(01-29-2020 11:52 AM)ShadyP Wrote:  

(01-28-2020 09:12 PM)Hart Foundation Wrote:  Should play them together. Wilson is much better on offense and Jacobs is much better on defense. When Rowe subs them out for each other he lives with a glaring weakness at one end of the court because nobody else on the team plays big.

He began to start both of them together for the first time in CAA play, but as soon as the first media timeout comes he sits one and they never play together the rest of the game. Weird.

I agree, I think playing more traditional with 2 bigs makes a lot more sense now that the team seems to have reverted back to last season offense about the time CAA play started. If you are not gonna play run & gun the play of 4 & 1 Big man does not make too much sense.

I also think reverting back too the old offense/style of play has caused issues as I can see where that would confuse the team and team identity in general (which now there is none)

I more thing (and this has been consistent under Rowe).....JMU always subs in order to match whatever personnel the other team puts on the court. JMU NEVER forces another team to match up to our personnel. When you always give in to how the opponent wants to play that is not a recipe for success.

He's tried starting both Jacobs and Wilson and it's been just as bad as everything else. I'd like to see him try mixing it up by starting 4 guards with Banks as a #4.

(01-29-2020 12:13 PM)JacksonHall Wrote:  

(01-28-2020 02:58 PM)Wear Purple Wrote:  

(01-28-2020 02:39 PM)Dukes84 Wrote:  Shane Mettlen wrote an interesting piece this week that mirrored what I had been thinking with respect to the men's basketball team. Things were going reasonably well with JMU up 13 at home versus Hofstra on December 28th and since then everything has unraveled. In that particular game, they missed a ton of free throws, as I recall; and made a bunch of mistakes late, eventually losing the game going away. In the next game versus NE, which I only saw the last 10 minutes of, it seemed that they reverted to their old style offensively. Mettlen doesn't mention that aspect, but certainly is right regarding the inflection point for the season.

I tend to agree with him. There were signs in the pre-CAA schedule that things weren't well with this team. The loss by 16 at home to Coppin State and loss at Radford by 23 where we were never in it from the opening tip were signs. Those 2 losses had the win against EZU in between. However, in that 3 game stretch (even with one being a win) we gave up 94 to Coppin St, 89 to EZU, and 94 at Radford. It was at that time I really started to see the likely writing on the wall (and posting about it here) - that is, this team plays little defense and if not cleaned up doom was on the horizon once CAA play got cranked up. And, here we are. We've given up 80+ in 6 of our 9 CAA games, losing all of them of course.

Not sure this team was ever any good defensively to start with. I mean, UVA struggles to score and plays at a snail's pace. Shenandoah was right after them. Hard to pull anything from those games. But something happened around Thanksgiving week, starting with that Coppin State game, where this team collectively just decided it wasn't going to hardly even try on the defensive end of the court. Since that Coppin St game, we are averaging giving up 79.9 ppg - and that's including 2 games where we gave up just 60 in wins over Chas Sou. & UNCW. Breaking that down, we are on average giving up a field goal every minute of the game (40'x2). We won't win many games like that - and haven't - and won't moving forward if it continues (and I have seen nothing to believe anything will change).

Rowe apparently wanted a more up-tempo pace. That's just fine as long as you can outscore the opponent because you are so damn good offensively and/or creating easy points off turnovers. We are neither.

And I thought the up tempo pace idea was a major reason he keeps signing 6'4 guards. So he could have some depth to keep running. Except those guys rarely get any extended playing time.

That...and we have no clue what Flowers can do, but for a team that only rotates two big men he must truly show nothing for him not to see the floor.

(01-29-2020 12:25 PM)Bawlmer Duke Wrote:  

(01-29-2020 12:13 PM)JacksonHall Wrote:  

(01-28-2020 02:58 PM)Wear Purple Wrote:  

(01-28-2020 02:39 PM)Dukes84 Wrote:  Shane Mettlen wrote an interesting piece this week that mirrored what I had been thinking with respect to the men's basketball team. Things were going reasonably well with JMU up 13 at home versus Hofstra on December 28th and since then everything has unraveled. In that particular game, they missed a ton of free throws, as I recall; and made a bunch of mistakes late, eventually losing the game going away. In the next game versus NE, which I only saw the last 10 minutes of, it seemed that they reverted to their old style offensively. Mettlen doesn't mention that aspect, but certainly is right regarding the inflection point for the season.

