CSNbbs

Date: January 10th, 2018

Time: 7:00 PM

Opponent: The Citadel (9-5, 1-3 SoCon)

Place: McAlister Field House

Television: none

Webcast: ESPN+

Radio online: 640WXSM.com

Citadel 2018-2019 Schedule

Citadel 2018-2019 Roster

Citadel Message Board

Submitted without comment.

https://www.midmajormadness.com/2019/1/8...t-frierson

Coach Forbes on the radio this morning :

-Among the challenges Citadel provides are their multiple defenses. They will run 5 to 7 defenses until they settle on a smaller number that they think will work. He said that Citadel can score the ball. They have taken 972 shots and more than half of those were from 3. They play almost exclusively on the perimeter and everyone will have to get out and defend. Offensively (as usual) the Bucs need to go inside to take advantage of their size.

-Forbes mentioned transfers again, noting that even Citadel had some. This is becoming a bit of an obsession with him lately, the real or perceived criticism that ETSU basketball is only defined by junior and senior transfers as if it was a gang of ringers.

-When asked about the hardest place to play in the SOCON, he said he thought probably Wofford or Furman, although he said that the hardest places to play can be those with no fans attending. The Citadel, for instance, unless the cadets are there, is dead and that can be a tough environment to play in.

-When asked whether he thought N'Guessan was in "playing shape," Forbes said that he thought he was, but had not had enough game experience after sitting out for so long. The reason he didn't play as much against Samford was that Armus matched up better inside.

-When asked whether or not there were any complaints from players about who was starting, Coach said that there weren't any that he knew of. He said that he had talked specifically to Tisdale and that he was good with how things were playing out. He said that what counted more with players was playing time and, for instance, Boyd was getting about 25 minutes a game which was starter's minutes anyway. He said that he felt that the competition for playing time was a good thing and was showing up positively in practice.

When asked about playing partners, Forbes said that he didn't care for it as he would rather play away and then at home, but apparently other schools preferred playing 2 away and 2 at home. The Bucs playing partner is WCU.

-When asked about the College Insider poll and the Bucs recent inclusion in the top 25, he downplayed its significance as far as the season goes, but he said that it was a "good thing," as any positive exposure of ETSU and the basketball program would be.

(01-09-2019 10:17 AM)BigIslandBuc Wrote: [ -> ]Coach Forbes on the radio this morning :


-Forbes mentioned transfers again, noting that even Citadel had some. This is becoming a bit of an obsession with him lately, the real or perceived criticism that ETSU basketball is only defined by junior and senior transfers as if it was a gang of ringers.

Be interesting to see if the lineup sheets from here on out will continue to list if the player is a transfer or JUCO next to there class. Chattanooga was first time I had ever seen that. They pretty much always noted Redshirts but that was it.
Now looks like this JR-JUCO, SR-TR, SO-1, SR-JUCO.

(01-09-2019 10:17 AM)BigIslandBuc Wrote: [ -> ]Coach Forbes on the radio this morning :

-Among the challenges Citadel provides are their multiple defenses. They will run 5 to 7 defenses until they settle on a smaller number that they think will work. He said that Citadel can score the ball. They have taken 972 shots and more than half of those were from 3. They play almost exclusively on the perimeter and everyone will have to get out and defend. Offensively (as usual) the Bucs need to go inside to take advantage of their size.

Lots of 3 point shots often lead to lots of long rebounds. That will negate a Buc strength of interior rebounding.

Citadel is now 9-5 and ranked 204th in Kenpom. They had a brilliant 9-2 start with their only losses coming on the road to Clemson and Texas, and which included road wins over #240 JMU and #154 South Florida. But they are coming off a 3 game losing streak which started with a bad home loss to #247 Longwood, 94-110, and continued with 2 expected road losses to #54 Wofford and #112 Furman.

Citadel hopes to get back on track at home against the Bucs: they are still 6-1 at home with Longwood being the only loss. Best home wins have been over #175 Mercer 79-69 and #233 High Point 112-87 – the home schedule has not been strong.

