Columbia Post Game Thread

[auror]

The accolades that Ross is getting for his defensive skills seem aspirational still. He has the body and speed for it, but there is no tangible evidence that he is shutting anyone down. At least we've seen Jaylin do it before on multiple occasions.

Ross is a great defender when he doesn't put his hands on the guy he is guarding.

 

[BuffaloHusky]

Stew has a

I think Stew was averaging 10 & 4 assists the first two games, don't understand why that warrants him being written off after one game where he just missed shots. Stew does alot of nice connective stuff with his passing, especially on the interior/in the paint.

Stew is also fairly proven in the bigger games where Ross has never had a real moment that wasn’t at home. Stew had an uninspired game yesterday but let’s see what happens in Boston before we are relegating his minutes.

 

[SeattleHoop]

Stew has a

Stew is also fairly proven in the bigger games where Ross has never had a real moment that wasn’t at home. Stew had an uninspired game yesterday but let’s see what happens in Boston before we are relegating his minutes.

Stew is our best chance defensively against Dybansta imo. Who else is long and athletic enough to affect his shot and contest his drive?

I could be wrong but I don’t think Ross can D him up. I know Ross has shown more defensively but I’m talking ceiling here.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

The accolades that Ross is getting for his defensive skills seem aspirational still. He has the body and speed for it, but there is no tangible evidence that he is shutting anyone down. At least we've seen Jaylin do it before on multiple occasions.

Jayden on offense is so similar to Andre, without the passing ability. In one game he has looked like a 3 point threat but he also heaved one over the backboard in an exhibition. Jayden is 3-7 from 3, which means he was 0-4 before last night. We have such little data to base any change in his performance on.

Both guys are a great 5th option right now, and their job is certainly to stand on one side of the offensive formation while the other side is stacked in an attempt to generate open looks for our shooters, passes into the paint, or cuts for others when the defensive overplays. If they were "just standing in the corner" and were supposed to be doing something different, they wouldn't be in the game very long.

Yes this is an adjustment for Eric, and he is getting sped up a lot. He's got a billion different schemes flying around in his head and isn't always doing the right thing on either side of the ball. But we need a backup center and it's likely he only plays as much as is needed based on Tarris' foul trouble. Most of us wished Donovan got more playing time even if he was behind Adams, so I doubt Hurley plays Eric more than is absolutely necessary.

Our ability to shoot is still elite, and Solo will heat up. Braylon is coming back soon and will make us an even better shooting team. Silas, Solo, and Malachi are having an easier time of getting to the rim than anyone has over the past few years, perhaps except for Steph. And Reed is a beast who has inherited the offensive efficiency of Adama, perhaps at an even higher level.

There are 5 professional coaches who are pulling the strings. They will try to optimize what they've got to work with. Hopefully they figure it out, inspire the team, and get to write another book about how they did it.

If you are actually watching games, you wouldn't have typed the first sentence. It is clear that he is capable of (and actually is) playing very good individual defense. He has been instrumental in some key traps that have resulted in turnovers, has played passing lanes well (with a couple steals/deflections to show for it). Has had a couple highlight shot blocks, etc. He was subbed in for defense for Solo during the team-wide 2nd half malaise last night.

The overall team defensive metrics through our first 3 games don't lie either:

Our Defense is 16 Adj Pts/100 possessions better when he's been on the court vs. off the court.

On offense, he has made more than a few craft/nifty passes. He's capable of making good passes.

Look, I (and many others) want JRoss to succeed as it makes us a better team. I personally love the kid. But I'm also not so naive as to think he's gonna be one of our starters once we get everyone back from injury. But he's shown enough through 2 exhibitions and 3 real games to dispel the notion that he's the same-old JRoss of last year. I think he's going to be a very important 15-20min off-the-bench piece,

The upcoming 3-4 weeks of course will be the next step...can he bring it vs a gauntlet of high-level talent? I have cautious optimism based on our 25-26 season data so far.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

Ross is a great defender when he doesn't put his hands on the guy he is guarding.

