Depaul game thread

[muskieman]

Free is generally not good against long and athletic defenders. He struggles offensively and is completely lost defensively. He is a starter simply because he will return next year. Travis might be worried about his psychological response to coming off the bench or is hoping more playing time will make him better.

It would be very stupid for Travis to limit current year success given that he has a quality team. All metrics point to Nunge being the better player so that is the only logical reason I can come up with.

I'm less concerned with who starts, than I am with who plays based on performance and matchups. The zone (worked for the first few possessions) and Free losing his man consistently was mind boggling. I don't think he came out the whole 2nd half, and he wasn't even good on offense or rebounding . Hunter is a good defender and rebounder, and should have been in over Free. I think Miles should have gotten minutes too. Their bigs bullied X all game, and their offensive rebounds and number of shots in the paint should have compelled an adjustment. Thankfully, x won in spite of it. Hopefully, the light goes on when Steele watches the game film. The 5W bulb stayed off most of the game.

check the stats before putting your foot in your mouth. I do wish Miles would get minutes

[Anti-Homer]

Free is generally not good against long and athletic defenders. He struggles offensively and is completely lost defensively. He is a starter simply because he will return next year. Travis might be worried about his psychological response to coming off the bench or is hoping more playing time will make him better.

It would be very stupid for Travis to limit current year success given that he has a quality team. All metrics point to Nunge being the better player so that is the only logical reason I can come up with.

I'm less concerned with who starts, than I am with who plays based on performance and matchups. The zone (worked for the first few possessions) and Free losing his man consistently was mind boggling. I don't think he came out the whole 2nd half, and he wasn't even good on offense or rebounding. Hunter is a good defender and rebounder, and should have been in over Free. I think Miles should have gotten minutes too. Their bigs bullied X all game, and their offensive rebounds and number of shots in the paint should have compelled an adjustment. Thankfully, x won in spite of it. Hopefully, the light goes on when Steele watches the game film. The 5W bulb stayed off most of the game.

check the stats before putting your foot in your mouth. I do wish Miles would get minutes

Oh I did. He lead the team with nine. He's like a guy who is the leading scorer with 17 points on 20 shots. He was killed on the defensive boards, and that led to a lot of stick backs and passes to open threes. He also was beaten more on D than the Washington Generals forwards on roller skates against the Globetrotters. It's partly Free's fault for poor positioning, and partly Steele's fault for not understanding DePaul's bigs were too physical and athletic. I listened to the post game. Incredibly, Steele only said Zac's effort was better (no doubt fueled by the coveted GJ win two weeks ago), but he has to finish better at the rim. No word about his defense. Steele prefers checkers over chess I suspect.

[gym from delhi]

Someone should steal Travis’ security blanket clipboard and put these suggestions on it

[muskieman]

I'm less concerned with who starts, than I am with who plays based on performance and matchups. The zone (worked for the first few possessions) and Free losing his man consistently was mind boggling. I don't think he came out the whole 2nd half, and he wasn't even good on offense or rebounding. Hunter is a good defender and rebounder, and should have been in over Free. I think Miles should have gotten minutes too. Their bigs bullied X all game, and their offensive rebounds and number of shots in the paint should have compelled an adjustment. Thankfully, x won in spite of it. Hopefully, the light goes on when Steele watches the game film. The 5W bulb stayed off most of the game.

check the stats before putting your foot in your mouth. I do wish Miles would get minutes

Oh I did. He lead the team with nine. He's like a guy who is the leading scorer with 17 points on 20 shots. He was killed on the defensive boards, and that led to a lot of stick backs and passes to open threes. He also was beaten more on D than the Washington Generals forwards on roller skates against the Globetrotters. It's partly Free's fault for poor positioning, and partly Steele's fault for not understanding DePaul's bigs were too physical and athletic. I listened to the post game. Incredibly, Steele only said Zac's effort was better (no doubt fueled by the coveted GJ win two weeks ago), but he has to finish better at the rim. No word about his defense. Steele prefers checkers over chess I suspect.

oh, you checked and saw that he had three times the number of rebounds than Hunter but Zach wasn't even good on rebounding... you lose credibility when you make statements like this. BTW he also had 2 blocks and a steal. Free isn't perfect but then no one is perfect. I give Depaul credit for coming out strong on their home court and the team that scored 96 on Seton Hall lost by only one point but they still lost and what you want is for your team to steal away games and go home. On to Marquette which will be another war after they beat Nova on Nova's home court.

