Baylor Recap

Forum Forum Lehigh Sports Lehigh Men’s Basketball Baylor Recap

This topic contains 13 replies, has 7 voices, and was last updated by  LUHoops00 12 years, 3 months ago.

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  • #7836

    lehigh90
    Participant

    Starting a new thread to digest the game, although some good posts already on the other Baylor thread.

    I had a feeling we were going to get killed on the glass, and unfortunately, that was the case.  Baylor just too big, and too athletic.  Even with Gabe, I think we would have struggled, but without him, impossible.  But, even though we gave up a lot of size and athleticism, the defending was brutal.  You would be hard pressed to find a worse defensive effort.

    Defense starts on the perimeter, and we did a horrible job of defending penetration on the perimeter.  Our perimeter players, just too slow moving their feet.  That has always been my issue with AD and SC, their perimeter D, and they did nothing today to change my mind.  They can’t play, if they can’t defend better.  While we didn’t defend on the perimeter, the rotations when the man on the ball got beat, were also terrible.  CB and HG, in particular, were really slow to rotate, which left everything open for dunks galore.  I thought CM and MM, did OK on the defensive end, but the others, just too slow.  We also defended the pick and roll very poorly.  When CB shows on the pick and roll, his job is to stop the ball.  He never stopped the ball, and the ballhandler went right around him.  So, he didn’t control the ball, or the roller to the hoop, which again was dunk city.  Boxing out, again, horrible.  Nobody got a body on anybody all night.  You just can’t play that way.

    I know many on the board are high on CB.  I thought his first look in extended action was terrible.  Didn’t defend the paint, didn’t defend the pick and roll, didn’t put a body on anybody, and no factor on the offensive end, and showed no ability to catch.  His rebounding was subpar as well.  He is a critical player to this team, but I don’t think he is a player, certainly not at this point.  He needs to get a lot better.  Quite honestly, his biggest postive tonight was letting Austin land on his foot.  At least he got him out of the game, not that it made much difference.  Defend, box out, put a body on somebody and rebound.

    I really liked what I saw from CS.  He played hard, at a nice pace.  He is not the quickest guarding the perimeter but he gives a ton of effort.  Made some big shots, and I liked the ball in his hands.  He would be my first choice off the bench at guard.  SC has the stroke from 3, and he would be my second bench guard.  AD would be a distant 3rd guard off the bench.

    CJ McCollum is a flat out, unadulterated stud.  He was phenomenal in that game.  Shot after shot, with little help, and little rest.  If Pierre Jackson is one of the best guards in the country and best player in the Big 12, he is miles behind CJ.  What a player that guy is.  I honestly thought he was going for 50 in that game.  Loved everything about him tonight.  Just great.

    Thought MM played well.  Continued the fine play from the end of last season.  Would I like him to shoot better from distance, yes, but he was good tonight in transition and running the club.  He is going to have a big year.

    HG, huge disappointment.  He needs to make himself a factor in a game like that.  He needs to step up to be a secondary scorer.  He seemed hesitant, and not confident.  He was better in the second half, but he needs to hit the open 3, and when they take that away, put it on the floor and attack the rim.  Tough with Baylor size, but he needs to be more of a factor.  Also, poor defending in the paint, but hugely outsized.

    DC invisible, and looked very shaky in limited minutes, same with JG.  Disappointed in those 2.  I had hoped DC was special, but not yet.  Not sure what we are going to get from them.  Obviously, confidence will grow from minutes.  Would have liked to see Reed get them a little more run, especially in a game that was never close.

    Finally, on the head coach.  I didn’t think he helped his players tonight in a game where they were heavily outgunned.  I have said this before, and he never does it, but why not try to mix it up a little, and run a little zone in that game.  You are getting killed inside.  Pack in a 2-3 are try to make them beat you from the perimeter.  Obviously, Heslip is a sniper, but make them prove they can hit from distance and pack in your smaller guys against their bigs.

    All in all, I thought they fought to the end.  Kept it respectable.  But, this team needs to get a lot better on the defensive end.

     

    #7837
    RichH
    RichH
    Participant

    Agree mostly. HG looked like last yr. Better in the 2nd. He’s got to be part of the O. . Part of the problem was matcthup. Let’s not forget he really is a 6’7 G not a PF. We are going to pay dearly this yr not having Chuku.. DC and JG will be good just not yet. Atleast against this level. They’ll be OK in slower pace of PL games

    #7838
    RichH
    RichH
    Participant

    Bucknell beat Purdue. Just to cheer us all up.

    #7839
    StablerBum
    StablerBum
    Participant

    Agree about the defense ’90.  I don’t care who you are playing, that was pathetic.  It seemed to a certain extent that guys weren’t even trying on that end of the floor.  Big guys would chase Pierre Jackson 30 ft out just to have him blow by and feed a big guy for a dunk.  Goldsborough had a couple non-shooting falls VERY late in the shot clock which is absolutely brutal.  Greneir seemed to resort to just pushing and fouling in the post without even making a real attempt to play honest D.  The lack of boxing out was ridiculous too.  It’s one thing for a more athletic team to grab some offensive rebounds, but it’s a total other thing to let them camp out directly under the basket.  Anyway, luckily the team has a huge opportunity next week, so no time to lament this L.

