(12-06-2022 05:48 PM)eastisbest Wrote: 8:30pm!!!
2am Pono going to be the only one awake at the end.
Some info on their 5-Out offense.
Hooper School
I had to wait until I finished work to watch the replay an hour after the finish.
Pretty good effort. We ran a bit better offense. Defense was kinda mailing it in until the second half when we gradually cranked it up. NIU is a bit dinged up but has a couple good players. If they get to full strength they could compete in the Valley but it sounds like one of their key guys is questionable to return.
Dennis was again a bit inconsistent with his mid range game but played more wthin himself and was clutch in the 2nd half. Farmer had a great game off the bench. I posted in the last offseason how his upside reminds me of rian pearson. an athletic 6-3 lefty with guard skills who came in w decent shooting mechanics but poor results and worked to become good shooter. tonight he looked a lot like vintage pearson.
moss had another mostly poor showing, but turned it on down the stretch w a couple good defensive plays. lorentsson overcame a couple defensive miscues in the 1st half to play an excellent 2nd half. JT is just his typical efficient high scoring self. really spoiled by how good he is.
as far as bench, well, our top sub was out hurt, farmer got 20 productive minutes, AJ got 4 short rotations (he usually get 2 or 3) and lorentsson got key second half PT and played well. I'd say coach is doing a good job building the bench.
NIU not likely to have a big year, but they are a credible mid major w 8 NCAA appearances in the past 30 years and 4 wins. interestingly, we've won our conference more than them over that time but while we have 0 conf tourney title, they have 6 (plus 2 at large bids). root for them. if they can have a winning MVC record this will probably count as a quad 2 game.
a final note, really shocking how college bball attendance has plummeted this season. NIU usually has a very reliable fan base and couldn't have had more than half the announced 2600 fans in actual attendance. Saw on another site a Big5 temple-lasalle rivalry game having less than 1000 fans in actual attendance.