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(11-17-2017 09:40 AM)Monarchblue Wrote:  

(11-17-2017 09:29 AM)757ODU Wrote:  The best offense yesterday came with Ahmad getting into the lane. The set offenses are not creating shots for us. Let Ahmad do his thing and find the open guy.

This is the biggest problem with JJ, to me. The only time his patterned offense worked was when Trey Freeman could make 457 elbow jumpers per game.

Now we are playing "faster" which means running the same crappy patterns but shooting sooner from what I can tell.

And another thing, why do our shooters just stand around at the 3 point line? Why do they not run back and forth from side to side and get a screen or two to try to free them up. They literally just float back and forth in a 15 foot section between the wing and toward the baseline on most possession.

There is a lot of standing around and watching the guy with the ball.

(11-17-2017 09:16 AM)EverRespect Wrote:  

(11-17-2017 09:00 AM)Gilesfan Wrote:  Temple hit some tough shots and were on fire in the first half. We were able to recover from that, but never got over the hump and closed the deal. Some of the shots were open due to defense (green leaving 3 point shooters open, for example).

Green played whole game down stretch, don't understand that comment.

Green is going to be our best player at some point. Maybe not right now, but within a year or 2 he will be a very good player.

Caver needs to get out of his shooting slump. I wonder whats going on, could it be the surgery over the summer getting him out of whack?

Brandan Stith needs to find some consistency. Following up strong and bad games back to back. Porter has started well.

Godwin and Hueit are completely lost on defense right now. Going to take time to get them comfortable with college game. Both have good strokes though, I may try to get Godwin some more time over Randy.

Offensively, we need to chill out of the post ups and midrange jumpers. We continue to rely too heavily on them. Shoot a 3, drive, or draw a foul.

Randy still taking poor shots. Needs to be addressed.

The whole time Hueitt was in the game, I specifically observed his defense. No, he isn't Briante Weber, but his defense was fine. He was always on his man and none of the 3s Temple made were due to Hueitt missing an assignment. I think we can stop smearing the kid now. He wasn't the one leaving his man wide open. He does need to do better than making 1 out of 3 wide open 3s, however.

I did the exact same thing, since that was the speculation for JJ's reasoning for not playing him more. I thought his defense was fine and serviceable, and with someone who should be making buckets consistently I think that's a fair trade. He didn't miss assignments. He even dribbled some, haha. Not just a catch and shoot guy. I think he might just need to work on creating separation for himself since he isn't going to be left open very often.

Like 2 or 3 of the other posters, I was focused in on Hueitt's defense while he was in the game. His man wasn't blowing by him off the dribble, and I don't remember his man hitting any outside shots over him. All in all I would have to say that he was effective defensively, at least yesterday.

I have to say that I noticed a couple of the things that Giles pointed out, i.e. that Hueitt had a tendency to drift pretty far away from his man when his man was stationed out at the 3 point line on the weak side. I don't know how well that would have worked out for him if the ball had been quickly passed out to his man because it was always shot by someone else before that occurred.

I would continue to coach him up and get him involved in the games.

(11-17-2017 10:57 AM)ODU BBALL Wrote:  Like 2 or 3 of the other posters, I was focused in on Hueitt's defense while he was in the game. His man wasn't blowing by him off the dribble, and I don't remember his man hitting any outside shots over him. All in all I would have to say that he was effective defensively, at least yesterday.

I have to say that I noticed a couple of the things that Giles pointed out, i.e. that Hueitt had a tendency to drift pretty far away from his man when his man was stationed out at the 3 point line on the weak side. I don't know how well that would have worked out for him if the ball had been quickly passed out to his man because it was always shot by someone else before that occurred.

I would continue to coach him up and get him involved in the games.

Subject to justanodufans's qualifier that I never played college ball and thus know nothing, I also noticed Huitt drifting off of his man out on the perimeter but not seeming to get burned on it. I do not know it that was a credit to his quickness or because he was assigned to the least dangerous shooter on the floor.

Hueitt's man did blow by him once off the dribble for an easy layup (thankfully, the kid missed it). He failed to contest a couple of shots from the help side (including one on a fast break). My opinion regarding testing shots is that he's only going to get a few minutes of run anyway, no harm in picking up a foul rather than giving up an easy bucket. But, all in all, it wasn't terrible (it was better than Godwin's rotation). I think Hueitt needs to play more for his long term development, I'm just not sure that yesterday's game was the ideal time for it. I'd like to see him get more minutes in the next four games, during which we should have the superior athletes.

(11-17-2017 09:51 AM)odu09 Wrote:  

(11-17-2017 09:16 AM)EverRespect Wrote:  

(11-17-2017 09:00 AM)Gilesfan Wrote:  Temple hit some tough shots and were on fire in the first half. We were able to recover from that, but never got over the hump and closed the deal. Some of the shots were open due to defense (green leaving 3 point shooters open, for example).

