Chief’s Briefs - Xavier Edition

[Drfla]

I don’t think “one big” is the issue. Xavier is the only team with two. What I consistently see is our guys 1-4 get overpowered. Jackson is athletic, but not strong. Karaban is a freshman who needs 10 pounds of muscle. Newton and Hawk do ok, but often face stronger guys. Alleyne is one of the few who can tussle with them.

Obviously we had other issues. I think Alleyne needs to start for Jackson going forward but I doubt that Hurley will do it. Jackson is the weakest link on the team. Can’t score and plays poor 1 v 1 man D.

Hawk is a special offensive talent. Sanogo played terrific defense, challenging shots all over the court. Newton played the way we need. Karaban had an off game. Alleyne played well and brought real energy.

From your posts we know you love, love, love Sanogo. But even you can’t believe he played terrific defense. Adequate defense might even be a stretch. He does help the team on offense spending more time at the high post. He passes better from there and it opens up driving lanes for Newton and Hawkins.

Hawkins is a special offensive talent but he needs to be that the whole game not half.

 

[3rdbass]

We have lost 6 of the last 7 games playing 4 out and 1 in. Yet, we can’t even try the double big that countless teams have done very successfully over the years. Instead, we have one of our top 3 players playing 7 minutes. That’s not how you win, as the results have proven. People need to let go of this failed concept, which doesn’t align with our talent.

Don't you mean 5 out of last 7? Lost 6 of our last 8. We beat Creighton and Butler. I know the losing seems worst at times. LOL!

 

[Drfla]

Donovan is one of our top players but had the eighth most minutes (7). He shot 1-2, had 3 rebounds and missed a couple foul shots. He’s a 65% FG shooter for the season, so I would have liked to see him get more minutes and shots.
Bottom line, he’s scored 150 FG points in 296 minutes. So a point every two minutes. Give him 20 minutes (10 points), 30 minutes (15 points) and he’s only going to get better if he gets minutes.
He averages 6 rebounds in 13 minutes. Give him 26 minutes per game and that’s 12 rebounds. Looking at what certain other guys produce, we are crazy leaving that production on the bench.
More importantly, he can change a game. We only have a few guys who can do that.

Great. Play DC more and AS less. That will get him more time.

 

[gsmooth]

Great. Play DC more and AS less. That will get him more time.

Playing the twin towers together for a few minutes should probably be explored in a few games and in general Clingan should get more playing time, but last night was not one of the games for more time for DC. I love the guy and I am glad he is here, but he was terrible in last night's game.

 

[HuskyHawk]

From your posts we know you love, love, love Sanogo. But even you can’t believe he played terrific defense. Adequate defense might even be a stretch. He does help the team on offense spending more time at the high post. He passes better from there and it opens up driving lanes for Newton and Hawkins.

Hawkins is a special offensive talent but he needs to be that the whole game not half.

He was really good on D last night. Go watch it again. Cutting off drivers, challenging shooters, blocked Boum at one point. He was very very active, especially in the middle of the 1-3-1. At one point he cut off a drive, forced a pass, then defended that guy, who passed down and Nunge scored. Chat said "where was Sanogo?" like a bunch of blind morons. He was out there covering for so many mistakes by other players.

Sometimes I wonder if people have any grasp on who is actually supposed to guard the opposing players.

 

[yungdowork]

Playing the twin towers together for a few minutes should probably be explored in a few games and in general Clingan should get more playing time, but last night was not one of the games for more time for DC. I love the guy and I am glad he is here, but he was terrible in last night's game.

I love Clingan but he has been objectively not very good in the last 4 games, since he dropped 20 vs Marquette. There's nothing wrong with that, it's normal freshman growing pains. But I think people get distracted by the physical tools and are hyping him up a bit too much. He's fouling at a rate that is not sustainable (averaging about 6.25 per 40 mins) and that is affecting his minutes severely. Especially considering he's received a few technicals too.

 

[TRUCONN76]

Clingen did not play well last night. I certainly did not want to see more of him. He committed 2 fouls in 7 minutes. At that rate, he wouldn’t have lasted more than 17 minutes. He missed both of his FTs. In general he was not particularly effective.

