Game Thread: OU vs. Detroit - MERCY

[ouguy]

Well it's the next day now and I'm still angry and upset that we dropped a home game to an in town rival that was 2-14 coming into this game. I can't believe I'm seeing so many people posting acting like this was an acceptable win, which it was not. Coming into this game we had 3 losses, all to respectable top 100 teams. You simply can't get outplayed and lose this game.

Among the many things that frustrated me about this game is how unprepared we looked. Kampe and the entire team talked all week about not taking the opponent for granted. We were served up their game plan thanks to Jenkins and that free press article: it said they had a new aggressive style of defense which would try to do full court presses on us, and guess what, they did that.

I know our game plan got twisted with the Brock injury, because I'm confident if we had not gotten hurt that we would have won the game based on his excellent brief stat line of 4-4 shooting (all dunks?), 7 rebounds, 3 blocks and 9 points. If he is out for an extended period of time we might really be hurting. He really has been a huge factor on the defensive end for us plus he's our alley oop and excitement guy.

Here is my biggest complaint: Lack of subbing guys and playing with fresh legs down the stretch. I didn't write down the time but I swear we didn't sub out the lineup between the 13 minute and the 4 minute mark. We left the same tired guys in, who yes were our best players but who were not playing at anywhere near 100%. Bringing in some fresh legs could have helped us maintain our small lead before it was gone. Neely is a great defender but he seemed to lose his edge when he was asked to do too much and play too much. He was playing defense, fighting the trap, and trying to generate offense all at once. I don't blame him for one second but he could have used more gas down the stretch when he was overused.

Why did Kampe refuse to let Stevie Clark out of the dog house? This seems to be a complaint only in games we lose, Kampe and his dog house. Yes I was angry when Stevie took two gross three point attempts back to back at the beginning of the shot clock in the first half, and yes I realize he made a mistake on our first possession in the second half, but could you really blame him? He had the fear of the bench in him. He didn't play again after that opening possession and we lost one of our most sure handed ball handlers in a game where we got full court pressed. Just doesn't make sense. Instead Kampe tried to throw Cumberland out there in a really tough situation. I don't know, maybe Clark did something bad on the bench that got him benched but It seemed he should have gotten one more opportunity down the stretch when we had tired guards. Is the dog house even effective? Seems like it's hurt us a lot more than helped us.

Also didn't understand why we went from playing Brad for like 1 minute a game to 9 minutes last night. Yes I know Brock was hurt but it seemed to me that Xavier would have been a better matchup on Hogan due to his size and strength but I guess who knows. Brad didn't play that badly it just seemed like a bad game to say "you're the guy now" and play him as much as we did.

Let's get some discussion outside of just saying how Mercy outplayed us.

[ouguy]

Also I wanted to add that I completely disagree with the "awesome atmosphere" of the O'Rena last night. Yes we had a completely packed Grizz Gang which I loved seeing but overall the fans were incredibly flat and timid for most of the game. I would say the Detroit section did a lot better job of being in the game and making an atmosphere than our entire stadium did. We had stretches of important defensive stands where it should have been 10 times more loud than it was. The student section for the size it was last night was not loud enough.

The fans didn't really get on their feet to support big defensive stops (not many in the second half) or to fire up the grizzlies after a timeout. I'm depressed to see that this game was the largest crowd ever because it was far from our best.

To me the Georgia game was 10x better with a slightly smaller crowd.

I was expecting a really rowdy crowd for the Green Bay game in two weeks thanks to winter fest which always seems to get the students rowdy. I still think the days activities will help push us to a nearly sold out crowd but mu expectations have surely been lowered.

[nate]

It is a hard loss to swallow, because it was to Detroit. Jaleel Hogan was a monster and that young man literally deserves more credit than one can express. He made XHM look small out there, and that is not easy to do. I thought Brock did a good job on him. Sitting close, I love to listen to interaction between coaches and players. I think Bacari is a great face for Detroit and going to be a good players coach. However, it was obvious that Jermaine Jackson was making most of the decisions. It's not a bad thing either, as coaches are only as good as their coaching team.

