(12-29-2018 08:47 AM)Tribe32 Wrote:  Tribal,
that's how it works at all levels so thanks for your post. The NCAA only gives the coaches x amount of hours a week of court time. Free throw shooting is something that a coach can work with a player on the side, but the repetition is on the player to work on outside of practice. In the off season while on campus it is up to the seniors/captains to make sure everyone is putting in time on the court, in the weight room, film room and so on.

You can see that Pierce is working on his shooting form and changed it to shoot from a lower angle. I'm sure he's been working on this for a while. Loewe is stiff as a board at the line and looks like he has no confidence that anything will go in. He's 1-10 this season. Teams are going to know that and foul him.

Luke will probably get a few more chances, but like Gustys from the past, you end up on the bench at the end if you can't make fts. Teams won't stop fouling him in big spots until he converts with regularity. Owens has also struggled at the line, not sure about Scott.

(12-28-2018 11:30 PM)TribeInTheBurg Wrote:  

(12-28-2018 11:13 PM)Zorch Wrote:  Free throws win and lose games.

Did it win or lose the game tonight? I'm kidding, but this is a very young team that the coaches are trying to teach basically everything to. All things win or lose games; free throws, boxing out, defensive rotations, etc. Free throws are something players can work on without needing a team there. It makes sense that it's not a focal point during practice, there's too many things to focus on and they all win and lose games.

Good points, well taken. However, the one difference about winning or losing games is that free throws are 100% under your control. All the other aspects involve interaction with the other team. For example, perhaps you are failing to box out, but perhaps the other team is failing to take advantage of it. Perhaps you are failing to guard their 3-point shooters, but perhaps they are missing the shots anyway. With free throw shooting, it is entirely up to you to take the FREE points.

Given the claims of youth, I was curious about where we stack up against our conference brethren. Below are some quick numbers, in case anyone else finds it interesting.

Number of underclassmen on the roster:

Hofstra - 5
Northeastern - 5
Charleston - 7
UNCW - 7
William & Mary - 8
Towson - 8
Drexel - 9
Delaware - 9
Elon - 10
JMU - 10

Since number of underclassmen is a fairly blunt tool, I thought I'd dig a little deeper into meaningful minutes returning for the teams this year. These numbers are for the number of minutes a player had booked coming into the year (thus this year's numbers are excluded); however, in order for it to count as meaningful returning experience the player must have appeared in at least half of the team's games this year and must average more than 5 minutes. So the below numbers are the previous years' experience for all players who are playing regularly on this year's CAA squads (again, it's 8 in the morning, so there may be a slight slip up or two in here; all are based on ESPN #s and minutes at previous schools do count. For the extreme example, Allen has only played in 3 games for Delaware this year, so his previous minutes don't count).

Total conference meaningful returning minutes: 65,575

Team Most: Northeastern (9,201)
Team Fewest: Drexel (3,402)
Team Mean: 6,575.5
W&M Team: 5,508

Player Most: Elon's Seibring (3,034)

No. of Players with 1,000+ Minutes:

Drexel - 1
Elon - 2
JMU - 2
Towson - 2
Delaware - 2
Hofstra - 3
Charleston - 3
W&M - 4
Northeastern - 5
UNCW - 5

2,000+ minute players:
JMU - Mosley
Elon - Seibring, Santa Ana
Hofstra - Pemberton, Wright-Foreman
Northeastern - Pusica
Charleston - Riller, Brantley, Harris

% of total conference returning meaningful minutes for each team (in an ideal world, everyone would be around 9-11% for perfect balance).

Drexel - 5.2%
Towson - 7.4%
Delaware - 8.3%
William & Mary - 8.4%
JMU - 10.4%
Hofstra - 10.9%
Elon -11.7%
UNCW - 11.8%
Charleston - 11.9%
Northeastern - 14%

Outside of the three outliers (Northeastern, Towson, Drexel), the conference seems to be fairly decently balanced, experience-wise (obviously, Charleston still has an advantage over Delaware, but it will never be perfect).

I also willingly admit that this year's minutes are starting to really count toward experience with half of a season in the books, but I thought these numbers gave a decent look at where everyone stood coming into the season. Further, I readily admit you would probably prefer to have a Junior who averaged 900 minutes his first two years than a senior who averaged 650 his first three years, but I have neither the time nor the patience to delve into that mess.

Just thought it was interesting, so I'd share.

Nate and Justin are going to be good to exceptional all season. We've seen Chase and LJ go off but have had some poopers, too. Milon tends to go from cold to hot to cold and his defense needs work.

