1. After a slow start, where we got caught over-rotating and leaving shooters wide open, that was a ridiculously good defensive effort. Carmody's offense is very hard to prepare for if you haven't seen it, and we completely shut it down after halftime. In fact, for the game, Holy Cross averaged about .6 per possession, and the truth is that there were only a few shots they probably should have made (reverse lay-ups off back-door cuts). I know that's a low/mid-major team, but that was fantastic.
2. Offensively...not so much (again less than a point per possession), though we got much better after halftime. Teams are going to zone us to death until we establish we can hit open 3s (at least we hit free throws tonight). That means you, Jordan Poole--the guy with the excess of swag last year looks really tentative on offense in the early going, and he has to score for us to be really good.
3. Iggy Brazdeikis played very, very well, including defensively, where I thought this game might be a struggle for him. He gets to the line, he converts, and he's got that Mo Wagner enthusiasm which ramps up his teammates.
4. While there was a lid on he basket for Isaiah Livers tonight, he did not let that impact him on the other end of the court. He was everywhere defensively and on the glass, and the team feeds off of it.
5. Man, can Jon Teske move his feet on defense for a 7' guy. And he's got great timing inside which allows him to block shots. It will be interesting to see how he does against Villanova, which has a 5 who can shoot it from the perimeter (Eric Paschall), but I think he's up to the challenge, and his length is going to bother 'Nova's bigs.
6. Charles Matthews played much better offensively (and, of course, at the line) tonight. However, he still is taking it into the lane too often with no clear idea of what to do. To be clear, he kept us in the game early on, and his defense was again stellar. We need him, though, to be a creator for others, not just himself, because this team needs some easy shots.
7. One thing teams have done in the first two games is take away transition baskets from us. Until we get better in the half court, we're going to need to force some live ball turnovers and get some run-outs.
8. I didn't think we cut especially well or hard tonight. We got to the basket a number of times and there was no one available for a dump off. We got the ball to the corners, and got a lot of wide open looks, but right now, we're not hitting those. Again, we're going to have to score more at the rim, at least in the early going.
9. We're not going to be a great shooting team, or even an especially good one, but I absolutely believe we'll be much better than we've shown to date. We're getting good shots. The form looks OK for the most part, albeit we're not shooting with confidence. At some point, we're going to hit several in a row and the confidence will go up...or at least that's the plan.
10. One more time--we are really, really good on the defensive end.Though we may have some games where teams hit shots--'Nova on Wednesday may be one--from a defensive principles, effort and execution standpoint, guys like Simpson, Matthews, Teske and Livers are elite, and the other guys are good as well.
2. Offensively...not so much (again less than a point per possession), though we got much better after halftime. Teams are going to zone us to death until we establish we can hit open 3s (at least we hit free throws tonight). That means you, Jordan Poole--the guy with the excess of swag last year looks really tentative on offense in the early going, and he has to score for us to be really good.
3. Iggy Brazdeikis played very, very well, including defensively, where I thought this game might be a struggle for him. He gets to the line, he converts, and he's got that Mo Wagner enthusiasm which ramps up his teammates.
4. While there was a lid on he basket for Isaiah Livers tonight, he did not let that impact him on the other end of the court. He was everywhere defensively and on the glass, and the team feeds off of it.
5. Man, can Jon Teske move his feet on defense for a 7' guy. And he's got great timing inside which allows him to block shots. It will be interesting to see how he does against Villanova, which has a 5 who can shoot it from the perimeter (Eric Paschall), but I think he's up to the challenge, and his length is going to bother 'Nova's bigs.
6. Charles Matthews played much better offensively (and, of course, at the line) tonight. However, he still is taking it into the lane too often with no clear idea of what to do. To be clear, he kept us in the game early on, and his defense was again stellar. We need him, though, to be a creator for others, not just himself, because this team needs some easy shots.
7. One thing teams have done in the first two games is take away transition baskets from us. Until we get better in the half court, we're going to need to force some live ball turnovers and get some run-outs.
8. I didn't think we cut especially well or hard tonight. We got to the basket a number of times and there was no one available for a dump off. We got the ball to the corners, and got a lot of wide open looks, but right now, we're not hitting those. Again, we're going to have to score more at the rim, at least in the early going.
9. We're not going to be a great shooting team, or even an especially good one, but I absolutely believe we'll be much better than we've shown to date. We're getting good shots. The form looks OK for the most part, albeit we're not shooting with confidence. At some point, we're going to hit several in a row and the confidence will go up...or at least that's the plan.
10. One more time--we are really, really good on the defensive end.Though we may have some games where teams hit shots--'Nova on Wednesday may be one--from a defensive principles, effort and execution standpoint, guys like Simpson, Matthews, Teske and Livers are elite, and the other guys are good as well.