I tend to agree with him. There were signs in the pre-CAA schedule that things weren't well with this team. The loss by 16 at home to Coppin State and loss at Radford by 23 where we were never in it from the opening tip were signs. Those 2 losses had the win against EZU in between. However, in that 3 game stretch (even with one being a win) we gave up 94 to Coppin St, 89 to EZU, and 94 at Radford. It was at that time I really started to see the likely writing on the wall (and posting about it here) - that is, this team plays little defense and if not cleaned up doom was on the horizon once CAA play got cranked up. And, here we are. We've given up 80+ in 6 of our 9 CAA games, losing all of them of course.

Not sure this team was ever any good defensively to start with. I mean, UVA struggles to score and plays at a snail's pace. Shenandoah was right after them. Hard to pull anything from those games. But something happened around Thanksgiving week, starting with that Coppin State game, where this team collectively just decided it wasn't going to hardly even try on the defensive end of the court. Since that Coppin St game, we are averaging giving up 79.9 ppg - and that's including 2 games where we gave up just 60 in wins over Chas Sou. & UNCW. Breaking that down, we are on average giving up a field goal every minute of the game (40'x2). We won't win many games like that - and haven't - and won't moving forward if it continues (and I have seen nothing to believe anything will change).

Rowe apparently wanted a more up-tempo pace. That's just fine as long as you can outscore the opponent because you are so damn good offensively and/or creating easy points off turnovers. We are neither.

And I thought the up tempo pace idea was a major reason he keeps signing 6'4 guards. So he could have some depth to keep running. Except those guys rarely get any extended playing time.

That...and we have no clue what Flowers can do, but for a team that only rotates two big men he must truly show nothing for him not to see the floor.

Flowers red-shirted a year ago because he had a serious knee issue, as I understand it. There was buzz around him, though, based on his play in the Kenner League. He was also supposed to be a guy that could defend other bigs at the three point line. In his brief showing versus East Carolina, I think it was, he hit two quick threes and looked impactful. Not sure what the issue is on a bad team that's gotten declining production from both Jacobs and Wilson. That's one mystery aspect about a team that has completely tanked since the second half of Hofstra.

I feel like at this point in the season, why not throw everyone on the court (obviously not at the same time) and see if someone can spark something on the court.

(01-29-2020 01:28 PM)Dukes84 Wrote:  

(01-29-2020 12:25 PM)Bawlmer Duke Wrote:  

(01-29-2020 12:13 PM)JacksonHall Wrote:  

(01-28-2020 02:58 PM)Wear Purple Wrote:  

(01-28-2020 02:39 PM)Dukes84 Wrote:  Shane Mettlen wrote an interesting piece this week that mirrored what I had been thinking with respect to the men's basketball team. Things were going reasonably well with JMU up 13 at home versus Hofstra on December 28th and since then everything has unraveled. In that particular game, they missed a ton of free throws, as I recall; and made a bunch of mistakes late, eventually losing the game going away. In the next game versus NE, which I only saw the last 10 minutes of, it seemed that they reverted to their old style offensively. Mettlen doesn't mention that aspect, but certainly is right regarding the inflection point for the season.

I tend to agree with him. There were signs in the pre-CAA schedule that things weren't well with this team. The loss by 16 at home to Coppin State and loss at Radford by 23 where we were never in it from the opening tip were signs. Those 2 losses had the win against EZU in between. However, in that 3 game stretch (even with one being a win) we gave up 94 to Coppin St, 89 to EZU, and 94 at Radford. It was at that time I really started to see the likely writing on the wall (and posting about it here) - that is, this team plays little defense and if not cleaned up doom was on the horizon once CAA play got cranked up. And, here we are. We've given up 80+ in 6 of our 9 CAA games, losing all of them of course.

Not sure this team was ever any good defensively to start with. I mean, UVA struggles to score and plays at a snail's pace. Shenandoah was right after them. Hard to pull anything from those games. But something happened around Thanksgiving week, starting with that Coppin State game, where this team collectively just decided it wasn't going to hardly even try on the defensive end of the court. Since that Coppin St game, we are averaging giving up 79.9 ppg - and that's including 2 games where we gave up just 60 in wins over Chas Sou. & UNCW. Breaking that down, we are on average giving up a field goal every minute of the game (40'x2). We won't win many games like that - and haven't - and won't moving forward if it continues (and I have seen nothing to believe anything will change).

