He's not very good at all. I wouldn't expect anything from him for his career. He has already played more than I would've imagined.
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He's not very good at all. I wouldn't expect anything from him for his career. He has already played more than I would've imagined.
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Gables Canes
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Defensive rebounding needs to improve, and it's quietly our second biggest weakness behind Free Throw shooting.
A couple of thoughts when watching this game and looking at our season stats thru 9 games:
- The most surprising thing about us shooting 57% from the FT line is WHO is missing the free throws. Huell is at a fair 67%. However, Brown is just at 44%, Walker at 62%, Lawrence at 58%, and Newton at 60%. Maybe some of this is limited sample size (only 139 Free throws attempted, or just about 15 a game is very low). but it's odd that practically ALL of our guards except for DJ have been subpar at the line. Most of these guys were 70-80% last year.
- Further note on free throws, our opponents are shooting 76%. Hopefully this isn't like what we saw with football where our opponents never miss a field goal, because 76% for college basketball teams is pretty high.
- As I mentioned rebounding above, we are +4 on the season. That's a bit misleading as our opponents only have shot 35% from the field. However, our opponents have 101 offensive rebounds to our 89. We are simply giving up too many. I'd be curious to see what the Kenpom metrics on our rebounding are, but just watching us play, they can't be that good.
- Someone mentioned how they were surprised Izundu is playing so little. Thru 9 games, he's averaged 17 minutes played per game, which is about on par with what most expected. Huell, on the other hand, is playing 23 minutes per game, so there's not a huge difference. I think it's the fact that Izundu is pretty quiet most of the time he's on the floor. This isn't to say he's playing poorly, I actually think he's looked pretty decent, but he's only taken 27 shots on the season.
- For a young team, we've done a solid job taking care of the ball so far. We avg 11.5 turnovers a game to 15 assists.
A couple of thoughts when watching this game and looking at our season stats thru 9 games:
- The most surprising thing about us shooting 57% from the FT line is WHO is missing the free throws. Huell is at a fair 67%. However, Brown is just at 44%, Walker at 62%, Lawrence at 58%, and Newton at 60%. Maybe some of this is limited sample size (only 139 Free throws attempted, or just about 15 a game is very low). but it's odd that practically ALL of our guards except for DJ have been subpar at the line. Most of these guys were 70-80% last year.
- Further note on free throws, our opponents are shooting 76%. Hopefully this isn't like what we saw with football where our opponents never miss a field goal, because 76% for college basketball teams is pretty high.
- As I mentioned rebounding above, we are +4 on the season. That's a bit misleading as our opponents only have shot 35% from the field. However, our opponents have 101 offensive rebounds to our 89. We are simply giving up too many. I'd be curious to see what the Kenpom metrics on our rebounding are, but just watching us play, they can't be that good.
- Someone mentioned how they were surprised Izundu is playing so little. Thru 9 games, he's averaged 17 minutes played per game, which is about on par with what most expected. Huell, on the other hand, is playing 23 minutes per game, so there's not a huge difference. I think it's the fact that Izundu is pretty quiet most of the time he's on the floor. This isn't to say he's playing poorly, I actually think he's looked pretty decent, but he's only taken 27 shots on the season.
- For a young team, we've done a solid job taking care of the ball so far. We avg 11.5 turnovers a game to 15 assists.
Love watching this team but.........GW showed that again this year we have zero half court offense. We got shutdown late last season because teams figured out that if they pressured the ball in the back court after made baskets and on every rebound possible our athletes can't get going. we are an AWFUL half court team. Coach needs to fix it or we fade out again
Well, to take an optimistic position on Miller, THEY do say it takes big men longer to develop.
Forget Izundu's minutes, I'm more concerned that he seems to have regressed in his production from last year. Could be Huell's emergence has him in a bit of a funk as to his role. Last year we needed some points from him. This season, I'd just tell him we want him to work the glass on both ends, and play sound defense.
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Gables Canes
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In the very very limited action he has seen the past 2 seasons, he looks even worse than Julian Gamble did at this point in his career.
Consigliere
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Honestly, I said the same thing about Julian Gamble. I also think the players are very similar too (especially in terms of being in-shape and lack of athleticism). Gamble received some of the worst coaching for his first 4 seasons, then he was injured and began to shine in year 6. In year 6 he suddenly was physical, tough and able to put up quality burn.
Miller won't receive 6 seasons, he might not get 5. If anyone can turn Miller into a serviceable big man, it will be coach L. I just don't see it.
Consigliere
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I second that.
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It appears that Huell is our starting "center" he has made tremendous improvement. This is a weird kinda small ball team that IMO can be successful for a while as is. It is unlikely Miller contributes much. We have work to do with our half court that will require Huell to do some post up and inside back out passing. Its gonna be fun to watch until the ACC teams get set and serious then we flame out
So, Izundu's contributions could be the difference maker, since Miller has been written off. Huell can't do it all inside.
Maybe and only if coach gets serious about the half court offense. Something he didn't do last season. Our ball movement half court is really slow and it looks like they again do not have a plan. I like AMP but its hard to see where he gets a lot of minutes with this team. Newton was kinda supposed to be the half court answer but that has faded. Oh well hopefully coach has something in mind or IMO we waste a year with LW and BB.
For me, Amp has turned out to be a better player than I thought he would be coming out of high school. Nothing wrong with a quality, ACC battle-tested role player -- he can contribute in many areas when he's out there.
Wasn't Brown our second best rebounder last season? Even as a guard? We need that again from him. Also, I sure was hoping that he might have developed a consistent outside shot over the off season. Can you imagine how his slashing game would be positively impacted by adding that outside threat? Unfortunately, he seems to still be in the Newton mold. Not that there's anything all that bad about that ... just keeping him short of what he could be.
Wasn't Brown our second best rebounder last season? Even as a guard? We need that again from him. Also, I sure was hoping that he might have developed a consistent outside shot over the off season. Can you imagine how his slashing game would be positively impacted by adding that outside threat? Unfortunately, he seems to still be in the Newton mold. Not that there's anything all that bad about that ... just keeping him short of what he could be.
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We seem to always have guys who run the floor well and are almost impossible to stop in transition. BB is and LW are the latest examples. Teams have figured out how to slow us down by pressuring the ball back court and then we have no plan and soon clock problems. Somebody has to get to the next level and make the defense react. Its tough Newton gets small inside real quick maybe he can learn to lean in better and get to the stripe more often. That would be huge. Takes a special confidence to do it. Sheldon could do it in spurts but it wasn't natural for him.
Reed showed it once in a while if he was feeling it but not often. Huell is probably our best hope right now. He looks very confident
Reed showed it once in a while if he was feeling it but not often. Huell is probably our best hope right now. He looks very confident
Good observations. Seemed like we were taking the shot clock down under 5 on most possessions in the second half vs. GW. Even had at least one shot clock violation. Ironic that strategy was used effectively by UM teams over the decades to keep games against more talented foes competitive. Now, we've got the superior talent and inferior teams are able to do it to us.
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This is what people say early in the season about nearly every coach L team at UM.
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Maybe I am late to recognize it but it was painful to watch last season just melt away when teams got serious. Coach is a smart guy but getting long in the tooth as am I. Ol guys like myself can be very stubborn. CMR is also on my radar for his old school approach to offense. We are waaaay behind the curve on the football side. Change is hard the older we get
tcgrad1014
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