MBB: USA South Conference

cnububba · November 25, 2009, 06:33:49 PM

I was at the game last night. Some thoughts:

1 of 16 from 3-point range -- ain't gonna cut it. Out rebounded by 20 -- ain't gonna cut it.

Theo 2-16 FG and 1-9 from 3 in first two games. We need his scoring and definitely looked like he was pressing last night. Theo is WAY too good of a shooter for this to continue. Don't think, just shoot!

Conley, rough night, but believe he'll be fine. Only his second game back. Brings a toughness to the game—much needed!

Paul and Xavier. I'm really not surprised that Paul is having some growing pains at the point. He did a good job of setting up and executing the offense. I was surprised he only had two assist. Xavier will be a GREAT point guard. Quick (understatement) and talented, but a little out of control at times. Once he learns to run the "O" he'll be fantastic!

Green always finds a way to score and is relentless on the offensive glass. My only beef with Mike is he needs to block out on the defensive boards. Hmmmm...8 offensive and ONLY 3 defensive!

Blasingame needs to shoot more. Only shot 7 times made 5—some sweet post moves. A career 60% shooter--come on--shoot, shoot and shoot! Stats said 2 blocked shots, he had two in the first five minutes, what happened to the rest? I believe he does pace himself a little—however, he logs a lot of minutes for a 6'8" dude.

CaptJ -- Hermann and Briggs did not dress out last night.

It was good to see Russell on the court. He really had it going last year before he left the team. Shooting lights out and lock-down defense--let's hope he finds that magic again. Jury is still out on the rest of the bench.

I was there, so don't know what the announcers were saying. Did hear the post game. I believe CJ is competitive as ever. This is still an 18, 19 game winner. It'll be interesting (for sure) to see how they jell.

CaptJ · November 25, 2009, 09:30:17 PM

Thanks for the insight, bubba. Your thoughts seem to be consistent with what I heard on the radio broadcast. I agree that we need to get 'game more involved offensively, especially in a game where his defender is smaller. FT made similar comments on the broadcast. He thought that the 2" shorter defender couldn't stop him.

Players in street clothes... that sucks. Both Herrmann and Briggs got minutes against Roanoke (16 & 9 respectively). What is wrong with them? Anyone? We sure could have used some big bodies. What about Kenny Reid? Is he playing? He is on the roster and got significant minutes in years past. He might be just 6-3 but he plays bigger, and tough. Are Farris and Clarkson just not ready?

I am with you on Russell. He has great skills and should be a very big contributer to this team.

I'm not as positive as you are on the prospects of the team this year, and definitely not on the CJ bandwagon any more. 18-19 wins? I don't think so. That would be great but I'm not going to hold my breath.

CNU85 · November 25, 2009, 11:04:56 PM

Ok....Now that I've slowed down a little. I'm not in panic mode yet. You've got a team with a lot of transfers plus guys like Reid and Taylor who didn't play last year.

I was very impressed with Xavier Parham. Very very impressed. Let's see how he develops. He will be the starting pg very soon.

Blasingame messed up his ankle in the first half and wsn't the same in the second half.

Taylor just couldn't get the ball to fall in the hole. I tell you what though, his competitive spirit was back last night. I remember the last season he played, at times he just didn't seem to care. He cared last night. Tough guy. It's only his second game in 2 years.

Theo - Hasn't had the same kind of impact since his freshman year. Even though his stats show he scored more per game last year, his shooting % from 3 and FT go down each year. I'm thinking before too long Capin may take his spot. Capin had a few shots roll half way in, then out. He seemed very comfortable on the floor as far as knowing what's going on.

Not sure what was going on with Hermann.

They just need to get some wins and their confidence up and get the new guys in the game to gain some chemistry. 18-19 wins? Easily!

cnububba · November 25, 2009, 11:09:19 PM

Capt don't know the deal with Hermann and Briggs, do know Reid left the team and agree could have used his toughness last night. I believe the Caps started 5-5 last year--so I'm still hoping this team will come together. If I have one beef with CJ it's the massive substitution patterns--4 and sometimes 5 nonstarters on the court. Not to bad against the Marlins, but I think it cost us a couple of games last year and the Roanoke game this year. Seems to work well for Averett...hmmmm.....but not for the Caps.

