SDSU vs JMU 11am CT Enmarket Arena/Savannah Ga

[OldHare]

It was difficult listening to the game today because it seemed like whomever was bringing the ball up the court… There would be one or two passes and the ball was stolen. I’m wondering who is having the most problem bringing the ball up the court with pressure, who is out of position when the ball is passed or who is just making errant passes etc. etc.
am I wrong… But it seems like in the past couple of years we had less problems with AA bringing the ball up the court.

It seemed that the passes are often not zipped allowing an aggressive defense to intercept and the double team on the perimeter created many steals too. The interior passing often times is timing and also handling the pass when it is there. This should all improve. AA is likely to have a target prior to stopping the dribble as he and Zeke are the primary ballhandlers. Zeke is more likely to force play on the drive for many of his turnovers. The aggressive defenses that are the OOC games are the part of the game they need to be able to handle. The offense is doing more dribbling than has been the norm the past couple of years which seems to change spacing.

[peavy]

JMU lost to Valpo 81-79 in OT. Valpo finished with 32 total fouls (4 people fouled out). JMU was 30-42 from the free throw line.

[Jacked_Up]

JMU lost to Valpo 81-79 in OT. Valpo finished with 32 total fouls (4 people fouled out). JMU was 30-42 from the free throw line.

Very interesting. Not sure what it says about the Jacks.

[filbert]

Very interesting. Not sure what it says about the Jacks.

I think it says that the Jacks had a bad game vs. JMU.

[da_coach]

I think it says that the Jacks had a bad game vs. JMU.

correct.

These guys are good enough to play well. It's just been a bit of a struggle to start.
Mors hasn't come in and lit it up, like some expected. He certainly looks like he can be a contributor, but just hasn't looked super comfortable this year. Yet.
Alex is starting the offense most of the time. He kind of shared doing that with Baylor last year. (Alex started the offense more than you think...It was just Baylor was so good at taking off with the ball on a rebound.) He can do this job. It's probably not his strong suit...he's more of a jack of all trades...but he will do fine in the Summit.

Zeke hasn't quite made the leap/jump yet. He's capable. There's once or twice each time I've watched, that I think "there we go, Zeke". It will come. He can also run the offense when Alex goes tor a rest.

Dent is Dent. He's going to have good games and quiet games. He's a quality big in the Summit.

Appel's injury is certainly a concern, but the emergence of Kyle lessens that a bit.

Charlie and Mims are both the same guys.(from last year) They both draw tough defensive assignments and shoot it pretty well. We're pretty undersized if they both are out there together.

Te Slaa has impressed. But doesn't get consistent minutes. And the way Hendo plays his bench, that will probably continue. But minutes are needed for him to rise.

Basically...this sucks to say, but the team is just going through growing pains...and yes, they aren't as good as last year. But, with more time together (Mors/Kyle/Te Slaa are all brand new), and time adjusting to roles, I think they can be a very solid team.

[SUPERBUNNY]

correct.

These guys are good enough to play well. It's just been a bit of a struggle to start.
Mors hasn't come in and lit it up, like some expected. He certainly looks like he can be a contributor, but just hasn't looked super comfortable this year. Yet.
Alex is starting the offense most of the time. He kind of shared doing that with Baylor last year. (Alex started the offense more than you think...It was just Baylor was so good at taking off with the ball on a rebound.) He can do this job. It's probably not his strong suit...he's more of a jack of all trades...but he will do fine in the Summit.

Zeke hasn't quite made the leap/jump yet. He's capable. There's once or twice each time I've watched, that I think "there we go, Zeke". It will come. He can also run the offense when Alex goes tor a rest.

Dent is Dent. He's going to have good games and quiet games. He's a quality big in the Summit.

Appel's injury is certainly a concern, but the emergence of Kyle lessens that a bit.

Charlie and Mims are both the same guys.(from last year) They both draw tough defensive assignments and shoot it pretty well. We're pretty undersized if they both are out there together.

Te Slaa has impressed. But doesn't get consistent minutes. And the way Hendo plays his bench, that will probably continue. But minutes are needed for him to rise.

Basically...this sucks to say, but the team is just going through growing pains...and yes, they aren't as good as last year. But, with more time together (Mors/Kyle/Te Slaa are all brand new), and time adjusting to roles, I think they can be a very solid team.

Pretty spot on. This should be expected by everyone. Add in a very ambitious non-conference schedule.

A lot of the same guys on the team as last year along with the same coaching staff. Just working through the kinks. Take Zeke for example. Has he taken a step forward? I think so but it is also fair to say that he now draws the top defender from our opponents where that would have gone to others last year.

