Oregon Gamethread

[catholicman]

There were some flashes of brilliance from the Pirates but overall we seem directionless. Lots of talent. Learning how play without Myles Powell is a huge challenge.

My biggest takeaway from tonight is that we have an alarming amount of difficulty finishing at the rim. It reminds me of how we played 7 to 10 years ago. We've got to improve at the rim. Gotta learn how to finish.

 

[sami]

Anyone else think when Aiken is back our best backcourt has Reynolds starting with him? He can certainly guard the best guy in the opposing teams back court. He can knock down open shots. It takes the pressure off him from having to create for himself or others.

Not crazy to say the best 5 would probably be Aiken, Reynolds, Rhoden, Mamu and Samuel.

 

[catholicman]

38 -22 --ridiculous margin when Hall only has 4 Offensive and Ducks 12--

We were doing much better at rebounding in the first half. Something changed in the latter part of the first half.

 

[HallLine69]

I think the poster who reminded us Willard criticized Sandro's strong game the other night made a good point...that it resulted in Sandro laying back. Maybe it's also possible Sandro's a little under the weather...

Either way, we stunk again tonight. Shavar had a very good game. Samuel was better. Nobody else distinguished themsleves. If Aiken stays healthy and produces we could still have a decent year. Otherwise we look like a .500 team...perhaps a cut below that.

 

[mbraue]

This. End the game around that range making 14 of them. And still get spanked.

I know the message to Mamu after last game was to not force the action. But in what universe on this team should he only end up with 7 shots. Unless he has like 15 assists I don’t get that at all.

Willard spooked him by parroting Pitino who said his best player who posted big numbers against SHU didn’t play well. I get that - Mamu was forcing last game a bit - but you want your star taking at least 14 shots a game. Good shots, but Mamu knows how to do it. No way he should not take at least 12-14 shots a game.

 

[LBP43]

There were some flashes of brilliance from the Pirates but overall we seem directionless. Lots of talent. Learning how play without Myles Powell is a huge challenge.

My biggest takeaway from tonight is that we have an alarming amount of difficulty finishing at the rim. It reminds me of how we played 7 to 10 years ago. We've got to improve at the rim. Gotta learn how to finish.

That is a bit explained by tired legs -- but not boxing out and allowing O rebounds is about effort.

 

[sami]

I think the poster who reminded us Willard criticized Sandro's strong game the other night made a good point...that it resulted in Sandro laying back. Maybe it's also possible Sandro's a little under the weather...

Either way, we stunk again tonight. Shavar had a very good game. Samuel was better. Nobody else distinguished themsleves. If Aiken stays healthy and produces we could still have a decent year. Otherwise we look like a .500 team...perhaps a cut below that.

Hate to say it but I’ve given up any hope that Aiken plays for us. He sprained his ankle for a 2-3 week injury by tripping on his shoelace. Rooting like hell for the kid but not setting myself up for false hope.

 

[halltheway]

Too many fundamental mistakes...:
Bad passes
Gave up too many open threes
Rhoden early on passes up open threes, instead drives to the basket, either gets blocked or turns it over
Mamu can't disappear, our only real scoring threat
Gave up too many second chances
Too many offensive charges
Our team is not good enough not to play fundamental basketball

 

[dehere23]

Willard spooked him by parroting Pitino who said his best player who posted big numbers against SHU didn’t play well. I get that - Mamu was forcing last game a bit - but you want your star taking at least 14 shots a game. Good shots, but Mamu knows how to do it. No way he should not take at least 12-14 shots a game.

I hope that’s all there is to it. The reality is Mamu can make difficult shots. Like Powell in prior years, if there is anyone we want doing that, it’s him. With Mamu’s versatility there is no way he should have a game in which he takes that few shots unless he is putting up Jokic assist numbers because of what the opponent is doing on defense

 

[mbraue]

we have ZERO offensive flow and everytime we tie or get close we cannot stop them on

The biggest flaw is ole’ defense - I think we switch too much and as a result players are out of position and can’t regroup to stop the drive.

Not exactly sure why we are exposed so much on the drive - this has been a staple of all the games thus far. Maybe give Samuel more minutes so he and Ike can truly be interchangeable? Samuel seems to be a step behind though he’s got a boatload of talent. I think matchup zone needs to be employed more - we are not anywhere good enough to use man-to-man all-game long.

