- Joined
- Aug 24, 2011
- Messages
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That wasn't our best game. That wasn't close to as good as we can play.
1. Shooting. 3 for 17 from 3, and 10 missed foul shots. This is not going to be a great shooting team, but we can do better than that.
2. Cobb out. We were missing one of our three center by committee members, and the other 2 couldn't step up and keep themselves on the court for more than 14 minutes. We can do better.
3. Passing. This team has to do better moving the ball than they did last night. It's fine to rely on quickness and dribble penetration, but it isn't hard to make the dribble penetration more effective by only starting it after you've moved the ball a little. Easily fixed.
4. This team is young and new to each other. You would expect us to make better than average improvement as the season moves forward, but this was our first real test.
And despite all that, we beat a team coming off a Final Four appearance, on the road (yes, I know it was technically a neutral site but in reality ...). Some of the things we showed last night -- quickness, defensive intensity and rebounding effort -- are things that can be brought every game.
This will be a real tough test tonight, but a lot of questions were answered favorably last night. And if we can't beat Michigan State, we will still have a shot at a second quality win on Sunday against Arkansas. We have a lot of first year pieces and two major pieces still shaking off rust. This could be an interesting ride.
1. Shooting. 3 for 17 from 3, and 10 missed foul shots. This is not going to be a great shooting team, but we can do better than that.
2. Cobb out. We were missing one of our three center by committee members, and the other 2 couldn't step up and keep themselves on the court for more than 14 minutes. We can do better.
3. Passing. This team has to do better moving the ball than they did last night. It's fine to rely on quickness and dribble penetration, but it isn't hard to make the dribble penetration more effective by only starting it after you've moved the ball a little. Easily fixed.
4. This team is young and new to each other. You would expect us to make better than average improvement as the season moves forward, but this was our first real test.
And despite all that, we beat a team coming off a Final Four appearance, on the road (yes, I know it was technically a neutral site but in reality ...). Some of the things we showed last night -- quickness, defensive intensity and rebounding effort -- are things that can be brought every game.
This will be a real tough test tonight, but a lot of questions were answered favorably last night. And if we can't beat Michigan State, we will still have a shot at a second quality win on Sunday against Arkansas. We have a lot of first year pieces and two major pieces still shaking off rust. This could be an interesting ride.