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Post by LIONS90045 on Dec 3, 2014 22:47:09 GMT -5
Shred - I hope it really was "play" money with the way the Lions are shooting right now
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Post by Mr. LMU '04 on Dec 3, 2014 22:55:35 GMT -5
it seems they are too afraid to shoot and not being aggressive. I think this is due to running a system. I think it is good to run a system but sometimes you got to take the reigns off and let the players play. Too much thinking sometimes is a bad thing.
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Post by LIONS90045 on Dec 3, 2014 22:59:31 GMT -5
Will the coach adjust appropriately at halftime?
Ironic no that Evan missed a lay up to start the prior two games and tonight makes a "hail Mary" three with the clock expiring?
The Lions have to improve their shooting or we are "toast" - as they say. I liked Herman's offensive play early but he has been quiet since.
Deji was a dynamo early also but hasn't been heard from since.
Common Lions!
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Post by ALioninWinter on Dec 3, 2014 23:08:29 GMT -5
Evan played 16 of the 20 minutes. I probably wouldn't have played anymore. He also had 3 TOs. That's too many.
Is the team afraid to play? Can't see it here in computer land but that's what the stats are telling me.
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Post by husky on Dec 3, 2014 23:11:05 GMT -5
Pretty Grim. Something like 2 FGs in last 12 minutes. Almost everyone sucks. Several airballs and a ton of bricks. At least 9 turnovers. Must be shooting less than 25% , if that. Don't recall any scoring by our bigs at least not on the inside (Herman made a 3 and an intermediate jumper) Despite mass personnel changes we still struggle against a zone as often as not. It's going to be a another painful season unless we cut out the stand/dribble/pass around the parameter until the last 2 seconds on the shot clock. Scouting reports were correct, USC looks beatable but just evidently not by us.
Still we are only down 15 or so and stranger things have happened. If we start to get some good shots off maybe it can be a game at least.
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Post by LIONS90045 on Dec 3, 2014 23:20:27 GMT -5
Simon keeps giving the ball away - where is Chase (despite his mainly defensive game)?
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Post by LIONS90045 on Dec 3, 2014 23:29:28 GMT -5
I like Patson's aggression on offense but he needs to learn to finish inside
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Post by slblions08 on Dec 3, 2014 23:35:58 GMT -5
This has been painful to watch.
Nobody has any confidence whatsoever. Herman is a disaster as he hangs around the perimeter or in that 15 foot range and is like a chicken with its head cut off. What a waste of that big size. If hes going to hang around that far from the rim, he needs to learn how to shoot. Speaking of shooting, Humphries literally missed a shot by like 5 feet. Then he threw up a shot and hit the side of the glass. Wow. He has not shown to be a scorer off the bench that you can count on.
The story of the game for us on offense has been the fact that shot clock winds down to about 5 seconds and we still don't have a good look. The problem is that we don't have an inside scoring threat and unless we play a little faster, our offense is going to be pretty bad in the half court set. Dunlap hasn't shown any offensive strategy yet to battle against the zone.
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Post by LIONS90045 on Dec 4, 2014 0:16:16 GMT -5
slb - fair assessment and pretty grim Disappointing game overall
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Post by husky on Dec 4, 2014 0:32:27 GMT -5
Well at least we scored more the 2nd half, still lost by 17. Let's see... Spiers made a couple of shots and Godwin did a couple of good things. Normally the fact that we shot better from 3 point range than the foul line would be a positive sign - but not when we shoot less than 30% from the foul line. Lot's of work to do in the 10 day's before Northern Arizona. Despite the score, a handful fewer unforced errors and another handful of shots going in and it could have been a game. But against the likes of Stanford and Wichita State, well hard to see much to be very positive about.
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Post by ALioninWinter on Dec 4, 2014 1:34:54 GMT -5
Positives pretty much escape me at the moment. I wasn't expecting a team that could compete with Gonzaga. Shoot, I wasn't even expecting us to compete with BYU and St Mary's. But I was thinking we would compete with Santa Clara and Pepperdine. Now, I'm not so sure. The season is young and we're playing these OOC games to prepare the guys for WCC play. Hopefully, they will season well and improve their play. But there's a whole lotta improvin' that needs to occur.
