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Rhodey from da'Couch in Maryland .....


Taj79

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.... a win is a win is a win.  My belief that Rhodey was a three-man team was justified and the lack of Fats Russell in the lineup was a good thing.  But was it really?  Tyrese Martin played the role of Russell and actually did it better .. hitting four-of-six threes to keep the Rams in it.  Russell was averaging one made three for every 5.3 shots taken for a blistering 18%.  Martin went off at 66% so we'll call that like we see it.  Martin was better ... for one afternoon .. than Russell.  In the four previous games, Martin scored 25 points total.  And we still won.  Dowtin was shut down for the most part by Bess, scoring five under his average and he would have been lower if not for that prayer three late.  Missed is the fact that Cyril Langevine reverted back to his sophomore form, going just one of 8 from the field.  Dana Tate tried to be an answer and was close --- a lot closer than Jermaine Harris and Christon Thompson.  So we caught them on a good downward trend at the Fetz.  And won by one point more than the Wiz' projection.  A win is a win is a win.

Questions still abound for me.  I was expecting to see a more cohesive offensive attack and didn't see that anywhere.  Damn straight I'd zone the hell out of this team because so far, we still can't shoot.  I think the notoriety of Hankton will spread across the league and that may open it up some. But we have to make those as well.  French and Foreman went 6-for-13 but DJ took one shot.  ONE SHOT????  Outside of Bess' 4-for-7 from distance, the rest were plain horrible.  Thatch went on a few misguided, out-of-control drives to the baseline.  Goodwin is lost.  Foreman adds little.  French is missing as many as he makes.  And the line continues to puzzle us ---- I yelled MAKE A FUOKING FREE THROW on just about every trip to the line because I think only Hankton made two in one trip.  And maybe Bess.  Once.  None of this rest at all at Gordon's feet.  This is a team light on skills and possibly light on an offensive scheme and/or character.  If these guys can't shoot --- Goodwin, Thatch, Foreman, French ---- wouldn't it be better to run and gun for layups over jumpers?  And I know that's difficult with such a short bench.

Wiley was a non-participant.  So too was Jacobs and Thor.  I would think it is safe to say this is what we will see going forward.  I remember many years past where I referenced the Bills as a 'lunch pail' kind of team.  They were going to have to bring the intensity night after night if they wanted to win.  Sadly, once again, that is where we are going forward.  This team will not blow anybody away except maybe the Fordham's and Richmond's of the league, but only if the intensity is there.  And it is natural to say 'oh, here comes 'shitey team' and we can coast in this one.'  Not this team. 

I think we can defend the home fires very well and win all nine there.  No team coming to the Fetz scares me.  But it will require work.  What I thought were road wins and easy I believe will become harder.  The first true test of that will be Saturday at the Gola Mausoleum.  If that's a struggle ... nay a loss .... we might be a .500 ball club at best.  We have Umass to practice on this week.  Umass surrenders 75 ppg.  We give up 62.  ESPN shows us with a 77% chance of winning.  Umass has ten guys playing about at least 10 mpg.  They have 5 guys at or near 10 ppg.  Pipkins is not as prolific as last year now that he has help but is still the man of the hour come Wednesday.We shall see.  Umass is pretty tall except for Pipkins so if you don't play Isabell on the 5'11" Pipkins, TI will be outsized wherever he lands. 

It's a big leap but I expect to be 5 and 0 heading into Duquesne.  That will be my next point of rule or evaluation.

 

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-where was Russell? I have looked as to why he didn't play and my use of Google has not produced

-KCH did not make two ft's, speaking of ft's, I am to the point at games where I don't react to our ft's, made or missed, as I don't think the Bronx Cheers or groans do any good and if a team is light on character as has been thought possible, every little bit might help, to the point where I'll try anything, how about an Exorcism? 