[pdxmuskie]

I generally agree that who starts isn't a big concern but it is a bit different for bigs. Generally you want the guy likely to get more significant minutes to start so that he can get rest and return to the game. Guards can more easily come off the bench and run the rest of the half. Centers tend to get tired and pick up bad fouls or get out of position. That is my only concern with who starts between Zach and Nunge.

I do completely agree on the match-up comment and would love Travis to take advantage of that when creating line-ups and more importantly when managing the game.

Muskieman has a point when he points to rebounding stats but the books may not reflect accurately. If you watch the game, you will notice Zach pull rebounds away from other X players several times. His stats look better but don't necessarily benefit the team as much as the numbers might suggest. I'd have to review prior games to see how consistent this is but I know Jones would have had a double double last game if Free didn't grab a rebound from him that game. There were 3 rebounds this game where that happened (2 for sure, but I think 3). I am glad Free grabs those as he shouldn't be concerned with who else might be there but his rebound numbers may not be as beneficial as 1 would think.

Additionally, I'm curious if Miles might do better rebounding against other long athletic centers? It might be a disaster but I'd like to see it, especially when Free is struggling. If nothing else it gives the coaches a chance to chat with Free about his pathetic defense. Pathetic may not be the right work, embarrassing, horrific, I'm not sure the right word but it isn't good. If I were the coach, I would make him apologize to the fans for his defense after every home game.

[Anti-Homer]

check the stats before putting your foot in your mouth. I do wish Miles would get minutes

Oh I did. He lead the team with nine. He's like a guy who is the leading scorer with 17 points on 20 shots. He was killed on the defensive boards, and that led to a lot of stick backs and passes to open threes. He also was beaten more on D than the Washington Generals forwards on roller skates against the Globetrotters. It's partly Free's fault for poor positioning, and partly Steele's fault for not understanding DePaul's bigs were too physical and athletic. I listened to the post game. Incredibly, Steele only said Zac's effort was better (no doubt fueled by the coveted GJ win two weeks ago), but he has to finish better at the rim. No word about his defense. Steele prefers checkers over chess I suspect.

oh, you checked and saw that he had three times the number of rebounds than Hunter but Zach wasn't even good on rebounding... you lose credibility when you make statements like this. BTW he also had 2 blocks and a steal. Free isn't perfect but then no one is perfect. I give Depaul credit for coming out strong on their home court and the team that scored 96 on Seton Hall lost by only one point but they still lost and what you want is for your team to steal away games and go home. On to Marquette which will be another war after they beat Nova on Nova's home court.

Hunter played about the third of the time as Free did as well. Math can be fun. Free is a little better rebounder, and a better offensive player than Hunter, but if his defense gets any worse, Cintas is going to make anyone 17 and under be accompanied by a parent to watch him play. I like him a lot....in certain matchups. Kind of like Tandy. They are very similar players in that they show spurts of brilliance on offense (though Free gets 30 min a game to show it while Tandy gets 30 sec), but often the latter doesn't make up for the sieve they are on D.

Don't worry, Free would have to steal Winston's coloring books to be held accountable by Steele. And that coveted turquoise jersey undoubtedly will afford him more rope.

[Anti-Homer]

I generally agree that who starts isn't a big concern but it is a bit different for bigs. Generally you want the guy likely to get more significant minutes to start so that he can get rest and return to the game. Guards can more easily come off the bench and run the rest of the half. Centers tend to get tired and pick up bad fouls or get out of position. That is my only concern with who starts between Zach and Nunge.

I do completely agree on the match-up comment and would love Travis to take advantage of that when creating line-ups and more importantly when managing the game.

Muskieman has a point when he points to rebounding stats but the books may not reflect accurately. If you watch the game, you will notice Zach pull rebounds away from other X players several times. His stats look better but don't necessarily benefit the team as much as the numbers might suggest. I'd have to review prior games to see how consistent this is but I know Jones would have had a double double last game if Free didn't grab a rebound from him that game. There were 3 rebounds this game where that happened (2 for sure, but I think 3). I am glad Free grabs those as he shouldn't be concerned with who else might be there but his rebound numbers may not be as beneficial as 1 would think.

