Cougs SC
- Thread starter kougkurt
- Start date
SC has had some shots rim out but best defense of the year. Need to clean up the turnovers especially of the unforced variety.
Noah seemed disinterested even in warmups. Kyle subbed for him quite early in the first half. Put him back in when Roberts got in foul trouble. Then got on him in the second half, not sure why, and sat him. Noah sat there and pouted for a while. The only time he seemed engaged was when he was guarding Drew Peterson and the last couple of minutes. Roberts contributed nothing. Between him and Noah they were 0-7 from 3, Roberts was 0-7 for the game. He's supposed to be a big time scorer but he hasn't impressed me for at least the last 3 games. We gave USC all they wanted but if either of two had stepped up we'd have won.
Guards need to pound the ball inside and relocate. Play inside out and they'll get better looks.
Too many missed opportunities with mismatches inside. The guards simply refused to give the big guys touches.
Williams and Roberts a combine 4-21 from the field turns into 8-17 if they'd just chuck the ball inside. Abogidi and Gueye combine for 5-9 - they should be getting way more shot attempts than that.
Too many missed opportunities with mismatches inside. The guards simply refused to give the big guys touches.
Williams and Roberts a combine 4-21 from the field turns into 8-17 if they'd just chuck the ball inside. Abogidi and Gueye combine for 5-9 - they should be getting way more shot attempts than that.
Not at all sure why the staff doesn't seem to understand and make some half-time adjustments. Clearly Roberts was not doing the job in the first half and yet Coach Smith starts him in the second, and a mystery why he was in the last minute as well.
Noah clearly is in a funk, which is not good and something that they need to solve.
Like many on this team Jefferson Koulibaly has yet to live up to all the crazy hype surrounding them. It is clear he and Efe and Gueye have the physical tools to be good players if not elite level players but are just not there at the present moment.
Koulibaly imo is still trying to figure out the speed/pace of the game at this level. Remember he didn’t play last year. He is turning the ball over way to much and his open court defense almost always comes with a foul.
Gueye is a freshmen big who theoretically could be a high school sr being thrown in to D-1 ball as a starter. Growing pains are to be expected.
Efe imo seems to struggle with basketball IQ issues. This is not unusual in players who have always been able to use their athleticism to make up for positioning and rotation mistakes. Against ASU there was at least twice he appeared to be lost so he went and set a screen for the guy taking the ball out of bounds as if that player could use the screen to drive. Setting a a screen for the passer on an out of bounds play is “americas play” everybody does it but not till after he passes the ball.
All and all we played a very good game against a very good team and came out just short. I know patience is hard to come by in this day and age but there is a reason it is called a virtue. So far Smith’s teams have played better at the end of the year than at the beginning so I doubt that will change. All the pieces are there now to make the tournament and once we are in i’m confident coach will make sure we are a “tough out”.
Koulibaly imo is still trying to figure out the speed/pace of the game at this level. Remember he didn’t play last year. He is turning the ball over way to much and his open court defense almost always comes with a foul.
Gueye is a freshmen big who theoretically could be a high school sr being thrown in to D-1 ball as a starter. Growing pains are to be expected.
Efe imo seems to struggle with basketball IQ issues. This is not unusual in players who have always been able to use their athleticism to make up for positioning and rotation mistakes. Against ASU there was at least twice he appeared to be lost so he went and set a screen for the guy taking the ball out of bounds as if that player could use the screen to drive. Setting a a screen for the passer on an out of bounds play is “americas play” everybody does it but not till after he passes the ball.
All and all we played a very good game against a very good team and came out just short. I know patience is hard to come by in this day and age but there is a reason it is called a virtue. So far Smith’s teams have played better at the end of the year than at the beginning so I doubt that will change. All the pieces are there now to make the tournament and once we are in i’m confident coach will make sure we are a “tough out”.
Actually DJ has really good post moves and a nice hook.
He doesn't use it nearly enough, and the guards haven't been feeding him the ball, and DJ hasn't done as good against smaller FASTER forwards, and because of that hasn't gotten as much playing time against teams with Smaller, FASTER forwards.
When DJ goes up vs teams like USC, with bigger bigs, and if the guards start feeding him, he DJ will probably start showing off his post moves, and Hook shot, that are good.
