It’s really easy for me to focus on the positives in a game where we blow out an inferior opponent - because there are so many of them. Frankly, you have to overlook what you saw to pick the game apart. Not saying any of the chatter is bogus about what it means. Just enjoyed a couple beers watching a game where I can look for improvement in particular areas and actually see it. I understand its more a win than a statement, and likely less a turning point than a well executed game plan against a weaker opponent. Still fun.
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Im happy and not complaining… I feel the same about this team as I did before this game. Have to prove it against quality opponents.
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UCF at their place will be a great test after this next game. After that we go to Rutgers which is a tough game. If we can go on a little run over the next few weeks that will be pretty good. This has been a relatively tough schedule very few games that are against sub-250 competition.
I don’t know how you can feel exactly the same when there were things done (DeVante threat from 3, no Johns/Williams playing together, younger guards got some run etc) that have yet to be done against anyone, regardless of opponent.
We can’t beat Purdue playing Southern Utah, but you can find things that work and try build off them. But hey, whatever works.
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Can’t make too much of this game, gotta do the same thing against PFW, and UCF is gonna be a great test. But you gotta be happy about:
- DJ looking aggressive and comfortable
- Tinkered rotation seemed to relieve some congestion, and no 3-big lineups
- Defense was quite good against a scouting report this team has struggled with, a ton of stops and kills
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The preview scared me, so I really had fun watching this one tonight, too. Who knows, anything could be a turning point. The talent is real, this is a team that could get much better as the season wears on, it’s just hard to know if we just saw anything real. One negative? BJJ wth, man! Ay yi yi.
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Anyone know what the black and white spotted cow looking outfits on students are about?
“Howard’s Herd” I think?
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I deliberately left BJJ out. I was focused on the positives. Poor guy.
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Didn’t watch the game. Was Diabate good? Box score looks a little rough.
lol. Have they usurped the “Maize Rage?”
It’s so sad. It’s so frustrating, But I’m close to giving up. I do feel so bad for him and wish some kind of intensive life coaching could resurrect whatever is broken, but jeez, he even let a small guy punk him at the rim. Hard to watch.
Mostly great. A couple sick alley oops, forced a ten seconds, broke up a 2 on 1 from behind, etc.
Still allows himself to be lured into too many fouls - he can’t quite figure out how to not foul and how to consistently make his physical gifts translate into being impossible to score over, but I’m of the belief he could get there soon enough.
Nice! 4 fouls and a handful of turnovers worried me but if the overall impression is positive, I’m all in.
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Game was way out of hand and he started trying to block everything, piled up a few fouls very quickly. Otoh, while I love his aggressiveness on the offensive boards, I’m worried about that leading to some cheap fouls.
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I personally think johns can’t handle coming off the bench or has the mentality/ skill set to lead the bench unit.
I believe if he plays with the starters he is a far better fit than Diabate stylistically and we will see the Johns we saw against Nebraska and when he replaced livers during injury the previous seasons more often than not.
That version of Johns raises are ceiling a lot imo and fits the starting unit better AND it allows Diabate to be the go to scoring option off the bench in the post while staggering his minutes with Hunter, which will optimize everyones talents and fit best imo.
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GREAT WIN! The people who use advanced stats say that Utah State is not a bad team at all! We will want to start Kobe Bufkin soon. I think we all see he is the future at the position! I am very excited to watch this team grow! Go blue and beat Purdue! They will be a challenge for sure…
But Johns played poorly when he was starting early on this season. The Nebraska game appears to be more of an outlier than anything
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This seems about right. If the switch doesn’t go on 4 years in, I doubt it ever will on this level anyway. Too bad. The kid has some tools.
The Maize Rage is still around. The “herd” is a subset of it.