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Post by twobits on Dec 28, 2014 6:58:22 GMT -8
The second season begins! As we go into conference, we still have a team that is gelling and trying to find their roles so I hope Fisher makes an exception to his usual MO and doesn't set his lineup with a 3 man rotation quite yet. This team is deep, but with a group of starters that doesn't stand out, that there really isn't "much" difference between our top guys and our #12 guy...in fact, with more PT, I believe several on the bench could be better than some of the starters. Personally, I'd really like to see Williams continue to get more time and if he continues to prove trustworthy, give him a shot to start and make Kell primarily a SG.
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Post by zollner on Dec 28, 2014 8:31:50 GMT -8
I see Pope as a wild card in this whole mix. If he can learn the defense and continue to grow with the offense this will be a different team. Pope can pass and handle the ball in the full court.
Anybody notice that the team played a lot of 1-3-1 zone in the 2nd half last night, with Pope in Polee's spot at the top of the zone. I also like Williams at the PG, he seems to be steady, strong and is quick to spot the opening and drive to the basket.
Funny moment in the 1st half last night, on a steel with Kell bringing the ball up court, he spots JJ under the basket and sends up ally-oop pass that I think he thought JJ was going to go up and jam. JJ catches the ball and lays it in. I thought I saw a smile on JJ's face after that play.In the 2nd half AQ threw the same kind of pass to Pope, unfortunately the pass was deflected, I would have loved to seen that play completed.
On Pope's dunk in the 1st half, I haven't seen anyone get up that high since Billy White. He took off several feet outside the paint, when he did I thought what the hell is this guy doing, then BAM.
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Post by standiego on Dec 28, 2014 8:44:06 GMT -8
Saw marked improvement from Malik Pope , his dunk was incredible and could be the offensive threat we need heading into the MW. Guys have been up and down all of the OOC . Shepard was good last night after not so good earlier in the week. AQ did not score last night after scoring the first 12 the game before . Spencer should be used more in the offense , instead of just ball screen. JJ is a steady player ,but has no hops. Chol is rusty but should be a good reserve for Spencer . Agree the team has many guys that can back up others ,at least 11.guys can play. Dakari , Williams, Zabo ,Pope can all play.. Still see a variety of guys at PG , depending on what is needed. Plus the situation with Zylan playing or red shirt .
Team has two easier games with AFA , then At Fresno . Then Lobos , AT Wyoming , home Rebels , AT AFA and ****AT CSU (undefeated) 1/24 . Should have a good read on the team after those 7 games .
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Post by rednblk on Dec 28, 2014 9:29:53 GMT -8
I don't remember a team that has gone through so much change. Matt and Quinn with their injuries. New guys coming in with injuries and now Polee.
We got this tho
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Post by Den60 on Dec 28, 2014 9:55:10 GMT -8
I have said before that I think this team gets better as the year progresses. It's not just the freshman, it's guys like Allen and Williams who are just in their second year and coming off years when they didn't play much. It's also on guys like Chol who sat out a season. But, how good we can be is determined a lot by how Kell and Pope progress. Kell has struggled offensively since Maui and Pope, while showing flashes at times, still struggles defensively and has difficulty in the team aspect of the offense (setting screens etc). I'm at the point now that I don't think that Z is going to contribute for us this year. Hopefully Polee comes back and plays, I'm still optimistic there.
One player whose value I underestimated is AQ. He is a true leader on the court and given our youth that is invaluable.
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Post by AztecJon on Dec 28, 2014 10:33:48 GMT -8
I really enjoyed the stretch in the 2nd half when Fisher put AQ out there with the 2nd team of Pope Chol Allen Shrigley. AQ was coaching up Pope after each mistake or just giving subtle hints passed on from Fish. Based on that group it would be pretty interesting to see how they would compete vs the 1st team with Williams Shep Skylar JJ and Kell.
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Post by jdaztec on Dec 28, 2014 19:38:58 GMT -8
We still have some rough edges to smooth out which will likely result in a few conference losses. Come March however we should be really good.
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Post by Gundo on Dec 28, 2014 22:55:01 GMT -8
We need to get into a better offense flow earlier in every game. Is AQ the answer if DP Jr can not go? Or will it be Shrigs or Malik?
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Post by sdsu2000 on Dec 29, 2014 6:18:06 GMT -8
The team is starting to gel and everyone is getting comfortable in their roles. We'll miss Polee and his energy on defense and his scoring.
SDSU, CSU, Wyoming, UNLV and Boise are the top teams. It's all about winning all your home games and trying to steal a win or two at one of those mentioned. No one is going undefeated through conference but only 3 losses could be possible for someone.
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Post by pdraztec on Dec 29, 2014 11:15:28 GMT -8
So far this season our in-bounding plays are a sloppy mess, every game, poor passing and bad ball handling
resulting in turnovers. Need for players with good hands and I don't mean Shep or Kell.
