uneblinst's postgame chatter: vol 16; ed 7 - Cal State Fullerton

On 11/27/2023 at 6:08 PM, roscoe said:

And our next opponent has only committed 59 fouls through 6 games. 32 of those coming in 2 games. 

And speaking of reffing "Chuckie the referee", that's what the guy across the aisle called him after he walked by, was at the game. John Higgins was sitting about 6 rows behind me. 

He actually came down and sat right by the pep band just before the first half. Then at halftime he went down and into the tunnel with the refs. I wonder if he was there in some official capacity? Didn’t have credentials on but the ushers and security seemed to know who he was and he walked right in w the refs 

34 minutes ago, Faux Mike Peltz said:

He actually came down and sat right by the pep band just before the first half. Then at halftime he went down and into the tunnel with the refs. I wonder if he was there in some official capacity? Didn’t have credentials on but the ushers and security seemed to know who he was and he walked right in w the refs 

Good eye. Looks like he has retired from on the court reffing - https://www.aseaofblue.com/2023/5/23/23733843/john-higgins-retires-on-court-officiating

6 minutes ago, hhcmatt said:

 

Good eye. Looks like he has retired from on the court reffing - https://www.aseaofblue.com/2023/5/23/23733843/john-higgins-retires-on-court-officiating

Would make sense if he was scouting that group as I don’t remember seeing any of them prior to Sunday.

Our big lull in this game came when Boogie-CJ-Brice were on the court together as 1-2-3. We scored 4 points in 6 minutes during that stretch in the second half. This also happened against Rider. Fortunately they didn't give up 10 points in a minute to Fullerton like they did to Rider. It just doesn't make sense to have these three on the court together if you don't have to. All three really lack an ability to move laterally. Brice is pretty explosive vertically and has good straight line speed, but is slow laterally. CJ and Boogie have none of the above. So they all struggle to stay in front of smaller, quicker guards and wings. They all have their strengths offensively, but they are the three players on the team who at times will dribble into a crowd and cough it up or get their shot blocked. I'm in agreement with Hoiberg that a guard getting their shot blocked by a big is as good as a turnover. 

Against Creighton, we cannot afford to 1. give up a big run, or 2. waste possessions with avoidable turnovers or dribbling into Kalkbrenner. We need to go at Kalkbrenner physically with Mast and Allick, like we did last year with Walker and like Iowa did a couple weeks ago with Krikke. He has a pretty good feel for avoiding contact and blocking smaller player's shots. But if you take the fight to him with stronger, more physical players he's pretty soft. We haven't faced a real frontcourt yet this year. It'll be interesting to see how we handle it. 

Has 12 assists and 0 turnovers in the last 3 games

Jamarcus has really turned the corner as a PG.  Early on he was struggling with the role and it makes me wonder if that spilled over into his shooting.  His passing has improved significantly the last 3 games.  I am glad we have had a relatively easy schedule to give him time to adjust to his new role.  It will be interesting to see how he looks by seasons end.

I'm going to chalk up some of the funky lineups to experimentation by Hoiberg & Co. They likely wanted to see how dudes responded when different lineups were made, I have no issue with finding out when the bullets are live. Practice tells you only so much, because you're still practicing against your own squad, so some guys know their own tendencies better than an opponent might. Going forward, I doubt we will see Boogie, Brice, & C.J. on the court at the same time against CU. Boogie needs to figure out when to penetrate the lane, and when to swing it around the perimeter. He seems to make a lot of questionable decisions when pressured.

Quite frankly, this next 4 game stretch will be telling. Rotations will become more set & the rotation may start to exclude certain dudes all together. In some instances, I doubt Sam Hoiberg will see much time unless we have a big lineup around him, as opponents have been able to anticipate some of his moves that Sammy got away with last season when nobody knew his game. I hope these next 4 go well, a lot of post-season expectation may be riding on outcomes in this 4-game stretch as well as the early Jan. 4-game stretch. It's due to die, as far as how far NU can go that depend on how this team responds to some level of adversity. And, yes, knowing they haven't lost yet... 

Counter-point.  

I do not see much if any change in our rotation in the foreseeable future.  Coach has stuck with the nine player group and it has gotten us where we are at today. 

Clearly Lawrence and Boogie are the point guards.  Keisei and Sam are the shooting guards and Bryce, Josiah, Reink, Gary and CJ are forming the  3,4,5 rotation.  Sam and Josiah are the high octane energy players and they seem to stimulate the others.

Why change?

This group seems to understand the offense, transition game and defense.  Weaknesses exist; but no more so for one, over another.

Finally, what is cool to see is that Jamarques is our primary ball handler; BUT, all of this grouping can, will and has handled the ball at various points in each game.

Again, why change?

Forgot to bring up that when JL was in the locker room we finally had a lineup that didn't included JL or Boogie.

For 5 possessions we had Hoiberg, Wilcher, Williams, Gary, and Allick.  I'd assume that in this instance, Hoiberg was the point guard.  There were no assists from anyone during this time. 

48 minutes ago, hhcmatt said:

Forgot to bring up that when JL was in the locker room we finally had a lineup that didn't included JL or Boogie.

 

For 5 possessions we had Hoiberg, Wilcher, Williams, Gary, and Allick.  I'd assume that in this instance, Hoiberg was the point guard.  There were no assists from anyone during this time. 

I believe Williams brought it up in that stretch but can’t remember for sure.