Loyola (MD) – Game 17 (PL's 4th)

[LUHoops00Participant]

Just finished watching the game, and I will work backwards and take care of my guy SBum first! DC got a little burn in the first half when no one could slow down Cormier, didn’t do much of anything in four minutes. More comments rapid fire:

1. Agree with rich MM needs to be in attack mode from opening tip. He is a freeking wild card right now. He and us are best when he is attacking the lane like the end of the bu game, he needs to drive and finish or drive and kick it to open guy. Way too passive early in games and then it’s almost force it late in games and be hero ball. Love MM but he has to get team starting well from opening tip as senior point guard.
2. We have no real lock down perimeter defenders. Watson killed us, Wilson killed us, Cormier killed us. AP tries and he wants to be good on d and he will be but to ask him to slow down Cormier as a true frosh is unfair. You get max effort from CS but he’s not Bruce Bowen! MM not the best.

3. MS is being under utilized IMO. He is averaging about ten mins per game and I think he deserves more. I think he is your best on the ball defender and I like his fight coming up with loose ball steals. He hits open jumpers and can get to the hole. MM and CS combining for 70 mins per game basically and that’s to much, think they should be around 60. Also don’t see why SC needs to be in rotation right now when not fully healthy, basically stationary shooter and no D or rebounding.

4. Zone!!!! Zone looked pretty good for a team that never plays zone. We need to experiments with this more for a few reasons – first as discussed we don’t haves great perimeter defense and second it can help us on defensive glass. Third we gotta pretty good personnel for zone with length in ap SW JG JC and TK.
5. I always wondered with the plus athletes we have why we don’t press and run more – we should be speeding games up and pushing tempo as we got the people for it.
6. Not to question coaching but most of us knew on here that cb was fifth big and JG fourth but cb got more pt it seemed and was ahead of JG in rotation while he was playing pre suspension – seeing what JG has done last two games makes me wonder what the heck was going on with that decision. JG upside is ridiculous if he ever puts it together god only knows but that combo of length and athleticism is rare.

[LUHoops00Participant]

Also seeing cb tweet fires me up for some reason – hit the books big man, you let your institution and teammates down.

[pafan11Participant]

StablerBum, I agree that Jesse should not be shooting 40% but I think we may be deceived about his athletic prowess. When you give him the eye test it is easy to be deceived (length, muscular etc). However, if you watch him play he really can be awkward athletically. He does not control his body very well, not fluid in his movements and running. Certainly an adequate leaper but not overly quick off the floor. Just some observations, we sometimes fall in love with the eye test.

[StablerBumParticipant]

That’s a great point pafan. JC can certainly look goofy at times and isn’t really fluid. I have probably been guilty of expecting too much on him based on the eye test.

Still though, 40% for a 6’8 PF in the Patriot League is pretty weak. I think he takes way too many jumpers, but even if you exclude 3’s, he’s still only shooting 44% on 2 pointers. There are a lot of big man that aren’t fluid athletes, but with JC’s combo of length, physique, and leaping ability I certainly would like to see him well above 44% on 2’s.

[gohawks63Participant]

I think Jessie is a marvelous athlete – long, powerful – and highly skilled in terms of taking the ball to the hoop and stroking the J. Of late he has lost his aggressiveness and become tentative and unsure.

One of the issues is that BR normally spots Jessie at the top of the key for the high p&r or spot up three. The problem is he appears to have lost his confidence with the trey.

I think it is time to pack him down a little bit lower in the paint and try to get his short game going – a few hooks and power drives to the hoop. Second, he needs to ramp up his intensity about 1000% …

Lastly – in terms of team productivity – get Corey S the ball! He is a wizard with that ball and a great shooter. Please, please, turn MM and CS loose …

SC is air-ball city lately. Watching him try to create and shoot off the dribble is cringe worthy. Clearly, he is not ready.

Very disappointing performance(s) from an intensity/competitiveness standpoint. We are simple getting out-hustled, out-muscled, and out-worked. I’m going to start going to the Ladies games until BR gets this turned around; can’t stand to watch any more ..

[pafan11Participant]

gohawks63,

You are making great points but I must disagree about JC being highly skilled in taking the ball to the hoop. The majority of times he has taken the ball to the hoop this year he has turned the ball over or thrown up wild shots that have not been close to going in. I am a huge fan of JC and believe his production should and will go up but lets be honest if he was a superior athlete with his frame he would be in a power 6 conference.

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