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Post by 00hmh on Nov 27, 2022 16:35:57 GMT -6
We did fight back. We don’t give up. We scrap. Those traits will serve us well in the conference season. What we do not have and cannot create is size. Jihad hasn’t yet been been effective and we can’t play Hendricks. Need a lot more from the bench. Guessing some hard core rebounding drills are in store for the guys. I’m disappointed in the results but not discouraged. I like our moxie. That size issue is aggravated in the 3rd game setting when we're half a step slower. Hendricks is not strong enough or athletic enough to have been a factor. Another good athlete off the bench would help...a good shooter would help. We got more from Sellers and Bumb yesterday. I think we beat the best team we played. Our losses were close enough to make me agree it's not discouraging, but we have weaknesses, and I don't see the bench improving quickly. |
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Post by redbirdman on Nov 27, 2022 17:07:09 GMT -6
We came out & played hard in the 2nd half. Hopefully by the MAC season we can go to the bench & get some positive play from those players.
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Post by bsutrack on Nov 27, 2022 18:33:32 GMT -6
I wonder what happens the first game Sparks gets into foul trouble? Say he picks up his 3rd foul at the 10 minute mark of the first half. Is it Jihad even though in contested games he's only playing a few minutes. Obviously not Hendriks. 5 guards? I'm a bit surprised Sparks has stayed out of foul trouble in the first 7 games.
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Post by swenocha on Nov 27, 2022 19:02:29 GMT -6
From what I heard listening to the games, I wasn't particularly discouraged by the three games. Some of the same problems... foul shooting, not being able to close out games, poor shooting at times, etc. But a lot of scrap, turnovers seem to be under control, getting some spread in contributions, Jacobs is consistently overachieving. Felt like these were three MAC-like games, and they were all winnable.
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Post by thebsukid on Nov 27, 2022 19:52:33 GMT -6
Jihad came alive late diving on the floor for loose balls and playing D! Need him to contribute!
Windham may be our best three point threat!
I think Lewis will push us to be competitive in the MAC!
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Post by mjtcpa on Nov 27, 2022 20:07:14 GMT -6
From what I heard listening to the games, I wasn't particularly discouraged by the three games. Some of the same problems... foul shooting, not being able to close out games, poor shooting at times, etc. But a lot of scrap, turnovers seem to be under control, getting some spread in contributions, Jacobs is consistently overachieving. Felt like these were three MAC-like games, and they were all winnable. I agree. These three games were very good competition on the road. As we saw, these games are difficult to win. We certainly were very competitive in all of the games. It is going to take a while to get the program on track. From what I have seen so far, we are headed in the right direction. |
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Post by lmills72 on Nov 27, 2022 20:18:59 GMT -6
I'm a bit surprised Sparks has stayed out of foul trouble in the first 7 games. Why? He's never been prone to getting in foul trouble. Undoubtedly, he will at some point and we certainly lack depth behind him, but it's not like it's something that happens with great frequency. |
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Post by bsutrack on Nov 28, 2022 7:08:08 GMT -6
I'm a bit surprised Sparks has stayed out of foul trouble in the first 7 games. Why? He's never been prone to getting in foul trouble. Undoubtedly, he will at some point and we certainly lack depth behind him, but it's not like it's something that happens with great frequency. Oh I don't know, we could look at his stats from last year. In the 2021-22 season, Sparks had the 3rd highest number of personal fouls on the team with 79 behind Miryne Thomas (93) and Tyler Cochran (81). Sparks fouled-out in 2 games, Thomas 4, and Cochran 1. Last year, Sparks played in 866 minutes which means he committed a foul every 10.96 minutes. In the 3 tournament games over the weekend he played 35, 32, and 34 minutes, respectively. If he had fouled at the same rate as last year, he would have had 3+ fouls in every game of tournament. The good news is this year in 204 minutes of play Sparks has only committed 10 fouls, or approximately 1 foul every 20.4 minutes. So maybe he is twice the player he was last year, the optimistic viewpoint. The contrarian viewpoint is he will return to his statistical norm and we should see some games soon with him in foul trouble. |
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Post by 00hmh on Nov 28, 2022 8:41:44 GMT -6
The more Sparks is a factor on offense, the more other teams will attack him inside. I'd be surprised if he's not the one guy Lewis is OK with being less aggressive on defense. I'll join the pessimistic camp and say he's going to be in foul trouble in some key games.
Like mills above, I don't see a lot of ways to avoid it and will hope it is relatively rare and that we see Jihad fill in well enough. But, we also have to hope we can find another bench player that allows us to have Jihad in the game. That means we have to find some extra speed, extra offense, play very aggressive D when Sparks is out and play well with a small lineup. 3 games in 3 days will be tough when/if we need to really increase the intensity to survive with a small lineup. The tournament showing this week shows we can sustain play for 3 games at the current level in that format, that's good. Gives us chances to get to MAC final. But, we also saw some issues late in games 2 and 3 where we just did not have enough gas in the tank to finish. Against Kent, and the bigger, better, MAC teams we will have to hope Sparks can stay in the game AND find some athleticism and offense off the bench. |
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Post by 00hmh on Nov 28, 2022 8:51:47 GMT -6
From what I heard listening to the games, I wasn't particularly discouraged by the three games.... Felt like these were three MAC-like games, and they were all winnable. These three games were very good competition on the road. As we saw, these games are difficult to win. We certainly were very competitive in all of the games. +1 here. With the exception of Kent maybe that gives us good chances against MAC teams at home or on neutral court.
I'm looking forward to see us prove we can win the close ones in the regular season, but am pessimistic about the MAC tourney until we see more bench.
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