 

[Section112]

no, im saying pointing out samuels d, while being the only one with an offensive pulse, basically shows you have a vendetta.

shavars been great but his mistake blowing the switch is to blame, not samuel caught in the crossfire. its not an excuse.

i just have half a brain and realize the coach plays favorites with guys like rhoden who spend the whole game playing like ass and guys like samuel get ruined with lack of minutes.

samuel was probably one of the better defensive players tonight. believe it. name anyone else that was so much better tonight. you cant.

By saying defensively he has a long way to go I have a vendetta?? I want the kid to get better and think he should start due to his offense. But If you give up as many points as you score defensively you are a minus. Willard will coach him up count on it.

 

[Pirate143]

The season comes down to poor roster planning. No one kid can be criticized. The plan was to go with a transfer PG, a transfer SG (who hadn’t played in a year + and not even at this level), 3 bigs for 2 spots and 2 wing players. No real depth or support from the Freshmen. The staff has to take the blame when due just as they take the credit when that is due. This could be a down year, just hope the kids stay healthy and keep competing.

 

[mbraue]

There were some flashes of brilliance from the Pirates but overall we seem directionless. Lots of talent. Learning how play without Myles Powell is a huge challenge.

My biggest takeaway from tonight is that we have an alarming amount of difficulty finishing at the rim. It reminds me of how we played 7 to 10 years ago. We've got to improve at the rim. Gotta learn how to finish.

Totally agree. Need to finish inside. Those are the bunnies. Nail it or get fouled. We need an inside /out game and certainly need to feed a big or bigs inside. We did try some back door plays abs drives where players missed or got blocked.

It’s not rocket science to employ an inside-out game and who can stop Ike? I heard Willard last year dismiss Gill offensively, but look where he finished?

Certainly Ike can catch and drop in a few dunks or hook shots a game - will keep defenses honest - let’s hope we recognize the value of our big man. Will make everyone around him better if we establish something inside the arc other than a charge.

 

[Pirate143]

Ike is not ready for extensive minutes. He jumps too often, tries to block every shot and pass and is not fundamentally sound. The Loville game, last play, If he does not jump to swat a bad shot but blocks out, the ball would have hit him in the chest and the game is over. While it’s just one play, a more polished player would have made that play.

 

[Section112]

Have to hope our guys are gonna learn a lot from this stretch of games and improve.

 

[Ryanpbkelly]

Not good in pretty much all aspects when you look at the game as whole. Sure there were spurts of good play. But too inconsistent from the supporting cast and not enough emphasis on running the offense through Mamu.
17 Turnovers
-16 on the glass
Lucky to have a hot shooting night from 3 or this would have been really a ugly

 

[NYShoreGuy]

We really should have gone the Rutgers route with OOC scheduling early this year. Baylor would have destroyed us. Flying halfway across the country on no rest with no practice was so dumb. We needed Wagner earlier to build confidence, but we could already be buried by the time Big East play even starts. I normally like Kevin's aggressive scheduling, and in a normal year that would be good, but this year, we really should have played FDU or somebody at home tonight, not flying halfway across the country with a team that is already gassed and hasn't even been able to practice during this insane scheduling stretch. Scheduling aggressive doesn't help if you lose all the games and destroy the teams confidence. I still think they can bounce back but this is brutal to watch, and we should be happy Baylor got cancelled because they would have hammered us by 30.

Baylor would have been a 25 to 30 point loss

 

[SHUSA]

By saying defensively he has a long way to go I have a vendetta?? I want the kid to get better and think he should start due to his offense. But If you give up as many points as you score defensively you are a minus. Willard will coach him up count on it.

he was one of the least minus on the team tonight. cant remember which poster said wait till the end of the game cause hed be the worse. or was he talking about molson. i forget. molson had the best plus minus. oops!!

everyone on the team was a minus.

 

[dehere23]

Have to hope our guys are gonna learn a lot from this stretch of games and improve.

Its why scheduling difficult matchups early can be beneficial when you get to conference play.

 

[hbkmyr]

Its why scheduling difficult matchups early can be beneficial when you get to conference play.

First five conference games are very manageable. You have to hope these games play dividends then.

 

[mga pirate]

Kniespolice coming in with that I know more than you basketball IQ bs again. This team lacks guards. Currently we have one guy capable ball handling guard. When Aiken comes back that will be 2 but Willard will sparingly play them together. This team is a group of small forwards and power forwards playing around the perimeter and getting beat on the boards.

 

[mbraue]

Ike is not ready for extensive minutes. He jumps too often, tries to block every shot and pass and is not fundamentally sound. The Loville game, last play, If he does not jump to swat a bad shot but blocks out, the ball would have hit him in the chest and the game is over. While it’s just one play, a more polished player would have made that play.

