Three Takeaways – Iona Edition | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Three Takeaways – Iona Edition

I don't know what I like more about Akok his constant hustle or his unbridled joy. I don't know what he will become, but right now he is the hero we deserve.
 
ElmCity40th said:
What year is Agee,has a nice skilled/tough game. Too bad he has to play the 5.
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Agee was killing us in the first half, even when he didn’t have the ball.

They were putting him 25’ from the basket which had Josh suspended in space about 18’ out. Josh can’t defend anything in that kind of space, so they were going four on five on some possessions.
 
I am personally loving being the team that has the terrifying big man. Josh is starting to own the post and I'm loving every second of it.
 
ElmCity40th said:
What year is Agee,has a nice skilled/tough game. Too bad he has to play the 5.
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I foresee a grad transfer from agee since he obviously liked our coach. What a totally classy kid!! I enjoy guys who play hard almost dirty and share love with his opponents. Kevin Garnett was so that personality. Intense but classy!!!
 
CL82 said:
We really need to learn how to throw a decent lob. Akok can get up there and so can Bouk.
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The lob that Akok didn't finish last night originally looked like his fault.. but on the replay the pass was clearly too low and too close to the rim. AA would have been better catching and re-gathering, but still - that's gotta be a better pass.
 
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BigErnMcCracken said:
Yeah that's a weird observation. I love the kid and think he's going to be great - small thing but he SPRINTS the floor after made buckets - but passing is definitely an area of weakness right now.
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He’s not so crisp with it yet, but he absolutely has the quick trigger court awareness to make the right reads. There was a quick reversal to polley from corner to elbow for 3 in that early 2nd half barrage that was just a great hoops read. The pass ended up at polleys knees so it wasn’t crisp, but it was quick enough that polley could still gather and drain the shot.

Akok is going to be really really good for us.
 
If we are really going to be playing 10 guys, which is fine, we can't expect that all of the guys are going to play well. It is hard to get in a groove sometimes with short minutes. For example, what bouknight did in short minutes in his first few games is awesome, but that isn't going to happen most nights if he's playing below 20 mins. I was glad to see Gilbert get 33 minutes though. When a guy is playing well, keep playing him.
 
andy34 said:
The lob that Akok didn't finish last night originally looked like his fault.. but on the replay the pass was clearly too low and too close to the rim. AA would have been better catching and re-gathering, but still - that's gotta be a better pass.
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We have thrown maybe one good lob the whole season.
 
August_West said:
Yup and it was gaffney to bouk I believe.


Could you imagine Akok and bouk playing with Daniel Hamilton or jalen Adams? Those 2 could lob
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And even on that lob, Bouk caught it below the rim and had to readjust in the air.
 
Can't wait for Akok to get stronger because he could absolutely yam on people if he was right now. His potential is crazy. He's already a beast on defense and is way better than I figured he'd be on the boards. And his cheers for his teammates are infectious, as others have said.

The whole team seems to celebrate each other more than any team we've had in a while. That's probably a combination of culture change and simply having more to cheer about.
 
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Matrim55 said:
No. 1: Hurley has called Akok something to the effect of a "culture builder," talking about his enthusiasm and team-oriented approach to literally everything, and man it was on display tonight during that big run to start the 2nd half:
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There was a time when the rumor was Akok was too depressed to be an effectual player.
 
Matrim55 said:
How do we bottle that version of Josh and get it for 30 nights a year? I'd kill for that recipe.
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As I said in another thread, punch him in the face during pregame warmups.
 
husky429 said:
You think Akok is our best passer? Are we watching the same game?

Passing might be his biggest weakness right now. Super uncomfortable with the ball on the perimeter.
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What he does do right is look for guys. He looks for the outlet. He looks for the cutter. But as you said, he's uncomfortable, and he's got awful touch on the pass. Sometimes just hucks it in to nowhere.
 
intlzncster said:
There was a time when the rumor was Akok was too depressed to be an effectual player.
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That one was really bizarre. There were actually people saying he wouldn't got to UConn because he wasn't smiling at a UConn game and they didn't like his attitude/looked depressed.

