Pretty upset at the outcome of the game today against Presbyterian. They are a tough team but no way we should lose to those guys.

I have made this comment many times on here before and was questioned several times about my analysis. Eric Griffin is a good player. He can do some things that we have never seen anybody at Campbell do. My gripe with the guy is he CANNOT make free throws and he gets in foul trouble to much way too early in the game.

Today he stayed out of foul trouble but he got schooled by Coleman of PU. Coleman had 29 points most at point blank range and he shot 69% from the free throw line. Eric is tall and talented but Coleman pushed him, Marvelle and anyone else we put in the game through the lane.

If Ericn would have shot 69% from the free throw line this afternoon we would have won by 2 He would have made 4 more free throws than he did. Instead he puts up the wonderful number of 2-9 or 22%. That is pathetic. My daughters have a better free throw percentage in Pee Wee Basketball than he does. He might awe the crowd with his dunks but he cannot do the most basic thing in the game. Make free throws. He was 1-1 from 3 pt range today and 7-8 from the field but only 2-9 from free throw line. You cannot play inside and get fouled like he does and expect to win games when you shoot that poorly from the free throw line. PU had a big man who was in the game to foul put Eric on the line 5 times. He did his job. He stopped several baskets and only gave up two pts from free throw line.

Finally - effort. PU was shooting foul shots at end of game and missed the front end of the one and one. Marvelle, Eric, Darren and Rico were on the foul line. Only Coleman for PU was on the line. It was one on four. The ball comes off the board on Marvelle's side. Coleman gets by Eric, Darren and Rico and takes the ball from Marvelle. One on four and he beats them all. You have got to give it to him for effort. He has it. Ours was lacking today.

We should beat these guys by 10 or more at home. We got schooled inside and can't shoot free throws. I hope we do well the rest of the games but I am beginning to wonder.

The second time we play teams this year they seem to have us figured out and we don't seem to learn a thing. Except for CSU and they should have won the other night. They outplayed us. We lucked out when their guard made a poor decision and Merthie stole the ball. If he had not done that they may have beat us at the buzzer.

Today we got outcoached, did not have the best effort and did not have our heads in the game. Mental toughness has a lot to do with free throw shooting. Eric has got all the ups in the world but he is lacking on the mental toughness and coming through in the clutch category.

I know some of you may dispute me on this. I just call it as I see it and I am tired of watching him give up games at the foul line. He did it last year down the stretch and he has done it alot this year as well. Everyone else on the team was 100% from the line today by the way. So it can be done.

Comments????

(02-04-2012 06:37 PM)camelfan Wrote:  Pretty upset at the outcome of the game today against Presbyterian. They are a tough team but no way we should lose to those guys.

I have made this comment many times on here before and was questioned several times about my analysis. Eric Griffin is a good player. He can do some things that we have never seen anybody at Campbell do. My gripe with the guy is he CANNOT make free throws and he gets in foul trouble to much way too early in the game.

Today he stayed out of foul trouble but he got schooled by Coleman of PU. Coleman had 29 points most at point blank range and he shot 69% from the free throw line. Eric is tall and talented but Coleman pushed him, Marvelle and anyone else we put in the game through the lane.

If Ericn would have shot 69% from the free throw line this afternoon we would have won by 2 He would have made 4 more free throws than he did. Instead he puts up the wonderful number of 2-9 or 22%. That is pathetic. My daughters have a better free throw percentage in Pee Wee Basketball than he does. He might awe the crowd with his dunks but he cannot do the most basic thing in the game. Make free throws. He was 1-1 from 3 pt range today and 7-8 from the field but only 2-9 from free throw line. You cannot play inside and get fouled like he does and expect to win games when you shoot that poorly from the free throw line. PU had a big man who was in the game to foul put Eric on the line 5 times. He did his job. He stopped several baskets and only gave up two pts from free throw line.

Finally - effort. PU was shooting foul shots at end of game and missed the front end of the one and one. Marvelle, Eric, Darren and Rico were on the foul line. Only Coleman for PU was on the line. It was one on four. The ball comes off the board on Marvelle's side. Coleman gets by Eric, Darren and Rico and takes the ball from Marvelle. One on four and he beats them all. You have got to give it to him for effort. He has it. Ours was lacking today.

We should beat these guys by 10 or more at home. We got schooled inside and can't shoot free throws. I hope we do well the rest of the games but I am beginning to wonder.

The second time we play teams this year they seem to have us figured out and we don't seem to learn a thing. Except for CSU and they should have won the other night. They outplayed us. We lucked out when their guard made a poor decision and Merthie stole the ball. If he had not done that they may have beat us at the buzzer.

Today we got outcoached, did not have the best effort and did not have our heads in the game. Mental toughness has a lot to do with free throw shooting. Eric has got all the ups in the world but he is lacking on the mental toughness and coming through in the clutch category.

