Observations vs DePaul

[LeftCoastPirates]

This felt like a day where the attention was on everything but the task at hand.

Plenty of pregame articles about the 87-88 team, PJ joining the broadcast booth mid game to talk about the history, the post games question centering around PJ being in the locker room, etc etc.

They had the typical lazy Sunday noon start, a sparse turnout from the student section, and a 15-2 deficit to overcome out of the gate.

They shot 34% from the floor, 21% from 3, and 67% from the line. They were out scored 17-0 on fast break opportunities. Plus they had more missed bunnies than an elementary school pregame lay up line.

But the bottomline is they won a game that they needed to. They completed the mini 3 game stretch and took care of business. It’s wasn’t efficient or pretty in the last two, but they still accomplished what needed to be done, no bad losses, 8-5 conference record, and in position to go 4-3 down the stretch and punch their ticket to the dance.

Blue Tinted Glasses
I agree with Carino… Tray Jackson has accepted his role and is coming into the game with positive body language, looking to attack, but also not forcing it like he was earlier in the season. 4-6 Fg 10 points was a much needed jumpstart the offense needed today.

With his brother still nursing an ankle injury, I thought Tae Davis gave the Pirates contributions offensively while being a lockdown on the ball defender on the other half of the court. Only criticism is it might be time to put the corner 3 ball in his back pocket until he works on it in the off-season.

The defense can be absolutely lock down at times. I still would like to see it against the top half of the conference, but they held DePaul from the 11:56 mark of the first half to the 11:46 mark of the second half to only 15 points. That’s phenomenal.

Sour Grapes and Gripes.
Even though they got the win. Plenty to dissect for the film session for Sha. Without belaboring the points here are some of my pet peeves with the game.

The lack of energy starts need to get corrected. I am in the school of thought that maybe Femi could come off the bench to spell Kadary and continue to bring the defensive energy. Sometimes Kadary and Tyrese get off to slow starts. Combine that with the limited offense from Femi and KC and you will have games where you start 1/12. So maybe Dre Davis can balance the lineup by starting when he returns. Might be too late in the season for Sha to change it up, but I would consider it.

They need to use their defense to create easy offense, being outscore 17-0 on the fast break was kind of head scratching.

Our better players need to improve their BBIQ. Not sure if you can get a tiger to change their stripes at this point. But how many times is Tyrese going to pick up 2 fouls in a 30 second stretch? How many fouls will we commit 25+ feet from the basket? How many times can we foul a 3 point shooter closing out?

Then they just need to be better on execution. How many games can you win missing 15 FT attempts? How many shots are the rim can you miss and still win?

But they are where they need to be. They are where no one probably expected after starting 1-4 in conference play. They have given themselves a realistic shot to make the NCAA tournament. They have given the fanbase a reason to be excited for meaningful games in February and March. Now it’s up to Sha and the entire team to take it to another level. Creighton, Nova, Xavier, UCONN, and Providence will not let you walk out of the gym with a win if you repeat the effort from the last two games.

 

[Hall Is Life]

Tae Davis looks like he tries to outwork Ndefo when he’s on the court. As if the Butler game didn’t prove anything, he logged another 15 of the strongest possible minutes yesterday. He battles. He scores. He boards. He defends. He had an assist. His future is bright and he has gotten ready to contribute to this stretch run at just the right time. Keep working Tae. We need you.

 

[Hall Is Life]

I also can’t say that I was thrilled to hear PJ say “Sha’s guys are going to beat DePaul” at the end of his pregame speech. I cringed. Never do that!

 

[HALL85]

This felt like a day where the attention was on everything but the task at hand.

Plenty of pregame articles about the 87-88 team, PJ joining the broadcast booth mid game to talk about the history, the post games question centering around PJ being in the locker room, etc etc.

They had the typical lazy Sunday noon start, a sparse turnout from the student section, and a 15-2 deficit to overcome out of the gate.

They shot 34% from the floor, 21% from 3, and 67% from the line. They were out scored 17-0 on fast break opportunities. Plus they had more missed bunnies than an elementary school pregame lay up line.

But the bottomline is they won a game that they needed to. They completed the mini 3 game stretch and took care of business. It’s wasn’t efficient or pretty in the last two, but they still accomplished what needed to be done, no bad losses, 8-5 conference record, and in position to go 4-3 down the stretch and punch their ticket to the dance.

Blue Tinted Glasses
I agree with Carino… Tray Jackson has accepted his role and is coming into the game with positive body language, looking to attack, but also not forcing it like he was earlier in the season. 4-6 Fg 10 points was a much needed jumpstart the offense needed today.

With his brother still nursing an ankle injury, I thought Tae Davis gave the Pirates contributions offensively while being a lockdown on the ball defender on the other half of the court. Only criticism is it might be time to put the corner 3 ball in his back pocket until he works on it in the off-season.

