Seton Hall Game thread 1.8.2020

[Anti-Homer]

I think those are excellent points Coach. Seems that Powell will get his. Obviously you need to put a capable athletic defender on him so he does not go off for 42 but we wasted Naji and likely curtailed his offensive contributions. I do not blame Steele for trying this but would hope he comes to this same conclusion. Stick Q on Powell as who cares if Q's offense is diminished. Naji would be better served on the likes of Rhoden. That dude killed us with key baskets on drives or short pull ups, and also grabbed a decent amount of rebs, a couple of which were offensive.
At some point, maybe even soon, I believe we will have dissected this game enough and resolved all issues...!

Coach changed my mind a little on this, but I'm still in the middle. I would still like Marshall as the main defender on Powell home or away, but feel we have four guys who could potentially present a defensive challenge in Scruggs, Moore, and Goodin, though my confidence in Q is waning. The only thing which often affects Marshall's game offensively is his low IQ. The disappointing thing was not being able to contain some of their other players, and to Coach's point, an all our sellout on Powell defensively was part of the reason. Kevin Durant had less attention in college. Steele panicked, plain and simple.

Steele is an an inexperienced coach, and it has been on full display this year. I am still optimistic about him, but one thing X has always done well this year is applying full court pressure. You can't employ it the whole game, but need to do it multiple times, for multiple possessions, especially when you're getting trounced with your half court defense. I also wonder if he has practiced a zone defense yet? Not being facetious, but he did say after a game a couple of weeks ago that they don't have one. That's kind of like not having a press break offense, which isn't implausible, if one looks on how poorly X executes the press break at times (Johnnie's great example).

Boutros Boutros Gali out

[Anti-Homer]

My self imposed 36 hr waiting period is over. My take on the game:
1. Xavier has GOOD players, but they are not a good TEAM. Too much one on one, half court offense is not good, decision making is often poor. At times during a lot of their games it looks like their playing open gym in the summer.
2. Starters are playing way to many minutes. We used to wear teams down now it seems we're the ones being wore down.
Marshall should be getting 3 minutes rest each half for 34 minutes. Scruggs should be playing 30, Goodin no more than 28 and Tandy needs to be playing at least 24 minutes a game. TS has to trust his bench or it's going to be a long season.
3. 50/50 balls and rebounding were a problem. I know some people will say X got out rebounded because of SH's 7 footers, but Powell was their leading re-bounder with 9.

An elderly lady, who has probably not watched 5 basketball games in her life, did watch the SH game. The next day she asked me the following question. " When the other team is on, like, a roll, are you allowed to call time out?

Some really good observations.

[Anti-Homer]

One comment on Goodin. After a great four game run, he is regressing somewhat. He should limit his number of threes (call me Captain Obvious, or Handsome), and limit them in close games when there are only a few minutes to play. It should be a last resort decision, like Mman eating the plastic decorative grapes on the table instead of broccoli, because they refused to serve him more dessert at a fancy dinner we attended after his third one.

He still is running a solid point, but getting to the hole and drawing fouls is a win-lose situation, because he is a poor free throw shooter. His defense has gone down a bit, but he still has a good assist/to ratio. Scruggs and Ky are clearly better players, but neither is as strong with the ball as Goodin. Kyky's defense is also a bit shaky, but you have to risk that with one of the two best 3D players on the team, and the best shooter on the team by far (see, NBluiett, Tre). I'm not suggesting he should play 32 minutes, but I don't think the latter should be fixed, but predicated on match ups, and how he plays game to game. To his credit, Coach Steele has been doing that more lately.

[JTG]

I think those are excellent points Coach. Seems that Powell will get his. Obviously you need to put a capable athletic defender on him so he does not go off for 42 but we wasted Naji and likely curtailed his offensive contributions. I do not blame Steele for trying this but would hope he comes to this same conclusion. Stick Q on Powell as who cares if Q's offense is diminished. Naji would be better served on the likes of Rhoden. That dude killed us with key baskets on drives or short pull ups, and also grabbed a decent amount of rebs, a couple of which were offensive.
At some point, maybe even soon, I believe we will have dissected this game enough and resolved all issues...!

