waltgreenberg
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I Root For: Rice Owls
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RE: Rice vs Oregon State Game Thread
(11-15-2014 12:53 AM)That Guy 2012 Wrote: Well this wouldn't be the Parliament without some wild overreaction, so here we go...
I'm really not seeing the same positives as most of you. All I saw was a team nearly identical to the past two years, but in many aspects, a little worse. That doesn't mean there aren't things we do well, but everything I think that we did well, we've done well already.
The interior defense remains solid, especially for being undersized. We made a lot of very good plays down low, especially early. But my biggest defensive complaint from Ben's squads remain- far to many open shots allowed late in the shot clock. I also thought that our half-court defense was appreciably less-effective after the full press. Enough to offset the few good outcomes of the press.
Offensively, the sets looked a bit wasteful. We didn't appear to even try to establish an inside presence in half-court sets until it was too late. This was especially frustrating after seeing Andrew clear himself a lot of space. They had size inside, but even if he immediately passes out of it, I think that helps the shooters. We did work (and I do mean work, harder than should be necessary) to get a lot of open looks, but that only matters if we can hit them. I hope that isn't the game plan too often going forward without someone hitting at a clip like Ramljak. Even when we rained it in from 3 last year to put the fear of God into A&M, UH, and UTEP, we did it with surgical inside out plays against zone defenses much better than OSU's.
On the whole, it felt like we were playing playground ball- frenetic ball pressure on defense and jacking up every available three on offense. I'm sure that there is a method to the madness, but it all looks purposeless, like running for the sake of running. That leads to the most alarming thing for me- the tank was empty with 10 to go. What I'd really like to see going forward is two things: a small slowdown on offense, and a lesser reliance on the press (use it liberally, but not after every basket).
Can't fault the effort- I do think that we worked harder than them. But I've said that a lot over the past two years. Either way, these guys will get win #1 sooner rather than later, and I look forward to it.
To conclude with two specific things I'd like to highlight- Dan matched his career high in points, and as a team we hit 93% from the line (14/15). Good work, guys!
Are you sure you're talking about our team the past several years? The defensive intensity and switch offs were MUCH better than previous Rice teams under Braun....and the ball movement on offense was similarly much improved. Yes, we were ice cold from outside offensively, but at least we were finding the open man and taking the open shot. Clearly, given our outside shooting woes, we're going to be a better team against man-to-man defenses, but I'm confident that as the year progresses, Coach Rhoades will find a way to work the ball in against the zone....and getting Denzel Davis back will certainly help in that regard.
Defensively, they killed us inside every time Andrew Drone sat on the bench. Pollard needs to become more of a presence inside, and learn to switch off better....but given he's a Freshman and this was his first game, that will come in time. And, again, the presence of Davis will help. As for OSU's open looks from the 3-point line as the play clock wound down, I think that's more a credit to OSU's patience on offense and passing (which were excellent, IMO) than any negatives on our defensive effort or scheming. The difference was that they made 40+% of their 3s and we made less than 25%. We had just as many wide open 3s, if not more.
The one big problem with relying on the outside 3-pointers, especially when in the half-court offense (as opposed to fast break) is that when missed they inevitably result in long rebounds and fast breaks the other way, which negates our pressure back court defense.
Overall, very solid effort IMO, and positive signs of what's to come. Remember also, this was a road game, and a distant one at that. OSU may be in a rebuilding year, but they are very obviously well coached, as their passing and defensive work were outstanding.
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