Itās crazy how much better the team looks now that Ron is adjustingā¦ playing an oversized frontline, switching then maintaining space, even throwing out an occasional soft press.
Might just be too late. They really couldāve used some of these adjustments earlier in the year.
Echoing some comments on here but we havenāt beaten a good team this year. Been blown out several times by tournament teams. It is what it is. Next 5 games are key for Ron. Iām still a hard ānoā on this issue.
I love that we decided to flip on the offensive rebounding switch. Made for over 1.27 points per possession on offense without really getting to the line.
Eli correctly credited with a steal and incorrectly credited with an assist:
He had a hockey assist. The other walk on who didnāt score had the assist.
Bryce Walker
One could easily say itās Saunders not playing too
Death. Taxes. Blocker-Mover playing a key role in stabilizing the team.
I do think thereās a correlation between Saunders being out/not playing as much and our rebounding seeing an uptick recently. He is not very good at boxing out.
Sooo when is it time to talk about:
Wild.
Loved Tony saying that 2019 was the last āamateurā title ever
I wrote about this some in my piece on Saunders transferring in (which is another reason Iāve been such an advocate for him to get more run at the 3). Heās good at crashing down and attacking rebounds. He often struggles to keep his man off of the glass fighting for position under the hoop.
When San Diego St. had to close games against teams with two decently sized big men last season theyād often have to pull Saunders off of the floor so that they wouldnāt give up offensive rebounds. Was most glaring against UAB in the NCAA Tournament he got killed on the glass giving up second chance points at the end and they had to pull him to ice the game (even though they clearly wanted him in for his FT shooting), which they did.
Also - shame that guyās youtube account got blown up - jacked up most of my old transfer pieces.
This was a common thing I saw among SDSU fans too when I scanned through their message boards after he transferred here. They mentioned how he was a very good athlete but struggled with physicality inside. Even got the āsoftā tag thrown his way a couple times.
I donāt think itās a matter of being soft, but it does seem like he struggles heavily with positioning and not getting moved around in the paint.
I still think heās over-listed at 6ā8" compared to other players listed around his height (primarily by comparing him against who his cover was when scouting him for SDST and their listings). Heās a strong dude and has good bounce on the run - but not great spring from a standstill and often just loses that length battle when having to hold his ground without motion.
Surprised the first 4 minutes arenāt the BC Syracuse triple overtime
There may have been more blocker-mover, but it wasnāt the version weāve seen over the last 4-5 years. While some possessions took the clock down to the last 5 seconds, there were also a number of times players took open shots with 15 seconds left. Also we didnāt see players always pulling up and waiting for the offense to reset when we had numbers. Thereās a reason they scored 75 instead of 55 points.
Your boy DD comes to mind. Did he go 1 on 3/4 to score the reverse layup?
Is that Papa BVP behind Dick B there, or just another bald dude?
https://twitter.com/uvamenshoops/status/1888623982171111868?s=46&t=wAzMZR-0PRGT1LpN6U5x0g
Can I just say when they asked Sanchez the question post game about how much motivation or juice the CTB ceremony gave him I absolutely loved the (paraphrased) āTo be honest, I wasnāt thinking about Tony much at all.ā
Tell it like it is, Ron!
Anyone have post game interviews?