GAME THREAD: Miami vs. Coppin State

[IncaneInTheBrain]

Love what we've seen of Divine. Amazing, considering he's a true freshman.

Bensley Joseph comes to mind, though, in terms of him always looking good in Nov and Dec, then fading when the ACC schedule hit. I'm sure L won't throw Divine in over his head when ACC play starts in earnest.

Every once in a while over the last three years, Bens would get into the lane and either finish at the rim or find the open man and I'd think to myself, if he could just do that more often we'd be on to something.

Divine does that basically every time he touches the ball. Dude split 3 double teams in garbage time last night for easy buckets. I haven't seen a Miami PG do that so effortlessly since Shane Larkin. The shot will be an issue going forward, but he's flashing skills we haven't seen here in a long time.

 

[hotshot]

We are DEAD LAST in current SoS. 364 out of 364.

So while I've been encouraged by our early results, we've played absolute garbage to start this season. We should know a lot more after this Charleston tournament.

Trying to meld so many new players together, not a bad idea to play cupcakes this early.

 

[AmherstCane]

Nijel may better player on the whole, but Divine is a (much) better point guard. Nijel at the point has always been a clunky fit because L's offense requires a guard that can apply rim pressure and find the open man when the defense collapses. Divine's done that more in 3 games than Nijel has his entire career here.

One of Nijel or Jalen next to Divine would be the ideal pairing, but won't happen because they can't put the other on the bench. Instead, we get a kludgy staring backcourt, and dude that's clearly overqualified playing backup PG.

We’ll see if Divine can do it against bigger more athletic guards who don’t have to respect his shot. Maybe… not sure.

Not having to respect the point as a shooter takes pressure off the defense against L’s offense… especially when Kidd is on the floor as well.

I love Divine but I think it’s early to say he’s the best guy to run the offense based upon the competition thus far.

 

[JackMcClinton89]

We’ll see if Divine can do it against bigger more athletic guards who don’t have to respect his shot. Maybe… not sure.

Not having to respect the point as a shooter takes pressure off the defense against L’s offense… especially when Kidd is on the floor as well.

I love Divine but I think it’s early to say he’s the best guy to run the offense based upon the competition thus far.

I agree... Nijel is not necessarily a bad PG (I think he has improved a lot in that role over the last couple years), but he is an elite off-ball shooter so having him play primary PG is detrimental to the team as a whole (i.e. he has to expend energy dribbling the ball up court, he has to think about facilitating and being a floor general which impact his shot). I would love a more combo-guard role for him, where he wouldn't always have to play PG (similar to when Wong was here). Obviously you run into lineup size issues defensively when he is at the 2, but I don't think that is enough of a downside to preclude him from playing the 2.

Now I am not sure if you could do a guard lineup of Divine, Pack, and Blackmon... that might be too small... but I would definitely like to see L find some lineups to play Pack off-ball this season.

 

[AmherstCane]

I agree... Nijel is not necessarily a bad PG (I think he has improved a lot in that role over the last couple years), but he is an elite off-ball shooter so having him play primary PG is detrimental to the team as a whole (i.e. he has to expend energy dribbling the ball up court, he has to think about facilitating and being a floor general which impact his shot). I would love a more combo-guard role for him, where he wouldn't always have to play PG (similar to when Wong was here). Obviously you run into lineup size issues defensively when he is at the 2, but I don't think that is enough of a downside to preclude him from playing the 2.

Now I am not sure if you could do a guard lineup of Divine, Pack, and Blackmon... that might be too small... but I would definitely like to see L find some lineups to play Pack off-ball this season.

I think those are great points. We’ll see how Divine holds up against better competition… if his shooting isn’t too big of a handicap I think the answer is active rotations to keep guys fresh and exploit matchups on a game by game basis.

I also think/hope Pack’s ability to penetrate and and finish has improved.

Would be a heck of a luxury to have two guys who can be legit 1’s.

 

[hotshot]

Nijel may better player on the whole, but Divine is a (much) better point guard. Nijel at the point has always been a clunky fit because L's offense requires a guard that can apply rim pressure and find the open man when the defense collapses. Divine's done that more in 3 games than Nijel has his entire career here.

One of Nijel or Jalen next to Divine would be the ideal pairing, but won't happen because they can't put the other on the bench. Instead, we get a kludgy staring backcourt, and dude that's clearly overqualified playing backup PG.

Divine has a nice future here. He'll get some valuable floor time against top competition, take the year to work on his outside shot, and hit the ground running next Fall.

 

[JackMcClinton89]

Divine has a nice future here. He'll get some valuable floor time against top competition, take the year to work on his outside shot, and hit the ground running next Fall.

He reminds me a bit of Durand Scott... Durand didn't have much of a jump shot when he got here, but gradually developed a serviceable one later in his career (although he was always a slasher first and foremost).