This times two !!!!

[Anti-Homer]

I think those are excellent points Coach. Seems that Powell will get his. Obviously you need to put a capable athletic defender on him so he does not go off for 42 but we wasted Naji and likely curtailed his offensive contributions. I do not blame Steele for trying this but would hope he comes to this same conclusion. Stick Q on Powell as who cares if Q's offense is diminished. Naji would be better served on the likes of Rhoden. That dude killed us with key baskets on drives or short pull ups, and also grabbed a decent amount of rebs, a couple of which were offensive.
At some point, maybe even soon, I believe we will have dissected this game enough and resolved all issues...!

This times two !!!!

Marshall had the game of his career against UC, where he guarded a very versatile and gifted scorer all game in Cumberland. He played 39 minutes and shut him down.

MIN FG 3PT FT OREB DREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS

N. MarshallF
39 12-22 4-11 3-4 0 8 8 3 5 1 3 3 31

I think good defense fuels Marshall. He can get any shot he wants. Guarding the other team's best player isn't what hinders his productivity and effectiveness. Erratic decision making and playing too fast is his kryptonite.

[X-lucidity]

AH, I believe we are splitting hairs here. I agree with your comment above. My only point is, good Lord, many of the pull up 3's Powell hit were with Naji right there and timing his defensive leap perfectly. But still, swish. Let Naji fuel he D ego pride on Rhoden. As if he holds Rhoden to let's say 6, instead of 18, where might we be? I was just speculating that Powell is going to get 24'ish versus Naji and maybe 27 versus Q/Scruggs combo, we just gained 7 to 10 point spread. We had no one that matched up well to Rhoden. Not that he is a star by any standard, but Carter was no match. We were just pondering the cause & effect of using Naji's D talents on a player that those talents might have more of an effect. Powell is ridiculous, and his shot is either going in or not going in, but has little to do with how close of a hand to his face is... On to Creighton

[thecoach]

I think those are excellent points Coach. Seems that Powell will get his. Obviously you need to put a capable athletic defender on him so he does not go off for 42 but we wasted Naji and likely curtailed his offensive contributions. I do not blame Steele for trying this but would hope he comes to this same conclusion. Stick Q on Powell as who cares if Q's offense is diminished. Naji would be better served on the likes of Rhoden. That dude killed us with key baskets on drives or short pull ups, and also grabbed a decent amount of rebs, a couple of which were offensive.
At some point, maybe even soon, I believe we will have dissected this game enough and resolved all issues...!

Coach changed my mind a little on this, but I'm still in the middle. I would still like Marshall as the main defender on Powell home or away, but feel we have four guys who could potentially present a defensive challenge in Scruggs, Moore, and Goodin, though my confidence in Q is waning. The only thing which often affects Marshall's game offensively is his low IQ. The disappointing thing was not being able to contain some of their other players, and to Coach's point, an all our sellout on Powell defensively was part of the reason. Kevin Durant had less attention in college. Steele panicked, plain and simple.

Steele is an an inexperienced coach, and it has been on full display this year. I am still optimistic about him, but one thing X has always done well this year is applying full court pressure. You can't employ it the whole game, but need to do it multiple times, for multiple possessions, especially when you're getting trounced with your half court defense. I also wonder if he has practiced a zone defense yet? Not being facetious, but he did say after a game a couple of weeks ago that they don't have one. That's kind of like not having a press break offense, which isn't implausible, if one looks on how poorly X executes the press break at times (Johnnie's great example).

Boutros Boutros Gali out

If it was my call, i would have only risked disrupting the matchups on defense by putting Marshall on Powell at Seton Hall. Reason being i think it will be awful tough to win there to begin with. Doing it at the first match up at home was an unnecessary risk. If you could have gotten the home game under your belt, you probably don't need to do that in game 2, but it's there if need be. It was a bad idea. FWIW, comparing Marshall guarding Cumberland to Marshall guarding Powell are not in the same realm this year. Cumberland isn't 100%, and he's struggled against about everybody until recently. Powell on the other hand has been pretty deadly when he's played. Two different cases completely this year.

