Boothe and Mosley have combined for 47 assists and thirteen turnovers. They're making it look like Juice was careless with the ball. Garber, much maligned, gets to the line more than any other player in limited minutes. Our frosh are automatic from the line and pretty good from 3. We're playing some D, even zone. This is a completely different look from last year. Only Williams seems to force things and so far he's been good enough to get away with it. An unexpectedly exciting team so far.

It is great having a guy like Sanford who can make the dang free throws when it counts. Last year we had guys who made free throws EXCEPT when it counted.

Haven't played anyone expected to be particularly good have we? They've not even seen half a season of college classes and schedule and what that can do to one's energy and focus. I'm not going to get too high after what happened in Chicago and Loyola had no one to match up with anyone over 6'7", let alone a capable shooter like Boothe and there were several occasions in which Williams seemed to be on a me-first page that led to turn-overs, when they were in lead and not really needing a player to "take-over."

Just over 50% is my expectation for this team. More is gravy.

A lot can go wrong and will because we're young but a neutral court win against a 24 win team from last year that only lost one player is encouraging. No, they weren't big but Rajala (as well as another soph who didn't play)is 6'9" and their stature didn't keep them from rebounding with us. With the weak schedule we have I'm optomistic we'll get through OOC with a winning record. For a team with four frosh playing important roles that will be a nice accomplishment.

(11-28-2015 11:37 AM)H2Oville Rocket Wrote:  A lot can go wrong and will because we're young but a neutral court win against a 24 win team from last year that only lost one player is encouraging. No, they weren't big but Rajala (as well as another soph who didn't play)is 6'9" and their stature didn't keep them from rebounding with us. With the weak schedule we have I'm optomistic we'll get through OOC with a winning record. For a team with four frosh playing important roles that will be a nice accomplishment.

Agreed. Good early showing by a young team thus far. Seems like better team chemistry. Entering MAC play with a winning record would be a good sign, regardless of the competition. Finishing with a winning record in MAC play, and hosting a first round MAC tournament game, would be a very good season in my book. I'd have much higher expectations NEXT season, of course, but we'll worry about that then!

(11-28-2015 12:14 PM)bcunn3128 Wrote:  

(11-28-2015 11:37 AM)H2Oville Rocket Wrote:  A lot can go wrong and will because we're young but a neutral court win against a 24 win team from last year that only lost one player is encouraging. No, they weren't big but Rajala (as well as another soph who didn't play)is 6'9" and their stature didn't keep them from rebounding with us. With the weak schedule we have I'm optomistic we'll get through OOC with a winning record. For a team with four frosh playing important roles that will be a nice accomplishment.

Agreed. Good early showing by a young team thus far. Seems like better team chemistry. Entering MAC play with a winning record would be a good sign, regardless of the competition. Finishing with a winning record in MAC play, and hosting a first round MAC tournament game, would be a very good season in my book. I'd have much higher expectations NEXT season, of course, but we'll worry about that then!

All pragmatic and it will be a nice accomplishment to come in above 500 with that many freshmen playing. The toughest part will be second go-round in conference when all the teams have had time to well scout those freshmen and those freshmen have gotten taste of a semester of study-tests and travel. Big coaching chore getting them experience now and keeping them fresh.

(11-28-2015 02:02 PM)eastisbest Wrote:  

(11-28-2015 12:14 PM)bcunn3128 Wrote:  

(11-28-2015 11:37 AM)H2Oville Rocket Wrote:  A lot can go wrong and will because we're young but a neutral court win against a 24 win team from last year that only lost one player is encouraging. No, they weren't big but Rajala (as well as another soph who didn't play)is 6'9" and their stature didn't keep them from rebounding with us. With the weak schedule we have I'm optomistic we'll get through OOC with a winning record. For a team with four frosh playing important roles that will be a nice accomplishment.

Agreed. Good early showing by a young team thus far. Seems like better team chemistry. Entering MAC play with a winning record would be a good sign, regardless of the competition. Finishing with a winning record in MAC play, and hosting a first round MAC tournament game, would be a very good season in my book. I'd have much higher expectations NEXT season, of course, but we'll worry about that then!

All pragmatic and it will be a nice accomplishment to come in above 500 with that many freshmen playing. The toughest part will be second go-round in conference when all the teams have had time to well scout those freshmen and those freshmen have gotten taste of a semester of study-tests and travel. Big coaching chore getting them experience now and keeping them fresh.

Best part of this team so far is the deep rotation used by coach K. This team is extremely young, the good thing is it will only get better as they finish the non-conference and second round of MAC games. I don't anticipate this team winning the MAC West, but a nice MACC run and NIT OR CBIT bid (or whatever it's called) will only lead to a stronger program in the future. The worst thing coach K could have done was play a killer P5 non-conference schedule with such a young team. Schedule sets up nicely for development of rotations and players.

Team is very much a work in progress, with all the freshmen and a point guard learning his position, but early indications are that the ceiling this year is higher than most of us anticipated. This year's squad may not have the talent to be as competitive as last year's Rockets were against the Dukes and VCUs of the world, but the chemistry and unselfishness appear to be much stronger, which bodes well for when we get into the tough battles of conference play.

I don't know how many times Pete Gillen said that the offense must go through Nathan Boothe, but I wish last year's team had taken that message to heart as much as this year's seems to.

(11-28-2015 04:01 PM)JCRocket Wrote:  Team is very much a work in progress, with all the freshmen and a point guard learning his position, but early indications are that the ceiling this year is higher than most of us anticipated. This year's squad may not have the talent to be as competitive as last year's Rockets were against the Dukes and VCUs of the world, but the chemistry and unselfishness appear to be much stronger, which bodes well for when we get into the tough battles of conference play.

I don't know how many times Pete Gillen said that the offense must go through Nathan Boothe, but I wish last year's team had taken that message to heart as much as this year's seems to.

I think there were too many egos to feed the last couple years. Huge talent, undeniably, but I enjoy watching the game when everyone is focused on the team. And the more I watch, the more I think this group is pretty talented.

(11-28-2015 05:40 PM)H2Oville Rocket Wrote:  

(11-28-2015 04:01 PM)JCRocket Wrote:  Team is very much a work in progress, with all the freshmen and a point guard learning his position, but early indications are that the ceiling this year is higher than most of us anticipated. This year's squad may not have the talent to be as competitive as last year's Rockets were against the Dukes and VCUs of the world, but the chemistry and unselfishness appear to be much stronger, which bodes well for when we get into the tough battles of conference play.

I don't know how many times Pete Gillen said that the offense must go through Nathan Boothe, but I wish last year's team had taken that message to heart as much as this year's seems to.

I think there were too many egos to feed the last couple years. Huge talent, undeniably, but I enjoy watching the game when everyone is focused on the team. And the more I watch, the more I think this group is pretty talented.

+1 the sum of the parts didn't add up to what they should have. Wasn't coaching either IMHO. We lost to teams with lesser parts that played as a team. We are more like those other teams so far this year.