Knapke, Sanford, and Navigato couldn't hit the floor if they fell off a chair. Overall, 3 point shooting was abysmal. And as someone mentioned somewhere, Jon Jon was out of control too many times.
In addition to teams doing a more effective job of defending Taylor, I think they have also decided that if they can make life difficult for Sanford, you also disrupt the Toledo offense. That's a sign of respect. In recent games that we've lost, teams have had guards who really pestered the heck out of Sanford...BG late & in OT, Akron, WMU (Wilder is a complete package), and now Ball State (mostly Kiapway guarding him, with some help--didn't notice Persons guarding him much). Conversely, look at the recent wins: CMU which plays less defense than we do, and EMU, which relies on the 2-3 zone and isn't the same as making Sanford initiate offense with the dribble, since you beat a zone with passing. Didn't see the win at Northern so I don't know if my theory holds water there or not.
Sanford has done an admirable job stepping in at the point, and I think he will improve even more next season, particularly if he gets more help handling the ball from baseline to 3-point line.
The only players showing real hustle were Roberts and Adway. The main 6 guys normally in the rotation all seemed tired. Taylor really slows down the offense when he gets the ball inside. It takes him 10-12 seconds before he decides to kick it out. Many of Toledo's shots were prayers thrown up as the shot clock expired. Knapke wants to play guard and avoid contact inside.
The defense on the Ball State point guard was ridiculously bad. Toledo as a team had all of 2 fouls in the first half. Roberts had one of them. Lauf was playing off a guy who made 9 of 10 shots. He should have stuck to him like a fly on......you know what. He needed to foul him a couple times to know there was actually a defender out there.
(03-01-2017 08:31 AM)Rocket75 Wrote: The only players showing real hustle were Roberts and Adway. The main 6 guys normally in the rotation all seemed tired. Taylor really slows down the offense when he gets the ball inside. It takes him 10-12 seconds before he decides to kick it out. Many of Toledo's shots were prayers thrown up as the shot clock expired. Knapke wants to play guard and avoid contact inside.
The defense on the Ball State point guard was ridiculously bad. Toledo as a team had all of 2 fouls in the first half. Roberts had one of them. Lauf was playing off a guy who made 9 of 10 shots. He should have stuck to him like a fly on......you know what. He needed to foul him a couple times to know there was actually a defender out there.
I'll quibble with your "two fouls" statement. We had some doozies, including Lauf shouldering a shooter out of bounds on a shot. No call to the amazement of the folks in my section. First half I think felonies could be commited with no call- but, yes, only two were called. Second half refereed very differently.
(This post was last modified: 03-01-2017 09:37 AM by H2Oville Rocket.)
(03-01-2017 08:31 AM)Rocket75 Wrote: The only players showing real hustle were Roberts and Adway. The main 6 guys normally in the rotation all seemed tired. Taylor really slows down the offense when he gets the ball inside. It takes him 10-12 seconds before he decides to kick it out. Many of Toledo's shots were prayers thrown up as the shot clock expired. Knapke wants to play guard and avoid contact inside.
The defense on the Ball State point guard was ridiculously bad. Toledo as a team had all of 2 fouls in the first half. Roberts had one of them. Lauf was playing off a guy who made 9 of 10 shots. He should have stuck to him like a fly on......you know what. He needed to foul him a couple times to know there was actually a defender out there.
This has become a serious issue the last number of games!!!
It's getting really difficult to keep a positive attitude about this team. I blame just about all of the problems on coaching. Defense.... not that difficult a concept, yet somehow TK has never gotten it.
When a team is hitting 3 pointers ad nauseum, make sure you do NOT cover the perimeter. And when you are getting further behind, keep shooting lousy 3-point attempts. Geesh, can't they figure out that missing 3 pointers will NEVER get you caught up? Meanwhile they gave up plenty of chances to score 2 and climb back in the game. Seems to be a culture at UT lately that sports will under-perform. Someone has to stop this downward spiral.
(03-01-2017 06:27 PM)djsfw57 Wrote: It's getting really difficult to keep a positive attitude about this team. I blame just about all of the problems on coaching. Defense.... not that difficult a concept, yet somehow TK has never gotten it.
When a team is hitting 3 pointers ad nauseum, make sure you do NOT cover the perimeter. And when you are getting further behind, keep shooting lousy 3-point attempts. Geesh, can't they figure out that missing 3 pointers will NEVER get you caught up? Meanwhile they gave up plenty of chances to score 2 and climb back in the game. Seems to be a culture at UT lately that sports will under-perform. Someone has to stop this downward spiral.
Oddly enough, we have led the MAC in 3 point D most of the year, in part I suspect, because it's so easy to penetrate and score , but still teams have not shot the three well against us.