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1 minute ago, Cowboy said:

-where was Russell? I have looked as to why he didn't play and my use of Google has not produced

-KCH did not make two ft's, speaking of ft's, I am to the point at games where I don't react to our ft's, made or missed, as I don't think the Bronx Cheers or groans do any good and if a team is light on character as has been thought possible, every little bit might help, to the point where I'll try anything, how about an Exorcism? 

- apparently Russell had a head injury in thursday’s practice and was placed in the concussion protocol 

- I’m like you on the FTs. In fact, if we make 1 of 2 I’m happy, that’s how bad it is.  I honestly don’t know how a relatively decent D-1 team is this god awful at FTs. 

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2 minutes ago, moytoy12 said:

- apparently Russell had a head injury in thursday’s practice and was placed in the concussion protocol 

- I’m like you on the FTs. In fact, if we make 1 of 2 I’m happy, that’s how bad it is.  I honestly don’t know how a relatively decent D-1 team is this god awful at FTs. 

what boggles me is that ford was a supreme free throw shooter in his day.   one would think he would be all about passing on that secret.

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12 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

what boggles me is that ford was a supreme free throw shooter in his day.   one would think he would be all about passing on that secret.

I don't think there is any secret. With few exceptions good shooters make free throws. We do not have a team of good shooters. That said it shouldn't be this bad. I seriously think he should bring in a sports shrink. 

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1 minute ago, billikenfan05 said:

I honestly think it’s something unfixable with French. His shot has a great look to it except it’s offline. Obviously as a MBM I have no clue why it’s happening.

Disagree on his shot. The ball is spinning when it comes off his hand. Looks to me like there is too much wrist action. 

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3 minutes ago, billikenfan05 said:

I honestly think it’s something unfixable with French. His shot has a great look to it except it’s offline. Obviously as a MBM I have no clue why it’s happening.

Then move your feet to make it "on-line"?  At this point it is all mental with these guys. 

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What gets me is you attack a zone by either hitting outside shots or by driving the middle, finding a seam,  where you will find either an open lane to the hoop or an open man. Now Isabell did make 3 drives to the middle from the right wing and voila was able to dish to an open man 3 times for easy baskets. Of course, in true Billiken style we only made 2 of those. Why Goodwin is not doing this more is a mystery to me. He did it last year. Thatch has got to be told you never ever attack a zone from the baseline as you just give the defense another man, ie the out of bounds.

Our defense is solid and will keep us in games. In fact, our D  will make sure we will be in a lot of close games and this is where it gets hairy for us. Those games will likely come down to hitting FTs. Not only did I scream every time we clanked a FT, but I took another shot of scotch. I was surprised I was still conscious at games end.

Bess is playing at an extremely high level. However, how many times can we expect him to log 39 minutes and not wear down as the season progresses? It's clear we're not going to have many blow out games, if any, as the A10 is proving to be a league where 12 of the teams seem very closely matched. Jacobs or Ingvi have to step up their game and get that man some relief. Those two will have to be inserted into Goodwin's role, whatever that is right now, so JGood or possibly even Wiley can provide some relief for Javon. And when Javon takes to the bench our D will suffer. Where or where did all our quality depth go? One way to offset that is by pushing the ball, which would seem to fit Jacobs game very well. It's time to cowboy up, Billikens. The trail will only get tougher.

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1 minute ago, DirtyRican said:

Then move your feet to make it "on-line"?  At this point it is all mental with these guys. 

-yep

-a teacher needs willing students

-I advocate when the season is complete to have HF go through the Liddell Summer of sitting in a chair to revamp his shot, that worked wonders for TLIII

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8 minutes ago, willie said:

I don't think there is any secret. With few exceptions good shooters make free throws. We do not have a team of good shooters. That said it shouldn't be this bad. I seriously think he should bring in a sports shrink. 

Bring in Jobu from the Major League Movie and offer up a human sacrifice. That should do the trick.

