GDT: Boise State

[Crewsorlose]

12 minutes ago, bauman said:

I didn't get to see the game, but looking at Nesbitt's stat line gives me hope on his becoming a bigger contributor.  He is a good shooter from both inside and outside of the arc.  I think he will do much better than 1/8 and 1/4 as the season goes on.  But you have to give him credit for playing 31 minutes with zero TO's, 1 PF and a team leading 8 rebounds.  Pretty good for a FR.

Nesbitt played great, but for the missed bunny and a couple other tough shots that didn't go in. His defense and rebounding are high level and his ball-handling is very good. I don't think Ford wants to overwhelm him, but I imagine Nesbitt runs the point for some stretches this season. 

[bauman]

2 minutes ago, BilliesBy40 said:

He had some good moments, including some key rebounds and a few steals and blocks. He looks uncomfortable on offense though. This was clear a few times last night, including on a late-game fast break where he was bailed out. Still, his upside is tremendous, and I expect him to grow more comfortable on offense as the season goes along.

A FR looking a little uncomfortable on Off. is to be expected.  Look at how long it took TJ to learn the Off his first year.  He wasn't even getting into games at this point, 2 years ago.  Speaking of TJ, I would never have guessed that he would be one of our go-to 3 pt shooters-he has come a long way.

[AnkielBreakers]

5 minutes ago, SShoe said:

Nesbitt's shot was off last night and he made a few bonehead plays (like trying to draw a foul from the defender instead of dunking it during a fast break), but he was a key player on defense and on the boards.  His one block, steal, and pass up the court on transition was a thing of beauty.

Yep. How about that foul for a head fake? That was one of the craziest calls I have ever seen. He got elbowed in the head. We have to keep in mind, the officials in this game were on something strong. Flopping calls. They missed a Gibson J. double dribble, which was just wild to see. Just crazy officials.

[billiken_roy]

my best "like" of nesbitt continues to be his never ending hustle and willingness to rebound and chase on defense.   the guy definitely has a high motor.   combine that with his excellent athletic ability, this kid is a future star imo.  

[gabriel]

Don't know if this has been mentioned yet, but HUGE credit to TFord for drawing up the play where Gibson stopped running with the defender trailing too closely to draw the foul in overtime out of the timeout. Such a smart play call. 

[SShoe]

1 minute ago, AnkielBreakers said:

Yep. How about that foul for a head fake? That was one of the craziest calls I have ever seen. He got elbowed in the head. We have to keep in mind, the officials in this game were on something strong. Flopping calls. They missed a Gibson J. double dribble, which was just wild to see. Just crazy officials.

The refs were terrible, but if it weren't for many of the ridiculous charge calls, I'd say they helped us since Boise couldn't hit a free throw. 

[bauman]

2 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

my best "like" of nesbitt continues to be his never ending hustle and willingness to rebound and chase on defense.   the guy definitely has a high motor.   combine that with his excellent athletic ability, this kid is a future star imo.  

Roy, I am so proud of you, putting the second "t" at the end of Jordan's last name.

[BIG BILL FAN]

28 minutes ago, bauman said:

I didn't get to see the game, but looking at Nesbitt's stat line gives me hope on his becoming a bigger contributor.  He is a good shooter from both inside and outside of the arc.  I think he will do much better than 1/8 and 1/4 as the season goes on.  But you have to give him credit for playing 31 minutes with zero TO's, 1 PF and a team leading 8 rebounds.  Pretty good for a FR.

here is the replay of the game....

https://watchstadium.com/live/saint-louis-at-boise-state/

[Littlebill]

27 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

skip come on.  you are letting your fanship get in the way.   you think that second half play by collins was good?  was it what we have come to expect let alone the step up most of us assumed would naturally happen?   

he was 4-8 from the field, 2-2 from the line, 1 ast, 2 rb, 0 to in the second half

2-2 fg, 3-4 ft. 1 to, 1 rb in OT

 

So outside of his horrid first four mins, 5-9 fg, 5-6 ft, 3 rb 1 ast 1 to. Not exactly Aaron Hines numbers

 

Huge buckets down the stretch. We won a game away from home against a top 100 team and Collins was a big part in actually winning the game

[slufanskip]

3 minutes ago, Littlebill said:

he was 4-8 from the field, 2-2 from the line, 1 ast, 2 rb, 0 to in the second half

2-2 fg, 3-4 ft. 1 to, 1 rb in OT

 

So outside of his horrid first four mins, 5-9 fg, 5-6 ft, 3 rb 1 ast 1 to. Not exactly Aaron Hines numbers

 

Huge buckets down the stretch. We won a game away from home against a top 100 team and Collins was a big part in actually winning the game

No need for me to repeat this. Yes, Roy. I would not label this as not good. 

