RE: JMU
I am more critical of where we are at as a team right now, regardless of any fatigue factor yesterday, and because I have very high expectations of what I think this team can be. We have the talent, young team or not.
Marcus and Terry are playing at a very high level. The rest of the team has got to lift each of their games up to the potential they are capable of every night.
Otherwise, there are weaknesses that are going to get exposed/exploited as league play continues:
Sean and Jack have got to become more aggressive in the post offensively. Teams are not going to collapse because a) they are hesitant to take open short shots, or b) power the ball to the hole in one on one situations. Sean had one power move with the ball, but faded away on the missed shot finish, rather than continuing into the player and basket. May still be hesitant to go to the foul line, but drawing those fouls has other positive impact. No time for finesse with these guys. No CAA team has a decided advantage against us in the post. These teams are not UNC's frontline, so Sean and Jack's mindsets and actions need to be different, and we need some production there to enable our outside strength.
Our half court offense for long stretches looked like the same ineffective offense of many of our past bad seasons; four players standing outside the arc with an occasional pass to the middle, but no movement. Marcus' NBA threes will not bail us out every game. It, also, means opposing teams do not have to expend defensive energy trying to guard constant movement and hard cuts. We need to be wearing teams down.
Team has got to rededicate their priority and pride in defense on every possession. Way too many lapses.
Daniel's defensive effort got him into the line-up last year and starting this year. The rise of his offensive game is important, but he needs to step back up his defensive impact. It all starts with the defense.
Omar's shot form has never been fundamentally sound, but when you've historically shown an uncanny ability to shoot, it doesn't matter. Right now, though, he is nowhere close on his outside shot. Hope he can find his zone again, but it's tough when it's not coming from a fundamental place. Terry has done a rare turnaround to change to a fundamentally strong form and get the results midcareer. My biggest concern is it appears to be adversely effecting the rest of Omar's offensive floor game. Too many forced plays, bad passes, atypical of Omar's intuitive feel for the game. It's one thing to not have the short term benefit of Omar's shooting, but he can't keep letting it result in poor decisions and offensive turnovers.
One surprise for me is that Mike Schlotman has not been the consummate point guard billed coming in. Ball handing and movement is not fluid and a tendency to dribble into places where he has nowhere to go with the ball. I hope there is more to come from Mike as he gets more healthy and comfortable, but indeed his future role may be that of another Terry Tarpey, rather than a floor general point.
With the length, mobility and ball-handling skills we have, I am very concerned that we had so much trouble with JMU's full court pressure. Team has got to get that taken care of quick, or we're going to see a lot more of that. Not sure we would have won this game if Brady had gone to it much earlier, as he should have.
Good to see another freshman, Connor, work his way into key minutes off the bench. His outside shooting will be needed as another option.
Staff and team seemed to be happy with the 3-1 start, but we should have been 4-0 with the teams we started with. Winning the CAA regular season will be very key to winning this year's tournament because it will potentially mean not having to beat, both, Northeastern and Hofstra for the championship. Happy to see us stay undefeated at home, as it should be, but the team has got to stay focused and play even harder on the road. UNCW's win at Northeastern was a gift, but we gave it back with the loss at Elon. Hofstra didn't. We can't leave winning the regular season championship to must win situations on the road at Northeastern and Hofstra at the end. Bill Coen thinks the league champ will have at least 4 losses, and I think this team needs to be shooting for better than that, and is capable of achieving that.
If we retire Marcus' jersey at the last home game, let it be, also, the occasion of a bell weather season of winning a CAA regular season. The team and staff need to make it not only about Marcus being the most skilled Tribe player in history, but, also, the team accomplishment to support his impact.
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