Rowe apparently wanted a more up-tempo pace. That's just fine as long as you can outscore the opponent because you are so damn good offensively and/or creating easy points off turnovers. We are neither.

And I thought the up tempo pace idea was a major reason he keeps signing 6'4 guards. So he could have some depth to keep running. Except those guys rarely get any extended playing time.

That...and we have no clue what Flowers can do, but for a team that only rotates two big men he must truly show nothing for him not to see the floor.

Flowers red-shirted a year ago because he had a serious knee issue, as I understand it. There was buzz around him, though, based on his play in the Kenner League. He was also supposed to be a guy that could defend other bigs at the three point line. In his brief showing versus East Carolina, I think it was, he hit two quick threes and looked impactful. Not sure what the issue is on a bad team that's gotten declining production from both Jacobs and Wilson. That's one mystery aspect about a team that has completely tanked since the second half of Hofstra.

Flowers is very similar in build and skillset as Gerron Scissum - another player Rowe didn't know how to use.

(01-29-2020 01:59 PM)AssyrianDuke Wrote:  I feel like at this point in the season, why not throw everyone on the court (obviously not at the same time) and see if someone can spark something on the court.

Why not pull a Dean Smith and substitute 5 guys at a time? I agree with you. And these kids need playing time to develop and have the opportunity to shine. The season is lost and maybe this would actually spark a change. Nothing else has worked.

(01-29-2020 01:59 PM)AssyrianDuke Wrote:  I feel like at this point in the season, why not throw everyone on the court (obviously not at the same time) and see if someone can spark something on the court.

Why do I have a feeling we could have 8 guys out there and still give up 85 to 90+ points a game?

(01-29-2020 02:09 PM)JacksonHall Wrote:  

(01-29-2020 01:59 PM)AssyrianDuke Wrote:  I feel like at this point in the season, why not throw everyone on the court (obviously not at the same time) and see if someone can spark something on the court.

Why not pull a Dean Smith and substitute 5 guys at a time? I agree with you. And these kids need playing time to develop and have the opportunity to shine. The season is lost and maybe this would actually spark a change. Nothing else has worked.

Forgot about that - the old UNC "Blue Team"

(01-29-2020 07:22 PM)olddawg Wrote:  

(01-29-2020 02:09 PM)JacksonHall Wrote:  

(01-29-2020 01:59 PM)AssyrianDuke Wrote:  I feel like at this point in the season, why not throw everyone on the court (obviously not at the same time) and see if someone can spark something on the court.

Why not pull a Dean Smith and substitute 5 guys at a time? I agree with you. And these kids need playing time to develop and have the opportunity to shine. The season is lost and maybe this would actually spark a change. Nothing else has worked.

Forgot about that - the old UNC "Blue Team"

That was before my time, I just remember Larranaga's "Green Team" lol

(01-29-2020 02:07 PM)JacksonHall Wrote:  

(01-29-2020 01:28 PM)Dukes84 Wrote:  

(01-29-2020 12:25 PM)Bawlmer Duke Wrote:  

(01-29-2020 12:13 PM)JacksonHall Wrote:  

(01-28-2020 02:58 PM)Wear Purple Wrote:  I tend to agree with him. There were signs in the pre-CAA schedule that things weren't well with this team. The loss by 16 at home to Coppin State and loss at Radford by 23 where we were never in it from the opening tip were signs. Those 2 losses had the win against EZU in between. However, in that 3 game stretch (even with one being a win) we gave up 94 to Coppin St, 89 to EZU, and 94 at Radford. It was at that time I really started to see the likely writing on the wall (and posting about it here) - that is, this team plays little defense and if not cleaned up doom was on the horizon once CAA play got cranked up. And, here we are. We've given up 80+ in 6 of our 9 CAA games, losing all of them of course.

Not sure this team was ever any good defensively to start with. I mean, UVA struggles to score and plays at a snail's pace. Shenandoah was right after them. Hard to pull anything from those games. But something happened around Thanksgiving week, starting with that Coppin State game, where this team collectively just decided it wasn't going to hardly even try on the defensive end of the court. Since that Coppin St game, we are averaging giving up 79.9 ppg - and that's including 2 games where we gave up just 60 in wins over Chas Sou. & UNCW. Breaking that down, we are on average giving up a field goal every minute of the game (40'x2). We won't win many games like that - and haven't - and won't moving forward if it continues (and I have seen nothing to believe anything will change).

