RE: Hawks v. Hofstra
Time for some players to step it up.
#1 Dodd - He needs to live up to the hype. 6'6" 245 lb. Sophomore. Siddle needs to play Dodd a lot, and let him work it out. Time to find out if he's going to be a beast or a bust. Hit the boards HARD, and become a rebounding machine. There is no reason he can't grab 10 boards per game. We have plenty of offense, so if he can hit the offensive boards, get a few junk baskets and get us a few extra posessions, it would make a world of differnce on this team. He's basically the same size as Zion, but just doesn't have the heart and motor to impose his will on the game.
#2 - Boggs. Jake can shoot, but he's shaky on the drive and loses the ball a lot and can't finish. He needs to spot at the three point line, then sprint to the boards when another player puts up a shot. He's shown to be pretty good when he has the ball deep in the paint. He also needs to look for his shot. He's by far the best three point shooter on the team at .425, but is fifth on the team in attempts with only 40. He should also average about 6 rebounds per game instead of 3.5.
#3 Gadsden - Ty has just not found his offense yet. He takes the third most shots on the team, but is only hitting 39% of his shots and 33% from three. His saving grace is that he's automatic from the FT line. But, to get there he is driving a lot, but isn't finishing. He's counting on getting fouled to score.
#4 Harvey - Fouls have been a factor in keeping Harvey on the bench. He only played 16 and 18 minutes against Delaware. With Sims out, he is now our second best three point shooter at 35%. He's good at getting to the bucket, but is only hitting 58.3% from the FT line which is one of the worst on the team. We'll need for him to drive more, but he's going to have to get better at the line.
#5- Jenkins. Although I put Dodd #1, Jenkins may end up being the most important change. As much as we complain about depth in the post, we have a bigger problem at guard with Carr, Phillips, Estime, Sims, and Phillips out. Somebody has to give our starters a rest, and Jenkins will probabaly be that guy. Tolefree just hasn't show the ability to be any help on offense at all, and Siddle needs guards who can score.
Okauru and Pridgen are doing their part. Pridgen is our leading rebonder at 8.8 per game and is hitting 51% from the field. He's all but stopped shooting the three where he only hits 28%. Okauru has twice as many steals as any other player and has been a horse on the court, averaging 37 minutes in CAA play. He also averages just over 5 rebounds per game.
This team is going to look dramatically different with Sims gone. He played the most minutes, took the most shots, had the most FT attempts, took the second most three point shots and was second in rebounds. Pridgen, Okauru and Gadsden already play a lot and shoot a lot. They can't do much more. The slack has to be picked up by Dodd, Harvey, Boggs and Jenkins. IMO, Dodd is the most important of these three. If he can step up and play the five, Boggs can stop defending players that outweigh him by 50 lbs. and focus on scoring.
Looking at our roster, Siddle likes to have four three point threats on the court. Pridgen, Dodd and Bowen shouldn't be shooting threes. So when Dodd is in, it forces Pridgen to the bench. That's why Siddle has Boggs at the five with Pridgen at the four. Siddle is either going to have to drastically change his "four out" offense and put Dodd and Pridgen on the floor together, or he's going to have to put Jenkins in a lot, and keep playing Boggs at the five.
Here's how I see this playing out.
Okauru, Gadsden, Harvey, Pridgen, Boggs
Jenkins comes in to allow guards to rest some. Dodd comes in to rest Pridgen and Boggs, with Dodd and Pridgen together some. If Bowen can play, he may take the spot of Dodd.
We may be forced to play zone to rest guys and keep us out of foul trouble. Now is the time to work out a good zone defense.
It's going to be a rough end to this season, and there are no other guards on the roster. If Phillips could come back, it would change this team completely, and get us back in some sort of balance of PT.
I can't see us favored to win any game going forward.
(This post was last modified: 01-30-2021 09:03 AM by 82hawk.)
|