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Post by rgs318 on Dec 8, 2019 9:25:22 GMT -5
The SD play by play guy is as excitable as Birdsong. Can do without his histrionics 😤 He was one of the worst announcers in my recent memory. When HC did something at the start of the game it was as if he was announcing a death and he literally exploded every time SD did something. He made Johnny Most seem almost impartial.
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Post by lou on Dec 8, 2019 9:29:29 GMT -5
Birdsong still the worst, not close imo
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Post by rgs318 on Dec 8, 2019 9:32:26 GMT -5
IMHO, most undergraduate (and even some high school) student announcers could have done a better - and more professional - job.
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Post by HC92 on Dec 8, 2019 9:35:51 GMT -5
We had a 9 point lead early in the game and things were looking pretty good. Problem is we can’t sustain those runs. Yeah, the announcer acted like SD was playing Duke instead of an inexperienced Crusader team. Travel fatigue was a main reason Tom Gilmore never wanted to fly to the left coast for games. Not sure how much of a factor it was for our basketball team and how much it was 1. inexperience 2. just not that good players 3. inexperienced coach. Probably all three plus the travel. As for Lowder missing, would have been a shot in the arm offensively but likely a loss defensively. A wash? Subbing Yeutter for Lowder is definitely not a wash. Yeutter had 0 points, 0 assists and 4 turnovers in 25 minutes at point guard. He might be a better defender (not sure as i haven’t watched the last few games) but I’m pretty sure he ain’t Gary Payton out there.
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Post by matunuck on Dec 8, 2019 10:46:42 GMT -5
Team shooting mechanics have really deteriorated.
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Post by lou on Dec 8, 2019 10:53:03 GMT -5
At one point HC called timeout after SD was extending the lead after we had closed the gap. A key possession, I was expecting a play out of the timeout. Nothing materialized and we didn't score, then it got worse
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Post by WorcesterGray on Dec 8, 2019 11:08:22 GMT -5
Team shooting mechanics have really deteriorated.
At the other end of the court . . .
Category,2019-20 (2018-19)
Defensive Efficiency (unadjusted), 113.7 (103.9). Worse this year. Defensive EFG%, 55.3% (53.8%). Worse this year. Defensive FTR, 35.6% (26.8%). Worse this year Defensive Rebounding %, 68.4% (69.3%). Worse this year.
And we were a terrible defensive and rebounding team last year.
Don't believe stats? Watch when we don't have the ball, and believe your eyes.
You don't defend, you don't rebound - you don't win.
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Post by hchoops on Dec 8, 2019 11:25:31 GMT -5
With the heavy reliance on the 3 pointer, very few teams ( Syracuse, Washington) rely on any zone as the main defense.
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Post by hchoops on Dec 8, 2019 11:29:31 GMT -5
Team shooting mechanics have really deteriorated.
At the other end of the court . . .
Category,2019-20 (2018-19)
Defensive Efficiency (unadjusted), 113.7 (103.9). Worse this year. Defensive EFG%, 55.3% (53.8%). Worse this year. Defensive FTR, 35.6% (26.8%). Worse this year Defensive Rebounding %, 68.4% (69.3%). Worse this year.
And we were a terrible defensive and rebounding team last year.
Don't believe stats? Watch when we don't have the ball, and believe your eyes.
You don't defend, you don't rebound - you don't win.
Two athletic starters were stolen from us. As well as the defensive PoY graduated. Hard to expect us to be as good defensively
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Post by WorcesterGray on Dec 8, 2019 11:36:05 GMT -5
With the heavy reliance on the 3 pointer, very few teams ( Syracuse, Washington) rely on any zone as the main defense. Our opponents are relying much less on the three this year - last season they took 44% of their shots from deep, this year just 35%. No surprise, really, since we have nobody over 6-5 who can defend, and zero deterrence inside.
Our remaining D1 OOC opponents shoot a collectively unimpressive 30% or so from three - both Canisius and Siena take a lower % than our average opponents to date. Certainly worth trying a zone, imho
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Post by sader1970 on Dec 8, 2019 11:41:06 GMT -5
Really? Green and Grandison, who I assume you are referencing, were hardly "stolen." There is no evidence nor anyone making an allegation that Fairfield or Illinois did anything to poach these players. They left on their own. Debate all you will as to the causes for their departure but that was on them as individuals as there is also no evidence Brett Nelson "ran them off."
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Post by WorcesterGray on Dec 8, 2019 11:41:50 GMT -5
Two athletic starters were stolen from us. As well as the defensive PoY graduated. Hard to expect us to be as good defensively Green and Grandison weren't stolen. They ditched us.
The losses from last year's team argue all the more to use a zone instead of the m2m, which only two guys on the current roster can play adequately.
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Post by trimster on Dec 8, 2019 11:42:12 GMT -5
I guess the question is do you want to instill your preferred system of defense as a way of playing, (and look for improvement), or put that on hold until next year and go with a defense that might increase your chance of winning.
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Post by sader1970 on Dec 8, 2019 11:45:12 GMT -5
I assume that Nelson wants to win now, this year.
We've had a number of coaches that stubbornly stick with what they are familiar with come what may. Think our last 3 coaches. Is this #4?
