Positives from LSU game?

[WSUProf]

Looks to me like there were somethings that went better yesterday. Senglin had more assists than turnovers. As a team Weber shot the 3s a bit better. Weber continues to get to the foul line. In the two games combined in the Islands Weber has made 38 foul shots while their opponents have only taken 20 foul shots.
BUT, Weber desperately needs a bench to develop. A combined 25 minutes, 5 points, 1 rebound, and 1 assist from 3 players off the bench won't cut it. And Hajek playing only 3 minutes?

 

[UtahPirate]

I thought we were playing better as well -- but the short bench and limited minutes from them really cost us as we seemed to run out of steam in the second half.

Still a long way to go and some tough preseason games. Should be interesting to watch, lots of development is needed not just with the bench, but with the starters as well.

 

[Itiger]

One basic problem that I'm not sure of the root cause, but we are getting out shot by the competition by about 20 shots a game. Huge gap to overcome! I see stupid stats about out shooting percentage, but if they are taking 20 more shots a game, our shooting percentage will need to be north of 80% to get a win! I'm also worried that our starting 5 is playing too many minutes.

Our bench contribution is very poor! LSU's front court is huge and Hajek got 3 whole minutes!

 

[sapokama]

Our bench contribution is very poor! LSU's front court is huge and Hajek got 3 whole minutes!

Watching the game, not only was LSU's front court huge, they were extremely athletic. I think Hajek would have been a liability had he played more. I think Coach Rahe was trying to match up with LSU athletically more than he was with their size. Bolomboy played great, but I do think he ran out of energy. Overall; however, I think it was their best game of the young season.

 

[n.ogdencat]

You were able to watch the game? Whenever the Cats play...suddenly the site is down. Frustrating!! Anyway, I don't see too many positives. 18 TOs and giving a team 27 more chances to score is not a good sign. Oh, how about the 52 points scored in the paint? Soft interior D, which could be limited with a box and one or a good 2-3 zone. It is gonna be a long year if the Cats can't limit TOs or break a zone. Weber has to find its range.

 

[Midmajor??]

You were able to watch the game? Whenever the Cats play...suddenly the site is down. Frustrating!! Anyway, I don't see too many positives. 18 TOs and giving a team 27 more chances to score is not a good sign. Oh, how about the 52 points scored in the paint? Soft interior D, which could be limited with a box and one or a good 2-3 zone. It is gonna be a long year if the Cats can't limit TOs or break a zone. Weber has to find its range.

So..... Is this due to the level of competition we're playing and should it not be an issue in the Big Sky? I'm mostly concerned about 3 problems:

1) Points scored in the paint-that's an area where are defense is suppose to be the best! I think because of our depth, Joel and Hill are trying to stay out of foul trouble. Might be great for the future to redshirt Braxton, but seems like the wrong move right now! Hajek is a great defender..... You could protect his lack of athleticism in a ZONE!

2) turnovers- issue with Senglin and Bolomboy. I'm not sure what's going on with Joel. Only looking at Stats because couldn't view the game with the site being down. Senglin plays like a bowling ball.

3) shots per game- alarming stat, not just because of the turnover issue. Like to hear what's driving that!

I'm not going to comment on the assist issue. Again, might be fine in the BSC, but EWU is going to give us a run for our money!

 

[WSUProf]

One basic problem that I'm not sure of the root cause, but we are getting out shot by the competition by about 20 shots a game. Huge gap to overcome! I see stupid stats about out shooting percentage, but if they are taking 20 more shots a game, our shooting percentage will need to be north of 80% to get a win! I'm also worried that our starting 5 is playing too many minutes.

Our bench contribution is very poor! LSU's front court is huge and Hajek got 3 whole minutes!

Part of the discrepancy with total shots is the number of times Weber has been going to foul line. If fouled in the act of shooting, when the shot does not go in it does not count as a shot. But that does not account for all of the difference. The rest is due to turnovers and giving up too many offensive rebounds -- 17 against Ill St and 15 against LSU.

 

[WSUProf]

2) turnovers- issue with Senglin and Bolomboy. I'm not sure what's going on with Joel. Only looking at Stats because couldn't view the game with the site being down. Senglin plays like a bowling ball.

Keep in mind, Joel is handling the ball much more than he has in the last two years. He's always been a bit of a TO liability. Last year he committed 44 TOs compared with 46 by Tresnak, again, with Tresnak handling the ball much, much more.

