Keys to the Season

[pj]

Keys to the season, I think:
1) Can the forwards play defense on par with Niels and Deandre last year?
2) Will we get enough rebounds and turnovers to ignite the running game?
3) Can Daniel Hamilton deliver Jeremy Lamb-quality outside shooting to open up the paint for Boat and Purvis?
4) Will Boat, Purvis, and Sam Cassell Jr provide good enough 3-point shooting to keep the defense from collapsing?
5) Will our 4s, Facey and Nolan, be solid at defense, rebounding, screens, and offensive putbacks, while hitting open jumpers reliably enough to require a close guard and open up offensive space?
6) Will our physical conditioning and fast pace of play be superior enough to wear down opponents?

I'm confident that Amida backed by Phil will be more than solid at center, and that team chemistry will be great and Ryan will be an outstanding PG under KO's tutelage. Scoring versatility and defensive solidity will determine how far this team can go.

Your thoughts?

 

[CallMeBruce]

#1, by far, is can our bigs stay out of foul trouble. Brimah, Nolan, and especially Facey were all very foul prone last year, and unless Lubin steps in as a 25+mpg guy, at least two of them are going to have to improve significantly.

 

[J-dog]

Keys to the season, I think:
1) Can the forwards play defense on par with Niels and Deandre last year?
2) Will we get enough rebounds and turnovers to ignite the running game?
3) Can Daniel Hamilton deliver Jeremy Lamb-quality outside shooting to open up the paint for Boat and Purvis?
4) Will Boat, Purvis, and Sam Cassell Jr provide good enough 3-point shooting to keep the defense from collapsing?
5) Will our 4s, Facey and Nolan, be solid at defense, rebounding, screens, and offensive putbacks, while hitting open jumpers reliably enough to require a close guard and open up offensive space?
6) Will our physical conditioning and fast pace of play be superior enough to wear down opponents?

I'm confident that Amida backed by Phil will be more than solid at center, and that team chemistry will be great and Ryan will be an outstanding PG under KO's tutelage. Scoring versatility and defensive solidity will determine how far this team can go.

Your thoughts?

Funny thing is all of the valid issues/questions you pointed out were pretty much the same questions we had going into last year, with some name changes, of course...

 

[Danzz]

Outside shooting
This where we will miss Bazz, Giffey and Daniels. Nobody on this team has shown themselves as capable of making up for those outside points (yet). In my mind this is our biggest question mark.
Defense
I don't think we will lose a lot if any on defense with those guys leaving. The improvement and development of Nolan and Brimah should make up for rebounds lost. If anything we should be quicker on defense. I still can't get my arms around the fact that our leading rebounder was a 6' guard without great leaping ability. It just shows how far basketball IQ and positioning will take a player.

 

[ctchamps]

Keys to the season, I think:
1) Can the forwards play defense on par with Niels and Deandre last year?
2) Will we get enough rebounds and turnovers to ignite the running game?
3) Can Daniel Hamilton deliver Jeremy Lamb-quality outside shooting to open up the paint for Boat and Purvis?
4) Will Boat, Purvis, and Sam Cassell Jr provide good enough 3-point shooting to keep the defense from collapsing?
5) Will our 4s, Facey and Nolan, be solid at defense, rebounding, screens, and offensive putbacks, while hitting open jumpers reliably enough to require a close guard and open up offensive space?
6) Will our physical conditioning and fast pace of play be superior enough to wear down opponents?

I'm confident that Amida backed by Phil will be more than solid at center, and that team chemistry will be great and Ryan will be an outstanding PG under KO's tutelage. Scoring versatility and defensive solidity will determine how far this team can go.

Your thoughts?

Pretty much covers things. A few more:

Can RB be a leader on the floor and get everyone involved.
Can the team gel as a unit.
Can Rodney develop a good mid range game.
Agree with Bruce: can PN and AB stay out of foul trouble. Laugh all we want by KO was able to bring in Tyler for stretches when both PN and AB were in foul trouble. Do not have that insurance policy this year.

 

[Danzz]

#1, by far, is can our bigs stay out of foul trouble. Brimah, Nolan, and especially Facey were all very foul prone last year, and unless Lubin steps in as a 25+mpg guy, at least two of them are going to have to improve significantly.

