My thing with Rohde is that the shot form looks good, he’s been solid on defense, and he tends to know where the ball is supposed to go on offense. Having all of that down in his first couple of games here is a great sign for the future. The problem right now is it seems like he has very little confidence in his ball handling, which is effecting his ability to drive off the dribble and initiate offense. He’s had a couple of drives in the lane result in ugly turnovers and a couple passes go errant, so that’s definitely something he needs to work on going forward in order for us to reach our full potential as a team. He doesn’t have to be a 2nd PG out there but he does need to be a second or third playmaker in our offense.
What he can improve immediately is not being so tentative with open looks from the perimeter. We need him and IMac to come off of screens as movers looking to shoot it, can’t consistently stall the offense and force Reece to make chicken salad out of chicken shit from the top of the key.
I think everyone can agree that one of the biggest issues tonight was the rebounding. Unfortunately, that’s not really something we can fix. We’re just a small team and those issues are going to persist, especially since most of our games are going to be against that level of competition as we roll into conference play. I think we’re in for a long year if we can’t get that somewhat sorted out. I’m also shocked at the lack of contribution from our transfers and the lack of offensive development from Reece, Isaac, and Dunn. I think coming into the season the consensus was that we needed those three to take steps forward while also getting contributions from our transfers, both of which are looking dubious at best.
Big game Wednesday now against a team we should beat (whether SMU or WVU). If we come out and play well that’s a very encouraging sign. If we face similar struggles then we could be in a tough spot with TAM coming up right after.
Anyone know what time our game would be on Wednesday?
Yep, this exactly. You live with Crowl scoring in the post, it’s the less efficient option of the two by far. Not sure why TB decided to double so often, I mean we let Jack Salt go solo against Ethan Happ, a much better player, back in 2019 and it very much helped us shut down their offense. I know it’s not a 1 to 1 comparison especially since Buchanan is a first year and JS was a 5th year senior, but they scored at least 13 or so points off of those doubles.
I think we can all agree there was nothing positive to take from the game.
The question is whether it’s an aberration, or a harbinger. I’m willing to be patient and give it a few more games (at least) before jumping to conclusions one way or the other.
But like we did this at a crucial point in the game as documented in the thread above where Crowl just ate our bigs up. We stopped doubling as Wiscy went cold then they got a series of easy buckets that turned the tide of the game.
Mostly I’m just saying that we had no good options and stopped the double right at a moment where we needed stops, and we gave them consecutive buckets. Don’t know what the answer is.
It’s all hindsight but I don’t think you’re in that position in the first place if you decide to single cover from the tip. They had trouble initiating offense in the first half whenever we didn’t double, might’ve been a closer game at that point.
Or it might not have, honestly we just got outplayed in general so not sure how much of a difference it makes.
By the way, this is where the box and whisker plot would come in handy for not quickly overreacting to a really bad (or good) game. I’ve got the IQRs of both our adjusted O and D ready!
Games like this happen…but I am curious if Tony considers taking the redshirts off Gertrude (more athleticism at the 2), Robinson (another big body at the 5 spot), and maybe even Bliss (shooting at the 1-2 guard spot).
Highly doubtful I know…but we sure could use another 1-2 guards and a big body.
I think the 3pt shooting (both ours and theirs) was an aberration. I think the rebounding is a harbringer since it seems to be a consistent theme even against the mid majors we played. And especially vs Florida. Unless We emphasize boxing out, playing bigger on the perimeter/playing Bond and Dunn together, or straight up burning Robinson’s redshirt idk whatelse will change there.
What Im being patient on is Dunn Rohde and McKneely adjusting to expanded roles against better competition and how their game expands as. they become more comfortable. And Leon working his way towards more minutes.
I would be all for taking the RS off of both Robinson and Gertrude, chances are slim that it happens and I know there are some who will rightfully point out that they’d be at best the 8th and 9th guys in our rotation coming in but they at least provide skills that we could really use right now.
I’m very high on Bliss but honestly don’t see how he’d help us this year. He’s a true PG and we already have two of those on the roster, unless he comes in as a lights out shooter I think keeping the RS on is the best option right now.
Well SMU plays without a real center pretty much all the time, a lot of 4 guard looks. WVU has Jesse Edwards and a sniper 4 man. So SMU the preference? Although they might be the better team really.