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Post by shooting the J on Jan 14, 2015 19:56:32 GMT -6
Green Bay (14-3, 3-0) @ Oakland (5-12, 1-2) Where: O'rena, Rochester, Michigan When: Thursday, 6:00 PM CST Video Streaming: ESPN3 Radio: WNFL 92.1 FM 1440 AM
Oakland has beaten Toledo and Valpo at home so far. Khalil Felder is a big time PG, and Cory Petros is a true post-up big man. The Grizzles are 5-12 because of a ridiculous schedule and a porous defense. The Phoenix need to slow down Felder with sharp team defense to keep the win streak alive and to maintain their hold on 1st place.
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Post by phoenixphan87 on Jan 15, 2015 0:51:38 GMT -6
It is hard to predict where Oakland will finish in the Horizon League. Much better team than a 5-12 record with that NC slate. They beat Valpo, nearly won at Cleveland state...then get blown out to Detroit. They played us tough for 3 of the 4 halves last year. If our guys play like they have the opening three conference games we should be able to pull it out. Felder is the real deal but turnover prone
Interesting preview from Kampe
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Post by gbalum2007 on Jan 15, 2015 11:42:23 GMT -6
After a couple games where they primarily played man-to-man, I think you could see GB lean on their zone this game to limit Felder's ability to penetrate, and prevent the ball from getting to Petros in the post. Oakland takes a decent amount of shots from distance, but none of their regulars shoot it with the consistency that would scare you, like the Grizzlies had in Travis Bader last year. The bigs for the Phoenix have to stay out of foul trouble in order to keep Petros in check. Outside of him, Oakland's not a good rebounding team (33.5 RPG - 236th Nationally), so GB should clean up on the boards again.
The Golden Grizzlies allow 77.4 PPG at a clip of 47.4%. While they played some solid opposition in the non-conference season that skews those numbers a bit, both Detroit and Valpo were able to reach the mid-70s. No one in their regular rotation has a DRTG better than 111.4 (compare that to GB who's lowest rated defender is Botz with a DRTG of 100.4). Scoring should not be an issue.
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Post by stillaphoenixphan on Jan 15, 2015 18:56:03 GMT -6
Half time Oakland 40 GB 35. Looks like GB has fallen in love with the jump shot again. When they've attacked the basket we've played better but seem to be afraid of Petros. GB had 1 one point lead in the 1st half at 2 min mark. Defense also needs to get better last I heard Oakland was shooting 60%. Maybe partly due to Fouse and Sykes having 2 fouls? Fouse only played 10 min in the 1st half. Hitting a lot of 3's which is a Oakland trademark. Only reason it's close is turnovers by Oakland.
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Post by HenryMuto on Jan 15, 2015 20:02:20 GMT -6
Well that is going to pretty much screw you guys out of any at large hopes unless you win out in the regular season I am guessing.
It's a shame too even though this was a dreadful loss but that is the life of the CSU's and the GB's of the world.
You guys won at Miami by 13 and Miami won at Duke by 16 that tells you all you need to know but the little guys never get the breaks.
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Post by shooting the J on Jan 15, 2015 20:38:35 GMT -6
To me the difference in the game was Khalil Felder had 10 assists while Sykes had 5. If Sykes is going to dominate the basketball, then he also needs to find the open man when the defense runs a 2nd defender at him. Oakland is a good offensive team on their home floor, but the Phoenix need to be able to score more against that defense. It starts with finding the open man.
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Post by knightlyfe920 on Jan 15, 2015 20:59:21 GMT -6
To me the difference in the game was Khalil Felder had 10 assists while Sykes had 5. If Sykes is going to dominate the basketball, then he also needs to find the open man when the defense runs a 2nd defender at him. Oakland is a good offensive team on their home floor, but the Phoenix need to be able to score more against that defense. It starts with finding the open man. I do not agree that a lack of passing by Skyes or anyone else lost the game.There weren't too many times where we had an obviously open guy who we didn't get the ball to. The fact of the matter is is we just shot the ball really poorly and were outmuscled on the glass. We only had two fewer assists than Oakland so I don't think its fair to say that was a key determinate in the loss. Free-throw and three point shooting, as well as rebounding are what doomed us. We don't have much time to regroup from this game and if we lose against Detroit, I think we could fall into a deeper skid. Hopefully we can pull it together and play like we mean it on Saturday.