I know some of you may dispute me on this. I just call it as I see it and I am tired of watching him give up games at the foul line. He did it last year down the stretch and he has done it alot this year as well. Everyone else on the team was 100% from the line today by the way. So it can be done.

Comments????

its not popular but i have said all year that i really believe we are are better team without eric in there. he is turnover prone in the middle and cant hit freethrows. he is soo talented but at least at this point overall he hurts us. he cant or shouldnt be in there in crucial times since they will foul him and he will miss. i love the camels and just want to see us win! best lineup is trey,loren,darren,anthony,marvelle for his rebounds.you have 4 scorers in this lineup! sub in rico,eric,andrew and antonio.

Eric isn't a good free throw shooter plain and simple but if he is not in the game, CU has not post game PERIOD! Anthony only gets shot because of Eric and others. Eric is and will be an all league player. You play him and live with the consequences. He hasn't been good in his career so I don't know why you expect it to change.

This team is still good and while not great still very good.

(02-04-2012 11:28 PM)Statman101 Wrote:  Eric isn't a good free throw shooter plain and simple but if he is not in the game, CU has not post game PERIOD! Anthony only gets shot because of Eric and others. Eric is and will be an all league player. You play him and live with the consequences. He hasn't been good in his career so I don't know why you expect it to change.

This team is still good and while not great still very good.

when eric is in game we try to force it into to him and it seems we have alot of turnovers doing that. he sits the bench alot because of foul trouble and when he is not in(post game or not) we are much more fluid with other guys looking for shots. i know its not popular and i am not second guessing his ability. i am only saying with our team chemistry i just believe we are better when he is not in game. i have seen every home game and 3 away games and i really see this as the case. i love the camels and will root hard for whomever is in game! go camels!

Random thoughts in no particular order:

You have to win this one. No way you can lose, and we did. Back to my point in the other thread about eliminating bad losses. This one is front and center.

We gotta get Lorne active again, he has disappeared. The other frustrating thing is we had three two-pointers made with toes on the line. Half an inch back on all three and we win by one.

Coleman was a beast, hat tip to him. Johnson hit some big shots for them as well.

Great crowd again. The atmosphere has really been top notch this year.

To me, this is as bad as the HBU loss.

Finally, looking at numbers. We started 8-1, and have gone 7-10 since. Last year, we started 7-3, and finished 5-16. Last year was blamed on injuries. This year?

On the flip side, we will finish between 15-20 wins. is that successful at Campbell. Yeah. We haven't exactly lit the world on fire as a Division I program. If you had promised that preseason, with a true freshman PG, Lorne missing half the season and almost entirely new roster, I would have thought you were crazy. Did I think we would beat Iowa and ECU? Probably not. Should we have lost to App and HBU? Probably not.

My hope is that all these lessons are being recorded. Next season, we will have a seasoned PG who is on the way to greatness. Darren will be back. Marvelle and Rico will be one year more mature. Andrew is contributing, he will be back. And we have two 6-9 guys sitting on the bench redshirting. It took a couple of years for the Primm/Dickey group in the mountains to figure it out, and now that they have...

My personal thought is that sometimes as fans we get caught up in how good WE think players are when the reality and film bare something different. Is this team great? No, but for Campbell it's a VERY good team. Would I like more wins? Absolutely, but teams sometimes lose games because of weaknesses. Every team has them including the ones at the top.

This season has been fun and will continue to be. Four wins from the school regular season mark and it's still a possibility. I guess I look more at the positive then the negative. I just love the overall direction of the program.

I guess we just all watch different games.

I don't see the team you guys see there. Sorry.

I see Lorne Merthie and Trey Freeman who do not get along at all. It is obvious.

Eric thinks he is a lot better than he is. Free throw shooting is something that you can work on and get better at. He ought to stay after practice on his own and shoot until he makes about 20 in a row. Do that daily and he has to improve. That is what a senior leader would do. There has been no improvement there at all. If anything it has gotten a lot worse.

He is a human highight reel. I know we are now flaunting that at the beginning of the games with the highlights. It was a great play but it was two points against a vastly inferior team. Try that move against Coleman yesterday. They would have been wipping him off the floor. Why don't we highlight all the missed free throws. They have had a whole lot more effect on our season.

Poor Amir Celestin has not even seen the court much at all in his senior year after playing alot the fist 3 years. Robbie should give him some more playing time. The next few games are not going to make that much difference anyway. We have no shot at 1st or 2nd. We do at third but with most of our games on the road I would not bet on it. Most likely fourth or fifth place finish. We would play that team in the tournament anyway.

Prediction 11-7 in BS and 17-14 overall before the tournament. Might win one tournament game but not two. Will not eclipse the best season we have had. If we had beaten the Blue Hose yesterday then maybe. Predict we beat Winthrop at home and maybe Liberty on the road. Lose to CC, HP and the Bracketbuster game. Maybe win 1st tournament game against a WMI or Winthrop. Then lose by 20 or more to UNCA on their way to NCAA tourney.