Here are a few interactions that Bacari had with players that I noticed, that showed class, coaching ability, and earned my respect for him:
When Corey Allen fouled out and walked to the bench with his head down, Bacari stopped him and said, not exact quotes but pretty close - "Look at me son, look at me" Corey proceeded to look away with his head down. Bacari said "Look at me in the eyes. We have 4 years together. This is just the beginning" I missed some of the exchange between, but he said something along the lines of you can't foul in that situation. I believe Corey fouled Brechting down low on that play.

On another instance, he called Jarod Williams over and I'm not sure what happened just before but said "We have to show a little class. We have to act like we have been here before. This is just the beginning."

As a fan of "our hated rival", this makes me root for him as a coach. He is trying to mold his team how he wants them, but he is making sure that this is more than basketball. We gotta give them credit for winning that game. Detroit has a few great players and they are a scary team for anybody.

[oualum]

OUGUY - I have also said we lacked coaching adjustments. I think Coach Kampe is a very good coach whom was definitely outcoached last night. All coaches like players have some games that are better than others. Of course when you look at his body of work (and being underpaid) he has done an overall great job. I also have bad days on the job. Luckily not too many people are watching.

Having one true point guard (per Kampe) is also a problem and now that we have shown vulnerabilities the true test is how we adjust or don't adjust.

[biglew]

Jan 14, 2017 11:24:50 GMT -5 ouguy said:

Also I wanted to add that I completely disagree with the "awesome atmosphere" of the O'Rena last night. Yes we had a completely packed Grizz Gang which I loved seeing but overall the fans were incredibly flat and timid for most of the game. I would say the Detroit section did a lot better job of being in the game and making an atmosphere than our entire stadium did. We had stretches of important defensive stands where it should have been 10 times more loud than it was. The student section for the size it was last night was not loud enough.

The fans didn't really get on their feet to support big defensive stops (not many in the second half) or to fire up the grizzlies after a timeout. I'm depressed to see that this game was the largest crowd ever because it was far from our best.

To me the Georgia game was 10x better with a slightly smaller crowd.

I was expecting a really rowdy crowd for the Green Bay game in two weeks thanks to winter fest which always seems to get the students rowdy. I still think the days activities will help push us to a nearly sold out crowd but mu expectations have surely been lowered.

Agreed. Late in the 2nd half. I was told to sit down by a few OU fans. I was again told to sit down, after the crowd was told to stand by Kevin Beers.

Full student section, but not their best performance. I don't know why students don't know how to cheer. Just watch a college basketball game on TV. I get the sense many are "too cool" to participate.

[biglew]

Neely is my favorite player for sure. But, like ouguy said, he was asked to do a ton last night. Give him credit. He was sprinting up and down that court and giving 110℅. I mean how about the rebound/steal with 15 seconds to go. He got up there and just grabbed that ball!

We did look lost on the floor. Their game plan really threw us off our game. I really didn't think they were deep enough to keep that pressure up all game. It was a very frustrating game to watch.

One last point. I know "it all comes down to 4 games in March." But I'm really tired of hearing it. I'm tired of being a better than average mid-major. You can only say "we made the tournament 3 times in the last ____ years" for so long. I really got my hopes up ... #6 in the mid-major poll, 60s RPI, a vote for the top 25. After this loss I'm more upset about what could have been, than losing to Mercy College.

I hope we make the tournament and make some noice.

Maybe I'm crazy. Maybe it's because I just watched Eddy the Eagle last night. Maybe it was the walking taco at the alumni dinner. But I guess I just want more for the school I love.

[nate]

Oh and I just wanted to add, did anybody watch the replay of the 10 second call. I did and it seems to be 2-4 seconds ran off the 30 second shot clock before the ball was inbounded. Kampe asked for a review and it was denied. The whole crowd was stunned, because it felt like a 5 second call.

[Grizzfan1]

Jan 14, 2017 12:17:57 GMT -5 biglew said:

Neely is my favorite player for sure. But, like ouguy said, he was asked to do a ton last night. Give him credit. He was sprinting up and down that court and giving 110℅. I mean how about the rebound/steal with 15 seconds to go. He got up there and just grabbed that ball!

