...and that was just a hella-good road win, y'all.
Like I'm sure most of you, I groaned at seeing Cole in a suit yet again, but for some reason I wasn't all that worried --- at least not worried that we'd lose composure and endure one of those ugly halves like a few games ago --- because these guys are learning to play together in our system.
- It again started with defense. With the notable exceptions of Bigs getting caught in no-man's land above the ball on high screen action (and a head-turn here and there), 22 was cooking again, and they were having to make some difficult shots.
- Speaking of defense, Roy woke us up early (and served notice to the wuffies), coming outta the Under-16 with 42, 32 and 42 again, producing successive TOs and having State's Guards looking over their shoulders wondering where the double was coming from.
- On offense the game-plan was as sound as it was obvious --- pound it inside. Double-doubles for our starting Bigs ensued, but it could've been even better if a) Mando was able to finish thru contact better, and b) if a certain zebra (Smith?...who?) understood what an over-the-back foul was or a hack right in front of him. Hell, they were banging on us like pinatas but we still had to give a foul in the last 2 minutes just to get them to 7 team (SMH). I am, however, pleased tonight to see our commitment to make entry passes (something I've harped so much on) continued from the past few games. And even though we got a bit loose with the ball in spurts, inside-out is Carolina basketball.
- And speaking of Carolina basketball, folks, we shot 53+% from the field (despite only making two 3s)! That's what comes from a commitment to be inside-out and getting good looks on good ball movement (and that was despite a couple of possessions of volleyball). That being said I was afraid the FT bug was gonna bite us again. --- 5 straight missses (with one big tip-out) in crunch time. Fortunately we finally made them foul BRob (anyone notice Roy drew up an in-bound wrinkle in Press-O to get it in his hands for the FTs that iced it?).
- Speaking of BRob, man, what a dadgummed warrior that kid is. Someone needs to put him in cryogenic freeze for the next 3 days after the beating he took. My boy was gimpin' around the entire second half (and could barely get up in front of the scorer's table to come into the game the last time). And kudos all around to everyone for a TEAM effort. We made the shots we needed, cleaned the glass enough keep them at bay. And didn't it seem like EVERY shot was important tonight? Once we got a lead I don't remember ever letting them get up on us again by more than a point or two. Pierce's timely rhythm-3, couple of nice pull-ups for Keeling, KJ executing a sweet PnR, Plates with the big end-of-shot-clock awkward-angle jumper (to stop a State run) and that 1-on-4 fast break lay-up, Leaky with some challenged jumpers in the first half, and Brooks time and time again. Yeah, we made the shots we needed...
- Finally, a couple of areas that still need fixing going forward (even as our team basketball is coming together). First involves spacing. While some TOs come from careless/bad passes, sometimes the real (or at least shared) fault is with the receiver. Think of it as analagous to an NFL QB, i.e.,they don't wait for a WR to be standing all alone to throw the ball, it has to be done on anticipation and trust he'll get to the right spot. Our freelance Passing Game works much like that on the fly, thus it's every potential receiver's responsibility to clear potential deflecting hands as we HAVE to be able to anticipate passes to make the offense work correctly. In other words? Spacing. One thing Keeling (for example) still struggles with is maintaining/acquiring space to make himself available as a receiver. The second issue is "pitching ahead" in transition, Although there has been an emphasis on improving that, we're still missing opportunitues at lay-ups from simply not looking up and scanning BOTH sides of the floor. While some of that does come from Leaky having to play out of position, Cole when he returns also needs to be cognizant of that. Hopefully sitting next to Coach Rob has given him a fresh perspective.
Anyway... how about Ol' Roy now being 31-4 vs State since he's been back home? I mean, that is just absurd. Wow. But hey, gotta love his State-Hate.....
Like I'm sure most of you, I groaned at seeing Cole in a suit yet again, but for some reason I wasn't all that worried --- at least not worried that we'd lose composure and endure one of those ugly halves like a few games ago --- because these guys are learning to play together in our system.
- It again started with defense. With the notable exceptions of Bigs getting caught in no-man's land above the ball on high screen action (and a head-turn here and there), 22 was cooking again, and they were having to make some difficult shots.
- Speaking of defense, Roy woke us up early (and served notice to the wuffies), coming outta the Under-16 with 42, 32 and 42 again, producing successive TOs and having State's Guards looking over their shoulders wondering where the double was coming from.
- On offense the game-plan was as sound as it was obvious --- pound it inside. Double-doubles for our starting Bigs ensued, but it could've been even better if a) Mando was able to finish thru contact better, and b) if a certain zebra (Smith?...who?) understood what an over-the-back foul was or a hack right in front of him. Hell, they were banging on us like pinatas but we still had to give a foul in the last 2 minutes just to get them to 7 team (SMH). I am, however, pleased tonight to see our commitment to make entry passes (something I've harped so much on) continued from the past few games. And even though we got a bit loose with the ball in spurts, inside-out is Carolina basketball.
- And speaking of Carolina basketball, folks, we shot 53+% from the field (despite only making two 3s)! That's what comes from a commitment to be inside-out and getting good looks on good ball movement (and that was despite a couple of possessions of volleyball). That being said I was afraid the FT bug was gonna bite us again. --- 5 straight missses (with one big tip-out) in crunch time. Fortunately we finally made them foul BRob (anyone notice Roy drew up an in-bound wrinkle in Press-O to get it in his hands for the FTs that iced it?).
- Speaking of BRob, man, what a dadgummed warrior that kid is. Someone needs to put him in cryogenic freeze for the next 3 days after the beating he took. My boy was gimpin' around the entire second half (and could barely get up in front of the scorer's table to come into the game the last time). And kudos all around to everyone for a TEAM effort. We made the shots we needed, cleaned the glass enough keep them at bay. And didn't it seem like EVERY shot was important tonight? Once we got a lead I don't remember ever letting them get up on us again by more than a point or two. Pierce's timely rhythm-3, couple of nice pull-ups for Keeling, KJ executing a sweet PnR, Plates with the big end-of-shot-clock awkward-angle jumper (to stop a State run) and that 1-on-4 fast break lay-up, Leaky with some challenged jumpers in the first half, and Brooks time and time again. Yeah, we made the shots we needed...
- Finally, a couple of areas that still need fixing going forward (even as our team basketball is coming together). First involves spacing. While some TOs come from careless/bad passes, sometimes the real (or at least shared) fault is with the receiver. Think of it as analagous to an NFL QB, i.e.,they don't wait for a WR to be standing all alone to throw the ball, it has to be done on anticipation and trust he'll get to the right spot. Our freelance Passing Game works much like that on the fly, thus it's every potential receiver's responsibility to clear potential deflecting hands as we HAVE to be able to anticipate passes to make the offense work correctly. In other words? Spacing. One thing Keeling (for example) still struggles with is maintaining/acquiring space to make himself available as a receiver. The second issue is "pitching ahead" in transition, Although there has been an emphasis on improving that, we're still missing opportunitues at lay-ups from simply not looking up and scanning BOTH sides of the floor. While some of that does come from Leaky having to play out of position, Cole when he returns also needs to be cognizant of that. Hopefully sitting next to Coach Rob has given him a fresh perspective.
Anyway... how about Ol' Roy now being 31-4 vs State since he's been back home? I mean, that is just absurd. Wow. But hey, gotta love his State-Hate.....
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