Donnal had a tough game, Doyle shot 5 of 5 but to be honest for the most part Donnal has had to do this by himself this year. There isn’t another athletic shotblocking big, one who can effect the game defensively or on the offensive boards. Mark isn’t absolved totally though him and Doyle combined for 1 rebound tonight, hopefully a few more weeks from now Bacari is sent packing.
Dj comes in, gets a blocked shot, then comes out of the game we have a potentially good shot blocker. We just don’t play him due to beilein being in love with donnal. On his way to putting this program back to where it was when he took over. It’s a shame.
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I’m with you. All year he’s been all over. He took out Irvin for a while right as he was turning it up. Now I’m glad we saw more kam today as I plus others are asking for but it was at the wrong moment for the wrong player
MAAR doing nothing and did nothing. Bring Dawkins in and let him shoot the dang ball.
By the way props to Doyle he played great tonight. Still wish his minutes were wagoners but glad the kid showed up for once this year
Dawkins was on the court for about a minute in the 2nd half and Koenig blew right by him and was put right back on the bench for Robinson and then it was his turn to get blown by.
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Robinson should be out there. If MAAR isn’t running pick n roll he shouldn’t be out there. Dawkins is a much better shooter and we needed that tonight but wasn’t given a real chance.
Walton and Irvin kept running the high pick n roll and it failed time after time and yet we kept running it. WHY LORD!?
I have to ask…what were we doing on offense? That just looked horrible all around.
Donnal might not of had the greatest game but the offensive flow and movement looked pointless.
Really it seemed like the movement lacked any purpose.
Thank you. His d sucks but so does the whole teams. Get Aubrey some looks. He can shake up the scoreboard from deep. We are built to outscore opponents much like the Phoenix Suns of the Nash era. Aubrey saved us in the northwestern game. He can heat up in a hurry. Hell yes even good on the fast break with Walton and maar. If we’re in a drought it makes no sense to leave one of your best weapons on the bench no matter how bad the d is.
We aren’t built for anything.
We’ve bought into the narrative that we are built to out score opponents but truth be told, we don’t have the horses to do succeed at that the majority of nights.
One thing I have realized is this team isn’t very good in transition. They did attack off a make once today otherwise they’re very poor attacking off makes. Their defense is too inconsistent to get transition offense going, our bigs don’t run the court very well. Funny the emphasis is put on offense but they don’t get enough stops and on offense they don’t have enough guys to pass the ball and shoot the ball.
Why the hell are our juniors the most inconsistent ones? Why can’t Irvin and Walton make layups? Irvin attack the hoop like Shaq was there waiting to block it in a 3 on 1 fast break. What the hell was that
I agree but that was the intent when they brought this group in and it’s been out style since coach b got here. Pretty much try and out score the other team and get by with hopefully average d. They do not have the horses to pull it off consistently. Hopefully the run of bad luck stops this year and we have no other big injuries. Right after the games I’m calling for people’s heads but once relaxed I start to find optimism. I just pray for consistency from either Walton or Irvin next year. I believe maar will make another step up and will be all big ten type quality. Walton and maar theoretically could be one of the top back courts out there. I also believe kam will develop into a nice bench player. Wagner and donnall should be a nice pair, add Xavier off the bench and I’m optimistic still. They key is consistency. They all have shown in spurts. Time to grow up and lead and show up night in night out. Robinson and Dawkins will be there to snipe again. Let’s just hope some step up and seize their minutes and roles so we have a nice deep team that can hurt teams in aot of ways. Lots of upper classmen
Another aspect – they often fail to capitalize on the turnover issues of fast-paced teams because they so often refuse to push the pace selectively in transition. If Iowa or Indiana is going to give you a few steals for easy layups, you shouldn’t use the opportunity to slow things down, catch your breath, and set up your plodding half-court offense. If you lack the horses to punish them for their loose play, you negate any advantage they may give you.
We saw yesterday what happens when we fast break. Our two upperclassmen miss layups. Irvin is 6’6 and struggles greatly at finishing. It’s tough to watch.
A big part of it is not having the talent and athleticism (as you point out), combined with an overall risk-averse and non-opportunistic game approach. When we had the horses ('12-'14), the team run would run selectively, to great advantage. So I agree that personnel is the main limiting factor here. Even Dawkins, who definitely can elevate, seems to miss as many dunks as he makes.
Yeah. We have 4 guys who are 6’6 to 6’8 and none of them are even average finishers in my eyes. It’s kind of weird to see that. Seeing jaylen brown be a monster out in California makes you wonder, his finishing ability is elite and we lack that big time.
I am of the camp that Dawkin’s defense is not just bad like most of the rest of the team but it is epically horrible. I actually appreciate his offense. I guess one way to know if he should be on the court would be a longterm +/- report relative to our other players. Anybody know how to get that information?
The thing is, even if his +/- is favorable, I think it is dangerous to give him the minutes. The bench is a stick and playing time is a carrot. If he became a below average defender even, he would be valuable to the team because he is a very good shooter, in my opinion.