What bothers me the most isn't what the players are doing. I'm disappointed in what I'm not seeing coaching-wise. 1. How many unguarded weak side 3s have we given up this year? When it happens occasionally, you blame players for being out of position. But when it becomes the standard, there's something wrong with the defensive schemes set forth by the coaches. 2. I agree Petr needs to get his body under the basket. When you're 6'10", you belong under the basket. If you can shoot 3s, that's great. But first, you get yourself under the basket and establish your game there. I know players don't always listen to the coach, but what exactly is Dunlap telling Petr? 3. I've commented on the passing before, but I agree with other comments that there's way too much passing around the perimeter with no real purpose or intent to score. I also agree that the result has been very similar to last year's repetitive 5-second panic drills. Zone defenses are not that hard to solve. 4. I thought we would have a better shooting team this year. Dunlap certainly didn't go after athletes who could out-run and and out-jump everyone else, so I expected these guys to be better shooters. So far, no one stands out as a shooter. I also don't see much happening to set up the shooters. We've had a few screen plays for the shooters but it's not been a dedicated effort. You need multiple screens and you need to run those multiple screens many times in a game to wear down the defense. All I'm seeing is half-hearted efforts (and I don't mean half-hearted efforts by the players. I'm talking about the plays set up by the coaching staff). Really, the only thing that jumps out at me as a super strong point of coaching emphasis has been the "around the horn" passing that we are seeing A LOT of. 5. Dunlap said he wanted a pressure defense. From what I've seen to date, our guys don't have the speed or quickness to be effective pressure defenders. If he wants to run a pressure defense, why did he bring in such slow guys? ... And we really are a slow team.
I'm hoping, hoping, hoping that there is some method to what Dunlap is doing that will pay dividends down the road. But I'm having a hard time seeing the path forward right now.
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Post by golions1444 on Dec 4, 2014 19:21:17 GMT -5
A very disappointing performance, i think we keep seeing flashes of great things and lots of potential, it's just surrounded by lots of inexperience, sloppy play and poor execution. There are definitely sometimes where I see great ball movement or a great scheme being run that gets us a great shot and I'm like wow that was something I have not seen a lot of from LMU basketball with the previous coaches. Making the extra pass, working the high low, setting some good screens, a few times each game this happens and it looks beautiful, the problem is it is going to have to happen a lot more than a few times for us to win. Especially because, as some of you have mentioned, were just not a good defensive team. We are not athletic enough or tough enough. We give up way to many layups and easy baskets and CMD needs to figure out how we can get better in this regard. Money Mornar is looking better every game, Patson has so much potential but he is just very raw right now, evan is evan - he needs to be more assertive at times, and smarter other times, Petr is horrible so far, I liked Spiers draining that perfect swish from the corner, hopefully a glimpse of things to come with him, hayes is solid, needs to keep shooting and hopefully will get back to full strength, Deji is solid but i would never say impressive, and i feel like Godwin has regressed a bit already, i thought he was much improved at the start of the season but now he looks the same as before, think he needs to build up his confidence.
Anyway, worse than losing with a disappointing performance...having to wait 10 days until the next game. Let's hope there are many productive good practices going down between now and the 13th..we can beat NAU...Stanford and Wichita St could get ugly if we don't start shooting better.
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Post by LIONS90045 on Dec 4, 2014 21:37:56 GMT -5
Upon reflection, I realize that we have a very young team - Patson, Petr, Spiers and Simon are in their first year of college ball and at the D1 level. Matt and David did excel in JC ball but this is a step up for them. All have potential but these young men have not yet matured into the players they will be. The various observations noted above on our shortcomings are accurate, especially regarding coaching strategies. I think our game plan was to shut down the interior players as best we could - hence Herman with more bulk started in lieu of Mornar, who can be overpowered inside. But Mornar is a more skilled player, especially on offense and with his blocking ability and length.
This season calls for patience and understanding as the players gain experience in D1 ball and as a team.
We can hope for a great year from Evan with potential as a first team WCC guard and perhaps higher honor after the season.
Our next contest is our best hope for a win in the near term but that won't come easy.
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