Green played whole game down stretch, don't understand that comment.

Green is going to be our best player at some point. Maybe not right now, but within a year or 2 he will be a very good player.

Caver needs to get out of his shooting slump. I wonder whats going on, could it be the surgery over the summer getting him out of whack?

Brandan Stith needs to find some consistency. Following up strong and bad games back to back. Porter has started well.

Godwin and Hueit are completely lost on defense right now. Going to take time to get them comfortable with college game. Both have good strokes though, I may try to get Godwin some more time over Randy.

Offensively, we need to chill out of the post ups and midrange jumpers. We continue to rely too heavily on them. Shoot a 3, drive, or draw a foul.

Randy still taking poor shots. Needs to be addressed.

The whole time Hueitt was in the game, I specifically observed his defense. No, he isn't Briante Weber, but his defense was fine. He was always on his man and none of the 3s Temple made were due to Hueitt missing an assignment. I think we can stop smearing the kid now. He wasn't the one leaving his man wide open. He does need to do better than making 1 out of 3 wide open 3s, however.

I did the exact same thing, since that was the speculation for JJ's reasoning for not playing him more. I thought his defense was fine and serviceable, and with someone who should be making buckets consistently I think that's a fair trade. He didn't miss assignments. He even dribbled some, haha. Not just a catch and shoot guy. I think he might just need to work on creating separation for himself since he isn't going to be left open very often.

Hard to create separation when your job is to pace back and forth along the three point arc.

(11-17-2017 11:14 AM)ODUCoach Wrote:  Hueitt's man did blow by him once off the dribble for an easy layup (thankfully, the kid missed it). He failed to contest a couple of shots from the help side (including one on a fast break). My opinion regarding testing shots is that he's only going to get a few minutes of run anyway, no harm in picking up a foul rather than giving up an easy bucket. But, all in all, it wasn't terrible (it was better than Godwin's rotation). I think Hueitt needs to play more for his long term development, I'm just not sure that yesterday's game was the ideal time for it. I'd like to see him get more minutes in the next four games, during which we should have the superior athletes.

Agree, not sure I would have thrown him to the wolves. Now that we know the redshirt wasn't planned, I think the last 8 minutes of the JMU game would have been a better time for him to get his feet wet.

(11-17-2017 09:40 AM)EverRespect Wrote:  

(11-17-2017 09:30 AM)Gilesfan Wrote:  Carver being a serviceable depth player is a big help for us if he continues to be so. That was at least encouraging. He looks decent.

BJ was absolutely terrible. Just blown by when he wasn't fouling. That was as bad as I've seen from him.

BJ was also playing SF against a 6'8" guy. I know the "trend" is positionless basketball, but you can expect BJ to struggle defensively when we are playing teams that actually have a SF. Luckily it isn't often, but he had no chance yesterday. Temple recognized it and exploited it. Clearly their game plan was to get BJ out of the game early. It worked. That is a big reason why they were wide open on the perimeter. When you have a wing that big, you have to pack it in and let them settle for jump shots. Unfortunately for us, the jump shots were falling at a ridiculous clip in the 1st half.

BJ is not very quick. He has decent speed once he gets going, but doesn't have great first step quickness, at least not as good as many other players. Because of that, along with the strong ability to hit the 3 point shot that the Temple players possessed, BJ would have to play close to his man. That made him susceptible to the guys quick first step on the dribble drive. Several times yesterday BJ was having trouble staying in front of his man in that situation and it was causing him problems.

I believe Porter was having a better game offensively than Brandan at least partly because of his having better size to match up with Temple's 6'-10" & 6'-11" post defenders which made it a little bit easier for him to get a normal shot up. Brandan had at least one turnover that seemed to be directly attributed to Temple's bigger post guys when he had the ball right at the basket but couldn't get the shot up. His effort was there though so I am not criticizing him. All one can do is the best that they can with what they have to work with.

(11-17-2017 11:23 AM)ODU BBALL Wrote:  

(11-17-2017 09:40 AM)EverRespect Wrote:  

(11-17-2017 09:30 AM)Gilesfan Wrote:  Carver being a serviceable depth player is a big help for us if he continues to be so. That was at least encouraging. He looks decent.

BJ was absolutely terrible. Just blown by when he wasn't fouling. That was as bad as I've seen from him.

BJ was also playing SF against a 6'8" guy. I know the "trend" is positionless basketball, but you can expect BJ to struggle defensively when we are playing teams that actually have a SF. Luckily it isn't often, but he had no chance yesterday. Temple recognized it and exploited it. Clearly their game plan was to get BJ out of the game early. It worked. That is a big reason why they were wide open on the perimeter. When you have a wing that big, you have to pack it in and let them settle for jump shots. Unfortunately for us, the jump shots were falling at a ridiculous clip in the 1st half.

