(11-20-2017 09:42 PM)etsubuc Wrote: [ -> ]Still not sure why Long keeps getting so many minutes.
He's going to have a tough time. He's by far most effective and dangerous (both good and bad) when he's got the ball in his hands. But with Bradford, McCloud, and Williams all ahead of him in that position, he's going to have to find other ways (besides his good, tho so far foul-prone D) to help out. Obviously......a better 3-ball game would help tremendously, but that ain't happenin' yet. His "intangibles" that I've said he brings to the game are even less "tangible" so far.
Tonight Obi-Rapu took a *giant* step towards making that (3-ball shooting) part of his role. Still time and room for things to play out.
And indeed, Hodges did make a bit of space for himself. But he can't play the 4 like that against better teams. We could sure use Edwards or Overstreet, but the latter may not make it.
Better be on our game for Troy. Kentucky only beat them 80-72.
(11-20-2017 09:56 PM)posterformerlyknownasthedoctor Wrote: [ -> ] (11-20-2017 09:42 PM)etsubuc Wrote: [ -> ]Still not sure why Long keeps getting so many minutes.
He's going to have a tough time. He's by far most effective and dangerous (both good and bad) when he's got the ball in his hands. But with Bradford, McCloud, and Williams all ahead of him in that position, he's going to have to find other ways (besides his good, tho so far foul-prone D) to help out. Obviously......a better 3-ball game would help tremendously, but that ain't happenin' yet. His "intangibles" that I've said he brings to the game are even less "tangible" so far.
Tonight Obi-Rapu took a *giant* step towards making that (3-ball shooting) part of his role. Still time and room for things to play out.
And indeed, Hodges did make a bit of space for himself. But he can't play the 4 like that against better teams. We could sure use Edwards or Overstreet, but the latter may not make it.
Replay the Kentucky game again and follow Jermaine. That is a good exercise in general because a lot of the Bucs played better than the score shows, but especially for Jermaine. 20 minutes, 6 points on 2-4 (all 3's), 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 t.o., 3 steals. And this is the kicker that doesn't show in the stat sheet: he drew four (4) offensive fouls (and another 1 or 2 tonight). Everyone of those forces a turnover. He didn't play so well against Delaware State, but that Kentucky game is a pretty good argument for his value to the team.
(11-20-2017 09:09 PM)posterformerlyknownasthedoctor Wrote: [ -> ] (11-20-2017 07:32 PM)posterformerlyknownasthedoctor Wrote: [ -> ] (11-20-2017 07:30 PM)etsuandpurdue3 Wrote: [ -> ]Jurkin only one playing with heart. Everyone else is inexperienced or hung-over.
Jurkin so far: 3 pts.; 5 rebounds; 2 blocks
end of game stats: 9 pts., 10 rebounds; 3 blocks; 3 steals; 26 minutes. He didn't seem to wear down as much tonight.
I've been hesitant to mention this, but has anybody else been having a "Greg Hamlin deja vu" experience lately?
Not long ago I was about the only one on this board arguing that Jurkin's per minute stats, especially from 2 years ago, were not bad and indicated that he had the potential to make a big step forward. Caught some flak for it as I recall. I got one of those 'almost apologies' from Running_Fool at the game tonight.
Speaking of the 'wearing down' part, in replaying the Kentucky game I saw that the strongest and most spectacular move of the night by Jurkin was made at the tail end, when he was admittedly tired. Sometimes when you're tired you forget to think about the stuff that you can't do, and just reach down and do stuff that surprises you.
I hypothesized last game that Forbes might run him in short 3 minute shifts like Byrd handled Boomer Herndon. But I'm beginning to think that won't be necessary. Boomer could not get in condition. As he gets more work, Peter might well be able to.
(11-20-2017 09:58 PM)etsuandpurdue3 Wrote: [ -> ]Better be on our game for Troy. Kentucky only beat them 80-72.
That game wasn't really that close. UK lead by 21 at one point in the 2nd and 16 at the half. That said Troy is much better than Delaware State so we can't come out cold against them.
I know that coach mentioned that David broke his nose on the post game show but does anyone know how long he may be out?
(11-20-2017 10:41 PM)Bucs06 Wrote: [ -> ]I know that coach mentioned that David broke his nose on the post game show but does anyone know how long he may be out?
Good question. At most probably a game I'd wager, unless he was also concussed. Like Tianna, get him a mask and let him go!
There were some pretty good things about this game. First half we played good defense against a bad team, but could not hit open 3’s to save our lives (2-12) as Delaware State packed the zone back in. But holding the opponent to 16 points in a half is pretty good against a DIII team, let alone a DI. And we held them to six (6) points in the last 10:56 of the first half. As Forbes said after the game, in the first half we moved the ball well on offense, passed it effectively and got open shots. We just did not make them.
Second half we came out sluggish and looked bad for almost 5 minutes, until the media time out. Ah but from that point on we finally, finally, began to hit the 3’s that we have been missing all season(.250 in our first 3 games; .167 in the first half). We were 8-13 from 3 the rest of the half, led by Bradford 4-4, Obi-Rapu 2-2, McCloud 1-1 and Devontavius 1-2. Bradford especially was impressive, clearing space and confidently hitting a couple off the dribble like Cromer used to do. In all the Bucs shot 72% in the second half. I hope that this represents the turnaround and that the Bucs can shoot with more confidence from here on. In all we scored 56 points that second half, 50 of those coming in the last 15 minutes. Not a bad 20 minutes work.
