mobrien
Masters Student
Posts: 403
Loc: New York
Reg: 04-18-17
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02-03-24 12:45 PM - Post#362659
In response to HARVARDDADGRAD
The optimistic spin is that we’ve actually matched up pretty well with Cornell the last few years. They especially struggled against Ledlum—he was a little strong for Manon, and a little too quick for Ragland—and Okpara should, in theory, present the same kind of problems for them.
The more pessimistic view is that we only have one reliable ball handler in Mack, going up against a team that presses all game, a team that’s much, much deeper than us, which should be an even bigger factor when we both played last night. I don’t feel good about it.
We need to take care of the ball and guard the three point line to have a chance here.
The bigger picture story here is that we still don’t have enough shooting in our starting lineup. Pigge does so many little thing well, but his outside shot—which he still tends to release a little too high, not getting enough arc—is way too hit or miss, emphasis on miss. Add in his iffy ball handling, and I wonder if it’s time to give Simon some more chances with the starters. Just having someone who’s more of a threat from outside and can help break the press (not to mention fresh legs in a back-to-back) might be what we need.
I don’t think Mack has been struggling just because of the mono. I think Ivy coaches have been helping more off Pigge and Okpara, really clogging the paint, and not giving Mack anywhere to go with it even when he’s not getting doubled. We have to do something to try to get him more space. It seemed like he was able to get to the hoop easier the few minutes he did play with Simon and Nesbitt last night; I think slotting Simon in for Pigge, and then bringing Pigge and Batties in together off the bench when we take Ajogbor out might be a way to try to keep a modicum of shooting around Mack at all times.
The good news is we have a lot of shooters coming in next year. The bad news is we have to figure something out until then.
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