    #7840

    TMH
    Participant

    I did not have the opportunity to watch the game tonight so I was relegated to following the stats on an iPad and hearing glimpses between static.

    1.)CJ has taken his game to another level I believe and he could really be something special to watch this year.

    2.) I may be wrong, but Reed had only 3 guys over 6-5 available to him tonight. Baltimore picked up 2 fouls early. I will assume he found the bench for awhile and was replaced by Goldborough. Does Reed tell him to be real aggressive defensively or does he pull back? Greiner picked up his 4th I believe midway through the 2nd. Tough game to coach.

    3.) Without having the luxury of watching the game, so will someone please explain Lehigh90’s harsh critique of CB. I was told earlier that if given 26-28 minutes a game, he would never average 7 rpg because those were Muscala #s. I was also told that even though he averaged more rpm than anyone on the team, it was only against lesser talent. I check the stats tonight and he puts up 7 boards including 6 offensive in 28 minutes against Baylor’s starters and I’m still told his rebounding is subpar. Am I being told that he should have had 12-13? What are his expectations for Bryant, Fairleigh Dickinson and Muhlenberg? I never said he would be an offensive juggernaut but I did say he will be among the rebounding leaders in the Patriot League if given the minutes and nothing he did tonight disproves that. Give the guy a break.

    #7841

    lehigh90
    Participant

    CB had absolutely no impact on the game.  He scored a couple points and few rebounds in garbage time, but his night was mostly watching Baylor players hammer dunks right around him and get the ball out of the net.  JG same thing.  I expect these guys to do the dirty work, set picks on offense, and defend the paint, maybe block or alter some shots, box out and rebound.  They did none of that tonight.  They basically stood around and got embarrassed.  Baylor would put up a perimeter shot ( when they weren’t taking one if their 30 dunks and alley oops) and our big guys would be 8 feet from the basket, with a body on nobody.  3 Baylor players would be standing under the basket alone, which generally meant offensive rebound followed by dunk, or follow up dunk.  It was awful.  Our big guys did not compete at all.  Any stats CB put up were incredibly hollow.  As stated earlier, he needs to understand his role in defending the high pick and roll.  When we are on offense, he needs to set solid screens up top and show he can be effective at rolling to the hoop and catching the basketball. I am sure he will improve when the players get smaller and less athletic, but there was nothing positive to take out of his first performance in extended minutes.

    Honestly, I had a tough time differentiating CB and JG at times, since JG was wearing CB’s old number and they look similar on the court.  It also seemed like the announcers referred to JG as C B a number of times.

    Did anybody who watched the game see any positive impact CB or JG had on the game?

    #7842
    RichH
    RichH
    Participant

    To refer to our kids as “bigs” in the context of this game is misleading and unfair. We are 3 210 lb playersgoing up against a stream of bigger tallers playsrs. Did they perform well? No. They were completely outmatched. Sure they could have done better. Both were repeatedly out of losition on D. CB did battle for rebounds . It was sad watching Baylor get them a foot over his head. JG was a deer in headligjts. He isn’t ready. He will be a good PL player. With Gabe and BJ a closer game. BU gets lots less dunks. Sadly we need him and Vhuku for teams like Baylor. We had neither last night.

    #7844

    LU65
    Participant

    CB and JG = Zero impact

    Many other disappointments along with a few pleasant surprises.  The biggest were:

    HG – AWOL in first half on both sides of the ball.  Second half not much better.  As a returning star, he needed to set an example.  Then again, maybe he did and CB and JG were just following his lead.

    CS – Quicker than remembered and fearless taking it to the basket on a number of occasions. 8 pts in 16 minutes second only to CJ in productivity. Deserves a start or certainly more playing time as the line is blurred between PG-2G-SmF in this multiple guard-oriented offense.

    DC – Only in the sense that he got so little time to show what he had.  This, after all the board-hype he received.  Seeing him inserted into the game along with “walk-on” Goodman with just 2 minutes remaining got me thinking just what do we have in DC?

    AD – I had heard of his good work in practice sessions leading up to the game and it came as no surprise to see him start in BJ’s absence.  But, same ol’ – same ol’    …….  you’re hot or you’re hot with the stroke  early on.  This time he wasn’t.  Good hustle, however, and attempts at playing D.

    SC – As advertised……catch and shot 3’s with limited impact on defense.

    MM – A little surprised at the number of minutes (37) and his sloppy ball-handling early on.  Good assist work and deadly from the line, as usual.

    CJ – What more can you say?  36 points or 2 for every one of the 18 NBA scouts present.  Until our “bigs” begin to play a role in scoring the basketball, I don’t care if he takes 43% (32 of 75) of our shots.  Anyone else notice the weigh (or should I say muscle) gain.  Looking more and more like a professional athlete.