John Hooper’s article cited by BigIslandBuc is a fair summary of the strong points of Citadel, discussing shooting guard 6-2 160 Sr Matt Frierson (ranked 2nd now nationally in made 3’s per game with 4.50 for 15.6 ppg), leading ‘big’ man 6-7 220 Sr Zane Najdawi, a native Jordanian now from Midlothian, VA, who plays a great all around game with 13.9 ppg, 7.4 rebounds, 2.0 blocks and a steal, and the big addition, 5th year Senior point guard 6-1 200 Gr-Tr Lew Stallworth who has exceeded every expectation, ranking 11th nationally in assists with 6.7, with 18.0 ppg and 6.9 rpg. He’s an upgrade in every way over the departed Frankie Johnson. https://www.midmajormadness.com/2019/1/8...t-frierson

But note that all of these key players graduate this year. If they don’t make a mark this year, Baucom will be trying to reload next year.

As usual they play super up tempo, leading the nation in points per game with 96.8, but allowing the second most points with 86.9. Turnovers are -1.5. They lead the country making 13.8 three’s per game, hitting .367.

They have neither length nor muscle up front: Najdawi is the big man at 6-7 220, backed up by 2 6-6 guys, 6-6 185 Kaiden Rice and 6-6 215 Hayden Brown. They get outrebounded by -1.9. The advantage to the Bucs here is pretty obvious. But they were just as small last year and upset several of the top SoCon teams including ETSU and Furman.

Kenpom expects a close game with ETSU favored by only 5 points, 85-80. This is a better Citadel team than the one that beat us last year. Don’t overlook them and continue to improve.

Guards:
#13 6-1 200 Gr-Tr Lew Stallworth; 31.1 minutes, 18.0 ppg on .308 from 3 (8 makes all year), 5.9 rebounds, 6.7 assists, 3.1 t.o.’s, 1.0 steals
#03 6-2 160 Sr Matt Frierson; 31.0 minutes, 15.6 ppg on .438 from 3 (3.9 makes per game), 1.2 steals
#12 6-4 190 Gr-Tr Connor Kern; 23.3 minutes, 8.4 ppg on .404 from 3 (1.5 makes)
#02 5-11 170 Sr Quayson Williams; 13.1 minutes, 4.7 ppg on .259 from 3
#23 6-4 220 Jr Kaelon Harris; 15.5 minutes, 4.4 ppg on .211 from 3 (4 all year), 4.6 rebounds

Front Court:
#34 6-7 220 Sr Zane Najdawi; 27.0 minutes, 13.9 ppg on .300 from 3 (0.7 makes), 7.4 rebounds, 2.0 blocks, 1.0 steals
#11 6-6 185 So Kaiden Rice; 19.5 minutes, 13.1 ppg on .387 from 3 (3.1 makes), 2.9 rebounds
#25 6-5 210 So Alex Reed; 18.9 minutes, 8.6 ppg on .378 from 3 (1.0 makes), 3.6 rebounds
#33 6-6 215 So Hayden Brown; (only 6 games) 13.7 minutes 7.0 ppg on .250 from 3 (2 makes all year), 3.8 rebounds

There is another basketball truism that might apply to the Citadel's recent setbacks. "The more games you play, the more film there is which allows future opponents to analyze your play and devise counters to your game, especially if you aren't fundamentally sound and rely on gimmicks and junk." It's not poetic, I'll grant you, but it is true, nonetheless.

The Citadel is very unorthodox and very hard to play. Kind of like a triple option team in football. We played two close games last year.

This game worries me because of what happened both times last year versus with Citadel. Although had we hit the wide open shots they gave us last year we would have easily won both games. I expect much of the same this year. I feel they will try to take away our inside game and force us to shoot it from the outside. Hopefully the shots will fall.

(01-09-2019 04:48 PM)Bucster Wrote: [ -> ]This game worries me because of what happened both times last year versus with Citadel. Although had we hit the wide open shots they gave us last year we would have easily won both games. I expect much of the same this year. I feel they will try to take away our inside game and force us to shoot it from the outside. Hopefully the shots will fall.

Same worries here. But I am a little more confidant about our inside game now. However, if Citadel's outside shooting is on, and if Boyd and/or Good are off, it's most likely a loss.

What are the requisites for transferring into one of the military colleges? Do they accept 5th year transfers?