Of course, though, 99% of CBB defenders are guilty of putting their hands on the guy they are guarding at some point during every possession. Whether or not the refs choose to blow the whistle during said defense is another thing. Also, how egregious the hand-checking looks is also is a factor in this...Ross got a little more sloppy in the 2nd half, undoubtedly.

 

[HW611]

Of course, though, 99% of CBB defenders are guilty of putting their hands on the guy they are guarding at some point during every possession. Whether or not the refs choose to blow the whistle during said defense is another thing. Also, how egregious the hand-checking looks is also is a factor in this...Ross got a little more sloppy in the 2nd half, undoubtedly.

Those last two calls on Ross yesterday were just terrible.

It'll happen though when you're consistently responsible for guarding the other teams best player. Castle was in foul trouble often the year he was here. Same with Andre. Comes with the territory.

As Ross gets a consistent role and playing time he’ll be able to do more risk assessment to keep himself on the floor more now that he's out there compared to when he was fighting to get on the floor as much as possible. That definitely plays a factor into how much he may foul.

 

[navery12]

I think Stew was averaging 10 & 4 assists the first two games, don't understand why that warrants him being written off after one game where he just missed shots. Stew does alot of nice connective stuff with his passing, especially on the interior/in the paint.

Agreed, last night was a step back (if you can really even call it that with a 1 game sample), but I thought Stewart has looked really promising so far this year. The last 2 seasons he's just kind of floated around and occasionally gone on scoring bursts. He's been a lot more active with his playmaking and rebounding so far this year

 

[HW611]

Stew is our best chance defensively against Dybansta imo. Who else is long and athletic enough to affect his shot and contest his drive?

I could be wrong but I don’t think Ross can D him up. I know Ross has shown more defensively but I’m talking ceiling here.

I think Stew is 100% the better post defender and that's where his strength is. Which is why he was able to do such a great job against Dixon last year. Not able to keep up as much against players on the perimeter.

Ross is the better perimeter defender and is also not good against strong guys in the post.

I haven't watched enough of AJ to know where his game is here.

 

[freescooter]

This is not exactly a hot take but they're so much better when Reed is on the floor. He's going to have to play at least 30-32 minutes in the close games against better competition. I hope he's ready for that and can stay out of foul trouble.

Yes. We were pretty fortunate to have very good to exceptional “backups” at the 5 for the past several seasons. In fact I don’t really think of Clingon as a backup in 2023. I don’t really think we have such a luxury this season. We will have break problems if Reed goes out with foul trouble or otherwise. Maybe in 2 years Reibe is the answer. Not so much today.

 

[Iluvsuebird]

1. Missed too many free throws, but I am not concerned. Our guys are way too good a shooters for that to continue.
2. Reibe missing layups will get better once he settles down. He looks too tight. The bigger problem is that he has cement feet on the defensive end. Very slow foot work on the defensive end.
3. JRoss I see you. That's 3 games in a row where the kid looks like a real player.
4. Bear is the most important player this year. Not close. I do not think that we went to him enough last night.
5. What is the one thing that concerns me? we are a good defensive team in spurts. This wont do against a real team. But again, that may be a byproduct of being up by 20 plus points.
6. Solo and Alex look good. Silas looked better last night. Malachi knows his role. And our most talented wing has not played yet.
7. My take as to who is guarding AJ Dybantsa on Saturday? Stewart. I see him stepping up like he did last year against Providence against a bigger, more talented scorer. And do not forget that we have 5 fouls to give with Koroma. I am convinced that he will play a part defending AJ on Saturday as well. But to somebody's else point, just do not let anybody else beat you, ie. Purdue.
8. This team is nasty. Think of it: Silas is not a finished product per Hurley. And the incomplete product just dished 9 assists and played harassing style of defense. Will he be TN? I dont know, but he does not need to be if he runs the team like he did last night.

 

[ctchamps]

Stew is our best chance defensively against Dybansta imo. Who else is long and athletic enough to affect his shot and contest his drive?

I could be wrong but I don’t think Ross can D him up. I know Ross has shown more defensively but I’m talking ceiling here.

Both are good defenders. I don't believe we have enough data to know exactly how good.

Ross will be better at guarding quicker players. Stewart will be better at guarding stronger players.