Gill was at the same point. When he’s in, we need to build confidence and get him somewhat involved. Not hugely, but to establish a threat inside.

 

[SHUSA]

Not a good night all the way around.

I see one individual stat that is unfathomable. I want to wait until the final boxscore is posted.

what stat you talking about?

 

[mbraue]

Not crazy to say the best 5 would probably be Aiken, Reynolds, Rhoden, Mamu and Samuel.

Cale is starting to find his game.

 

[SPK145]

what stat you talking about?

Cale is starting to find his game.

Cale‘s +/- tonight was minus 25. Wow.

 

[mbraue]

Not good in pretty much all aspects when you look at the game as whole. Sure there were spurts of good play. But too inconsistent from the supporting cast and not enough emphasis on running the offense through Mamu.
17 Turnovers
-16 on the glass
Lucky to have a hot shooting night from 3 or this would have been really a ugly

The glass is the killer. Big front line going small

Cale‘s +/- tonight was minus 25. Wow.

 

[mbraue]

Cale‘s +/- tonight was minus 25. Wow.

Analytics and metrics are one thing - I’m looking at his confidence and aggressiveness versus last year. And my judgment from watching him over the last four years. I see a positive trend that he will help and get back to his best form.

I think several players had minus metrics tonight.

 

[SHUSA]

Cale‘s +/- tonight was minus 25. Wow.

i was going to make a +/- post because its much different from what some posters actually called out it would be

 

[ed odowd]

Hope we can beat Wagner by more than 10 points and get more offensive rebounds than them.Need a win going into Big East.

 

[TomD82]

The season comes down to poor roster planning. No one kid can be criticized. The plan was to go with a transfer PG, a transfer SG (who hadn’t played in a year + and not even at this level), 3 bigs for 2 spots and 2 wing players. No real depth or support from the Freshmen. The staff has to take the blame when due just as they take the credit when that is due. This could be a down year, just hope the kids stay healthy and keep competing.

Good point on the transfers. I don't like using so many transfers, but Willard has hit on quite a few. To me it seems like he has 2 every year and he does have to rely on them immediately and many are stepping up in competition.

 

[radecicco]

Not crazy to say the best 5 would probably be Aiken, Reynolds, Rhoden, Mamu and Samuel.

Don’t disagree but that would be a very small back court. I thought Cale had a better game than Rhoden last night despite the +/-.

 

[sami]

Don’t disagree but that would be a very small back court. I thought Cale had a better game than Rhoden last night despite the +/-.

Since we don’t use our height to any advantage, I’d rather see a smaller, quicker back court.

But I’ll be shocked to see 200 minutes out of Aiken this year. Hope I’m wrong, but this is a much more physical, fast conference than the Ivy’s where he got banged up anyway. Even the open court is more destructive in the Big East.

 

[NYShoreGuy]

Since we don’t use our height to any advantage, I’d rather see a smaller, quicker back court.

But I’ll be shocked to see 200 minutes out of Aiken this year. Hope I’m wrong, but this is a much more physical, fast conference than the Ivy’s where he got banged up anyway. Even the open court is more destructive in the Big East.

20 games at 10 min?

 

[sami]

20 games at 10 min?

More likely 8 games at 25 minutes. When you have knee and foot issues then you sprain the other ankle while standing at the top of the key, things look more and more bleak.

I was more hopeful, but when everyone is writing that his health is the x-factor and then he goes down for weeks like that, hope starts to bleed out.

What happens when he starts to favor the sprained ankle? More stress on the other leg... that’s not a recipe for disaster or anything.

 

[TomD82]

Since we don’t use our height to any advantage, I’d rather see a smaller, quicker back court.

But I’ll be shocked to see 200 minutes out of Aiken this year. Hope I’m wrong, but this is a much more physical, fast conference than the Ivy’s where he got banged up anyway. Even the open court is more destructive in the Big East.

A guy I played with always used to say a good small team will be beat a good big team every time. I don't ever see the ball behind passed into the paint to Ike to take advantage of size and it was the same with Gill last year . Mamu to me likes to get the ball on the perimeter. In Europe they coach big men not to play with their back to the basket.

P.S. you are not allowed at RU football games? I see they have some people in the stands though today is not a great day for that.

 

[sami]

P.S. you are not allowed at RU football games? I see they have some people in the stands though today is not a great day for that.

To be honest, there’s never a good day to be in the stands. Lol - no fans allowed.

All about the tailgate and keeping the wife happy. Hosted 2-4 friends at my house for two games, 10’ screen for projection, 100% outside, fireplace and grilling.

Maybe someday the football will be good.