 

[SWWeatherCat]

So..... Is this due to the level of competition we're playing and should it not be an issue in the Big Sky?

I hope no one is taking the Big Sky for granted. In the last two-and-half games I've seen Weber play, I'd throw the conference picks out the window. This team has miles to go before they're ready to compete for any championship.

1) ... Joel and Hill are trying to stay out of foul trouble. Might be great for the future to redshirt Braxton, but seems like the wrong move right now! Hajek is a great defender..... You could protect his lack of athleticism in a ZONE!

They are? Trying to stay out of foul trouble? I'm not so sure that's what's going on. If it is, that's the wrong strategy. Play to win, don't play to not foul out. If they are fouling out, then they need to play smarter and adjustments need to be made to try and help. They should never be not playing as hard as they can while they're on the court. I suspect they're not quite as gifted as they appear with the purple glasses on.

Hajek is a great defender but he is an athletic liability?? Don't get it. I do agree he needs to be able to help this team and defensively the only way may be through the use of a zone but I just don't see Rahe warning up to that concept.

 

[SWWeatherCat]

One basic problem that I'm not sure of the root cause, but we are getting out shot by the competition by about 20 shots a game. Huge gap to overcome! I see stupid stats about out shooting percentage, but if they are taking 20 more shots a game, our shooting percentage will need to be north of 80% to get a win! I'm also worried that our starting 5 is playing too many minutes.

Our bench contribution is very poor! LSU's front court is huge and Hajek got 3 whole minutes!

Part of the discrepancy with total shots is the number of times Weber has been going to foul line. If fouled in the act of shooting, when the shot does not go in it does not count as a shot. But that does not account for all of the difference. The rest is due to turnovers and giving up too many offensive rebounds -- 17 against Ill St and 15 against LSU.

This is true. In addition to way too many (bad) turnovers, Weber is being out-rebounded, something we've gotten used to them doing quite well with. Strong rebounding can help offset poor turnover margins but doing poorly in both regards will be a tough battle.

 

[Wildcat_Fan]

One positive, Joel Bolomboy!!! Yes he is still very rough with the ball in his hands, especially putting it on the floor. But he did lots to keep us in the games to a point. Stepped out and knocked down a three and managed a double double. Without him we would be toast. I just hope he doesn't get worn out too fast.

 

[Da Bears]

So..... Is this due to the level of competition we're playing and should it not be an issue in the Big Sky?

I hope no one is taking the Big Sky for granted. In the last two-and-half games I've seen Weber play, I'd throw the conference picks out the window. This team has miles to go before they're ready to compete for any championship.

1) ... Joel and Hill are trying to stay out of foul trouble. Might be great for the future to redshirt Braxton, but seems like the wrong move right now! Hajek is a great defender..... You could protect his lack of athleticism in a ZONE!

They are? Trying to stay out of foul trouble? I'm not so sure that's what's going on. If it is, that's the wrong strategy. Play to win, don't play to not foul out. If they are fouling out, then they need to play smarter and adjustments need to be made to try and help. They should never be not playing as hard as they can while they're on the court. I suspect they're not quite as gifted as they appear with the purple glasses on.

Hajek is a great defender but he is an athletic liability?? Don't get it. I do agree he needs to be able to help this team and defensively the only way may be through the use of a zone but I just don't see Rahe warning up to that concept.

I think they're not playing as aggressive because the bench is so thin! Imagine where we are if Joel fouls out? I'm not sure what hill is doing on defense, but he's small for a power forward and is just getting muscled. He's the rebounding problem. Yes we're athletic, but I think we are in for a very tough season, because we are smaller in the front court!

 

[Itiger]

One basic problem that I'm not sure of the root cause, but we are getting out shot by the competition by about 20 shots a game. Huge gap to overcome! I see stupid stats about out shooting percentage, but if they are taking 20 more shots a game, our shooting percentage will need to be north of 80% to get a win! I'm also worried that our starting 5 is playing too many minutes.

Our bench contribution is very poor! LSU's front court is huge and Hajek got 3 whole minutes!

Part of the discrepancy with total shots is the number of times Weber has been going to foul line. If fouled in the act of shooting, when the shot does not go in it does not count as a shot. But that does not account for all of the difference. The rest is due to turnovers and giving up too many offensive rebounds -- 17 against Ill St and 15 against LSU.

