uneblinstu's Post Game Chatter: ed 8, vol 2 - Villanova

Our offense continues to look awful! Do we even run an offense out there. It seems like nothing ever comes easy! Just moving screens and driving and popping it out. Is it just me or is anyone else concerned about this?

--In short--

The Good:

-'Nova MIGHT be the best team we see all year.

-It was still a ballgame at the 2:00 mark in the 1st Half.

The Bad:

-Turnovers

-Offense in general.

-Leadership. This is Shavon's team. I know that he's kind of reached "can-do-no-wrong" status, but he really needs to take charge in being a vocal leader on this team. Every good team has one.

I think that award will probably go to Maryland, but they might be next in line.

That's why I emphasized the word 'might'

Watson is going to get shots, but I don't think 15 shots for him is going to win us games.  He needs to be more of a distributor.

I agree 15 shots is too many. But I'm more concerned with his percentages. He was 0-fer from three and 33% overall.  If he'd shot 40% from 3 tonight (2/5 instead of 0/4) he'd have finished with 18 pts on 7/15 shooting.  If he hits even 1 of those treys, he's 15 points on 40% shooting overall.  I'd be more than OK with that.

This is going to be the last word for me tonight.

 

Yeah, bad game, loss, lots of turnovers, etc.  But ...

 

I am extremely high on this freshman class.  By this time next year, I think they're going to be pretty damn good.

 

Watson is going to get shots, but I don't think 15 shots for him is going to win us games.  He needs to be more of a distributor.

I agree 15 shots is too many. But I'm more concerned with his percentages. He was 0-fer from three and 33% overall.  If he'd shot 40% from 3 tonight (2/5 instead of 0/4) he'd have finished with 18 pts on 7/15 shooting.  If he hits even 1 of those treys, he's 15 points on 40% shooting overall.  I'd be more than OK with that.

 

I think the key shot for him will be that floater in the lane.  If he can hit that shot consistently, it will draw that big man away from the rim, and lead to an easy dish and dunk to a teammate.  I do agree with you, his shot is way too flat.  He needs to work on some arc.

Tai takes two steps before he dribbles every single time he touches the ball.  Every time.  He's been doing it for 3 years now and every time he gets called for traveling he looks stunned as if he can't fathom why they would make that call.  This is simply unbelievable in two respects.  First, it is unfathomable that a div 1 college player still doesn't know what traveling is.  But second, it is unacceptable that this hasn't been corrected by now.  This is a coaching issue.  There is simply no way that he isn't doing the exact same thing in practice every single day.  There is no way he just "starts" unexpectedly traveling every time he touches the ball only on game days.  He is in his third year in this program.  What are they coaching?  From day 1 it was apparent this is a huge issue for Tai, and not only has it not been corrected, it is now even worse.  This means he must be allowed to do it in practice over and over without repercussion.  From day 1 as a freshman, he should have been running gassers every time he travels until he stops.  Have to address these things in practice or they will not suddenly correct themselves in games.

 

When Doc was here I used to go to a lot of his open practices.  I was stunned at how much he allowed fundamental errors and violations go completely uncorrected.  The players who constantly shuffled their feet in games constantly shuffled their feet in practice and nothing was said, nothing was done.  Players who would catch the ball standing on the line in games would catch the ball standing on the line in practice, over and over, and nothing was said or done about it.  And so on and so on.  It was like it didn't even happen.  They were too busy focusing on the set play or whatnot.  

 

Miles said they have been using refs in practice this year.  Well, they must not call traveling because Tai has not learned a thing in 3 years. Blows my mind really.  

We learned a heck of a lot more about this team getting our brains beat in than we would playing SWAC teams. This will give us the sort of tough love feedback a young team needs to get better. This is also the type of team that kills us (and a lot of people): a 3pt shooting, pressure team with a viable post presence. It's hard to pack against on D and we turn the ball over on O.

 

Benny and Tai combined for 10 turnovers. I was wondering what would happen when we we're pressured and there it was. I don't think Watson is quite where he needs to be on both ends of the court but he's your 3rd scorer and our best ball handler and thus should be starting. I'm not sure if he starts with Tai or with Parker because there are pros and cons to both....probably depends on the height of the other team.

