just a quick observation....

#1
jakez4ut

jakez4ut

Patience... It's what's for dinner
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Jul 7, 2005
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#1
safe to say this team is what it is....i haven't seen anything from an execution standpoint that says otherwise. effort may be better, i'll give it that, but this team can't/won't/doesn't play defense...take your pick, you can find a way to justify why it's as bad as it is.

offensively, it's the same old same old. no shooting threat allows opposing defenses to close off the lanes and makes everything we try to do seem so difficult.

it's a shame because offensively a guy like Chism is finally effective in the paint. he still lacks defensively at times, but his effort and execution has been much much better.

to sum up...they just aren't collectivley there yet. chemistry, gelling...whatever you want to call it....this team has talent, but collectively they just aren't very good right now.
 
#2
#2
i agree, they just aren't very good.

My biggest gripe about Pearl is his half court offense. So far, he hasn't signed a "lights out" shooter. We cannot win games against "good" competition with tall/athletic players alone.

We've got to have skill guys, just like in football.

*By the way, i'm not one of these "fire Pearl" idiots. I just think he needs to swallow his pride, play zone on defense and recruit some lights out shooters.
 
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#3
#3
I could not wait to see a bigger, more athletic team. I felt like it was our next step on the ladder. Seeing this team makes me want the 6' shooters back.
 
#4
#4
tatum and hopson are supposed to be, i believe, the next version of smith and lofton.

at times, esp tatum, they've shown range. neither has done it consistently enough for it to be something opposing defenses have to account for.

i do tihnk this team gets better as the year goes on. but it's probably next year before this team is ready to make any sort of real stride towards something more than a round 1 tourney game.

communiction among them will improve play on both ends.....too much physical talent there not to come together eventually.
 
#5
#5
Another thing is, I think our team needs a "badass" to step up. What I mean by that is someone who has NO conscience -- somebody that just wants to score.
 
#6
#6
want to is not the problem.....being able to certainly seems to be one though.
 
#8
#8
Mullet said:
Another thing is, I think our team needs a "badass" to step up. What I mean by that is someone who has NO conscience -- somebody that just wants to score.
Click to expand...

Tyler Smith has shown that at times, just not consistently enough. The problem is, our team has a bunch of sisses, to put it nicely, on it. There's really not a "badass" out there.
 
#10
#10
Mullet said:
i agree, they just aren't very good.

My biggest gripe about Pearl is his half court offense. So far, he hasn't signed a "lights out" shooter. We cannot win games against "good" competition with tall/athletic players alone.

We've got to have skill guys, just like in football.

*By the way, i'm not one of these "fire Pearl" idiots. I just think he needs to swallow his pride, play zone on defense and recruit some lights out shooters.
Click to expand...
The combination of zero half court offense and a complete lack of defense is what drives me nuts.
 
#11
#11
i don't think Lofton and Smith created shots as much as they did just knock down contested ones.
 
#12
#12
crazyguy said:
The combination of zero half court offense and a complete lack of defense is what drives me nuts.
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our half court offense would be sooooo much better if teams had a reason to come out past 8' from the rim to guard us.
 
#13
#13
jakez4ut said:
i don't think Lofton and Smith created shots as much as they did just knock down contested ones.
Click to expand...


True. I just think Lofton and Smith were able to use their screens more effectively. Now that I think about it I have noticed that we don't set that many screens this year as last for our shooters.
 
#14
#14
they were the "pop and shoot" guys......basically what meeks did to us tonight. we don't have that this year.
 
#17
#17
Mullet Vol said:
It certainly hurts being on the other end of it.
Click to expand...
yep. watching tonight, the gonzaga game and the temple game....those teams beat us in much the same fashion we've been beating teams the past 3 years.
 
#19
#19
Hopson is like crompton if he has plenty of time he can hit the jump shot, but contested he can't. He needs a quicker release on his shot.
 
#20
#20
got to remember hopson is a freshman. he has some developing yet to do.
 
#22
#22
jakez4ut said:
our half court offense would be sooooo much better if teams had a reason to come out past 8' from the rim to guard us.
Click to expand...

Yes. Just the threat of a decent perimeter game would draw them out, which would open up many more opportunities inside. Chism and Tyler have REALLY had to work for their points; they're getting it done, and they're competing with our opponents' bigs admirably, but they're not exactly getting a whole bunch of easy looks.
 
#23
#23
Lofton and Smith could shoot well off the dribble. Our young guys seem to have to have everything perfect to get a shot off. That is something they can work on this summer.
 
#24
#24
When Pearl has been successful these past couple of years he never had a "real" half court offensive set at all. If you look at the majority of the games we won, our offense in the half court consisted of people dribbling around and throwing it to Jajuan or lofton and letting them hack up threes. We just don't have guys that can bail us out like that right now. I'm all for recruiting big athletic guys, but at the same time I think we should develop more of a Duke approach to recruiting and adding in the couple of white boys who play smart and can shoot the lights out.
 
#25
#25
whall12 said:
When Pearl has been successful these past couple of years he never had a "real" half court offensive set at all. If you look at the majority of the games we won, our offense in the half court consisted of people dribbling around and throwing it to Jajuan or lofton and letting them hack up threes. We just don't have guys that can bail us out like that right now. I'm all for recruiting big athletic guys, but at the same time I think we should develop more of a Duke approach to recruiting and adding in the couple of white boys who play smart and can shoot the lights out.
Click to expand...

And somebody that can finish a drive to the basket. Did you see Tabb's attempt last night?
 
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