Someone does need to work with our bigs on defending drives. Yancy typically does an ole and lets them go around, trying to slap the ball away from behind. Cheik stands straight up (which is fine on a pull up shot attempt) but does you no good if a guard is driving at you. He never looks to take a charge or slide a step over to do so. He lets the gaurd hit him and stands still which will 99% of the time result in a blocking foul since the guard ends up on the ground and Cheik is just standing there. JJ takes charges now and then.

As to the offense, would've liked to see us drive more, when we did do it, we either got an open look on a pass back out to the permimeter or a pass down low. We too often settled into a very slow perimeter passing drill for about 25 seconds of the shot clock only to end up desperately trying to create a shot late. That zone is really tough and awkward to play against though and you got to pick your battles. Youve' got to be deliberate at times and work the ball around but you also have to dribble drive at times as well. We didn't mix it up enough. We also missed a lot of medium range shots. We didn't pull up and hit shots when we got inside the zone (Parker missed a few as did Cash).

I thought defense is what let the Cats down last night. We allowed penetration all the way to the basket for lay-ups. Big guys dind't challenge penetration at the rim. If we play defense along wiht make some free throws I think we win the game.

The 4 guard line up was not a good match up for Syracuse. When we did play 4 guards they ended up playing volleyball at the rim until they scored. We couldnt' rebound or defend int he paint with 4 guards in the line up.

Syracuse had no one who could defend Gates in the paint. Not enough bulk. I would like to see Jackson be more offensive minded int he paint. He was looking to pass everytime he had the ball. That worked for a while but then Syracuse stopped playing him as an offensive threat. At that point he needed to get selfish and finish himself. that would have reopened the passing lanes. When they stopped guarding Jackson the interior scoring also stopped.

Frustraing as I think the West Va. and Syracuse games could have been won with better execution and defense down the stretch. Cats could be sitting pretty right now.

(01-24-2012 10:21 AM)ruffles Wrote:  I thought defense is what let the Cats down last night. We allowed penetration all the way to the basket for lay-ups. Big guys dind't challenge penetration at the rim. If we play defense along wiht make some free throws I think we win the game.

The 4 guard line up was not a good match up for Syracuse. When we did play 4 guards they ended up playing volleyball at the rim until they scored. We couldnt' rebound or defend int he paint with 4 guards in the line up.

Syracuse had no one who could defend Gates in the paint. Not enough bulk. I would like to see Jackson be more offensive minded int he paint. He was looking to pass everytime he had the ball. That worked for a while but then Syracuse stopped playing him as an offensive threat. At that point he needed to get selfish and finish himself. that would have reopened the passing lanes. When they stopped guarding Jackson the interior scoring also stopped.

Frustraing as I think the West Va. and Syracuse games could have been won with better execution and defense down the stretch. Cats could be sitting pretty right now.

The D is what lost the game. We could've played better O but we did score enough to win. Those late second half drives and easy buckets pulled Cuse away and once they got up 8 I just knew its was over because we'd have trouble making a big run. You just felt like whichever team made a short run was going to pull it out and Cuse made that run around the 8 minute mark.
Jackson's a real work in progress. He looked very good at times drawing the defense then dishing to Yancy. But he's still a spaz at times with the ball, either not going up strong and pivoting and faking too much or trying to make the pass too hard or quick. You could see Mick tell him to slow down and make the pass down low at one point. Later Mick said we were trying to make a QB throw from 7 feet away instead of a bounce pass or softer pass. He needs to slow down at times and be more deliberate. I love the kid's motor but he can't get over rev'd up and start chucking the ball away. You can see him get fired up after a few good blocks or passes and you just feel that a silly play is coming. That's a clear product of youth and hopefully he matures and plays a bit smarter. He's also got to be smarter on defense and not get drawn into silly fouls.

(01-24-2012 10:13 AM)Murph29 Wrote:  Someone does need to work with our bigs on defending drives. Yancy typically does an ole and lets them go around, trying to slap the ball away from behind. Cheik stands straight up (which is fine on a pull up shot attempt) but does you no good if a guard is driving at you. He never looks to take a charge or slide a step over to do so. He lets the gaurd hit him and stands still which will 99% of the time result in a blocking foul since the guard ends up on the ground and Cheik is just standing there. JJ takes charges now and then.

As to the offense, would've liked to see us drive more, when we did do it, we either got an open look on a pass back out to the permimeter or a pass down low. We too often settled into a very slow perimeter passing drill for about 25 seconds of the shot clock only to end up desperately trying to create a shot late. That zone is really tough and awkward to play against though and you got to pick your battles. Youve' got to be deliberate at times and work the ball around but you also have to dribble drive at times as well. We didn't mix it up enough. We also missed a lot of medium range shots. We didn't pull up and hit shots when we got inside the zone (Parker missed a few as did Cash).

Yeah, there's always some basic basketball 101 things that bug me that this team doesn't seem to get.

Like when a defensive player runs at you when trying to shoot a 3.......why sidestep him if you can jump into him, draw a foul and get 3 FT's? Saw it happen twice last night.