 

Did we have any offensive fouls in this game? One way to win this game would have been to get Ochefu in foul trouble. Instead of shooting jumpers or trying to finesse stuff in the lane how about just trying to draw some contacts in front of refs given the go ahead to call those for the offense? 

 

Morrow and Hammond combined for 8 fouls. They're going to need to learn to manage against bigger players while simultaneously not fouling and not becoming human turnstiles.  

 

How do we get McVeigh onto the court more? What lineups make sense for him?

Tai takes two steps before he dribbles every single time he touches the ball. Every time. He's been doing it for 3 years now and every time he gets called for traveling he looks stunned as if he can't fathom why they would make that call. This is simply unbelievable in two respects. First, it is unfathomable that a div 1 college player still doesn't know what traveling is. But second, it is unacceptable that this hasn't been corrected by now. This is a coaching issue. There is simply no way that he isn't doing the exact same thing in practice every single day. There is no way he just "starts" unexpectedly traveling every time he touches the ball only on game days. He is in his third year in this program. What are they coaching? From day 1 it was apparent this is a huge issue for Tai, and not only has it not been corrected, it is now even worse. This means he must be allowed to do it in practice over and over without repercussion. From day 1 as a freshman, he should have been running gassers every time he travels until he stops. Have to address these things in practice or they will not suddenly correct themselves in games.

When Doc was here I used to go to a lot of his open practices. I was stunned at how much he allowed fundamental errors and violations go completely uncorrected. The players who constantly shuffled their feet in games constantly shuffled their feet in practice and nothing was said, nothing was done. Players who would catch the ball standing on the line in games would catch the ball standing on the line in practice, over and over, and nothing was said or done about it. And so on and so on. It was like it didn't even happen. They were too busy focusing on the set play or whatnot.

Miles said they have been using refs in practice this year. Well, they must not call traveling because Tai has not learned a thing in 3 years. Blows my mind really.

I don't think it's a coaching issue, Tai just isn't very good. If anything it's a recruiting issue, going into his 4th season Miles should have a better option at that position. The good news, Anton Gill is in Lincoln and looks to be someone who will start and be productive right away. The bad news, Tai still appears to be a major head case and we don't have very many other options at that position for this year.

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Not going to win too many games when you go on a seven minute scoring drought and the other team goes on a 20+ point run.

 

Huskers should have competed better tonight.  They lost control.

 

Three games until the next test.

I am fully aware of Tai's talent level. But even a third-grader can play without traveling every time he touches the ball. Doesn't take all-league talent to not travel. Johnny Trueblood doesn't travel every time he touches the ball.

Well, the stats Dimes posted show Webster, Parker and Hammond combined for 6 points and 13 TO in 63 minutes.

We can't afford to start these upperclassmen for long if that continues.

Points off turnovers were a major difference in this game. Villanova got 22 turnovers which gave them a 33 – 10 advantage in points off turnovers. That is virtually the difference in the final score.

If this many turnovers continue, these players need to stay closer to Miles during more of the game.

Overall, I saw both positives and negatives tonight. I fully expected the possibility of a 20-point loss, and that reality obviously materialized, largely due to the huge amount of turnovers, a ridiculous number of which were self inflicted.

 

Andrew White is obviously as advertised, and his shooting numbers through two games, particularly from 3-point range, suggest that we need to be working harder to free him up for shots, because, though the data set is admittedly small, his expectancy when he takes a shot represents the best ticket we have right now to putting points on the board. His 11 shots tonight in 30 minutes wasn’t enough. White is not a selfish player and hasn’t been “the man” since high school, but he needs to be taking more shots.

 

Another guy who needs to be taking more shots is Jack McVeigh. Again, the data set is small, but I find his early success shooting from outside to be extremely encouraging, especially when you can see that his mechanics are very smooth and that, when he misses, he doesn’t miss by much. Jack is going to drop some daggers on teams this year and he’s fully capable of going off for 20+ if he’s having a hot night.

