So, with the team overcoming the brief december slump and playing a sustained stretch of good basketball, it's fun to talk hoops again. here's a little mind of pono overview.

present. gotta give it up to staff and players. there's great togetherness, positivity and accountability during this run. that means everyone. from the star players to the 7th man to the end of the bench to the managers and walk on practice players the assistants and the head guy have to be engaged and getting better. basketball is a team game. great players can greatly improve teams but teams that have no great players but good ones that play great team ball are just as much fun. that is also the toledo way. long time fans of rockets basketball want to see movement on offense of the ball and the players. they want to see team defense that is locked in and gets in your face at home.

now, i'm not saying this team is all that. the defense has merely improved from good laws to sometimes pretty good. the rebounding is better in part to the fact the MAC is down inside. the league has good guards and swingmen but few real game changers or effective bangers inside. this rocket team is vulnerable inside. because we play 1 true big who comes off the bench. he's multi-talented and capable of great 24 minute games like kent, but still a big guy who needs a blow. our other "big" is is listed at 6-9 but he's more of a bouncy 6-7 old school forward who can make some midrange shots, make the easy ones and set picks. we don't play a 1978 game so adway is sort of a 5 who can move around but doesn't have much run for him to take advantage of best skills (setting him up for short jumpers and setting backdoor picks to give him room for alloy-oops). since he plays more of a 5 he gets matched up on heavier guys and draws fouls from quick whistle refs cuz he has to muscle with bigger guys and extend his arms. but it is what it is. he is often in could trouble and plays out of position often. there is no other big guy. we need adway giving us 15 solid minutes. which he is but might be better with less fouls. and knapke 25 good minutes. which he does 2 out of 3 games. fortunately, our 3rd guard in the offense is a 23 year old 6-7 guy with the beard of 43 year old and good rebounding instincts. we also got a 6-6 guy who is thin but quick and and can make plays around the rim. fletcher has learned that being the man means to attack when you are feeling it and make plays around the rim and boards and for others when your shot isn't there. navigato is big enough and smart enough to guard people in a good matchup. get's exposed sometimes by quality big or fast players. again, the mac is average now so he can win match ups when he's locked in. he's also taking fewer tough shots and handling the ball flawlessly so even when he misses he isn't hurting the team. and when he's on we are tough to beat. sanford seems to have found his grown man persona. i swear he looked shook in the headlights at kansas. missed some opportunities at syracuse. played scared with the dribble under pressure for a stretch and then... decided to grow up and play ball. give the kid a lot of credit. he has been rock solid for 4 weeks. again, if he is on we are hard to beat. the freshman has been all you could ask of a freshman at the point. he's pretty fearless. i'd like him to learn how to crisply pass the ball, but for now he is good. if he continues to be more confident getting up on people on d. we become a better team.

upcoming. we still have 2 games with eastern. who is the one team in the league that will put some athletic big guys with some game on the court. they are up and down and murphy is a mediocre coach with an eye for talent. but they are a team that on a good night will expose some of our weaknesses. ball st has our new nemesis in persons. we don't defend good offensive point guards very well. meanwhile, they can pretty much match our size with guys that can also mostly shoot. miami has a decent young team. bg has gotten pretty good. kent will probably have a major say in what happens in cleveland. and we know they aren't scared of us. it won't be an easy run. but the chance to win the west and set up a mac final with buffalo (or someone else) looks like a realistic goal.

the future of the team is taking shape. fletcher will move on. take his degree. and play professional basketball somewhere. who will better prepared for the next stage of his life than had he stayed at colorado, just like stevie taylor and jd weatherspoon. and rian pearson. coach k has been a magician with transfers. the 2018 class is deceptive. it looks like just 1 guy. a fairly unknown forward from illinois now a part time player at an all star basketball academy. but it could be pretty good. tj smith comes off as a confident humble kid interested in school as well as basketball. he was listed at 6-8 190 pounds but he looks pretty close to the advertised height and solid 210. said to have a good shot with range he can get out on the floor too

