Collins said that he thought American was a good team and a good challenge. Was that the usual after game niceties for the interview or were they really a decent team?
How good is American?
- Thread starter Kat burglar
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Who knows, this early in the season. Their PG is darn good (preseason Patriot League POTY) and Law basically shut him down.
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How can you tell? For the most part NU was brutal. Even Pardon was only 5/14 shooting mostly layups. No one shot 50% for us. Seemed mostly us as American only shot 34%
I thought they looked good, but what do I know. I do think Collins is usually pretty honest though with his assessments.
I would tend toward Collins being respectful - but the game was called so tight in the first half - especially compared to how games will be called in conference, but even compared to the 2nd half - that it was hard to tell.
When you shoot 18 percent from 3s and 36 percent from 2s, the game will be ugly. American beat George Mason which is usually a solid team.
Last night, Vic Law played like a good contender for all-Big 10 first team and Ryan Greer became our PG with plus 18 performance when he was on the floor. Pardon had a great stat line and missed a number of bunnies or he would have scored 20 points. Taylor was off on his shot, but then took the ball to the rim which is a good sign. The 4-star freshmen played poorly, but that is to be expected with true freshmen other than the anomalies or athletic freaks at Duke.
J.Ash was beaten on defense early and missed 3 FTs on a foul and then an additional FT after an American lane violation. Collins benched him for the rest of the game. The offense operating much more smoothly with Greer and Turner running the point. JA's time on the floor will diminish. Greer brought it on offense and on defense with steals and disrupting the other team with quick hands and good defensive positioning. Collins might have another gem at PG after BMac.
Last night, Vic Law played like a good contender for all-Big 10 first team and Ryan Greer became our PG with plus 18 performance when he was on the floor. Pardon had a great stat line and missed a number of bunnies or he would have scored 20 points. Taylor was off on his shot, but then took the ball to the rim which is a good sign. The 4-star freshmen played poorly, but that is to be expected with true freshmen other than the anomalies or athletic freaks at Duke.
J.Ash was beaten on defense early and missed 3 FTs on a foul and then an additional FT after an American lane violation. Collins benched him for the rest of the game. The offense operating much more smoothly with Greer and Turner running the point. JA's time on the floor will diminish. Greer brought it on offense and on defense with steals and disrupting the other team with quick hands and good defensive positioning. Collins might have another gem at PG after BMac.
Ash is much better than Greer. Unfortunately, Jordan is hurt,just like Clayton was. He won't be full strength for a month or so. Glad we got Greer. He is solid.
I see Greer starting till around December 15th or January 1st. Hope we win during this time. Not even sure if Ash will play in next few weeks
Good analysis. Greer has played with a lot of confidence so far and was disruptive on defense. I haven't seen much from him offensively (positive or negative), though, other than he hasn't turned the ball over. We will need more points and playmaking from him if he is going to get significant minutes. So far, Gaines has not shown any improvement on offense but Collins clearly likes his defense and rewards him with a lot of minutes. With Gaines on the floor, we need the other 4 guys to be able to score.
An amazing difference between the Duke five stars and our 4 star frosh
I like what Greer brings to the team. Last night I thought the offense ran more smoothly with him in the lineup and his gritty defense was nice to see.
Have to find ways to attack the basket as a team. Everything was swinging the ball around the perimeter with the occasional feed to Pardon down low.
Idk where we’ll be at seasons end but we are going to need guys to step up to give Law and Pardon some rest before we start BigTen play. Law has played 69 min and Pardon 67 min of a total 80 through 2 games. It’d be nice if it was around 30 mpg early on and then unleash them in conference. But we definitely needed them in the game a lot yesterday.
They got the W. Defense looked good. Have to find ways to get buckets. Figure if they got just 4 more 3s to fall (they shot 4/22) and the game woulda been smooth sledding.
Have to find ways to attack the basket as a team. Everything was swinging the ball around the perimeter with the occasional feed to Pardon down low.
Idk where we’ll be at seasons end but we are going to need guys to step up to give Law and Pardon some rest before we start BigTen play. Law has played 69 min and Pardon 67 min of a total 80 through 2 games. It’d be nice if it was around 30 mpg early on and then unleash them in conference. But we definitely needed them in the game a lot yesterday.
They got the W. Defense looked good. Have to find ways to get buckets. Figure if they got just 4 more 3s to fall (they shot 4/22) and the game woulda been smooth sledding.