[Anti-Homer]

I think those are excellent points Coach. Seems that Powell will get his. Obviously you need to put a capable athletic defender on him so he does not go off for 42 but we wasted Naji and likely curtailed his offensive contributions. I do not blame Steele for trying this but would hope he comes to this same conclusion. Stick Q on Powell as who cares if Q's offense is diminished. Naji would be better served on the likes of Rhoden. That dude killed us with key baskets on drives or short pull ups, and also grabbed a decent amount of rebs, a couple of which were offensive.
At some point, maybe even soon, I believe we will have dissected this game enough and resolved all issues...!

Coach changed my mind a little on this, but I'm still in the middle. I would still like Marshall as the main defender on Powell home or away, but feel we have four guys who could potentially present a defensive challenge in Scruggs, Moore, and Goodin, though my confidence in Q is waning. The only thing which often affects Marshall's game offensively is his low IQ. The disappointing thing was not being able to contain some of their other players, and to Coach's point, an all our sellout on Powell defensively was part of the reason. Kevin Durant had less attention in college. Steele panicked, plain and simple.

Steele is an an inexperienced coach, and it has been on full display this year. I am still optimistic about him, but one thing X has always done well this year is applying full court pressure. You can't employ it the whole game, but need to do it multiple times, for multiple possessions, especially when you're getting trounced with your half court defense. I also wonder if he has practiced a zone defense yet? Not being facetious, but he did say after a game a couple of weeks ago that they don't have one. That's kind of like not having a press break offense, which isn't implausible, if one looks on how poorly X executes the press break at times (Johnnie's great example).

Boutros Boutros Gali out

If it was my call, i would have only risked disrupting the matchups on defense by putting Marshall on Powell at Seton Hall. Reason being i think it will be awful tough to win there to begin with. Doing it at the first match up at home was an unnecessary risk. If you could have gotten the home game under your belt, you probably don't need to do that in game 2, but it's there if need be. It was a bad idea. FWIW, comparing Marshall guarding Cumberland to Marshall guarding Powell are not in the same realm this year. Cumberland isn't 100%, and he's struggled against about everybody until recently. Powell on the other hand has been pretty deadly when he's played. Two different cases completely this year.

I agree with you that Cumberland isn't the same challenge as Powell this year, but Steele has always put Marshall on whom he considers the best, or key offensive player since taking over last year. I don't understand the logic of only doing it in games you feel we have lesser chance of winning. That's like saying when we had Bluiett, he should have shot less against teams we have a greater chance of beating, and more in tougher matchups. No adjustment was ever made. He was always the focal point of the offense, whether X played Tenn State or Nova. Similarly, Marshall is charged with defending the focal point of the other team's best-key player, regardless of opponent or venue, as it should be, IMO.

Incidentally, X didn't lose because Marshall guarded Powell. He needed 21 shots to score 24 points. X's porous defense against the other guards, partly attributed to selling out on Powell with double teams when they didn't need to was the reason. Getting out-rebounded by 10 ,subpar pg play, and limited contributions from the bench didn't help either.

[thecoach]

Agree, not one loose bolt to fix on this wagon right now. Rebounding is a big, big issue in the next couple months. It's more fixable than shooting the ball. You have to be realistic on what you can improve this late in the season.

FWIW, Does anyone know why Dontarius James was not on the bench yeserday? I heard nothing about it.

[skyhops]

I have also heard Steele say that Scruggs is his best perimeter player, so who knows. Probably the biggest concern is this team does not play hard for long stretches of time. Allowing the amount of offensive boards to Creighton is ridiculous. I wish we had a Chalmers that could take over but the closest is Scruggs and I don’t think he has the IQ or stones to take over