UC Game Thread

[ChitownSteve]

A real team win. X avoided glaring mistakes down the stretch and 20-25 from the FT line a solid way to salt the game away.

It was if we were watching a different team today. Sure helped to have Kunkel, Jones and Witcher provide some minutes, enabling the squad to have that extra step at the game’s conclusion. Nicely done Muskies!

[muskieman]

COLBY JONES, BRYAN GRIFFIN, DWON ODOM, NATE JOHNSON, C.J. WILCHER, ADAM KUNKEL all-new guys and not a dud in the lot. Just think what the team could look like with BEN STANLEY!

[skyhops]

Zip em up

[madness31]

Great win. The team is deep with an assortment of pieces.

No offensive rebounds is an issue. Fix that and the margin of victory could have been higher. Shot selection is still an issue but way less frequent than in past years.

Scruggs had an amazing game. There was however no reason for 1 of his 3 point misses. He was drawing fouls and finishing at such a high rate that taking a contested 3 is crazy. Great defensive effort too.

Hard to know what this game says about potential for the season. Being undefeated is obviously great but quality of wins is not yet knowable. Winning close games however, is a trait that great teams often have. This may be a team that struggles to show their dominance against good competition and simply finds ways to win. X has shooters, slashers, post scorers, rebounders and solid defenders. A lot of the pieces are young or new so there may be a lot of upside left but this is a very much win by committee type team. That will likely lead to a lot of close games unless the players are able to feed off the strengths of 1 another creating even greater efficiency.

[muskieman]

Vogt will get his points as will Williams. Key is making Williams miss a lot which he is also capable of doing. Going into the season, i heard UC was a good shooting team. You really can't judge them as a bad shooting team by one game. If you did, can you imagine what UC fans are saying if they only saw the Toledo, Bradley, or EKU game. UCs pressure D vs X hitting in transition is huge. X has one guy that can handle the ball against pressure and that's Odom and he struggles with decision making when going down hill (not unusual for a freshman). Tandy and Scruggs struggle mightily against pressure. Scruggs invites the double team while Tandy picks up his dribble at inopportune times and has as much pace on his pass as a knuckleball. I hope Steele has figured this out. Wish Jones had more time as i believe he can handle the ball. A few transition 3s could help UC pull back on the press. As for Vogt, try and keep him far from the basket. He's smart (like Tyrique) and doesn't take shots he can't make. I expect X to play a decent amount of zone for a lot of reasons which will also be a challenge to rebounding. If X is hitting 3s, that will open up the middle more and give Scruggs more opportunities to post himself. I have no feel on this game. Other than Vogt and Freemantle, most players on the court will be streak type players. I can see UC winning by 10+ and X winning by 3. Difference is X can take a 10 point and see it disappear because of pressure. Out of pure loyalty to my alma mater, X 71 UC 68

Well while Vogt had a high percentage, he didn't get his average of last year or what he got in the first game this year. Williams got his points but DeJulius doubled his first game output and better than his average last year at Michigan. The key was X's inside game and their higher percentage from the three-point line. X shot 51% from the field on 25-49 while UC had way more shots but only 42% on 27-64. They beat X in overall rebounds but X won the defensive rebounds while surprising getting no O rebounds... The one thing we learned is Travis will play the hot hand as Kyky and CJ got just a few minutes which was disappointing but hey X played 10 guys so someone was going to be left out. BTW if the UC fans were upset about their shooting in the first game they must be apoplectic about this one. UC pressure D was a non-factor most of the game and I think they must have been despondent when Scruggs took it the full length of the court (under full-court press) splitting the D for a layup.

OH, I wanted to add one more thing. The threes X shot opened up the inside and the inside game opened up some nice look threes

[Anti-Homer]

UC does not have very good personnel. They'll win their fair share of games, and probably finish in the top three of their league because.....they play in the AAC. They would finish in the bottom half of most/all major leagues. Just like their football team, who is a legitimate top 20 team, would have a hard time cracking the top three of all the major conferences with he possible exception of the Pac 10. Possibly.

[X-lucidity]

Fantastic "team" win. Only glaring negative was Tandy. He looked tentative running point, and again, jacks up dumb forced shots at times and made another lazy telegraphed pass. (that was promptly stolen) Fortunately Kunkel and Wilcher give us other options to help motivate Kyky to keep developing and not let that head swell. Other than that, zero complaints, a gritty win with multiple contributors. Nice mental toughness down the stretch running decent sets and tightening down on defense. Fantastic to win a tough road game when your stud post-player has an off night. (enter B. Griffin to the rescue!!!) Very small sample size, but looked like Colby Jones could be a jack-of-all-trades on O and D. Seemed like he would even be capable of being sort of a point-forward in a pinch to give us a different look.
OK, WOW! Boy does this make a crazy Twi-Light year wind down a little better. Never ever do we take a Shootout win lightly. We bask in the glory and revel in the fact that, as good as we all feel, that is how lousy "they" feel.
In short, How Sweet it is...!