 

[TRUCONN76]

Clingen did not play well last night. I certainly did not want to see more of him. He committed 2 fouls in 7 minutes. At that rate, he wouldn’t have lasted more than 17 minutes. He missed both of his FTs. In general he was not particularly effective.

Clingan played less than a minute in the second half. In the first half he came in after over 13 minutes of Sonago doing practically nothing played for a little over 4 minutes then sat down. For a player with his skills that is that not enough time to know if he is playing well or not. He would be starting on almost any other team. Hurley is certainly treating him differently than he treated Sanogo his freshman year. His development is being held back. I like Hurley but Chief is right, he has got to open his eyes and see what isn't working. If Johnson was available and prepared it would be a different story as he could create a lot of mismatches, but even then at times you would want to put a team on the court that the opponent can't defend instead of worrying about what you can defend.

 

[Chief00]

I was at last nights game, in person, you see better what's the problem.
Two bigs is definitely the answer. Why? Because our "bigger" guards can't keep quicker guards in front them. So, they give them some space, and "boum" they reign threes down on our heads , or if we "jam" them, they go right by.
With Clingan in there ( the guy is gigantic in person), the penetration stops at about 8 ft., fewer trys at point blank with him in there. He doesn't block every shot, but he intimidates every shot.
Plus his rebounding, with Sanogo, would prevent easy put backs by the opposition.

Yes, that’s what happens in person. Got to drop now and get ready for Red Fox tonight. Should be a good time despite these loses.

 

[REB1094]

I turned it on at 9-0 as well so didn’t see AJax misses. If they’re giving him enough space (I realize 15ft may be an exaggeration) why didn’t he drive to basket and force the defense to defend or foul? He’s got a decent enough handle and can obviously jump/ challenge any defender. But again, I didn’t see the plays so I may be unfairly judging. What did you guys think as you saw it in real-time?

My live reaction was:
0-0: alright, force them to respect you out there
0-1: you’re still wide open, let it fly
0-2: if you can make 1 of every 3, that’s a win
0-3: please stop
0-4: please stop
0-5: please stop
0-6: please stop
Benched after 0-7 (this was 4 minutes into the game and down 9-0)

 

[ctkaiser]

Again with the double big nonsense

They can’t defend with both clingan and sanogo on the floor. That’s very obvious

Let the other team adjust to defending two bigs.

 

[Billy Jack]

Donovan is one of our top players but had the eighth most minutes (7). He shot 1-2, had 3 rebounds and missed a couple foul shots. He’s a 65% FG shooter for the season, so I would have liked to see him get more minutes and shots.
Bottom line, he’s scored 150 FG points in 296 minutes. So a point every two minutes. Give him 20 minutes (10 points), 30 minutes (15 points) and he’s only going to get better if he gets minutes.
He averages 6 rebounds in 13 minutes. Give him 26 minutes per game and that’s 12 rebounds. Looking at what certain other guys produce, we are crazy leaving that production on the bench.
More importantly, he can change a game. We only have a few guys who can do that.

It doesn’t work that way. You can’t simply project numbers mathematically. But if you want to do that, I’ll note that DC is averaging 6.2 fouls per 40 minutes. That’s a problem that he has to fix, and that alone will limit his playing time. And when he goes to the line to shoot FTs himself, he’s a major liability, hitting only 50%.

He may be one of our best players, but he’s also one of our least experienced. And at times he plays like just what he is - a freshman. He needs time to develop and he’s getting that.

 

[ctkaiser]

Agree with this. Seems like DH is posting AJ up on the block early in games to get him thinking offensively.
Hasn’t panned out yet but he has gotten good looks. It was unfortunate he missed all those outside shots but he had to take them. As a result of his misses and further reluctance to take the shots later in the game it allowed the defense to continue to clogged up the lane. If he makes a few the lane gets bigger for our drives and Sanogo

I don't anybody needs to take outside shots in the first 10 seconds of the clock especially one who's not a good outside shooter. Run the offense and get shots in the flow of the offense.

 

[ctkaiser]

Playing the twin towers together for a few minutes should probably be explored in a few games and in general Clingan should get more playing time, but last night was not one of the games for more time for DC. I love the guy and I am glad he is here, but he was terrible in last night's game.

I think he's pressing a bit. It doesn't have to be twin towers for extended time but why is it automatic that one comes out when the other goes in.