It adds up to 20 fouls to give. Assuming they can all play and contribute, we have a lot of flexibility. I have to believe KO has addressed the front court foul problem. Hopefully maturity and coaching will help a lot.
We may see Lubin a lot in games where we are getting hammered on the boards or if Nolan and Brimah pick up early fouls.

 

[chapwilvaug72]

penultimate:a marker or 2 > opponent; veryKeY

yous boyz sleepee on omar & rockskee-major faux pas-day beez keystodriverseize

 

[pj]

I'm not worried about frontcourt fouls -- we have an extra player in Lubin, Facey will now be ready to play taking Deandre's minutes, and Phil and Amida will be much much better now that they have a year's experience and have put on strength. Most of the foul trouble was just physical weakness, compounded by inexperience. Looking at Phil's new physique, and presuming similar development by Amida, I don't think we have that trouble any more.

Not worried about Ryan's leadership or team chemistry either. They have both in spades. I'm very optimistic about team defense because they should be just as quick and strong as last year, but taller, and I think the dedication is there.

 

[RichZ]

Foul shooting. Will we be in the same stratosphere as last year? FTs won us the NCAA, or at least played a HUGE role in winning it.

 

[CallMeBruce]

I'm not worried about frontcourt fouls -- we have an extra player in Lubin, Facey will now be ready to play taking Deandre's minutes, and Phil and Amida will be much much better now that they have a year's experience and have put on strength. Most of the foul trouble was just physical weakness, compounded by inexperience. Looking at Phil's new physique, and presuming similar development by Amida, I don't think we have that trouble any more.

Not worried about Ryan's leadership or team chemistry either. They have both in spades. I'm very optimistic about team defense because they should be just as quick and strong as last year, but taller, and I think the dedication is there.

Facey is going to play 29 minutes/game? With his foul rate from last year, he'd average more than 7/game in that many minutes.

I'd love to be wrong about this, but I think Brimah/Nolan/Facey's foul issues aren't just going to magically go away like so many are predicting.

 

[pj]

Facey is going to play 29 minutes/game? With his foul rate from last year, he'd average more than 7/game in that many minutes.

I'd love to be wrong about this, but I think Brimah/Nolan/Facey's foul issues aren't just going to magically go away like so many are predicting.

No, but Facey/Nolan/Brimah together can play 70, with 4-guard lineups for 10, and Nolan splitting time between 4 and 5.

 

[johnhuskies95]

Replacing the loads of scoring we lost from last year is way more important than front court foul trouble, IMO.

 

[CallMeBruce]

No, but Facey/Nolan/Brimah together can play 70, with 4-guard lineups for 10, and Nolan splitting time between 4 and 5.

I don't think should play four guards 25% of the time, and I'd consider it a problem if they did.

 

[pj]

I don't think should play four guards 25% of the time, and I'd consider it a problem if they did.

It ends up happening a lot in late game situations putting in ballhandlers and free throw shooters to protect a lead, and it happens often against teams with small lineups if their quickness is giving the bigs problems. Also, whenever JC's teams emphasized the running game, as KO apparently wants to do this year, we went small often.

However, no big deal. If they play 75 instead of 70, they'll still be able to stay on the court. That year of experience is huge for them. Lubin can pick up 5-10 minutes a game if necessary.

 

[Scot-e]

Avoid DOOM!!!

 

[Thirty Three]

1) three point shooting

2) rebounding

3) defense

 

[ctchamps]

Avoid DOOM!!!

Now we are DOOOOOOOMMMMED!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Chief00]

Without a doubt outside and foul shooting are keys. Foul shooting was so important in the final run last season - preventing comebacks!

 

[GemParty]

1) three point shooting

2) rebounding

3) defense

Those are the Triple Forty Club stats. The wild card is free throws attempted /made.

Shoot 40% from 3. Have 40 rebounds a game. Hold opponents under 40% shooting = very strong season.

 

[GemParty]

Without a doubt outside and foul shooting are keys. Foul shooting was so important in the final run last season - preventing comebacks!

Do you recall what our season ft % was?

 

[Huskybass]

Outscore the opponents.