BJ is not very quick. He has decent speed once he gets going, but doesn't have great first step quickness, at least not as good as many other players. Because of that, along with the strong ability to hit the 3 point shot that the Temple players possessed, BJ would have to play close to his man. That made him susceptible to the guys quick first step on the dribble drive. Several times yesterday BJ was having trouble staying in front of his man in that situation and it was causing him problems.

I believe Porter was having a better game offensively than Brandan at least partly because of his having better size to match up with Temple's 6'-10" & 6'-11" post defenders which made it a little bit easier for him to get a normal shot up. Brandan had at least one turnover that seemed to be directly attributed to Temple's bigger post guys when he had the ball right at the basket but couldn't get the shot up. His effort was there though so I am not criticizing him. All one can do is the best that they can with what they have to work with.

Brandan is plenty tall enough to be effective in the post. He just isn't good enough to be effective in the post.

There are guys his size all over college basketball that play well up front. Hell, the leading candidate for national POY is a 6'5" PF.

(11-17-2017 11:23 AM)ODU BBALL Wrote:  

(11-17-2017 09:40 AM)EverRespect Wrote:  

(11-17-2017 09:30 AM)Gilesfan Wrote:  Carver being a serviceable depth player is a big help for us if he continues to be so. That was at least encouraging. He looks decent.

BJ was absolutely terrible. Just blown by when he wasn't fouling. That was as bad as I've seen from him.

BJ was also playing SF against a 6'8" guy. I know the "trend" is positionless basketball, but you can expect BJ to struggle defensively when we are playing teams that actually have a SF. Luckily it isn't often, but he had no chance yesterday. Temple recognized it and exploited it. Clearly their game plan was to get BJ out of the game early. It worked. That is a big reason why they were wide open on the perimeter. When you have a wing that big, you have to pack it in and let them settle for jump shots. Unfortunately for us, the jump shots were falling at a ridiculous clip in the 1st half.

BJ is not very quick. He has decent speed once he gets going, but doesn't have great first step quickness, at least not as good as many other players. Because of that, along with the strong ability to hit the 3 point shot that the Temple players possessed, BJ would have to play close to his man. That made him susceptible to the guys quick first step on the dribble drive. Several times yesterday BJ was having trouble staying in front of his man in that situation and it was causing him problems.

I believe Porter was having a better game offensively than Brandan at least partly because of his having better size to match up with Temple's 6'-10" & 6'-11" post defenders which made it a little bit easier for him to get a normal shot up. Brandan had at least one turnover that seemed to be directly attributed to Temple's bigger post guys when he had the ball right at the basket but couldn't get the shot up. His effort was there though so I am not criticizing him. All one can do is the best that they can with what they have to work with.

Brandan just cannot finish anything other than a dunk, never could. It doesn't matter if the guy in front of him is 6'11" or 6'4".

I would also like to see Hueitt more despite his deficiencies. He is going to be a key cog over the next 4 years. Not major mins, but maybe steal a few from Haynes. Or maybe from BJ if BJ is struggling.

I disagree on standing at the 3 point arc. I specifically remember a half a dozen or more open 3 point attempts that were run off the double big man at the elbow. Haynes was about 1-4 out of thos looks and Hueitt was probably 1-2.

We may want to try Caver to get a look as opposed to only shooting 3s when the clock is running down. He needs to shoot better.

I'm not necessarily comparing Brandan to other players his size that are better athletes, shooters, etc. than him. I was only saying that if Brandan was as tall as Porter he probably would have had a more Brandan like performance against Temple's very tall line-up.

(11-17-2017 11:29 AM)EverRespect Wrote:  

(11-17-2017 11:23 AM)ODU BBALL Wrote:  

(11-17-2017 09:40 AM)EverRespect Wrote:  

(11-17-2017 09:30 AM)Gilesfan Wrote:  Carver being a serviceable depth player is a big help for us if he continues to be so. That was at least encouraging. He looks decent.

BJ was absolutely terrible. Just blown by when he wasn't fouling. That was as bad as I've seen from him.

BJ was also playing SF against a 6'8" guy. I know the "trend" is positionless basketball, but you can expect BJ to struggle defensively when we are playing teams that actually have a SF. Luckily it isn't often, but he had no chance yesterday. Temple recognized it and exploited it. Clearly their game plan was to get BJ out of the game early. It worked. That is a big reason why they were wide open on the perimeter. When you have a wing that big, you have to pack it in and let them settle for jump shots. Unfortunately for us, the jump shots were falling at a ridiculous clip in the 1st half.