We did look lost on the floor. Their game plan really threw us off our game. I really didn't think they were deep enough to keep that pressure up all game. It was a very frustrating game to watch.

One last point. I know "it all comes down to 4 games in March." But I'm really tired of hearing it. I'm tired of being a better than average mid-major. You can only say "we made the tournament 3 times in the last ____ years" for so long. I really got my hopes up ... #6 in the mid-major poll, 60s RPI, a vote for the top 25. After this loss I'm more upset about what could have been, than losing to Mercy College.

I hope we make the tournament and make some noice.

Maybe I'm crazy. Maybe it's because I just watched Eddy the Eagle last night. Maybe it was the walking taco at the alumni dinner. But I guess I just want more for the school I love.

I agree Lew. The 3 to 4 days in March has worn thin on me as well. It's very important but not the only important thing IMO.

[arsenal926]

There's plenty of things that angered me about this game. I had a whole list of them typed out until I decided it was prudent to wait a day.

The one that sticks out the most is why we didn't change our defensive strategy on Hogan until there were three minutes left. Not only was Hogan able to get an entry pass on just about every possession, he did so deep in the paint most times. When all you need to do is take one dribble before rising up the double team will never have enough time to arrive. Boggles my mind why we weren't fronting him the whole game with Brock/XHM.

The turnovers they caused by pressing were almost all mental errors. For the last three years our press break strategy was give the ball to Kay. Once the ball was in Kay's hands the press was broken. While I do think we were prepared for the press it was clear this hasn't been a point of emphasis for quite a long time.

The offense got really sped up in the second half to the point where we weren't able to run our sets. It's pretty insane to me that we shot 70% on 2 pFg's and still found a way to lose. What's worse is we had nearly 50% of our shots from deep. The blue print for our last three wins against Detroit were throw the ball down low, get Hogan in foul trouble, and watch Detroit implode with their lack of depth. I imagine there will be plenty of that next game.

Overall I thought the refs called a pretty good game. Though I do think they made two critical errors in the last two minutes. The ten second shot clock violation was wrong. The shot clock started two seconds before the ball was even inbounded. Second was there should have been an intentional foul when Hayes had a break away layup down 3 in the last minute. How the refs didn't even review that is really inexcusable.

[justducky]

Jan 14, 2017 11:26:09 GMT -5 nate said:

It is a hard loss to swallow, because it was to Detroit. Jaleel Hogan was a monster and that young man literally deserves more credit than one can express. He made XHM look small out there, and that is not easy to do. I thought Brock did a good job on him. Sitting close, I love to listen to interaction between coaches and players. I think Bacari is a great face for Detroit and going to be a good players coach. However, it was obvious that Jermaine Jackson was making most of the decisions. It's not a bad thing either, as coaches are only as good as their coaching team.

Here are a few interactions that Bacari had with players that I noticed, that showed class, coaching ability, and earned my respect for him:
When Corey Allen fouled out and walked to the bench with his head down, Bacari stopped him and said, not exact quotes but pretty close - "Look at me son, look at me" Corey proceeded to look away with his head down. Bacari said "Look at me in the eyes. We have 4 years together. This is just the beginning" I missed some of the exchange between, but he said something along the lines of you can't foul in that situation. I believe Corey fouled Brechting down low on that play.

On another instance, he called Jarod Williams over and I'm not sure what happened just before but said "We have to show a little class. We have to act like we have been here before. This is just the beginning."

As a fan of "our hated rival", this makes me root for him as a coach. He is trying to mold his team how he wants them, but he is making sure that this is more than basketball. We gotta give them credit for winning that game. Detroit has a few great players and they are a scary team for anybody.

It looks to me that the Mercy turnaround is well underway. HL coaches will figure out ways to counter their "chaos" defense but as a wild guess they may now win from 6 to 8 HL games. No way I would have thought that 3 weeks ago.

Long term Detroit returning to respectability or prominence is great for the league. Short term because their 2016 OOC results were so god awful, they will drag down the RPIs (with lower NCAA seeding) for whoever walks out of JLA.