     

    Only good news to come out of Friday night was Robert Morris’ drubbing at the hands of Rider.  There may be hope for us on Monday night.

    http://www.rmucolonials.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=59499&SPID=6516&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=205731700&DB_OEM_ID=13900

     

     

     

    #7845

    lehigh90
    Participant

    Robert Morris lineup anyone?

    After Baylor I would start GK at 5, HG at 4, CM at 3, and MM and CS interchangeable at the 1 and 2. I would bring CB off bench as hopefully an energy big.

    #7850
    StablerBum
    StablerBum
    Participant

    I think it is unfair to lump CB with JG or even HG.  Conroy at least made an effort to play defense and rebound.  He grabbed a couple of contested boards, which is more than can be said for anyone else on our team, and he even contested and blocked a few shots.  JG didn’t seem to know his right from his left and couldn’t stop fouling (4 fouls in 12 minutes), and HG just shied away from everyone.  Agree that his pick and roll defense was awful, but I think he was significantly better than HG or JG.  At least he competed.

    I’m not sold on DC.  I really hope I’m wrong and that he ends up being a player, but I wasn’t sold off the 1 highlight video we saw from his jr year, nor by his high school stats and accolades or his other finalists.  I will never write off a freshman, never, and I still have high hopes, but I do think the hype may be a little unwarranted for now.  Especially those who were penciling him in as a starter.

    BJB would have helped with toughness and containing some penetration, and Gabe would have helped inside, although I’m not sure how much.  If nothing else those two have experience and they both compete, something that can’t be said for half of our guys yesterday.  There seemed to be zero pride and dedication on the defensive end.

    I thought RMU/LU would be a brawl of a game before, but with both teams coming off big losses in the first game of a season with high expectations, it is going to be a battle.  Should be fun.  Hope GK and BJB play and the team competes.

    #7852

    norcalfan
    Participant

    While the loss was disappointing, it was their first game. If I recall, LU was slow to warm up last year, did fine down the stretch. This is the Patriot League, on any given night.

    #7854

    LU65
    Participant

    Time to show our support………….

    Who’s up for a trip to the NIT (Pitt)?  The idea would be to leave Stabler at 9am tomorrow and return home by 3pm, Wednesday.  We could split room and travel expenses.  I don’t mind driving.  Who’s in?

    RichH

    StablerBum

    lehigh90

    TMH

    LUHoops00

    jimk72

    lfnadmin

    Other fans of LU Basketball

     

    #7855

    LUHoops00
    Participant

    Sorry guys, been an out of the loop weekend, although pretty drepressed about Friday so that might have contributed to slow recap. Listen, it was like watching a D2 team scrimmage against a legit D1 team, minus the fact that we have a lottery pick on our team.

    Good: CJ, nothing to say really, wow I guess. His game, has improved every year, love work ethic. He got to the tin every time he wanted it, and finished, shot the 3, dished when guys were open, rebounded. Money.

    CS – showed heart, lookd step quicker, showed some spunk and finishd down low…will be interesting to see how he develops…does he have shot to beat out AD and SC as 2 guard minutes maybe when he isn’t in to be backing up MM?

    Bad: HG, as you mentioned, wasn’t very active to be polite.

    Coaching – I wrote about this couple weeks ago, we have to go zone with this tiny frontcourt, have to..we did it once in 1st half and got turnover…we have to do more zone, pack it in big time..rather give up 3’s from 20 feet then 30 dunks a night…embarassing. Staf made no adjustments at all, disapointing.

    Freshman – DC, buried on bench, I’m shocked…literally really shocking development boys, well have to watch this one. JG, as reported, hopefully rounds into shape by PL play, we need him cause we have no size(not news to anyone).

    New Category CB: Not going to rehash waht 90 and others said, because pretty much spot on, however,  I actually came away somewhat pleased perhaps because of my expectations on what he could do in his first real game against legit team…kid was big time over his head as a really inexperienced college player and over his head literally in size department..but he did fight, dind’t seem timid and/or scared…and although he lacks some things, will never be a scorer, I came away hopeful that he can rebound versus most 4’s in our league…and that is what we need. Can he fight off willman for a rebound? I think he can actually…he’s small, we’re small, wek now this…but I think he’ll be okay IN OUR LEAGUE rebounding the ball. It is about winning our league, unless we get dream matchup against tiny team in tourney we’re in trouble, but can we win our league, yes we can and CB needs to hit the baords in our league and I think he can be a contributor there…he’ll improve, think you’ll see bigger results on Monday vs mid major sized frontcourt.

     

    RM good gaurds, but I think small is what I read preseason…got to beat them, get a W in the books and then take shot at Pitt…

     

     

    Listen, Friday stunk, but short 2 starters and our only legit forward and we lost on road vs a good team..it happens, win vs RMU and then get a shot at pitt and all is good…beat pitt and we’rein bizness baby…

     

    CJ just looked so diryt, he could lead country in scoring this year if he wanted to and probably put up close to 900 points this season…

    #7856

    LUHoops00
    Participant

    Forgot to mention my favorite part of the game:

    Cvrkalj nickname…dead-eye Cvrkalj….i will only ever refer to him as SC or dead-eye from now on…thought that was hilarious.

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