** Not often a few games into any sports season do you get to experience the debut of a player who you believe will be a difference maker for your team.
** OK, sure I suppose one can offer Russell Wilson as a better example, but I digress.
** Us Panther Hoops faithful were all looking forward to the debut tonight of the 6-8 Bosnian Bomber. I was all ready to write all kinds of attempts at clever entries describing his sensational shooting and prime play on day one.
** But instead, we got to watch the player we probably should have expected – that is, more or less, he looked like a player who hasn’t played in seven weeks.
** So let’s just offer a pass for now and give him some time to get up to speed.
** But it’s a little tougher to give a pass to the rest of the Panther squad who often looked like a team that hasn’t seen a zone defense in seven years.
** Early on, the Panthers looked like they were really ready to play against the Running Bulldogs, extending to an early 20 point lead. But once the Bulldogs stopped running, and instead took to standing in their 2-3, the Panthers at times looked flummoxed.
** Far too often, the Panthers made the pass against the zone to the foul line, but couldn’t get much more than a jump shot one pass out of it. In other words, when Gardner-Webb was standing in their zone, a bit too often the Panthers were standing in their efforts to attack it.
** For a while, I was uncomfortably reminded about how much trouble Capel’s teams had attacking zones in his first couple years.
** Zones have been a little less of a problem in the last few because of perimeter ball movement and bombs away from Blake and others.
** This night, the same bombs weren’t falling to the standard we hope this team can hold.
** We were able to get some open ones, but not enough went in to make the Bulldogs slide back to man. And with our guys lined on the perimeter, second chances were hard to come by.
** Eventually, however, we found our way to a better attack by screening on the wing instead of trying to play from the foul line. This allowed the Panthers to keep the lead at a very comfortable distance, even if it never quite felt like we were putting away a Big South Conference opponent the way we probably should.
** When assessing this game, once again I’ll offer the confession that I’m judging this team against what I think they can be instead of where they are.
** And wIth that, 19 point wins (which could have been 30 had not Jeff cleared the bench in the final minutes) aren’t problematic.
** But the Panthers were able to score many more points on the break off turnovers than they will get against your ordinary ACC foes.
** In the other direction, Jaland’s shot was just off today. His floater, which is more often money, was misfiring. It’s fair to assume he’ll be back with a vengeance against the Mounties. In most games he’ll be closer to 50% instead of the 27% he offered tonight.
** I do wonder however, if it’s a good thing that GDiaz tied with Jaland leading the Panthers with 11 field goal attempts. It’s understandable why he took 8 threes against the GWebb zone. But it’s also possible there is something of a diminishing returns principle with G’s offense.
** Along the same lines, I might also offer that 29 minutes is about 9 too many for GDG. But if Cam Corhen can’t figure out how to stay out of foul trouble, this is Capel’s reality.
** Cam had plenty of good moments this night too. He ran the court well on the break, and does bring much needed offense. But he needs to develop a stronger base on defense as he’s still letting his man back him down, and slip around him and this is leading to many of his fouls.
** None of the Panthers can be too proud of their second half defensive work. After allowing GW to only shoot 32% in the first half, the Panthers allowed 46% in the second half. From my eye, these numbers are entirely reflective of our effort in the second half as opposed to the first.
** In fact, it didn’t really appear that the Panthers brought much energy at all to start the second half. But that’s why it’s nice to be able to bring Zach Austin off the bench and his entry brought a spark on both ends. It’s only too bad that his heat check ended on his second three attempt of the final 20 minutes.
** Ish Leggett brought the heat all game long. In fact, he was near perfect for 40 minutes. Additionally, Ish didn’t force a shot all game long allowing him to be extremely efficient. Damian was efficient too, but maybe the Panthers would have been a little better served from either trying to assert their offense a little more than they did tonight.
** This might seem a little strange to say for a team who has scored 80 or more points in their first three games, but I think we need to find a bit more half court firepower. At the moment, we really just have a 6 man rotation. And maybe only three high level scorers. I'm not ready to put Cam there yet, especially when he's on the bench in foul trouble.
** Beebah may find his spots as the season goes on, but at the moment, he simply looks like a freshman. And the aforementioned Amsal hopefully only needs time to get up to speed. But it’s too soon to know where he settles in. Because of this, it’s not a surprise that GDG led the Panthers in shots. In the long run, this doesn’t seem to be a high level winning equation.
** Maybe our depth isn't quite the strength we though it could be.
** But that’s what these early games are for, and despite this notably critical review, I still believe this can be a very good Panther team. We just aren’t there yet.
** Hopefully, we can put together better all around effort and execution on Friday. I’m not suggesting that the Panthers we watched tonight would lose to the Hoopies in our upcoming contest. But it would certainly indeed be a contest.
** But if we are to project ourselves as a top 6 ACC team, I’d like to think we should be able to readily dispatch a team predicted to finish 13th in the Big 12 on our home court.
** This team has adopted a motto of “leave no doubt!” I’d rather walk out of the Pete on Friday with a little less doubt than I have at the moment.
