Exhibition Game Sunday - St Martins
- Thread starter CougDave
- Start date
Surprised to see the score from the UW game but they are in transition. I don't care other than to position what to expect in our game. St. Martin's can obviously shoot the 3 and that can equalize things. Wish I could get a look but I guess there will be some highlight.
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I really do not know what to expect from the first game.. But i expect another sweep of the mutts this year.
I like the athleticism, but am concerned about our shooting. Flynn can shoot. Daniels and Franks have good strokes and I think they will shoot well. After that I am concerned. Twice I have asked a WSU coach over the years if a kid was a good shooter. Both times they told me he was a scorer. The two players were Woolridge and Corkrum. Neither could shoot much. Coach es didn't lie because they were scorers to some degree. The things I hear about Hinson and Acquaah sound like they are more scorers than shooters.
Interesting . In Kent s video he said that he expects the cougs to be one of the better 3 point shooting teams in the conference. Hyberbole or confidence?
I looked at the score card for the mutts game. The mutts out rebounded St Martins 38-35 . they also outscored them from the free throw line 30-13. They took 16 more free throws than the visitors.They trailed until late in the game. it seems like they played a zone defense for much of the game.It will be interesting to see how the cougs do
Hinson in the twitter video introduction says his best attribute is 3-point shooting. In a brandx article Kent said he's a "back to the basket" player. Never seen a "back to the basket 3-point" shot other than maybe Curry so a bit interesting how each describe things.
Skaggs was brought in for a reason. We really need Franks to improve his consistency on his outside shooting and just overall as a player. I'm not sure whether he's really that guy like a Hawkinson that can consistently score inside/out. You brought up Corkrum in terms of shooting but Corkrum or maybe Slotemaker might be comparison points for Franks. Guys who show flashes but just don't get to the point of being consistent producers for whatever reason. Franks is a junior so it's time he steps it up if he is going to.
Woolridge had one of the more awkward shots we have seen over the years from a guard. Keith Morrison was pretty awkward and Anthony Kidd was a brick layer. As long as Aquaah's starting point is better there's some hope I guess but he does seem more scorer vs. shooter.
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That's the only comparison point I'm making. I doubt any of use will forget Corkrum's game against Stanford/Adam Keefe. You want to see the "light" stay on but sometimes it's just not in the cards.
Milan shot 43% from 3 pt land as a HS senior and averaged 22.9 pts per game. If he can approach those shooting percentage,the cougs will have another good 3 pt shooter.Milan at 6'3 195 is bigger than last years guards
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Kwintin Hinson shot 37.1 % from 3 pt land as a HS senior. He shot 36.4% during his last juco year/ With Hinson and Skaggs they have a lot more size that they had last with the two small SG s Hopefully they will have far more consistent shooting than last year.
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Those are all good numbers. I saw clips of Skaggs and he does have a nice stroke. Hope they all translate. Looks like they can put 3 or 4 shooters on the floor.
Percentages weren't so bad last year but we needed 2 or 3 guys who were a threat to knock down 4 or 5 in a game
Percentages weren't so bad last year but we needed 2 or 3 guys who were a threat to knock down 4 or 5 in a game
The biggest problem last year was consistency. The other problem was "having 2 point guards " at the same time. The only problem with that was that one point guard was a like a vortex where the ball would disappear at many times, until a mad dash to the basket or a three point shot would be taken There was not a consistent rhythm or flow to the team. It made for frustration and a lack of communication and team cohesiveness.Perhaps with younger ,better assistant coaches ,there will be a better team effort and defense. Defense is effort and communication for a large part.
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Aaron Baynes had great physical ability and he has improved tremendously since he has been in the pros.The good coaches can bring out the individual best in players and through hard practices get them to work with great effort to play collectively as a team, The players have to respect and trust the coaches for this to happen I do not believe that last years assistant coaches had this trust. So far,I like what i have seen and heard from the new coaches I guess that we will see tonight if they are coming together as a team.
Not going to rag on a good kid, but another really big problem was the one dimensional post play. Clifford had no inside out game. We had almost as many turnovers as points in the paint from working the ball inside in our bad games. Too many possessions where the ball went in and Clifford had to dribble several times instead of going up or kicking it out.
Well avabob ,it looks like snow is forecast all day today. So i guess we will have to rely on others to report back.One thing i want to see if the cougs have a lock down defender. Last year when Ike concentrated on defense ,he would be that guy at times. This year it remains to be seen if one of the guards will be able to do that consistently. Also if Milan can drive the basket and dish off to an inside man or flip back out to a shooter,the offense will look smoother .
Day 1, first exhibition so I'm keeping an open mind. Really think Acqaah is going to be a good one and would like to have both "PGs" on the floor together to build chemistry. I like the potential of Flynn/Acquaah playing together. Sounds like they are going to play more on their own though. It will help that Acqaah has been in the program for a year but he's still a redshirt freshman.