CaptJ · November 26, 2009, 03:27:54 AM

I am glad you guys are still so enthusiastic. I just wish that we didn't keep losing to VWC. That burns my lubot! Those who speak Cebuano will know what I said. I use some of the ODAC schools as a barometer for how we are doing and we just keep losing. We should be better, it's as simple as that. We have so many advantages. If we didn't I wouldn't have such high expectations. Oh well, gotta go. I'll be back on the www listening to the game on Friday night. Actually, that's Saturday morning here. Hoops and coffee. And fresh fruit. I think I will go for a swim now. Cya guys.

CaptJ · November 27, 2009, 09:09:47 PM

Captains (1-2) got a 91-69 win against Maine Presque Isle (0-3). In the post-game interview CJ said if we play tomorrow against Southern Virginia like we played tonight, we will not win. This mismatch hasn't impressed me. A win tomorrow would.

CNU85 · November 27, 2009, 11:04:07 PM

CJ has to say things like that. Can't have your guys thinking they can win just by walking on the floor. What I liked about this game is that shots were actually falling in, instead of rolling in and out like the previous game. It was a mismatch, but it was what CNU needed. The guys on the bench were really into it when the new guys were in...especially when the freshman slammed one in!

Interesting change in starting line up as Theo sat and Russel started. Hermann will be back for Thursday's game.

I will be more impressed with a win tomorrow night, too. But I will have to check the score - not gonna make the game.

cnububba · November 28, 2009, 10:51:15 AM

Agree, win tonight would be nice. Little painful to watch at times last night. There were a couple of bright spots. CJ said on his post game show Clarkson had to many upper classman playing in front of him. Who? Kid moves well and definitely has some hops, surprised we haven't seen him sooner.

Nice to see Theo pop a couple threes—he looked much more comfortable last night. Hopefully will help his confidence.

CNU does NOT rebound well out of a zone—AT ALL! Why is Blasingame EVER above the top of the key on offense. Free throw line OK...but that's it!

Our other bigs (besides Blasingame/Green) need to play....well....big.

Solid game by Going and Taylor. Still little concerned about the bench. They had a lull last night, stuck on 73 it seemed forever, then ran off 5 in a row after a CJ timeout.

Hopefully they'll put together a solid 40 minutes tonight.

CaptJ · November 28, 2009, 06:17:41 PM

Quote from: CNU85 on November 27, 2009, 11:04:07 PM
Interesting change in starting line up as Theo sat and Russel started.

Great! Maybe he will be better off the bench. You know, when he wa a hotshot freshman I thought he was going to be another jeremy Romeo. Hahahah... not even close. Jeremy matured and improved each year. Theo seems to have slipped a little every year. I hope this year is the exception to that.

It makes me wonder what the offseason is like for our guys, and for other teams and hoops players in general. I admit that I know nothing. Anyone have info on what they do to improve their skills the other 8 months?

CaptJ · November 28, 2009, 09:26:50 PM

William and Mary beat Wake Forest on the road by ten (78-68). Hmmmm.....

CaptJ · November 28, 2009, 09:31:13 PM

Captains avoid a first ever loss to SoVa by winning in OT. We could have easily lost this game had the ball bounced just a little differently. I'm just not impressed with this team. I think that in games like this on the road we will end up with a loss.

We had great starts each half but couldn't hold the lead each time. Surprisingly, what kept us in this one was REBOUNDING. B'game with an outstanding effort with 15/14. Mike Green with 25/10.

What happened to our starting PG? Going, Going... GONE!

Hey, we have Maryland Bible on the schedule next! Can't miss that one!

cnububba · November 29, 2009, 11:27:38 AM

Excellent, excellent game. Fun to watch. If we had shot that well against Va Wes I believe it would have been a win....lol....maybe. There was still that rebounding thing.