Teams are putting pressure on the in-bounds continually and it is not a pretty picture.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 29, 2014 16:55:37 GMT -8
The team is starting to gel and everyone is getting comfortable in their roles. We'll miss Polee and his energy on defense and his scoring. SDSU, CSU, Wyoming, UNLV and Boise are the top teams. It's all about winning all your home games and trying to steal a win or two at one of those mentioned. No one is going undefeated through conference but only 3 losses could be possible for someone. I think that 3 losses would win it. |
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Post by NCAztec82 on Dec 30, 2014 7:53:07 GMT -8
The team is starting to gel and everyone is getting comfortable in their roles. We'll miss Polee and his energy on defense and his scoring. SDSU, CSU, Wyoming, UNLV and Boise are the top teams. It's all about winning all your home games and trying to steal a win or two at one of those mentioned. No one is going undefeated through conference but only 3 losses could be possible for someone. Reasonable assessments. This team does not lack defensive energy. Polee scoring we will miss, but not so much his shooting. Or his shot selection. Lol. Face it fans, SDSU forwards just aren't star players. Granted, JJ is smart, and any coach likes that. If only he could play point guard. He is a good facilitator. Against smaller teams we can run the offense effectively through him, but he is a forward with point guard intelligence. Shepard doesn't appear to want to be a leader, but is still our best player, IMO. As of now, lacking an outside threat and being weak inside, our guards will have to carry the leadership load. Pope gives us hope, and I think he has the potential to surpass Winston as our best player. Watching Chol play, I can see why he couldn't fit in at Arizona. He's somewhat out of control, and you can see he hasn't been playing this game as long; seems to lack presence, and so-called basketball IQ. We will be vulnerable inside this year. A DeShawn Stephens type (even a James Johnson) would have been at least given Spencer a spell, but he's pretty much all we have. I would be happy to see Chol improve his game, because the team would get even deeper. We have a 6-10 guy, a 6-9 guy, and two 6-8 guys. Not impressive when Kentucky has 7-0, 7-0, 6-11, 6-10, and 6-9 guys eating up college basketball. Their starting guards are three inches taller than ours. 3 inches!! Kell, AQ, Williams, Zabo, and Allen. Each of them need to become the "Xaviers" of this team, and we will go as far as our guards take us. Same as it ever was in NCAA hoops. Just my two cents. |
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Post by sdcoug on Dec 30, 2014 9:44:50 GMT -8
The team is starting to gel and everyone is getting comfortable in their roles. We'll miss Polee and his energy on defense and his scoring. SDSU, CSU, Wyoming, UNLV and Boise are the top teams. It's all about winning all your home games and trying to steal a win or two at one of those mentioned. No one is going undefeated through conference but only 3 losses could be possible for someone. Reasonable assessments. This team does not lack defensive energy. Polee scoring we will miss, but not so much his shooting. Or his shot selection. Lol. Face it fans, SDSU forwards just aren't star players. Granted, JJ is smart, and any coach likes that. If only he could play point guard. He is a good facilitator. Against smaller teams we can run the offense effectively through him, but he is a forward with point guard intelligence. Shepard doesn't appear to want to be a leader, but is still our best player, IMO. As of now, lacking an outside threat and being weak inside, our guards will have to carry the leadership load. Pope gives us hope, and I think he has the potential to surpass Winston as our best player. Watching Chol play, I can see why he couldn't fit in at Arizona. He's somewhat out of control, and you can see he hasn't been playing this game as long; seems to lack presence, and so-called basketball IQ. We will be vulnerable inside this year. A DeShawn Stephens type (even a James Johnson) would have been at least given Spencer a spell, but he's pretty much all we have. I would be happy to see Chol improve his game, because the team would get even deeper. We have a 6-10 guy, a 6-9 guy, and two 6-8 guys. Not impressive when Kentucky has 7-0, 7-0, 6-11, 6-10, and 6-9 guys eating up college basketball. Their starting guards are three inches taller than ours. 3 inches!! Kell, AQ, Williams, Zabo, and Allen. Each of them need to become the "Xaviers" of this team, and we will go as far as our guards take us. Same as it ever was in NCAA hoops. Just my two cents. Height is not our issue; emergency depth inside is. I think Chol is better than you give him credit for. He hasn't played big minutes in years (since 2012), and the knee injury isn't helping him get in a groove this year either. Offensively he's pretty good; defensively he's a work in progress. But overall, you can see the skillset. He didn't leave UA because he wasn't talented. He left because he was behind multiple NBA'ers in the rotation.
As for height, Kentucky is a freak compared to EVERY TEAM in the country. No one is as tall or as long as them. However, SDSU is among the 10 tallest/longest teams in the country as well. We don't have a 7 footer, but SS plays taller than 6'10. In our conference not too many teams can match up with us. What we do miss, however, is insurance behind SS, AC & JJ, unless Pope can develop into a better defensive 4 (or Zylan plays & plays well - which is a big stretch at this point). I think Pope will be OK.
The other issue is height doesn't necessarily equal rebounding. Although we're tall & athletic, and very active on the offensive boards, we're a very bad defensive rebounding team. That's a major point of concern heading into conference play. The good news is I don't think there are a lot of really good offensive rebounding teams in our conference. AF is pretty good on the O-boards, but not a good team overall. Same with Nevada. New Mex & CSU are the only other 2 even ranked in the top 100 when it comes to O-rebounding, so that may be a good sign. Definitely some guys we need to keep off the boards (e.g. West w/ Nevada, Wiliams w/ AF, Nance, etc.), but believe Cincy, UW & Cal Riverside may be the better rebounding teams we'll face for a while. At least I hope so.
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