...and IIRC --- and I do --- I spent considerable time trying to tell some on here that there was absolutely no reason Kenny Williams couldn't become a major threat from 3 this season. Jes sayin'.
- Most folks woulda never thought we'd see a team keying on Luke, but Stanford was. I don't know if that affected him per se, but Luke did seem out of sorts with his shot, even when open. However, the good news on that was going out on Luke on the perimeter opened some things up for drives from our Guards, and JB took full advantage. BTW, despite not having a good shooting night, Luke gave us a solid 12 and 9... and added some sweet passes for 5 Assists.
- My biggest worry going in was our Bigs trying to guard, and boy, those issues started early. Our big pups haven't yet learned to play defense with their feet and Travis took full advantage, drawing foul after foul. Granted, he got a few bail-out calls on thwarted drives but he's a hoss to handle.
- We used 5 backcourt combos in the first half alone: JB/KW, JF/AP, JB/7th, JB/JF, JB/AP... then added a stint of Jalek and 7th together in the 2nd. Speaking of which, when JB was able to move off the ball it seemed to take some burden off of dribbling-and-gathering with the wrap on his hand and let him pick his spots. That being said, once Dog gets his hand 100% I'm thinking we'll see less of that. We're just a better team when he's at Point.
- We played mostly Hybrid, with a short 1st-half stint of Traditional with Manley at the 5 and Brooks at the 4. We finally went Small with Luke at the 5 at the 7:13 mark of the 2nd.
- Platek got a lot of good run tonight, logging 14 minutes. He finally got to see the ball go thru the basket in the 2nd half, but he's getting to play because 1. He plays strong Team defense, and 2. He understands spacing and playing within the system. When he subbed in at the 2 beside JB at the 2nd half Under-16 we went on a lightning 10-2 run in just 2:00 to establish our working margin. Can't wait for that offensive confidence light-bulb to go off. Like Kenny as a Freshman, Andrew needs to see a 3-ball go down, then watch out.
- Kudos to Huff, coming in as our third option at the 5, for giving a solid account and going 4/4 from the line. Especially important with Brooks having a rough night and Manley in perpetual foul trouble. Nice 8 and 5 for Huff.
- Back to Kenny Williams. We flat rode his hot hand and 6 3-pointers in the 1st half --- and once the rest of the offense started clicking he didn't force anything. Dude played a tremendous floor game, disrupting on D, taking charges, etc, etc.
- Jalek continues to have issues on D, and got out of control a couple of times, but gave a glimpse of his potential late with a nice baseline J and a posterizing of Stanford's big guy late.
- As I suspected, Haase had his boys ready for our transition game, and we only managed 8 Fast Break and 29 Secondary Break points. That normally spells trouble, but our half-court efficiency was aided by uncharacteristically scoring 30 points (!!!) off of set plays, with many coming off OB situations. We had 18 Blown Assists and 13 Blown Transition opportunities --- both numbers are too high --- but that was offset by shooting 51% from the floor and making 11 3s on 42.3% shooting. That comes out to 55% 2-pt shooting which was aided by the aforementioned ability to drive the ball into the lane as they chased Luke and were forced to get out on KW.
- Granted, whoever was keeping the official stats was a bit miserly, but we only recorded 15 Assists on 37 made shots. Part of that was blowing dimes, and again, guys being able to penetrate and score... and JB creating his own shot.
- And speaking of Berry, welcome back, Captain Dog! Even with that wrap still affecting his gathering of the ball, once he saw the ball go thru the hoop, it was vintage JB. Scoring from anywhere and everywhere, and of course being a holy terror on the defensive end. 29 pts and 4 (not 3) Dimes.
Well, the obvious concerns are getting the 3-headed Big rotation to learn to play D with their feet and their brains. They got trial by fire tonight. Yeah, Travis got away with a lot --- let's be honest --- but that's part of the learning curve. Whether it's bad D or generous zebras or a combination thereof, we can't be letting teams get to the FT line 28 times to our 15. And Garrison made himself a non-factor with foul trouble. On the other hand good to see our backcourt light it up and show some improved half-court offense. BUT... another quality win in a true road game.