The good. Russell and Baker at the two and three—last night lethal. Theo played a great game—5-7 from the field, 2-2 3-pointers, 5 rebs, 0 TOs and 4 steals! Josh 7-13 from the field, 4-9 3-pointers and HUGE from the FT line down the stretch. Blasingame and Green continue to produce and both were solid. Xavier had another very solid game—kid is cocky and quick. I swear I saw him smirk at the SoVa defender a couple of times—to funny. Going still had 4 assist/0 TOs in 17 minutes. He came back in late in the 1st half and did a good job of settling the team down. It's a very good thing to have two solid quarterbacks. Capin gave some good minutes.

The bad. Perimeter defense. SoVa had no interior offense. Nada, none. Our perimeter man-to-man needs to improve. We're OK in the 1-3-1 and horrible in the 3-2, especially rebounding.

The ugly. Happened in Roanoke and against SoVa, second team cannot maintain a lead. Looked like the Phoenix Suns, NO one within 15' of the basket. Preston is a face up player with a nice stroke. He plays more like a three than a four. Briggs also, not a back to basket player. Good size, needs to use it. Green and Blasingame are our only two back to basket players. It was VERY noticeable when they were both out. To his credit CJ stuck with his two big men in the second half. Blasingame got a MUCH needed rest for about two minutes and thought Mike was gonna loose it when CJ took him out. But he was on the bench for 60 secs. He logged 39 minutes, Blasingame 37. That's a lot to ask of our bigs. Hopefully our second unit will pick it up as they get a little more experience.

Referees—HORRIBLE!!! Same Napoleon complex dude that worked the USA South championship game. Some reason he thinks he has to manage the game. It's NOT about you, it's about the kids. One of the least personable and cockiest ref s I EVER seen.

A very good test for CNU. SoVA is good and was a well coached team. If they had any interior offense...wow. CNU stepped up when they had too. It was definitely an entertaining game!

CNUHoops2010 · November 29, 2009, 04:23:29 PM

CJ's personnel decisions at the end of the game were very telling. As crunch time hit with 5 minutes to go, CJ went with his trusted veterans and Xavier. The big five (Green, Josh, Mark, Theo and Xavier) then played the entire OT. I wouldn't be surprised to see this become the starting line up on Thursday. Theo looks ready to return to the starting line up and Josh is not ready to sit. Should get interesting.

CJ needs to solve the bench problem. In the first 4 games, the above five have played 57% of the minutes and have produced 70% of the points and grabbed 65% of the rebounds. The other guys are just not producing. FG stats for the 4 games tell the story (Omar 0-11, Preston 2-14, Capin 5-23, Going 6-15 and Conley 14-40). The bench has to score and rebound for CNU to hold leads. CNU has led in all 4 games and let 3 out of 4 leads slip away.

Maybe it's time to let the freshman play a bigger role. Xavier is clearly the quickest guard and seems to make things happen. I can live with him running the team knowing the Going can come in to settle things if necessary. Xavier will make mistakes but better to err on the aggressive side. Clarkson looks like a young Mike Green. 7 points in 7 minutes against a weak team may not say much but he looks like he has an inside and outside game and appears to be a leaper. He did hit 3-4 from the field and got to the line on a slash to the basket from the corner. Rather than have him sit all season watching Theo, Josh and Hermann get the minutes, maybe CJ should think about using him to spell Green occasionally and provide some scoring/rebounding off the bench.

CaptJ · November 29, 2009, 06:41:35 PM

CNUHoops2010 - Good observations, you should go ahead and register as a full time poster. God knows we need more CNU fans on this board.

Seriously though dude, why such a loooong name? Can we abbreviate it to hoops10?

CaptJ · November 29, 2009, 06:47:57 PM

I like the idea of promoting Parham to starting PG a lot. It is better to have him gain experience now before conference schedule begins. I'm just not confident that Going can get it done as a starter. Let him spell Parham and provide a settling influence if that's needed (if he is really able to do that). Imagine how great it would be to have a second consecutive 4-year starter at PG.