GhostOfJoeMcCray

True. Sam being a team-high +22 while scoring 2 points and going 1-4 is really just incredible if you think about it. Really hope his 3 ball starts falling soon. At some point it has to...

If you had told me Rollie Worster and Juwan Gary ranked 2 and 3 on the team in 3pt percentage through three games, I'd have said holy crap we are having an amazing start. There are 4 or 5 players I expected to (and still do expect) to shoot better than them.

Decided to make this its own thread and I'll add updates after every game. I like tracking +/- because, although not perfect, I think it's a great way to see who impacts winning. And Fred mentions it often so I know the staff values it to some degree. One thing to keep in mind is offense for defense substitutions can skew things. For example, Sam Hoiberg (defense) for Connor Essegian (offense) late in games would only mean Hoiberg has potential to decrease while Essegian only has potential to increase, which isn't totally fair to Hoiberg. But overall throughout the course of a season, I think it can be telling. We're already seeing how valuable Juwan Gary and Rollie Worster are, which was expected. Perhaps unexpected is Berke's impact through 3 games. +/- vs. FDU Hoiberg +22 Griffiths +19 Ulis +14 Berke +12 Jacobsen +12 Gary +12 Williams +10 Worster +7 Essegian +5 Burt +5 Grace +5 Morgan +3 Season +/- (Team +51) Berke +45 Gary +38 Worster +37 Griffiths +30 Essegian +23 Morgan +17 Hoiberg +16 Williams +16 Jacobsen +12 Ulis +9 Grace +5 Burt +5 Meah +2

+/- vs. FDU Hoiberg +22 Griffiths +19 Ulis +14 Berke +12 Jacobsen +12 Gary +12 Williams +10 Worster +7 Essegian +5 Burt +5 Grace +5 Morgan +3 Season +/- (Team +51) Berke +45 Gary +38 Worster +37 Griffiths +30 Essegian +23 Morgan +17 Hoiberg +16 Williams +16 Jacobsen +12 Ulis +9 Grace +5 Burt +5 Meah +2

Maybe it was the no beard allowing us to see more of his face, but Brice had great body language last night and was a great teammate and giving out high fives, all despite going 2-9 and scoring only 10 points. So I want to give credit where it's due. He looked to play like a team leader last night even though he didn't shoot it great. Also at the end when Burt and Grace scored, Brice was one of the most excited guys on the bench for them.

I'm with you, I don't feel good about it at all either. FDU lost to Miami by 41 and to Creighton by 26. We need to "get right" this game, or we'll go into Sioux Falls with very little confidence. That said, perhaps this is a team that will play up or down to its competition.

We also had an exhibition, a closed game against Utah, and a public intrasquad scrimmage. So technically 6 game-like situations. If the guys aren't ready to play St. Mary's in Sioux Falls, that's on us. Most Big Ten teams will have tested themselves by 4 or 5 games into the season. Wednesday is the time for the staff to actually implement the changes they see need to be made, in my opinion. Our starting group led 8-6 against UTRGV at the first media timeout and trailed 4-8 against B-C at the first media timeout. If we have 10 guys playing 10+ minutes once again, it either means we've won by 40, or the coaches truly don't know what they want to do. Because you can't sit there and say we've got 10 guys that can really play and can contribute, but then also only beat Bethune-Cookman at home by 5 and lead UTRGV at home by 4 with 5 minutes left.

Not to beat a dead horse, but I was curious so I looked. Washington (a very average team) had the following numbers in Meah's two years there: D efficiency ranked 71 and 97. 2pt FG% D ranked 95 and 152. What's my perhaps overly simplistic point? I'm not sure having a 7-1 rim protector really matters all that much, especially if it means A) other guys don't think they need to give that extra bit of effort because a "rim protector" will take care of it. And B) said rim protector can't score or keep up with a fast-paced offense.

+/- from Bethune Cookman: Worster +9 Morgan +8 Berke +8 Griffiths +7 Essegian +3 Gary 0 Hoiberg -1 Williams -2 Meah -3 Ulis -4 Total through 2 games: Worster +30 Berke +29 Gary +26 Essegian +18 Morgan +14 Griffiths +11 Williams +6 Meah +2 Ulis -5 Hoiberg -6 Seems like the staff is way over-complicating this. Your top 7 are your top 7.

We basically try to win the tip with him and get an easy basket with him on the first possession. We won the tip the exhibition game, Meah got a dunk. We won the tip the first game, Meah got fouled and missed both free throws. We lost the tip the second game.

We basically just typed the exact same thing at the same time.

Meah wasn’t bad last night. But I don’t understand Fred’s infatuation with him. “I’ve never had a player like him before at any level.” Yes and you’ve also had really good offenses most of the time and last year’s team was no slouch defensively at all, we were the #1 defense in the country in February with a hobbling Mast and one guard who had no interest in defense and another who tried but didn’t know what he was doing. Meah kills the offensive flow, he can’t get up and down the floor, he has fewer rebounds than our point guard, and he has blocked 1 shot and has 0 steals. I really don’t understand. It seems like we are just trying to force this to happen. Play like last year! Honestly I would like to see us start Brice, Connor, Juwan, Gavin, Berke. Bring Rollie, Morgan, Sam off the bench and Meah and Ulis in case of foul trouble or injuries. We need a better scoring starting lineup to start games. Right now we are starting basically one guy (Brice) who is a scoring threat from 3.

UTRGV was awful last year. This first year head coach Kahil Fennell will be a name to keep an eye on in the future.

UTRGV is 6-10 from 3 and 2-9 on twos

Essegian's 7-0 run in 42 seconds felt vaguely familiar.