We need a couple "defensive stoppers" and really to defend as a team. I'm hoping Haskins can bring that to the program. I believe he was known as a defensive coach on the high school level. No idea how that will translate and probably a learning curve but we need to be that kind of team where everyone is on the same page on defense.
We need a couple "defensive stoppers" and really to defend as a team. I'm hoping Haskins can bring that to the program. I believe he was known as a defensive coach on the high school level. No idea how that will translate and probably a learning curve but we need to be that kind of team where everyone is on the same page on defense.
Made it down. Roads were fine but bumper to bumper traffic out if Pullman to Colfax. Ugly first half. Cougs trail 44-41. Abysmal shooting the first 15 minutes. Sloppy passing in the half court lead to 4 bad turnovers.
On the brighter side Acquaah is the real deal. Easily our fastest guy in the open court, and he has the body control going to the hoop that Ike lacked. 12 points and a couple of steals. He has the ability to be a disruptive defender. As for his shot, its kind of ugly. Cocks it back behind his head and reminds me of a mouse trap closing. Franks bricked his first three shots but ended up with 15 and 5 boards as he and Acquaah lead a late charge that wiped out a 13 point deficit.
More later
On the brighter side Acquaah is the real deal. Easily our fastest guy in the open court, and he has the body control going to the hoop that Ike lacked. 12 points and a couple of steals. He has the ability to be a disruptive defender. As for his shot, its kind of ugly. Cocks it back behind his head and reminds me of a mouse trap closing. Franks bricked his first three shots but ended up with 15 and 5 boards as he and Acquaah lead a late charge that wiped out a 13 point deficit.
More later
Just saw on Pac 12 network scroll we were up 8 with 5 minutes to play. Glad we held on.
About what I expected from Acquaah. Excited about him moving forward in the backcourt. Look forward to your and others observations.
About what I expected from Acquaah. Excited about him moving forward in the backcourt. Look forward to your and others observations.
I hope that Acquaah is fine. When Berstein and Cooper get healthy this looks like a potentially solid team The cougs did better than the mutts did which is encouraging with two of the bigger players out.Look for another sweep of the mutts and a blow to SDC.When is the next game?
Final was something like 85-74. We had a comfortable lead much of the second half. Held St Martins to 6 points the first 10 minutes. The cut it to 75-70 with about 3 minutes to go but Daniels knocked down a three and they never got closer. Surprised Pollard had 11 boards. He worked his tail off out there but it seemed like St M got a ton of offensive rebounds.
Acquaah was almost unstoppable going to the hoop. He is probably better with the ball in his hands, but so is Flynn. Hinson has a chance to be a good one too, but needs to get the JC out of his system. He has a nice looking 3 point shot.
Skaggs played quite a bit the first half. He is slooooow. Probably explains a lot about lack of recruitment. He can shoot pretty well, but is going to be very situational. Chidum isn't ready to be much of a contributor, but I still like his upside. Ergas didn't play. Must be dinged up because the walk on Shpreyregin got minutes.
Langston played quite a few minutes and looked pretty decent.
Best lineup by conference could be Franks, Acquaah, Flynn, Hinson and Bernstein.
Bottom line we need Bernstein bad as soon as we can get him. Despite Franks 10 boards and Pollards 11we weren't very strong in the paint.
Acquaah was almost unstoppable going to the hoop. He is probably better with the ball in his hands, but so is Flynn. Hinson has a chance to be a good one too, but needs to get the JC out of his system. He has a nice looking 3 point shot.
Skaggs played quite a bit the first half. He is slooooow. Probably explains a lot about lack of recruitment. He can shoot pretty well, but is going to be very situational. Chidum isn't ready to be much of a contributor, but I still like his upside. Ergas didn't play. Must be dinged up because the walk on Shpreyregin got minutes.
Langston played quite a few minutes and looked pretty decent.
Best lineup by conference could be Franks, Acquaah, Flynn, Hinson and Bernstein.
Bottom line we need Bernstein bad as soon as we can get him. Despite Franks 10 boards and Pollards 11we weren't very strong in the paint.
Pretty fun from the box scores and I watched the second half on that. First of all if you look at the Game Box Score one wonders why they ever sign a JC player. There was not a game of note out of any of the JC's. All the scorers and rebounder's are prep players. Pollard just gets his boards and a couple of shots. Clearly not a shot blocker on the current roster that plays. Clearly Bob seems to echo this.
Flynn sure shot a lot of 3's and missed nearly all of them. If you aren't hot you probably shouldn't be a volume shooter.
Flynn sure shot a lot of 3's and missed nearly all of them. If you aren't hot you probably shouldn't be a volume shooter.
