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And that’s the ballgame…
surely one to forget…Good night gents…
TTYL… GOTT a little surgery in the morning…#NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!Cat Barber with the foul for wearing an NC State uniform. Please tell me that this is an ACC officiating crew.
That call was ridiculous.
… thanks…
no big deal …
Cataract #2I’m hoping both our football and basketball teams will look better with two eyes than one….
#NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!GFK! I likes it. Hat tip to pakfanistan’s wife!!!!
He’s remarkably quick and slithery. Assassin-ish.
Summary thoughts on basketball so far:
Game 1 – poop
Game 2 – poop (NFL-distracted limited observation time caveats)
Game 3 – poopThe poop is smelling a little better each game. Definitely some positives tonight. Defense had some lapses but played much better overall. Mav’s defense is improving by leaps and bounds, and he is getting more and more comfortable in the offense each game. Beejay looked much better, and Cat was solid. Free throws by the entire team were horrific though. That needs to be cleaned up. Overall I am encouraged. I’m seeing progress game by game, and that’s really what matters at this point in the season.
That was a much better performance from the team. We actually looked marginally competent on defense for most of the game. Hurray!
Offense first:
– I’ve mentioned this after the past few games, and I promise I won’t bring it up every single game, but the primary thing keeping Cat Barber from being a top-level point guard is shot selection. Cat is a fine mid-range shooter, but not a great one. He needs to realize that pulling up for an 18 footer with 25 seconds on the shot clock is a poor shot. You want to probe the defense, see if you can get a drive to the rim or work it around for an easy shot. Cat can get an 18 footer any time he wants, and if he ends up shooting it with 6 seconds left on the clock, I’m totally fine with that. The name of the game is efficiency though, and you have to try and get your team a better shot before you settle for a long 2.
– In keeping with that, we went into the post far too infrequently in the second half, after doing a pretty good job of it in the first 10 minutes. Abu is a real weapon, especially against these smaller teams, and a good enough passer to facilitate inside-out offense.
– The bigs need to work on their FT shooting, but we’re not going to shoot that poorly most games. I’m not super worried about it, I’m more excited by how many times we got to the line.
– We handled pressure very well, something that I expect will continue all year. Cat is great against the press, and the Martins are great release valves.
– Freeman is never going to be a good offensive player, but he’s come a long way in the last year. There were times last season where he seemed terrified to even attempt a layup.Defense:
– One the whole, much better job. There are still some comically large holes which IUPUI was not equipped to exploit, but the pick and roll D was much improved, and we did a better job gang rebounding.
– Much better defense by Rowan. He still wasn’t good, but he wasn’t an utter disaster. Did a better job of staying low in his stance and not reaching in, and rebounded better. He’s still figuring out what his help assignments are, and he needs to do better at forcing his man into the screen, but this was a positive development.
– The team as a whole needs better communication and/or a clearer scheme for help side defense. Too often we have two guys scrambling out towards the same shooter, leaving another guy wide open on the second pass.
– Interesting development to watch: they seemed to have Anya being a bit more aggressive in hedging on side P&Rs than he has in the past. He looked pretty spry doing so, and I’m in favor of anything that has our defense exerting more pressure on opposing offenses.The nice thing about GFK is, while a poor defender, he at least has quickness and intensity. That makes up for things some, or at least gets him in position for the next element of play.
Cat seems to be affirmatively trying to shoot his way out of a slump, which is I assume by design/coach’s instructions.
Pretty sure Frenchie spent his entire recovery period (leg surgery) angrily lifting weights.
I stand by my overall poop evaluation, though. Biggest difference was playing a 10-21 foe (with 7 guys laughably in foul trouble) that couldn’t slice the lead under 9.
So it sounds like GFK is gonna stick. I think that means paki’s wife has to register and participate now. That is the punishment.
So it sounds like GFK is gonna stick. I think that means paki’s wife has to register and participate now. That is the punishment.
You don’t think being married to ONE OF US!! ONE OF US!! is punishment enough??
Just read that Cat has been experiencing pain in his right wrist and may be a reason for lower shooting percentage. Who knows if true, first time reading that. Agree x97, shooting a 3, 5 seconds into the shot clock is always a head scratcher. It happened in game 2 and that was a NBA artillery range shell which led to an easy 2 for the opponent.
You don’t think being married to ONE OF US!! ONE OF US!! is punishment enough??
A fair point.
As a cautionary note, part of the perceived improved play may be due to playing progressively worse competition. In CBS’ preseason rankings, W&M was 118, South Alabama 213, and IUPUI 254. We should know more after the games in New Jersey. Arizona State is 88, and if we get past them, LSU is 38. LSU is also currently ranked #24 in the AP poll, and #19 in the Coaches poll. An obvious challenge is getting Cat some bench time in Game 1.
In CBS’ preseason rankings, W&M was 118? Gee-willickers they didn’t look that bad.. They might win their conference. That’s why I try not to look @ pre-season polls. I try to watch conference standings, once conference play begins; then look @ RPI when there’s a large enough sample-size
^ In their next game they struggled mightily against Liberty, losing 38-35 at halftime before finally pulling away late in the game.
I haven’t read through all of the game threads, but what’s the take on the new points of emphasis by the officials? I haven’t seen any games other than ours. It’s making my eyes burn to watch whistle after whistle. Not sure how that makes the game better. Apparently they had this point of emphasis the beginning of last year and I vaguely remember, but it obviously didn’t stick all year. Are we going to be subject to constant whistles or are they eventually going to quit and let them touch each other a little? Will they start blowing whistles for intent to make contact? There have been some bad moments on the court; we don’t need it made worse by the striped ones.
Oh, and it was nice to see Rowan shuffle his feet and stay in front of his man on defense and not just be the guy that his man had to run by to get to the basket. Needs more improvement for sure, but loads better compared to the first game.Real interesting to see the development of this team. I actually like our triumvirate of the Martin twins and mav. Mav needs to get his feet set and let the game slow down just a bit, but I don’t think he’s gonna stop shooting. Cody actually looked ok playing the point at times. Seems to make good decisions with the ball.
^PIR, if you’re old enough to remember what the game looked like in the 1970s and 1980s, I think there’s this notion that you can suddenly return, or purify the game, get it back to how it was played. This has nothing to do with whether the players are more athletic now or not. Sure they are. But are they more skilled? Passing, shooting, defending and rebounding without fouling.
I’m of the opinion that you can’t go back. At some point, and I don’t know when, the game turned into a mugging. The ACC has long been considered more of a finesse league, probably with more fouls called on average, but there’s still plenty of wrestling.
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