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[X-Expert]

Vogt will get his points as will Williams. Key is making Williams miss a lot which he is also capable of doing. Going into the season, i heard UC was a good shooting team. You really can't judge them as a bad shooting team by one game. If you did, can you imagine what UC fans are saying if they only saw the Toledo, Bradley, or EKU game. UCs pressure D vs X hitting in transition is huge. X has one guy that can handle the ball against pressure and that's Odom and he struggles with decision making when going down hill (not unusual for a freshman). Tandy and Scruggs struggle mightily against pressure. Scruggs invites the double team while Tandy picks up his dribble at inopportune times and has as much pace on his pass as a knuckleball. I hope Steele has figured this out. Wish Jones had more time as i believe he can handle the ball. A few transition 3s could help UC pull back on the press. As for Vogt, try and keep him far from the basket. He's smart (like Tyrique) and doesn't take shots he can't make. I expect X to play a decent amount of zone for a lot of reasons which will also be a challenge to rebounding. If X is hitting 3s, that will open up the middle more and give Scruggs more opportunities to post himself. I have no feel on this game. Other than Vogt and Freemantle, most players on the court will be streak type players. I can see UC winning by 10+ and X winning by 3. Difference is X can take a 10 point and see it disappear because of pressure. Out of pure loyalty to my alma mater, X 71 UC 68

Well while Vogt had a high percentage, he didn't get his average of last year or what he got in the first game this year. Williams got his points but DeJulius doubled his first game output and better than his average last year at Michigan. The key was X's inside game and their higher percentage from the three-point line. X shot 51% from the field on 25-49 while UC had way more shots but only 42% on 27-64. They beat X in overall rebounds but X won the defensive rebounds while surprising getting no O rebounds... The one thing we learned is Travis will play the hot hand as Kyky and CJ got just a few minutes which was disappointing but hey X played 10 guys so someone was going to be left out. BTW if the UC fans were upset about their shooting in the first game they must be apoplectic about this one. UC pressure D was a non-factor most of the game and I think they must have been despondent when Scruggs took it the full length of the court (under full-court press) splitting the D for a layup.

OH, I wanted to add one more thing. The threes X shot opened up the inside and the inside game opened up some nice look threes

Scruggs had a lot of great baskets in the paint and Griffin and Fremantle had a couple each. Their 4 out offense will open up for drives like what Scruggs and Odom did. Odom is just so polished for a freshman. Steele had an answer for their press. Agree offensive rebounds were a concern but UC did a nice job blocking out all day. My concern is with Tandy. He really struggles with ball on pressure. He was lucky they didn't call offensive fouls as he tends to look like he is doing a stiff arm when pressured. Other than that, Colby was very polished and Kunkel will be a huge add. Too early to tell with Wilcher but his reputation says he's a lights out shooter so can't wait to see that. I thought Griffin was going to be nothing but a rebounder for X but frankly, he is better than Carter going to the basket. If Stanley does become eligible, that will be huge so Freemantle can get more rest. Carter however is still a great rebounder. I do feel bad for Miles as i just don't see this year as being his time. Ball movement, handling of the press, and rotation by Steele was good for the most part. I did think they struggled defensively when Tandy and Kunkel are on the court. I wish Steele luck in trying to figure out a rotation because they have a lot of pieces-and young. MM good call on DeJuluis. He's a very good slasher.

[muskieman]

I know people want to be guarded in their optimism, at least some do, but seeing 99% of the tools Travis has ought to instill some confidence that this year will not be a bust as some had predicted. Even though CJ didn't bust the scoring stats I watched him on D and was satisfied he will bring some good D to the floor with him. As for Colby Jones, I was like this guy isn't a freshman because he is too poised and calm on the floor in his first game. NOw maybe it will show later but dang the guy seemed smooth and never flustered. We expected a couple of new guys to be good but Odom, Jones, Griffin, Nate Johnson are guys that are ready. CJ. will get there from all I am hearing. I hope and pray that Kyky gets his confidence back in his game because he looks afraid to fail. Lastly, I just wish the NCAA would get off their dumb rules and let Ben play.

[longliveskip]

some of my thoughts:

1. UC is better than what people are giving credit for on this board. they've played ONE game before us. they defend and rebound HARD. as well as we offensive rebound as a team, for us to get ZERO, that's a credit to them. do they have "legit" scorers? not really except for Williams but they have some quick guards who cause havoc, have a couple dudes who can shoot from LONG range, and Vogt is a presence inside on both ends of the court. This will be a very good win by season's end.

2. impressed with newcomers, even in limited minutes. Kunkel will learn to handle pressure better, even in the halfcourt setting. Jones and Wilcher will be fine. really like Griffin and Johnson. Man, they both just know how to play and play well/hard/under control.

3. Tandy will get it figured out. just a bad game. once he starts letting game come to him he will be ok. he needs to learn that he doesn't HAVE to score for this team to do well. not that i don't want him shooting because i guarantee there will be games that he will save us by knocking down big shots. Scruggs was well, the Scruggs we want to see all season long. Love that dude. Freemantle and Carter were both solid.

on to Oklahoma.