 

McVeigh’s basketball IQ is extremely high, and his court vision is really outstanding. He has an instinctive feel for being where he needs to be to put in misses by teammates, and though he’s not explosive or a great defender, his length does impact the game. Overall, I just feel that Jack has to be getting more minutes and more shots. He seems to thrive on the big stage and is not intimidated. The upside for him is huge in my opinion.

 

Glynn Watson grew up just a little bit tonight. He seemed less timid, more in control, more confident, and was generally not shy about taking shots. I agree with others that the arc on his shot is a problem, but they may not want to tinker with it until the offseason. Overall, though, from the floaters in the lane to the outside jumpers, I saw a guy who could potentially do a lot of scoring over the next few years. He’s a real talent, and I really believe Phil Beckner is going to turn him into a monster in the B1G. It won’t surprise me one bit if Watson is considered to be the top PG in the B1G in 2-3 years. His ball handling skills are already the best on the team, and I feel he should be playing a lot more than Parker.

 

Shavon played very well tonight and is off to a good start. He’s shooting the ball better this year and is playing more or less the way he did two years ago. Hopefully he can keep it up.

 

I thought Ed Morrow played very well despite being physically overmatched by Nova’s center. Ed is remarkably athletic and really has a feel for the game. He does need to work on cutting down on fouls, but the reality is that, given his physical stature and the match-ups he’s being given, fouls are going to happen. I’d like to see him in the starting line-up.

 

I continue to like the development of Michael Jacobson. He’s not as big or strong as he needs to be, but he has a good feel for the game, can shoot from outside, can hit free throws and seems to do a lot of things well. I feel he has a really bright future. He’s a guy who will help this team win a lot of games in the years to come.

 

Jake Hammond continues to be a mixed bag. On the one hand, he’s shown the ability to score points around the basket. However, he’s still not nearly as big or strong as he needs to be to anchor down against centers like the one he faced tonight, and he was really overmatched when he was in the game, both physically and athletically. I’m not giving up on Hammond long-term, but physically he’s just not there yet, and his game needs a lot of work before he could be expected to compete against the caliber of player he faced tonight.

 

Obviously, Tai Webster had a rough night. We learned a lot of very positive things tonight in my opinion, but I fear that one of the negative things we learned is that Tai is essentially the same player he was last year, and the year before. Particularly infuriating is his propensity to travel, which is inexcusable, tremendously costly to the team, and an issue that has plagued him for three years now.

 

I currently feel that Tai should have his minutes cut down substantially, as they were last year, so that other players who are simply playing at a higher level can see more playing time. Tai continues to be a turnover machine, and his shooting is just as bad as ever. That’s a bad combination, and his dribble-drive game was virtually non-existent tonight as well.

 

Benny Parker had an equally rough outing and struggled even to maintain his footing on the court. Though Benny is always a ferocious defender, he’s not a skilled ball distributor with superior court vision, and he turned the ball over too much tonight. To me, it’s time for Benny to return to the role he had two years ago, where he provided a spark off the bench. It’s time to roll with Watson.

 

My opinion on Nick Fuller has not changed. He simply doesn’t bring enough positives to the game to justify playing substantial minutes. I’d rather see both Jack McVeigh and Michael Jacobson on the court over Nick. He’s a player who I feel could get a lot of playing time at a lower-tier program, but it’s hard to justify more minutes than he got tonight, which was only three per half. That seems about right to me.

 

Tonight was disappointing, but I feel there are a lot of teachable lessons here that will help this team continue to develop in the right direction. This Nebraska team is not a great team, and it has its deficiencies, but mark it down—this group will cause some problems for B1G opponents this year, and there will be some upset victories along the way. I really believe that. It’s going to be a fun team to watch, but I really feel it’s time to roll with the young guys aside from White and Shields, and let Webster and Parker play reduced roles moving forward. 

- Three of our five starters laid eggs tonight. 

- Freshmen did well.

- White played well.

- Shavon played well.

- Defense did well first fifteen minutes and then imploded.

- Need to become more consistent on the offensive end.

- Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers.  Sheesh.

- We thought we would struggle with interior defense and rebounding.  Those warts were exposed.

The lack of a big was evident last night.  Hammonds looked ling a gangly freshman in high school compared to Villanova's big guy.  Jacobson and Morrow need another year in the weight room as they also go moved around.

