seniorsooner
New member
- Joined
- Nov 10, 2008
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The good:
The upperclassmen (Cade and Crock) are carrying this team. Their effort during this 6 game winning streak has been nothing short of unbelievable. If nothing else our youngsters should have a great example to follow for the rest of the year.
Cade showed how dangerous he can be when he's on. He led what was a very encouraging spurt at the end of the first half. 12-2 run to close out when we had fallen behind 11. It is encouraging to see us storm back in that situation rather than pout.
Really good to see Pledger hit a couple of outside shots and stay on the floor. We really need him to be a factor for us on offense for depth purposes.
The defensive intensity did pick up for a bit in the second half. We didn't sustain it, but we didn't build a ten point lead without playing a little defense.
The bad:
On the whole our defense was terrible today. We didn't guard the perimeter well, but what really killed us today was our inability to stop the dribble penetration. Our guards looked like they were wearing concrete shoes for most of the day. Northern Colorado had TWENTY assists.
Way, way, WAY too many offensive boards. There is absolutely no way we should give up 13 offensive boards to northern colorado. A lack of effort, and also a lack of squeezing it when we had the chance to. We looked like we were playing volleyball in the paint today.
Tiny has got to figure out a way to keep himself on the floor. I thought his 4th foul was a bit questionable, but the third foul he picked up was just a dumb, dumb play. He has to know how critical it is to this team that we have him out there and adjust his play accordingly.
As for why it is so important that Tiny stay out there, Ryan is really bad defensively. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate his effort, but he gets lost on defense time and time again and lets guys who have no business doing so muscle him around on the offensive glass.
Willie. While I still saw him make some really good passes on the offensive end, his effort on the defensive end was pathetic today. He has got to stop pouting when his shot isn't falling and do other things to help this team. While I think some of you are a little extreme in your criticisms of him, he definitely needs to stop letting what happens on the offensive end affect what happens on the defensive end.
Foul shooting. By my count we missed 5 free throws in the last 4 minutes. At least 3 of those came on the front end of a one and one.
Final analysis:
Bob Carpenter made a ridiculous statement late in the game, saying "this is the best mid major team I have seen on this floor in 8 years". Let's face the facts folks, Northern Colorado will likely have an RPI of over 200 at the end of the year. While they played well today, a lot of that was due to our poor defense and rebounding. They did hit 10 threes, but a lot of that was due to our inability to guard the perimeter.
We simply must defend and rebound better. If we can't stop the dribble drive against Northern Colorado, what the heck do we think is going to happen in conference? If we give up 13 offensive boards to Northern Colorado, how many will guys like Pittman and Aldrich have against us?
This isn't to say we didn't do some good things today. I'm not going to be one of these people that we have on here that says we got "lucky" or that we stink and UTEP will beat us by 30. I disagree with Coach when he says that Northern Colorado deserved to win the game. I think that is coach speak. The bottom line is if we hit even 50% of the free throws available to us down the stretch and if we squeeze about 5 more boards this is a double digit win. That's not making excuses, that is simply stating the facts. And as I said above, Cade and Crock were amazing once again. There is definitely a lot to improve upon, but I still feel this team has the potential to be an NCAA team. If we can gut out a win against UTEP we will have 7+ days of practice to focus on getting tougher on the defensive end and on the glass. It's really up to the team. They have to want it, and that starts Monday night.
The upperclassmen (Cade and Crock) are carrying this team. Their effort during this 6 game winning streak has been nothing short of unbelievable. If nothing else our youngsters should have a great example to follow for the rest of the year.
Cade showed how dangerous he can be when he's on. He led what was a very encouraging spurt at the end of the first half. 12-2 run to close out when we had fallen behind 11. It is encouraging to see us storm back in that situation rather than pout.
Really good to see Pledger hit a couple of outside shots and stay on the floor. We really need him to be a factor for us on offense for depth purposes.
The defensive intensity did pick up for a bit in the second half. We didn't sustain it, but we didn't build a ten point lead without playing a little defense.
The bad:
On the whole our defense was terrible today. We didn't guard the perimeter well, but what really killed us today was our inability to stop the dribble penetration. Our guards looked like they were wearing concrete shoes for most of the day. Northern Colorado had TWENTY assists.
Way, way, WAY too many offensive boards. There is absolutely no way we should give up 13 offensive boards to northern colorado. A lack of effort, and also a lack of squeezing it when we had the chance to. We looked like we were playing volleyball in the paint today.
Tiny has got to figure out a way to keep himself on the floor. I thought his 4th foul was a bit questionable, but the third foul he picked up was just a dumb, dumb play. He has to know how critical it is to this team that we have him out there and adjust his play accordingly.
As for why it is so important that Tiny stay out there, Ryan is really bad defensively. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate his effort, but he gets lost on defense time and time again and lets guys who have no business doing so muscle him around on the offensive glass.
Willie. While I still saw him make some really good passes on the offensive end, his effort on the defensive end was pathetic today. He has got to stop pouting when his shot isn't falling and do other things to help this team. While I think some of you are a little extreme in your criticisms of him, he definitely needs to stop letting what happens on the offensive end affect what happens on the defensive end.
Foul shooting. By my count we missed 5 free throws in the last 4 minutes. At least 3 of those came on the front end of a one and one.
Final analysis:
Bob Carpenter made a ridiculous statement late in the game, saying "this is the best mid major team I have seen on this floor in 8 years". Let's face the facts folks, Northern Colorado will likely have an RPI of over 200 at the end of the year. While they played well today, a lot of that was due to our poor defense and rebounding. They did hit 10 threes, but a lot of that was due to our inability to guard the perimeter.
We simply must defend and rebound better. If we can't stop the dribble drive against Northern Colorado, what the heck do we think is going to happen in conference? If we give up 13 offensive boards to Northern Colorado, how many will guys like Pittman and Aldrich have against us?
This isn't to say we didn't do some good things today. I'm not going to be one of these people that we have on here that says we got "lucky" or that we stink and UTEP will beat us by 30. I disagree with Coach when he says that Northern Colorado deserved to win the game. I think that is coach speak. The bottom line is if we hit even 50% of the free throws available to us down the stretch and if we squeeze about 5 more boards this is a double digit win. That's not making excuses, that is simply stating the facts. And as I said above, Cade and Crock were amazing once again. There is definitely a lot to improve upon, but I still feel this team has the potential to be an NCAA team. If we can gut out a win against UTEP we will have 7+ days of practice to focus on getting tougher on the defensive end and on the glass. It's really up to the team. They have to want it, and that starts Monday night.
