Two players and big men

[muskieman]

odom had 14 points and so did Freemantle. Odom was 7-9 while Freemantle was 6-10. Free had 7 rounds but 5TOs most in the second half, while Odom had 4 rebounds but no TOs playing the point. Free had 4 assists and Odom none. Freemantle left 4 fouls on the floor and Odom 1.

Our big men committed only 3 fouls...leaving 9 on the floor. A few fouls to stop Golden from getting 20 which was ten more than he scored in their last meeting and 18 more than in the first meeting, would have been nice.

[skyhops]

True. Why did Odom not play first 10 mins of second half?

[muskieman]

True. Why did Odom not play first 10 mins of second half?

the final foul might say something to your question. He had four fouls in this game.

[madness31]

The 3 fouls on the bigs is very curious.

Guessing the staff has made a point of the bigs not fouling. Stating depth is limited.

Or the bigs are so disinterested in defense, there is minima opportunity to foul.

I will assume it is the staff driving home the point of not fouling. If that is true, it seems the same point could have been made at any point in the season to stop shooting bad 3's. Or for some to simply not shoot 3s.

Is the team teachable but the coaches simply refused to teach?

[muskieman]

The 3 fouls on the bigs is very curious.

Guessing the staff has made a point of the bigs not fouling. Stating depth is limited.

Or the bigs are so disinterested in defense, there is minima opportunity to foul.

I will assume it is the staff driving home the point of not fouling. If that is true, it seems the same point could have been made at any point in the season to stop shooting bad 3's. Or for some to simply not shoot 3s.

Is the team teachable but the coaches simply refused to teach?

Remember Jones last year and previous years to that? He was a fouling machine but learned to be physical without fouling but when the opponent thought he had an easy one Jones would hammer them( Bill Russell style) and make them think twice on future forays into the paint, including the little guy. Maybe it is bodies Jones versus Freemantle but I don't think I have ever seen Free hammer someone when fouling.

[madness31]

I do recall Jones being great at not fouling but occasionally fouling hard. This was a development over the years at X. He fouled frequently early in his career.

That somewhat proves the point that X is driving home the point of Biggs not fouling. Jones however was able to play defense reasonably well without fouling. Free has not shown that ability. This might be a situation where it is better for bigs to foul out early in their career in an attempt to play great defense and then teach control.

Effort first
Control second?

[muskieman]

the effort is always important. Providence goes down to the last place team DePaul which might make their coach's job safer. DePaul has made it to the quarter-finals two years in a row.

Covid has made the BE upside down this year except for Nova and Creighton. Seton Hall with all their talent and Xavier with a young team disappointed I hope Griff and Ceasar can make X a little better in the post.

Marquette, Xavier, and Providence lost to lower seeds in a covid year

I think UConn will be the team of the future in the Big East because for some reason they can pick up the big recruiting prizes, like Bouknight

[whopper]

what struck me was that Golden and Nze were able to dribble 4-5 times while making a move and keep getting better position. We did not double or foul and it seems that the opposing coach is telling his big men that we may move feet, get wide, etc but won't double or hard contest 8 to 10 foot shots so go up as if no one was there. They did not even think of passing out.