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Western State

Agreed, Mycats, both exhibition games were not what I had hoped for. Today's team did not shoot well and defensively they were just not impressive at all (Sacstatesman, I'm thinking I was completely wrong about my assessment of this defense). Unfortunately, I don't see a team ready to get a win in Logan or compete well in the Paradise Jam.
 
Defense is killing the Cats. Offensively, the Cats were 55% from the field. Yes, there were a handful of silly TOs and a bunch of missed shots but a lot of those missed shots were right there. The guys just need time to gel. Defense has been lackluster at best. Love Bolomboys offense but his defense leaves me scratching my head.
 
Joel is a man, but thought that we didn't have a strong supporting cast. I don't see our starters being able to get a lot of rest this year.

Our bench played 59 of 200 minutes..... Had 14 pts, 6 Rebs, 6 assist, 5 fouls and 5 Turnovers!

Have to keep Joel out of foul trouble!
 
SWWeatherCat said:
Agreed, Mycats, both exhibition games were not what I had hoped for. Today's team did not shoot well and defensively they were just not impressive at all (Sacstatesman, I'm thinking I was completely wrong about my assessment of this defense). Unfortunately, I don't see a team ready to get a win in Logan or compete well in the Paradise Jam.
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I'm not going to take a cheap shot when I didn't see the game. Looking at the stats I don't see where the roof is caving in either. Seems you guys shot the ball well. I was curious about why Braxton didn't play??? The real season starts Friday and I think you guys have a better chance at getting a DI win than we do. Utah St. is a bit easier than Gonzaga, but I'm heading to Spokane to see the upset if it happens to occur. Don't be so hard on the kids yet as you had to know (as I pointed out) that this team is very young and inexperienced. They will definitely get better with time.
 
Sac

I think some decisions are being made..... Braxton was on the bench, but was the only freshman that didn't get playing time.
 
Come on! Youngguns is going to be butthurt for a while. Leave him alone and let him heal before ripping him a new one. :bad: :bad:
 
I hope you guys don't do this again. We are talking about a kid trying to play basketball. Let's talk about the kids that actually played in the game.
 
I don't agree with Mycats, and some others. I think we showed some significant improvement over the first exhibition, and against a well disciplined team. We were far superior in the front court, but they had some fairly talented guards. WS played hard on defense and hit some clutch three point shots. Hill played a lot of time at the 3 spot. That alone should make some on this board happy. Hajek and Johnson-Coston played much, much better this game. Golden and Senglin let the game come to them and didn't force anything. We missed on a couple of ally oops, but I can live with that. We took care of the ball much better as well. As a team, we had twice as many assists as turnovers. That is an excellent mark in anybody's book. :thumb: :thumb:
 
@Sac: No, the roof's not caving in, this team just doesn't look ready to take advantage in-state/OOC as I'd hoped, especially defensively. I'll still be in Logan cheering them on, hoping for an upset as well. I hope expressing disappointment of higher hopes isn't being too hard on the kids. No doubt the Zags are a tough and Weber wins in Logan about as often as one would expect Sac to in Spokane.

Golden, Senglin, and Gittens didn't shoot too well in the first half but came on in the second. On paper, they didn't do too bad but a big portion of that 55% shooting was in the paint, which is great, just the outside shooting seemed off somewhat. The perimeter defense seems to struggle keeping (lesser competition) in front of them and the post D seems slower and softer than they should be.

Richardson 3 mins, Jefferson 1 min, and Braxton 0. If Braxton and at least one of the others isn't red-shirting, their lack of any significant playing time in either exhibition game will be a real head scratcher to me.
 
catscratched said:
... Johnson-Coston played much, much better this game. ...
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Just an observation, does it seem to anyone else that Johnson-Coston is having a really difficult time getting a handle on the ball? I love his build and the potential I see in him but, man, it seems to be a straggle to get a hold of and handle the ball.
 
This is the first time I've seen the team this year. Most of what I know about them has come from observations on this board. So just a couple of my own:

Hayden Hunter was extremely impressive. For a pure freshman he ran the point very well. He has great court vision and and what I think is a high basketball IQ for an incoming kid. It would have been nice to see him take a three, but he was sneaky quick when he doesn't have the look of a player who is quick. He knows how to handle the ball and get it in the right hands on offense -- at the right time -- which I think is an innate skill. The highlight of the game for me was a pass he made to Hajek that resulted in a layup. Not much pub on this board so far about him, he's going to be good, and will help us plenty this year as things ran smoothy when he was running the team.

I was worried about Golden who only had 2 points at halftime, but he sure lit it up in the second.

I think Johnson-Colson will be fine. It takes a little time for many JC kids to get used to the defensive agressiveness of D1 ball. Nice build, long arms, seems to have a good intermediate shot.

