Seton Hall game thread

[muskieman]

https://youtu.be/4Y-c8w0xtEM Miller press conference

https://youtu.be/Nm9si6GN7zA Zack and Hunter press conference

https://youtu.be/6YIwlYh51hs highlights

[pdxmuskie]

I see a lot of blown help defense opportunities. It isn't just that the guards get blown by but they also fail to recognize when the other team is attacking the rim. The bigs will help when not shielded but numerous wings fail to even attempt to take away the layup even when they are right there.

Sean has been very focused on winning and has likely made some mistakes regarding developing a bench. Most likely he saw more upside in Miles and hoped he could get it out of him, leaving Edwards on the bench. Craft may be highly rated but he is not ready. More playing time might have helped but X hasn't gone to the tournament in a long time. Getting us there will get coach a lot of goodwill. Risking early season losses in an attempt to develop a player is risky. There certainly were opportunties but we've also seen X crumble quickly when going deep into the bench in recent games.
The starters easily build the lead back but it might have been even uglier earlier in the season. Tandy was also playing well the first 4 or so games so there was less need to develop Craft.

I agree zone would have been a great fit for SH. Hopefully the team is able to add that at some point this season. Even just limiting zone to a change of pace could be huge. Can take momentum away as it hopefully disrupts what is working.

[Anti-Homer]

AH, good points as always but Miller does not coach like this is a CYO team. He has always had a quick trigger to pull someone and usually had a limited bench. Miller is also not real comfortable with a zone, but SH would have been the game to test it out. Craft was one of the highest recruits in the BE and I could have been used to spell AK, who had a terrible game. That was probably the best Free we are going to get, so I will take it. Nunge played as tough as a few of my Y teamates a few years ago. I'm glad AH is on board with Miller we can sleep better tonight. I thought I saw him with Vanilla Ice in the box at the West Virgina game.

Careful of what you say.

I was in the Moderator Box, and Vanilla was there, as a guest of Mman and OSD. However, I would not feel too comfortable if I was Ice. MMan invited Takeoff to watch practice in late Oct, and he ridiculed Mman for his assessment that Miles was the best post defender ever at X. We know what happened a few days later when MMan's gardener accidentally shot him 6 times in the back at a bowling alley. Vanilla chided Mman for wearing white slacks after Labor Day at the game, so.......

[Anti-Homer]

I have not read through the game thread yet because six minutes is very valuable to me. If my take mirrors yours, you can feel good that you had an accurate one. As I’ve said after watching them for two games, this team will have to win by outscoring others. Two guys I like a lot who play 30+ minutes a game have a hard time guarding a folding chair: Freemantle and Kunkel. Freemantle always loses his man after the 2nd pass, and also on pick and rolls….and 90% of other sets. Kunkel isn’t physically strong and concedes the path the of guy he is guarding, and often fouls. His man gets to the rim at will. Fortunately, both are playing so well offensively (rare off night for Kunkel yesterday) that they are a clear net positive. That wasn’t the case with Free at Portland.

First chinks in the armor showed last night with Miller. It’s too bad because he was trending at a 9/10 with 10 days left until the mid-point but now has dropped a solid point to 8. His two most glaring deficiencies are his refusal to play zone despite the fact, not opinion, that Jones is the only starter who consistently stays in front of his man. Hunter does as well, and Claude to a decent degree. SH shoots worse than any of Steele’s teams from 3 and overall, but consistently got into the lane where they did a lot of damage. They shot 25% from 3 and missed a bunch of free throws, or they would have won. UC’s comeback was fueled by driving aggressively into the lane as well. Georgetown also went to the line over 30 times, and if they hit 70% of them, it would have been a much closer game. It ain’t a secret on how to beat X.

His lack of developing Kraft in particular, as well as Edwards will hurt this year, and more so next. Edwards made a couple of mistakes, and he got pulled. Against UC, he brings Tandy in cold, and he missed a three, and while he rushed it, he was wide open. Pulled. Kunkle made four errors in a five-minute span, and he stays in. Miller has coached like he is in the final year of a contract where he must make the Tourney to get renewed. This has been his style since the Nike Tourney. He called some great offensive sets yesterday and all year, but unless he strategically adapts to the defensive deficiencies, they will lose some winnable games in the BE.

