Comments on: The Morning After: Northeastern, or, Serenity Now

By: woodpecker

woodpecker — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 00:41:04 +0000

exactly, I really cant believe all of the complaining going on. everyone knew this would be a long…. long ….. long …. season.

By: generalfan89

generalfan89 — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 17:24:34 +0000

i gotta few ideas on how to win games:
1. do not let dumes and jones handle the ball. in jones first min of the game he had 4 straight turnovers. along side him dumes gave it away about 3 times. accounting for almost half the turnovers for the whole team.
2. bring roth off screens to give him open looks rather than giving it to him with the clock running down at mid court. he is a good shooter and shooters need to shoot.
3. block out!!! we give too many second chance points.
4. hit free throws. its 15 feet away and you are wide open there is no excuse to be less than a 80% free throw shooter.

By: woodpecker

woodpecker — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 16:41:04 +0000

exactly, I really cant believe all of the complaining going on. everyone knew this would be a long…. long ….. long …. season.

By: generalfan89

generalfan89 — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 09:24:34 +0000

By: MPmike

MPmike — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 12:52:38 +0000

I think Devon Dumes could be that go-to-guy. He just needs to have a little more confidence that will come whenever he gets a break out game in the Big Ten.

By: Kelin Blab

Kelin Blab — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 22:37:22 +0000

Maybe these will make you feel better….video clips of Mo Creek, Bobby C, and Wateford

http://insider.espn.go.com/ncb/recruiting/track...

By: Kelin Blab

Kelin Blab — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 21:51:16 +0000

I think Rivers stabalizes our team next year with Creek and Wateford coming in to help out in the scoring, he will be big help.

Would anyone be pissed or upset if Rivers little bro decommitts on his verbal to Florida and heads to IU? mmmm do we want to deal with that again, but geez the kid scored 46 the other night with 8 3's

By: Ryan_T

Ryan_T — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 16:39:01 +0000

Attend home games.

Cheer.

By: JerryCT

JerryCT — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 16:00:56 +0000

A little analogy might be helpful to keep disucssions of winning & losing in perspective

In power boating you start at A and you drive like hell to B. Being at B is the goal

In sailing you are at A but the sport is the "process" of getting to B that is the enjoyment or goal.

Most of us recognized before the season that this year was going to be measured as a journey or process and not as to whether we are at point B yet. Controlling our "power boat" instincts is difficult to be sure.

I actually believe this year is good for Crean and staff as it helps them sharpen coaching skills.

Noticing improvement in our teamplay will be difficult because I think improvement will be very subtle. Look for new stuff like:

1. we get an open shot in the half court offense, and we take it w/o hesitation ( forget if it goes in )
2. we donot back down or quit
3. play to win vs play not to lose, ie we take some risks to win
4. new defenses like half court traps or zones ( forget if it works )
5. new player skills like:
- Roth fakes a 3 , drives and pulls up for a mid range
- Williams and Story drive to the basket hard
- Pritchard uses his right hand to score , or does not foul out in B10 play
- Dumas runs the point
- Jones knocks someone else down
6. team makes grades and no one throws a potted plant at Crean

what else ? ..........we are not used to measuring the journey

By: NC Fat Boy

NC Fat Boy — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 14:50:07 +0000

I think this was the first game where it's difficult to identify improvements. I think there has been improvement game to game, with the exception of this game.

While each game has had it's improvements and regressions, I think overall it's been a progression. I expect games in which there was/is little improvement, no improvement or even regression and remain confident continued improvement will be the norm. I suspect we will see at least one or two horrifying games in the conference season.

Brace yourself for them. I suspect one will be Purdue and it's likely Illinois will be up to crush us. Michigan State, Michigan and Ohio State have shown they are capable of high caliber play and could lay a severe beating on us.

While there will be setbacks, these guys have shown they will continue to work hard.

To me, reducing the turnover rate is something that can be coached (during a game) with an experienced team. This team's turnover rate is simply a factor of inexperience and reducing the turnover is a product of teaching, not coaching. As Coach teaches (in practice) these players through the season, and they learn and mature, we should see the turnover rate drop. It's going to take patience.

Who else is playing this many freshmen this many minutes? It makes sense we're the fifth worse team for turnovers.

Did you see the stats on the freshmen displayed during the game? I don't recall what they all were (one was points or minutes/game which I think we were first), and the others we were 2nd and there were at least 4 or 5 stats. That either means we've got some great freshmen or we're playing alot of freshmen alot of minutes.

I thought we were going to see something from Daniel Moore in this game. He started out well, driving and dishing, a layup, a three pointer. Then when the 3-2 zone came in, we had no offense. You can bet they're practicing againse a 3-2 in practice this week.