|
Post by dantheman on Nov 15, 2009 12:57:04 GMT -5
After sleeping on what was a very disappointing beginning to the season I certainly concur with what previous posters have been saying. Like it or not at our level we are not going to get an at-large bid, so in reality OOC games serve a few purposes: preparing us for conference games, bringing attention to the program through upsets and wins, and generally garnering fan support for the big games in Jan and Feb. At the end of the day this game is as much to learn about our team, as it is to put one in the win column.
With that said, I cannot get Kito getting physically pushed around inside out of my head. I liked Cush grabbing them boards inside at the beginning but his and Larry Wright's shooting was abysmal. Hudson getting into a bit of foul trouble only reminded me of how thin our front line is again. Nelson's slashing ability was certainly back and the law of averages says that Larry Wright (who shot roughly 40% from downtown while at St.John's) will not for 0-9 the rest of the season.
Overall it hurts, but at the same time there is so much season left to play.
One final question: any word on Kito's thumb? I noticed he had some legit tape on it and I was wondering if anyone knew anything about it. It didn't seem to trouble him too much and it is on his left hand, but I was just wondering if anyone had some info on it.
|
|
|
Post by Leobrn12 on Nov 15, 2009 13:42:31 GMT -5
but we have to find a defensive answer in the paint. Definitely. If Kito is going to get pushed around by Matt Balkema of all people, then I don't even want to watch him against Cole Aldrich. That dude is 6'10 290. He will be pushing everybody around this year.
|
|
|
Post by dantheman on Nov 15, 2009 14:49:02 GMT -5
I don't know, they made Kito look like a little kid down low at times. It really exposed his strength (or lack thereof).
|
|
|
Post by nate on Nov 15, 2009 15:37:28 GMT -5
I'm surprised Balkema isn't a lineman for their football team. He is huge and there is only a handful in the nation of that size down low. We were joking around last night and calling him "Big Country" and "Shrek". That dude was huge, but I do agree Kito needs to establish ground more. Hudson as well.
|
|
|
Post by Grizzfan1 on Nov 15, 2009 17:44:28 GMT -5
Glad to see people aren't tripping out too much over this loss. Some of our foes (U of Dumb) are snickering at our loss but that's alright. Better to lose like this in November and not Jan or Feb.
In addition to the problems that we addressed I think the guys may have also overlooked this EMU team a bit yesterday. Not surprising considering that we have had the upper hand on them for the last few seasons but this will be a much improved EMU team that will challenge for the MAC west title.
The glaring problem I saw and I mentioned that I saw in the Hope College game was that our interior defense has GOT to improve (Kito, Will, this means you) especially with the teams we got coming up.
|
|
|
Post by grizzland on Nov 16, 2009 9:02:52 GMT -5
I know it is late in the game to still be talking about the EMU game but there were a couple of points that really upset me really more then the loss. At two points during the game kampe yelled a nelson about a bad turnover and also about trying to set up the offense. I was amazed to see nelson put his hand in kampe's face and tell him to calm down. I did not like seeing that attitude from him and if I was kampe I would have set him on the bench and told him that he is not the coach of this team. I hope that this will not continue to be a problem as the season progresses. I was also disappointed to not really see JJ step up and take a leadership role with the team. In my opinion JJ has the right attitude to be a great leader for this team and I didn't see him show the signs of that against EMU. We need him to be the vocal leader on the court and not be afraid to get into one of his teammates face to challenge him. I am not expecting him to be like stradt but we need him to keep the team going and help build on that chemisty. These two elements are not something that can be taught in practice and to me getting nelson's attitude in check and JJ stepping into the captain position are musts for this team to succeed late in the year. Looking forward to the wisconsin game they crushed IPFW so we will definitely have our hands full. I just want to see improvement each game. Curious to hear everyones comments regarding leadership for this team and the chemistry aspect.
|
|
|
Post by blackandgold on Nov 16, 2009 11:44:37 GMT -5
Good points by Grizzland. I will say it's hard to comment on leadership because we're not in the locker room or there when the team meets during a timeout or on the floor, so we can never truly know who is saying what to inspire or help teammates. That said, one can see leadership on the court...as we always did with Stradt. He was always very vocal and animated and that always pumped up his team and crowd. But perhaps Stradt was like that because he wasn't the team's first option or big playmaker so that is how he made a difference. Because JJ is our key player, I think his leadership manifests in his play. He had some huge plays in the EMU game (the block, the alley-oop to Maynard, the big steal toward the end of the game, a triple, and countless coast-to-coast baskets) all of which got his teammates fired up both on the court and on the bench. He understands when he needs to make plays like that, and he never showboats.
All of that in mind, I agree with Grizzland that we need someone to be more vocal on the court to fire up the team at various points, especially in conference play where intangibles like that could be the difference.
|
|
|
Post by Germane on Nov 16, 2009 12:07:27 GMT -5
Good points. I didn't see the exchange between Nelson and Kampe, but I think the roster is full of genuinely good character guys. That doesn't mean that tensions won't become visible if early season losses start to pile up, but I'm hoping we have the maturity to keep team chemistry good.
|
|
|
Post by dantheman on Nov 16, 2009 14:52:09 GMT -5
I must say I disagree with the assessment of JJ. Personally those dudes that are all rah-rah like Strat annoy me both as a fan and when I played. Yes it looks good, but really it is just alot of show. I think JJ taking over, making that block, and leading by example are a much stronger showing than someone like Strat making a weak block and pounding his chest, or getting up in another teammates face to get them up, only because he does not have enough talent to do it himself. I totally agree with one of the posters who said that we are not in the locker room and therefore cannot assess leadership at all. What goes on in a locker room is very important, and perhaps it says something that JJ is not going to self-promote by ranting and raving at his teammates while they are out on the court. It just seems to me like JJ was by far the least of our worries out there on Saturday.
|
|
|
Post by blackandgold on Nov 16, 2009 22:37:26 GMT -5
The posters over at the UD Titans board have a thread about our loss to EMU for those interested. www.detroittitanhoops.com/phpBBz/viewtopic.php?t=3361I always find these fun to read because of how wrong they can be. One poster says our players have "god complexes" and the whole board runs with it. I don't know about that assessment, if anything most of our basketball players are just really quiet when around campus. Anyway, I always want to say UD fans suck, but then I realize this is a small concentration of people who just have a vendetta against OU and Kampe. I'll still wish that program success.
|
|