Draymond and Co Skullfuck the Dukies

steveschneider wrote:

Nordic wrote:

Besides the early fouls, it was his best game of the year.

Agreed. This was the year I thought Henry would be one of the best players in the conference and would potentially go in the draft this year. I don’t know what’s going on but I barely noticed him last night. He needs to show up and put some friggin points on the board.

Expanded role and hasn't figured it out yet. He will.

I think the biggest mistake we all made is thinking this team would pick up where they left off. Or least a smooth transition from last year to this year.

Gions is gone. Ward is gone. McQuaid is gone. They might not of be at the level talent wise as the guys we have now. But they were 4 years in the system, knew exactly where to be and what needed to be done. And they provided leadership. Besides Cash, who is stepping up as a leader? Who are we going to when we desperately need a bucket (besides Cash)?

Tillman and Henry need to become these guys. They need to become veteran players, but they are not yet. New roles for them and they have 1 year under there belt. Mostly as emerging players, not team leaders. Then Brown/Rocket/Bingham/etc need to become the emerging players that Tillman/Henry were last year.

I'm confident they will. Too much talent and this is Izzo's strength as a coach.

Carey had a good game, and DeLaurier killed us when he was in.

Fast break points were 17-4.  

FTs and 3s in the first half were big differences.

Nordic wrote:

steveschneider wrote:

Agreed. This was the year I thought Henry would be one of the best players in the conference and would potentially go in the draft this year. I don’t know what’s going on but I barely noticed him last night. He needs to show up and put some friggin points on the board.

Expanded role and hasn't figured it out yet. He will.

I think the biggest mistake we all made is thinking this team would pick up where they left off. Or least a smooth transition from last year to this year.

Gions is gone. Ward is gone. McQuaid is gone. They might not of be at the level talent wise as the guys we have now. But they were 4 years in the system, knew exactly where to be and what needed to be done. And they provided leadership. Besides Cash, who is stepping up as a leader? Who are we going to when we desperately need a bucket (besides Cash)?

Tillman and Henry need to become these guys. They need to become veteran players, but they are not yet. New roles for them and they have 1 year under there belt. Mostly as emerging players, not team leaders. Then Brown/Rocket/Bingham/etc need to become the emerging players that Tillman/Henry were last year.

I'm confident they will. Too much talent and this is Izzo's strength as a coach.

As Comp often says, you have 30 games to get your crap together. That's pretty much IzzoBall, we've been seeing it forever. A (roughly) 30 game preseason.

Nordic wrote:

steveschneider wrote:

Agreed. This was the year I thought Henry would be one of the best players in the conference and would potentially go in the draft this year. I don’t know what’s going on but I barely noticed him last night. He needs to show up and put some friggin points on the board.

Expanded role and hasn't figured it out yet. He will.

I think the biggest mistake we all made is thinking this team would pick up where they left off. Or least a smooth transition from last year to this year.

Gions is gone. Ward is gone. McQuaid is gone. They might not of be at the level talent wise as the guys we have now. But they were 4 years in the system, knew exactly where to be and what needed to be done. And they provided leadership. Besides Cash, who is stepping up as a leader? Who are we going to when we desperately need a bucket (besides Cash)?

Tillman and Henry need to become these guys. They need to become veteran players, but they are not yet. New roles for them and they have 1 year under there belt. Mostly as emerging players, not team leaders. Then Brown/Rocket/Bingham/etc need to become the emerging players that Tillman/Henry were last year.

I'm confident they will. Too much talent and this is Izzo's strength as a coach.

Spot on. We've seen it before it's about Izzo coaching players up and the improvements we make. I guess one thing I'd say I'm encouraged about is Bingham at this point. He's the one player I think that has exceeded my expectations more than anyone else thus far and looks like he still has more upside.

Yeah, I bought into the hype of the preseason #1 ranking. I thought this team was ready to kick ass out of the box. Obviously after what we've seen so far this season that is not the case. I'm readjusting my expectations moving forward accordingly after last night.