Maybe I totally missed the news, but no sign of Blair or Harvey last night. Assume injury, illness, or academics kept them out...don't want specifics if that information isn't public.

Long way around to reiterate a point - we beat an average JMU squad at home where we've now taken 6 straight vs the pukes. Versus quality opponents, we will need 4 guys to *consistently* contribute if we hope to get this ball rolling. If we can do a bit more on transition defense and get out FT % to a respectable number, we will be ok.

I hate JMU with a passion.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

Attended last night's game and was happy with the way the Tribe closed it out down the stretch. Like everyone, am hopeful that the free-throw shooting woes are just a slump that this team will bust out of. W&M was 12-for-25 from three ... I really liked the shot selection from behind the arc. I'm increasingly impressed with Audige, kid does it all and is as athletic as anyone I've seen suiting-up for the Tribe over the years. Tony talks about how raw he is and "freshman mistakes," which are plain to see. But, wow. Love Audige's moxie, too. Was very interesting to see how Tony allocated playing time last night. Starting 5 of Loewe, Audige, Milon, Pierce and Knight playing the bulk of the minutes (all 29 min +). Then Rowley, Owens & Scott off the bench in somewhat diminished roles than some may have expected. [/b]And Harvey, Blair & Jihar never getting off the pine. I still feel like point guard is our biggest opportunity for improvement. Can foresee Tony sticking with the two-headed Loewe/Blair combination and giving more playing time to the hotter hand on a game-by-game basis.
Like most of the fans I sat with at last night's game, the referee's "let 'em play" officiating style was evident to me for most of the game last night. If tomorrow's Towson game carries that same loose officiating theme, it's gonna be a tough one for the Tribe.

Tribal, I was assuming Blair and Harvey were victims of the 8 man rotation. If Rowley and Knight aren't sitting with foul trouble, we may not see Blair or Harvey.

(12-29-2018 09:40 AM)TribeInTheBurg Wrote:  Tribal, I was assuming Blair and Harvey were victims of the 8 man rotation. If Rowley and Knight aren't sitting with foul trouble, we may not see Blair or Harvey.

Yes, this is how I saw it too. Blair and Harvey (and Jihar) were already getting reduced minutes at the end of OOC play, so I was not surprised that their playing time was reduced now that we are in conference play. I still think Harvey has a tremendous upside on defense and I hope he gets more minutes as a defensive stopper.

(12-29-2018 09:24 AM)TribeNiner Wrote:  Given the claims of youth, I was curious about where we stack up against our conference brethren. Below are some quick numbers, in case anyone else finds it interesting.

Good stuff, very interesting! Looks like there is a reason why Northeastern, Charleston, and Hofstra are picked at the top of the league!

(12-29-2018 09:24 AM)TribeNiner Wrote:  Given the claims of youth, I was curious about where we stack up against our conference brethren. Below are some quick numbers, in case anyone else finds it interesting.

Number of underclassmen on the roster:

Hofstra - 5
Northeastern - 5
Charleston - 7
UNCW - 7
William & Mary - 8
Towson - 8
Drexel - 9
Delaware - 9
Elon - 10
JMU - 10

Since number of underclassmen is a fairly blunt tool, I thought I'd dig a little deeper into meaningful minutes returning for the teams this year. These numbers are for the number of minutes a player had booked coming into the year (thus this year's numbers are excluded); however, in order for it to count as meaningful returning experience the player must have appeared in at least half of the team's games this year and must average more than 5 minutes. So the below numbers are the previous years' experience for all players who are playing regularly on this year's CAA squads (again, it's 8 in the morning, so there may be a slight slip up or two in here; all are based on ESPN #s and minutes at previous schools do count. For the extreme example, Allen has only played in 3 games for Delaware this year, so his previous minutes don't count).

Total conference meaningful returning minutes: 65,575

Team Most: Northeastern (9,201)
Team Fewest: Drexel (3,402)
Team Mean: 6,575.5
W&M Team: 5,508

Player Most: Elon's Seibring (3,034)

No. of Players with 1,000+ Minutes:

Drexel - 1
Elon - 2
JMU - 2
Towson - 2
Delaware - 2
Hofstra - 3
Charleston - 3
W&M - 4
Northeastern - 5
UNCW - 5

2,000+ minute players:
JMU - Mosley
Elon - Seibring, Santa Ana
Hofstra - Pemberton, Wright-Foreman
Northeastern - Pusica
Charleston - Riller, Brantley, Harris

% of total conference returning meaningful minutes for each team (in an ideal world, everyone would be around 9-11% for perfect balance).

