Lions vs. Pilots

[ironlions]

WE MUST WIN THIS GAME

[UPStonehouse]

Hey Lions fans... Pilot fan here.

I found this preview of the game from SportsNetwork. It's pretty good... they predict a UP win, so of course I like it!:

www.kansascity.com/472/story/443768.html

It will be interesting to see how all the young guys on each team do against each other for the first time... here's a little info on our team, in case you are intersted:

Sherrard Watson is the only senior... our version of John Ziri! Watson is a former walk-on but has developed into a pretty solid player. He's athletic and can penetrate pretty well, but he's not a shooter at all. He scored 22 at Pepperdine on Friday and is averaging 11 or so a game.

Our leading scorer is Nik Raivio (yes, Derek's brother). He's a sophomore, solid outside shooter - though not as good as his bro - and can attack the basket when needed. He's a smooth, solid all-around player - he nearly got a triple double Friday night.

Luke Sikma (son of former NBA all-star Jack Sikma) is a freshman post. He's our leading rebounder and for a while was tops in the WCC. I think he's fourth or so now. He also leads the team in blocks, steals and assists. He's a great passer and has good instincts. He's not much of a scorer, though, and he's been tailing off lately - freshman wall? Still, I think he's got some tremendous potential - definitely one to keep an eye on.

Taishi Ito is a sophomore point guard. He's been struggling a bit this season but has turned it up lately... he missed several games early in the season after his father passed away and he went home to Japan. He's a good passer, great defender, and will probably drive you crazy drawing charges... he's really, really good at that. He can shoot and penetrate when needed, but he doesn't really look to score.

Kramer Knutson is another freshman big guy... he's a good defender and rebounder but can get into foul trouble. He's not really an offensive threat in terms of creating for himself, but if you leave him alone he can finish around the hoop pretty well.

Robin Smeulders is another post player, though he's the typical European big guy (he's on the Dutch national team) - likes to play outside. He's a sophomore, has a nice array of moves to get himself a shot, but has trouble getting them to fall. I'd watch out for him in the paint though - he's definitely our biggest offensive post threat.

Jared Stohl is a freshman sharpshooter - hits 40% for the season and is top ten in the WCC in percentage and three-pointers made. Doesn't play a ton of minutes, but if he's open he'll throw it up.

Ethan Niedermeyer is a sophomore wing... he scored 16 points against Pepperdine, which was a career high. He's more of a hustle/energy guy than anything else, though he is surprisingly athletic and explode to the hoop at times.

Marcus Carter and Walter Thompson are junior guards... neither plays much at all, though Carter could come in as a defender against Johnson, as he's one of our better perimiter defenders. If Thompson does get in, he can shoot it, but he's super, super streaky.

Jasonn Hannibal is our big Canadian freshman... probably won't play much, but the kid is HUGE and pretty fun to watch. He's clearly got a long way to go, but seriously... the guy is just a beast - he's listed at 6'11", 295 lbs., but I think that's a lowball on the weight. But the thing his - he's not fat. He's just unbelievably thick, especially in his legs.

BJ Porter is a freshman wing... has played in about two games, so if you see him tonight, it would only be garbage time.

That's it for the 2007-07 Pilots. They're super young, but they've got a pretty nice mix of outside and inside players and are pretty good on defense and especially rebounding. Turnovers have been a big problem, as has finding a scorer at times.

The win over Pepperdine was only our second road win... we also beat Montana earlier this year. We looked pretty bad in our last road trip against Yale and Army, so I was really glad to see them bounce back against the Waves.

Anyway... I'll be watching on ESPNU. Good luck tonight, but not too much luck!

[lionspride]

A must-win game tonight for our Lions. If we drop this one at home, it may be a long conference season.

See you there in the stands!

GO LIONS!

[ironlions]

Thanks for the rundown on the Pilots UPStonehouse.

Our teams sound pretty similar in terms of youth and inexperience and propensity to turn the ball over. I remember Ito really hurt us last year. I'm interested in seeing Skima play.

It should be a entertaining game tonight, but probably pretty ugly at times due to TO's. LMU is on quite long losing streak and still haven't won at home...I'm hoping we show a hunger tonight to get a W under our belt. Pilots will have the momentum coming off a W against the Waves ( thank you btw).

I'm glad the game will be on ESPNU so you guys will be able to see it up in Ptown.

Go Lions.

[fanblade]

Thank you for the write up UPStonehouse.

This like mostly all of our games at this point is a MUST WIN. UP should be feeling good with that win in Malibu. Hopefully they underestimate us and leave town feeling less jolly.

