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Game observations (Towson)

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Jimmy

Freshman
In a word, "we are a better team" !

I love the team play and effort that this team plays with. Even though it was Towson, this was our best performance in 2 years. The faster pace was refreshing. And speaking of fresh, Thad kept fresh legs on the floor so that guy's could go hard. He must be trying to keep Dials in perfect shape because he had him in there when it was long over.

*Backcourt : Our best two guard combo is Butler/Foster. *BUTLER is light years ahead of BFC or anyone else on this team as far as pg ability goes. He wants the ball, he defends, he can take his man off of the dribble and even though he hasn't lit it up yet, he can shoot. *FOSTER is the real deal. He plays effortlessly and is in on every defensive play. *STOCKMAN was up to his old tricks tonight. He was fine when he was coming off of the ball and spotting up but when he gets the ball in his hands, he does the wrong thing. He forced shots, missed open men and was not too good on defense. This should be Foster's job. *BILLINGS was defending well but was in a rush to prove himself on offense, thus he stunk it up. He just needs to be patient and play his role. *BFC gave it a galliant effort and got to the rim a few times but his shot is still ugly. It was a good night for him and his presence rallied the team but he is not in Butlers Class. Butler will have his job sooner rather than Later.

Wing: JJ was the primary wing player tonight and played a good game offensively and in the paint rebounding. He is not a good perimeter defender but I sure don't mind having him around the rim to block shots and get boards. He is finding a place in Matta's system.

Frontcourt : *TD TD TD !!! He looks a little quicker to me. His touch is there, he is strong (although he got pushed around by big country tonight), and he is a great leader for this team. Stay healthy big boy ! He can lead us to a lot of wins if he keeps this up. He may be first team all bigten. *HARRIS got into foul trouble after starting the game off looking good. He is not a pf. He looked like a wing and is more comfortable on the wing. *SYLK was more physical in the paint than Ivan. I don't think Sylk played the sf at all. If he did then I missed it. He actually looked alright at the 4. He didn't make any big impact but held his own in there.

I'm excited about this team. They play a lot looser than they did last year. Tony did stupid things and Thad let him play through it. BFC looks more comfortable to. Billings is the only guy who seems to be out of his element.

Nice job Thad and Team !

BE EASY !!
 
I'm with you on most of that, Jim. J.J. is clearly the answer at the wing - his energy and athleticism is too valuable to keep on the bench for too long. I like him at about 25 minutes. TDials is the obvious leader, and deserves 30+ mpg. I don't have quite the same amount of confidence in Butler and Foster as you seem to, though Foster has shown plenty of promise and plays smarter than Stockman most of the time. Nevertheless, both Je'Kel and Jamar were quiet for much of the night, and until Syl gets the confidence and opportunities to take some outside shots, Stockman is still our best shooter from long range. Fuss played a real solid game, in my opinion, and you're right - his being on the court does seem to lift the team somehow. It probably helps that he's a fan favorite (in the stadium, at least). I like the current lineup of Fuss, Stock, J.J., Harris and TD for the most part, though I'd like to see Syl step in at the four. Better defense, better jump shot, more physical, etc. Harris should be coming in for J.J., really. I'd have Fuss and Butler at the point, Stock and Foster at the two, a fairly equal combination of J.J., Syl and Harris at the two forward spots, and TD getting 28-35 minutes in the middle, spelled sparingly by Twig. Here's hoping we stay this efficient against good teams.


Fuss: 28 minutes, 3 for 5 FGs, 6 points, 4 assists
Stock: 21 minutes, 5 for 11 FGs, 12 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals
J.J.: 25 minutes, 4-6 FGs, 12 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, one block
Harris: 11 minutes, 1-4 FGs, 2 points, 4 rebounds
TD: 29 minutes, 8-11 FGs, 23 points, 6 rebounds
Syl: 18 minutes, 2-2 FGs, 6 points, 5 assists, 2 rebounds
Foster: 18 minutes, 3-7 FGs, 9 points, 4 rebounds
Butler: 21 minutes, 1-2 FGs, 4 points, 3 rebounds, one assist
Twig: 7 minutes
Billings: 12 minutes, 0-5 FGs
JJW: 3 minutes
Ugo: 3 minutes
Chick: 4 minutes, a foul and a TO. Way to go.