In the chat last night we had a poster saying Bouknight and the whole team didn't play well in last night's first half because Bouknight was being praised too much on the boneyard. The praise was going to Bouk's head and his teammates are jealous.
 
superjohn said:
In the chat last night we had a poster saying Bouknight and the whole team didn't play well in last night's first half because Bouknight was being praised too much on the boneyard. The praise was going to Bouk's head and his teammates are jealous.
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That is...quite a take.
 
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husky429 said:
You think Akok is our best passer? Are we watching the same game?

Passing might be his biggest weakness right now. Super uncomfortable with the ball on the perimeter.
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He definitely telegraphs every pass from the perimeter when we are in probing mode early in the clock. But his "in the flow" passes seem more instinctive.
 
Akok changes the game in so many ways that don’t show up on the stat sheet. Teams see his shadow everywhere they go on the court. They are hesitant to put up anything in the paint while he’s on the floor. PSA won the prep national championship because of this same dynamic.
 
I mean this game was sort of the inverse of some of the games earlier in the season where the underclassmen really carried the load and the upperclassmen weren't good. Tonight, it was the other way around. Obviously, you'd like to think about what could happen if everyone brings something to the table on a given night that we might be a lot better than anyone thought.

That being said, i'm just glad that this year, there just always seems to be SOMEONE who can step up even when things aren't firing and that's not something we could say the last few years.

It's just gotta be a matter of keeping these kids' heads in the game for a full 40. We still just have too many lapses where it's 6-7 minute stretches of bad decisions and bad defense and I dunno... SEEMS like it's getting a little better; but it worries me against good teams. I'd really like to see this team stop creating so much work for itself and start going for kill shots earlier, but that's all part of learning how to win, too.

What makes me feel good though - w/ the exception of the St Joe's game, we're beating every team that we should beat - and St Joe's was kinda cancelled out by the Florida win, so i'm fine. We're officially in that 'should beat all the teams we should beat, but totally capable of stealing some big wins and giving good teams a real run for their money on a given night' territory - and that's really all my ask was for this year.

And how about that Agee kid? If we did have to burn a scholly on a grad transfer, get that kid in here. I loved him. As a one year guy?
 
RichZ said:
He definitely telegraphs every pass from the perimeter when we are in probing mode early in the clock. But his "in the flow" passes seem more instinctive.
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I think my.concern right now would be that he's not a "triple threat". He's obviously going to hand off the ball or pass when he does... he often doesn't even look at the hoop. Which is a big no no. In jay wrights practices he calls that an auto TO in scrimmages. I'm sure Hurley and co. Are teaching the skill too. He's just lagging behind on offense compared to his really mature defense
 
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Fishy said:
Agee was killing us in the first half, even when he didn’t have the ball.

They were putting him 25’ from the basket which had Josh suspended in space about 18’ out. Josh can’t defend anything in that kind of space, so they were going four on five on some possessions.
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Can't decide how much of the improvement in the second half was the changes Hurley implemented defending Agee or the sprained ankle. I'd go with the changes. Kid is a legitimate player.
 
The implementation of double teaming Iona's players and rotating was a thing of beauty by the starters. We've done it on full court presses and at pick and rolls but not in the corners. The subs struggled with it. I'd say they worked on this over the week and the older players picked it up but the younguns struggled with it. Players lose effectiveness when they are thinking about the game.

Of course Akok is the exception. Quite a remarkable young man.
 
CL82 said:
We really need to learn how to throw a decent lob. Akok can get up there and so can Bouk.
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Whaley can too. Hurley loves the lob, he’s trying to implement it we just haven’t been able to execute. That’s one of the biggest knocks on Carlton offensively his lack of athleticism takes the lob to him out of the playbook. With Javonte Brown Ferguson you will see us run the lob to the center.
 
Towney007 said:
Obviously, you'd like to think about what could happen if everyone brings something to the table on a given night that we might be a lot better than anyone thought.

It's just gotta be a matter of keeping these kids' heads in the game for a full 40. We still just have too many lapses where it's 6-7 minute stretches of bad decisions and bad defense and I dunno... SEEMS like it's getting a little better; but it worries me against good teams. I'd really like to see this team stop creating so much work for itself and start going for kill shots earlier, but that's all part of learning how to win, too.
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It's funny, although we have veterans who have been here awhile, we are still a young team that way. Just no consistency on a number of levels. Perhaps it's a 'young' team in terms of coaching.
 
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