball on his moves that you should almost welcome him getting the ball posting up. His damage is primarily done dunking in transition or getting looks right at the rim, he isn't going to kill you going one on one.

Agreed that he's only good for one or two dribbles but at this level that's all he needs. There isn't anybody on Central who can stop him from getting looks right at the rim.

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Agreed that he's only good for one or two dribbles but at this level that's all he needs. There isn't anybody on Central who can stop him from getting looks right at the rim.

I think we just have differences of opinion on his offensive ability. I have never seen him consistently make plays and finish going one on one against defenders that contest him. As long as you keep a body on him he is not going to hurt you too bad. And as soon as he puts the ball on the floor be ready to dive in and take it from him. I think Hazelwood Central should have a kid capable of just putting a body on Cook and that should be good enough to keep him from really hurting you, just play sound defensively against him. He is just really limited offensively at this point and as an opposing team I would welcome Chaminade to try to run the offense thru Cook.

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I think we just have differences of opinion on his offensive ability. I have never seen him consistently make plays and finish going one on one against defenders that contest him. As long as you keep a body on him he is not going to hurt you too bad. And as soon as he puts the ball on the floor be ready to dive in and take it from him. I think Hazelwood Central should have a kid capable of just putting a body on Cook and that should be good enough to keep him from really hurting you, just play sound defensively against him. He is just really limited offensively at this point and as an opposing team I would welcome Chaminade to try to run the offense thru Cook.

I would've agreed with this 100% a couple months ago, but in more recent games he seems to be showing a more mature, comprehensive game on the offensive end.

One play in particular from last night stands out - he got the ball with about three dribbles to the basket coming from the left with one Lafayette defender blocking his path to the basket and another chasing to help. Instead of trying to draw contact and go to the line or stopping to shoot or pass, he simply took an extra dribble that made it look like he was going to be too far under the basket, followed by a big step and jump to his right while squaring his body for a totally unexpected two-handed dunk. I went from thinking "He's getting himself into trouble" to "Whoa...never mind" in less than 2 seconds. It was still only a few dribbles, but it proves he's not automatically in trouble anymore when he puts it on the floor.

He had a really impressive move and finish (well, one in particular) in the McCluer North game, too, using a broad, unexpected (again) drop step to gain separation from everyone else under the basket and finish a really strong two-handed dunk.

He's still limited, but he's also expanding his game before our eyes. And there's no denying him as a finisher.

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When Cook has an open lane to the rim or is left unguarded, he is going to finish and finish with authority. The guy can throw down some ridiculous and powerful dunks. I just think at this point in his career, if you put a big on him and tell him just to play sound and keep a body on him, he is not going to hurt you too badly. Most of his points come at the rim off of assists, offensive rebunds, or in transition. Sure he will score every once in awhile with a true offensive post move while guarded, but not consistently enough to need to gameplan much for, just play sound and you will keep him in check.

Seeing his development from a year ago to today, I think the conversation will be much different six months from now.

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When Cook has an open lane to the rim or is left unguarded, he is going to finish and finish with authority. The guy can throw down some ridiculous and powerful dunks. I just think at this point in his career, if you put a big on him and tell him just to play sound and keep a body on him, he is not going to hurt you too badly. Most of his points come at the rim off of assists, offensive rebunds, or in transition. Sure he will score every once in awhile with a true offensive post move while guarded, but not consistently enough to need to gameplan much for, just play sound and you will keep him in check.

Seeing his development from a year ago to today, I think the conversation will be much different six months from now.

Against North, Cook had North's big man, just as big and physical as he was, and he backed him down and had his way with him. I'm impressed by his aggressiveness and toughness, as well as his post moves, against guys his size. He has things that can't be taught. Good teams with good coaches will have a plan for him as well as Tatum. Cook is a player.

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