NCAAbbs

Get that ball inbounds boys!

I deem this unofficially unofficially official.

I guess that makes it official! Thanks b5. Have a great day in EL (in the Bronco sense).

sooo....what's happening?

It was like 29-24 near the end of the first half.. no updates since then though.

terrible job...Its going to be a long season. It is 68-51, but we have about 50 fouls.

K is getting into the lane at will, and we miss about 8 out of 10 bunnies. So basically the same ole same ole for bronco basketball

It really is hard to tell how we will be for sure, because Hawk is literally making wholesale changes every 2 minutes of game time.

78-52 final.

(11-07-2009 03:51 PM)jubbasubba Wrote: [ -> ]terrible job...Its going to be a long season. It is 68-51, but we have about 50 fouls.

Well, that doesn't sound good.

(11-07-2009 03:57 PM)jubbasubba Wrote: [ -> ]It really is hard to tell how we will be for sure, because Hawk is literally making wholesale changes every 2 minutes of game time.

Doesn't he do that all that all the time anyway?

Quote:basically the same ole same ole for bronco basketball

Look for another middle of west division season ending standing.

I wouldn't read to much into the early score. Hawkins ran 4 or 5 different line ups, with the first unit playing sparingly. At about the 8 minute mark he put the starters in and they blew it open. He said they'll play a line up against Spring Arbor that will be closer to what they use against UDM.

My only real concern today was Lawson. He just hasn't improved. Had his first two shots blocked. Still hasn't developed a true back to the basket move. Both Conteh and Whitfield are better with their back to the basket than Lawson. Lawson defended well and is good at picking up garbage. Enough depth at center to give up some fouls.

I thought David Brown was impressive. First player in a long time who could get to the hole on quickness and finish when he felt contact. Hutcheson didn't have a good game, but still showed his athleticism by keeping balls alive.

Former Final 4 ref, Tom O'Neil I see did the game.

Did he T up Hawk like he did 3 years ago in the season finale against Toledo?

Play like that won't win many games this year but many players saw the floor that won't see it much in real games. The first and at times second group played well and getting Ward back will make a difference.

McLemore needs to play like this for the rest of the year for us to have any chance.
Chip is right about Lawson; he hasn't improved much and his hands are still a weakness. However, if given a chance he has the ability to score in the post which is needed to keep defenses honest

Ward will be back, and probably could have been back a while ago if not for docs who have to follow narrow protocol.

This is a guard's league, and our guards are pretty good in comparison to the rest of the west. I wouldn't write us off yet.

Yeah but the staff need to recruit a good interior player for balance, because those teams with a post presence are the ones that win the conference. CMU, Kent, Akron, Ohio, Buffalo, and here at Western have had good interior play when they were at the top of the conference.

Kent nor Akron had a post presense. They had a good front court though. We had a post presense with Joe, and it didn't get us a championship. Guards league.

F*ck Akron. Just thought I'd throw that out here to start the season.

^ good point

So when Kent lost to us in the finals with that 7 foot former walk on they didn't have a post presence? Jeremiah Wood and Romeo Travis didn't constitute an inside game?

The centers were 3rd and 4th options on their teams.

The MAC has good front courts, but we're not a league that requires a dominate center.

Who led Kent last year. Fisher and Singletary....guards.

Miami barely had a center last year. It was Bramos and Hayes a 2 and a 3 carrying them. Both did their damage from the perimeter.

Hitchens at Akron is 5'9", Linhart is 6'8" but at 205 he did most of his damage from the perimeter.

You may be right about the MAC being a guard's league, Dip. But all your focus is on offense, putting the ball through hoop. Defense is far more influenced by height. You need both to win ball games.

Sharp shooting impresses fans, good defense wins games.

And Anthony Kahn was the third option on our team but without him that team would not have gotten as far as it did. I agree that this is a guard dominated conference, but to be more than just a good MAC team more is needed than just good guards
And a consistent second or third option is what this team has been missing.

Quote:Defense is far more influenced by height. You need both to win ball games.

Media guide lists our starting roster heights as follows

Lawson- 6'10"
Whitfield- 6'7"
McLemore- 6'5"
Kool- 6'3"
Ward- 6'3"

Might be the biggest team we've had since the championship year.

Agree. Big and physical.

Kahn had some guard like D skills, his hands were very quick, he got a lot of steals off the dribble, really an unusual skill in a big guy. Reitz was not really big, well a load, but not tall. And he couldn't jump. Admittedly a master of getting and holding position though.

Think of Levi Rost. 6-7, but he could hit the threes like a shooter. 17 in one game as I recall. That changes things. The rumor is both Hutch and Whittington have potential as shooters.

This team has the potential to feature a physical game rotating into a speed game. I think Mike Douglas will be more effective playing with the second group. If we can rebound and feed with the second group, Brown has the good speed and finishing ability, I just about got down on my knees and said thank you Jesus when he broke the edge and went to the hoop versus K, haven't seen that in a LONG time, there were a couple kids in the Donawald era that had those abilities. If we can get that going with the second group, it will make the opponents rotation matchups tougher.

Now, Whitfield can run catch shoot as well and Don to a lesser degree, he can run but his hands sometimes betray him. Although he did have a fast break dunk against K as well.