Team totals: 27-54 FGs 5-17 3PTs 15-23 FTs 15 assists, 8 TOs, 6 steals
 
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I saw two things last night that I didn't see last season.

First, we put a run on a team. There was one run of 20-6 and a couple of smaller ones. I specifically recall that we didn't do that last year. Rarely if ever.

Second, we finished. Last season every time we built a lead we lost it, then rebuilt it - and lost it. Or sometimes didn't recover and lost the game. Last night we maintained the intensity till the final gun. One of Matta's first comments after the game was that there was a stretch (seomething like the 12-8 minute mark of the second half) where we were outscored. You could tell that bothered him. You get the message that it is not OK for this team to let up.

Bottom line on both of those points is that you are going to see fresh legs and intensity for 40 minutes. If you aren't pushing it you are sitting.

I just love the way this offense pushes the ball and attacks the basket. It creates an intensity and energy that carries over to the defensive end. Shots that last season would have found you a seat on the bench are OK this year (provided it was the result of effort and not just a quick and lazy fling).

I don't agree that Butler is that far ahead of Fus - Fus played very well last night. But Butler is not far behind him and has three years PT disadvantage. I was surprised to see them both on the court for extended periods last night and thought we were very effective from that set.

Very encouraging performance, and while it "was only Towson" there were lesser teams that handed us our hat early last year.
 
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I was there and I thought that OSU looked very good last night. The thing that struck me was the relentless defense that they played, which forced many bad shots by Towson. I agreee with OH8CH's assessment of Dials, this kid is a force, and will be all season long (minus an injury).

I also came away impressed with Butlers' ability to drive the lane in a lightning quick fashion. The only other thing that I noticed was the lack of a final pass on a couple of fast breaks. One play that I remember was when Fuss was running up court and had Dials on the other side calling for the pass, but BFC decided to force the layup instead of dishing it. Later on in the game, this same thing happened only with Stockman driving.

All in all it was a great effort.
 
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I was there as well.....and First, I think we're going to be a helluva lot better this yr. Our D is starting to get an attitude, and playing a lot more aggressive.

Secondly our perimeter shooting needs improvement. We didnt look so hot behind the arch. Also, the rebounding is an issue. So many one and done's last night, just seemed like nobody was crashing the boards.

Matta......love this guys energy. He gets after it on the sidelines...
 
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I was pleased with fosters play. Butler looked good at point. If Dials gets in foul trouble we are in trouble. He is our big man on O.

Billings looked young. Harris seemed to play more D, and was going after rebounds (he needed to work on that last year imo... and he did). I still think he is a bit small for a forward in the Big Ten, he is however only a soph. and will continue to develop.

I only witnessed the second half... and I liked our D most of the time. They got a few easy buckets, by and large our boys are playing agressive D and not giving them freebee's...

The tempo was a bit quicker. If there was a person down court the pass was made, if not, we walked it up and played half court O like last year... good to see them look up court and see if an easy bucket is there.

We also seemed to get back on D quickly... I liked that. Last year we were caught sleeping after a score and gave up the easy bucket. last night we def. were hustling to get back on D after a score.

We also rotated a lot of bodies. I don't know if this is the game plan for the year, or if Matta is still trying to see who works well with who...??

Overall we looked good. Nobody got in any foul trouble... it was however Townson. 1-0 :)
 
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Responding to comments made!!!

:biggrin: Two comments on this thread caught my attention. First, that two passes were not made to open people by guards FC and Stockman on transition. The second one was lack of outside scoring.

I will defend till the day I die that Butler can do both right now if given the green light. He passes better than anyone else on this team, especially in transition and he can light it up shooting. Right now, he is trying to earn minutes by playing defense, passing, and running the offense. When he decides to score, which means he feels comfortable that it will be OK for him to shoot, the rest of the league won't know what hit them.

Remember this post, so I can bring it up halfway thru the season and say, I told you so!!!
 
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Lima Jock,

I am from Lima even though i live in Columbus now. And I am hoping that Butler represents bean town just like you but give him time to get use to the talent level. He is easily our best pg but if his development is mishandled it can stunt his growth. He will be a force once he gets the goahead to run this team.
 
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