Tonight should be very interesting. Seattle is probably the best three point shooting team in the WAC, and Canyon is one of the best in the country at defending the three. For Seattle, I wonder if they’ll stay strong behind the arc despite the Lopes’ strong perimeter defense, or if they’ll be forced to alter the game plan and try to go inside against GCU’s big guys down low. For GCU, will Braun and Benson continue to struggle? If so, we will potentially see more of Aidoo than usual, and those long arms will definitely get in the faces of Seattle’s shooters. I wonder if we will also see Milstead in the first half again tonight?

This is the part of the season I get most excited about. The non-conference, especially this season has been hard to watch. As a season ticket holder I hate to miss home games. But, as my kids have gotten older and more involved in things, I missed a few games and really did not "miss" anything due to the very low competition. I really have no idea what GCU team will show up tonight. My hope, it is the GCU team who played a near perfect game against Morgan State at the Orleans. What a fun road trip that was. I told some other Lopes fan that I would not be surprised if GCU drops this game. Seattle is very good this year, especially at home. Also, GCU could get caught looking ahead to NMSU at home following this game. I hope the Lopes come out strong. I would like to see more Carr, Fifii, and Milstead and less Benson. If Braun is shooting well, then he can stay on the floor. Otherwise, bench him. He's a defensive liability. The ball moves more efficiently when Shaq, Fifii, Oscar, Lever, and Keonta are on the floor. I love Gerard, Roberts, and Matty coming off the bench. Here's hoping for a win!

Watching Martin and Jackson on the floor together is really fun. They both have extremely high basketball IQs. Martin even relishes the chance to spend a few minutes studying the other team in the bench, so he’s immediately more effective when he comes in as the sixth or seventh man off the bench.

I agree that something is off with both Benson and Braun. Benson hasn’t been the same since getting rattled at Louisville. When he turned it over a couple times against the Cardinals’ press, he just seemed to deflate. I don’t know what’s happened to Josh. I wish he’d get his confidence back, as he is a great kid. That being said, I think Lever will continue to become more and more of a scoring contributor. Carr keeps getting better the more minutes he plays.

I don’t think anyone is looking past Seattle. Historically, this series has always resulted in very close games that come down to the wire. This scares me since the only close game we’ve been able to win this year was against NC Central, which never should have been allowed to get that close toward the end. We dropped close contests at home against USD, and on the road at Boise and Illinois. Hope the guys hang tight tonight. I’ll be on here during the game; hope some the other fans will be as well!

(01-06-2018 02:50 PM)Raider_Lope Wrote:  Watching Martin and Jackson on the floor together is really fun. They both have extremely high basketball IQs. Martin even relishes the chance to spend a few minutes studying the other team in the bench, so he’s immediately more effective when he comes in as the sixth or seventh man off the bench.

I agree that something is off with both Benson and Braun. Benson hasn’t been the same since getting rattled at Louisville. When he turned it over a couple times against the Cardinals’ press, he just seemed to deflate. I don’t know what’s happened to Josh. I wish he’d get his confidence back, as he is a great kid. That being said, I think Lever will continue to become more and more of a scoring contributor. Carr keeps getting better the more minutes he plays.

I don’t think anyone is looking past Seattle. Historically, this series has always resulted in very close games that come down to the wire. This scares me since the only close game we’ve been able to win this year was against NC Central, which never should have been allowed to get that close toward the end. We dropped close contests at home against USD, and on the road at Boise and Illinois. Hope the guys hang tight tonight. I’ll be on here during the game; hope some the other fans will be as well!

I'll be on as well. Should be a great game. Hopefully, GCU brings their "A" game especially in terms of their perimeter defense. Looking for a big game from Frayer. He seems to play even better during road games.

Well, the close Seattle games were due to Dollar's stifling zone D. This is a very different and more offensive minded Seattle team. That being said, Gcu is now the defensive minded team... who knows what happens tonight.

This year SU plays mostly zone. This has me worried since we have not played as well against the zone.

Disappointed Majerle is opting to go with Benson over Carr in the starting line up. Glad he has Frayer in there though.

Carr really has been earning his keep. I wonder if he had a less productive week in practice than Casey?

Crowd seems to have as much purple as there is red.

Yeah lots of purple. And empty seats. But I’m glad that the stream is up and going.

Rough start in terms of scoring. But the refs are letting them play. That’s a plus for Canyon and Vernon.

(01-06-2018 10:10 PM)Raider_Lope Wrote:  Rough start in terms of scoring. But the refs are letting them play. That’s a plus for Canyon and Vernon.

Yeah, I agree this is a plus for GCU.

Well now they’ve tightened up. 9 called fouls. And Lever is out for the half with his second foul already. Something apparently went down just now. Long time to confer between the refs.

(01-06-2018 10:21 PM)Raider_Lope Wrote:  Well now they’ve tightened up. 9 called fouls. And Lever is out for the half with his second foul already. Something apparently went down just now. Long time to confer between the refs.

Did no one see the elbow because I saw it and wondered why the personal was on Roberts

Way too many turnovers. We need to take care of the ball better.

(01-06-2018 10:47 PM)ProfScott Wrote:  Way too many turnovers. We need to take care of the ball better.

Agreed. And, this 7-0 redhawk run pretty much sucks. Not sure what GCU is doing...

Dan can’t seem to find a combo he likes out there. Each time I look up someone new has checked in. Must be hard for the guys to get into a rhythm.

Did you hear the crowd cheer after the Frayer dunk? GCU may outnumber SU in terms of fans.
31-29 at the half. Going to be a battle to the end.

(01-06-2018 10:58 PM)ProfScott Wrote:  Did you hear the crowd cheer after the Frayer dunk? GCU may outnumber SU in terms of fans.
31-29 at the half. Going to be a battle to the end.

I’m still geeking out over the dunk he had at Illinois. ESPN tweeted it as a highlight and now the video has been seen over 800,000 times. His waist was higher than the defenders head. Ridiculous ups.

And yeah... it’s going to be a grind. But it always is between these two teams. GO LOPES!!!

Oscar is making his presence known!