 

As CWG said turnovers were killer.  The assist to turnover ratio was 3:1 for them and 0.4:1 for us

 

We still need shooters, White looks to be the real deal and Shields is good 15 feet in.  McVeigh can stroke it but will struggle to create his own shoot vs quick teams.  Outside of that clank city from outside.

 

Morrow impressed with his rebounding but dang I wish he was a couple inches taller.

 

Love Watson's confidence, think with some experience he will be a good one.  Needs a wee bit of arch on his shot.

Hooper says this above: "Glynn Watson grew up just a little bit tonight."

This observation applies to all the freshmen and is, in my judgement, the key observation and reasons for high expectations for the future of this season and these young players.

What I saw last night during the final eight minutes is an athletic and confident and proficient Watson at the point (let's give him some shot-tutorial time with Norm to imorove the arc), a high IQ McVeigh, and a wonderful talent in White. And that's from first-time guys in a hostile environment. Especially from Watson, I saw great improvement over this season's games already and prospects for better-than -advertised results in the future.

Swan if I came across as down on Watson I am not.  The arch comment was just a general observation.  I really like what I have seen of Morrow, Watson and McVeigh.  I think with another year in the weight room Morrow AND Jacobson will give us some beef down low.

 

I have to say I also like what I have seen with Trueblood (albeit in mop up time) - he has a ton of confidence too.

Dimes hit the nail on the head for me.  This "beating" was much better than playing a SWAC team.  It gives the guys a great teaching moment.  You now know how hard you have to play for 40 minutes against good teams, which we will see in the B10. 

 

Nova has won 28 games in a row on that court.  A LOT of them turn into blowouts.  If they get hot (which they did for a couple stretches) they are damn good. 

 

The disappointing thing which has been discussed was the turnovers.  A lot of them were self inflicted.  This is a great game to learn from for our entire team.  One thing I would like to see with Tai in particular is that when he does get into the lane, he needs to find the shooters.  So many times he would go in, draw two-three defenders and just throw up a tough shot.  We had shooters in the corner, kick it to them.  I know people are down on Tai.  I still think IF  he can learn to kick the ball out, he can help us.  If no help comes, finish at the rim.  If it does, kick that bad boy out.

 

Morrow is going to be good.  What I loved was the look in his eyes.  He wasn't backing down.  He has some "ba$$s"

 

Watson will be very good as well. 

 

I still think this team is going to surprise people.  I really do.  I think our defense will only get better as the year goes on.  Hell, even some of the Nova shots they made were very contested.  Nova is a good, good basketball team.  Picked by many to make a big run this year.  I know they always tend to choke in March, but they have won the Big East the last 2 seasons for a reason. 

 

We have 3 games now that we should obviously win.  Use this time to find the right rotations and work on things. 

 

I like this team a lot.  They will make us pull our hair out at times, but I also think they will be a FUN team to watch.  These freshman will be damn good when its all said and done.

Villanova--in that gym--is the best team we'll play this year, in my opinion.  That's their, what, 28th straight home win?  That's an extremely well-coached and talented team who will destroy the Big East and probably end up with a 1 seed again.  

 

It's really hard to gauge this game, but I actually came away pretty encouraged by our talent.  

 

We lost this game because of dumb turnovers.  We'll get better on that front.  I think Villanova was an absolute model team for what sort of intensity it takes to be really good on every possession.  They kept their intensity steady while ours fizzled out.

 

Outside of White, the ones who really, really, fought were the freshmen.  I think the starting rotation needs to be shaken up.  

Dimes hit the nail on the head for me.  This "beating" was much better than playing a SWAC team.  It gives the guys a great teaching moment.  You now know how hard you have to play for 40 minutes against good teams, which we will see in the B10. 

 

Nova has won 28 games in a row on that court.  A LOT of them turn into blowouts.  If they get hot (which they did for a couple stretches) they are damn good. 

 

The disappointing thing which has been discussed was the turnovers.  A lot of them were self inflicted.  This is a great game to learn from for our entire team.  One thing I would like to see with Tai in particular is that when he does get into the lane, he needs to find the shooters.  So many times he would go in, draw two-three defenders and just throw up a tough shot.  We had shooters in the corner, kick it to them.  I know people are down on Tai.  I still think IF  he can learn to kick the ball out, he can help us.  If no help comes, finish at the rim.  If it does, kick that bad boy out.