BJ is not very quick. He has decent speed once he gets going, but doesn't have great first step quickness, at least not as good as many other players. Because of that, along with the strong ability to hit the 3 point shot that the Temple players possessed, BJ would have to play close to his man. That made him susceptible to the guys quick first step on the dribble drive. Several times yesterday BJ was having trouble staying in front of his man in that situation and it was causing him problems.

I believe Porter was having a better game offensively than Brandan at least partly because of his having better size to match up with Temple's 6'-10" & 6'-11" post defenders which made it a little bit easier for him to get a normal shot up. Brandan had at least one turnover that seemed to be directly attributed to Temple's bigger post guys when he had the ball right at the basket but couldn't get the shot up. His effort was there though so I am not criticizing him. All one can do is the best that they can with what they have to work with.

Brandan just cannot finish anything other than a dunk, never could. It doesn't matter if the guy in front of him is 6'11" or 6'4".

He's made plenty of shots that weren't dunks during his time at ODU.

Brandan is not a postup player and he will never be One. He is good in transition and pick and roll opportunities as well as scoring of offensive rebounds. When they try to strictly post him up he always fades away and takes a bad shot.

He’s also a much better player than people make it seem on here despite his difficulties in post up situations.

(11-17-2017 11:37 AM)Gilesfan Wrote:  Brandan is not a postup player and he will never be One. He is good in transition and pick and roll opportunities as well as scoring of offensive rebounds. When they try to strictly post him up he always fades away and takes a bad shot.

He’s also a much better player than people make it seem on here despite his difficulties in post up situations.

Its become clear that your standards of good for everything other than defense by players who are good at offense are just not very high.

(11-17-2017 11:37 AM)Gilesfan Wrote:  Brandan is not a postup player and he will never be One. He is good in transition and pick and roll opportunities as well as scoring of offensive rebounds. When they try to strictly post him up he always fades away and takes a bad shot.

He’s also a much better player than people make it seem on here despite his difficulties in post up situations.

I agree that Brandan isn't a post up player. He is however a post up player for ODU in the offense that they have been running for the last several years.

I'm mostly encouraged by Porter's improvement on the offensive end, along with what appears to be increased stamina from last season. Basically I see him and Brandan as an improvement offensively over Brandan and Taylor from last season. If Carver continues to play like he did yesterday then I think we will OK in the front court for this season. Not great, but at least OK. I don't necessarily think that the top 4 or 5 of C-USA is as good as last season (not saying they were terrific then either). I watched Marshall lose to Morehead State last night and wasn't very impressed. Morehead had lost its previous game to Xavier by 50+ points I believe they said, but yet beat Marshall.

(11-17-2017 11:52 AM)ODU BBALL Wrote:  

(11-17-2017 11:37 AM)Gilesfan Wrote:  Brandan is not a postup player and he will never be One. He is good in transition and pick and roll opportunities as well as scoring of offensive rebounds. When they try to strictly post him up he always fades away and takes a bad shot.

He’s also a much better player than people make it seem on here despite his difficulties in post up situations.

I agree that Brandan isn't a post up player. He is however a post up player for ODU in the offense that they have been running for the last several years.

I'm mostly encouraged by Porter's improvement on the offensive end, along with what appears to be increased stamina from last season. Basically I see him and Brandan as an improvement offensively over Brandan and Taylor from last season. If Carver continues to play like he did yesterday then I think we will OK in the front court for this season. Not great, but at least OK. I don't necessarily think that the top 4 or 5 of C-USA is as good as last season (not saying they were terrific then either). I watched Marshall lose to Morehead State last night and wasn't very impressed. Morehead had lost its previous game to Xavier by 50+ points I believe they said, but yet beat Marshall.

These out of conference disasters happen every year for CUSA, then we convince ourselves that all the teams have seen remarkable improvement once they moved ahead of us in the conference standings.

Brandan was the 2nd best offensive player on his ECU team as a freshman. He was our most efficient offensive player last year. He's had a terrible start to the year, but he's not nearly as bad for his career as some are making him out to be.

(11-17-2017 11:55 AM)ODUCoach Wrote:  Brandan was the 2nd best offensive player on his ECU team as a freshman. He was our most efficient offensive player last year. He's had a terrible start to the year, but he's not nearly as bad for his career as some are making him out to be.

I am not saying he is bad, but stating that he is not good. He is a role player who many have been waiting on for years to become the star they "know" he can be. He is who he is. A decent garbage man that can play solid defense get some rebounds and score on a couple put backs. What he is not, is a player that you build an offense around, a player you dump the ball into when you need a bucket, or consistent. Frankly, I think his motor stinks, and that is his biggest problem. When he plays with a high level of effort, he actually can be very productive, but we rarely ever see that for more than a couple minutes a game.

Temple is beating Auburn at the half 32 - 31.