Thoughts as we head into conference play

[moytoy12]

1. I'm not quite sure how good we are. I believe we are Top 40 good, but are we closer to #40 or closer to #10? Which leads me to...

2. If we can get some consistent offensive flow and hit some outside shots consistently, I believe we can be a top 15 team. We really haven't put together many complete games on offense (maybe ISU?). There are many times, especially in the first half where I'm wondering if we even have a plan. If we can materially improve our offensive efficiency...watch out.

3. Our defense is scary good. It will carry us through most games. But we will need the O to show up against the wisconsin's and WSU's of the world.

4. Our seniors are playing pretty good ball, but i believe they can play even better. JJ is probably the only senior that is playing near top form right now, with RL a close 2nd.

5. If GG can play under control, then he can contribute a fair amount to this team. He has to play with some control though. When he gets excited he loses his guy on D, knocks DE's rebounds out of bounds, takes bad shots on offense. Play with control GG.

6. If RA can stay healthy, I think he'll have a lot to contribute this year still. The kid has the athleticism. He appears to have a good bball IQ. I like his attitude. I think he will be the freshman that contributes the most the rest of the year.

7 I'm still confused by JC's player rotation. My confusion is more likely a result of my own ignorance about game situations than it has to do with JC's inability. Nonetheless, JC still confuses me.

8. It would be nice to get Cam, but I believe that ship has sailed.

9. Our offense clicks in conference play and the Wiz luckily falls into another 12-16 ranking by the end of the season for the Bills.

10. We get a 5 seed and reach the 2nd weekend of tourney play.

[Taj79]

No disputes here .....

[joe_davola]

8. It would be nice to get Cam, but I believe that ship has sailed.

- Your belief is incorrect, Boytoy.

[BACKHANDtheRICAN]

8. It would be nice to get Cam, but I believe that ship has sailed.

- Your belief is incorrect, Boytoy.

Joe Davola???

Is this the same Joe Davola that used to be a Billiken fan?

[slufan13]

Agree with just about everything you said. A couple of my own thoughts

- I really expected Dwayne to play at like an All American type level. At least consideration for All American. I haven't seen that this season. Don't give me his averages or anything like that. If you think he's playing at the level he did last year, you're just wrong. Some of it is that we can't get anything open for him. Some of it is that he's pressing too much and I I just simply think he isn't playing that well. That being said, in his first 3 years, he's really turned his game on in A10 play so let's hope for that again.

- I expected McCall to play much better. I thought him and Jordair would battle it out for spots on the A10 1st or 2nd teams but from what I've seen from Mike this year, I don't know if that will happen. Now his defense has been outstanding. Not sure of other's opinion on here, but I think he might be better defensively than Jordair. But offensively, he's almost disappeared even more than he did last year when Kwamain came back. His shooting percentages are down. I think he can turn it around, but it's hard to identify the problem right now.

- I've been pleased with Rob and Jordair. I think they're both playing better as of late and Rob always plays a bit better in conference season. Jordair has done a great job of distributing the ball this season and as someone mentioned yesterday, his passing has really helped us break the zone defenses.

- Jake. Not much to say. I think he's playing out of his role right now. I see him as a 10-15 minutes a game guy who comes in and is a 3 point threat. I just want him to be a threat from the perimeter. I think at some points, Vandy was actually sagging off him when he got the ball daring him to shoot. I hope that Jake's good games come against the better teams in the conference rather than him scoring like 13 points in a 28 point win over Fordham.

- McBroom has been better as the season goes on. His defense has gotten better. I know he isn't the strongest guy, but there's no reason for someone to blow by him based on speed. Offensively, he's by far our best shooter right now. He needs more minutes. Still want the McBroom, Jett, McCall lineup for a couple stretches each game.

- Glaze. I agree with everything others have said. Needs to be more in control

- Manning. Good enough to come in for Rob each half and not screw everything up. Agbeko will see the most time down the stretch I would guess.

- Our defense will win us games and keep us in games where our offense disappears. Just need to stay consistent there.

- Our A10 schedule is backloaded. We can't afford to throw away games early in the conference season. I think a 1-1 trip here to start is the absolute minimum. With our 2nd half schedule, we can't afford to be 0-2 to start conference play.

- I'm for more negativity in the GDT.

- And I believe that while I think we have a better record at this point than we did last year, I think we have a lot of work to do to finish where we did last season. I'm going to guess 6 seed and Sweet 16 though.

[JettFlight5]

1. I'm not quite sure how good we are. I believe we are Top 40 good, but are we closer to #40 or closer to #10? Which leads me to...

2. If we can get some consistent offensive flow and hit some outside shots consistently, I believe we can be a top 15 team. We really haven't put together many complete games on offense (maybe ISU?). There are many times, especially in the first half where I'm wondering if we even have a plan. If we can materially improve our offensive efficiency...watch out.

3. Our defense is scary good. It will carry us through most games. But we will need the O to show up against the wisconsin's and WSU's of the world.

4. Our seniors are playing pretty good ball, but i believe they can play even better. JJ is probably the only senior that is playing near top form right now, with RL a close 2nd.

5. If GG can play under control, then he can contribute a fair amount to this team. He has to play with some control though. When he gets excited he loses his guy on D, knocks DE's rebounds out of bounds, takes bad shots on offense. Play with control GG.

6. If RA can stay healthy, I think he'll have a lot to contribute this year still. The kid has the athleticism. He appears to have a good bball IQ. I like his attitude. I think he will be the freshman that contributes the most the rest of the year.

7 I'm still confused by JC's player rotation. My confusion is more likely a result of my own ignorance about game situations than it has to do with JC's inability. Nonetheless, JC still confuses me.

8. It would be nice to get Cam, but I believe that ship has sailed.

9. Our offense clicks in conference play and the Wiz luckily falls into another 12-16 ranking by the end of the season for the Bills.

10. We get a 5 seed and reach the 2nd weekend of tourney play.

Have to give Moy some credit. 10 points, and no mention of Jake Barnett.

[brianstl]

Nice run down.

I think we are in for a really big conference season from Rob. In my opinion his all around game has improved just about each game this year. Last year Rob stepped it up in the conference season, too. Last season he averaged 5.5 ppg and 2.6 rpg in non conference games. In conference season he averaged 8.7 ppg and 4.3 rpg. He, also, shot 43% from the 3 in conference play last season. Rob gets better as the season goes along and that will help open things up for Dwayne. I don't think we can expect the same kind of bump this year. But a slight bump on his ppg and rpg with a return of his 3 pt % would be a huge lift to things offensively.