** The reason to follow sports, at least in my mind, and more importantly to follow your favorite team, is for the enjoyment of it. Tonight, I truly enjoyed my favorite team. That was a great deal of fun!
** But more than it was fun for me, and presumably other fans, it surely looked fun for our Panther players. These guys haven’t looked like they’ve been having all that much fun for a couple of games now.
** In his post-game interview, Sheldon Jeter mentioned about how he was just in a good mood today. He said he’s usually very serious and focused on the bench, but today he was laughing and having fun.
** Maybe this good mood helped Sheldon relax at little bit. And with that he scored, early and often.
** When he hit a jumper to score his 13th point near the 13 minute mark in the first half, history was already on our side. Through today, the Panthers are now 7-0 when Sheldon scores at least a dozen points.
** For most of this season, I liked the idea of Sheldon coming off the bench. However, I’m becoming more convinced it’s a luxury we can no longer afford. I’m equally convinced that the only way this team can reach their highest potential is with a greater focus on offense.
** I’m convinced of this point because I’m equally convinced this team cannot improve defensively in a meaningful way.
** That doesn’t mean our defensive effort was poor today. In fact, I thought the defensive effort was better, even if the execution wasn’t always the same.
** But when you can move the ball well enough to score 90 points with 30 assists, no one is going to be terribly worried about defense, are they?
** Interestingly, I read through some of the in-game thread, and found the posts about James Robinson to be fascinating. I say this because I thought James was actually excellent today, and kept the ball moving instead of sticking. At times, James can certainly be guilty of sticking.
** I'm also fascinated with some of the negativity, even a game that was going as well as this one. But I digress.
** Let’s return to Sheldon and what he seems to mean to this team. It’s pretty clear that his early success brought confidence to his entire team. This was a game where many of the Panthers seemed very comfortable letting it fly, even if they weren’t always hitting. Two players to whom this particularly applied were Sterling Smith and Cam Johnson.
** I loved the inbounds play where Sterling quietly walked out the three point line and no one seemed to notice and he canned the triple.
** Sheldon’s confidence also seemed to inspire Ryan Luther. The game was tied at 23 when Ryan let a three fly from the corner that found the bottom of the net. That was really the one that got the team going, and after Sterling followed with his own three, the game was completely in the Panthers’ control from then on.
** It’s now been three straight games where Ryan has had a significant positive impact on the game.
** I doubt that confidence is lacking in any part of Damon Wilson’s game, and it’s great to see him finishing two really tough plays at the basket. I’m looking forward to seeing what he turns into with more experience.
** I don’t know how much fun Mike Young had during a game when he had to get stitches in his mouth. Well, it couldn’t have too bad for him considering he scored 13 points after he returned.
** Maybe a punch in the mouth will help Mike in some way. He’s the leader of this team, and he’s the one that will have to set the tone with greater toughness.
** Obviously, the Panthers looked much tougher today than they did earlier in the week. But they are going to have to find ways to get tougher against the tougher teams.
** I’m not exactly sure what to think about the Panthers surrendering 11 threes, but only 12 twos. I’ll leave that for others to figure out.
** I’m also not exactly sure what to make of the mass exodus that happened at the Pete starting around the 6:30 mark of the second half. By the time the game ended, there were only about 5,000 left in the building. It would seem to me that more Panther fans would enjoy watching some good offensive basketball after a few rougher games.
** I know this team can be very tough to watch when they play the way they did against Clemson or NC State. But that wasn’t the case today.
** What was the case today was a very enjoyable game. Notice however, that I didn’t say impressive. Beating Va Tech at home by 19 is solid, but not impressive. It’s what we should have done, more or less.
** Beating the other Virginia at home next week would be impressive though. I believe the Panthers are capable of this, even if can’t say I’m confident they will get it done.
** But it sure would be fun! See you on Saturday for the BLACKOUT!
** But more than it was fun for me, and presumably other fans, it surely looked fun for our Panther players. These guys haven’t looked like they’ve been having all that much fun for a couple of games now.
** In his post-game interview, Sheldon Jeter mentioned about how he was just in a good mood today. He said he’s usually very serious and focused on the bench, but today he was laughing and having fun.
** Maybe this good mood helped Sheldon relax at little bit. And with that he scored, early and often.
** When he hit a jumper to score his 13th point near the 13 minute mark in the first half, history was already on our side. Through today, the Panthers are now 7-0 when Sheldon scores at least a dozen points.
** For most of this season, I liked the idea of Sheldon coming off the bench. However, I’m becoming more convinced it’s a luxury we can no longer afford. I’m equally convinced that the only way this team can reach their highest potential is with a greater focus on offense.
** I’m convinced of this point because I’m equally convinced this team cannot improve defensively in a meaningful way.
** That doesn’t mean our defensive effort was poor today. In fact, I thought the defensive effort was better, even if the execution wasn’t always the same.
** But when you can move the ball well enough to score 90 points with 30 assists, no one is going to be terribly worried about defense, are they?
** Interestingly, I read through some of the in-game thread, and found the posts about James Robinson to be fascinating. I say this because I thought James was actually excellent today, and kept the ball moving instead of sticking. At times, James can certainly be guilty of sticking.
** I'm also fascinated with some of the negativity, even a game that was going as well as this one. But I digress.
** Let’s return to Sheldon and what he seems to mean to this team. It’s pretty clear that his early success brought confidence to his entire team. This was a game where many of the Panthers seemed very comfortable letting it fly, even if they weren’t always hitting. Two players to whom this particularly applied were Sterling Smith and Cam Johnson.
** I loved the inbounds play where Sterling quietly walked out the three point line and no one seemed to notice and he canned the triple.
** Sheldon’s confidence also seemed to inspire Ryan Luther. The game was tied at 23 when Ryan let a three fly from the corner that found the bottom of the net. That was really the one that got the team going, and after Sterling followed with his own three, the game was completely in the Panthers’ control from then on.
** It’s now been three straight games where Ryan has had a significant positive impact on the game.
** I doubt that confidence is lacking in any part of Damon Wilson’s game, and it’s great to see him finishing two really tough plays at the basket. I’m looking forward to seeing what he turns into with more experience.
** I don’t know how much fun Mike Young had during a game when he had to get stitches in his mouth. Well, it couldn’t have too bad for him considering he scored 13 points after he returned.
** Maybe a punch in the mouth will help Mike in some way. He’s the leader of this team, and he’s the one that will have to set the tone with greater toughness.
** Obviously, the Panthers looked much tougher today than they did earlier in the week. But they are going to have to find ways to get tougher against the tougher teams.
** I’m not exactly sure what to think about the Panthers surrendering 11 threes, but only 12 twos. I’ll leave that for others to figure out.
** I’m also not exactly sure what to make of the mass exodus that happened at the Pete starting around the 6:30 mark of the second half. By the time the game ended, there were only about 5,000 left in the building. It would seem to me that more Panther fans would enjoy watching some good offensive basketball after a few rougher games.
** I know this team can be very tough to watch when they play the way they did against Clemson or NC State. But that wasn’t the case today.
** What was the case today was a very enjoyable game. Notice however, that I didn’t say impressive. Beating Va Tech at home by 19 is solid, but not impressive. It’s what we should have done, more or less.
** Beating the other Virginia at home next week would be impressive though. I believe the Panthers are capable of this, even if can’t say I’m confident they will get it done.
** But it sure would be fun! See you on Saturday for the BLACKOUT!
