Bruno
PhD Student
Posts: 1419
Loc: Brooklyn, NY
Reg: 11-21-04
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11-21-04 07:45 PM - Post#46
Well, it's early, but after a promising trip to Missouri, Brown's dropped two games against very beatable opponents. I didn't listen to either game, but they lost by double digits to URI (without a few of their major players), and then by more than 20 to Wright State. Not exactly world-beaters.
Forte's returned to the team now - and you would think that after two solid performances last week without him, that they'd be very competitive in these two games with him back.
I didn't see the games, and I don't know what to make of it. But not the way we wanted to go into the Thanksgiving break - freshmen or no freshmen.
| LET'S go BRU-no (duh. nuh. nuh-nuh-nuh) |
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light blue heavy
maximus
Posts: 164
Reg: 11-22-04
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Re: Brown in a little trouble
11-22-04 02:52 PM - Post#47
In response to Bruno
I wouldnt worry too much. Miller's teams always seem to pick up steam as the season rolls along. I was really, really impressed with him last season, and I think these guys will be a different team going into ivy play.
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Bruno
PhD Student
Posts: 1419
Loc: Brooklyn, NY
Reg: 11-21-04
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Re: Brown in a little trouble
11-22-04 05:17 PM - Post#48
In response to light blue heavy
Well, you're right about that. Historically, there's been an almost inverse relationship between Brown's early season out of conference performance and their Ivy performance. In 01-02, they had their best early season in recent memory, winning at URI and Providence, but then stunk up the league. The year before and the two years after that, they were pretty poor out of conference and posted very strong Ivy records.
I do believe that Miller doesn't give much credence to the out of conference record - as long as there's some improvement over the course of it. And there's little doubt about his abilities to prepare for an Ivy season.
This year, we as fans have to be willing to experience the growing pains with a team this young, especially out of conference. It's just that against beatable teams like a weakened URI and Wright State, it really would have been nice to come out of one of those with a win.
| LET'S go BRU-no (duh. nuh. nuh-nuh-nuh) |
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brownbruin
Freshman
Posts: 50
Loc: Connecticut
Reg: 11-22-04
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Re: Brown in a little trouble
11-23-04 12:28 AM - Post#49
In response to Bruno
Has Huffman replaced Becker as the starter at the 2? Becker seemed to pick up this year where he left off last year by going 2 for 6 from the line in the opener. He doesn't seem to have nearly a good enough stroke from 15 - 20 feet to be a threat, and his free throw shooting is medicore. Has anyone seen Huffman play?
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Bruno
PhD Student
Posts: 1419
Loc: Brooklyn, NY
Reg: 11-21-04
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Re: Brown in a little trouble
11-23-04 02:41 AM - Post#50
In response to brownbruin
Well, I saw Huffman in his first game vs Missouri on Fox Sports Midwest. The kid is a player. He has natural court presence, a very nice stroke, is a good ballhandler and snaps his passes. He's a nice enough athlete, and seems to be a thinker on the court. I think he'll be a star for Brown in the years to come.
Marcus is just the opposite. A terrific athlete, Marcus' on court presence is lacking somewhat. He doesn't play with a lot of confidence offensively, although it's clear his ballhandling has improved from last year. He's just not much of a shooter, unfortunately. Defensively, he's very capable, but he's error prone. What's frustrating about Marcus is that every once in a while you see him make a terrific play and think that he should be capable of that all the time. If Marcus can get out of his head, I think he'll be a much better player.
I'll be surprised if Huffman doesn't replace Marcus in the starting lineup sometime before the Ivy season starts.
| LET'S go BRU-no (duh. nuh. nuh-nuh-nuh) |
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BrownAlum
Freshman
Posts: 73
Reg: 11-22-04
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Re: Brown in a little trouble
11-23-04 02:51 PM - Post#51
In response to Bruno
Not to pile on Becker but I'm just not sure he is skilled enough to play in Miller's system. He's great when the team is running and he can get out on the wing and fill the lane but in the half court set the Brown players need to be able to handle the ball well and pass it well and those are not the strongest parts of his game. I think he can contribute but I wouldn't be surprised if Huffman starts taking more and more of his time.
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Old Bear
Postdoc
Posts: 3992
Reg: 11-23-04
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Re: Brown in a little trouble
11-23-04 07:23 PM - Post#52
In response to BrownAlum
Hey, guys, let's not be too quick to dismiss Becker! A three guard starting lineup, Forte, Becker and Huffman is not out of the question. Becker can handle and pass, and he is probably more effective defensively than Forte (too early to assess Huffman). He's also a good rebounder. The open question is his shooting ability, form looks good, let's give him a little time to develop some confidence. He was not called on to score much last year, this year he will have to pick it up some, particularly at the FT line, or he will loose minutes to McAndrew, Danials, AC, et. al
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Old Bear
Postdoc
Posts: 3992
Reg: 11-23-04
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Re: Brown in a little trouble
11-23-04 07:26 PM - Post#53
In response to Old Bear
I was quite proud of my "Second Team All-Ivy" ranking and now I'm back to beeing a PreFrosh and loosing ground to Bruno allready.
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Bruno
PhD Student
Posts: 1419
Loc: Brooklyn, NY
Reg: 11-21-04
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Re: Brown in a little trouble
11-24-04 01:57 PM - Post#54
In response to Old Bear
Fair point re: Becker. He's such a nice athlete, that you really do want him on the court. Defensively, he can run around with the best of them. If he could relax at the FT line and maintain a little more control both going to the basket and when he's shooting jumpers, he could be more of an impact player for this team.
I could certainly see Miller playing Becker, Forte and Huffman at the same time, and I don't know what I think about it. I'd like the quickness, passing and ballhandling - and with Ruscoe on the court with them, that might be a very tough team to guard...
| LET'S go BRU-no (duh. nuh. nuh-nuh-nuh) |
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BrownAlum
Freshman
Posts: 73
Reg: 11-22-04
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Re: Brown in a little trouble
11-24-04 02:03 PM - Post#55
In response to Bruno
I wouldn't be surprised at all if Miller played those three together quite often, especially in Ivy play. Non conference, when the opponents tend to have more size having Forte and Huffman out there a lot can create problems on D but against Ivy teams it isn't as much of an issue. As Bruno says, those three and Ruscoe could make it tough for other teams, just like last year when Forte, Martin, Powers and Ruscoe were out there together.
Having said that, a 3 or 4 guard set playing the way Miller likes to play puts a premium on ballhandling and overall court sense and I don't think we've seen that from Becker yet but hopefully we will.
Old Bear, you'll always be second team all-ivy in our eyes.
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