This is a better than average team this year (our average has been pretty bad) and better than expected. But not a great team and not as good as they could have done. The way they started out it could have been something very special. Been a big let down since then. But that is how we have always done under the Laing error except the year J Rod was a Senior when we tied for Conference Championship and finished the year fairly stong. Now he was a great player. Not that many dunks but man the guy could make free throws down the stretch and was good under pressure. You always wanted him to have the ball with the game on the line. Sorry EG fans?? He will just be a blip on the history with a few amazing dunks and good field goal % from point blank range.

(02-04-2012 11:28 PM)Statman101 Wrote:  Eric isn't a good free throw shooter plain and simple but if he is not in the game, CU has not post game PERIOD! Anthony only gets shot because of Eric and others. Eric is and will be an all league player. You play him and live with the consequences. He hasn't been good in his career so I don't know why you expect it to change.

This team is still good and while not great still very good.

By the way. We saw a good big play on Saturday. Coleman is a beast and he took Eric and Marvelle to school inside.

Wish we would actually recruit a tall big man with some size instead of toothpicks.

Camelfan,

You said JRod was good down the stretch and I am not disputing his importance to Campbell basketball history, but can you name any game winning shot or free throws that he hit in his time at Campbell? Also JRod was great offensively but he was average at best on the defensive end of the floor. He gave up about as many points as he scored on many occasions, see GW JRods sophomore year. That is why CU played so much zone his JR and SR years.

Also who is to say EG doesn't work on his FTs before and after practice? You assume this but no one really knows. What I do know is that Eric stayed in BC all summer to work on his game instead of heading home to Orlando. So I don't know if anyone could question his work ethic or desire to improve. I think alot of folks around the team might say he worked harder this off season than anyone since Latham (Who was a beast!).

FT shooting in a gym by yourself is totally different in a game. Ask Shaq or Wilt or countless other HOF players who struggled (NO I am not saying EG is a HOF player but saying even the best struggle).

(02-05-2012 03:16 PM)Statman101 Wrote:  Camelfan,

You said JRod was good down the stretch and I am not disputing his importance to Campbell basketball history, but can you name any game winning shot or free throws that he hit in his time at Campbell? Also JRod was great offensively but he was average at best on the defensive end of the floor. He gave up about as many points as he scored on many occasions, see GW JRods sophomore year. That is why CU played so much zone his JR and SR years.

Also who is to say EG doesn't work on his FTs before and after practice? You assume this but no one really knows. What I do know is that Eric stayed in BC all summer to work on his game instead of heading home to Orlando. So I don't know if anyone could question his work ethic or desire to improve. I think alot of folks around the team might say he worked harder this off season than anyone since Latham (Who was a beast!).

FT shooting in a gym by yourself is totally different in a game. Ask Shaq or Wilt or countless other HOF players who struggled (NO I am not saying EG is a HOF player but saying even the best struggle).

You are the statman so you probably know those better than me. I am just a fan and go to most of the games. I do know that J Rod got fouled a whole lot throughout the game. He made a lot more of those than he missed and that helped us stay in games, extend our leads and yes sometimes win games. Wheter it was draining two at the end of the game I don't know but I do know he made a lot of shots in the games and helped us out tremendously. Without him on the team we would have not won a quarter of the games we won during his time at Campbell. We were awful the first year he was there.

I don't know what EG does or doesn't do. If he does shoot a lot of free throws it is not apparent in the product he puts on the court. That is for certain. I know you like defending the guy but 22% in atleast two games this year. No way that is a lot of effort going on there. I believe you could put a blindfold on me and point me in the right direction and I might could hit 2-9 myself.

Comparing Eric Griffin to Shaq or Wilt? He is a toothpick. He needs a few more lbs. so they can't push him around in there. Not even in their zip code.

I was comparing FT shooting not size...also Bill Russell was a TERRIBLE FT shooter! That's all I'm defending. That skill is alot easier to master sitting on the sideline than it is playing the game. You mention wins and I agree we don't win alot without JRod but I was just making reference to his clutch play. He never hit a game winning shot or even FTs. The closest he came was Lipscomb his senior year at home but Slater hit a shot.

Anyways I hate raging on kids because I think for the most part I believe they give it their best. I am overall positive person and focus on that I suppose.

Having a person in the game that shoots free throws that poorly down the stretch in a close conference game is a liability. Until that skill can be mastered the sidelines is where he needs to be.

If he shoots 55.5% from the Free Throw line we win. That is not a lot to ask of anyone.

Not raging on anyone. Just stating the truth of the situation. No one can defend 22% from the free throw line and no one can defend the lack of effort on Saturday of Coleman getting that rebound with 4 guys in the lane with him. If one of our guys gets between him and the ball we have the rebound down by one. There is simply no nice explanation for those two events.