[kel varson]

Last 3 games:

Blair 7-19
7-20
5-19

That is not shooting well. 19 out of 58 That is about 32 percent and taking a ton of shots. I stand by what I said. Perhaps it is the shot selection but I can't speak to that because I didn't see the last 3 games.

It is indeed sad percentage. Yesterday, the whole team shot poorly, except for Brewington. I would like to see Blair draw more fouls. He's an excellent foul shooter and I'm sure he could get into the lane and draw more contact. Maybe some headfakes and such.

[TIMSCAR20]

Also looking at the box score, McLean, Blair, Brew and Smitty played a ton of minutes. When we were winning, the Bench was key. They got big production out of BJ Jenkins, big Russ, TB and J Holland. BJ is a good stand still shooter but he was 0-4 last night in 17 minutes. He was averaging close to 8 points a game earlier. Also I noticed Damien Hubbard started in place of Rell from what the box score would indicate. Porter only played 8 minutes.

[TIMSCAR20]

How about a 98-27 free throw advantage over 3 games? I don't know if I have ever seen anything like that over the course of that many games. Wow. I need to go watch some tape when I get back to Lynchburg from Christmas Break. I have to see that for myself. Talk about statistical anomolies. That will get you beat though when teams are beating you 4-1 in free throw attempts. Not sure the reason but I would like to see the tapes.

[kel varson]

How about a 98-27 free throw advantage over 3 games? I don't know if I have ever seen anything like that over the course of that many games. Wow. I need to go watch some tape when I get back to Lynchburg from Christmas Break. I have to see that for myself. Talk about statistical anomolies. That will get you beat though when teams are beating you 4-1 in free throw attempts. Not sure the reason but I would like to see the tapes.

I can tell you the reason we didn't shoot "as many" last night. They played a zone and we didn't draw enough contact. As far as I'm concerned most of the fouls called on us were legit. We were getting beat on D.

[LUconn]

And Anthony Smith did foul the guy when he jumped in the air on the headfake. Get used to it. This is called all the time.

NO. Smith jumped up. Not up and over him. Up. And on his way down, Ard jump into him and threw the ball in the air to make it look like he was shooting. There is a huge difference between that and some guy who comes running at someone and jumps on a pump fake. It's a chump move because it does get called a lot.

[paradox]

...

[BJWilliams]

I didn't see the game last night either (I was at a holiday party) but judging by some of the things I read and what I have seen I have these thoughts:

1. Alex needs to play beyond his height. The guy is 6'9". he is big enough to bump and band down low but I think he is good enough that if he hits a few outside shots, he is going to force whoever is guarding him to play away from the basket more and that will open things up inside.

2. I think we have the shooters to keep us in most of these games, but we are too dependent on "jacking up 3s". These guys played zone last night. I think by utilizing lots of ball movement (3 or 4 guys touching the ball each possession) using short, quick passes, itll open up some quality outside shots and additionally, by hitting those outside shots, itll open up the middle for guys like Larry and Dwight to slash the middle and for Alex and Russell and the other posts to do what the do best down low, which in turn will mean more chances at the free throw line, which leads to my next issue...

3. Free throws...good freaking LORD! These guys need to shoot about 500 free throws a day.

4. Defensively...I think everybody has pretty covered what the problems are defensively so Im not going to belabor those any further

This was a terrible loss, but Im not joining everybody in jumping off the bridge just yet.

[LUconn]

Actually, you normally force a team out of a zone by hitting your 3s. We certainly took enough to break it, we just didn't hit them. 18% is pretty bad.

[LU'sbestmanager]

hey realist, look up some of our guys and tell me how far ahead your recruting is. BJ Jenkins was big time in high school, anthony smith was top 15 in the state of texas, justin holland was national christian player of the year, tyler baker was top 3 in New Mexico, don't let me start with our nigerian who is the best young guy over there right now, and teejay and brewington just adds to that.

don't worry guys, coach D will have these guys ready come conference, and i can see us getting at least 1 in provo. i think we'll have you guys back on the band wagon just like you were after the ECU game.

[LU'sbestmanager]

who ever said dwight shouldn't be shooting, is wrong because dwight has a really good outside shot. and he normally isn't bad like that shooting free throws. alex had a bad free throw shooting day against ecu or st. francis at home and no one said anything because he is normally a good shooter. just wait until everyone is back to see dwight play... i bet everyone will be talking about how great he is

[LUconn]

national christian player of the year

that is a thing?

[LU'sbestmanager]

yes, he played with guys like randolph morris, dwight howard, josh smith, and louis williams

[BJWilliams]

Actually, you normally force a team out of a zone by hitting your 3s. We certainly took enough to break it, we just didn't hit them. 18% is pretty bad.

Thanks for that LUconn, I wasn't sure if I had that straight as I typed it. I'll go in and fix that. THe point is still there though. If these guys can get the ball around pretty quickly, that is going to open up good outside shots, and by hitting those, they are going to have to either push the zone out to the perimeter, opening up the inside, or change the defense entirely.

