After an hour of calming down a bit, I’ll try to do my best Matt impression before he puts his out tomorrow morning (hopefully!)
The end result is fine and we are in a good spot overall, but it’s still a missed opportunity. Games like that cost you seed lines. Just need to find a way to hold on in a game you are up 14.
The officiating was extremely poor - although that is Wisconsin’s gameplan and it’s worked for them so far this year. Did the same thing to Zona. Kinda just a bad matchup for us, kinda think we folded a bit physically down the stretch too. They got every loose ball down the stretch and multiple ORBs, which I think was disappointing.
I’m kinda not use to us playing a real OOC schedule though. Because when you play a schedule like this, you’re going to lose some games, unless you are like a Top 5-10 team. But it’s what happens. But as long as you win some and generally play well, it really is fine. We have 2 okay wins vs LSU and WVU, and still have 2 GREAT opportunities next 2 weeks.
Definitely stings a bit more though just cause of how bad the ACC is - there just aren’t a ton of opportunities to win games of this stature in league play.
Lowe - I think he’s the best college basketball player we’ve had in the last 10-15 years. He plays at the speed he wants to, and can score, set someone up, etc. He’s really good, and you want the ball in his hands. Hasn’t felt confident shooting the ball yet though
Dunn - his offensive presence is solid but we really missed his physicality defensively. This is his type of game - hope he’s back by mid Jan
Leggett - just pretty consistently finds his way to the rim
Corhen - he’s SUCH an offensive upgrade… we do miss the rim protection badly, though
Austin - was disappointed in his on ball defense tonight for how athletic he is. Seems much more comfortable roaming and ballhawking than he is actually guarding. Shooting the ball better this year
GDG - Needs to shoot the ball better to justify having him on the court alongside Corhen. So far I’m worried he’s better at hitting wide open 3s at the top of the key than actually a true shot maker from anywhere behind the 3 pt line - very different type of shots required
Beebah - also a little disappointed in him - very young and will be fine but thought he could give us some better defensive minutes in a game with so much foul trouble
Deliac - most encouraging part of this game was his minutes. He’s not super athletic but I think he’s fine to hang defensively - but he just does not have the rotation part down yet. You can tell he isn’t sure when to switch, stay, rotate, etc. The shooting stroke is so pure, and his IQ/passing is high level
We’re still a Top 20 KenPom team - we’re really good. Good teams should be able to win a game without their 4th option or so when needed - which is what we need to do 1 out of the next 2 games. We can lose them both and still be a really good team - but if we want to be a special team, that’s what I think we need to do.
Fun to have expectations again!
The end result is fine and we are in a good spot overall, but it’s still a missed opportunity. Games like that cost you seed lines. Just need to find a way to hold on in a game you are up 14.
The officiating was extremely poor - although that is Wisconsin’s gameplan and it’s worked for them so far this year. Did the same thing to Zona. Kinda just a bad matchup for us, kinda think we folded a bit physically down the stretch too. They got every loose ball down the stretch and multiple ORBs, which I think was disappointing.
I’m kinda not use to us playing a real OOC schedule though. Because when you play a schedule like this, you’re going to lose some games, unless you are like a Top 5-10 team. But it’s what happens. But as long as you win some and generally play well, it really is fine. We have 2 okay wins vs LSU and WVU, and still have 2 GREAT opportunities next 2 weeks.
Definitely stings a bit more though just cause of how bad the ACC is - there just aren’t a ton of opportunities to win games of this stature in league play.
Lowe - I think he’s the best college basketball player we’ve had in the last 10-15 years. He plays at the speed he wants to, and can score, set someone up, etc. He’s really good, and you want the ball in his hands. Hasn’t felt confident shooting the ball yet though
Dunn - his offensive presence is solid but we really missed his physicality defensively. This is his type of game - hope he’s back by mid Jan
Leggett - just pretty consistently finds his way to the rim
Corhen - he’s SUCH an offensive upgrade… we do miss the rim protection badly, though
Austin - was disappointed in his on ball defense tonight for how athletic he is. Seems much more comfortable roaming and ballhawking than he is actually guarding. Shooting the ball better this year
GDG - Needs to shoot the ball better to justify having him on the court alongside Corhen. So far I’m worried he’s better at hitting wide open 3s at the top of the key than actually a true shot maker from anywhere behind the 3 pt line - very different type of shots required
Beebah - also a little disappointed in him - very young and will be fine but thought he could give us some better defensive minutes in a game with so much foul trouble
Deliac - most encouraging part of this game was his minutes. He’s not super athletic but I think he’s fine to hang defensively - but he just does not have the rotation part down yet. You can tell he isn’t sure when to switch, stay, rotate, etc. The shooting stroke is so pure, and his IQ/passing is high level
We’re still a Top 20 KenPom team - we’re really good. Good teams should be able to win a game without their 4th option or so when needed - which is what we need to do 1 out of the next 2 games. We can lose them both and still be a really good team - but if we want to be a special team, that’s what I think we need to do.
Fun to have expectations again!
