Foreign trip
- Thread starter Ulla1
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Well, I intentionally didn't post is next tweet after ours...
Maybe, there are few enough teams playing right now that he can cover them all?
Here is report on last night's game; love the photo of our players intermixed with the players from our opponent. Great sportsmanship! OSC
http://www.richmondspiders.com//Vie...ads Richmond To 84-75 Win Over Fellows Ekeren
http://www.richmondspiders.com//Vie...ads Richmond To 84-75 Win Over Fellows Ekeren
yup. was thinking it was a quickness thing last season, or a problem with our zone. but we're a quick team now and we played mainly man to man.
I think we help to much. need to trust our one on one defense a little more. if we get beat once in a while we can live with it. but over-helping is leading to too many open threes, and we can't have that again.
Yes, however it happens bringing down our opponents % from 3 from last season should be a top priority.
I'm glad the team is having a great time on this trip and I think that is incredibly important in terms of building team chemistry. However, it is pretty clear from the results thus far, that we are playing sub-par competition, so I think reading anything into these game results is pretty meaningless.
The only thing that I have seen thus far that gives me any indication of how the season might begin is that JJ is starting at the 3 and his play in these games has been good enough for him to maintain that role. Personally, I think Sherod is going to take that spot from him this year, but JJ may start out as our starter at the 3. The key will be how Sherod is able to defend, because it is pretty clear that Sherod is a much better offensive player.
The only thing that I have seen thus far that gives me any indication of how the season might begin is that JJ is starting at the 3 and his play in these games has been good enough for him to maintain that role. Personally, I think Sherod is going to take that spot from him this year, but JJ may start out as our starter at the 3. The key will be how Sherod is able to defend, because it is pretty clear that Sherod is a much better offensive player.
Over the last 6 games of the season JJ was averaging 16 minutes a game and was being put in as a defensive sub during the offense-defense substitutions. Mooney really values his defense, if he develops an offensive game he becomes a lot more valuable. In the limited film I have seen he has hit a bunch of threes and he seems to be scoring well on this trip. If that translates to the regular season he could hold on to his starting position for awhile.
None of these teams have the athleticism that we'll face. This isn't about basketball as much as an awesome team/personal experience. Great trip.
That said, a few things translate. TJ will be even better this year, and he's been pretty awesome already. Not sure what happened when he wasn't shooting straight for a while last year, but he's locked in now. He's trimmer and much quicker, too. SDJ looks great. Kwhan's shooting well plus doing what he does. Love the way all 3 freshman are looking. All are ready to contribute. Kwesi will play, if we weren't sure before. Big and athletic. Strong. Marshall is doing more than just spotting up.
Julius came in with the rep as a shooter but didn't show that at all last year. I think he is. His release is quick, form is compact and repeatable. And he does other good things on the floor. I think we see a totally different player this year. Not to give up on Jesse, but I think Julius is WAY ahead of him now. And the freshmen guards are too. Haven't seen Paul of course. Hope he gets healthy. Hard to imagine he'd be more impressive than Grant though. Awesome if he is. But we'll see.
Some really good players aren't going to get much time this year. Just not enough minutes in a game.
That said, a few things translate. TJ will be even better this year, and he's been pretty awesome already. Not sure what happened when he wasn't shooting straight for a while last year, but he's locked in now. He's trimmer and much quicker, too. SDJ looks great. Kwhan's shooting well plus doing what he does. Love the way all 3 freshman are looking. All are ready to contribute. Kwesi will play, if we weren't sure before. Big and athletic. Strong. Marshall is doing more than just spotting up.
Julius came in with the rep as a shooter but didn't show that at all last year. I think he is. His release is quick, form is compact and repeatable. And he does other good things on the floor. I think we see a totally different player this year. Not to give up on Jesse, but I think Julius is WAY ahead of him now. And the freshmen guards are too. Haven't seen Paul of course. Hope he gets healthy. Hard to imagine he'd be more impressive than Grant though. Awesome if he is. But we'll see.
Some really good players aren't going to get much time this year. Just not enough minutes in a game.
Nice analysis, spiderman. Your last statement that "Some really good players aren't going to get much time this year. " is quite meaningful and important. First, our players will be honing their skills against some very good players in practice. Perhaps even more important is competent subs will be available in case of injury, and provide a respite for starters when needed. The Spiders have been "snake bit" several times in recent years leading to the team's demise. Now more than ever hopefully we are ready to cope should injuries occur. OSC
Agreed, but IMO this is a luxury in disguise. Say someone goes down with an injury, we'll have a suitable replacement. We haven't been able to say that in a while.