Taking a charge. Seems we have guys to act like they're taking a charge but clearly move their feet in the process.

.....and other simple stuff.

I thought the D let us down, but then again, holding Syracuse to 60 points would seem like a gameplan for winning. Only scoring 53 points makes the offense suspect.

Dixon and Parker were nonexistent on offense and Kilpatrick did not look right at all. The bench gave them nothing, almost literally - Cheik's sole FT was the only bench point until the game was essentially over and Parker got a layup.

I disagree that the D lost the game. When the game was out of reach, the O hadn't even scored 50 points. Those FTs Yancy missed were huge, and they didn't make enough 3s to beat a superior team like Cuse. Can't win a game like that when your shooting percentage is in the 30s across the board.

(01-24-2012 02:30 PM)levydl Wrote:  Dixon and Parker were nonexistent on offense and Kilpatrick did not look right at all. The bench gave them nothing, almost literally - Cheik's sole FT was the only bench point until the game was essentially over and Parker got a layup.

I disagree that the D lost the game. When the game was out of reach, the O hadn't even scored 50 points. Those FTs Yancy missed were huge, and they didn't make enough 3s to beat a superior team like Cuse. Can't win a game like that when your shooting percentage is in the 30s across the board.

We were right there and leading most of the game despite struggling at times to score. But it was a series of possessions from around 8 minutes down to 5 where we gave them easy baskets that got them their first decent lead (8 pts) and when you give a team like them a 8-10 pt lead with 4-5 minutes left you can't get quick easy baskets to tie it because they give up nearly no fast breaks and they're hard to get quick shots off in that zone. Mick's take was that perimeter D allowing penetration for those easy baskets is what lost it. But I remember thinking how the missed FTs by Yancy were adding up. Another sad thing is we didn't get one guard to the line all game which says we didn't penetrate at all and didn't get more than a few fast breaks (Dion's dunk I recall and one possession where we had 3 on 1 and for some reason passed it outside versus going to glass).

Scoring struggles did not surprise me against that D. Their guards were quick and long enough to blanket our shooters long enough that they waited out the hot shooting.

When they have it roling, that D causes a bunch of contested jumpers and forced shots.

Other thing about Cuse is the variety of ways they hurt you on offense. Keeps pressure on. You almost have to play perfectly. Had Cuse hit their open jumpers, that game is really lopsided.

When JaQuan Parker plays well this team is really good, when he doesn't they are pretty average. He was nonexistent last night and against St. Johns

(01-24-2012 03:31 PM)Bearcat_Bounce Wrote:  When JaQuan Parker plays well this team is really good, when he doesn't they are pretty average. He was nonexistent last night and against St. Johns

Parker played 17 minutes, JJ played 27 minutes. Mick went with JJ and Yancy in the game together most of the time. Would have liked to see Parker do more but I believe he was in the game with 3 guards and Cheik. Sorry, but Mbodj doesn't scare anyone, puts a lot of pressure on Parker.

Bottom line is we did not play the offense we have been playing. Syracuse is way better than us, all there is to it.

(01-24-2012 02:42 PM)Murph29 Wrote:  We were right there and leading most of the game despite struggling at times to score. But it was a series of possessions from around 8 minutes down to 5 where we gave them easy baskets that got them their first decent lead (8 pts) and when you give a team like them a 8-10 pt lead with 4-5 minutes left you can't get quick easy baskets to tie it because they give up nearly no fast breaks and they're hard to get quick shots off in that zone. Mick's take was that perimeter D allowing penetration for those easy baskets is what lost it. But I remember thinking how the missed FTs by Yancy were adding up. Another sad thing is we didn't get one guard to the line all game which says we didn't penetrate at all and didn't get more than a few fast breaks (Dion's dunk I recall and one possession where we had 3 on 1 and for some reason passed it outside versus going to glass).

They got pretty easy buckets the entire game, they just missed about every non-layup they took for the first 30 minutes. I think every shot they made in the first half was a dunk/layup, except for Fair's jumper from the left side and those two shots they made to take the lead at the end of the half.

I don't think the defense was that impressive, but they lost because they could only score 45 points when it mattered.

(01-24-2012 03:35 PM)BeerCat Wrote:  

(01-24-2012 03:31 PM)Bearcat_Bounce Wrote:  When JaQuan Parker plays well this team is really good, when he doesn't they are pretty average. He was nonexistent last night and against St. Johns

Parker played 17 minutes, JJ played 27 minutes. Mick went with JJ and Yancy in the game together most of the time. Would have liked to see Parker do more but I believe he was in the game with 3 guards and Cheik. Sorry, but Mbodj doesn't scare anyone, puts a lot of pressure on Parker.

Bottom line is we did not play the offense we have been playing. Syracuse is way better than us, all there is to it.

I'd like to see more Parker and less Dixon. Dion has the lowest field goal and three point percentages on the entire team but takes the SECOND most shots. He is good for a hot night every four or five games but on the whole I just don't think the kid plays that smart or to his strengths.

