We are better than last year . . . but are we getting better as this year goes along?

312to937 · #1 01-22-2019, 10:35 PM

No doubt this year's squad is better than last year.

Just seems we have not made much in season progress so far. Seems like we peaked in the Bahamas tourney. Thought there might be some better "feel"/flow among the players as the season developed since we basically keep the same six on the floor.

Clearly, the three point shooting has been poor (or inconsistent at best). That makes a big difference in how you look on offense and allows the D to sag on Josh.

Frankie and Cohill are not showing any real improvement to date. Only freshman but you would think they would have the lowest bar to clear as far as improving. Josh looks off lately (not healthy?). And Obi has looked lost more of late. Trey - not sure what to think (stats are basically flat with last year).

Crutch continues to improve in general. Mikesell looking better recently. Jordan struggled early but some big games/shots of late.

Not panicking by any means but curious as to others observations.

T-Bone 84 · #2 01-23-2019, 12:03 AM

My first observation is, I think you meant to say Frankie and Cohill, not Crutcher. That said, I agree that I’d have thought Cohill would be farther along by now. But, I’m a patient man, and am willing to give him more time. Regarding Frankie, I was hoping for more, but I didn’t know what to expect. I think AG is being very selective regarding when and how to use him. By next year, I expect to see Frankie in the regular rotation, though I don’t think he’ll get major minutes until after Trey and Chip graduate.

Speaking of next year’s Seniors, I think Chip is starting to find his niche on this squad (and remember, he didn’t see the court at all last year because of his surgery). He’s the “glue guy”, who does whatever the team needs. And he seems to be rediscovering his long-range shooting ability, which should help us down the stretch. Regarding Trey, I love his attitude and hustle, and he’s definitely the Assistant Principal on this team (and those of you who grew-up in the ‘60s & ‘70s know what I mean). But he seems to be letting things affect his concentration, and his performance is suffering as a result. I don’t want to tell the team’s drill sergeant “Just shut up and play”, but he really needs to tone down the theatrics and get back to playing ball.

Re the rest:
-Crutch is having a great season, but he needs to guard against letting the offense stall while he has the ball. Best solution: keep moving while you’re dribbling, even if you’re moving at well below full speed.
-I was worried about JD until conference play came around. No more. He’s gotten his feces aggregated.
-Obi’s very athletic, but much of his offense so far this year has consisted of back door cuts for alley-oops and slams. Now, the book is out on that, and smart opponents are finding ways to limit those opportunities. So, he needs to develop turnaround post moves, baseline drives, and other such skills. Once he has developed multiple ways to score, look out A-10. Until then, well, he’s still a freshman.
-Josh could just be getting a bit worn down. He’s been going against guys who have 1”-3” and 5-105 pounds on him (yeah, I’m looking at you, Holloway) for almost 2 years now, and that can take a toll on someone (just ask Roger Murdock, the co-pilot from “Airplane”).

My thoughts. Eager to see others.
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Rick Scaia · #3 01-23-2019, 12:49 AM

Concur with us wearing down, and that will make it really difficult to truly know how much we have developed and progressed as a program at the end of the year.

Every inch of improvement made may well be masked by 10 centimeters of ugliness at the in-game level.... with the exception of Obi-1: I would like to see him steadily increase his minutes per game, and if it doesn't happen, it's a minor red flag. He's already sort of "low mileage" because of his foul trouble, so not only does he have to learn how to stay on the floor, but the more he's on the floor, the more somebody else is resting, and....

Well, the more people are getting a little rest, the more our chances of something awesome happening in March go up. And if not, it's the sort of improvement that rolls over to next year, when we'll basically lean on Toppin to be a 25-30 mpg guy once Cunningham is gone.

Radar · #4 01-23-2019, 07:07 AM

I agree with just about all of the above. Archie acknowledged his might 7 "wearing down" and pretty much scaled back practices to walk-thru's of the next opponent. At some point AG will have to do the same, at least for guys getting major minutes and let Frankie and Cohill go up against the players-in-waiting.

The three-games-in-seven-days schedule continues for the rest of the season, but I see the Duquesne (H), St Louis (A) and Rhody (A) as being the next difficult stretch that will define our season.

steve · #5 01-23-2019, 07:40 AM

Originally Posted by T-Bone 84

My first observation is, I think you meant to say Frankie and Cohill, not Crutcher. That said, I agree that I’d have thought Cohill would be farther along by now. But, I’m a patient man, and am willing to give him more time. Regarding Frankie, I was hoping for more, but I didn’t know what to expect. I think AG is being very selective regarding when and how to use him. By next year, I expect to see Frankie in the regular rotation, though I don’t think he’ll get major minutes until after Trey and Chip graduate.