I disagree on Gaines unless by improvement you mean taking shots, which he has not done. He has only taken shots at the rim in both games. I think the idea of the offense is to get the ball 1st to Taylor/Law, 2nd Pardon, 3rd Turner, 4th Gaines/ Greer. Greer did have a couple of turnovers. One where he was out of bounds and another where he got into the lane and stopped and then traveled. I see some Craig Moore in Greer more than BMac bc he's already a better defender than BMac. I think baskets will come as he settles in.
Gaines was not even credited with a shot. He really needs to develop an outside shot as in other ways he belongs on the floor
With respect to Gaines, it does not appear that he has diversified his game. I have only seen him try to drive to the basket with mixed results. He would benefit from being a few inches taller with that approach. Granted, it's small sample size, so I am hoping to see more from him going forward. I am not sure our offense has the luxury of playing a guy 25 minutes who averages 4 or 5 points a game.
I think they are improved over their 6 wins from last year.
What I have noticed through two games is that the Cats seem to have an extra gear on offense and defense. They play solid D and pass the ball around the perimeter apparently content to shoot jumpers and then at some point turn up the D and start driving and control lessor opponents. Will be interesting to see how this works out. I think NU will lose a few blowouts on the road and surprise a few teams at home if they keep shooting at the current clip. If they start consistently shooting 30% plus from three, this could be a very fun year.
I think Greer is fine. He doesn’t add a ton on offense but he can pass the ball and set up the offense, which is something we need. He did look a bit tentative / nervous at the little press they showed but hopefully develops through that. He’s not going to create buckets for us on O but he doesn’t get in the way... that said, I think Gaines has more potential to add value than Greer in terms of scoring bc of his slashing ability (though def less in terms of ball handling and setting up the offense).
Vic was the only guy who had a good day. Dererk mostly played very well with two exceptions - 1) could not make the 4 foot baby hooks for his life, the ones he usually likes in the post, and 2) 4 silly fouls due to lazy arms and position on D, he had plenty of good D sets but at times it sort of reminded me of his Fr So years with a lack of focus leading to unnecessary fouls. Turner was solid all around play but bad shooting (think he will get 3rd most minutes for us this year). Taylor up and down, which I think will happen all season depending on whether his shot is on or off - he will carry us some days and have days like the American game. However I was encouraged by his defensive effort and hands last night - I thought that was a bit lacking the first two games but he seemed sharper to me against American which would be nice if he can contribute on that end when the shot isn’t dropping.
I’ve missed the start of the last two games on the way home... so have barely seen Nance play. Has he been that bad / tentative / whatever in the few minutes he’s gotten? I recognize he’s not polished, but what I saw of him in the exhibition (granted, exhibition...) would have thought he has enough to earn 10-15 minutes each game, and more if he plays better that day. Just seems a bit early to be already narrowing down to a ~7 man rotation. Normally I might think it’s a case of dealing with smaller quicker lineups in these small conf matchups, but honestly against McKendree I thought Nance looked decently mobile in guarding forwards. Will trust CC for now, but curious to see how his minutes play out as the season progresses. Maybe he tweaked something in the exhibition game. He still looks excited and is cheering hard on the bench at least!
Re Nance.......he was very tentative in both games. Pretty much invisible, and got his butt chewed out by Collins for being passive in a time out against UNO. Big change from the talent he faced at Revere High School. He'll be OK.
After watching Illini pressure defense, really worried about that matchup for the Cats. Offense needs lots of work and we'd better start hitting our open 3s or this will be a very tough season. College basketball is dominated by GUARDS and we are lacking there,
Didn't see the game, but Georgetown put up 88 on them in Champaign. What is the concern?
Illinois forced a bunch of turnovers. They press a lot with three very quick guards. Illini weakness is their bigs but you have to get there first. Georgetown won on clutch plays by their own excellent point guard. I worry about our ballhandling against them. Hope I'm wrong. Greer needs to grow up fast!
They were missing their best player too. You can score on them if you can get the ball up the court. We play a lot better defense than Georgetown.
Yep, not world beaters by any means, but looked improved from last season’s mess.
When we had ball handlers, those types of defenses hurt us, so I doubt it makes that much of a difference. A well-coached team can break pressure no matter what kind of handle the PG has. It's more about space and passing, not dribbling through pressure. In fact, that's pretty much the worst thing to do.
We are darn lucky to get Greer! I see Greer starting for the next month until Ash is back to form. Just don’t think Gaines can break a press. I like AJ Turner better, but he ain’t guarding a small ,quick point guard for 60 minutes a game. Ain’t happening!