Dybansta might be a difficult challenge for both.

 

[ctchamps]

I think Stew is 100% the better post defender and that's where his strength is. Which is why he was able to do such a great job against Dixon last year. Not able to keep up as much against players on the perimeter.

Ross is the better perimeter defender and is also not good against strong guys in the post.

I haven't watched enough of AJ to know where his game is here.

LOL. Didn't read this before posting.

 

[444JR]

I think Stew was averaging 10 & 4 assists the first two games, don't understand why that warrants him being written off after one game where he just missed shots. Stew does alot of nice connective stuff with his passing, especially on the interior/in the paint.

And he only took 3 shots overall. Those two misses go down and Ross and Stew end up within a point of each other, total scoring, with Stew providing more assists and more rebounds.

 

[HW611]

Both are good defenders. I don't believe we have enough data to know exactly how good.

Ross will be better at guarding quicker players. Stewart will be better at guarding stronger players.

Dybansta might be a difficult challenge for both.

 

[thekollieman]

Correct - we missed 33 shots (23 FG and 10 FT) and we had 7 offensive rebounds, Columbia had 21 defensive rebounds - and we had 5 offensive deadball rebounds (mostly missed FTs on 1st of 2).

(The three point misses are a subset of the FG misses … and not in addition to)

Ahh I see how I added wrong. I double counted the missed 3pt fga. Thank you for your responses. I’d been wondering about the no rebound “rebounds” on free throws for a while. Now it makes perfect sense.

 

[ctchamps]

If you are actually watching games, you wouldn't have typed the first sentence. It is clear that he is capable of (and actually is) playing very good individual defense. He has been instrumental in some key traps that have resulted in turnovers, has played passing lanes well (with a couple steals/deflections to show for it). Has had a couple highlight shot blocks, etc. He was subbed in for defense for Solo during the team-wide 2nd half malaise last night.

The overall team defensive metrics through our first 3 games don't lie either:

View attachment 113154
Our Defense is 16 Adj Pts/100 possessions better when he's been on the court vs. off the court.

On offense, he has made more than a few craft/nifty passes. He's capable of making good passes.

Look, I (and many others) want JRoss to succeed as it makes us a better team. I personally love the kid. But I'm also not so naive as to think he's gonna be one of our starters once we get everyone back from injury. But he's shown enough through 2 exhibitions and 3 real games to dispel the notion that he's the same-old JRoss of last year. I think he's going to be a very important 15-20min off-the-bench piece,

The upcoming 3-4 weeks of course will be the next step...can he bring it vs a gauntlet of high-level talent? I have cautious optimism based on our 25-26 season data so far.

I have a similar sentiment. Several of us have been defending Ross on this site because multiple (perhaps the majority) of fans have outright dismissed him. We observed a lot of potential and in your case you had analytics to support it.

Now that Ross has begun to demonstrate those things Hurley claimed he did in practice some individuals have started to put him above Stewart in the pecking order. This is just as silly as dismissing him.

We have no idea how the minutes will be allocated nor when players will be put into the game outside of Demary, Ball, Karaban and Reed starting. Mullins should be on this list but we don't know when he will return and how long it will take him to be as proficient as those four or the developing Ross/Stewart. Our hope is it's as quickly as possible.

A better Stewart and Ross is what is the most important thing. The better they get the better the team will be. Once this team fully heals and completely integrates they will be dangerous.

I'm not ready to limit how much Ross might develop. Most of us dismissed Hurley's comments that Ross is an NBA player after he made that claim and Ross didn't show much in games. These are the first games he's earned and had any run. There certainly isn't enough to back the NBA claim but there are hints.

 

[HW611]

I'm not ready to limit how much Ross might develop. Most of us dismissed Hurley's comments that Ross is an NBA player after he made that claim and Ross didn't show much in games. These are the first games he's earned and had any run. There certainly isn't enough to back the NBA claim but there are hints.

I'm taking it one step at a time. Ross earns that starting spot and that's the next window I'm jumping out of.

 

[ctchamps]

I'm taking it one step at a time. Ross earns that starting spot and that's the next window I'm jumping out of.

