Early season basketball thoughts

[GrandGreen]

Men

Team should be the best in JJ's career. Great depth. The guards could evolve into the best since Hamilton, Winfield, and Whitaker in the MVC days. If Sturns continued to improve, watch out. Davis is a much better player than I thought he would be. Davis, Sturns and Watson give NT a great group of shooting guards. Hines at point has been solid but I don't think he has yet played up to his level of last year. Brown is a very solid backup point.

In the front court, Simpson has continued to develop but needs help. Quincy Williams seems to have all the tools but still is inconsistent. Barnett's last game was his best this year and hopefully he can improve on that. Last game, JJ had Barnett and Simpson in the game at the same time and I hope he experiments with this lineup more.

Summary; it is early yet, but this team has very good players in Hines, Davis, Simpson and maybe a developing star in Sturns. They are currently not a good team, but the parts are there to become one and challege for the Belt title.

Women

Imo, the most talented team in NT history. Not the best, but they possess the most raw talent. Erica Bobo is the leader of this team and should have an outstanding year. She can flat take over a game, great speed and excellent defense. I thought she should have remained at point last year, but with the depth at point this year that is not necessary. My prediction is that Trica Lee will take over the point position this year and years to come. Other guards Williams and Wali appear to be much better than last year. S. Jackson looks to be a start in the future and a good candidate to take over for Bobo next year. The overall guard play should be very good this year, but they need to develop an outside scoring threat .

In the front court, 6'3 Howard, 6'2 Sanders, 6'2 A. Jackson and 6'3 Ajewu all have the ability to be excellent players. Each at times has had big games but for the most part have been inconsistent. RS freshman Amber Jackson based on the few games she has played looks like she may have the inside offensive game that NT has lacked for years. IMO, one of the problems this year is that teams are packing the zone because of the poor NT outside shooting and it is difficult to get the ball into the posts.

Summary, good start at 5-1 but the Belt is a top notch women basketball league and NT must continue to get better to be successful. In my view, Slinkers' teams underachieve. They play hard and usually play good defense, but are generally poor shooting teams with way too many turnovers. Slinker to her credit has the talent this year and I am going to be dissappointed if they don't get close to 20 wins. I have been critical of Slinker's coaching for years but little would make me happier than to see her succeed and elevate this program to a top tier status.

Let me tell you that both of these teams are great fun to watch and I encourage you all to support the team with your attendence. It is a shame that so few were entertained by last Saturday's double header.

[MeanGreenBuzz]

I agree with most of what you said, especially about the teams being fun to watch. The women are great. I have actually enjoyed watching them more this year than the men. They do need do establish an outside shooting threat, but as long as they are dominating the middle like they have been I doubt it will be an issue. As for Bobo, I wish we had her on defense in the men's game, good lord that girl seems to be every where. With the men the only argument I have is with the play of Brown, when ever he is in the game it just seems like the guys don't play as well. Sturns still needs to settle down a bit and work on controlling the game and the team as a whole needs to learn how to upset a 3-2 zone. Atleast I think it was a 3-2, it wasn't a traditional 2-3, or atleast it wasn't the way JJ has our guys playing a 2-3. What ever it was I hope our team can take something away from it. It took them almost 3/4 of the game to start getting pressure down low on the Mocs. I would say they are a good team, just an inconsistent team. They played ASU excellent until the end of the first half and in the second half had their moments that looked like they would come back. If they can play at the same level for the entire game they could come away with some very quality wins this year.

[UNTLifer]

the team as a whole needs to learn how to upset a 3-2 zone. Atleast I think it was a 3-2, it wasn't a traditional 2-3, or atleast it wasn't the way JJ has our guys playing a 2-3. What ever it was I hope our team can take something away from it.

Anyone else see the humor in the above excerpt from MeanGreenBuzz's post?

[Guest e-bone]

Anyone else see the humor in the above excerpt from MeanGreenBuzz's post?

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Yeah but I didn't want to say anything and have people say I was attacking him and being negative.

[MeanGreenBuzz]

I don't really know basketball defense that well. Last time I played was in 6th grade in a 2-1-2 zone. All I know is they stayed in a zone that was not at all like what JJ uses (2-3 right?) and moved double and triple teams over at the corners. Would one of you more enlightened people like to clue me in on what defense the Mocs were playing?

Maybe I should just stick with football. E-bone is kicking my ass over here on the BB board.

