Am I the only one that's not all that impressed with Conley? Obviously he's a playmaker and he knows how to protect the ball, but there's a reason this offense is stagnant in the half court. To me, it's because Conley doesn't get the ball around the perimeter quick enough. He feels like he has to put the ball on the floor everytime it's in his hands. He needs to realize that he's not the only playmaker we have.
Plus, it's a major liability when your floor general can't shoot the outside shot or free throws.
ive only read the last two pages. i dont have time to go through more if you folks want my thoughts.
stadium dorm in dead on here. not saying he isnt a good player, but lack of a perm shot, or confidence in the shot and the fact he dribbles too much is tough to overlook by me.
i felt a turning point in the game was when matta went to the more athletic line up and let his horses run. my old coach (it seems like i quote the guy in about every other one of these) used to say race horses run and ponies prance. mattas choice to dictate and go athletic was a very nice coaching call in my eyes.
hunter, continues to improve, dont kid yourself he is still raw and his hands are average. but what im seeing here is a kid who is improving by leaps and bounds. has really shown he can steal minutes at the five and playing him at the four makes this team long athletic and defensively imposing.
oden. im to the point were i just try and enjoy every moment of it. i have yet to be overly impressed with him. that being said i have to keep telling myself hes playing with one hand. his inability to snap his wrist, use his thumb and get a good grasp on the ball almost scares me, in the good kind of way. took a beating tonight physically, you saw it work for the gators, youll see it all b10 season. also 9 of 10 from the line...with his left hand (i didnt see any righties tonight but im still 99.9 sure i saw one against coppin state)
lighty. matta showed confidence in the kid and show his willingness put him in as a finisher, sure he might have been saving cook for ot, but he still had the confidence to put him in there. he saw limited number of minutes but continued to play well. i still feel he will be a very good player but just insnt there yet. also i said it when he missed his two fts on the shooting foul that it could have been huge. luckily it wasnt.
lewis. played 30 minutes tonite. had a nice game, on the def end of the court he still is a weakness of the team in that regard. at this point if i had to project his role i would say it diminishes as the year progresses. that being said ron is the type of kid who could be huge for the team late in the year. veteran player who can step up when needed. but he seems to be a little to "me" for my taste on the offensive end. if he moved the ball more he would open up his own game slashing to the hoop. hes got the drive and kick so often, or the drive and dump.
conley. i mentioned above about the shot and the dribbling, what you cant question is his ability to move the ball and ability to push the floor.
butler. struggled for a bit tonite against a gaurd who was quicker than him. didnt shot well from the floor, but what really stuck out to me was late in the game butler made a pass and when the ball came back to him the "shell" was late in rotating , butler saw this attacked the rim missed his shot got fouled and sunk both of his fts.
cook. didnt play his best game. continues to not keep up his defensive intensity. he shows up with solid d one trip down the floor and then looks lost on the next one. thats the reason he doesnt play more. that being said, did they show the bump/push/hit that he took? interesting stuff, cook was being grabbed held and pushed all night. i saw a couple of real cheap elbows and punches into his body.
numbers
32 14 points in the paint in favor of the bucks
14 4 second chance points in favor of the bucks
26 15 bench points ...
6 theosu outrebounded by six, happy to see this. though they got outrebounded by two in the second half.
thoughts
physical play. you saw it again tonite. call it dirty physical or whatever you want but get used to it. it worked for florida, it kept the hoosiers in the game. youll see it probably by almost every team. the thing is if you start early you can get away with more. if you start hacking/banging/holding/hanging/grabbing/grasping/riding guys like john wayne rides a horse at the opening tip you can get away with it, atleast to a greater extent. and then youll even see late in the halves an attempt to "even" up the fouls. im telling you folks now youve seen it twice once work very well and the other time it kept the team in the game, youll see it again.
the trap. i beat ive complained about it half a dozen times, but you see why they keep doing it. you need it. it chews clock late in the game. it forces tos. it wears guys out. it makes palyers make plays and decscions (good and bad). it works when executed. thought far from perfect it is improving.
the officiating. you have to play through it. a good team wont win or lose games based on the stripes, theyll play the game thats being called or rise above it. that being said it sucked. some awful calls both ways. probably more of ht ebad calls went against the guys in the gray but some bad calls and a poorly called game. i dont care what people say burr sucks. i mean some people complain about hightower and valentine, but burr sucks. for one reason, hes inconsitent. well acutally hes consistently shitty and inconsistent but... point taken. some real questionable fouls, calls on who touched it before it went out. and did oden goaltend that tip in? i thought so.
flow of the game. i mentioned it above. i liked the move by matta to go atheletic in the second half. i also like the oden and hunter combo (not jsut cuz i was begging for it early) i like the three 3s on the floor at the same time... i like that matta at points dictated the game. he forced the hand to sampson, something we havent seen out of him much yet in his coaching career here. something id like to see more of. and i assume we will as his teams improve and he gets better and different players.
the hoosiers. a nice game and nice club. i dont like sampson, i dont think he was the right choice for the job. i dont like his 357 illegal fun calls, i dont like that indiana hired a guy who by hiring him put them on probation. i didnt like the push. but i give sampson a lot of credit after tonite. he used his timeouts wisely. he killed run after run with them. as he should, but so often it doesnt work out as planned. he used those timeouts and made changes, he came out of those tos ran a good sets and got baskets. while he is no bob knight xs and os he showed me tonite why he was hired. we will see as his cards are played and his tendicies are more studied by the b10 coahces as he plays more games in the b10 how he looks, but i give sampson credit for his gameplan, execution and changes.
perm def. seems to be a hot topic here. a few thoughts of mine. its a young team. which means inconsitency, and kids not used to play every trip down the floor. then you look at the screens, the screeners man is fitting through it to hedge and the man running of the screen is going under, allowing for the jump shot. this is for one of a few reasons. matta feels his big men can handle themselves out on the floor athletically. matta feels that hell give up the jumper rahter than attacking the rim. matta feels his big man can make the man make a play a on the floor and force somethng. matta feels that his gaurds can handle themselves off the roll against the big man. matta is actually by doing this protecting oden (protecting from the drive, but exposing him to pick up a cheap one out on the floor) likely a combo of these things. but i dont see teams hitting 65 percent of their 3s in the second half all year. indiana was hot, hit their looks and played well give them some credit. not saying its not an area that need improvement but i see other bigger areas of focus.
ive got more thoughts but its past midnight and im not a young buck anymore i need the sleep. so good night folks
. Conley though can penetrate at will, his shot will improve and then he'll have the complete package. His basketball IQ and leadership is simply amazing.