 

[Billy Jack]

Clingan played less than a minute in the second half. For a player with his skills that is that not enough time

He’s own worst enemy. He got pulled in the second half right after he made the boneheaded move of getting called for 2 fouls on one play. Right after he missed 2 FTs and Claude went around him for a lay up. At that time it was a 6 point game and we had come most of the way back from the half time deficit. Coach wasn’t going to leave him in there to mess that up. He looked lost out there.

 

[pj]

Donovan is one of our top players but had the eighth most minutes (7). He shot 1-2, had 3 rebounds and missed a couple foul shots. He’s a 65% FG shooter for the season, so I would have liked to see him get more minutes and shots.
Bottom line, he’s scored 150 FG points in 296 minutes. So a point every two minutes. Give him 20 minutes (10 points), 30 minutes (15 points) and he’s only going to get better if he gets minutes.
He averages 6 rebounds in 13 minutes. Give him 26 minutes per game and that’s 12 rebounds. Looking at what certain other guys produce, we are crazy leaving that production on the bench.
More importantly, he can change a game. We only have a few guys who can do that.

You're right. I think Hurley promised Sanogo, Hawkins, and Jackson he'd showcase them for the league this year, and wants to keep his promise. And he needs them to leave to make room for his recruits. So he won't sit Jackson to give Karaban time at the 3, and he won't let Clingan upstage Sanogo (proving him to be the second best center on the team).

But winning games may help those guys more than letting them dominate play while losing games. If putting Sanogo at the 4 works, it might give NBA GMs more confidence in his versatility. Jackson, I don't know what to say. He may add more value as a change of pace than as a 30+ minute guy.

 

[Rewster]

I don't anybody needs to take outside shots in the first 10 seconds of the clock especially one who's not a good outside shooter. Run the offense and get shots in the flow of the offense.

Don’t agree.
They were wide open and in the flow of the game. He rarely shoots the ball and when he does it is an exception for him to shoot outside of the flow of the game. I definitely wan to continue to see his post game develop. I think it is a smart move by DH. Kid has to get more comfortable shooting

 

[ClifSpliffy]

some of youse are as loony as danny on this donno thing, especially the 6 fouls crew.
here's ur data:
currently, 8 and 6 in a little over 13 minutes per game. outstanding!
ortg 121 drtg 78 insane!

leads the league in blocks. 2nd in fg % (14th in ncaa), 11th in o boards, 14th in d boards, and 16th in made 2's, all in around 13 freakin minutes per!
u know who else in the entire country looks like this coming out of the gate?
like, almost no one!
this situation is getting ridiculous...

 

[bendm]

You're right. I think Hurley promised Sanogo, Hawkins, and Jackson he'd showcase them for the league this year, and wants to keep his promise. And he needs them to leave to make room for his recruits. So he won't sit Jackson to give Karaban time at the 3, and he won't let Clingan upstage Sanogo (proving him to be the second best center on the team).

But winning games may help those guys more than letting them dominate play while losing games. If putting Sanogo at the 4 works, it might give NBA GMs more confidence in his versatility. Jackson, I don't know what to say. He may add more value as a change of pace than as a 30+ minute guy.

I’ve wondered this too. Calhoun let freeman play down a position to try and help him out with the draft and it didn’t work. Maybe Hurley thinks playing sanogo down a position won’t work Either.

 

[giddyup]

Again with the double big nonsense

They can’t defend with both clingan and sanogo on the floor. That’s very obvious

It’s less than obvious. It is in a M2M defense. It is not in a 2-3 zone. You might loose some extension on the wing and open up corner 3s, but if the shot comes from the strong side you have to shoot over a taller guy and if from the weak side, you should be able to rebound very effectively. It took Danny like 18 games to use a zone. It will take him another 18 to figure out 2 bigs can work in a 2-3.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

even more ridiculous....
possibly two members of the all league freshman team,
pre season league poy
another guy just nominated for national dpoy
us? upside down in league record!
who the, where the, what the heck is going on?

 

[pj]

I’ve wondered this too. Calhoun let freeman play down a position to try and help him out with the draft and it didn’t work. Maybe Hurley thinks playing sanogo down a position won’t work Either.

Yes, but you can try the experiment. As Chief says, it would get the five best players on the court.