Wow, where is the depth? Rahe is going to have to find at least one more guy who can contribute both defensively and offensively. Bolomboy is so improved, but it sure looked like where Bolomoboy goes, the Cats will go.

A last note, one of the great things about Rahe is his teams build momentum over the season and usually end up much better at the end. It is going to be fun watching these kids get better, and they will. Playing USU so early has been a real problem for us in recent years. But we usually are still playing basketball when Stew is trying to figure out why so many kids are trying to find a new school to play for when USU's season is done...
 
I'm with you Pirate re: Hunter. He showed much more last night than a week ago. 5 assists and was able to penetrate and get to the rim a couple of times.
I do hope someone else steps up to provide an offensive spark off the bench, though. I don't see Hunter being that person. So far, I haven't seen a whole lot from Johnson-Coston. Not sure where he can get his points.
The thing that troubled me the most was Weber's inability to stop the pick and roll and pick and pop in the first half. Did look like they figured it out in the 2nd half, though.
Senglin, Golden, and Gittens will be a strong combo throughout the season.
Loved Bolomboy's 3.
 
I am curious guys since you all were at the game and all I can do is follow it through stats online right now. How did the team look when they went with their big line up? It seemed to my from the stats that when they went Hill, Colston, Hajek and then Hill, Bolomboy, Hajek the the team made some nice runs to spread the lead in the second half. But you all where their and unfortunately nothing online yet so what say you all.
 
I am just going to say this once then drop it for the rest of the year because we can't go back. It would sure be nice to have Royce Williams come off of the bench this season and provide the depth we desperately need. I don't see either freshman guard even close to his level. Plus I think Royce and Johnson-Coston are the same height.

The sky isn't falling. We will be okay as the season progresses. The good news is that USU has not looked great in exhibition. They have a new free flowing offense they are trying.

I think Youngguns needs a hug today. All of us guys in our 30's trhat he says needs Geritol are just here to help him.
 
I was concerned with the fact that we we were trying to play one on one basketball way too much. Jeremy seemed to start like this last year with him driving into groups of people instead of running the point. I can think of 3 plays where Joel and Coston were open for oops and he decided to take it himself. 18 assist is good but there was much more left out there.
I watched Golden get ripped apart for trying to create his own 3 point shot so I dont think Rahe is telling them to play one on one.
Side note I think Golden will lead the team in 3s, when they run a play for him he knocks down the shot. When he gets too fancy its a toss up.
 
i don't think you should take much from an exhibition game UNLESS you lose. Coaches are trying different combinations, new offenses, new defenses, playing kids who may never see the floor the rest of the year, and all sorts of assessments are taking place behind the scenes on redshirts. walk-ons, etc. I don't think any coach wants to lose one of these play down games for confidence purposes but I don't think they care whether they win by 5 or 50, a W is a W. If a player is not playing very well that may be some reason for concern also but they may not be in game shape yet. Exhibitions are exactly what they purport to be EXHIBITIONS.
 
Not too many have mentioned the play of Hajek. I thought he did great in most aspects of the game. He scored and defended well. The only knock I have for him is that he didn't rebound well again. We need a little more rebounding from him and Johnson-Coston.

I feel that our bench will contribute more as they gain D1 experience. It is obvious that Hunter is the first guard off the bench. One of the other freshmen guards will be the second guard off the bench. That second guard will get very little time, depending on foul trouble and injuries. The nine man rotations is just about set. It will be more of an eight man rotation by the time league starts. There were a few games last year when only seven guys got in the game. I only bring that up because, as the season goes on, the bench has less impact. :coffee:
 
catscratched said:
Not too many have mentioned the play of Hajek. I thought he did great in most aspects of the game. He scored and defended well. The only knock I have for him is that he didn't rebound well again. We need a little more rebounding from him and Johnson-Coston.

I feel that our bench will contribute more as they gain D1 experience. It is obvious that Hunter is the first guard off the bench. One of the other freshmen guards will be the second guard off the bench. That second guard will get very little time, depending on foul trouble and injuries. The nine man rotations is just about set. It will be more of an eight man rotation by the time league starts. There were a few games last year when only seven guys got in the game. I only bring that up because, as the season goes on, the bench has less impact. :coffee:
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I don't see where a 9 man rotation is just about set. We've really only seen 8. The starting five, plus Hajek, J-C, and Hunter. There is no second guard off the bench. What there is, is Hill moving from the 4 to the 3. Will be interesting to see if the rotation expands to 9 or if there is a change as the season goes on as to who is in the 8 man rotation.
 
I agree with prof...... It's an 8 man with Richardson maybe getting some spot duty. The bench isn't very deep and Rahe doesn't play deeper than 8 or 9 anyway. It's going to be interesting to see how we weather injuries and foul trouble.
We are also missing that instant offense off the bench.
 
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