Watch Out Pylon! wrote:Yeah, I bought into the hype of the preseason #1 ranking. I thought this team was ready to kick ass out of the box. Obviously after what we've seen so far this season that is not the case. I'm readjusting my expectations moving forward accordingly after last night.

I think everyone sees upside to the talent on the floor and it’s just going to come down to team improvements and player development. Also, I don’t watch a ton of CBb but I caught a bit of Louisville last night. Duke and Louisville are the best teams I’ve seen so far. I expect UNC to be strong by the end of the year. I don’t see us as a title team but I’d be stoked with an elite 8.

Also, Cassius looked exhausted second half. Need Rocket to step it up or Henry to fill in as a viable back-up.

steveschneider wrote:Also, Cassius looked exhausted second half. Need Rocket to step it up or Henry to fill in as a viable back-up.

Henry can't handle the ball well enough to back up Winston. That all falls on Rocket at this point.

Cassius looked tired of getting his shot blocked.

Are we sure Rocket Watts is good? I get that he's young and was a highly touted recruit, but I have hated watching him play so far. He jacks a lot of bad shots, I'm frankly shocked that Izzo puts up with it.

Cameron wrote:Are we sure Rocket Watts is good? I get that he's young and was a highly touted recruit, but I have hated watching him play so far. He jacks a lot of bad shots, I'm frankly shocked that Izzo puts up with it.

I hear you, but what's the alternative? Loyer, Hoiberg, or Henry? Watts is the future and I think it's the right call going with him unless a better alternative steps up which I don't see happening.

Cameron wrote:Are we sure Rocket Watts is good? I get that he's young and was a highly touted recruit, but I have hated watching him play so far. He jacks a lot of bad shots, I'm frankly shocked that Izzo puts up with it.

My take on Rocket. He is very "can be" good.  Good size and athletic. Quicker than I thought he would be. But it is pretty clear he came from a HS that didn't run Izzo ball (ball distribution, defense, rebound). He might be the biggest square peg in a round hole recruit that I can remember. He doesn't finish at the rim strong enough for the college level yet. But based on his size and skill, there is no reason he shouldn't be able too. He takes contested or quick 3s with no ball movement. I assume he had free reign to do this in HS. Add in that his open shots are simply not falling and it looks even worse. I assume he was a decent shooter in HS based on his play so far, but really don't know. Nigel?

That said, I can see him processing it. He looks to geniunely be trying to change his game to fit the system. He has a Carson Edwards type mindset (obv not the same level of shooter). Last night you could see him purposely passing, but he's not used to it. And then old habits kick in and he jacks an odd 3.

It is going to take him some time, to figure it out, figure out is role, figure out when to take the shot and when not to. He hasn't had to do that before. I think Izzo knows he has big upside and trying to learn. If he figures it out, he will be good IMO.

steveschneider wrote:

Cameron wrote:Are we sure Rocket Watts is good? I get that he's young and was a highly touted recruit, but I have hated watching him play so far. He jacks a lot of bad shots, I'm frankly shocked that Izzo puts up with it.

I hear you, but what's the alternative? Loyer, Hoiberg, or Henry? Watts is the future and I think it's the right call going with him unless a better alternative steps up which I don't see happening.

This too

One play that would sum up the above on Rocket. He made a great/tough steal on a Duke player, then got careless/didn't protect the ball coming up the court and Jones picked him from behind.

Another time on D, he was looking side to side for a pick. And the Duke guy picked up on it, waited for him to look left and blew by him on the right.

He's not used to this level of competition and having to think about stuff like that.

Cameron wrote:Are we sure Rocket Watts is good? I get that he's young and was a highly touted recruit, but I have hated watching him play so far. He jacks a lot of bad shots, I'm frankly shocked that Izzo puts up with it.

his name is "Rocket", so that's good enough for me.

Slug Watts? probably not.. LazyBones Watts? nah.. I'll pass.

but Rocket Watts? Hook me up, bro.