GDT: Jackrabbits vs Bison 8pm @ Pentagon

[OldHare]

Bison are starting the season roughly at 0-4. They have played some good competition close. There are many familiar faces back on the court and the deliberate offense is back for the Bison. We know there will be a first win for the Bison. They may even win 2 in a row. Lets just hope it starts tomorrow and the Jackrabbits continue their steady play. Go Jacks!!

[Kastman4]

No Douglas Wilson tonight. Sounds like he has a foot injury and it’s the same one as last year. Let’s hope this isn’t a nagging injury.

[bigticket1]

Dentlinger needs to be a much bigger presence than he has been so far this season.

[AZjack]

No Douglas Wilson tonight. Sounds like he has a foot injury and it’s the same one as last year. Let’s hope this isn’t a nagging injury.

It obviously is chronic now. Might as well sit him till conference play.

Just sucks since Jacks building a 12 or 13 seed resume.

[Kastman4]

Let’s hope it doesn’t turn into a Selland situation.

[AZjack]

Mims is such a defensive liability on a bigger guard, doesn't look like he's improved since last year.

That was an ugly half of basketball.

[Kastman4]

From Matt Zimmer:
Eric Henderson said Doug Wilson is sore and will be a daily decision the rest of the weekend. Not a long term injury.

[bigticket1]

Mims is such a defensive liability on a bigger guard, doesn't look like he's improved since last year.

That was an ugly half of basketball.

I thought Easley brought more to the table tonight than Mims. More active on D, and the ball seemed to move better when he was on the floor.

[Southeast]

It's a good thing that one did not end up on the ESPN streaming services - no casual basketball fan would have lasted long watching that mess. This game was also the first time I really noticed the lack of a crowd. Some noise and energy would have made it more interesting in the last 5:00.

It's kind of interesting to watch how the coaches manage the minutes in these back-to-back-to-back situations. Hopefully the Jacks don't show up exhausted on the last day like they appeared to in the Crossover.

We played 8 players, 3 with 30+ min

NDSU played 10, 4 with 30+ min

UND played 9, 3 with 30+ min

USD played 11, 2 with 30+ min

[SteelSD]

Mims is such a defensive liability on a bigger guard, doesn't look like he's improved since last year.

That was an ugly half of basketball.

Mims was a liability due to size/build, but not effort. The dude was battling his butt off, but no matter who he guarded it sure looked like a mismatch. It appears he just doesn't match up well with the NDSU guards. But I'll give him credit as he was battling with those guys down low and giving his all.

I was disappointed in Hendo in the first half. Our offense consisted of a couple of passes around the perimeter and then jacking up a 3. At no point until very late in the half did there appear to be any attempt to work the ball inside out or a set to get a good look. It's obvious we are going to live and die by the 3, and without Wilson down low to require a double the wide open kick out 3 wasn't as readily there. But c'mon, realize that jacking up off balance 3's isn't really an offensive strategy. Thankfully NDSU was more offensively inept than us in the first half. The opportunity was there for us to blow them out of the building in the first half if we could have come up with an offensive strategy that was at least partially effective.

I have to say I was very impressed with Apple. He was very aggressive and show some nice moves down low. Has a nice looking shot overall. I think he could give us some valuable minutes moving forward. Considering who we have coming up, I'm all for keeping Wilson on the bench and healing and let Apple get some work and confidence. I don't know what's going on with Dent, but last year he owned the NDSU posts in the paint. He has really struggled to get an offensive rhythm going. We need to feed him the ball a bit and get him in the flow. Having a post presence with our 3 point shooting will be nearly unstoppable for most teams. Need to get these guys on track.

[SteelSD]

It's a good thing that one did not end up on the ESPN streaming services - no casual basketball fan would have lasted long watching that mess. This game was also the first time I really noticed the lack of a crowd. Some noise and energy would have made it more interesting in the last 5:00.

It's kind of interesting to watch how the coaches manage the minutes in these back-to-back-to-back situations. Hopefully the Jacks don't show up exhausted on the last day like they appeared to in the Crossover.

We played 8 players, 3 with 30+ min

NDSU played 10, 4 with 30+ min

UND played 9, 3 with 30+ min

USD played 11, 2 with 30+ min

That's a great stat, thanks for posting that. That would seem to be a very serious concern in the 3 games in 3 days format. Hendo traditionally doesn't like to go deep on the bench, but in this scenario it seems trouble to not do so. Now maybe he assumed that this was the game he needed his best players and that with USD/UND he could go deeper on the bench. I'm hopeful this in the case and that he learned from the Crossover that you need to have some fresh legs on day 3.

I would love to see Mfum, Buchanan, and Fiegen on the court to see what those guys bring to the table. Only way to ever be able to count on them is to give them some play. Let them get a feel for so live game action in case you need them moving forward. This seems like the perfect type of venue to do that. Even if they can provide 4-5 minutes of game time rest to the other players, that's huge.

[da_coach]

Buchanon has opted out, and will decide what he's going to do in the spring.

I agree Solid minutes from Appel. He will hold his own just fine against Summit League style post players, just fine.

Mims battled. It was just a tough matchup for him. I don't worry about him at all. Easely has been a great addition.

Thought Wingett played his best game this season, bummer he was in the foul trouble group.

We don't have to rely on double teams to hit 3's. The bigs from West Virginia/ Utah State/Iowa State/Bradley... they didn't need to double down on Doug, and we still hit 3's against those teams.

Team was ice cold last night... some of it was from settling, yes, I agree. But, that happens.

We're probably the best 3 point shooting team in the conference, and shot the ball extremely poorly, played without Doug... and NDSU shot the ball extremely well in the 2nd half, especially from 3...and the Jackrabbits still came away with the win.

As experienced as they are, they are still pretty young, and need to figure out how to put teams away.

Overall, it was a good game to win (or even to lose from) as long as the guys learn from it.

[blue?]

The game was eerily similar to Iowa State. It appeared we were the better team and there were times it appeared we were going to put things out of reach, only to have them close the gap and require us to close it out at the end. If we get in the same position the next two nights hopefully we can see us put the hammer down rather than let them back in it.

While I'd love to see us win by 15 every night, it's not a terrible thing to play through close end-game situations early in the year. Compared to this time last year (Colorado St.- Montana St. - Omaha) it's great to see us winning these close games at the end rather than being the ones coming up just short.

Looking forward to tonight's matchup with Rebraca. It will be fun to see if Appel/Dent can make him guard on the defensive end. If memory serves me correctly, Rebraca had a quick start against us at Frost last year but got into foul trouble. I'm just glad Stewart is gone and we don't have to worry about him getting fouled every time he went to the basket.

On a scale of 1-10 being worried about Doug's foot, I am at a 20.

[bigticket1]

It will be interesting to see how the Bison defend Wilson when the teams meet again down the road. They seemed to have trouble guarding one post. Having Wilson and Dent on the floor together will cause some problems. I believe they had Tyson Ward defend Wilson last season, which isn't an option now. I wish Hendo would have tried playing Dent and Appel together for at least a few minutes last night.

[da_coach]

It will be interesting to see how the Bison defend Wilson when the teams meet again down the road. They seemed to have trouble guarding one post. Having Wilson and Dent on the floor together will cause some problems. I believe they had Tyson Ward defend Wilson last season, which isn't an option now. I wish Hendo would have tried playing Dent and Appel together for at least a few minutes last night.

Kind of surprised me that he didn't? But good observation.