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Post by GBPhoenix1 on Jan 15, 2015 22:25:52 GMT -6
That was a tough loss. I don't think the foul trouble helped at all. Fouse didn't get a lot of clock in the first half and I couldn't tell you the last time I watched Sykes sit in a big late second half stretch.
Plus a lot of little things really added up. Mays and Sykes both lost and 1's to offensive fouls. Nick Daniels only made 1 shot the entire game but it was a big one with his late 3. Sykes missed 4 free throws. McCune didn't get called for an obvious technical when he did a pull up on the rim after a dunk. I am not suggesting that everything should go GB's way, just that the margin of error is small in league play.
I though Tevin gave them good minutes in the first half. I would have liked to see him come in for Sykes in the second half instead of Botz.
15-1 in league play will have to be good enough!! To be serious though, we all know they aren't going to win this going away. They battled back in the game and I am confident they will do so again on Saturday.
I can't resist a little complaining. I thought Petros/McCune/Hays were allowed to clear out/run through/jump over GB to get those offensive rebounds. The silver hair official did not do GB any favors in this game.
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Post by gbbrl97 on Jan 16, 2015 7:22:58 GMT -6
Losing to a 200+ ranked team in the RPI hurts. I think if GB goes 14-2 in conference (presumably the next loss is to either CSU or Valpo), wins the regular season title and gets to the HL title game, then they can still be an NCAA bubble team.
But since we don't gave a consistent 3-pt. shooter and we are shaky from the FT line, GB is not going to run away with the HL. If GB can't defend the perimeter and get offensive rebounds like they normally do, then they will lose close games against the middle tier teams of the HL like last night. The margin of error is small with this team.
Is it me or is BW still tweaking his rotation? It seems like guys who don't log in a single minute for 1-2 games will them play 10+ in another game. This should have been settled by now.
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Post by phoenixphan87 on Jan 16, 2015 8:35:09 GMT -6
I think its time for everyone to throw out the at large talk. Our RPI is now at 80 according to ESPN. This team can win the league (realistically id take 13-3, which should be enough) and hopefully host the conference tournament again. Hopefully we don't have too many cold outside shooting nights like last night and Keifer can stay out of foul trouble.
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Post by phearthephoenix on Jan 16, 2015 9:52:20 GMT -6
As Mike McCarthy once said, "the train has left the station." There's no chance we get an at-large. Time to focus on winning the regular season title again so we can host the HL tournament.
The only way GB or any other league team is getting in is by winning the conference tournament.
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Post by knightlyfe920 on Jan 16, 2015 9:52:33 GMT -6
I think its time for everyone to throw out the at large talk. Our RPI is now at 80 according to ESPN. This team can win the league (realistically id take 13-3, which should be enough) and hopefully host the conference tournament again. Hopefully we don't have too many cold outside shooting nights like last night and Keifer can stay out of foul trouble. If we get lucky, use this game as a wake up call and run the table in the league but yet still lose in the conference tournament I think it would be an absolute joke if we were left out. If the committee uses common sense and looks at the overall body of work, they would see that the bad losses would cancel out almost due to the good teams we have beaten and the numerous games we won in a rout. Pit us up against any bubble power 5 school ( or whatever the hell they call them these days ) head to head and I think we would fair well. There is no way anyone could justify saying that we would not be as qualified as a 15 loss big ten or big east team. If we can win out in convincing fashion but still slip up in the conference tournament I could see absolutely no reason for us not to be in. In the event that does happen, I would lose my waning faith in college sports and I would never watch an NCAA event again. Fingers crossed......
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Post by knightlyfe920 on Jan 16, 2015 9:57:08 GMT -6
I think everyone is just in a pessimistic mood right now but I guarantee if we rattled off 7 or 8 straight wins, people on this site would resume the same at large talk as before. Keep your heads up, this is a better team than what played last night. I realize that breaks aren't given to mid majors but if we play well enough to close the season, they would have no choice but to let us in.
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Post by HenryMuto on Jan 26, 2015 20:15:06 GMT -6
Well we just blew our game at Oakland ourselves was up 1 with under 45 seconds left and couldn't get the stop to seal it. Oakland 28 FT's to our 7 no way we were winning that game tonight with that FT difference...so much for a battle for sole possession of 1st Saturday with you guys.
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Post by GBPhoenix1 on Jan 27, 2015 7:12:17 GMT -6
What was a 3 way race on paper may now be a 4 way race. I haven't looked deep enough but off the top of my head I think every team has held serve at home so far against the other top teams. The first to win on the road is going to get a big advantage. That makes the game at CSU this Saturday a huge opportunity for GB.
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