3-0...
- Most folks woulda never thought we'd see a team keying on Luke, but Stanford was. I don't know if that affected him per se, but Luke did seem out of sorts with his shot, even when open. However, the good news on that was going out on Luke on the perimeter opened some things up for drives from our Guards, and JB took full advantage. BTW, despite not having a good shooting night, Luke gave us a solid 12 and 9... and added some sweet passes for 5 Assists.
- My biggest worry going in was our Bigs trying to guard, and boy, those issues started early. Our big pups haven't yet learned to play defense with their feet and Travis took full advantage, drawing foul after foul. Granted, he got a few bail-out calls on thwarted drives but he's a hoss to handle.
- We used 5 backcourt combos in the first half alone: JB/KW, JF/AP, JB/7th, JB/JF, JB/AP... then added a stint of Jalek and 7th together in the 2nd. Speaking of which, when JB was able to move off the ball it seemed to take some burden off of dribbling-and-gathering with the wrap on his hand and let him pick his spots. That being said, once Dog gets his hand 100% I'm thinking we'll see less of that. We're just a better team when he's at Point.
- We played mostly Hybrid, with a short 1st-half stint of Traditional with Manley at the 5 and Brooks at the 4. We finally went Small with Luke at the 5 at the 7:13 mark of the 2nd.
- Platek got a lot of good run tonight, logging 14 minutes. He finally got to see the ball go thru the basket in the 2nd half, but he's getting to play because 1. He plays strong Team defense, and 2. He understands spacing and playing within the system. When he subbed in at the 2 beside JB at the 2nd half Under-16 we went on a lightning 10-2 run in just 2:00 to establish our working margin. Can't wait for that offensive confidence light-bulb to go off. Like Kenny as a Freshman, Andrew needs to see a 3-ball go down, then watch out.
- Kudos to Huff, coming in as our third option at the 5, for giving a solid account and going 4/4 from the line. Especially important with Brooks having a rough night and Manley in perpetual foul trouble. Nice 8 and 5 for Huff.
- Back to Kenny Williams. We flat rode his hot hand and 6 3-pointers in the 1st half --- and once the rest of the offense started clicking he didn't force anything. Dude played a tremendous floor game, disrupting on D, taking charges, etc, etc.
- Jalek continues to have issues on D, and got out of control a couple of times, but gave a glimpse of his potential late with a nice baseline J and a posterizing of Stanford's big guy late.
- As I suspected, Haase had his boys ready for our transition game, and we only managed 8 Fast Break and 29 Secondary Break points. That normally spells trouble, but our half-court efficiency was aided by uncharacteristically scoring 30 points (!!!) off of set plays, with many coming off OB situations. We had 18 Blown Assists and 13 Blown Transition opportunities --- both numbers are too high --- but that was offset by shooting 51% from the floor and making 11 3s on 42.3% shooting. That comes out to 55% 2-pt shooting which was aided by the aforementioned ability to drive the ball into the lane as they chased Luke and were forced to get out on KW.
- Granted, whoever was keeping the official stats was a bit miserly, but we only recorded 15 Assists on 37 made shots. Part of that was blowing dimes, and again, guys being able to penetrate and score... and JB creating his own shot.
- And speaking of Berry, welcome back, Captain Dog! Even with that wrap still affecting his gathering of the ball, once he saw the ball go thru the hoop, it was vintage JB. Scoring from anywhere and everywhere, and of course being a holy terror on the defensive end. 29 pts and 4 (not 3) Dimes.
Well, the obvious concerns are getting the 3-headed Big rotation to learn to play D with their feet and their brains. They got trial by fire tonight. Yeah, Travis got away with a lot --- let's be honest --- but that's part of the learning curve. Whether it's bad D or generous zebras or a combination thereof, we can't be letting teams get to the FT line 28 times to our 15. And Garrison made himself a non-factor with foul trouble. On the other hand good to see our backcourt light it up and show some improved half-court offense. BUT... another quality win in a true road game.
3-0...