The defense can be absolutely lock down at times. I still would like to see it against the top half of the conference, but they held DePaul from the 11:56 mark of the first half to the 11:46 mark of the second half to only 15 points. That’s phenomenal.

Sour Grapes and Gripes.
Even though they got the win. Plenty to dissect for the film session for Sha. Without belaboring the points here are some of my pet peeves with the game.

The lack of energy starts need to get corrected. I am in the school of thought that maybe Femi could come off the bench to spell Kadary and continue to bring the defensive energy. Sometimes Kadary and Tyrese get off to slow starts. Combine that with the limited offense from Femi and KC and you will have games where you start 1/12. So maybe Dre Davis can balance the lineup by starting when he returns. Might be too late in the season for Sha to change it up, but I would consider it.

They need to use their defense to create easy offense, being outscore 17-0 on the fast break was kind of head scratching.

Our better players need to improve their BBIQ. Not sure if you can get a tiger to change their stripes at this point. But how many times is Tyrese going to pick up 2 fouls in a 30 second stretch? How many fouls will we commit 25+ feet from the basket? How many times can we foul a 3 point shooter closing out?

Then they just need to be better on execution. How many games can you win missing 15 FT attempts? How many shots are the rim can you miss and still win?

But they are where they need to be. They are where no one probably expected after starting 1-4 in conference play. They have given themselves a realistic shot to make the NCAA tournament. They have given the fanbase a reason to be excited for meaningful games in February and March. Now it’s up to Sha and the entire team to take it to another level. Creighton, Nova, Xavier, UCONN, and Providence will not let you walk out of the gym with a win if you repeat the effort from the last two games.

Good summary. I’ve been pretty critical of Jackson but the light has gone on. One thing to accept your role; another to commit to it. If he doesn’t score those first two buckets, who knows how long the bad start would have continued. His defensive effort is vastly improved as well.

I do like your idea of starting Dre. Teams are now packing it in on KC and Femi at the start of the game and that gives Ty little room to operate then. Add to that Dawes is typically a slow starter scoring wise. As you said though probably too late to experiment.

I don’t know if it’s BBIQ or the team just so committed defensively that they make ill-timed aggressive fouls. Dawes also came close to fouling DePaul near the game when he stole the ball off his dribble. First in BE in several defensive categories so to a degree you take the good with the bad.

The FT shooting…nothing to add, because history shows most of the team is pedestrian but when you see numbers drop YOY with guys like Femi, Harris and Jackson, it’s got to be a concentration issue.

 

[Piratz]

Agreed on all points from the original post. Very weird game of epic runs. But hey, we took care of business. The Willard Era players have all made strides and look to have fully made the adjustment. Now we have a shot to get back to the NCAA Tournament.

Also great to see Carlesimo, Bryant and the 1987-88 team. Saw PJ on the concourse greeting anyone and everyone as he was ushered from point to point. He bleeds Pirate blue.

Sha’s expression says all you need to know about this game, lol.

 

[Section112]

Key factor in our wins the last four or five games is our bench. It’s been huge. Jackson has given us a nice spark offensively and as mentioned defensively. He moves his feet much better now on D and he can score. Tae is becoming a solid player. Talent is there. I thought Harris minutes were solid. I was hoping Sanders would get some time when we were up big. We might need him in future games. The bench is now a very consistent contributor and it’s great to see. Hoping Dre comes back soon.

I’d love to see Sha get some better FT shooters on the floor at the end of the game. Femi gives his all every play but I’d foul him every time he touches the ball if I was the team playing us.

 

[halltheway]

If you want get up and go...play Dre...very offensive minded, always looking to score.

 

[Hall Is Life]

If you want get up and go...play Dre...very offensive minded, always looking to score.

Sha started Dre in place of Ndefo against Marquette in late December and it backfired. Perhaps the start should have been in place of Femi, but Femi brings so much to the table that it’s hard to find a seat for him on the bench. He does a lot of things that don’t show up in the box score.

I said yesterday that he is the Myles Cale of this team, minus the offensive ability and the insane athleticism. He never gets as much credit as he deserves, often guarding the other team’s best offensive player and doing a damn good job locking him down. If Cale had Femi’s killer instinct and attitude, he could have been one of the best players to ever put on a Seton Hall uniform.

 

[LeftCoastPirates]

Sha started Dre in place of Ndefo against Marquette in late December and it backfired. Perhaps the start should have been in place of Femi, but Femi brings so much to the table that it’s hard to find a seat for him on the bench. He does a lot of things that don’t show up in the box score.