My statement was not a proclamation. I'm just reminding people about Hurley's proclamation which was rightly dismissed and laughed at based on observable information. It's a little less laughable currently.

Hurley is very aware of how fans reacted to that statement. Every time Ross is brought up you can tell Hurley is being cautious about what he says about him. Foolish fans probably made statements to Ross over it. Most of those people lack the common sense to realize they are negatively impacting the team they're rooting for. It's just stupid and coutner productive.

 

[superjohn]

Both are good defenders. I don't believe we have enough data to know exactly how good.

Ross will be better at guarding quicker players. Stewart will be better at guarding stronger players.

Dybansta might be a difficult challenge for both.

That's why we need Furphy for this game.

 

[HW611]

That's why we need Furphy for this game.

Are you saying this because we need depth in case there's foul trouble or do you think he's the best option?

 

[navery12]

Both are good defenders. I don't believe we have enough data to know exactly how good.

Ross will be better at guarding quicker players. Stewart will be better at guarding stronger players.

Dybansta might be a difficult challenge for both.

He's a tough guy to guard, but we can also throw Koroma at him for nothing else but to use up 5 fouls and beat him up a little bit

 

[superjohn]

I have a similar sentiment. Several of us have been defending Ross on this site because multiple (perhaps the majority) of fans have outright dismissed him. We observed a lot of potential and in your case you had analytics to support it.

Now that Ross has begun to demonstrate those things Hurley claimed he did in practice some individuals have started to put him above Stewart in the pecking order. This is just as silly as dismissing him.

We have no idea how the minutes will be allocated nor when players will be put into the game outside of Demary, Ball, Karaban and Reed starting. Mullins should be on this list but we don't know when he will return and how long it will take him to be as proficient as those four or the developing Ross/Stewart. Our hope is it's as quickly as possible.

A better Stewart and Ross is what is the most important thing. The better they get the better the team will be. Once this team fully heals and completely integrates they will be dangerous.

I'm not ready to limit how much Ross might develop. Most of us dismissed Hurley's comments that Ross is an NBA player after he made that claim and Ross didn't show much in games. These are the first games he's earned and had any run. There certainly isn't enough to back the NBA claim but there are hints.

I really haven't seen people dismissing Ross other than maybe Navery. People have said they want to see him play well in games, especially games against big time opponents (we haven't seen that in his career) because his athleticism on the wing is something this team could really benefit from...

We have "you know who" always saying he should start and that he's great defensively when the reality is he wasn't good defensively last season and Braylon was obviously our starter and will be our starter when he's healthy again. Of course there's going to be some pushback on that...

I personally think what Ross can bring if he plays well is more important than what Stewart can bring if he plays well for a couple of reasons. Ross is more athletic than Stewart and a plug and play wing off the bench who hopefully can shut down really tough perimeter assignments is an important thing for this team to have along with him being active and using his athleticism all over the court. Silas, Malachi, and Braylon are going to be really good defensively but they're not a legit 6'7 205 lbs...

Stewart has AK in front of him at what I think is Stewart's best position and Hurley rarely takes AK off the court. My hope is AK plays 29 minutes per game this season to always keep him fresh and Jaylin plays well enough in those replacement sf minutes where there isn't a huge drop off (Jaylin will get minutes at the three too.)

Both Jayden and Jaylin have to show consistency. The opportunity is there with Braylon out just like it was there last season with Liam out.

 

[superjohn]

Are you saying this because we need depth in case there's foul trouble or do you think he's the best option?

No, I was just joking and the comment was about how Furphy did a really good job on Dybantsa when the Aussies played the Americans.

 

[navery12]

I really haven't seen people dismissing Ross other than maybe Navery. People have said they want to see him play well in games, especially games against big time opponents (we haven't seen that in his career) because his athleticism on the wing is something this team could really benefit from...

We have "you know who" always saying he should start and that he's great defensively when the reality is he wasn't good defensively last season and Braylon was obviously our starter and will be our starter when he's healthy again. Of course there's going to be some pushback on that...

