I'll Be a Son of a Shark

[PointGuard]

I've got a feeling, my CSU Bakersfield team will be running head and head with you this year to lead the nation in turn overs. Boy I hate the ball being tossed away and the travelling.

I guess you have some good looking cheerleaders for that guy to spend 25 minutes looking at them.

[CoachC]

We've decided to make a change this game and move Lemeke to the point, and put Woods back at the 2.

In their 87-86 pt OT win over NJ Tech, their 6'9 Center Quentin Lee scored 26 points, and is a handful. They basically played a 2 man game with Lee and guard Jo Jo Brown who added 16. Those two will be getting a lot of attention from us. Although not a running team, they aren't deliberate. One concern for us is that they turned the ball over just 6 times in 45 minutes in that game. We MUST take better care of the ball in this one or it could be a long night.

The Highlanders KILLED them on the boards, however, and in transition. We need to try to do the same.

As we feared, it was another ugly TO differential in the first half (5 ast, 11 TO G-W, 10/4 A-LR). Although the game was played at our tempo, we shot very poorly as a team in the first half (38.7%) while letting them torch us (56.3 %). The only positives..We dominated the boards (23-12, 10-2 on offensive glass) and Woods was much much more comfortable at the 2 (19 pts), but had little help. We need to use our rebounding advantage to push the ball in transition more in the 2nd half.

At the half we trail 42-32.

Although we played much better at the defensive end in the 2nd half and continued our domination of the boards in the second half, we still shot too poorly and turned the ball over too many times to have a chance to close the gap. 1 steal is not going to cut it. I realize this was a very good ball-handling team we were up against, but we've got a long way to go with the Amoeba Zone. We can't win with turnover and fast break differentials like we've had in the first two games, period.

Rebounding (44-25, 18-11 offensive)
Shooting (us 41 %, them 46%)
A/TO (us 11/20, them 18/5 with 12 steals! we need to reverse those numbers)
our 16-6 advantage in 2nd chance points was obliterated by their 20-10 advantage in fast break points.

The positives:

Obviously the rebounding, and Woods scored 28 pts, with 7 rebs back at the 2. Lemuke was adequate at the point (9 pts, 3 asts, 3 to, 7 rebs) although most of his points came on a couple of 3 point shots late. Evans was solid at the 3 again (7 pts, 7 rebs, and 0 TO in 29 mins any player on this team that goes 29 minutes without a turnover gets a ticker tape parade). Larry Williams played very well off the bench before getting into foul trouble in the 2nd half. Our lack of perimiter shooting from anyone other than Woods though, kept us from spreading the floor and getting the ball into the post (Brown and Sheals, got just 4 shots combined for 6 pts.) Feeley and Gilchrist have to give us more off the bench than ill-advised passes to the cheerleaders.

Will have to talk to my staff tonight and tomorrow to see what changes we can make.

Final score: 65-77

[CoachC]

I've got a feeling, my CSU Bakersfield team will be running head and head with you this year to lead the nation in turn overs. Boy I hate the ball being tossed away and the travelling.

I guess you have some good looking cheerleaders for that guy to spend 25 minutes looking at them.

I know, In my last association going with my own philosophies, we were in the top 5 in NCAA in fewest turnovers every year, and were usually number 1.

Sad thing is, the guy is the best pure shooter on the team and has a 3.5 potential he'll never ever reach. Maybe if we suspended one of the cheerleaders behind the basket he'd look there. Only way the guy will ever score a basket I think is if Josh Brown picks him up and throws him in there. Kid won't even pass the ball to someone who WILL shoot.

[CoachC]

In looking over the scores from last night I see our conference is now a combined 5-17 on the year. I feel slightly less bad.
We arrive home for some good news at least. Josh O'Connor has faxed over his LOI, and I call a press conference with the pimply kid from the student newspaper to announce it.

[CoachC]

Nov 20 - After an all night meeting with the brain trust and looking over what sets the kids had become familiar with under the old regime, we've decided to add some princeton sets to our offensive repertoire to try to get Josh Brown a few more touches in the paint. We've also decided to increase the amount of practice emphasis on the Amoeba Zone, as we all remain convinced we have the personnel here to make it work.

[Wayne23]

Runnin' Bulldogs. Serendipity!

[CoachC]

It's great to be home. As our team exits the tunnel and pours onto the floor for warm-ups they are greeted by the resounding yawns of 474 indifferent fans. The home opener here is such a big deal, the student band has elected not to be here tonight and is instead at the grand opening of a strip mall in Asheville. I tell Kevin, "If I have one goal in my time here, it's to make these people care." Kevin says, "They will, Coach, they will."

The Monarchs come in after 2 close losses to quality opponents at home. In games vs BYU and Miami (OH) they've turned the ball over 36 times but have forced 34. The sleeping fans in the 2nd row had better wake up because balls may be bouncing off their heads all night. They like to press and this could get ugly.

They've not shot the ball well thus far nor have they played defense. If we can play a modicum of defense and make some shots we might have a chance in this one.

Good news. We fixed their shooting slump for them in the first half as they shot 59% from the field.

There were some encouraging signs though. We did get a few more touches for Brown in the paint in the first half, and we held a 16-15 reb advantage (7-2 on the offensive boards). There were shockingly few turnovers in the first half, just 5 apiece, and when we went to the Amoeba Zone it was a bit more effective and netted 3 steals and we had a 10-4 advantage on fast break points. After a cold first 4 minutes from the field we didn't play that badly other than the lack of defensive stops and we controlled temp.

At the half we trail 37-41.

Baby steps. All I can do after this one is focus on the things we did right, because it's a start. We finally took care of the ball and the Amoeba generated 9 steals leading to a 9-16 TO advantage and a 17-4 advantage in transition. We finally got Brown a little more involved in the offense scoring 9 pts on 7 shots. Woods was a stud again scoring 24, and Lemuke added 13 but needs to shoot more. Evans was a stat sheet filler once again and is proving to be our best rebounder and defender, and the team leader on the floor.

The ugly: You won't ever beat anyone anywhere by allowing them to shoot 60% from the field. Other than the forced turnovers out of the Amoeba, we were incapable of getting any stops tonight against a team that came in shooting 38% from the field. That's unacceptable.
We had good efforts from Williams and West off the bench, but we still desperately need another perimeter guy to step up and give us some production off the bench. Gilchrist was decent at the point tonight with 3 asts and no turnovers, but refuses to shoot the ball. Feeley gave us nothing. Porter and Myers got their first minutes of the season late in the first half, and may get more opportunities. Myers actually stopped looking at the cheerleaders long enough to get fouled and sink a couple of free throws.

We lose 81-68 at home, but sadly it was still our best effort of the season, and gives us something to grow on.

[PointGuard]

...they are greeted by the resounding yawns of 474 indifferent fans. The home opener here is such a big deal, the student band has elected not to be here tonight and is instead at the grand opening of a strip mall in Asheville.

LOL...great lines!

[PointGuard]

The first year truly can be hell.

Just 9 turnovers is good though!

[Wayne23]

It's always a great feeling to turn that indifference into fan enthusiasm. It may take awhile but it's worth it.