[HoosierPal]

17 minutes ago, gabriel said:

Don't know if this has been mentioned yet, but HUGE credit to TFord for drawing up the play where Gibson stopped running with the defender trailing too closely to draw the foul in overtime out of the timeout. Such a smart play call. 

Ha ha.  And of course, the first slip by Gibson was planned.  Then the bump/trip.  Yes, a beautiful play. 

[Cowboy II]

-we did not play a good game, the start was putrid, I asked if weed is legal in Idaho as it appeared several of our guys were out of it, but ON THE ROAD we recovered and won the game, we made 30 of 34 free throws my how the worm has turned, we foul too much, miss too many bunnies but there is hope for this season

[almaman]

26 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

my best "like" of nesbitt continues to be his never ending hustle and willingness to rebound and chase on defense.   the guy definitely has a high motor.   combine that with his excellent athletic ability, this kid is a future star imo.  

Head case concerns seem silly now.

[someoneelse]

I feel lucky.  I feel that SLU did not win the game, but BSU lost it at the FT line.  Yes, it counts as a win against a quality opponent away from home, but SLU needed overtime and a total of 14 missed free throws to get out with a W.  Even with getting game being played at SLU's pace.  

Yes, I'll take it, but this team won't always have an opponent with such a glaring weakness.

Onward and upward!

[slufanskip]

12 minutes ago, slufanskip said:

No need for me to repeat this. Yes, Roy. I would not label this as not good. 

Just curious Hmart, what makes this a bad post? 

[Taj79]

I'm with willie --- I enjoyed Gottlieb and thought he was fair.  He had a lot of problems with foul calls on both ends.  And he pointed out the many inconsistencies in multiple ref whistles.

Gottlieb did point out that Okoro is a "black hole."  He is not passing out of the blocks as French used to and that hurts.  Now, if he were making his shots, this would not matter.  As a vertically challenged former player, I have no concept of what it is like to miss A dunk, let alone one or two PER GAME.  

Collins was indeed horrible that first half but what concerns me more is he has been off the last three games.  He is doing things a freshman might do but he is a third year player.  Bad passes.  Lackadaisical passes. Leaving his feet with destination unknown.  Picking up his dribble.    And I still haven't seen an improved shot ..... two of his five makes were a short jumper and a teardrop, hardly fear-invoking offense.  :Lots of work to do.

But as many pointed out, we typically don't win road or neutral court games.  We have one under our belt now.  This should show us how difficult it is to do any game on the road.  

We have found out that our team depth is really good.  That and our improved FT shooting are things to enjoy.  The Jones' signing is looking better every game.  Williams made a three.  While Nesbitt struggled on offense, he didn't drop his head and pout on defense.  Kid is an athlete.  Linssen and Okoro are a nice two-headed monster in the middle which can get better.  I thought both pressed where BSU had no real shot blockers to contend with.  Every night, we seem to have pieces that can pick it up as we move forward.  Even down 11 to 0, I thought we had the better team.  Prayer by Shaver and Kusmanovic kept them in the game.  It was maddening to see two of our guys lose a rebound as many times as they did.  Goodwin and French's efforts in the past have spoiled us there.  

Getting this win keeps us trucking positively as we advance to the toughest part of the OOC albeit with games now at home.  We need to get to 10 and 1 before the Auburn and Drake games.  A record of 13 and 1 is not so far-fetched and would position us strongly as A10 play opens.  But one at a time .....

[Bills By 40]

19 minutes ago, almaman said:

Head case concerns seem silly now.

I was the ring leader of that circus and I withdraw any previous comments. They were justified at the time but have been completely erased since then. 

At the time I also specified that I expected it to change, but noted it needed to quick. 

[billiken_roy]

42 minutes ago, bauman said:

Roy, I am so proud of you, putting the second "t" at the end of Jordan's last name.

MISTke on my part.   i will try not to let it happen again

[Slu let the dogs out?]

21 minutes ago, someoneelse said:

I feel lucky.  I feel that SLU did not win the game, but BSU lost it at the FT line.  Yes, it counts as a win against a quality opponent away from home, but SLU needed overtime and a total of 14 missed free throws to get out with a W.  Even with getting game being played at SLU's pace.  

Yes, I'll take it, but this team won't always have an opponent with such a glaring weakness.

Onward and upward!

I see it differently. SLU won the game at the FT line.  But for Shaver Jr.'s Vinnie Johnsonesque performance over a 3 minute span in the second half, we win this game by double digits and their FT shooting is irrelevant. When you dig yourself into an 11 point deficit to start the game and 2 of your starters are sitting on the bench for most of the first half, good teams will still find ways to win. Those free throws helped preserve our win. 

This was a huge win for us psychologically. Ford teams of the past haven't been able to pull off a W like this. Hopefully this gives the team more confidence going forward, particularly on the road.