Shots per game differential is a problem in every game this season. Even in games in which Joel doesn't shoot a lot of free throws! Even Presentation had more shots . We are losing the battle in a lot of areas. I agree, Hill is a tweener and struggling as a power forward! I'd like to see more Hajek at 5 and Joel at 4! Play Hill at 3! Bring Gittens in off the bench!

 

[sapokama]

You were able to watch the game? Whenever the Cats play...suddenly the site is down. Frustrating!! Anyway, I don't see too many positives. 18 TOs and giving a team 27 more chances to score is not a good sign. Oh, how about the 52 points scored in the paint? Soft interior D, which could be limited with a box and one or a good 2-3 zone. It is gonna be a long year if the Cats can't limit TOs or break a zone. Weber has to find its range.

I was able to watch the game until about 5 to 7 min left in the second half. At that point, it said that the broadcaster had turned off the broadcast.

It's true there was a lot of points in the paint, but it could have been a lot more. LSU was taking the vast majority of their shots from the paint. They only took 8 threes. They missed a lot of contested shots from about 6 ft and in. Still, too many points from inside the paint.

Every time Bolomboy touched the ball in the post, he was really aggressive and didn't wait for the double or triple team to come (which LSU was trying to do). I was really happy to see that. He still had 6 TO though, which is way to much and I would love to see him pass the ball out to open players when the double and triple teams come. I see Hajek as a big body and a space eater. I have never seen him as a good defender.

I don't know if others heard this, but in the pre-game show, Coach Rahe talked about the Zone and how it is ineffective in the Big Sky because it is such a guards first conference. It made a some sense to me why we haven't seen it more. Could you imagine playing a zone on Tyler Harvey? He would have a 40 point night. I still think there is a time and a place for it and Weber doesn't use it enough to be any good at it. They tried it a few times on LSU and it was easily broken.

This team has a long way to go if they want to win the Big Sky. EWU is clearly the best team right now. They played SMU very tough last night in Texas and Tyler Harvey lit it up again. I don't know where Weber stands in the Big Sky right now. I didn't expect Weber to win last night, I was hopeful they would, but I try and be a realist about these things. I wanted to see them be competitive, and they certainly were until they ran out of steam.

I also loved how Carl Arkey called LSU the "Bengals" all game long. Classic!

 

[Itiger]

You were able to watch the game? Whenever the Cats play...suddenly the site is down. Frustrating!! Anyway, I don't see too many positives. 18 TOs and giving a team 27 more chances to score is not a good sign. Oh, how about the 52 points scored in the paint? Soft interior D, which could be limited with a box and one or a good 2-3 zone. It is gonna be a long year if the Cats can't limit TOs or break a zone. Weber has to find its range.

I was able to watch the game until about 5 to 7 min left in the second half. At that point, it said that the broadcaster had turned off the broadcast.

It's true there was a lot of points in the paint, but it could have been a lot more. LSU was taking the vast majority of their shots from the paint. They only took 8 threes. They missed a lot of contested shots from about 6 ft and in. Still, too many points from inside the paint.

Every time Bolomboy touched the ball in the post, he was really aggressive and didn't wait for the double or triple team to come (which LSU was trying to do). I was really happy to see that. He still had 6 TO though, which is way to much and I would love to see him pass the ball out to open players when the double and triple teams come. I see Hajek as a big body and a space eater. I have never seen him as a good defender.

I don't know if others heard this, but in the pre-game show, Coach Rahe talked about the Zone and how it is ineffective in the Big Sky because it is such a guards first conference. It made a some sense to me why we haven't seen it more. Could you imagine playing a zone on Tyler Harvey? He would have a 40 point night. I still think there is a time and a place for it and Weber doesn't use it enough to be any good at it. They tried it a few times on LSU and it was easily broken.

This team has a long way to go if they want to win the Big Sky. EWU is clearly the best team right now. They played SMU very tough last night in Texas and Tyler Harvey lit it up again. I don't know where Weber stands in the Big Sky right now. I didn't expect Weber to win last night, I was hopeful they would, but I try and be a realist about these things. I wanted to see them be competitive, and they certainly were until they ran out of steam.

I also loved how Carl Arkey called LSU the "Bengals" all game long. Classic!

Take a second and look at EWU's OOC schedule. They play SMU, Indiana, Cal and Washington. Not to mention San Francisco and some other tough schools! I know we gripe about how hard it is to schedule, but EWU seems to be able to play some very competitive programs that will make them better in the BSC. I think they are a program on the rise. Not yet Weber State, but trending in the right direction.