Butler from da' Couch in Section 114 .......

[Taj79]

This will be a short one (big sigh of 05 relief) because everything has been said .......

Great win for sure.  Great atmosphere, near sell-out, and the job Bess did on Baldwin was amazing.  Once McDermott quit hitting Butler was dead.  First, Butler ---- I was never so sure Butler was -8 as the Wiz said.  A lot of that had to be on reputation and a weak (to date) OCC.  Their win over Florida gave me pause.  Baldwin is okay, but I doubt he'll carry them as far as they have gone in the past.  Paul Jorgensen was horrible at Geedubya.  He did what I expected him to do yesterday.  I was thrilled to see Baddley shoot all night.  When their Duke transfer comes eligible second semester, they'll be better.  I liked the play of Joey Brunk as well.  But if any team is living on past rep, it's Butler right now.  Back in the 80's, when they were in the Midwestern Collegiate with us, they were pitiful.  So they've come a long way. But that was a game a decent team wins at home.  And we did.  So we are decent, but with a long way to go.

It was again quite obvious that this team needs to figure out its point guard situation going forward.  Neither Isabell nor Goodwin is it right now.  I admit i like it better with JGood running the show.  He is still a work in progress and I think it is stiffled as we try to incorporate Isabell.  But we need Isabell as evidenced down the stretch with his free throw shooting.  I still don't know what the offense is and I'd zone the hell out of us every game.  Last year, with a zone, I also said I'd force the ball to Hines with 10 on the shot clock.  Yesterday we had quite a few instances where Hasahn was our last man standing.  Four turnovers by Hasahn shows that won't work.  November is gone so there goes one half of the OCC for working out the kinks by conference time.  It was very nice not to have to play around foul trouble but again I don't know what games these refs are watching. At least there were no offensive fouls called for setting picks (that I recall).  Dion Wiley's frail body has followed him from UMd.  Anybody get a report on his latest injury?  

On the up-and-up, Javon Bess is aces, on both ends of the court.  Fred Thatch is amazing on defensive and when he finds his offense, look out.  Carte'Are Gordon is a beast down low on both ends but his shot-blocking ability rules the early going.  Loved his three --- the promise is there.  French's volleyball-like spike/block may have been the turning point to add emphasis to the defense we played.  Lots of good but lots of bad ----- fast breaks, failure to break the press well and the ongoing FT saga continue.  But 6 and 1 makes a lot of that go away.

Once again, I thought we played to the level of the competition.  I'm okay with that --- for now.  This is obviously not the team we expected.  The departures of Santos and Welmer have taxed our frontcourt.  Wiley's ongoing injuries tax the backcourt.  And there is absolutely no development in the freshmen save Thatch's defense.  We need something, anything, from Jacobs and Hankton.  A twisted ankle for Bess hurts us a hell of a lot more than we could ever expect.  I want to be 8 and 1 when we go to Houston but that could be tough.  Doable, but tough.

Shout outs to all for a great visit.

[willie]

1 hour ago, Taj79 said:

This will be a short one (big sigh of 05 relief) because everything has been said .......

Great win for sure.  Great atmosphere, near sell-out, and the job Bess did on Baldwin was amazing.  Once McDermott quit hitting Butler was dead.  First, Butler ---- I was never so sure Butler was -8 as the Wiz said.  A lot of that had to be on reputation and a weak (to date) OCC.  Their win over Florida gave me pause.  Baldwin is okay, but I doubt he'll carry them as far as they have gone in the past.  Paul Jorgensen was horrible at Geedubya.  He did what I expected him to do yesterday.  I was thrilled to see Baddley shoot all night.  When their Duke transfer comes eligible second semester, they'll be better.  I liked the play of Joey Brunk as well.  But if any team is living on past rep, it's Butler right now.  Back in the 80's, when they were in the Midwestern Collegiate with us, they were pitiful.  So they've come a long way. But that was a game a decent team wins at home.  And we did.  So we are decent, but with a long way to go.

It was again quite obvious that this team needs to figure out its point guard situation going forward.  Neither Isabell nor Goodwin is it right now.  I admit i like it better with JGood running the show.  He is still a work in progress and I think it is stiffled as we try to incorporate Isabell.  But we need Isabell as evidenced down the stretch with his free throw shooting.  I still don't know what the offense is and I'd zone the hell out of us every game.  Last year, with a zone, I also said I'd force the ball to Hines with 10 on the shot clock.  Yesterday we had quite a few instances where Hasahn was our last man standing.  Four turnovers by Hasahn shows that won't work.  November is gone so there goes one half of the OCC for working out the kinks by conference time.  It was very nice not to have to play around foul trouble but again I don't know what games these refs are watching. At least there were no offensive fouls called for setting picks (that I recall).  Dion Wiley's frail body has followed him from UMd.  Anybody get a report on his latest injury?  

On the up-and-up, Javon Bess is aces, on both ends of the court.  Fred Thatch is amazing on defensive and when he finds his offense, look out.  Carte'Are Gordon is a beast down low on both ends but his shot-blocking ability rules the early going.  Loved his three --- the promise is there.  French's volleyball-like spike/block may have been the turning point to add emphasis to the defense we played.  Lots of good but lots of bad ----- fast breaks, failure to break the press well and the ongoing FT saga continue.  But 6 and 1 makes a lot of that go away.

Once again, I thought we played to the level of the competition.  I'm okay with that --- for now.  This is obviously not the team we expected.  The departures of Santos and Welmer have taxed our frontcourt.  Wiley's ongoing injuries tax the backcourt.  And there is absolutely no development in the freshmen save Thatch's defense.  We need something, anything, from Jacobs and Hankton.  A twisted ankle for Bess hurts us a hell of a lot more than we could ever expect.  I want to be 8 and 1 when we go to Houston but that could be tough.  Doable, but tough.

Shout outs to all for a great visit.

I agree about zoning us all the time. I’m not sure what our zone offense is. Never seemed to try to put someone in the middle. Fortunately we hit a couple of contested shots over the top. Lots of things to work on but that’s what exciting. So much room to get better. 

[Schasz]

We are still a work in progress. It would be better if we had a true PG and a couple players who could shoot the ball accurately from downtown. We will see teams defense us with zones. Sent a text to a buddy of mine who is a Sparty fan that if they have any more players like Javon Bess that they can't use please send them our way. Sure hope his ankle injury in minor, as he is our best player. My 2nd trip to Chaifetz was just as pleasant as my 1st both were wins. 

[Cowboy]

1 hour ago, willie said:

I agree about zoning us all the time. I’m not sure what our zone offense is. Never seemed to try to put someone in the middle. Fortunately we hit a couple of contested shots over the top. Lots of things to work on but that’s what exciting. So much room to get better. 

-zone and press us has to be in future scouting reports, up to CFord and staff to get us successful against those two defenses

[gobillsgo]

Think this game marked the return of NOBODY WINS AT THE ‘FETZ. 

 

Chaifetz was a fortress during our three year stretch during the Jordair era. We need to make it so again.