I'm revising my A10 road record prediction: 9-0

[Bills By 40]

I'm tired of us blaming Yuri for his teammates inability to receive passes. Some are Yuri's fault, many are the fault of people making half-hearted runs, waiting on their heels for the ball to come, and not shielding their defenders from cutting passing lanes. They've been spoiled by Yuri's ability to magically place the ball wherever is necessary and teams are getting better at exposing that by predicting passes and guarding the one man responsible for 100% of the offense. These things are fixable and I imagine they will be fixed VERY soon, starting today in practice. 

How much better would Yuri's game have been if not for sitting 80% of the first half? If not for teammates "committing" so many fouls and disrupting the offense? If not for teammates missing dunks and cupcake uncontested jumpers how many more assists does he have? The entire game was a shiot show from the jump, refs made it their game, and I don't think we can take much of anything from it aside from that we are balls deep and can really, really shoot free throws. Oh, and that Gibson Jimerson is 100% that guy and the thought of him playing alongside JP next year makes me cream myself.   

[billiken_roy]

we have three guys (jimmmerson, linssen, and collins) shooting over 80% free throw percentage and okoro is at 75%.  these four are also our top 4 in free throw attempts.   that is incredible and extremely interesting imo.   who would have thought considering the billiken free throw woes over the years.   

[Bills By 40]

Yuri makes mistakes, but as many of you are saying we should be hesitant to give him all of the credit we need equal effort in not giving him all of the blame. We have a phenomenal, top-10 in the country caliber point guard and we should be really thankful for that. Two games in Mexico and one of the worst officiated games I've ever seen ON THE ROAD immediately after two games in Mexico do not mean that much to me. 

See y'all on Saturday.  

[almaman]

6 minutes ago, Bills By 40 said:

I was the ring leader of that circus and I withdraw any previous comments. They were justified at the time but have been completely erased since then. 

At the time I also specified that I expected it to change, but noted it needed to quick. 

way2ownit.  I was not calling u out. after Gordon "head case"  mentioned here is like hearing about inflation 4 us old folks

[Bills By 40]

Just now, almaman said:

way2ownit.  I was not calling u out. after Gordon "head case"  mentioned here is like hearing about inflation 4 us old folks

I don't think I was the only one worried about it, but because of some cool insider opportunities to see the boys play before most people I was the one to light the fire that others threw wood on. I'm very optimistic about the development we'll see from him in the next couple of months. 

[CBFan]

8 minutes ago, Taj79 said:

I'm with willie --- I enjoyed Gottlieb and thought he was fair.  He had a lot of problems with foul calls on both ends.  And he pointed out the many inconsistencies in multiple ref whistles.

Gottlieb did point out that Okoro is a "black hole."  He is not passing out of the blocks as French used to and that hurts.  Now, if he were making his shots, this would not matter.  As a vertically challenged former player, I have no concept of what it is like to miss A dunk, let alone one or two PER GAME.  

Collins was indeed horrible that first half but what concerns me more is he has been off the last three games.  He is doing things a freshman might do but he is a third year player.  Bad passes.  Lackadaisical passes. Leaving his feet with destination unknown.  Picking up his dribble.    And I still haven't seen an improved shot ..... two of his five makes were a short jumper and a teardrop, hardly fear-invoking offense.  :Lots of work to do.

But as many pointed out, we typically don't win road or neutral court games.  We have one under our belt now.  This should show us how difficult it is to do any game on the road.  

We have found out that our team depth is really good.  That and our improved FT shooting are things to enjoy.  The Jones' signing is looking better every game.  Williams made a three.  While Nesbitt struggled on offense, he didn't drop his head and pout on defense.  Kid is an athlete.  Linssen and Okoro are a nice two-headed monster in the middle which can get better.  I thought both pressed where BSU had no real shot blockers to contend with.  Every night, we seem to have pieces that can pick it up as we move forward.  Even down 11 to 0, I thought we had the better team.  Prayer by Shaver and Kusmanovic kept them in the game.  It was maddening to see two of our guys lose a rebound as many times as they did.  Goodwin and French's efforts in the past have spoiled us there.  

Getting this win keeps us trucking positively as we advance to the toughest part of the OOC albeit with games now at home.  We need to get to 10 and 1 before the Auburn and Drake games.  A record of 13 and 1 is not so far-fetched and would position us strongly as A10 play opens.  But one at a time .....

The last 3 games with Yuri is concerning, this has become a pattern now.

Williams had a 3 but also had 2 dreadful turnovers with one resulting in points.  Williams has not shown anything and I will be looking forward to when Williams can contribute for a win.

Nesbitt struggled offensively but Jordan brings so much more than offense to a game.  Rebounding, defending, bring the ball up to the front court, finding a way to be a solid contributor for every game, the offense will come.

I like Fred Thatch's game pattern lately of solid offensive and defensive contributions coming off the bench.

Last night was a team win, it took all hands on deck to finish the job.

A 13-1 record will have the Billiken's ranked in the top 25.