(01-09-2019 05:28 PM)etsuBucsFan1988 Wrote: [ -> ]

(01-09-2019 04:48 PM)Bucster Wrote: [ -> ]This game worries me because of what happened both times last year versus with Citadel. Although had we hit the wide open shots they gave us last year we would have easily won both games. I expect much of the same this year. I feel they will try to take away our inside game and force us to shoot it from the outside. Hopefully the shots will fall.

Same worries here. But I am a little more confidant about our inside game now. However, if Citadel's outside shooting is on, and if Boyd and/or Good are off, it's most likely a loss.

If we truly have the "depth" and can manage it well, then all will be fine...Go BUCs !!!

Stallworth is the key player for the Citadel. Furman shot the threes poorly in the first half but even after the outside shots started falling the Bulldogs were hanging close until Furman put 6'5" sophomore Tre Clark on Stallworth. That closed down Stallworth's effectiveness on the drive and the game got away from the Citadel.

(01-09-2019 09:34 PM)FUATT Wrote: [ -> ]Stallworth is the key player for the Citadel. Furman shot the threes poorly in the first half but even after the outside shots started falling the Bulldogs were hanging close until Furman put 6'5" sophomore Tre Clark on Stallworth. That closed down Stallworth's effectiveness on the drive and the game got away from the Citadel.

Maybe put Boyd and Tucker on him, we should be able to use Hodges but he is way to foul prone to risk him guarding Stallworth too much.

Our superior depth SHOULD wear them down in the last 10 minutes of the game. But I thought that last year, also.

As with Sharkey, Forbes will try multiple approaches on Stallworth till he finds one that works. Bo is foul prone and you don't want to put him on the bench picking up fouls on Stallworth, as Rod points out. Forbes will probably try him some though. He'd like to have our biggest, most athletic guard learn to defend top players and not foul. Forbes probably wants to see this team continue to improve in areas of weakness.

Our best defensive guard is Pun Tisdale. He should be a physical matchup for Stallworth, who is strong as well as quick. Daivien may not be physical enough to be effective. But Pun also can pick up fouls.

If Kevon Tucker's shot is falling he tends to get fired up and can play strong defense. It would be useful to have him involved more often as he was the last 2 games and at Winthrop. And if he picks up fouls, it won't have as big an effect on the rest of our play

At the end of the game, long armed bigs Lucas N'Guessan and Mladen Armus had some effective possessions on Sharkey. As with Sharkey, Stallworth is most dangerous as a penetrator (he's only .308 from 3 with 8 makes the entire year). I can see them playing off him and looking to smother the drive. At 200 pounds Stallworth is 30 pounds heavier than Sharkey and can throw that body into you to create space and pick up fouls. As with Sharkey, the big guy tactic may be best used late in the game when he's worn down a bit and has lost a step.

We should be deeper than last year, with better perimeter shooting and without the liability of a key guard who can't score. Our depth SHOULD wear them down, but then again, their whole style is based on the idea that they are used to playing at a freakish tempo and that it will be the opponent who wears down. We should be physically stronger up front than last year and better able to take it right to the rim. But Citadel looks better than last year, too. If the 3 is falling, it could swing hard our way. If not, it may be another dogfight.

I checked their message board and it looks as if the last posting was made by Frank J Underwood. In other words, it's dead.

(01-10-2019 01:17 PM)squeak Wrote: [ -> ]I checked their message board and it looks as if the last posting was made by Frank J Underwood. In other words, it's dead.

President Underwood did attend "The Sentinel" correct?

I believe much of our lack luster performance last year at their place can be partly blamed on the fact it was our 3rd game in 5 days, while also playing on a Monday night. Forbes has mentioned in the past how much he hates monday night conference games. I just noticed, we don't have any this year.. We should be much more fresh this go around..

(01-10-2019 02:46 PM)Buc2002 Wrote: [ -> ]

(01-10-2019 01:17 PM)squeak Wrote: [ -> ]I checked their message board and it looks as if the last posting was made by Frank J Underwood. In other words, it's dead.

President Underwood did attend "The Sentinel" correct?

Most on here are too serious to understand the reference.