(01-24-2012 03:51 PM)WarningSigns Wrote:  

(01-24-2012 03:35 PM)BeerCat Wrote:  

(01-24-2012 03:31 PM)Bearcat_Bounce Wrote:  When JaQuan Parker plays well this team is really good, when he doesn't they are pretty average. He was nonexistent last night and against St. Johns

Parker played 17 minutes, JJ played 27 minutes. Mick went with JJ and Yancy in the game together most of the time. Would have liked to see Parker do more but I believe he was in the game with 3 guards and Cheik. Sorry, but Mbodj doesn't scare anyone, puts a lot of pressure on Parker.

Bottom line is we did not play the offense we have been playing. Syracuse is way better than us, all there is to it.

I'd like to see more Parker and less Dixon. Dion has the lowest field goal and three point percentages on the entire team but takes the SECOND most shots. He is good for a hot night every four or five games but on the whole I just don't think the kid plays that smart or to his strengths.

Agreed. Parker is not scared to take it to the basket and finish either. Except for last night.

(01-24-2012 03:51 PM)WarningSigns Wrote:  

(01-24-2012 03:35 PM)BeerCat Wrote:  

(01-24-2012 03:31 PM)Bearcat_Bounce Wrote:  When JaQuan Parker plays well this team is really good, when he doesn't they are pretty average. He was nonexistent last night and against St. Johns

Parker played 17 minutes, JJ played 27 minutes. Mick went with JJ and Yancy in the game together most of the time. Would have liked to see Parker do more but I believe he was in the game with 3 guards and Cheik. Sorry, but Mbodj doesn't scare anyone, puts a lot of pressure on Parker.

Bottom line is we did not play the offense we have been playing. Syracuse is way better than us, all there is to it.

I'd like to see more Parker and less Dixon. Dion has the lowest field goal and three point percentages on the entire team but takes the SECOND most shots. He is good for a hot night every four or five games but on the whole I just don't think the kid plays that smart or to his strengths.

Parker playing well allows Dixon to sit on the bench more often, that is part of the reason why he is so important.

Man. Some piling on of Dixon these last 2 games. That didn't take long. We don't beat UCONN or Nova without him.

(01-24-2012 04:15 PM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  Man. Some piling on of Dixon these last 2 games. That didn't take long. We don't beat UCONN or Nova without him.

...or Georgetown. He's a very streaky player. I don't have a problem with fans calling out his bad games (the last two have been awful), but I wish he got the same level of praise when he plays well.

My biggest problem with Dixon is that he isn't the shooter he thinks he is. His strength is driving and his mid range jumper. I just wish he would stick to those things. Those are the things that helped him earn BE POY last week.

(01-24-2012 04:49 PM)subflea Wrote:  My biggest problem with Dixon is that he isn't the shooter he thinks he is. His strength is driving and his mid range jumper. I just wish he would stick to those things. Those are the things that helped him earn BE POY last week.

Yes and yes. You can get very different impressions of him depending on what game you're watching. But if you look at the season as a whole Dixon is just not an effective outside threat anywhere but in his mind, yet is still good for 5-8 three balls on any given night.

Its not like I want to push the kid down the bench or blame any one game on him. I just still think Parker has another level in his game--we've seen flashes. He can be a SMART, effective offensive player, grab rebounds and take care of the ball. When he has gotten the minutes and allowed a little rhythm he has generally done well.

Dixon is usually getting around twice Parker's minutes. I'd just like to see that even up.

Dixon is a good rhythm shooter, not too great shooting off the bounce. IMO he's a kid that could really use another year. he's starting to put it together. He has some tools and i think he's pretty close to the point where teams have to game plan for him.

(01-24-2012 04:29 PM)Bearcat04 Wrote:  

(01-24-2012 04:15 PM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  Man. Some piling on of Dixon these last 2 games. That didn't take long. We don't beat UCONN or Nova without him.

...or Georgetown. He's a very streaky player. I don't have a problem with fans calling out his bad games (the last two have been awful), but I wish he got the same level of praise when he plays well.

The good games are what piss me off the most. Same thing that angers me about Yancy. When Dixon shows what he is capable of when he gives full effort then follows it up with games where half asses everything it drives me crazy. It doesn't help that he showboats more than anyone in the Big East. Last night after he dropped two passes for turnovers he followed it up by dribbling behind his back about 4 times out top.

When the kid gives it his all he is very valuable on both offense and defense, but he doesn't do it often. I really think losing Gates and Dixon with allow the entire team to turn it up a notch on both sides.

(01-24-2012 04:49 PM)subflea Wrote:  My biggest problem with Dixon is that he isn't the shooter he thinks he is. His strength is driving and his mid range jumper. I just wish he would stick to those things. Those are the things that helped him earn BE POY last week.

My biggest problem with him, as with most of the team, is their basketball IQ. Lots of these guys can't resist these 3's lately. I mean, ya'll do realize he's shooting 27% from 3 this year, right?