Toledo game thread

[muskieman]

Since they changed Zach’s T why didn’t they take off the point from the FT? Was nice to see a play work after a timeout for once. Thank you Scruggs and Tandy for the win as well as Odom. I haven’t seen anyone get T’d on a backboard slap since I was in a Y league 15 years ago. Steele needs to play the other bigs a bit more although I’m sure he loves Carter’s offensive prowess?

Carter seems to be struggling with his scoring but looks who leads in O rebounds and D rebounds... my guess Travis likes that and especially today with Free in foul trouble. Carter leads the team in rebounding and the only one averaging double digits

Reflecting back on the last two games I remember what Travis said after the first game when he said how will they react when they are in a tight game. We saw it yesterday and today. After the second game, Travis said what will we do when we get punched in the face and how will we react...today showed they didn't give up and that the Bradley end-of-game "mistakes" did not happen today. Yesterday and today were good learning experiences without that "we learn more from a lost" situation. Griffin did okay when he was in there and is scoring at a 61.5% rate 8-13 which is the second-best compared to Miles

[XavierBob]

Realizing everyone is a bit frustrated the last two days, I think it is different than the last two years. I think the offense while still struggling is already looking better than last year. The looks are better, movement better, turnovers way down. Now if you are getting better looks you need to make the shot, so far not happening consistently. The biggest change I’ve seen is the last two days when not playing up to par the Muskies played really well for the last five minutes. I’m not sure last year’s team and the mettle or ability to close out close games much less come back and win. That is encouraging to me. Let’s rest up get ready for Monday and get to 4-0.

[Anti-Homer]

I am starting a GoFundMe account to buy astronaut suits for Tandy, Scruggs, and Free. Odom will get the 4th if we exceed our goal.

[X-Expert]

Certainly hope that these are nothing more than gut check games but this is eerily looking like last year. X escaped in a few early games against teams that were supposed to be below them (Miss. St,, Miss) but much closer than expected and kept hearing a W is a W and we know what happened last year (1st losing season in conference, losing last 3 conference games, very possibly missing NCAA tourney). Its one thing to win and keep improving. Its another to escape with wins vs alleged less talented teams over and over.

[thecoach]

I was in the car for most of the game and INTENTIONALLY listened to another station because I was recording the game at home. Just got home, popped a cork and poured a glass... only to watch the ass ends of a bunch of horses! (I sure am glad they won and it’s not raining.)

Classic. I don't think you missed a work of art as it was come from behind bball. Best stat they shot almost 20 ft's.

[finalfourorbust]

Odom impressed me with tough drives and good D. Reminded me a little of TU when he took the ball strong to the rim. Tandy and Odom work well together and Tandy is just a born scorer

If Odom could develop a respectable outside shot he and Tandy would be an unstoppable guard tandem. Against the Big East competition he is going to have to show an outside threat to keep the defenses honest.

[muskieman]

Odom impressed me with tough drives and good D. Reminded me a little of TU when he took the ball strong to the rim. Tandy and Odom work well together and Tandy is just a born scorer

If Odom could develop a respectable outside shot he and Tandy would be an unstoppable guard tandem. Against the Big East competition he is going to have to show an outside threat to keep the defenses honest.

I agree and hope he is working on it. He has only shot 4 from 3 point land and has made none. Tandy, Fremantle, and Johnson are all .400+ with Scruggs, Carter pulling down the average with 4-24 shooting. Paul average coming into this year shooting the three at .351 with his freshman year the lowest of the percentage of .304 so he has shown improved average the last two years above .370 since his frosh year. Carter is another story he shot over .300 the last two years but only shot .205 his frosh year. If they shoot their averages they will be shooting at a better percentage than their average for the rest of the year so let's hope that happens at least during the conference part of the season.

[Anti-Homer]

Odom impressed me with tough drives and good D. Reminded me a little of TU when he took the ball strong to the rim. Tandy and Odom work well together and Tandy is just a born scorer

If Odom could develop a respectable outside shot he and Tandy would be an unstoppable guard tandem. Against the Big East competition he is going to have to show an outside threat to keep the defenses honest.

That's not going to happen this year, especially since Covid prevented him from working on it to an extent. However, unlike Q, he is so explosive, and is such a good decision maker, and good, soon to be great finisher, that he doesn't need to. Look at Q his freshman and sophomore yrs. We were so optimistic about his future, because he was probably the 7th scoring option on teams where he started (O'Mara, Kantner, Marshall and other subs were more primary scoring options), so his falws were hidden. When he became a top 3 scoring option, his deficits were very apparent.

X has a good three point shooting team when the right guys shoot them. Johnson, Free, KyKy Scruggs, Wilcher, and supposedly Jones. Odom needs to limit his long range shots (as does Carter) and play to his strengths.

[Anti-Homer]

Certainly hope that these are nothing more than gut check games but this is eerily looking like last year. X escaped in a few early games against teams that were supposed to be below them (Miss. St,, Miss) but much closer than expected and kept hearing a W is a W and we know what happened last year (1st losing season in conference, losing last 3 conference games, very possibly missing NCAA tourney). Its one thing to win and keep improving. Its another to escape with wins vs alleged less talented teams over and over.

Agree,

But I think those were two of the better mid-majors. X should have beaten both more handily, but they just played poorly against Bradley, aided by Steele's' mostsa ball sized strategic error of putting Tandy on double secret probation for the 2nd half. Then, he put Free in the game against Toledo with 2 fouls by the 16 min mark, only for him to pick up his 3rd foul 90 seconds later. X seemed lost offensively largely due to the fact that they ran the offense thru him the first two games and it showed. Tandy saved them. Until the freshman become more impact players (Odom is accelerating his learning curve), the margin of error will be pretty slim, though better than last year. This team definitely has more talent and bball IQ.

[Anti-Homer]

Since they changed Zach’s T why didn’t they take off the point from the FT? Was nice to see a play work after a timeout for once. Thank you Scruggs and Tandy for the win as well as Odom. I haven’t seen anyone get T’d on a backboard slap since I was in a Y league 15 years ago. Steele needs to play the other bigs a bit more although I’m sure he loves Carter’s offensive prowess?

Carter seems to be struggling with his scoring but looks who leads in O rebounds and D rebounds... my guess Travis likes that and especially today with Free in foul trouble. Carter leads the team in rebounding and the only one averaging double digits

Reflecting back on the last two games I remember what Travis said after the first game when he said how will they react when they are in a tight game. We saw it yesterday and today. After the second game, Travis said what will we do when we get punched in the face and how will we react...today showed they didn't give up and that the Bradley end-of-game "mistakes" did not happen today. Yesterday and today were good learning experiences without that "we learn more from a lost" situation. Griffin did okay when he was in there and is scoring at a 61.5% rate 8-13 which is the second-best compared to Miles

I'll start off by saying I like Carter a lot. He does everything well except for being a sub par offensive player. He needs to forget that the three point shot exists. Three things he does extremely well are rebounding, interior passing, and playing defense. He's invaluable when X plays teams with talented tall wings, because no one else can guard them. He's also a decent post defender. Free is a below avg defender, but his offense is so good, you have to keep him in there. Same with Tandy.

When X struggles to score, like they did against Bradley and Toledo, Carter needs to sit, because his only reliable shot is a stick back, and those are not a given with him either.