uneblinstu's postgame chatter: vol 14; ed 13 - vs. Kennesaw State

KenPom picked us to win by 12.  We beat that spread by 2.  So we might not drop in the rankings tonight.

Amazing what can happen when you make shots.  Really worried about defensive effort though.  If that doesn’t come around, this’ll be our last W.

Executed much better, and Fred was off stage right with a cane, ready to yank on the first bad joke. Team, minus Bryce - who was determined to show he should get to shoot and play whatever/however he wants - seemed to get the point. 
 

Verge and KT were good. 
 

My biggest issues were the ridiculously silly turnovers, a few individuals just getting shoved like JV players out of the way for rebounds, and a couple individuals just getting SMOKED by 1 on 1. BM was one of those individuals, consistently. Won’t cut it in B1G play. 

1 minute ago, hskr4life said:

 If that doesn’t come around, this’ll be our last W.

I could see our effort improving quite a bit and that still might be our last W. I see < 4 regardless. 

@basketballjones mentioned it but I wanted to expand here.  Alonzo had a very decent night tonight, and for all the hate he was receiving early in the season I think it's only fair for us to give him the shout out he deserves today.  Maybe he really is going to buy in to the team concept after all?

Much better offensive flow. I'm even going to call it enjoyable to watch. 

Outside of turnovers, Verge played great, and most of the turnovers were when he was trying to make the extra pass, so I'll live with them. When the ball moves, guys are in a better rhythm and shots go down.

Looked like threat of the bench -- and then actually using it -- worked. Very few bad shots in the first half. Fred was more lenient in the second half, so we'll see whether this was a one-time thing. I hope it wasn't.

Not sure this means we're going to beat Ohio St in 1 1/2 weeks -- Kennesaw is not good -- but it was nice to see NU actually playing like a team on offense.

Our KenPom ranking moved up one slot.  To #133.

Overall nothing crazy to take away. Thought they played mostly fine and hit shots when needed. No real gripes with anyone today. Get a week off and get ready for OSU on Sunday. 

NU is 0-5 when Verge leads the team in scoring and 6-2 when he doesn't.

Part of that is Verge shooting too much and not distributing enough in losses, and part of that is guys not cashing in their shots when they have the chance in losses, which makes Verge feel like he has to try to take over, etc, etc.

If we're going to have any shot to pick up some wins in conference play, the offense has to look more like it did tonight. Verge picking his spots to score but mostly setting up other guys. Then those guys have to hit shots, clearly. 

Too many silly mistakes by Verge.  He made it up for it with nice passing.  I felt like Hummel said, that Bryce's effort on the defensive end was better late in the 1st half.  The problem is he is not fundamentally sound on that end. He plays too upright.  This will lead to too many blow by's  My biggest worry with him is he had 2 awful 27 foot 3 pointers that went in.  Kind of scares me.

The biggest question I have is was Fred's pulling of players because we were playing Kennesaw State or do we continue sitting players when they take poor shots during the Big 10 season.  I really hope continues until they have the message driven into their heads.

Didn't it seem that Hoiberg stopped pulling guys at some point in the second half and that's part of the reason they clawed their way back within 12?

I get you don't want to run up the score on some poor team but Hoiberg becoming laissez faire just because we have a lead seems like the MO of a coach who won 20 games in 2+ years and probably won't win many more.

That out of the way it's amazing what a team of guys who can shoot look like when you try to limit their bad shots. It was nice watching a feel good game.

iCYMI

Ball movement was the best it's been all year.  It was great to see skip passes to wide open shooters.  "Passing up a good shot to create a great shot for a teammate" is a phrase we've heard all year to describe our opponents' offenses breaking down our defensive rotations.  Finally our boys were the ones executing the extra pass rather than settling for contested jumpers.

Defense and rebounding still mostly sucked though.

Baby steps.  The ball went in the basket, hopefully building confidence.

3 hours ago, hhcmatt said:

iCYMI

 

 

Glad she was able to do it.  She made numerous attempts earlier in the day. 