[paradox]

...

[mrich]

I don't know about you guys, but I am tired of hearing that RD will have us ready by conference time. Do we practice? Why the heck are we playing like trash. Larry is playing selfish. RD needs to pull the reigns in a little. His shot selection is killing us. I hit the panic button about a year and a half ago.

[ATrain]

I am expecting RD to have us ready by conference time...we had a rough start in 03-04, but won the Big South. 04-05, rough start and finished second in conference (but choked against CSU), and 05-06, well we were plauged by the departure of Dees and others, but we at least managed to get to the Big South tourney and continued to own High Point in the Vines, not to mention upsetting the mighty Winthrop.

[LUconn]

I don't know if there's a bit of truth in that entire paragraph. Maybe the last part. (edit: to the post above Atrains)


Guys, the team is not playing bad. They're not playing great either, they can play better. But right now, we're making some key mistakes. Last night, we didn't shoot from 3 particularly well and the fouls mounted up way too early. I don't think that equates us to playing like garbage. Larry shot horrible last night, especially from 3. But it's not as if he's being tripple teamed and he's heaving them up there. He's taking shots that he's taken for the last 3 years. Let the guy work through his slump before we slay him. We played good defense last night. Obviously by the foul count, it was a bit too agressive. Try to even out the keel folks.

[kel varson]

And Anthony Smith did foul the guy when he jumped in the air on the headfake. Get used to it. This is called all the time.

NO. Smith jumped up. Not up and over him. Up. And on his way down, Ard jump into him and threw the ball in the air to make it look like he was shooting. There is a huge difference between that and some guy who comes running at someone and jumps on a pump fake. It's a chump move because it does get called a lot.

Chump move or not, its a smart move.

[kel varson]

who ever said dwight shouldn't be shooting, is wrong because dwight has a really good outside shot. and he normally isn't bad like that shooting free throws. alex had a bad free throw shooting day against ecu or st. francis at home and no one said anything because he is normally a good shooter. just wait until everyone is back to see dwight play... i bet everyone will be talking about how great he is

We'll see what happens with Dwight. I will believe you, since you have seen him play waaaaay more than me. I hope you're right. He looked like he never shot a three before in his life last night. I'm sure you're right though...he must be better than last night.

[LUconn]

But if it's a foul on anybody, it's on Ard. He initiated the contact in Smith didn't move from his spot on the floor, even if he was in the air.

[kel varson]

national christian player of the year

that is a thing?

My high school team played in the NACA tournament every year. It really varies year to year. They have a lot of big time DI talent in the Large School section of the tournament but the award is based solely on the teams that participate in the tournament. I can't recall if they give one award or one award for each division. A guy from my school won the award and he was a borderline DI athlete--and only in soccer.

[LU'sbestmanager]

who ever said dwight shouldn't be shooting, is wrong because dwight has a really good outside shot. and he normally isn't bad like that shooting free throws. alex had a bad free throw shooting day against ecu or st. francis at home and no one said anything because he is normally a good shooter. just wait until everyone is back to see dwight play... i bet everyone will be talking about how great he is

We'll see what happens with Dwight. I will believe you, since you have seen him play waaaaay more than me. I hope you're right. He looked like he never shot a three before in his life last night. I'm sure you're right though...he must be better than last night.

can't you tell by his shot selection, and the way he does things different than everyone else that he is really good. just look at the things he does and the way he moves. he looks alot different than everyone else. he had 10 rebounds last night. he is a really good rebounder. he is helping us right now. people may question it because we started losing once he started playing but the schedule was set up this way for a reason. the team is young and needed to learn how it feels to win games and they did that with a weak schedule and it got tougher with really good player added to the line up. just wait until he lights up the conference and gets player of the week, week in and week out. when they get into conference it will be tough to guard him, larry, and smitty. buffalo is the favorite in MAC and Lipscomb is the favorite in the A-SUN. we played really good agaisnt the best teams in their conferences. i think we will be fine playing against the teams in the big south. and don't put winthrop on some high horse, we play them 2 times a year, every year. so we know them and they know us. it WILL be 2 very good games.

[LU'sbestmanager]

national christian player of the year

that is a thing?

My high school team played in the NACA tournament every year. It really varies year to year. They have a lot of big time DI talent in the Large School section of the tournament but the award is based solely on the teams that participate in the tournament. I can't recall if they give one award or one award for each division. A guy from my school won the award and he was a borderline DI athlete--and only in soccer.

Justin averaged 30 pts in high school

[LUconn]

Brew is a put-back machine. It's my favorite part of his game so far.

[LU'sbestmanager]

yea oneof the many things he does really good, is rebound the basketball. no one can check him out. i love his finger role lay ups. he's so long it's like he can do that from any where on the court