RE: USA versus Alabama A&M
Defense was again really good tonight. Not many open looks for A&M. They were a pretty terrible shooting team though too. One thing I've begun to notice over the last 2 games though is that we suck at zone defense. Tonight I noticed on one possession, we gave up a easy 3, then the very next possession switched back to man and I don't think we ever came off it. Did the same thing against UAB last Wednesday. I like our man to man defense. We do a pretty good job of fighting through screens and keeping our guy in front of us. And when they have got around the first defender, they have either Javy, Aug, or Lundy waiting to meet them. I wonder if we played more zone in our two losses and this is now an attempt to play to the team's defensive strength? I'm guessing that team familiarity has something to do with it, but regardless, glad to see us recognize it rather than try to continually fight it.
FJG is the real deal. Love the guy already. And he made several great passes tonight that his teammates weren't able to convert on. He easily could've had 4 or 5 more assists.
We have several really good rotations of players. Started tonight with FJG, X, Ammons, Rubit, Carter. Solid, solid 5. TA saw a lot of minutes, as did Wendell. Jones got a little more playing time this game. Looks a little uncomfortable at times, but has a shot that will develop. Lundy played dominant down low. Me thinks CRA told him to stop even thinking about taking that outside shot after the abominations he was putting up. He never once thought about it tonight, and was a monster down low. Needs to work on his hands though.
And we have the luxury this year of having several different players with real scoring ability. Teams won't be able to focus on any one guy to be able to shut us down completely. Welcome change from the most recent years (see Tilford and Williams led teams). My guess is though that they'll start with FJG. It'll be interesting to see how that plays out over the course of the year.
Two things to nitpick on:
We're still not finishing strong at the hoop. Lot of finger rolls, lofted shots around the rim tonight, most of which didn't go down. Ammons and Lundy are the only ones who want to seem to go up strong. Even if they're not going to be able to dunk each and every time, get above the rim, or at least try to. You're either going to draw the foul or literally be able to drop the ball in the hoop.
Hersey is terrible. Seems aloof and out of sync on the court. One possession he had the ball on the wing, and instead of feeding it to a relatively wide open post (maybe Javier?), he tries to take it baseline (?), gets double teamed and turns it over of course because he has about the same level of handling skills as I do.
And to your point AJ about TA, I still feel that he is somewhat of a liability on the court. Zero scoring threat. Even his drives wind up with a Shaq-esque line drive, one handed 5 footer that clanks off the back of the iron. I think when he's on the floor, we're helping the defense out and allowing them to collapse on the other guys.
He does do a decent job of penetrating. And no doubt, he is a very serviceable PG in regards to spelling FJG from time to time. But FJG is easily, clearly our PG now and of the future.
Looking forward to seeing how we play against USM and if we really are progressing.
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