Rowe apparently wanted a more up-tempo pace. That's just fine as long as you can outscore the opponent because you are so damn good offensively and/or creating easy points off turnovers. We are neither.

And I thought the up tempo pace idea was a major reason he keeps signing 6'4 guards. So he could have some depth to keep running. Except those guys rarely get any extended playing time.

That...and we have no clue what Flowers can do, but for a team that only rotates two big men he must truly show nothing for him not to see the floor.

Flowers red-shirted a year ago because he had a serious knee issue, as I understand it. There was buzz around him, though, based on his play in the Kenner League. He was also supposed to be a guy that could defend other bigs at the three point line. In his brief showing versus East Carolina, I think it was, he hit two quick threes and looked impactful. Not sure what the issue is on a bad team that's gotten declining production from both Jacobs and Wilson. That's one mystery aspect about a team that has completely tanked since the second half of Hofstra.

Flowers is very similar in build and skillset as Gerron Scissum - another player Rowe didn't know how to use.

If flowers didn’t play at w&m against 2 7 footers I doubt he ever plays. I asked Mettlen about that- that game Rowe played everyone but Flowers and clearly we had no answer for their bigs under the basket or away from it with our relatively undersized big guys. Flowers is our tallest guy.

(01-29-2020 09:27 PM)NJDuke97 Wrote:  

(01-29-2020 02:07 PM)JacksonHall Wrote:  

(01-29-2020 01:28 PM)Dukes84 Wrote:  

(01-29-2020 12:25 PM)Bawlmer Duke Wrote:  

(01-29-2020 12:13 PM)JacksonHall Wrote:  And I thought the up tempo pace idea was a major reason he keeps signing 6'4 guards. So he could have some depth to keep running. Except those guys rarely get any extended playing time.

That...and we have no clue what Flowers can do, but for a team that only rotates two big men he must truly show nothing for him not to see the floor.

Flowers red-shirted a year ago because he had a serious knee issue, as I understand it. There was buzz around him, though, based on his play in the Kenner League. He was also supposed to be a guy that could defend other bigs at the three point line. In his brief showing versus East Carolina, I think it was, he hit two quick threes and looked impactful. Not sure what the issue is on a bad team that's gotten declining production from both Jacobs and Wilson. That's one mystery aspect about a team that has completely tanked since the second half of Hofstra.

Flowers is very similar in build and skillset as Gerron Scissum - another player Rowe didn't know how to use.

If flowers didn’t play at w&m against 2 7 footers I doubt he ever plays. I asked Mettlen about that- that game Rowe played everyone but Flowers and clearly we had no answer for their bigs under the basket or away from it with our relatively undersized big guys. Flowers is our tallest guy.

I’m thinking he has the same malady that has kept Ryan Zimmerman on the bench so much of his career, that evil bane to feet: Plantar Fasciitis.

(01-29-2020 09:27 PM)NJDuke97 Wrote:  

(01-29-2020 02:07 PM)JacksonHall Wrote:  

(01-29-2020 01:28 PM)Dukes84 Wrote:  

(01-29-2020 12:25 PM)Bawlmer Duke Wrote:  

(01-29-2020 12:13 PM)JacksonHall Wrote:  And I thought the up tempo pace idea was a major reason he keeps signing 6'4 guards. So he could have some depth to keep running. Except those guys rarely get any extended playing time.

That...and we have no clue what Flowers can do, but for a team that only rotates two big men he must truly show nothing for him not to see the floor.

Flowers red-shirted a year ago because he had a serious knee issue, as I understand it. There was buzz around him, though, based on his play in the Kenner League. He was also supposed to be a guy that could defend other bigs at the three point line. In his brief showing versus East Carolina, I think it was, he hit two quick threes and looked impactful. Not sure what the issue is on a bad team that's gotten declining production from both Jacobs and Wilson. That's one mystery aspect about a team that has completely tanked since the second half of Hofstra.

Flowers is very similar in build and skillset as Gerron Scissum - another player Rowe didn't know how to use.

If flowers didn’t play at w&m against 2 7 footers I doubt he ever plays. I asked Mettlen about that- that game Rowe played everyone but Flowers and clearly we had no answer for their bigs under the basket or away from it with our relatively undersized big guys. Flowers is our tallest guy.

I believe he's listed as 6'8 - same as Wilson, Jacob's and Wooden. Certainly seemed like we could have used him. At the very least, i felt bad for him that he's the only guy that never made it into the game.