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Post by shooting the J on Nov 26, 2014 7:24:49 GMT -6
Great to get another win, but GB will need to bring is A game versus Dunk City. This game will be listed as neutral site, but it would be like playing Green Bay at the Brown County Arena. FGCU had been outstanding so far this year. This is a perfect match-up, Pho Slamma Jamma versus Dunk City.
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Post by GBPhoenix1 on Nov 26, 2014 8:56:44 GMT -6
I am a little late to game here. ECU isn't a high major per se as they were in CUSA last year but they did make a step up to AAC this year, have a head coach with high major experience and have some size and athletic talent. They were just selfish offensively, played a zone defense that they weren't good at and didn't work nearly as hard as GB did. That was an effort win in an ugly game.
I didn't think the Evansville game was as close as the score indicated. GB had several early turnovers that took away baskets, one was a travel on Love that was way late and pretty much called by the Aces bench but took away a hoop. GB also missed a boat load of free throws during the game, that needs to change. Plus two of the biggest Aces hoops were incredibly lucky. Balentine had an obviuous double dribble go uncalled which led to a 3 pointer. Before that Balentine fell in the lane with the ball and lead to a layup for #10. I realize that that is what makes the game close, I am saying GB seemed to slow down their offense and was getting scoring looks that could have easily made this a 10+ point win. I don't think the Aces did anything to GB to be in position to win easily.
Some side notes. I thought Love was huge. Not just the two 3 balls but also his defense on Ballentine was really good. He really made him work. I thought Mays did a nice job of finding ways to score even though his jumper is broken right now, he just did what experienced guys do and that is keep playing and moved into other scoring positions. Out of nowhere Small had a few nice plays, great to see that.
This win is one that could keep giving. Evansville plays Belmont, Murray St, Ohio and San Francisco this year. Those are solid mid majors so with some wins and a solid MVC season they could be an RPI boost for GB.
As for USF this is just a guess but Rex Walters knocked over two chairs and stormed around the bench before half time. I am guessing his message was not well received as they came out of the half and got blown away.
As for FGCU tonight that will be a test. They play a style that is hard to stop as they do so many dumb things but then just crash the glass with their length to reload more dumb shots. It is like the law of large numbers, if you put up enough shots something will go in. On defense USF was at the rim a lot but couldn't finish so the FGCU man defense didn't impress me. They will want a track meet and will give up shots. GB can't get caught up in taking as many dumb shots as the Eagles will. The Eagles fans are an older group but they are organized and passionate. This game might not be one for the Naismith purists out there but it will be a good "road" win to have on the resume.
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Post by jonnyindepere on Nov 26, 2014 9:45:24 GMT -6
Biggest thing I took away from the Evansville game was how efficient our bench was. 16 points on 7 shots is a great game from our bench and the turnovers were relatively low. The right guys are taking shots that they're comfortable with, nobody is forcing right now, which is good to see.
That bench is really lead by in my opinion, by Botz. He's been consistent through every game taking only good shots and he's someone who generally is feeding the ball down to the post. Francis as well has been great off the bench however there are still moments of uncertainty in the offense with him, which can be expected out of a true freshman. I would like to see Botz maybe put up a few more shots because he really could be scoring close to double digits a game if he hunted his shot more, as noted earlier in these postings.
I can't tell from the live feed if Fouse is actually hacking or if it's tight officiating but I can't believe he's fouling at the rate the officials have been calling him. Sykes was awesome and Love finally "broke through" and played the kind of ball we have come to expect of him.
Good luck tonight, Phoenix!
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Post by stillaphoenixphan on Nov 26, 2014 21:26:43 GMT -6
GB win 59-45. GB had the lead the whole game and never let it closer than 5 points. WTG GB
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Post by shooting the J on Nov 26, 2014 21:34:05 GMT -6
Resume win !!!
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Post by thetulsawarrior on Nov 26, 2014 21:41:30 GMT -6
Three road wins in three days....that's a resume builder in it's self. Now don't fall in love with the three point shot and continue with the solid defense.
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Post by shooting the J on Nov 26, 2014 21:51:31 GMT -6
An absolutely tremendous effort tonight. They simply out worked FGCU. Made them look more like Clanging Off Balance Runner Town rather than Dunk City. The GB zone can be a thing of beauty. Well done Phoenix!
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Post by stillaphoenixphan on Nov 27, 2014 8:09:34 GMT -6
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Post by GBPhoenix1 on Nov 27, 2014 14:38:09 GMT -6
It was great to see the guys get a tournament championship in what was a very solid mid major event. FGCU had all of the advantage but they ended up being totally unprepared. They couldn't handle the GB zone defense, the Phoenix players had such active hands on defense and really kept Comer from getting into the lane. He looked overrated in this game. The really impressive part was how GB went to the glass. Lowe and Mays were really active in that regard. That totally took FGCU out of the their game. Now they really need to build on this and not settle for being good in November.
My only negative in this game was that the bench really didn't bring too much to the game. Wardle really rode the starters in this game especially in the second half.
As a side note Ted Valentine is high up my list of least favorite officials. He killed GB in Madison and managed to call Sykes for two very questionable offensive fouls last night that led to him sitting for the last four minutes of the first half.
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Post by jonnyindepere on Nov 27, 2014 22:30:04 GMT -6
Great confidence builder for the team. I was very impressed with the play of our bigs in the third game. Fouse was great and really made up for he poor performances in the first two games. Also, Mays and Lowe were superb in defending the lane and grabbing rebounds.
This is a great achievement for the program, especially defeating FGCU at their place. Up next is Duluth which I don't care at all about because it's a D2, which for the Phoenix is a meaningless game in that a win won't help the resume at all.
Need to see more out of the bench than what we got the third game. They were good in the first two showings but sometimes that's how games go. The starters were hot out of the gates. Good move by BW to just let them run and not mess with them too much in terms of the rotation.
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Post by fansincebuss on Nov 28, 2014 0:00:11 GMT -6
Congratulations to the players and coaches for a well earned title in a difficult environment. How about those announcers continually referring to the Marshall transfers.
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Post by shooting the J on Nov 28, 2014 10:52:40 GMT -6
How big were those 3 wins for the Phoenix? Go to live-rpi.com and look where Green Bay is sitting. While I fully realize we are a few weeks away from these numbers meaning anything, it's still cool to see. If you didn't click, I'll just tell you that the Green Bay Phoenix is sitting at #1. Miami, who the Phoenix travel to face in 8 days in at #2.
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Post by shooting the J on Dec 7, 2014 17:40:13 GMT -6
FGCU goes on the road and knocks off UMass today. Still hard to believe Green Bay beat Dunk City so easily. They're a really solid team that could ambush some high major in the big dance again.
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Post by gbcookie30 on Dec 7, 2014 19:29:38 GMT -6
Well, FGCU was missing one of their better players, Jamail Jones, to suspension. Still, that isn't reflected in final RPI rankings, so I'll take the win, regardless.
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Post by shooting the J on Dec 9, 2014 21:46:59 GMT -6
Well, FGCU was missing one of their better players, Jamail Jones, to suspension. Still, that isn't reflected in final RPI rankings, so I'll take the win, regardless. Yes, forgot about him. Jamail is a Marquette transfer. Evansville beat Belmont on the road tonight. Evansville is seriously good and no one knows it yet.
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