Speaking of next year’s Seniors, I think Chip is starting to find his niche on this squad (and remember, he didn’t see the court at all last year because of his surgery). He’s the “glue guy”, who does whatever the team needs. And he seems to be rediscovering his long-range shooting ability, which should help us down the stretch. Regarding Trey, I love his attitude and hustle, and he’s definitely the Assistant Principal on this team (and those of you who grew-up in the ‘60s & ‘70s know what I mean). But he seems to be letting things affect his concentration, and his performance is suffering as a result. I don’t want to tell the team’s drill sergeant “Just shut up and play”, but he really needs to tone down the theatrics and get back to playing ball.

Re the rest:
-Crutch is having a great season, but he needs to guard against letting the offense stall while he has the ball. Best solution: keep moving while you’re dribbling, even if you’re moving at well below full speed.
-I was worried about JD until conference play came around. No more. He’s gotten his feces aggregated.
-Obi’s very athletic, but much of his offense so far this year has consisted of back door cuts for alley-oops and slams. Now, the book is out on that, and smart opponents are finding ways to limit those opportunities. So, he needs to develop turnaround post moves, baseline drives, and other such skills. Once he has developed multiple ways to score, look out A-10. Until then, well, he’s still a freshman.
-Josh could just be getting a bit worn down. He’s been going against guys who have 1”-3” and 5-105 pounds on him (yeah, I’m looking at you, Holloway) for almost 2 years now, and that can take a toll on someone (just ask Roger Murdock, the co-pilot from “Airplane”).

My thoughts. Eager to see others.
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Problem with Obi is that development will take time with hours upon hours of work in the off-season. I sure as hell wished last year when he was sitting out that some of this would be developed more. Of course, I'm not thrilled with AG's use of our BIGS in the half-court as there's very few dump down passes into the post so maybe Obi already has those shots/moves.

Agree with Crutch. I believe he's really just learning to be a PG on the fly and if you look at the numbers he's done well but when you watch plenty of our half-court sets he's a guy that does not have a typical PG mentality. I was screaming for him during the ST BONNIE game to take the ball to the rack more and, sure enough, he made a great stutter-step move, got the defender on his heels, and drove to his right for the easy layup in the 2nd half. He's also a guy that has developed a nice floater so he needs to get in the lane for that as well in some half-court offense.

Crutch needs to split the double-team more and get the ball into the paint and if he can do that then AG won't need to continually send our BIGS out for high ball screens...I realize that's not easy and maybe that's another phase Crutcher will work on to really become a complete PG..

Loved seeing Landers pass far more on the open 3, be patient and he took his opportunities to drive to the bucket and finished multiple times..

This is still a team developing with a new system and some young players. I realize they would lovev to get out and run more but with 7 guys that's really hard to go especially with their guards averaging 35-36 mpg.Right now they are getting beat on the boards badly and maybe part of that is picking your poison due to depth. I know Archie was so limited during their magical run that he had to basically tell his guys to not crash the boards so as not to pickup fouls.

Mikesell simply has to give them a bit more of what he gave them last game than past games where he's invisible.

flybye · #6 01-23-2019, 07:50 AM

Key the rest of the year is on defense. They do not maintain there intensity for 40 min. Part is depth but if you can watch the Bonnie game again. Jalen has a chance to be a great all around player but he does not play hard on the defensive end . Now the last 5 min on Sat he was really good down in his stance and he ate the freshman guard up.. he and Jordan have to make it difficult for teams to run there Offense. The glaring improvements needed on D is Josh, simply doesn’t not cover and play good help side D and 3 rebounds in 45 min has to get better. Obi also only 3 rebounds to win A 10 team needs a better effort on D.

O
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Radar · #7 01-23-2019, 07:56 AM

Originally Posted by flybye

Key the rest of the year is on defense. They do not maintain there intensity for 40 min. Part is depth but if you can watch the Bonnie game again. Jalen has a chance to be a great all around player but he does not play hard on the defensive end . Now the last 5 min on Sat he was really good down in his stance and he ate the freshman guard up.. he and Jordan have to make it difficult for teams to run there Offense. The glaring improvements needed on D is Josh, simply doesn’t not cover and play good help side D and 3 rebounds in 45 min has to get better. Obi also only 3 rebounds to win A 10 team needs a better effort on D.