I personally think what Ross can bring if he plays well is more important than what Stewart can bring if he plays well for a couple of reasons. Ross is more athletic than Stewart and a plug and play wing off the bench who hopefully can shut down really tough perimeter assignments is an important thing for this team to have along with him being active and using his athleticism all over the court. Silas, Malachi, and Braylon are going to be really good defensively but they're not a legit 6'7 205 lbs...

Stewart has AK in front of him at what I think is Stewart's best position and Hurley rarely takes AK off the court. My hope is AK plays 29 minutes per game this season to always keep him fresh and Jaylin plays well enough in those replacement sf minutes where there isn't a huge drop off (Jaylin will get minutes at the three too.)

Both Jayden and Jaylin have to show consistency. The opportunity is there with Braylon out just like it was there last season with Liam out.

And even I love Jayden Ross. People confuse me thinking he's the 9th man in an 8 man rotation with hating the kid. I also don't hate our Koroma or Millender or the Euro guys despite not viewing them as rotation guys

 

[HW611]

We have "you know who" always saying he should start and that he's great defensively when the reality is he wasn't good defensively last season and Braylon was obviously our starter and will be our starter when he's healthy again. Of course there's going to be some pushback on that...

As a Harry Potter fan, turning into the boards Voldermort is a pleasant surprise.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

I really haven't seen people dismissing Ross other than maybe Navery. People have said they want to see him play well in games, especially games against big time opponents (we haven't seen that in his career) because his athleticism on the wing is something this team could really benefit from...

We have "you know who" always saying he should start and that he's great defensively when the reality is he wasn't good defensively last season and Braylon was obviously our starter and will be our starter when he's healthy again. Of course there's going to be some pushback on that...

I personally think what Ross can bring if he plays well is more important than what Stewart can bring if he plays well for a couple of reasons. Ross is more athletic than Stewart and a plug and play wing off the bench who hopefully can shut down really tough perimeter assignments is an important thing for this team to have along with him being active and using his athleticism all over the court. Silas, Malachi, and Braylon are going to be really good defensively but they're not a legit 6'7 205 lbs...

Stewart has AK in front of him at what I think is Stewart's best position and Hurley rarely takes AK off the court. My hope is AK plays 29 minutes per game this season to always keep him fresh and Jaylin plays well enough in those replacement sf minutes where there isn't a huge drop off (Jaylin will get minutes at the three too.)

Both Jayden and Jaylin have to show consistency. The opportunity is there with Braylon out just like it was there last season with Liam out.

There are absolutely many posters on this board that are just itching for Ross to have a lousy boxscore, to airball a 3, or to fall for a pumpfake so they can crow about it in a post-game thread. I won't name names but anyone who pays attention knows who they are. Thankfully, they are not the "majority" of posters but it doesn't make them any less annoying and ridiculous.

 

[SoCalCanine]

My comment was a call back to a silly comment made in chat by the Yarder I replied to. Only about 6 people here would get it and I risked it.

Make that 7, because I'm sure you didn't count me because I post so infrequently and almost never in the chat. I totally got your sarcasm.

 

[Dove]

Make that 7, because I'm sure you didn't count me because I post so infrequently and almost never in the chat. I totally got your sarcasm.

 

[freshler40]

I think Stew is 100% the better post defender and that's where his strength is. Which is why he was able to do such a great job against Dixon last year. Not able to keep up as much against players on the perimeter.

Ross is the better perimeter defender and is also not good against strong guys in the post.

I haven't watched enough of AJ to know where his game is here.

simple and well said.........

 

[Ricker]

Wow, is this kid that good? Ricker you are pretty level headed. You saying this scares me!!! Are we talking LeBron-esque??

Looking at his early 3 game results doesn't show what I saw vs Australia and Canada in the FIBA. Versus Australia he was 12-15 from the line and vs Canada 12-13. In addition to going to the line, he drew reach in fouls defending him which were non-shooting. Those games in combination with how much we foul, may have skewed my thinking. I see other games I have not watched that don't have him going to the line as much. Adrian Dantley of Notre Dame and Mark Aguire from Depaul used to score at the foul line and wreck havoc drawing fouls. I had them in mind at the time. My point may prove to be overstated.