Here is the write up. Looks like Khwan was a stud: 20 points (8 of 10 shooting), 7 rebounds and 2 steals. OSC
http://www.richmondspiders.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=26800&ATCLID=211134216
http://www.richmondspiders.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=26800&ATCLID=211134216
It's amazing how your backcourt seems to be strong every year. Not looking forward to watching Khwan potentially go off twice a year for the next 3 years.
I don't want this come off as a dogging JJ, but I still think the form on jumper is bad (it is quick, but his feet are set wrong and he doesn't get a lot of elevation, also can't create his own shot that much) and thus he is not going to be any type of regular scorer. I think he could put up Trey Davis type numbers. His defense was above average for our team last year, but last year's team was horrible on defense, so I think you have to grade that on some type of curve..
So, yes, he could hold onto to his starting position for a while, particularly if Sherod doesn't pick of the defense as quickly. But I look at Sherod and see 3-4 year starter, potential all A-10 player his junior and senior year and I look at JJ, and see quality role player.
Don't want to come across as a downer, but when did we last lose a game on one of these international trips? And two of these games were relatively close. I'm not convinced that this is an NCAA tourney team, at the moment, it looks like a rebuilding year. But, there is still a lot of time before the season. I'm looking forward to the season, but I'll be watching it, game by game. I'm not going to get caught up with how many games, we need to win for this or that scenario. It's up to our players and coaches. And it seems very possible to me, that this team may be pressed to match last year's team's record.
spiderman, I hope I'm wrong as well. We lost a ton of talent from last year's team. We lose a lot of talent this year, as well. We need some frontcourt players. Rothstein predicted Grant Golden would start. The European trip suggests that is not going to be true. Last year, teams focused on Terry, and succeeded. You can bet that this year, they will focus on TJ. We need someone to support him at the 4/5 position.
Saying we lost a ton of talent from last years team is at best hyperbole. We lost one all league player in TA, but Deion and Trey had notable deficiencies and I suspect may not have been starters but for a lack of depth. I think it would be more accurate to say we lost a ton of experience, but I expect our talent is likely to be much better on the whole.
Rebuilding year? We were not good at all last year. A .500 or below year isn't a rebuilding year at this point. It's just who we are.
And talk of NCAA have no basis. They are based on hope and hope alone. We were not good last year and lost our best player. Thinking we rise all the way to NCAA team from bad team after losing TA (and others) just doesn't seem too likely and all that talk is based on freshman that virtually none of us have actually seen play a game (maybe we have seen some highlights) and who haven't played a single game yet of college basketball. I get you an hope it works out and are rooting for it etc. but any thoughts of NCAA are really just dreams. Dreams I hope come true, but still dreams.
And talk of NCAA have no basis. They are based on hope and hope alone. We were not good last year and lost our best player. Thinking we rise all the way to NCAA team from bad team after losing TA (and others) just doesn't seem too likely and all that talk is based on freshman that virtually none of us have actually seen play a game (maybe we have seen some highlights) and who haven't played a single game yet of college basketball. I get you an hope it works out and are rooting for it etc. but any thoughts of NCAA are really just dreams. Dreams I hope come true, but still dreams.
Your question had me wondering. So I checked back on the UR website to read up on the 2012 trip. It appears we won all our games on that trip, and I was treated to such gems as the video blog of stars Wayne Sparrow and Big Luke Piotrowski. We all know how that era of Spider basketball turned out.
Point being this is like NFL preseason. You cannot take much of anything from the results of these games. Is it nice to win, sure. But coaches are tinkering with lineups, ideas they have come up with during the off season, players are trying to mesh and feel each other out. We have no clue of the opposing teams talent, motivation, injuries, etc. I think it's best to take all of these results, positive and negative, with a grain of salt.
I think it is good that 2 of the games were very competitive. Let the freshmen play early and let's make a run in the 2nd half of the year. Doesn't sound hopeful, but I wonder if any chance Solly could be eligible this year?
That's close to my thought. Their opinion would bother me a lot more if I agreed with them. Since I don't, I will just wait...
This I think is correct. Sherod has showing so much more than Johnson without hte plus one year experiencwe. I am hoping the Sherod is given much time because we are only one injury away from the bad year if players on bench are sitting too ,much/ I very much like the freshman players ability .
The four seniors (Adoda included) crapped out on us last year. Davis was only one still trying in the end. Much better talent this year with tons more energy, effort and enthusiasm. Looking forward to cheering these guys on.
John's insightfull summaryof the trip: OSC
http://m.richmond.com/sports/article_5647cfd1-660e-576a-ace6-262232c87da0.html?mode=jqm
http://m.richmond.com/sports/article_5647cfd1-660e-576a-ace6-262232c87da0.html?mode=jqm
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