Also, I could not believe he did not foul with St. J having the ball under 4 seconds, nor put Nunge on the inbounder. He threw an unobstructed clean pass, and though it was a difficult shot, the guy had a clean corner shot. That’s one Kunkel can make. Did he forget about the OSU game in 07’? Lastly, he runs out of timeouts with about five minutes left or longer every game. X almost had a five-second count until Jones threw it to Kunkel at the last second, or the game could have gone in a different direction. Again, I’m still a big SM fan, so he can breathe a sigh of relief, but he has been put on notice.

ya gotta coach a near PERFECT game to move up in Anti-Homer's mind.

wow.

What? an 80% is bad? I did cartwheels at X when I received an 80% in any of my classes, especially ones in my major, Home Economics.

[muskieman]

I have not read through the game thread yet because six minutes is very valuable to me. If my take mirrors yours, you can feel good that you had an accurate one. As I’ve said after watching them for two games, this team will have to win by outscoring others. Two guys I like a lot who play 30+ minutes a game have a hard time guarding a folding chair: Freemantle and Kunkel. Freemantle always loses his man after the 2nd pass, and also on pick and rolls….and 90% of other sets. Kunkel isn’t physically strong and concedes the path the of guy he is guarding, and often fouls. His man gets to the rim at will. Fortunately, both are playing so well offensively (rare off night for Kunkel yesterday) that they are a clear net positive. That wasn’t the case with Free at Portland.

First chinks in the armor showed last night with Miller. It’s too bad because he was trending at a 9/10 with 10 days left until the mid-point but now has dropped a solid point to 8. His two most glaring deficiencies are his refusal to play zone despite the fact, not opinion, that Jones is the only starter who consistently stays in front of his man. Hunter does as well, and Claude to a decent degree. SH shoots worse than any of Steele’s teams from 3 and overall, but consistently got into the lane where they did a lot of damage. They shot 25% from 3 and missed a bunch of free throws, or they would have won. UC’s comeback was fueled by driving aggressively into the lane as well. Georgetown also went to the line over 30 times, and if they hit 70% of them, it would have been a much closer game. It ain’t a secret on how to beat X.

His lack of developing Kraft in particular, as well as Edwards will hurt this year, and more so next. Edwards made a couple of mistakes, and he got pulled. Against UC, he brings Tandy in cold, and he missed a three, and while he rushed it, he was wide open. Pulled. Kunkle made four errors in a five-minute span, and he stays in. Miller has coached like he is in the final year of a contract where he must make the Tourney to get renewed. This has been his style since the Nike Tourney. He called some great offensive sets yesterday and all year, but unless he strategically adapts to the defensive deficiencies, they will lose some winnable games in the BE.

Also, I could not believe he did not foul with St. J having the ball under 4 seconds, nor put Nunge on the inbounder. He threw an unobstructed clean pass, and though it was a difficult shot, the guy had a clean corner shot. That’s one Kunkel can make. Did he forget about the OSU game in 07’? Lastly, he runs out of timeouts with about five minutes left or longer every game. X almost had a five-second count until Jones threw it to Kunkel at the last second, or the game could have gone in a different direction. Again, I’m still a big SM fan, so he can breathe a sigh of relief, but he has been put on notice.

ya gotta coach a near PERFECT game to move up in Anti-Homer's mind.

wow.

What? an 80% is bad? I did cartwheels at X when I received an 80% in any of my classes, especially ones in my major, Home Economics.

based on the transcript you proved when you failed the moderator's interview you never got close to 80%, and the reference from the dean said you were a mercy graduate.

You did make Shadow (God rest his soul) laugh for about an hour after looking over your Curriculum Vitae. He did say to stick to being a comic you have a least a chance there. I think one of the other moderators just said Oy very! and some other things in Yiddish. I think fercockt, tuches and meshuginna were mentioned in his diatribe but I didn't know why he went off on you. I think you are kind of funny