Q could have been called for carry at least 10 times so every time he dribbled up the court was a gamble.madness31 wrote: ↑Sun Nov 26, 2017 6:54 pmI disagree with the comments about the ASU guards being less talented. Shorter, yes but less talented, no. ASU will likely prove to be a good to a very good team. I suspect they will not go deep in the tourney due to lack of depth and size but should have a good year. This was a terrible match-up for an X team that lacks speed and defensive intensity. Combine that with hot shooting and some poor officiating and you get a loss.
X4Life may be overstating the state of the team but he is right that this team has to start getting after it for 40 minutes. The defense is bad to terrible. Rebounding is disappointing to bad. Carelessness with the ball is also a problem. The offense has generally been good with the exception of turnovers but I wonder how the offense will look against athletic defensive minded teams. The offensive set is not great, which is likely a big part of why the droughts happen.
Coaching was very absent in this game. Yes the players have to put forth the effort but the coach also needs to either motivate them with a better game plan or with inspiration. To stop attacking from the post in the 2nd half when it worked so well in the first half is just silly. Having Q and Scruggs dribble up the court against pressure when they could simply pass to another player not being pressed is also dumb. Q could have been called for carry at least 10 times so every time he dribbled up the court was a gamble. If passing to another guard/SF resulted in a 2nd pressure player then possibly let the PG dribble against the pressure but at least test their reaction.
Congrats to JP on a strong performance. Kaiser and Kanter both also played well. Everyone needs to up the defensive intensity/positioning.
I've always thought he comes dangerously close to carrying, but he hasn't be called for it with any regularity since coming to X, so it must not be an issue.
