Only the second game, so what we saw yesterday was a work in progress. One thing that stood out to me was Zeb getting major minutes ion the first half with Smith in foul trouble, but none in the second half when Smith was again in foule trouble. There's a line between giving a young player PT in meaningful minutes and hurting your team by having a less efficient team at both ends - which was the case in the first half. You know that Juwan was thinking that we could prevail against Oakland with Zeb playing PG, but what he didn't expect was 15 turnovers and such major struggles against their zone D. And lapses by our D in communication. That kept OU in the game, and, as the axiom goes, you can't let an inferior opponent hang around.
Clearly, the rotation will change to Dickinson starting. He has already separated himself from Davis, although Davis is going to be less effective versus a zone. The interior passing in the second half with Dickinson in the game was excellent. It accounted for a lot of points. He's already had more assists than Davis has had in his entire career. Williams works well with Dickinson, scraps for inside baskets. He will play, even with Franz, Livers, Johns any 3 and 4. Johns may get minutes at the 5 and Franz at the 2.
We have inside/outside balance like we haven't seen in the past, where our inside scoring was the big rolling to the basket off high ball screens. I don't recall us doing that even once this season. We'll see how Dickinson plays against legit B1G big men, but his post up game and what he can do out of it are a new dimension for us. Yet we retain perimeter scoring.
Smith is key to our transition game. We have forwards and wings who run the floor, and Smith is a good decision make. We miss that when he is in foul trouble.
We have the potential to be a very good defensive with more familiarity. Dickinson gives us a fundamentally sound 7 footer to guard the basket. So far, he is rarely out of position. We have long and strong athletes at 2-5. When the game was on the line last night, we turned up the intensity, made cleaner switches and shut them down. We are capable but have to be locked in for 40 minutes. Eli, Brown, Franz, Livers and Dickinson were on the floor for that stretch. Something to build on there. Didn't realize it until I saw the states but Moore was 4-19. He scored most of his points at the line. Have to contest without fouling,.
Clearly, the rotation will change to Dickinson starting. He has already separated himself from Davis, although Davis is going to be less effective versus a zone. The interior passing in the second half with Dickinson in the game was excellent. It accounted for a lot of points. He's already had more assists than Davis has had in his entire career. Williams works well with Dickinson, scraps for inside baskets. He will play, even with Franz, Livers, Johns any 3 and 4. Johns may get minutes at the 5 and Franz at the 2.
We have inside/outside balance like we haven't seen in the past, where our inside scoring was the big rolling to the basket off high ball screens. I don't recall us doing that even once this season. We'll see how Dickinson plays against legit B1G big men, but his post up game and what he can do out of it are a new dimension for us. Yet we retain perimeter scoring.
Smith is key to our transition game. We have forwards and wings who run the floor, and Smith is a good decision make. We miss that when he is in foul trouble.
We have the potential to be a very good defensive with more familiarity. Dickinson gives us a fundamentally sound 7 footer to guard the basket. So far, he is rarely out of position. We have long and strong athletes at 2-5. When the game was on the line last night, we turned up the intensity, made cleaner switches and shut them down. We are capable but have to be locked in for 40 minutes. Eli, Brown, Franz, Livers and Dickinson were on the floor for that stretch. Something to build on there. Didn't realize it until I saw the states but Moore was 4-19. He scored most of his points at the line. Have to contest without fouling,.
