OK, time for my recap...
First, it's not like we would beat Purdue but it was possible. Purdue is down and not the same
as the team of last year but their system is the same and it's not that glamorous. In some ways
they are like GB except bigger. A lot bigger when it comes to 3, 4 and 5 spot. So picking on Schwartz
doesn't say much since it will be the same against most High major teams and if he was at the 3 or 4
he still wouldn't be quick enough or athletic enough for High major and if so, he probably wouldn't be
at GB. However, I think he will be just fine in the Horizon against 8 of the 10 teams. The other 2, hopefully
Manny Patterson will be able to take on the load along with Will.
The biggest issue for us in my opinion is the freedom on offense that everyone has. No one seems to
have a filter for taking a good shot except a couple guys. We take to many early bad shots and this
hurts use a lot when it's in the half court offense because we're not getting enough defensive rebounds
to get out and run. Linc system needs turnovers or defensive rebounds to look good and right now we don't
get enough rebounds and the turnovers want happen (one reason, is the offensive game being protected so much)
whenever, we trap they call the stupid (you in my space foul) which means you can't really press anymore for
the most part.
The offensive freedom is what gets a lot of our recruits here and I like that, but we still need to
continue to preach bad shot, vs good shot vs great shot even if it is quick. We take to many bad and good
shots early in the shot clock with no offensive rebounds and that's why we have 10 - 0 runs against us.
We can be quick and play with freedom maybe if we had some sets to get those quick shots instead of
just the motion offensive look. Again, just my thoughts on what I see. We have a good group of offensive
capable players that would be great if we got them their shots more off of a set 50% of the time as opposed
to go take it to the rec league.
I like our team and depth that we have is good. Now if we can curtail some of the bad shots
and turn them into a good assist we will win the conference for sure. We can go 10 deep and this is
perfect for a conference run against teams that can only go 7-8 deep but we have to make better offensive
decisions.
I was at the game and some of this was being said by coach as I could tell by his body language.
Davis lost some minutes because, coach thought he could have passed out a couple times for some
open 3s. He continues his attacks and does this once in a while, it will open the floor up more for
him for sure. Great freshman and should be a huge asset especially with the defense he plays. Between
him, Pipes, Hankerson and McNair, guards will be really worn down in the last 12 minutes of games.
McNair and Tank early bad decisions were mainly bad because of the team they were playing. They get
away with those moves from the free throw line when they not running into 6'10 and 7'3 guys but this
is part of making good decisions but growing and preparing for Conference play.
McCloud starting cold because trying to force shots and once he settling in he was solid with plays and
nice passes unfortunately, we were already down 16 or so. The first 5 or 6 shots were bad decisions
early in a clock that we needed to make better decisions on.
All in all, I still like this team and our chances. I know we will have the bad shots because the system
allows it for the most part but this team will play great defense because I believe they have at least
3 or 4 defensive dogs.
Also the refs were really bad. The called 2 technical and neither warranted a tech. One on McNair because
during and out of bounds play, Nojel stepped on his foot to keep him from moving and arm checked him and McNair
knocked his hand down and got a Tech. Pipes took 3 charges. 1 they called charge and the other 2 they called
flopping and he clearly got run over on all three. New rule this year is flopping will be called, 1st a warning
and second a tech. (bad officiating... as the announcers even called it on the telecast.)
After the 1st week, my biggest watch out for team is Youngstown... Keep and eye on them.
PS... ON a good note, we killed Purdue bench 6 points to 26 points for GB