As against Kentucky, there were a lot of good things in this game, some solid defense including 16 steals and a blistering second half of offense.
This team has not yet played a complete game, but continues to make progress.
So, what's up with the national anthem? Rather than played or sung with teams lined up, they had a hurriedly announced anthem at about 4 mins pre-game with teams in the locker room.
Was this to allow for the banner ceremony or is there an anthem protest among players and thus is ETSU's solution to avoid controversy?
It's interesting to compare how Peter Jurkin started this season compared to Hanner last year.
Hanner in first 3 OOC games: 23.7 minutes, 9.0 points on .733, 6.6 rebounds, 2.7 blocks, 0.7 steals, 1.3 t.o.'s
Jurkin in first 3 OOC games: 19.7 minutes, 10.0 points on .706, 6.7 rebounds, 1.0 blocks, 1.3 steals, 1.3 t.o.'s
Hanner's were versus Fordham, Detroit and UNC Wilmington.
Peter's were versus UNK, Kentucky and Delaware State. Peter did not play against Savannah State.
For 2 such different players, it is very interesting how similar the early stats are.
(11-20-2017 11:49 PM)Wadood Abides Wrote: [ -> ]So, what's up with the national anthem? Rather than played or sung with teams lined up, they had a hurriedly announced anthem at about 4 mins pre-game with teams in the locker room.
Was this to allow for the banner ceremony or is there an anthem protest among players and thus is ETSU's solution to avoid controversy?
IMHO, the last thing we need to do in the current hyper charged racial and political climate is to stir up that hornet's nest.
Do not make a college basketball game into a test of a 20 year old's patriotism and/or willingness to stand up for his brothers and sisters.
Peter seems to be in plenty decent shape running the court. His hands look good and he seems confident, which makes a world of difference. He wasn’t recruited high out of high school purely by chance. I think he’s ready to have a real season at last. He and Armus seem to get along on the court. They’re both international students and bigs. It would be awesome to see them become a strong duo in the post this year. May very well be the secret, if not flashy, weapon of this team. Some confidence and consistency out of the guard offense by conference would put this team in position to compete.
Both Peter and Armus are further along than we had really dared hope. There will be some teams that they don't match up well against. But they will be a matchup nightmare for others.
I think that both will only improve as they get more playing time.
They are the secret in the sense that nobody really believed they could be as good as it now seems that they can.
If this keeps up, though, it won't be a secret for long.
I did not expect the guards to take long to gel - but it appears that it may take a little longer to work things out.
What makes me feel most positive about the last 2 games is the intensity and effort, especially on defense, and generally positive chemistry shown. If that keeps up, then I think that very good things will happen for this team.
Troy will be a better test than Delaware with the close loss to Kentucky and a 73-77 loss to Mercer, which is holding down 16th in the College Insider Mid Major poll.
(11-21-2017 12:15 AM)swvabucsfan Wrote: [ -> ]IMHO, the last thing we need to do in the current hyper charged racial and political climate is to stir up that hornet's nest.
Well..........we *were* playing the Hornets tonight. (Sorry!)
(11-21-2017 12:15 AM)swvabucsfan Wrote: [ -> ] (11-20-2017 11:49 PM)Wadood Abides Wrote: [ -> ]So, what's up with the national anthem? Rather than played or sung with teams lined up, they had a hurriedly announced anthem at about 4 mins pre-game with teams in the locker room.
Was this to allow for the banner ceremony or is there an anthem protest among players and thus is ETSU's solution to avoid controversy?
IMHO, the last thing we need to do in the current hyper charged racial and political climate is to stir up that hornet's nest.
Do not make a college basketball game into a test of a 20 year old's patriotism and/or willingness to stand up for his brothers and sisters.
Dude, I just asked a question on why a longstanding tradition was changed.
I have thought since this entire anthem issue started that the solution is exactly what ETSU did tonight. No need for the players to be on that court during the national anthem. I will say, however, that the entire pre-game felt very odd.
(11-21-2017 02:42 AM)posterformerlyknownasthedoctor Wrote: [ -> ] (11-21-2017 12:15 AM)swvabucsfan Wrote: [ -> ]IMHO, the last thing we need to do in the current hyper charged racial and political climate is to stir up that hornet's nest.
Well..........we *were* playing the Hornets tonight. (Sorry!)
Beat me to it
(11-21-2017 12:40 AM)shampoo Wrote: [ -> ]Peter seems to be in plenty decent shape running the court. His hands look good and he seems confident, which makes a world of difference. He wasn’t recruited high out of high school purely by chance. I think he’s ready to have a real season at last. He and Armus seem to get along on the court. They’re both international students and bigs. It would be awesome to see them become a strong duo in the post this year. May very well be the secret, if not flashy, weapon of this team. Some confidence and consistency out of the guard offense by conference would put this team in position to compete.
Peter appears to have more stamina and uses his hands better than I expected this year.
Some bullet points:
- The resurgence of Peter. You all have covered that well. Wow. Hands look VASTLY improved, BUT his feet also look better. He'll never be great in that area, but he tracked their bigs on several occasionally quite well.
-Completely disagree about some of the comments regarding Long. He provides far more than his stats indicate. Watch him off the ball especially playing perimeter defense. It's incredible.
- It seems as thought Forbes and Co. ALWAYS pull the right strings at half time.
- Obi-Rapu plays hard and offered a glimpse of what he will provide.
- Jalan McClould took over on both ends of the floor during that stretch. He looked, dare I say, Gelawn-esque.
- Armus and Bo are the future. Both are aggressive, confident, and not afraid of the stage.