Wacky stat: we have been out scored in the second and fourth quarters of our two games
81-77
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Juice to start, empty by the finish
Q1/Q3: 87-38
You really see it on defense. Putting those together in a more consistent way:
87-38 to start the half
77-81 to finish the half
81 is more than double 38! (#math)
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Yeah, they havenāt played their best basketball for more than a few minutes here or there (but itās high quality when they get it going on both ends).
I think thatās to be expected, though. Generally speaking, I thought they just kind of got too casual in the second part of each half.
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Malikās creation for others was a pleasant development. Ok with him calling his own number a little more going towards the hoop. Heās got great body control to finish at the rim through contact.
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Yeah, GrĆ¼nloh is a nice addition. I really love DeRidder & Mallory. I expect to see Chance on the floor more as the season goes along.
The perimeter trio of Malik, Jacari, and Samā¦ I donāt knowā¦ kinda expected a bit more. And Iām sure Iāll see more as they settle in. This is kinda what November basketball is all about. Itās rarely pretty.
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Itās early but after two games I think Iām a little lower on the team than I was to start. Our defense is not good. I donāt think weāre in the tier with NCST, Carolina, Duke, or really close at this point. Hopefully Odom coaches em up a bit
So is this board out on Purdue too? Are they below the NC States of the world?
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Donāt look it up, just guess: what range is our defensive 2P% in currently?
- Under 30%
- 30-35%
- 36-40%
- Over 40%
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voters
Iād just caution and remind that weāve yet to see a game across 8 halves of basketball that the team is pulling out all of the stops to win yet. Weāve yet to see what a truly competitive 40 minutes looks like from how Odom uses the team or how the players play.
When youāre up 20+ you do play differently in terms of either trying to get other guys shots or trying to force your own. Youāre experimenting with things, you arenāt running your best stuff; the intensity isnāt there.
Iād wager the first half of these two halves tonight is much closer to what theyāll play like in meaningful games than the latter part.
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They might be. Thought #1 was overstated. Like Dickinson era Kansas.
Edit - just saw TKR was out. Looks like they started a 6-6 frosh at center (oops, PF). But lack of depth in the front court has been a known issue
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I agree, but stillā¦ maybe Iāve been Kenpom pilled, but I think the ability to blow teams out is pretty highly correlated with being very good. And the opposite with the opposite.
Struggling to keep a ten point lead on Nova begets not being able to keep a 30 pt margin v NCC. Is it enough for a pattern? Itās enough to talk about IMO
Itās early and small sample size tho. And we are learning to play together so itās even earlierā¦
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Should we panic about Texas Tech then? They only beat Sam Houston by 21. Like this game was never in doubt lol
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I mean, BYU also struggled to keep a 10-point lead on Villanova in a regular season game.
I do think itās encouraging that they opened the game on a 36-10 run and both sides of the ball looked pretty dominant (10 points allowed through the first 13 mins) and then started the second half on a 23-9 run.
Is it worth talking about them losing their intensity/concentration late in a scrimmage and in the second half of two blowout halves? Sure. We talk about everything - I donāt think it actually means a ton about how theyāll be playing when the games are more competitive though.
If anything, Iām encouraged that Thomas has shot so poorly from three and weāve shot so poorly from the FT line and weāve still not looked to break a sweat.
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You should panic about what you want to panic about
And whoās we? Who are you speaking for? 
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Iām just saying keep your principles consistent. The 2019 national title team only beat George Washington and MTSU by a hair over 20. They were clearly cooked.
I just donāt think your take really holds water
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I do get some of the questions about how we played in the second half, we will have forgotten about it two weeks from now but we did kinda play like shit. Most of it is correctable and can be chalked up to the team still not being fully in sync.
With that being said though the handwringing and comparison game being had towards margin of victory just seems silly to me, sweating about margins over 20-25 points seems pretty pointless given how much variance is involved. Itās also just a miserable way to consume college basketball.
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Whatās my take? That I agree with Cuts that we have played well in short stretches and itās too early to draw many conclusions
That the best teams tend to blow teams out (like our 2019 team did)
Which of these do you disagree with?
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Remember that time we lost to Navy? Or that time we lost to San Francisco? Boy am I glad we didnāt do that tonight.
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