Minny

[mikewebb68]

I am going to go out on limb and say we upset them tomorrow., and further out on a limb to say that it probably won't tell us much about whether we righted the ship or not.

They are is such disarray, with Lynch facing expulsion over ANOTHER sexual assault allegation (revealed today) and somehow still practicing with the team and another starter, Coffey still hurt. They looked terrible at home against a Indiana team that was playing shorthanded, and I just think we would actually have to play worse than we did at Penn State to lose.

Feel free to take me to the woodshed if I'm wrong, I won't mind. They made the Dance in my lifetime; rest is just gravy now. Looking forward to the big BTN special on 1/23!

 

[Pete Purple]

I’ll jump on that. They are due for a good performance.

 

[Fitz51]

Ambivalent.

 

[TejasCat]

Cats favored by 4, let's get the W.

 

[Pete Purple]

There’s a lot to be corrected, and IMO can be summarized as effort, attitude, and teamwork. But if I had to pick something more specific, watching the ‘Cats let their opponent waltz through the paint drives me nuts.

 

[NURoseBowl]

There’s a lot to be corrected, and IMO can be summarized as effort, attitude, and teamwork. But if I had to pick something more specific, watching the ‘Cats let their opponent waltz through the paint drives me nuts.

You're not alone.

 

[ricko654321]

There’s a lot to be corrected, and IMO can be summarized as effort, attitude, and teamwork. But if I had to pick something more specific, watching the ‘Cats let their opponent waltz through the paint drives me nuts.

I would try zone tonight. There's no good reason why losing only Sanjay should have made our man to man defense this bad, but at this point I think we should stop fighting it. Clearly it's not working, maybe due to poor individual effort, who knows.

This is grasping at straws, but maybe going zone will somehow help motivate us to start playing better team defense? And possibly limit the negatives from the poor individual defense....

 

[CappyNU]

I want to see more Brown and less Ash. I'm don't know if Brown is a poor practice player or what, but I'm having a hard time understanding why his minutes are limited compared to Ash.

Over the first 4 B1G games:
Ash - 37% possible minutes, team PPP/oPPP is 0.81/1.17 with him on the court (worst O/2nd worst D), -37, expected to be -12 based on minutes
Brown - 27% possible minutes, team PPP/oPPP is 1.20/1.10 with him on the court (best O), +20, expected to be -8 based on minutes

In addition, Scottie's offensive output when in lineups with Brown is 1.14 PPP vs 0.87 without Brown. Considering that we are in desperate need of an offensive spark right now, I think Brown has to be out there before Ash.

We also need to get something out of Benson, I expected much better from him after last season, and so far he has really not delivered.

 

[ricko654321]

I would try zone tonight. There's no good reason why losing only Sanjay should have made our man to man defense this bad, but at this point I think we should stop fighting it. Clearly it's not working, maybe due to poor individual effort, who knows.

This is grasping at straws, but maybe going zone will somehow help motivate us to start playing better team defense? And possibly limit the negatives from the poor individual defense....

Well a little bit of redemption after my horrendously inaccurate preview of the Penn St game...

We did go zone, and it certainly seems to have worked. Good call by CC. Minnesota has been flummoxed. And bizarrely, it has helped us play with better team defense and more energy. Team does seem more motivated generally today regardless of defense though. And a fair portion of it may be the opponent too, as they look pretty lethargic / indifferent.

Regardless, nice work Cats!

 

[ricko654321]

I am going to go out on limb and say we upset them tomorrow., and further out on a limb to say that it probably won't tell us much about whether we righted the ship or not.

They are is such disarray, with Lynch facing expulsion over ANOTHER sexual assault allegation (revealed today) and somehow still practicing with the team and another starter, Coffey still hurt. They looked terrible at home against a Indiana team that was playing shorthanded, and I just think we would actually have to play worse than we did at Penn State to lose.

Feel free to take me to the woodshed if I'm wrong, I won't mind. They made the Dance in my lifetime; rest is just gravy now. Looking forward to the big BTN special on 1/23!

also, very nice call Mike, you nailed it. good chance for our boys to get themselves back together against a weary opponent and we took advantage of it.

 

[mikewebb68]

Thanks! Would not have foreseen a 23 pt win though....

 

[TheC]

I want to see more Brown and less Ash. I'm don't know if Brown is a poor practice player or what, but I'm having a hard time understanding why his minutes are limited compared to Ash.

Over the first 4 B1G games:
Ash - 37% possible minutes, team PPP/oPPP is 0.81/1.17 with him on the court (worst O/2nd worst D), -37, expected to be -12 based on minutes
Brown - 27% possible minutes, team PPP/oPPP is 1.20/1.10 with him on the court (best O), +20, expected to be -8 based on minutes

In addition, Scottie's offensive output when in lineups with Brown is 1.14 PPP vs 0.87 without Brown. Considering that we are in desperate need of an offensive spark right now, I think Brown has to be out there before Ash.

We also need to get something out of Benson, I expected much better from him after last season, and so far he has really not delivered.

If you heard CCC in the post-game, he said they felt like their offense has been ok the past couple of weeks, but its the defense that has been the problem. That likely explains why Ash is getting minutes over Brown as coach is looking for better defense.

 

[Walker Fan]

It also helps when you get 23 points from your no. 4 position. Falzon's 15 points was much needed and allowed Collins to bring Skelly off the bench and put him in the position he is most successful as the team's 6th man. Skelly played with great energy and enthusiasm and contributed 8 points. Aside from the hanging on the rim after he missed a wide open dunk, Skelly played well. As for I. Brown, when you senior captain PG has 16 assists and I believe had no turnovers, there is not a huge need to go to the backup offensive PG more. Also, Ash, who is more of a combo guard does a better job on defense v. Minny's senior captain and PG Nate Mason than Brown can for the most part.

The bottom line is that our coach showed great strategy with a trap at three-quarters court and an effective use of zone defense when Minny crossed the half court as opposed to former coaches who would stubbornly adhere to an antiquated defense with a 5'9" PG at the base of a zone who learned from their mentors decades earlier and never had an original thought on offense or defense. Lastly, if we can get consistent contributions from our 4 position players (Falzon and Skelly), hopefully, we can stack some W's like our football team.

 

[CappyNU]

If you heard CCC in the post-game, he said they felt like their offense has been ok the past couple of weeks, but its the defense that has been the problem. That likely explains why Ash is getting minutes over Brown as coach is looking for better defense.

That was my point though - Ash wasn't providing better defense.

 

[pawildcat]

Well a little bit of redemption after my horrendously inaccurate preview of the Penn St game...

We did go zone, and it certainly seems to have worked. Good call by CC. Minnesota has been flummoxed. And bizarrely, it has helped us play with better team defense and more energy. Team does seem more motivated generally today regardless of defense though. And a fair portion of it may be the opponent too, as they look pretty lethargic / indifferent.

Regardless, nice work Cats!

From what I've seen of their man-to-man in some of the games this year, it was about time for some zone. Unless you've clearly got better personnel than your opponent, I've always thought it best to mix defenses so the other team doesn't get comfortable in attacking your defense.

 

[TheC]

That was my point though - Ash wasn't providing better defense.

Maybe in practice he is?

 

[EagerFan]

That was my point though - Ash wasn't providing better defense.

Yeah, normally Ash is the better defender but they embarrassed him several times in the middle of the second half.

 

[Catreporter]

I'd have liked to have seen the zone against Nebraska in the second half when Walker and Watson kept blowing by us for layups and dunks! That and the Ga. Tech loss were our two worst of the season.