[Moose]

Congrats to the team! Counts, Deadwiler, and Sutton played very well and OJ looked strong at times, but he needs to play hard at the defensive end. How does Tim at 6'8-9" play 50 minutes of basketball the last two games and not get a single rebound? Our bigs aren't hungry for the rebound and play passive defense when our guards get beat. Guards - DON"T GET BEAT - you won't get much help. Rebounding is a mentality. You have to want the ball. We didn't turn the ball over which was a key. So was the free throw shooting down the stretch. Santa Clara is a winnable game on Saturday. Go get'em Lions!!!!

[fanblade]

Wow, I think everyone is passed out drunk from celebrating this BIG win over Portland that beat Pepperdine (which got manhandled by GU).



Congrats lions! We definetly can beat SCU on the road. Finally some makings of a real "team" and some good ball. An ugly ugly first half. But Deadwiler, OJ, 12 TOs, yep just 12... Ziri's big steal to seal the deal. A good win.

Wish Diedrichs and Deric could pick up some slack. Guards are definitely carrying the team. Nice to see Sutton finally get something going. Starting to show a little bit of what must have made Tention pick him to start earlier in the season.

[lmu]

First time this season I am actually happy with our defensive effort, great win guys! We needed this one.

JZ does a lot of things not shown on scoreboard, without him, we might not win tonite. Just want to give credits to our lone senior.

Terron is finally doing the things that earned him starting spot at the start of the season. Max, on the other hand, just doesn't have the hop. I don't question his heart but he is a 7 footer playing like a 6-9, he needs to be more agile.

I was really worried about losing the lead when both OJ and Tim out of the game with two mins left. That turned out to be a non-factor, pheww...

Corey might be the best free thrower on the team, it's either him or Shawn, take your pick.

Brandon didn't play again, does anyone know what happend to him?

[Moose]

I think Brandon may be a foot or ankle problem.

[dead3man]

Bottom Line is I told you so. They are becoming a Team. They are fighting and being agressive in practice and you are starting to see what these guys can do.

You or some ? the recruits the coaches but I guarantee you next year you will be praising these recruits and coaches. There good and going to be good and in the WCC next year and in 2 years win it. Go back and read some of my post.


Bigs will get better but right now they still need some work. Got to give it to T. Sutton tonite he showed up big for us tonight.

We got scoring from 4 players in double digits. Be a fan of any one player if you want to LMU or whomever but I'm a FAN of the team and the team is gelling. It takes getting pissed off, fighting, arguing or whatever to grow. They are doing just that. Like a saying or a creed I know someone goes by, " I don't care if you like me but you will respect me at the end of the day." The young LION's got some respect and now are 1-1 in the WCC. Now if they can get 1 on the road if not both this coming weekend that would even be better.

These guys can play but everyone can improve in areas and they will but at the same time a bad game is a bad game but we know what they can do.

The Deadman is Out!

Go LIONS......

[lionspride]

Yes we won. We pulled off the home victory.

Let's put things in perspective though. Some of you are POUNDING your chest and thinking we are competing now. If you were at the game (which I was with 2009 of my friends), you would have to admit it was a very sloppy game. I was not all that impressed with our performance. Sure we took care of the ball better than our other games, but look at who we were playing. We STRUGGLED to get the victory tonight against a team that was picked to be at the bottom of the WCC. We very could of easily lost that game this evening (luckily we did not).

Things that concern me and were not disproven during this win:
1) Points in the paint: POR 34, LMU 20. Portland has no Big Men just like we do. We still got overmatched.
2) Rebounding: We again lost the rebounding numbers; Tim Diederichs - somehow this guy must be afraid to play both sides of the ball. The baskets that Tim does score were perfectly wrapped up gifts from our guards. For a guy who is getting TONS of minutes, I don't see the numbers. Terron Sutton must be given credit for his 18 minutes of action, 5 points, 5 rebounds and 3 blocks. Coach R.T., maybe we can get Terron a bit more shared playing time?
3) Simply a "guard attack/outside shooting exhibition": look at our top 3 scorers....O.J., Deadwiler, Counts (all three guards/combo). A non-balanced attack will not get it done night in and night out against teams in the WCC. Tonight we were fortunate. I am not sure if we played the same this evening when we go to Portland that the outcome will be the same. I still remember that complete embarrassment of the WCC tournament game against UP last year. What a disaster that was.
4) Overall defensive effort: May times this evening, we got beat and it lead to ridiculously easy baskets for UP. O.J. and Diederichs need to play both sides of the ball. Not to mention the obvious lapses from Max Craig.

