84grad
Junior
Posts: 277
Age: 64
Reg: 11-09-17
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11-27-17 08:00 PM - Post#238139
On way back to New York after a generally disappointing tournament that also had some positive moments.
Losing to an experienced St. Mary’s was texpected. Big halftime lead was the result of good execution by a senior laden team plus poor play by Harvard, with a dose of poor lineup combinations that have surfaced in 2016 and 2017. Team had 2 nice runs in second half. 8 turnovers was the highlight statistic for me.
Thought St Joseph’s played poorly on Friday. However, they were able to erase a big lead before Harvard did a nice job responding and opening up a nice working margin down the stretch. Thought the key was Aiken’s second half procession to the free throw line (including the belatedly awarded 3 shots). 11 turnovers was again a highlight, particular with freshmen accounting for over 30% of the minutes. A win without Corey and Seth has to be considered a step forward.
Happened to have dinner at the restaurant where the team was on Saturday. Seth and Corey were there, but Justin and Bryce were not due to illness. Dry likely explains some of the substandard performances on Sunday. Seth barely played and Welsh and Djuricic weren’t there on Sunday. Sure looked like Aiken and Bassey were under the weather (although Justin was able to hit a couple of his patented corner threes). Corey was able to have his best shooting game of the year. Expect that will continue. All in all, with Seth out Cal State was able to concentrate on Aiken with Princeton-like precision, particularly after Lewis got in foul trouble. I tend to agree that we didn’t learn too much from the game, one which I think we would have won at full strength. Biggest downside to game was the 16 turnovers, 11 from our two key ball handlers, a number of which were wild. Rio was a bit out of control at times (but he’s shown he will be a big contributor this year)
I was begging for Perez to play and still am despite the quick foul out. Still can’t explain his absence in 1st 6 games, but it looked to me that Amaker was at least pleased with his energy even if the performance showed a lot of rust. Hope he continues to get time even when team is at full strength. Still think he’s our best 8th man overall and will be very valuable in a whole bunch of scenarios.
Think Baker does look lost at times. If his role on offense can be clarified (beyond the 3 point shot which doesn’t utillize his obvious athleticism), he can open things up inside and out. A raw, but obvious, talent.
Need to get better and more consistent prrformance vs. Northeastern and Fordham. I’ll be at Kentucky and Fordham and hope the lineups are given an opportunity to crystallize in the Northeastern and Fordham tests. As for Kentucky, I’m primarily hoping that team at least shows some energy and, as Mike points out, makes an effort to work the 3 point line offensively.
Lots of potential here that the team isn’t living up to. Yet. It’s early folks. Very interesting month ahead. At that point, we’ll just need Mike’s invaluable usage rate analysis to ensure we have the right balance on the court for most of the 40 minutes.
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