** OK, sure I suppose one can offer Russell Wilson as a better example, but I digress.
** Us Panther Hoops faithful were all looking forward to the debut tonight of the 6-8 Bosnian Bomber. I was all ready to write all kinds of attempts at clever entries describing his sensational shooting and prime play on day one.
** But instead, we got to watch the player we probably should have expected – that is, more or less, he looked like a player who hasn’t played in seven weeks.
** So let’s just offer a pass for now and give him some time to get up to speed.
** But it’s a little tougher to give a pass to the rest of the Panther squad who often looked like a team that hasn’t seen a zone defense in seven years.
** Early on, the Panthers looked like they were really ready to play against the Running Bulldogs, extending to an early 20 point lead. But once the Bulldogs stopped running, and instead took to standing in their 2-3, the Panthers at times looked flummoxed.
** Far too often, the Panthers made the pass against the zone to the foul line, but couldn’t get much more than a jump shot one pass out of it. In other words, when Gardner-Webb was standing in their zone, a bit too often the Panthers were standing in their efforts to attack it.
** For a while, I was uncomfortably reminded about how much trouble Capel’s teams had attacking zones in his first couple years.
** Zones have been a little less of a problem in the last few because of perimeter ball movement and bombs away from Blake and others.
** This night, the same bombs weren’t falling to the standard we hope this team can hold.
** We were able to get some open ones, but not enough went in to make the Bulldogs slide back to man. And with our guys lined on the perimeter, second chances were hard to come by.
** Eventually, however, we found our way to a better attack by screening on the wing instead of trying to play from the foul line. This allowed the Panthers to keep the lead at a very comfortable distance, even if it never quite felt like we were putting away a Big South Conference opponent the way we probably should.
** When assessing this game, once again I’ll offer the confession that I’m judging this team against what I think they can be instead of where they are.
** And wIth that, 19 point wins (which could have been 30 had not Jeff cleared the bench in the final minutes) aren’t problematic.
** But the Panthers were able to score many more points on the break off turnovers than they will get against your ordinary ACC foes.
** In the other direction, Jaland’s shot was just off today. His floater, which is more often money, was misfiring. It’s fair to assume he’ll be back with a vengeance against the Mounties. In most games he’ll be closer to 50% instead of the 27% he offered tonight.
** I do wonder however, if it’s a good thing that GDiaz tied with Jaland leading the Panthers with 11 field goal attempts. It’s understandable why he took 8 threes against the GWebb zone. But it’s also possible there is something of a diminishing returns principle with G’s offense.
** Along the same lines, I might also offer that 29 minutes is about 9 too many for GDG. But if Cam Corhen can’t figure out how to stay out of foul trouble, this is Capel’s reality.
** Cam had plenty of good moments this night too. He ran the court well on the break, and does bring much needed offense. But he needs to develop a stronger base on defense as he’s still letting his man back him down, and slip around him and this is leading to many of his fouls.
** None of the Panthers can be too proud of their second half defensive work. After allowing GW to only shoot 32% in the first half, the Panthers allowed 46% in the second half. From my eye, these numbers are entirely reflective of our effort in the second half as opposed to the first.
** In fact, it didn’t really appear that the Panthers brought much energy at all to start the second half. But that’s why it’s nice to be able to bring Zach Austin off the bench and his entry brought a spark on both ends. It’s only too bad that his heat check ended on his second three attempt of the final 20 minutes.
** Ish Leggett brought the heat all game long. In fact, he was near perfect for 40 minutes. Additionally, Ish didn’t force a shot all game long allowing him to be extremely efficient. Damian was efficient too, but maybe the Panthers would have been a little better served from either trying to assert their offense a little more than they did tonight.
** This might seem a little strange to say for a team who has scored 80 or more points in their first three games, but I think we need to find a bit more half court firepower. At the moment, we really just have a 6 man rotation. And maybe only three high level scorers. I'm not ready to put Cam there yet, especially when he's on the bench in foul trouble.
** Beebah may find his spots as the season goes on, but at the moment, he simply looks like a freshman. And the aforementioned Amsal hopefully only needs time to get up to speed. But it’s too soon to know where he settles in. Because of this, it’s not a surprise that GDG led the Panthers in shots. In the long run, this doesn’t seem to be a high level winning equation.
** Maybe our depth isn't quite the strength we though it could be.
** But that’s what these early games are for, and despite this notably critical review, I still believe this can be a very good Panther team. We just aren’t there yet.
** Hopefully, we can put together better all around effort and execution on Friday. I’m not suggesting that the Panthers we watched tonight would lose to the Hoopies in our upcoming contest. But it would certainly indeed be a contest.
** But if we are to project ourselves as a top 6 ACC team, I’d like to think we should be able to readily dispatch a team predicted to finish 13th in the Big 12 on our home court.
** This team has adopted a motto of “leave no doubt!” I’d rather walk out of the Pete on Friday with a little less doubt than I have at the moment.
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