ETSUfan1
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I know its early, but this Radford game should tell us alot. Are we really as bad as we looked against UT? Can we win on the road against a team that is supposed to be worse than us? If we don't win this game, it looks like it could be a long season once again.
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11-20-2005 03:52 PM |
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Bucfaithful
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I don't think we're as bad as the UT game would indicate. Its entirely too early to start spelling our demise. We can potentially go 4-1 on this five game stretch and the UT game will feel like an eternity ago.
That said, the opposite is also possible And, I think you're right about the importance of this Radford game from a psychological perspective. No, this nonconference schedule doesn't matter in terms of advancing in the conference. Nevertheless, they could start to lose their confidence and start to doubt themselves and the team.
This team is unlike any team I ever seen before. We have the potential to dominate, but we also have the potential to falll flat. Their seems to be very little middle ground with this team. I think throughout the year we'll see the Bucs play in both lights: Sometimes it'll look like we're an unstoppable team and sometimes it will look like we're awful. Remember, half our team is new. They will get better and fast, because they are all quality ball players. BTW, I thought Tayloe played better than anybody on Fri.
I think a healthy Reed and Swader will really help stabilize this team. Reed would have helped tremendously Fri.
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11-20-2005 07:31 PM |
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etsuBucsFan1988
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Blue Ribbon has Radford finishing second to last in their conference. I would hope we could win this one. They apparently have decent guard play. Turnovers and foul shooting will be key as always. I would pound it into Sneed until they showed they could stop him.
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11-21-2005 07:59 AM |
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BigBlueFan1
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I agree with Faithful. I really don't think we are as bad as we looked against UT. I believe there is some great talent on this team and if they can put it all together, we should be fine, but a lot of that falls back on the coaching staff. And you HAVE to play defense. We shall see.
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11-21-2005 08:05 AM |
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BucDoctor
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My concern (among many concerns) is that last year's team played no better defense at the end of the season than they did at the beginning. At this early stage, this year's team is not playing defense any better than last year's team.
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11-21-2005 05:25 PM |
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Bucfaithful
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I'm concerned about their defense as well. I don't know why, but we make opposing teams look really good from the 3-point line. Give those openings to a really good shooter, ala Chris Lofton, and they will torch you. I'd much rather see man-to-man defense because it appears like our guys aren't getting to the ball quick enough.
With Wadood and Fields, this system obviously worked efficiently. I just don't know if the current personnel are the type of players that can run the type of D??
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11-21-2005 05:45 PM |
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bucs77
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I too, agree that we need to improve our defense. But looking on the bright side, I feel we have too much talent and athleticism to not play good defense. I think once the new players gel together we may be just fine. Now I'm not a college coach by any means, but when I played basketball, zone defense was used when teams were not good outside shooting teams. I agree with bucfaithful that we need to stick with our man to man defense. Again, we have too much speed and talent not to be able to play good man to man.
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11-21-2005 07:19 PM |
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JWBUC
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We used to have an awesome full court and half court press. Our D otherwise was not so good at times. Z and Gerald did block quite a few shots and Z stole the ball alot.
Now we seem to have almost no defense. That needs to change quickly. We need to force turnovers, not have them. I think our whole season hinges on this matter.
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11-21-2005 07:21 PM |
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ETSUKA88
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The biggest problem with our defense that I see (and it is consistant over the past couple of years) is the way we colapse the back side of our defense. One or two quick passess and they have an open look for an easy 3!
I agree a team of our makeup should press more, we have quick guards and forwards. We should use them more.
I think once we get into conference play we will be fine because we can play a conventional post game inside. The problem with that is we will not be able to use that style of play against bigger teams in non-conference and tournament games.
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11-22-2005 07:42 AM |
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etsuBucsFan1988
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This is going to be a long, long season....again I am afraid. Watching Mich St and Gonzaga in overtime now. So refreshing to see two good teams play.
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11-22-2005 09:24 PM |
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Bucfaithful
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'Fan98, I have been the eternal optimist to this point, but I'm feeling the same way. I see absolutely no improvement defensively from last year. None. It is so painfully frustrating to watch. I put the blame squarely on Bartow. The talent that the Bucs have is outstanding, but that doesn't mean squat. Unbelievable that we get torched night in and night out from the same method. We make guys look like Larry Bird every single night. I don't blame the players.
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11-23-2005 06:21 AM |
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BigBlueFan1
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Faithful, I agree with you to a point. Bartow and the staff need to step up and make the defense work. But along those lines, good defense is 99% hustle and desire. That is something the players can control. I know at one point last night, Dillon and Brad just loafed back down the court while giving up an easy basket. Perimeter defense has been a problem for a long time and if it doesn't get fixed ASAP, then we will be at the bottom of the ASun.
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11-23-2005 08:13 AM |
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ETSUKA88
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We are in BIG trouble. We have not had a strong defensive team since Bartow got there. We leave the 3 wide open. Go back and look at our loses, you will find that in almost every game someone had an outstanding 3 point game. Our 3 point defense was probably the reason we lost our last 2 NCAA Tournament games.
We got beat by 10 by Radford! That just SUCKS!
Was last year a fluke or was it the begining of another down turn in BUC Basketball?
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11-23-2005 09:33 AM |
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etsuBucsFan1988
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We made a total of 6 foul shots en route to 44%. That is terrible. No reason we should at least be 70-75% as a team. The perimeter D is non-existant.
“It doesn’t surprise me,
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11-23-2005 12:59 PM |
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ETSUfan1
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Its just so depressing. EVERY SINGLE GAME, someone steps up and has a career night from 3. Every game. I am starting to believe it falls squarely on Bartow as well.
And did anyone notice that Bartow slowed the Bucs down last night. We played a half court offense most of the game with Tim just walking it up the floor. That is not the style of the Bucs, and it doesnt work. It looked as if the players were so afraid to take a risk and turn the ball over. I think Bartow has bitched and bitched about turnovers, now we are afraid to do anything.
Doubt we will win 10 this year guys
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11-23-2005 05:21 PM |
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ETSUKA88
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6 free throws, that is worse than I thought. You can understand when your big man is not a great foul shooter but what kills me is Smith is not automatic from the line and he should be.
10 wins should cost Bartow his job with this talent.
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11-23-2005 05:26 PM |
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