I said yesterday that he is the Myles Cale of this team, minus the offensive ability and the insane athleticism. He never gets as much credit as he deserves, often guarding the other team’s best offensive player and doing a damn good job locking him down. If Cale had Femi’s killer instinct and attitude, he could have been one of the best players to ever put on a Seton Hall uniform.

So the suggestion is not to punish Femi, you can still get him the same total amount of minutes. Just play him as your 6th man. He doesn’t have to wait 6-8 minutes to get into the game either. It could be at the 16 under timeout. It’s just a way to get a little more offense on the floor to avoid not digging such a large hole. When the subs come in Jackson and Harris are supposed to be stronger on the offensive side of the ball, so Femi helps balance your rotation in that regard.

Femi and KC were a combined 0-4 from 3. Unfortunately the scouting report says to allow those shots all day. Those are wasted possessions if you ask me. They are now 9-35 (26%) and 1-18 (6%) respectively on the year. They just can’t be taking those shots unless there is no other option late in the shot clock.

Conversely Dre is 12-34 (35%). With the way Kadary wants to get to the rim you need to be able to space the floor better.

 

[Hall Is Life]

So the suggestion is not to punish Femi, you can still get him the same total amount of minutes. Just play him as your 6th man. He doesn’t have to wait 6-8 minutes to get into the game either. It could be at the 16 under timeout. It’s just a way to get a little more offense on the floor to avoid not digging such a large hole. When the subs come in Jackson and Harris are supposed to be stronger on the offensive side of the ball, so Femi helps balance your rotation in that regard.

Femi and KC were a combined 0-4 from 3. Unfortunately the scouting report says to allow those shots all day. Those are wasted possessions if you ask me. They are now 9-35 (26%) and 1-18 (6%) respectively on the year. They just can’t be taking those shots unless there is no other option late in the shot clock.

Conversely Dre is 12-34 (35%). With the way Kadary wants to get to the rim you need to be able to space the floor better.

I’m not necessarily disagreeing with you. But when you’ve won 8 of 10 games and your defense is your identity, I would be hard pressed to make a change to potentially jumpstart the offense. I personally don’t see Sha doing it as Femi is one of his rocks, but I wouldn’t blame him if he did.

 

[Seton75]

I like a sixth many who can jolt the offense. As Dre does. I think I like the lineups as they are now. If Dre is becoming the kind of shooter his recent games have shown, I may change my mind.

 

[HALL85]

Femi and KC were a combined 0-4 from 3. Unfortunately the scouting report says to allow those shots all day. Those are wasted possessions if you ask me. They are now 9-35 (26%) and 1-18 (6%) respectively on the year. They just can’t be taking those shots unless there is no other option late in the shot clock.

Conversely Dre is 12-34 (35%). With the way Kadary wants to get to the rim you need to be able to space the floor better.

I can see both sides of this argument. Winning 8 of 10 makes me want to stand pat, but having both Femi and KC on the floor starting puts Ty at a disadvantage to get some early offense going. Teams are giving KC and Femi the 3 and packing it in on him giving Richmond no place to pass it to him. Combine that with Dawes starting cold most of the time. That 0-4 yesterday from KC/Femi were on such wide open shots that should tell you something.

 

[Hall Is Life]

I can see both sides of this argument. Winning 8 of 10 makes me want to stand pat, but having both Femi and KC on the floor starting puts Ty at a disadvantage to get some early offense going. Teams are giving KC and Femi the 3 and packing it in on him giving Richmond no place to pass it to him. Combine that with Dawes starting cold most of the time. That 0-4 yesterday from KC/Femi were on such wide open shots that should tell you something.

Femi is also very obviously hesitant to shoot which is most likely an instruction from Sha. He has had games where he’s buried his threes, most notably 2/3 @ Marquette and 2/2 @ Creighton. He’s been on a cold spell, no doubt about it, and we knew coming in that he isn’t a perimeter shooter, but it doesn’t mean they never go down. I’d like to see him shoot an open shot with confidence and without hesitation, if Sha allows it. That part I do not know.

 

[LeftCoastPirates]

Femi is also very obviously hesitant to shoot which is most likely an instruction from Sha. He has had games where he’s buried his threes, most notably 2/3 @ Marquette and 2/2 @ Creighton. He’s been on a cold spell, no doubt about it, and we knew coming in that he isn’t a perimeter shooter, but it doesn’t mean they never go down. I’d like to see him shoot an open shot with confidence and without hesitation, if Sha allows it. That part I do not know.

I needed some more context on those threes he made. Because it matters when he makes them relative to game situation and pressure. So here is what I found.

He hit the two against Crieghton while we trailed by 32 and 28.

Against Marquette he hit one early in the game to make it 5-4 and then another with under 8 to play trailing by 14.

I want to see more consistency when the game is closer. Can’t be trusted from distance in a big spot.