OOC Review

[StablerBumParticipant]

Just wanted to start a conversation reviewing the OOC portion of the season. Overall, I would say that I am impressed with the team’s record and performance thus far. When you consider that they started 0-4 and have gone 6-1 since, I would say the OOC portion has been a huge success.

Kahron has been mostly as advertised. He is currently averaging 8.9 points and 5.6 assists with 43% overall / 21% from 3 / 72% from the line. Comparitively, Marquis Hall freshman year looked like 10.9 and 4.3 with 42/38/71 and Mackey was 7.6 points and 3.7 assists and %’s of 34/32/83. So Kahron’s assist numbers are pretty significantly ahead of both Hall and Mackey if he keeps this pace up through the rest of the year. Hopefully over the course of his career he can develop a more consistent 3 point shot which would really round out his offensive game.

Justin Goldsborough has been a revelation since being inserted in the starting line-up with 3 double doubles in the 4 games he has started. I was very hard on JG as a freshman and I was dubious he would ever contribute this much and I am very happy to have been wrong. I think the staff should get major credit for developing JG. Everything about his game is significantly better than when he got to campus. Really impressive both from Justin and the coaches.

I think AP’s development has been excellent. His overall shooting percentage is up to 41.4% from 37.1% last year, despite a significant increase in attempts. He’s also taking the ball to the basket much more than last year. Last year 53% of Austin’s shots were 3’s; and this year that is down to 43%. Additionally, his 2 point shooting % has made a huge jump from 36% to 46%. He is being more aggressive and finishing better. He really needs to work on his consistency, but hopefully that will come with time.

Alston has shown flashes of really impressive offensive potential, but still needs to figure out a few things. Clearly has some very nice talent. Miles has developed into a very solid back-up combo guard with the ability to score in bunches and be a pest on defense. Tim’s #’s have taken a hit as he has become the focal point of defensive attention, but I think he will bounce back. Foul trouble has plagued him a bit, but he seems like a smart kid who will adapt. I’m still curious about JRG (especially after looking at the box from UMBC game) and what he can bring.

Overall I think the team (and coaches) have performed well to this point in the season. Rebounding has continued to be a bit of an issue, but it looks like the Q debacle may have been a teaching moment that the coaches were able to use with the guys. The defense has been pretty good I would say, and our small/quick guards are flying around and causing some havoc. The two power conference wins were great. I’m still not changing my prediction too much, as I think the goal of this team should remain a top half finish in the PL. However, I do think this team can probably beat anyone in the league, so a lot can happen between now and March.

[lehigh90Participant]

Agree with everything you wrote and pretty happy with where the team stands after OOC. My biggest concern is poor play on our home court. Losses to Canisius and Columbia and very close win over St Fr of PA. I put nothing in the D3 win. Two “big” wins on the road and good Nova performance a road game. To have any hope of PL success they need to develop some sort of home court advantage. To win PL probably need to play .750 ball at home.

[jimk72Participant]

Excellent, accurate summary in my opinion. Particularly regarding JG and AP. Also very apparent most teams will try to shut down TK as he has been our headliner since last year. One other item is that UMBC and other earlier teams have tried to use every second of the play clock. Is that just their style of play or is this scouting report on how to play against our offense?

On JRG, I’m also very curious. Being at UMBC and seeing those scant 3 minutes in relief of JC made me hoping for a much bigger sampling. Much better ball handling & better offensive moves around the basket. And not afraid to mix it up underneath. All in comparison to JC who had another rough game. Again it was only three minutes. One thing for sure, he can really jump for his……size.

[toddcuddParticipant]

Positives first: I think KR has been everything we hoped for, just amazing for a true frosh.
I think JG has really risen to the opportunity, and has been consistently very good.
AP’s progress is very good.
Finally, the scoring balance is good too, I think. Not relying on 1 or 2 guys for points.

Concerns:
TK foul trouble. Hopefully he can work that out.
Coaches also need to figure out some counters when TK gets doubled. UMBC seemed to double immediately, on every TK catch. Somebody has to get a good, open look.
Lastly, I have some concerns about BA’s game. I like that he attacks the rim, but he seems to go very directly and predictably. I don’t think he’s gonna jump over and through paint defenders at this level. I think he needs to develop some options and deception. He’s been bailed out by iffy foul calls several times.

Final note: saw CB back in uniform last night. I hope he’s getting healthy; he our most physical “banger”-type. Could use the depth up front, too.

[RichHParticipant]

Biggest takeaway for me is the anticipated team inconsistency. Individually all of our guys have shown flashes. More than enough for me to be optimistic. TK’s numbers will improve hereon out. Not ma.y bigs to challenge hm. Glover and Alston intrigue me as a pair to come off the bench.

[LU65Participant]

Seems like everyone is in agreement with their praise for KR, JG, TK, and AP, while disappointed to varying degrees with the work of BA and JC. I, too, can only agree and more importantly endorse the feeling of all that consistency is, by far, our biggest problem. The latter is due in great part – I believe – to our youth and inexperience (average experience: 1.23 years….near the youngest in the PL).

If there’s anything I might add to this thread it would be the mystery behind CS and his work to date – something not mentioned above. I can only assume his loss of minutes (5 mpg), despite superior play, is part of the overall plan to groom and develop AP (playing time up 26% over last year) and MS (playing time up 95% over last year) for bigger and better things in conference play this year and throughout their junior and senior campaigns. I believe in both second year men and trust/pray the plan works for, if healthy, CS is a talent who would seemingly deserve more and not fewer minutes.

CS…..This Year vs. Last Year

MPG: 27.7 / 32.5
FGA per game: 4.6* / 7.0
FG%: .478 (top guard) * / .446 (top guard)
3FG%: .435 (top guard) * / .383 (#2 guard)

• Compared for example to AP’s 10.1 FGA per game, FG% of .434, and 3FG% of .327

[vanParticipant]

biggest disappointment is JC, he should be contributing more but seems lost, can’t find his game

[TMHParticipant]

Lehigh65,
CS is a wonderful young man but we need to put some stats in perspective. At 32.5/ min per game last year, CS was likely in the top 6 or 7 in the entire Patriot League. He would be #7 this year and yet he was 5th on the team in scoring and had about 2.5 a/g and 2.6 r/g. At 27.7 mpg this year, he trails only KR at 29.9 and TK 27.8 and yet is still only scoring 6.8/ppg, slightly ahead of BA who is playing far less. In addition, CS has gone from a nearly 2:1 assist/TO ratio last year to less than 1 this year.
Prior to the beginning of the season, I warned that our Achilles heel may be real leadership which by proxy also means wanting the ball in his hands at crunch time. Every successful team has that kind of guy. We had Hall & Carrington. Then CJ came to town and went he went down, HG took on the role. Say what you want about MM but I was in awe sometimes last year when he put the team on his shoulders and brought them back from large deficits. Sometimes he tried to do too much however. Neither captain this year seems to have that kind of personality and I mean absolutely no disrespect by that. Watch the bench tomorrow and tell me if you see it. Then watch the court and tell me if you see it.
We have a lot of talent at the wing position this year and will have even more next year. Minutes were going to go down simply because of depth. I wonder however if Doc is looking for that “go to” guy in this youth movement or perhaps he is just trying to light a fire under a certain vet. I certainly saw a big spark from him against DePaul.

[LU65Participant]

TMH – so right you are when you say that Doc is looking for that “go to” guy in this youth movement or light a fire under one Corey Schaefer. Anxious to see how it plays out during league play.

See you tomorrow?

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