Beyond that...take care of the ball, hit open shots, defend, and rebound...and hit open shots.
Posted from Rivals Mobile
Posted from Rivals Mobile
It's the Etou and Sanders era now.
- Thread starter soundcrib
- Start date
B1G 10 money and practice facility not here yet. What can EJ do? 3 things to focus on:
1. DEFENSE: Here's where the college game differs from the NBA. Players are not as skilled offensively, so defense is the key. Its why the press is useless in the NBA. Even big men can handle the ball. The best college teams all play excellent defense. This has to be a point of emphasis for EJ, especially with all his new guys coming in. The roster appears full of athletic types. There should be no excuse. If Diallo is the shot blocker we expect him to be, then the defense should show significant improvement.
2. FREE THROWS: Daniels and Williams are over 70%. Etou is close at 68%. Foreman has to make the biggest improvement since his game is all about slashing to the basket. Have to believe Sanders can be a good one too.
3. 3 POINTERS: Johnson, Goode, Sanders, Williams. Hopefully Daniels can improve.
CONCLUSION: I don't buy the gloom and doom predicted by many for next year. EJ has had enough time to adapt. I'm not asking for the post season. Improve on all 3 categories above, hand the reins of the offense over to Sanders, and approach .500.
1. DEFENSE: Here's where the college game differs from the NBA. Players are not as skilled offensively, so defense is the key. Its why the press is useless in the NBA. Even big men can handle the ball. The best college teams all play excellent defense. This has to be a point of emphasis for EJ, especially with all his new guys coming in. The roster appears full of athletic types. There should be no excuse. If Diallo is the shot blocker we expect him to be, then the defense should show significant improvement.
2. FREE THROWS: Daniels and Williams are over 70%. Etou is close at 68%. Foreman has to make the biggest improvement since his game is all about slashing to the basket. Have to believe Sanders can be a good one too.
3. 3 POINTERS: Johnson, Goode, Sanders, Williams. Hopefully Daniels can improve.
CONCLUSION: I don't buy the gloom and doom predicted by many for next year. EJ has had enough time to adapt. I'm not asking for the post season. Improve on all 3 categories above, hand the reins of the offense over to Sanders, and approach .500.
Etou and Sanders both in a RU uniform next year will be a good first step.
Posted from Rivals Mobile
Posted from Rivals Mobile
Great point about a shot blocker.
Poor on ball defenders don't stand out like a sore thumb when a shot blocker is in the lineup.
Poor on ball defenders don't stand out like a sore thumb when a shot blocker is in the lineup.
Amen to that Soundcrib. Just gotta hit open shots (including foul shots) fellas and we will be significantly better next season. This is the single most important deficit on this year's team and many years past. One of the reasons we didn't have enough energy to defend well (besides having no depth and being totally gassed) was the utter impotence coming from the offensive end of the court. It is very demoralizing for the team to constantly miss shots in this league where the other teams almost always hit open shots.
With a point guard like Sanders who is bigger and more of a natural point guard than our beloved Myles (who at 5' 9" did his level best but had almost no natural point guard instincts), we should get better shots, but we gotta hit em if the team is to improve. We just gotta hit open shots[/B] and we will definitely improve our win total. If we protect the ball better and play better defense we could be alot better.
What makes anyone think all of a sudden these guys just start hitting open shots??
This team better be shooting free throws 3 hours a day, everyday in the offseason. Absolutely insane how bad we were and games were lost at the FT line this year - especially for a team that can't score.
Bishop Daniels needs to watch some film about situational "aggressiveness" vs "recklessness". IF he cuts down the turnovers I think he becomes a top 2 player on the team next year.
I'm not sure if Etou and Sanders are both on the team next year. I just have bad feelings about it all. (maybe I'm tainted from all the negative events this year)
This team better be shooting free throws 3 hours a day, everyday in the offseason. Absolutely insane how bad we were and games were lost at the FT line this year - especially for a team that can't score.
Bishop Daniels needs to watch some film about situational "aggressiveness" vs "recklessness". IF he cuts down the turnovers I think he becomes a top 2 player on the team next year.
I'm not sure if Etou and Sanders are both on the team next year. I just have bad feelings about it all. (maybe I'm tainted from all the negative events this year)
I was not concerned about Etou until I read Eddie's post-game comments in today's Fat Cat. He was discussing the promise of the young guys developing next year and made no mention of Etou. I hope it was just an oversight. Etou's development is crucial to RU's success. Another transfer of a guy as he enters his upperclassmen years at RU would be devastating. Those transfers are a big part of why the program has reached such depths.
Same thoughts as Shill here. I feel like we've been getting bad vibes regarding Etou for some time now, pure speculation though but he seems gassed/lost on the court every so often like he doesn't want to be here.
Until I see Sanders playing in an actual uniform, I'm not sure I can believe that either. IIRC, we all thought there would be no issues whatsoever with the last recruiting class and then all of the sudden Diallo and Johnson had to sit out for academic reasons.
I'll hold my breath but at the same time have faith in BK's post.
Eddie also didn't mention Lewis. And remember after a game a couple of weeks ago, Eddie made some comment along the lines of, "Hopefully Greg will be with us next year." I don't remember the exact quote but it was something like that.
Let's face it - we're conditioned to expect bad things to happen as fans of this woebegone program. I'll be very pleasantly surprised if Sanders is here and eligible and Lewis, Etou, Doorson, Foreman and Williams are all back. Besides Daniels, who really can't leave, I'm worried about everyone.
This post was edited on 3/13 10:24 AM by Local Shill
He didnt mention Etou for a good reason. While he does rebound and sometimes have good D, he does little else sometimes esp on offense. When I watch games his name is mentioned so little by announcers I have to look to see if he is still in he game. I think he has regressed since the beginning of the season.