 

Morrow is going to be good.  What I loved was the look in his eyes.  He wasn't backing down.  He has some "ba$$s"

 

Watson will be very good as well. 

 

I still think this team is going to surprise people.  I really do.  I think our defense will only get better as the year goes on.  Hell, even some of the Nova shots they made were very contested.  Nova is a good, good basketball team.  Picked by many to make a big run this year.  I know they always tend to choke in March, but they have won the Big East the last 2 seasons for a reason. 

 

We have 3 games now that we should obviously win.  Use this time to find the right rotations and work on things. 

 

I like this team a lot.  They will make us pull our hair out at times, but I also think they will be a FUN team to watch.  These freshman will be damn good when its all said and done.

 

+1.  IMO this loss is much better than beating a Miss Valley St type team.  Albeit we got spanked after the 15 minutes in, the team and youngsters are now battle tested and have plenty of things to work on.  And as you said, alot of our mistakes were just brain farts that can be corrected.  Like, forgetting how to pass the ball in bounds. 

I believe it is Tom Izzo who says it is good for your team to get it's brains beat out early in the year so that they know what to do later. If we get better because of what happened last night, it was very well worth it.

And I'm going to throw this out about Tai, could it be that he has played international rules basketball all his life which is like the NBA where you get that "extra" step at first. Not trying to make excuses for Tai. Just wondering out loud if that could be some of the problem. Did he get called for it much on our Spain trip?

We will still win more games than we will lose, barring injury. As always I like this team and will not have a problem cheering for them.

I like this team a lot.  They will make us pull our hair out at times, but I also think they will be a FUN team to watch.  These freshman will be damn good when its all said and done.

 

We are going to pull out our hair a lot with this team. Hopefully the end result isn't a bad comb-over. 

While i agree Tai should not be starting, we cant take him out of the top 8, we dont have anyone to replace him for defense, we can give more min to Glynn, but we cant burn him out, We cant give more min to benny because...well its also the same result, White and Shields are quite quick enough to defend the calibar of 2's were gna see for extended min, Bakari is to young, and i wasn't impressed enough with what ive seen of him to qualify him as a top 8 rotational player yet, and if anyone says Trueblood im walking out of this forum..

 

Tai is not a starter and is not going to get you points consistently or at all many nights, but we have him coming off the bench to provide min for his defense and length. We simply dont have the guard talent this season to bench him and go with the next man up. 

Positives

 

- We athletically belonged in that game, and saw a lot to build off of

- Our Freshman are not only going to be good, they are 3 of our 5 best players

- The 1st 10 minutes of the ball game we looked like the better team

- Morrow is a legitimate post player, but not a 5

 

 

Negatives

 

- Tai Webster can not control his body at all, and should not be given 25 minutes.  He needs to come in, only in defensive situations.  6 turnovers... no way is that deserving of a starting role

- Lack of a legitimate 5 is going to bite us in the A$$ all year, 

- During that 22-0 run they had White was out for 85% of it, that is the only thing I will put on Miles in this game

- Energy.. they became sluggish after the 1st 10 minutes each half, and that is when Nova took over the game.  Have them in better condition

 

Neutral

 

- Watson is good, but I prefer he takes 10 shots instead of 15. He needs to distribute a little more, he is our best option no doubt.

- McVeigh has potential, but on the defensive side I'm not seeing it... definitely deserves time and he is one of our better scorers

- Our Rotation... In order to win he is going to have to hurt some feelings.  Benny/Tai/Fuller/Hammond get 35 minutes  10/5/10/10

And I'm going to throw this out about Tai, could it be that he has played international rules basketball all his life which is like the NBA where you get that "extra" step at first. Not trying to make excuses for Tai. Just wondering out loud if that could be some of the problem.

International basketball does not let guys take a step (or two) without dribbling either.  You can rebound directly off of the rim, but you still can't travel.

if anyone says Trueblood im walking out of this forum..

 

 

True . . . dat.