We all want them to win every game and have been spoiled for the last decade or more. We need to be patient. These guys will get it figured out. The goal is to be playing their best ball in March.

SUPERBUNNY

[LetsGoRabbits]

was looking at season stats
unless a game gets cancelled for some reason we will play at least 32 games, so we are somewhere between 20% and 25% thru the season. the sample size is undeniably still small but it is not insignificant.

there have been comments about playing so much with 2 posts as opposed to 4 guards. i maintain we have played with 2 posts for a much greater portion of the time that Hendo has been here than people think. i think there is a recency bias from last year, but last year you could put 6'7 Baylor 6'4 Alex 6'3 Zeke and usually one shorter guard on the floor along with Doug most of the time

this year who are the four guards? i think if is very hard to play Charlie and Mims together for long stretches and it is even harder to do it with 2 other guards on the floor. AA has shown thru his whole career that he can hold his own guarding a LOT of the 4s we have played, but if you have zeke, charlie, and mims also on the floor, can zeke guard a lot of 3s?? and almost every shooting guard is bigger then both charlie and mims. you simply cannot play those four guards together very much without giving away too much size

it is unfortunate because based on shooting stats we need both charlie and mims on the floor. Zeke is shooting 28% from 3 and he has shot 39 (81 fg attempts overall) of them. by comparison charlie has 49 fg attempts total, WK 42 attempts, AA 41 attempts, and Dent 36

also Zeke is averaging just a hair under 4 TO/game and AA just a bit over 3 TO/ game they do handle the ball the most so that is somewhat understandable but still not really numbers you can accept. Charlie and Mims are both a hair over 1 TO/ game and shooting WAY better from 3

charlie is shooting over 42% and made the same number as Zeke on 13 less attempts
mims over 45% and made one less than Zeke on 17 less attempts

i am going to guess that the coaches are MORE THAN AWARE of these facts

i would expect they are currently encouraging changes, which will turn to demanding if it has not already

Zeke has to drive the ball more. HAS TO!! he is 11 of 39 from 3
and 23 of 42 from 2

and WELL OVER a 90% FT shooter for his career but has only 9 attempts this year. he has to put the ball on the floor. does not always have to go to the hole. he can pull up fine from12-15 feet, but when he does go to the hole he also increases his chances of going to the line

NOT saying i would tell him i dont want him shooting 3s but i would like him to get himself going inside before he misses multiple shots from 3

if the shooting does not go up for Zeke and AA and the TOs dont come down, i would think that they would / should not continue to lead the team in minutes by as much as they are, but again you run into the trouble of being outsized without them, so i think they are on the floor now more for size and defense, because offensively they are the two least efficient players amongst the starting 5 and mims is the best sub. he obviously does nothing to help the size situation

I wonder if we will reach the point where All or Some of Te Slaa, Mors, and Lien are just force fed minutes that they might not be ready for just because we need more players and more size in the rotation. Of those Te Slaa seems the closest to getting it figured out / getting comfortable


i was not trying to let AA off the hook either. he is not shooting BAD but not well either. 39% fg and slightly over 31% 3s but these numbers are probably acceptable from someone who plays 32 minutes and shoots less than 6 times a game

AA is not hurting us by taking and missing too many shots. unfortunately, we just need more from him than his typical do everything and dont really worry about scoring game. and we need him to cut the TOs down

we HAVE TO get more shots in or near the paint
more post shots
Dent is over 64% and WK is at 67% and they have less attempts combined than Zeke has alone. i am fine with Zeke leading us in attempts. NO DOUBT that was what was expected!! but he cant keep shooting 28% from 3 and taking more 3s than the posts are taking shots

and more shots around the paint from the guards, especially Zeke but maybe / probably just a little more from AA (he is not going to start taking a lot more shots but we need a little more) he is already pretty wise about 3pt selection.

maybe not so much for charlie although he is 11 of 26 from 3 and 11 of 23 from 2 so he is doing fine inside the arc
mims 10 of 22 from 3, ONLY 1 of 8 from 2 BUT he is 12 of 15 from the line. maybe he can choose a little better shots inside the arc but if he keeps getting fouled he is productive

hopefully a little more from Te Slaa


anyway the right guys gotta shoot the ball from the right places. right now we need both Zeke and AA on the floor for size and defense. if they do not get more efficient and more productive respectively ON THE OFFENSIVE END, before someone out of Tanner, Mors, and Lien are ready, i would expect their minutes to drop a little. i am not saying they are not good and NOT SAYING i dont want them on the floor, but their offensive numbers, AT THIS MOMENT, do now warrant them playing 6 or 7 minutes more every game than the other 3 starters