Northern Arizona Post Game Thread

[bendm]

My question: who is our bull... We have big powerful power forwards historically in the big east. Adama was that guy last year - you aren't going through him. Is there that guy on this roster. Do we need that? I'm not sure Clingan or Samson are that guy. Who else do we have?

clingan is our elephant

 

[Makryspost]

clingan is our elephant

Fair.. I hope that is that is the case.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

You cant handle the truth

Great call. There definitely weren’t a lot of pick and roll opportunities at the rim against high level teams last year, other than all the time. Good stuff.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Clingan is 7'3 290 lbs. We've never had that.

Commented in the chat that you have great rebounders with length or hops, and great rebounders because they occupy so much space. But Clingan does both and it really makes him an insane rebounding machine. He just hoovers up everything while also blocking out by just by being there.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

My favorite takeaway from last night: Samson Johnson's performance and the confidence from him that was so palpable.

He was a major question for me entering the season, and yeah, I know we just played NAU. I don't care who we played: that's the best and most confident I've seen Samson so far. Let's hope he stays healthy...kudos to his hard work and commitment.

 

[GlastonTim]

It was great to see him smile in the court with his teammates happy for him. Love this team. So unselfish.

 

[Hogoff]

I just wish Clingan would get meaner at the rim. More dunks, more finishes through contact.

I think he will. First game coming off a foot injury may have been in the back of his mind.

 

[caw]

My favorite takeaway from last night: Samson Johnson's performance and the confidence from him that was so palpable.

He was a major question for me entering the season, and yeah, I know we just played NAU. I don't care who we played: that's the best and most confident I've seen Samson so far. Let's hope he stays healthy...kudos to his hard work and commitment.

He still has work to do but yeah he is a pogo stick with how quickly he gets off the floor.

 

[mauconnfan]

He still has work to do but yeah he is a pogo stick with how quickly he gets off the floor.

Loved the kid being such a big piece coming off the bench especially what he can bring to the offense. Admittedly nervous about his defensive presence but will watch more and hope he gets better. He still got lost a few times so the natural instincts aren’t there for now and against better competition that will hurt. Hopefully just one game but happy for him he will be a piece.

 

[djct1999]

Truth is, Alex Karaban was equally good last season. He just knew his role and played it brilliantly. Never complained for more, never forced things, just played hard. Really hard. Kid is a stud.

 

[Deleted at users request]

My favorite takeaway from last night: Samson Johnson's performance and the confidence from him that was so palpable.

He was a major question for me entering the season, and yeah, I know we just played NAU. I don't care who we played: that's the best and most confident I've seen Samson so far. Let's hope he stays healthy...kudos to his hard work and commitment.

My favorite play from him was when he got the offensive rebound, then went straight back up to dunk it with authority over a guy.

Did not expect that. He’s a super athlete and I’m excited to see how he keeps growing throughout the year.

 

[caw]

Loved the kid being such a big piece coming off the bench especially what he can bring to the offense. Admittedly nervous about his defensive presence but will watch more and hope he gets better. He still got lost a few times so the natural instincts aren’t there for now and against better competition that will hurt. Hopefully just one game but happy for him he will be a piece.

My biggest concern is that he still seems to reach/get tangled with his arms playing defense which leads to unnecessary fouls.

 

[Drame]

I loved what I saw. This team will score. And they have "spurtability" as well, which we had in spades last year. I have two concerns: First, there is no way SJ hangs against better competition. He is talented enough offensively, for sure, but he will have foul trouble all year long. Against quality BE competition? I see him being constantly a step behind, which will cause him to be out of position, and commit silly fouls. Did you all see how easily he was pushed in one sequence, leading up to a foul? And that was a center who would not start for the worst BE team. My second observation is that I was not impressed defensively. I wish we had a bit more beef inside. Still, Dan Hurley has a lot to work with here.

"Did you all see how easily he was pushed in one sequence, leading up to a foul?"
This is dumb. Could have been a technical on the other center. Was a cheap non basketball shove. They werent even engaged with each other. He pushed Sampson into the other NAU player to get that offensive foul called.

 

[DogMania]

"Did you all see how easily he was pushed in one sequence, leading up to a foul?"
This is dumb. Could have been a technical on the other center. Was a cheap non basketball shove. They werent even engaged with each other. He pushed Sampson into the other NAU player to get that offensive foul called.

Yeah, I saw that too. Sort of pissed me off that Donny and the play by-play-guy didn't even catch that even during the replay. SJ was shoved into the opponent and should not have awarded the foul. Not that I'm an advocate for reviews of that sort, but that would have been an easy one in the NBA that would have been reversed.

But that said, Johnson has not had much playing time under his belt and has a lot of room to grow and develop as defender. He's going to be foul prone early on but let's hope that he learns as the season goes and learns to stay on the floor by the second half of the season.

 

[Shamon30]

Sorry if it's already been asked, but how did NAU have a guy wearing number 7?

 

[Scoe]

I'm stunned by the number of people harping on free throws in a blowout. Not only is it irrelevant, what happens in one game has nothing to do with the next. I thought we learned that last year. Folks were constantly saying free throws would be a factor and it wasn't ever. We're fine shooting free throws. It's lazy commentary.

If you say we’re fine and you ignore the missed fts wouldn’t that be lazy. Maybe the fact that folks said it was a factor made it not become a factor in the long run, so maybe we should keep it harping on it so I’ll say myself we need to make our fts.

 

[navery12]

Sorry if it's already been asked, but how did NAU have a guy wearing number 7?

New rule in college basketball, you can wear any number 0-99

 

[navery12]

In this game it was a choice that Donovan stayed on the bench after Johnson's first 2 fouls and we went to small ball with Alex at the 5. I'll watch those possessions again, but I was not encouraged that that was working for us, even against this competition.

I wouldn't read too much into those choices in this game, Clingan only had 1 foul at that point and was pretty clearly on a minutes restriction

 

[UCLJ0211]

Hope the team has enough outside shooting. After Alex and Cam, who else will be dependable shooters especially from outside? Who will be this year's Joey C and Nahiem Alleyne?

Newton is a good 3 point shooter as is Ross. Also I think Castle will end up being a better shooter than advertised.

 

[jake14mw]

New rule in college basketball, you can wear any number 0-99

Really? I hadn't heard about this. Interesting.

 

[huskyharry]

He still has work to do but yeah he is a pogo stick with how quickly he gets off the floor.

The pogo from Togo!