https://twitter.com/W2WSportsBlog/status...0336063488
it basically includes logan hill. with a year of team practice, conditioning, and maturity under his belt. he's an exciting player around the basket. unless he has lower body injuries. he won't be a dud. it also includes littleson. he is under the radar a bit. had a lousy freshman year in a lousy situation at duquense. but he was an a10 recruit and great high school player who has some flair to his game. will be interesting what he is with a good year of practice in a functional program. i imagine he'll be sanford's understudy next year and have a chance to replace his combo guard shooter role in 2019. the fact that UT just made an offer to a well known ohio 2018 kid also says something. teams often do continue to recruit at this point in case a player doesn't come through (Smith is an unsigned commit) or transfers. i imagine gordon will transfer. his game and size would serve him well in D2 or NAIA. he could be an impact guy at that level and he's a good practice player here, but players in his position rarely transfer. i assume roberts stays. he seems happy here and coming into his own a bit. another player a couple inches shorter than his advertised height. roberts is also the son of an influential coach and will have a roster spot next year waiting for him. rose has been the odd guy out. he's been pretty good when given minutes but is the the first guy out the rotation now that w jackson is playing and everyone is healthy. i hope he stays as he has shown he can be a playmaker on both ends of the court. looks like the fastest guy on the team. and likes to go to the rim. my guess is 1 player leaves and we sign big hs player that has some potential or look for another transfer. team will miss fletcher next year but will be deep and experienced. there will be a lot of exciting players on that 2019 team will be eager to take bigger roles.

As always, great analysis. It has been an interesting year. IMO, Coach K has shown he can learn from the past- the OOC seemed geared to prepare us for MAC. We actually seem to play D on many nights (Buffalo being the obvious exception) and smart D at that (forcing a bad three point exam like Kent to try to beat us from the perimeter).

He starts Adway, which I didn’t like, but now do. That gives us two solid guys off the bench in Jackson and Knapke and Knapke gets more minutes against opponent’s backups and can score big. K has also played an extended bench with Alderson and Roberts getting minutes and rarely hurting us. Roberts is as steady at the point as any guard you’ll find. After 18 games he had TWO TOs. Alderson looks like he’ll be a starter by his junior year and has a good body for the game.

The brand of team oriented ball is pretty exciting- guys move well away from the ball because they know they’ll get it if they have a good shot. The team also exploits matchups well- Knapke got little guys on him on switches a couple times Saturday and immediately got the ball for easy deuces. Fletcher occasionally gets in Steve Taylor mode and spends forever trying to back down a defender but he has more tools and gets away with it. Sanford, like pono says, has really played within himself. We got too deep into the shot clock on most first half possessions Sat and in the second half he made adjustments with penetration and hitting open cutters off the dribble. Shooting % went up 20 points. Smart play, good coaching. I’m leaving some guys out cuz this is lengthy but to this point a team with good chemistry, moving the ball well, playing some D has been fun to watch. It can all go south tomorrow (when we go north) but so far a ten point loss on the road to the Bulls is our only blemish. I’ll be there to the end either way. Go Rockets!

Eh, I don't think a loss up at K-zoo would be all that big a deal. The Broncos are a bit better than they showed in Savage. But if we do get the win, that would be impressive.

(01-22-2018 08:59 AM)bcunn3128 Wrote:  Eh, I don't think a loss up at K-zoo would be all that big a deal. The Broncos are a bit better than they showed in Savage. But if we do get the win, that would be impressive.

Agree. I’ve just been around long enough that I always fear the backslide we seem to always have. One loss on the road certainly won’t hurt us much and a we’re far enough into the season that a win gives us a pretty good liklihood of a top 4 seed, especially if we knock off MU and BG.

It's tough to beat Western at home. If they can hold Wilder under 30 points we have a shot. In the past Hawkins teams have pressured the Rocket guards into poor shooting and turnovers. This year Sanford, M Jackson, Roberts and lately Fletcher have taken good care of the ball. Anyone of those 4 can be depended on to bring the ball upcourt against pressure.

Every year at WMU, the Broncos get off to a quick 10-15 point lead it seems. Hopefully not this year