O
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So true! I did watch the Bonnie game again and end-of-game and OT defensive EFFORT was exponentially better than during the first 35 mins of the game. This team needs it drilled into its collective brains that it all starts at the opening tip, not just when in desperation mode.

steve · #8 01-23-2019, 08:00 AM

Originally Posted by flybye

Key the rest of the year is on defense. They do not maintain there intensity for 40 min. Part is depth but if you can watch the Bonnie game again. Jalen has a chance to be a great all around player but he does not play hard on the defensive end . Now the last 5 min on Sat he was really good down in his stance and he ate the freshman guard up.. he and Jordan have to make it difficult for teams to run there Offense. The glaring improvements needed on D is Josh, simply doesn’t not cover and play good help side D and 3 rebounds in 45 min has to get better. Obi also only 3 rebounds to win A 10 team needs a better effort on D.

O
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Very hard to do when these guys are playing as many mpg as they are. Not only is Crutcher exhausted but he's got to come down and run the offense. You saw what happened saturday when he got too aggressive on defense and he fouled out. With Cohill not progressing at this point UD simply cannot lose minutes on the floor with Crutcher. You saw the PG play by Davis..

shwag33 · #9 01-23-2019, 08:21 AM

Originally Posted by flybye

Key the rest of the year is on defense. They do not maintain there intensity for 40 min. Part is depth but if you can watch the Bonnie game again. Jalen has a chance to be a great all around player but he does not play hard on the defensive end . Now the last 5 min on Sat he was really good down in his stance and he ate the freshman guard up.. he and Jordan have to make it difficult for teams to run there Offense. The glaring improvements needed on D is Josh, simply doesn’t not cover and play good help side D and 3 rebounds in 45 min has to get better. Obi also only 3 rebounds to win A 10 team needs a better effort on D.

O
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Part of the defense is not being able to foul. It's been stated before AG's strategy is not to foul. I mean crutcher fouled out and we didn't have a point guard for 2 OTs. It's hard playing with only 6.5 players.

OBI needs more minutes but needs to cut down his stupid fouls. If he's taking hard fouls on sure baskets thats fine, but he gets so many reach-ins in situations where theres no reason to foul.

maddog07 · #10 01-23-2019, 08:46 AM

We might find out if we are improving tonight. Last year Mason gave us one of our worst beatings. They crushed us on the boards. Livingston ate us alive. Our leading scorer was DD. Jordan Davis was terrible. This year we are at home. Seems an opportunity to measure our change.
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Gazoo · #11 01-23-2019, 09:00 AM

I don't really agree. How much do you expect individuals to improve during the year? Improvement happens in the offseason. Team improvement happens in-season because of coaching for the most part.

Obi was wild at the beginning of the season. He's much more under control now and less foul prone. His body is more under control.

Cunningham is a senior. I trust you weren't expecting him to improve dramatically in-season. Guys have good days and bad days, but he is who he is. He's playing a smaller role on a team with more talent.

Trey is taking fewer 3's and focusing more on defense and rebounding.

Was Mikesell guarding St. B's best scorer at the end of the game? Would that have happened 2 years ago or at the beginning of this season?

Jordan started horrible. He's progressed back to OK / good.

Cohill hasn't progressed much, but not every player is going to.

Crutcher is steady.

No progress??

I'd like to see the team gel more as we come into the end of the season but a lot of that is on the coach. It's a grind. We were dumb against St. B and almost lost to a bad team, but it's not pretty every game.

Buckleyma · #12 01-23-2019, 09:02 AM

Based upon the box scores, George Mason appears to be a guard-scoring team. Justin Kier seems to get a lot of rebounds for a guard. So, Crutcher and Davis are key in this game for defense.
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CE80 · #13 01-23-2019, 09:13 AM

Originally Posted by Buckleyma

Based upon the box scores, George Mason appears to be a guard-scoring team. Justin Kier seems to get a lot of rebounds for a guard. So, Crutcher and Davis are key in this game for defense.
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I'd throw Cohill in there too. I think it's his on court personality and situational minutes that has kept him from progressing the way we would like to see him progress. He is not getting a ton of minutes because he is playing behind 2 really good young guards and I think he is very selective in trying to score. I do think he can give some good minutes playing D and taking what comes on the offensive end without forcing it.

big jordan · #14 01-23-2019, 10:54 AM

Agreed, the best version of this year’s team was in atlantis. We lost our best perimeter defender and a steadying hand at backup guard to injury during the last game.
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MNFats · #15 01-23-2019, 12:57 PM

Keep in mind, as the season goes we expect our players to get better, but you can also expect other teams to have more information on us. Teams didn't know what to expect from Obi, Matos, & Mikesell. Now we are without Matos (he doesn't do anything flashy, but we are a better team with him) and other teams have more video on us. Makes it harder to be successful and might hide progress.