Everyone was bricking everything from outside the first half. Franks first three attempts were bricks. Then he got hot and hit about 4 of his last 6. Flyn scored 9 the second half and looked much better. He played off the ball mostly when Acquaah was in and looked a little uncomfortable at times. Acquaah was impressive but not sure about his outside shooting.
Good report. I think that 6'8 Bernstein will be a big contributor in more ways then rebounding. Kent calls him a leader with fire in his belly. That was what last year s team lacked, a vocal leader who can lead by example. Cooper 6'11 juco will help with his size and basket defense. I still think that this team will surprise people. Nice to see that Hinson ,juco,has promise and will take a little time to adjust to D 1 ball. Also Flynn is a very good 3 point shooter,It seems like he had an off night.The combination of players coming back and jucos will soon mesh well. It was nice to see that once the defense settled in the cougs dominated. That was unlike udub who struggled mightily against the same team, and in preseason were picked ahead of the cougs.
Like to hear that along with the assumption Bernstine will be high energy as well.
I think that this year s team will be far better than last years. the flow of the game with Milan and Malachi looks a lot better When Berstein and Cooper return they will become a lot biggr.
I think that you are wrong. the cougs should be better at four positions. The team seems to play better and more cohesively. Hawkinson may be missed but his defense will definitely will not be. The team despite two 6'11 guys were poor defensively and did not have a shot blocker. From what i have seen of Milan i l take him over Ike in a hear beat. Flynn will be improved and Franks looks a lot better this year. Time will tell but last years seniors will ot be missed in my opinion.
A few notes. Ava and I seem to have seen it pretty much the same. Franks had a real nice game after he went 3 for bricks to begin the game. He runs the floor like a deer and has a pretty good handle. I really liked Acquaah. Like Ava I'm not sure about his outside shot. I only recall him shooting from the outside once and he had a real weird looking shot and absolutely no rotation on the ball. However, his shot looked better from the line and I watched him during 2nd half warm-ups and he hit several 3's. His release still looks funny though. Kind of like a 2 handed shot. I really liked the way he drove to the basket. He was usually under control and finished most of the time. He and Hinson have NBA ready bodies. Pollard banged hard inside. He can hold his own in there but is pretty much limited to rebounding and garbage shots. He's definitely not a shot blocker and has no shot outside 5 feet. Flynn, I think purposely, played a secondary role nearly all of the game. I think Langston can contribute off the bench. He looked a lot better than he did last year. I was disappointed in Chidom. All of last year I wanted to see him play because he just looked like a basketball player. Unfortunately looking like a basketball player doesn't make you one. Maybe he was trying too hard but it doesn't look like he will be a contributor. Cooper and Bernstine (not Bernstein) didn't dress. Cooper looked very skinny to me. I didn't see the defensive stopper El C is looking for.
Couldn't have said it better Rich. Exactly what I saw. I have been high on Franks upside for quite awhile. Never could understand who people were watching when the called him slow and with a poor handle.
We really need Hinson to make the transition from JC faster than normal. This is not going to be a deep team offensively.
We really need Hinson to make the transition from JC faster than normal. This is not going to be a deep team offensively.
I hope that Bernstine and maybe Milan can step up defensively? In the video i saw the team moved the ball around and made that extra pass which led to wide open threes I did not ee that much last year. The players seem less selfish and perhaps the coaching is helpful .
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With Franks the knock has been timidness in my mind and not his overall skill. We definitely need him to step into a prominent role on both ends. That would compliment what Bernstine brings to the table as well when he gets healthy.
Who were the starters?
I still go with:
Flynn
Acquaah
Hinson
Franks
Bernstine
Seems like the group of players that will get the most minutes. Pollard, Daniels, Cooper, Skaggs/Langston off the bench. Langston popped up in a couple highlights. I'm still skeptical but great to hear he's improved from someone who was able to see a full game.
Did the walk-on PG from Olympia get on the floor much?
Looking forward to getting a watch myself.
Who were the starters?
I still go with:
Flynn
Acquaah
Hinson
Franks
Bernstine
Seems like the group of players that will get the most minutes. Pollard, Daniels, Cooper, Skaggs/Langston off the bench. Langston popped up in a couple highlights. I'm still skeptical but great to hear he's improved from someone who was able to see a full game.
Did the walk-on PG from Olympia get on the floor much?
Looking forward to getting a watch myself.
Cooper is listed as 6'11 235. He looks very long and runs the court well. Yes i hope Bernstine will make an impact on this team. The next team up, Texas Southern, is a good team. The cougs beat them last year. but they did win their League and went to the Big Dance. They are athletic and a fairly big team They play their first 12 games on the road much like last year. They are coached by Mike Davis who led Indiana to the final Four in 2002.They play Gonzaga on Friday night and then the cougs on Saturday.