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6 minutes ago, slu72 said:

What gets me is you attack a zone by either hitting outside shots or by driving the middle, finding a seam,  where you will find either an open lane to the hoop or an open man. Now Isabell did make 3 drives to the middle from the right wing and voila was able to dish to an open man 3 times for easy baskets. Of course, in true Billiken style we only made 2 of those. Why Goodwin is not doing this more is a mystery to me. He did it last year. Thatch has got to be told you never ever attack a zone from the baseline as you just give the defense another man, ie the out of bounds.

Our defense is solid and will keep us in games. In fact, our D  will make sure we will be in a lot of close games and this is where it gets hairy for us. Those games will likely come down to hitting FTs. Not only did I scream every time we clanked a FT, but I took another shot of scotch. I was surprised I was still conscious at games end.

Bess is playing at an extremely high level. However, how many times can we expect him to log 39 minutes and not wear down as the season progresses? It's clear we're not going to have many blow out games, if any, as the A10 is proving to be a league where 12 of the teams seem very closely matched. Jacobs or Ingvi have to step up their game and get that man some relief. Those two will have to be inserted into Goodwin's role, whatever that is right now, so JGood or possibly even Wiley can provide some relief for Javon. And when Javon takes to the bench our D will suffer. Where or where did all our quality depth go? One way to offset that is by pushing the ball, which would seem to fit Jacobs game very well. It's time to cowboy up, Billikens. The trail will only get tougher.

Goodwin tried but the refs kept calling him for turning the ball over each time he tried to make a move to the basket.  

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1 minute ago, cheeseman said:

Goodwin tried but the refs kept calling him for turning the ball over each time he tried to make a move to the basket.  

He got called for palming? I don't recall that. In fact, I can't recall the last time anyone in all college ball got called for palming.

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1 minute ago, slu72 said:

He got called for palming? I don't recall that. In fact, I can't recall the last time anyone in all college ball got called for palming.

twice

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25 minutes ago, slu72 said:

What gets me is you attack a zone by either hitting outside shots or by driving the middle, finding a seam,  where you will find either an open lane to the hoop or an open man. Now Isabell did make 3 drives to the middle from the right wing and voila was able to dish to an open man 3 times for easy baskets. Of course, in true Billiken style we only made 2 of those. Why Goodwin is not doing this more is a mystery to me. He did it last year. Thatch has got to be told you never ever attack a zone from the baseline as you just give the defense another man, ie the out of bounds.

Our defense is solid and will keep us in games. In fact, our D  will make sure we will be in a lot of close games and this is where it gets hairy for us. Those games will likely come down to hitting FTs. Not only did I scream every time we clanked a FT, but I took another shot of scotch. I was surprised I was still conscious at games end.

Bess is playing at an extremely high level. However, how many times can we expect him to log 39 minutes and not wear down as the season progresses? It's clear we're not going to have many blow out games, if any, as the A10 is proving to be a league where 12 of the teams seem very closely matched. Jacobs or Ingvi have to step up their game and get that man some relief. Those two will have to be inserted into Goodwin's role, whatever that is right now, so JGood or possibly even Wiley can provide some relief for Javon. And when Javon takes to the bench our D will suffer. Where or where did all our quality depth go? One way to offset that is by pushing the ball, which would seem to fit Jacobs game very well. It's time to cowboy up, Billikens. The trail will only get tougher.

I hope we get to play a lot of zones where we can just drive the middle and kick. Our problem with a zone defense begins with slow ball movement. Until the ball rotates quicker or you find a soft spot causing them to collapse and then kick out. Even then teams recover off that first pass too quickly to expect to get an open look very often. You need to rotate and reverse the ball and it has to be done quickly. We have 2 guards whose main skill is creating off the dribble which is our main problem. Bess is the only guard skilled at running a zone offense. It takes discipline and unselfishmess

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11 minutes ago, Box and Won said:

Goodwin also got called for traveling on a weird play where it looked like the ball slipped out of his hand and he caught it before making a pass.

I forgot about this. I thought it was a bad call as I didn’t see Goodwins feet move. I’m sure someone had a better view can correct me? 

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