I've been either silent or critical, so it's only fair to give the appropriate kudos (with a few critiques as well):

Verge overall was good last night. Made plays to set up his teammates to a large degree. The turnovers are an issue. For the record, I never expected him to be Bob Cousy or anything even close. I did expect him to make at least 1 pass to a teammate rather than none at all in order to dribble around and force a contested lay up, which happened way too often in the previous 12 games. Last night was much, much better - I hope it continues because Verge can be good.

KT may not play the best defense but he gives his best effort most of the time. And he certainly enjoys playing the game.

Wilcher, Kobe, Walker, et al played with good energy until the midpoint of the 2nd half. They moved themselves and the ball pretty consistently. Bryce, not so much - simply not all that impressive to me on either end of the floor. Talent, no question. Skill, way underdeveloped.

I agree and it was noticeable that Fred stopped pulling guys for bad shots at some point in the 2nd half. I really hope he sticks with the threat of the bench - it seemed to make a difference in the 1st half.

Good win over a team they should have beaten just like they did. Hope it leads to better things in conference play. Wishing everyone a very Happy Holiday!

Rewatching the game on EspnU. One thing I noticed about Fred this game is alot of Mike Riley vibes  with similar mannerisms. As far as the game the ball movement was much better. 

11 hours ago, throwback said:

NU is 0-5 when Verge leads the team in scoring and 6-2 when he doesn't.

 

Part of that is Verge shooting too much and not distributing enough in losses, and part of that is guys not cashing in their shots when they have the chance in losses, which makes Verge feel like he has to try to take over, etc, etc.

 

If we're going to have any shot to pick up some wins in conference play, the offense has to look more like it did tonight. Verge picking his spots to score but mostly setting up other guys. Then those guys have to hit shots, clearly. 

 

The most points Alonzo Verge has scored in a win was 18 against Tennessee State.

11 hours ago, basketballjones said:

I understand you’re not completely saying this… but I think it’s pretty unfair to imply AV hadn’t bought into the team concept. Verge is the most vocal, energetic guy on the team - always hyping up his teammates and the first guy to high-five and celebrate with other guys. 
 

Dude is a “give me the ball and I’ll score or create” guy and has been his entire life. We brought him in at the last minute to play point guard, an unnatural position for him, and then just lambasted him when he wasn’t Bob Cousy. 

Unfair to imply AV hadn't bought into team concept; unfair to suggest we expected him to be Bob Cousy.

Listen, you remember in the open scrimmage when he tried to do the ol' shake-n-bake on Keisei? And Keisei stayed in front of him, Verge misses the shot, it goes to the other end and Keisei nails a trey? We didn't see that Alonzo Verge much last night, but we saw an awful lot of that Alonzo Verge in the many losses we've had before last night.

I don't have a problem when Verge has an open lane and explodes to the rim, even if it's in the first few seconds of a possession and there hasn't been any ball rotation. I mean, if it's there it's there. But what I have a problem with is when it's not there and he goes all Curly Neal trying to dribble the Washington Generals into submission before doing some circus shot at the backboard, which sometimes goes in and sometimes does not.

There were only a couple of times last night where I felt Alonzo forced a drive. There were a few other times where he exploded to the rim early in the shot clock and had an easy make because it was there.

Having him recognize when it's there and taking it versus when it's not and getting his teammates involved is a HUGE improvement and a significant development IMO.

I'm going to give him props for last night because he got his teammates involved and, as a result, guys were getting rhythm shots and, as a further result, they were making them.

This was the most successful non-con of the Hoiberg era (in terms of W/L)….and some of you think there hasn’t been progress! 

48 minutes ago, Norm Peterson said:

and he goes all Curly Neal trying to dribble the Washington Generals into submission

You certainly have a way with word craft @Norm Peterson!

We're shooting 49% from 3 vs teams with black jerseys and yellow trim. Hello Purdue and Iowa!