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Post by trimster on Dec 8, 2019 11:46:21 GMT -5
Really? Green and Grandison, who I assume you are referencing, were hardly "stolen." There is no evidence nor anyone making an allegation that Fairfield or Illinois did anything to poach these players. They left on their own. Debate all you will as to the causes for their departure but that was on them as individuals as there is also no evidence Brett Nelson "ran them off." To be honest, I’d rather see the development of frosh, like starters Lowder and Pridgen, accelerated than have them sitting behind the aforementioned transfers. I think the frosh have more potential in the long run.
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Post by Non Alum Dave on Dec 8, 2019 12:01:34 GMT -5
We still haven't seen the whole team together, save for maybe 3 or 4 halves....and now MF might be out.
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Post by possum on Dec 8, 2019 12:42:03 GMT -5
NAD mentioned earlier our players are consistently inconsistent, some of this can be attributed to youth but that shouldn't be the case with the juniors. Copeland had a nice 3 game stretch now he's disappeared again. Niego and Faw are trick or treat players from one game to the next. It's hard to rely on freshmen to be the stabilizing influence from game to game. Noticed we only took 10 threes last night, didn't see the game did San Diego do anything to prevent us from attempting shots from beyond the arc. The way the game is played today I don't think fewer threes is a recipe for success. Hoops it seems your default position on anyone who leaves is that they were stolen, doesn't seem to be a valid premise.
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Post by Non Alum Dave on Dec 8, 2019 13:20:56 GMT -5
Don't know about KC, but with CN and MF it just seems to me like the change in offensive philosophy has taken them out of their comfort zones. There was a play involving MF earlier (may have even been a practice, not sure) that jumped out at me: he was out beyond the 3 point line with the ball, and pump faked. Defender flew by, leaving a decent path to the basket. Last year, he shoots a 3, no questions asked. Here, he hesitated, looked like he was going to shoot, then finally put the ball on the floor. Clear path no longer there. My guess is that these situations happen a lot with these 2.Its almost like they are hearing 2 head coaches voices in their heads, if you know what I mean.
Defensively, there's no doubt it's not working right now. I'm not suggesting they are going to be a good defensive team any time soon, but I don't understand why they can't improve at least marginally.
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Post by trimster on Dec 8, 2019 14:23:32 GMT -5
Don't know about KC, but with CN and MF it just seems to me like the change in offensive philosophy has taken them out of their comfort zones. There was a play involving MF earlier (may have even been a practice, not sure) that jumped out at me: he was out beyond the 3 point line with the ball, and pump faked. Defender flew by, leaving a decent path to the basket. Last year, he shoots a 3, no questions asked. Here, he hesitated, looked like he was going to shoot, then finally put the ball on the floor. Clear path no longer there. My guess is that these situations happen a lot with these 2.Its almost like they are hearing 2 head coaches voices in their heads, if you know what I mean. Defensively, there's no doubt it's not working right now. I'm not suggesting they are going to be a good defensive team any time soon, but I don't understand why they can't improve at least marginally. Lack of foot speed is one reason.
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Post by Non Alum Dave on Dec 8, 2019 14:42:05 GMT -5
Marginally....that's all.
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Post by hchoops on Dec 8, 2019 15:05:05 GMT -5
I exaggerated about them being stolen, but how did at least Grandison discover the interest of Illinois ? Random ?
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Post by bringbackcaro on Dec 8, 2019 15:07:53 GMT -5
Two athletic starters were stolen from us. As well as the defensive PoY graduated. Hard to expect us to be as good defensively Green and Grandison weren't stolen. They ditched us.
The losses from last year's team argue all the more to use a zone instead of the m2m, which only two guys on the current roster can play adequately.
Nelson touched on this in the most recent edition of the Crusader Nation magazine with some great quotes IMHO. issuu.com/holycross/docs/fall2019/4?ffAn HC roster hasn’t been this bad since the Raynor years. If Nelson can build some momentum and develop the younger players throughout the season, that would be a successful result, regardless of the team’s record. A clone of RW, Brad Stevens, and John Wooden would have trouble figuring out what to do with these Junior and Senior classes. Playing a zone just because these guys can’t play man is not going to help the future of the program, when we will hopefully have a much better roster and guys who were recruited for more than their high school shooting percentages.
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Post by bringbackcaro on Dec 8, 2019 15:08:43 GMT -5
I exaggerated about them being stolen, but how did at least Grandison discover the interest of Illinois ? Random ? He entered his name into the Transfer Portal which meant any team in the country was free to contact him?
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Post by efg72 on Dec 8, 2019 20:04:11 GMT -5
I guess the question is do you want to instill your preferred system of defense as a way of playing, (and look for improvement), or put that on hold until next year and go with a defense that might increase your chance of winning. At some point as a coach you need to adjust and put the team in a position to win. I think that is what he was referring to back in October and early November. Patience needed by all. If he goes zone and the kids continue to play aggressively it will yield a few better results. Offensively they need some structure in the half court so he can’t let them loose in transition
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Post by sarasota on Dec 9, 2019 0:06:28 GMT -5
When was the last time you saw our guys run a give&go where our guy who received the give even looked in to watch the guy who was "going," let alone actually pass the ball to our "going" guy, let alone where our "going" guy sinks a shot? Effective half court offense is made of these two and three-man plays. E.g., penetrate and dish to a weak-side slasher, pass to someone running the baseline, etc. We do very little of this. Instead we mostly play NBAball: one-man kamikaze with other four guys standing still around the perimeter. We do it ALL THE TIME. Drives me nuts.
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