I have gone to a decent amount of the games so far and am wondering, do we have a person who can dominate the paint consistently?

It seems like we do not have a player that will dominate the paint as Griffin did last year. Granted, we can't hope to dominate the paint every game, however, we need to prove that we can score from the inside as well as on the perimeter. As seen in most of this season, we are a primarily perimeter team, relying on the jump shot entirely too much. This only works out when we are shooting a decent percentage from the field. It was our downfall against A&T over Thanksgiving break.

Harris has been playing well, but I have not seen him assert himself in the paint as Griffin did. I feel like we will be a one dimensional team until we establish the post game in the games to come. If we stay one dimensional, I do not see us winning the conference because we will be too predictable.

What are your thought on the topic?

(12-06-2012 12:01 AM)CamelHump Wrote:  I have gone to a decent amount of the games so far and am wondering, do we have a person who can dominate the paint consistently?

It seems like we do not have a player that will dominate the paint as Griffin did last year. Granted, we can't hope to dominate the paint every game, however, we need to prove that we can score from the inside as well as on the perimeter. As seen in most of this season, we are a primarily perimeter team, relying on the jump shot entirely too much. This only works out when we are shooting a decent percentage from the field. It was our downfall against A&T over Thanksgiving break.

Harris has been playing well, but I have not seen him assert himself in the paint as Griffin did. I feel like we will be a one dimensional team until we establish the post game in the games to come. If we stay one dimensional, I do not see us winning the conference because we will be too predictable.

What are your thought on the topic?

Although it may not look like it, we are actually much more balanced than last year. In fact, less three-point shots have been taken as well. Griffin was a great player, but an average rebounder at best. Without his dunking ability and jump shooting, he would be mediocre at best. Marvelle Harris has been great in the paint thus far. He had a career-high 21 points the other night while being in foul trouble like the other big men most of the game. The game before that he pulled down 15 rebounds. He has gotten much better since last year and I can't wait to see how he develops throughout the season. Leonard, Leek, and Oliver could blossom into good big men for Campbell but they aren't getting open looks.

I believe the main problem lies in the offense. Fast breaks almost never happen. It seems at times that no one is moving and Trey Freeman is left to dribble and hope something comes open. Defensively, we are allowing way too many points. I remember at the beginning of last season, Coach Laing was going back to the full court press defense. It was effective as we got off to a great start. Somewhere along the way, that disappeared. Our team is more athletic than it was last year and could run the press even more effectively. I do have to say, I miss Rico Ferguson. Great defender and a spark of momentum on the court.

Although it may not look like it, we are actually much more balanced than last year. In fact, less three-point shots have been taken as well. Griffin was a great player, but an average rebounder at best. Without his dunking ability and jump shooting, he would be mediocre at best. Marvelle Harris has been great in the paint thus far. He had a career-high 21 points the other night while being in foul trouble like the other big men most of the game. The game before that he pulled down 15 rebounds. He has gotten much better since last year and I can't wait to see how he develops throughout the season. Leonard, Leek, and Oliver could blossom into good big men for Campbell but they aren't getting open looks.

I believe the main problem lies in the offense. Fast breaks almost never happen. It seems at times that no one is moving and Trey Freeman is left to dribble and hope something comes open. Defensively, we are allowing way too many points. I remember at the beginning of last season, Coach Laing was going back to the full court press defense. It was effective as we got off to a great start. Somewhere along the way, that disappeared. Our team is more athletic than it was last year and could run the press even more effectively. I do have to say, I miss Rico Ferguson. Great defender and a spark of momentum on the court.
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Harris has been playing well, which I am grateful for. I just feel like all we do is swing the ball around the perimeter and only penetrate when we absolutely have to. I don't see us passing it inside and allowing our guys to back them down and finish it.

You are right about the fast breaks not happening. I remember a recent game where they man-marked Freeman the whole game, just so he couldn't take the ball up the court. I mean Hooker is good, but Trey can distribute the ball so well it's scary.

Oh man. Rico Ferguson was a beast! He may not have the prettiest shot, but his defense was fantastic. I wish we had him for another year.

(12-06-2012 12:33 PM)fightingcamel2594 Wrote:  

(12-06-2012 12:01 AM)CamelHump Wrote:  I have gone to a decent amount of the games so far and am wondering, do we have a person who can dominate the paint consistently?

It seems like we do not have a player that will dominate the paint as Griffin did last year. Granted, we can't hope to dominate the paint every game, however, we need to prove that we can score from the inside as well as on the perimeter. As seen in most of this season, we are a primarily perimeter team, relying on the jump shot entirely too much. This only works out when we are shooting a decent percentage from the field. It was our downfall against A&T over Thanksgiving break.