Don't get me wrong. I am not going to discredit the win. We need to take them when we can. Especially on our home court and against teams we should win. That should only help our confidence as we hit the road in WCC play.

Alert2 picked up what I picked up at the game...that is...the crowd was not all that enthused with the victory. The fans' (at least in my section) patience seem to be wearing very thin. At half time, people in my section were extremely disappointed and I heard some rumblings of discontent with the direction of program. Someone even joked that "Rodney must be feeling the tension right now." It was obviously a pun on words, but the reality is that some of our fans expect better and better is not just beating the UP's of the world, but competing night in night out. It sickens me how some on this board will forget that we are 4-14 and think a win against a 6-11 team cures all and the program is back on track. I am optimistic, but not that optimistic. I have to be a realist. Some people on this board say "wait for next year." Yeah, we have been waiting for that NEXT YEAR for a decade now. Thanks for the optimistic attitude but a 4-14 start to the season does not help the "Wait until NEXT YEAR" hope. Long time Lions Fan (not just the 4 year and out fans) hold a .500 season as promise for the "NEXT YEAR" phrase.

Bottom line is that we won the game. Yes, a win to break the 7 game losing streak (8 game losing streak at home...this was our first home victory). A win against a 6-11 team. That is putting things in perspective. There is much to be done (see the 4 points I listed above).

WE HAVE 0 BIG MEN PRESENCE on the court. When the guards pass it in there, our BIGS either drop the ball, get tied up for a jump ball, miss the basket, or get swatted. We have no possibility for a BIG MAN coming to campus until the 2009-2010. That is very far away. So I guess how the saying goes, we will just have to wait until next year...or next next year.

GO LIONS!

[Moose]

lionspride,

You are correct in everything you say. I do think we competed against Gonzaga for 36 minutes, but we will never beat them when you give up so many easy baskets that result in layups and dunks. Their bigs did anything they wanted against us, 56 points in the paint (many of these were guards penetrating after beating their man and no help from the bigs) which resulted in 64% shooting. I can see our guards with the signees coming in next year to be able to compete and win in the conference. But our big guys are not at this level and must be committed to do everything they can over the summer to improve. In my opinion, we will only go so far as our big guys will carry us. Sutton's play the past two games has given some hope. Boy, did he get a couple of horrible calls against him last night.

[lmutex]

Good Bad Ugly-

Good-
Shooting. Especially second half. For all the flak we give RT, he found a diamond in the rough w/Corey. That kid has the quickest release I’ve seen in awhile.

Mental Toughness- This is where I was most impressed. With the losing streak, the one/two scuffles during the game, and the refs, it would have been easy to fold. But the kids fought through it and earned the victory. Kudos.

Bad-
Defense. Not going to get a pass from me on this one. So many wide open looks, and layups in transition. That’s an effort thing, not scheme.

Also, if Ito wasn’t such a poor shooter, he would have dropped 25+. Granted, the kid is quick, but it’s vital to stop penetration. Silver lining:Sutton played like a man in the second half. Bodied up, and got some key rebounds down the stretch.

Ugly-
The Refs. I’m not sure where to start. Sutton must have taken a dump in the ref’s lockers or something. Max got a couple ticky-tacks as well. Huge foul disparity in both halves (Portland only evened it out when they were trying to extend the game). Thankfully, we kept our composure and rose above it.

I agree with lionspride. Let’s not start sucking each other’s popsicles just yet. There were flashes of brilliance last night, just like there were periods that were downright awful. Hopefully the former isn’t an anomaly.

It seems RT adjusted during halftime, told the bigs that they haven’t earned their touches, and just told the guards to go apesh*t shooting the ball. I don’t have too much of a problem with this, as long as we back it up on defense. We will not win games via shootout; we can win on good shooting nights, but limiting TO’s, and playing sound perimeter D should be a constant.

[ironlions]

I was really happy we got the win. In the big picture it is only one win and we still have a lot of work to do. I'm going to stay in the moment and enjoy the effort and performance of the young Lions. A tip of the hat to Sutton. Our inside game/big men need to develop and I was nice to see Terron's performance.

Go Lions

[UPStonehouse]

Congrats on the win, Lions fans... I wish the Pilots could have put on a better show for you all and not played so poorly, but I've got to give credit to your defense for forcing so many turnovers... the press really affected us.

That was my first chance to see Orlando Johnson play... he's legit for sure - really nice looking player. Except he wears his headband a little too high on his head... I thought it was going to fall off!

Anyway, congrats and good luck until you come up to Portland.