Additionally, I'm curious if Miles might do better rebounding against other long athletic centers? It might be a disaster but I'd like to see it, especially when Free is struggling. If nothing else it gives the coaches a chance to chat with Free about his pathetic defense. Pathetic may not be the right work, embarrassing, horrific, I'm not sure the right word but it isn't good. If I were the coach, I would make him apologize to the fans for his defense after every home game.

Apparently Miles was sick, but I doubt it would have made a difference. Steele never plays him anyway, and he didn't even mention him in the postgame. In fact, he didn't mention the poor rebounding at all. He waxed poetic with his usual clichés like (paraphrasing),"I'm not going to apologize for any win on the road, and every game is a war."

If I close my eyes I could swear that's John Brannen spewing those words.

[muskieman]

I see Zach has become the whipping boy the last few games and I guess you will never love him until he scores 30 and doesn't miss a shot and blocks every shot put up against him. Tonight Zach and Jack battled two 6'11" guys in ONGENDA and ANEI.

And at the end of the game X was the winner and Depaul wasn't

Half of you are pissed they didn't win by a bigger margin and that is on you. Some of you just hate the coach but the BE is very competitive this year and X is doing fine so far. They may have lost 2 to Nova but at the end of tonight they both have 2 losses in the conference.

[Anti-Homer]

I see Zach has become the whipping boy the last few games and I guess you will never love him until he scores 30 and doesn't miss a shot and blocks every shot put up against him. Tonight Zach and Jack battled two 6'11" guys in ONGENDA and ANEI.

And at the end of the game X was the winner and Depaul wasn't

Half of you are pissed they didn't win by a bigger margin and that is on you. Some of you just hate the coach but the BE is very competitive this year and X is doing fine so far. They may have lost 2 to Nova but at the end of tonight they both have 2 losses in the conference.

Mman,

Why the vitriol? As someone who simultaneously coached my 7th grade and 3rd grade son and daughter's team to first place CYO finishes one year, I think that is ample evidence that I know a little bit about the game. On top of that, I read Bruiser Flint's poignant autobiography entitled, "I'm not the worst coach in America." Compelling read.

I like Zach and the entire team for that matter. They give their damn best for the most part and that is all you can ask. It is ok to point out the warts, as it is to credit their positive attributes. I'm too objective to a fault, and simply noted that Zach had a subpar game. Unfortunately, he has had a subpar year thus far, but still know he contributes valuable minutes fairly often. As I stated, he cannot help the fact that he was shorter, less athletic and physical tonight, but he also often doesn't find his man on shots, and only boxes out an area. Colby Jones and Justin Cage(while at X) are two guys who consistently out rebound(ed) bigger, stronger guys, because they find their man, and don't rebound in the area.

Zach is also a good rebounder, against certain guys, but he did not have a very good game tonight. Every board needs sycophants like you, just like they need insightful, thoughtful, handsome, charming, objective posters-moderators like yours truly. Zach has had a tough year, and his defense has regressed. Frankly, I didn't think it was possible. However, as usual, AH is going to root the heck out of Zach to improve in this area in practice, because Steele is reluctant to take him out of the game, so we are going to need it. He is also a highly skilled offensive player. He hasn't shown it yet this year, but I know it is only a matter of time.

Good night, sensei.

[pdxmuskie]

Zach should be the whipping boy. His inability to play defense angers me. He could score 50 and I'd probably still be angry with him. Defense is about effort and understanding. There is no excuse for playing terrible defense. A bad defensive player should be embarrassed until he performs or quits. I cannot ever accept bad defense. I cannot accept a coach who does. I also can't be ok with a coach that doesn't do anything about terrible shot selection or condones careless ball security. Travis does seem to have made an effort to improve ball security as turnovers are less a concern than in prior years and earlier games.

The margin of victory is not the problem. It is how the game was played. DePaul is a talented team. Winning by 1 might be great but winning by 1 based on how the game was played is not great. It was a relief. X basically got lucky. They actually played good defense the last possession and it could have easily resulted in a DePaul win. DePaul likely wanted to get a shot off earlier to get a 2nd shot if needed but X defense forced a last 2nd shot which could have easily gone in. The win was luck. Some luck is usually needed to go on a big run so lets hope we didn't use it up on this game.