Harris has been playing well, but I have not seen him assert himself in the paint as Griffin did. I feel like we will be a one dimensional team until we establish the post game in the games to come. If we stay one dimensional, I do not see us winning the conference because we will be too predictable.

What are your thought on the topic?

Although it may not look like it, we are actually much more balanced than last year. In fact, less three-point shots have been taken as well. Griffin was a great player, but an average rebounder at best. Without his dunking ability and jump shooting, he would be mediocre at best. Marvelle Harris has been great in the paint thus far. He had a career-high 21 points the other night while being in foul trouble like the other big men most of the game. The game before that he pulled down 15 rebounds. He has gotten much better since last year and I can't wait to see how he develops throughout the season. Leonard, Leek, and Oliver could blossom into good big men for Campbell but they aren't getting open looks.

I believe the main problem lies in the offense. Fast breaks almost never happen. It seems at times that no one is moving and Trey Freeman is left to dribble and hope something comes open. Defensively, we are allowing way too many points. I remember at the beginning of last season, Coach Laing was going back to the full court press defense. It was effective as we got off to a great start. Somewhere along the way, that disappeared. Our team is more athletic than it was last year and could run the press even more effectively. I do have to say, I miss Rico Ferguson. Great defender and a spark of momentum on the court.

"Without his dunking and jump shooting, he would be average at best?" You could say that about ANY player that has ever played any sport. I know people will think I am taking up for Eric, but in all reality you could name any player and that statement doesn't make alot of sense to me. Its like saying..."You know Michael Jordan without his dunking and 15-foot jumper was average at best" or "Pete Maravich without all that fancy dribbling and passing and fantastic shooting was just another guy" or "Kareem without his sky hook was nothing!" Well....duh. Sorry but that comment just strikes me as odd. AVERAGE rebounders don't average 9 rebounds per game and have 14 double figure rebound outtings. He had nearly 500 rebounds in two years. That is well above average. He also played out of position for the better part of a year and a half. He is 9th all time in school history after just TWO years and is fourth in average all time and yes before I forget and don't tell the entire story, he was a bad FT shooter.

As far as Rico is concerned, I am glad he is gone. From the rumors I have heard, he was not a very good teammate. I will leave it at that. BTW he is not even starting at Kentucky Wesleyan.

Overall, I think your assesment, however, is pretty solid. I love Marvelle and always have. He is never going to be a great offensive player but he can certainly score it around the rim and is a great athlete. I think I said in another post that this team will juggle lineups and look for who they are going to play come conference time. With so many new faces, there were bound to be growing pains especially without the teams best player on the floor the last two games.

I'm not down on this team because its not easy trying to mesh so many new faces especially amongst all the injuries (bumps and bruises). We won't know how good this team is until mid-January.

(12-06-2012 12:58 PM)CamelHump Wrote:  Although it may not look like it, we are actually much more balanced than last year. In fact, less three-point shots have been taken as well. Griffin was a great player, but an average rebounder at best. Without his dunking ability and jump shooting, he would be mediocre at best. Marvelle Harris has been great in the paint thus far. He had a career-high 21 points the other night while being in foul trouble like the other big men most of the game. The game before that he pulled down 15 rebounds. He has gotten much better since last year and I can't wait to see how he develops throughout the season. Leonard, Leek, and Oliver could blossom into good big men for Campbell but they aren't getting open looks.

I believe the main problem lies in the offense. Fast breaks almost never happen. It seems at times that no one is moving and Trey Freeman is left to dribble and hope something comes open. Defensively, we are allowing way too many points. I remember at the beginning of last season, Coach Laing was going back to the full court press defense. It was effective as we got off to a great start. Somewhere along the way, that disappeared. Our team is more athletic than it was last year and could run the press even more effectively. I do have to say, I miss Rico Ferguson. Great defender and a spark of momentum on the court.

Harris has been playing well, which I am grateful for. I just feel like all we do is swing the ball around the perimeter and only penetrate when we absolutely have to. I don't see us passing it inside and allowing our guys to back them down and finish it.

You are right about the fast breaks not happening. I remember a recent game where they man-marked Freeman the whole game, just so he couldn't take the ball up the court. I mean Hooker is good, but Trey can distribute the ball so well it's scary.

Oh man. Rico Ferguson was a beast! He may not have the prettiest shot, but his defense was fantastic. I wish we had him for another year.
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But Rico was released for violation of team rules I believe...

He was released for other reasons as well.

Even though Rico was let go. I will still stand by him playing great defense.

We will just have to wait until later in the season to see if our team will find the essential problem and fix it before it is too late.

GO CAMELS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(12-06-2012 02:33 PM)Statman101 Wrote:  

(12-06-2012 12:33 PM)fightingcamel2594 Wrote:  

(12-06-2012 12:01 AM)CamelHump Wrote:  I have gone to a decent amount of the games so far and am wondering, do we have a person who can dominate the paint consistently?