Edited December 5, 2005 by MeanGreenBuzz

[Guest e-bone]

I don't really know basketball defense that well.  Last time I played was in 6th grade in a 2-1-2 zone.  All I know is they stayed in a zone that was not at all like what JJ uses (2-3 right?) and moved double and triple teams over at the corners.  Would one of you more enlightened people like to clue me in on what defense the Mocs were playing?

Maybe I should just stick with football.  E-bone is kicking my ass over here on the BB board. 

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Honestly I didn't notice exactly what zone they were running. I was watching more of what we were trying to do to get past it. But you were right, it was a trapping zone, probably a 1-2-2 or 3-2, which are very close because the top man takes the point either way and it ends up being a 1-2-2. Zones are tough to figure out because it shifts as the ball moves, and I didn't make a concerted effort to figure out what they were running.

At least you are supporting the team and making an effort to know what is going on on the court, which is a lot more than most NT "die hards" can say. Keep watching games and you will start noticing stuff and will learn more about the game.

[Coach]

I wasn't there to see it unfortunately (had my own game that day), but Hank said it was a 3-2 zone (or 1-2-2, same thing).

[Zeke]

They were running a 1-2-2 zone for almost 3/4's of the court. It was fairly effective against us.

Some random thoughts (I am like e-bone in that I just type as things come to me, no flow here):

Can't come out that flat and expect to win most games. "Pathetic" was uttered by me several times in the first half. Glad to see our team turn things around. LIONEL BROWN!! I was very impressed with this guy. A whole lot of energy and the team feeds off of it. Great on-ball pressure as well as a pretty nice offensive game Saturday night. Dear Santa, all I want for Christmas is for Barnett and 1 guard to not be the only people we have to bring up the ball. I am sure JB has some And-1 moves hidden in that near 7 ft. frame of his, but I would rather the coaching staff let him stick to the low post. I am afraid this team has fell in love with the 3-pointer. Many times I would see run ZERO offense only to jack up a contested shot. Other times our fast break was a pull up jumper behind the arc. In the players defense, they gave me a case of the "NO NO NO..............good shot"'s. Live by the 3 and die by the 3 though, I am concerned this type of play could hurt us in the future. Jeff Simpson can dominate at times down low. Feeding both Q and JB can make the oppositon at least respect the paint as well. One cheer I would like to see the dancers do: If they could get a random guy.........even a cheerleader, and dress him up in a feather boa and other Dennis Rodman kinda stuff -- that would be awesome. Also, please repeat it each week. This dance is the new Space Jam. Overall a fun night. I do hope more people can come to support this team.

The December 23rd U of H game I have decided to call "bring your family" night. The AD I am sure could come up with a good promotion (1/2 price for groups of 4 or more??).

[Travis]

One cheer I would like to see the dancers do:  If they could get a random guy.........even a cheerleader, and dress him up in a feather boa and other Dennis Rodman kinda stuff -- that would be awesome.  Also, please repeat it each week.  This dance is the new Space Jam. 

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[Guest e-bone]

Dear Santa, all I want for Christmas is for Barnett and 1 guard to not be the only people we have to bring up the ball.  I am sure JB has some And-1 moves hidden in that near 7 ft. frame of his, but I would rather the coaching staff let him stick to the low post.

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Having the PG and the 4(usually) bring the ball up has always been JJ's press break, and I don't quite understand it either. When we had DeGrate or Mike Jones, when he played 4, back there it worked well because they could handle the ball. We don't seem to have anyone like that right now with the possible exception of Stewert. I guess JJ relies more on his press break and being able to find the open man rather than on the necessity to dribble the ball past half court, but they will be forced to do that sometimes.

[NT80]

Dear Santa, all I want for Christmas is for Barnett and 1 guard to not be the only people we have to bring up the ball.  I am sure JB has some And-1 moves hidden in that near 7 ft. frame of his, but I would rather the coaching staff let him stick to the low post.  I am afraid this team has fell in love with the 3-pointer.  Many times I would see run ZERO offense only to jack up a contested shot.  Other times our fast break was a pull up jumper behind the arc.

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I thought the same things...why does JJ have Barnett in the backcourt trying to dribble the basketball like a guard? (that must have been his Dickey moment)...and why all the 3's? We were outrebounded like 40-25 because of all our 1-and-done long bombs missing. Try some inside offense!