It seems like we do not have a player that will dominate the paint as Griffin did last year. Granted, we can't hope to dominate the paint every game, however, we need to prove that we can score from the inside as well as on the perimeter. As seen in most of this season, we are a primarily perimeter team, relying on the jump shot entirely too much. This only works out when we are shooting a decent percentage from the field. It was our downfall against A&T over Thanksgiving break.

Harris has been playing well, but I have not seen him assert himself in the paint as Griffin did. I feel like we will be a one dimensional team until we establish the post game in the games to come. If we stay one dimensional, I do not see us winning the conference because we will be too predictable.

What are your thought on the topic?

Although it may not look like it, we are actually much more balanced than last year. In fact, less three-point shots have been taken as well. Griffin was a great player, but an average rebounder at best. Without his dunking ability and jump shooting, he would be mediocre at best. Marvelle Harris has been great in the paint thus far. He had a career-high 21 points the other night while being in foul trouble like the other big men most of the game. The game before that he pulled down 15 rebounds. He has gotten much better since last year and I can't wait to see how he develops throughout the season. Leonard, Leek, and Oliver could blossom into good big men for Campbell but they aren't getting open looks.

I believe the main problem lies in the offense. Fast breaks almost never happen. It seems at times that no one is moving and Trey Freeman is left to dribble and hope something comes open. Defensively, we are allowing way too many points. I remember at the beginning of last season, Coach Laing was going back to the full court press defense. It was effective as we got off to a great start. Somewhere along the way, that disappeared. Our team is more athletic than it was last year and could run the press even more effectively. I do have to say, I miss Rico Ferguson. Great defender and a spark of momentum on the court.

"Without his dunking and jump shooting, he would be average at best?" You could say that about ANY player that has ever played any sport. I know people will think I am taking up for Eric, but in all reality you could name any player and that statement doesn't make alot of sense to me. Its like saying..."You know Michael Jordan without his dunking and 15-foot jumper was average at best" or "Pete Maravich without all that fancy dribbling and passing and fantastic shooting was just another guy" or "Kareem without his sky hook was nothing!" Well....duh. Sorry but that comment just strikes me as odd. AVERAGE rebounders don't average 9 rebounds per game and have 14 double figure rebound outtings. He had nearly 500 rebounds in two years. That is well above average. He also played out of position for the better part of a year and a half. He is 9th all time in school history after just TWO years and is fourth in average all time and yes before I forget and don't tell the entire story, he was a bad FT shooter.

As far as Rico is concerned, I am glad he is gone. From the rumors I have heard, he was not a very good teammate. I will leave it at that. BTW he is not even starting at Kentucky Wesleyan.

Overall, I think your assesment, however, is pretty solid. I love Marvelle and always have. He is never going to be a great offensive player but he can certainly score it around the rim and is a great athlete. I think I said in another post that this team will juggle lineups and look for who they are going to play come conference time. With so many new faces, there were bound to be growing pains especially without the teams best player on the floor the last two games.

I'm not down on this team because its not easy trying to mesh so many new faces especially amongst all the injuries (bumps and bruises). We won't know how good this team is until mid-January.

Clarification of what I meant by my statement: If Griffin hadn't made that terrific dunk, he would be known as just another average college basketball player. About his jump shooting, I'm just saying he was unique because of his ability to shoot outside as a big man. 9 rebounds per game is respectable, but I was more referring to his technique. I understand it is due to his lack of organized experience, but I'm just saying. If you know me, you'd know I'd be the first to support Eric and back him up. I was just saying this in retrospect.

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Clarification of what I meant by my statement: If Griffin hadn't made that terrific dunk, he would be known as just another average college basketball player. About his jump shooting, I'm just saying he was unique because of his ability to shoot outside as a big man. 9 rebounds per game is respectable, but I was more referring to his technique. I understand it is due to his lack of organized experience, but I'm just saying. If you know me, you'd know I'd be the first to support Eric and back him up. I was just saying this in retrospect.
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Who would he have been known as average by? I guarantee even with all the ESPN publicity that dunk received, very few people could tell you about his dunk let alone what type of player he was. He is well above average for the Big South and most mid to lower level DI leagues with or without his dunk. His numbers suggest that. He was/is well above average for CU. Superior athleticism makes alot of players with average skill good/great (See Dwight Howard). Is he average in the grand scheme of college basketball overall? Absolutely, but no offense so was Jonathon Rodriguez. Any player who comes through CU is going to be pretty much average for all of college basketball.

Also, Eric played the 4/5 his senior year because of necessity. You do realize he played the majority of his first year at CU as a wing? He was never recruited to play in the paint. So his outside shot was because he was a wing to begin with not a post.

I am just trying to put things in perspective. On the national scale, he was probably average at best. On the CU scale, he was well above average and a very good player.