Drexel - 5.2%
Towson - 7.4%
Delaware - 8.3%
William & Mary - 8.4%
JMU - 10.4%
Hofstra - 10.9%
Elon -11.7%
UNCW - 11.8%
Charleston - 11.9%
Northeastern - 14%

Outside of the three outliers (Northeastern, Towson, Drexel), the conference seems to be fairly decently balanced, experience-wise (obviously, Charleston still has an advantage over Delaware, but it will never be perfect).

I also willingly admit that this year's minutes are starting to really count toward experience with half of a season in the books, but I thought these numbers gave a decent look at where everyone stood coming into the season. Further, I readily admit you would probably prefer to have a Junior who averaged 900 minutes his first two years than a senior who averaged 650 his first three years, but I have neither the time nor the patience to delve into that mess.

Just thought it was interesting, so I'd share.

We are such nerds. In a good way.

Well done.

You are not going to see Harvey and Knight playing together. Knight is an All-American prone to foul trouble. If Harvey is getting minutes, it is because Knight is in foul trouble. Likewise is Blairs situation. I love his game, but his minutes come at the expense of your senior leader (Rowley) or your do-everything forward (Pierce). You want your top horses to play as many minutes as possible.

Blair's current situation reminds me of Pierce's predicament when he was a freshman. You'd like to see him out there, but at whose expense? I'm willing to bet that Blair plays a bit more next year, and then he won't come off the floor when he's a junior and senior.

It might have been wise to redshirt Harvey this year, particularly with so many other scholarships assigned to the 2022 graduating class.

(12-29-2018 01:09 PM)WM Beancounter Wrote:  It might have been wise to redshirt Harvey this year, particularly with so many other scholarships assigned to the 2022 graduating class.

I would worry that a kid from California would get homesick and would also be fretting about having to sit out a whole year ---- and bolt.

(12-29-2018 01:15 PM)Zorch Wrote:  

(12-29-2018 01:09 PM)WM Beancounter Wrote:  It might have been wise to redshirt Harvey this year, particularly with so many other scholarships assigned to the 2022 graduating class.

I would worry that a kid from California would get homesick and would also be fretting about having to sit out a whole year ---- and bolt.

Harvey will play when we get into the heart of CAA schedule. Knight will get into early foul troubles and Rowley cannot handle the upper echelon big men. Harvey is all we got so we need him.

(12-29-2018 01:09 PM)WM Beancounter Wrote:  Blair's current situation reminds me of Pierce's predicament when he was a freshman. You'd like to see him out there, but at whose expense? I'm willing to bet that Blair plays a bit more next year, and then he won't come off the floor when he's a junior and senior.

It might have been wise to redshirt Harvey this year, particularly with so many other scholarships assigned to the 2022 graduating class.

Good point about the hindsight of a Harvey redshirt this season. He can use the physical development. And with Van Vliet becoming eligible next season, post minutes could be scarce next year, too.

Copied from the JMU site. Hilarious!! (Although I guess a few of our younger posters won't even have heard of the Smothers Brothers).

(12-28-2018 07:39 PM)Wear Purple Wrote:  W&M Head Coach Dick Smothers made a smart move to the 3-2 zone. We look clueless trying to attack it.

(12-29-2018 01:09 PM)WM Beancounter Wrote:  Blair's current situation reminds me of Pierce's predicament when he was a freshman. You'd like to see him out there, but at whose expense? I'm willing to bet that Blair plays a bit more next year, and then he won't come off the floor when he's a junior and senior.

Were you sitting behind me at the game yesterday? I literally said that to my dad.

(12-29-2018 02:43 PM)TribeInTheBurg Wrote:  

(12-29-2018 01:09 PM)WM Beancounter Wrote:  Blair's current situation reminds me of Pierce's predicament when he was a freshman. You'd like to see him out there, but at whose expense? I'm willing to bet that Blair plays a bit more next year, and then he won't come off the floor when he's a junior and senior.

Were you sitting behind me at the game yesterday? I literally said that to my dad.

Maybe Beancounter IS your dad!

(12-29-2018 03:04 PM)Zorch Wrote:  

(12-29-2018 02:43 PM)TribeInTheBurg Wrote:  

(12-29-2018 01:09 PM)WM Beancounter Wrote:  Blair's current situation reminds me of Pierce's predicament when he was a freshman. You'd like to see him out there, but at whose expense? I'm willing to bet that Blair plays a bit more next year, and then he won't come off the floor when he's a junior and senior.

Were you sitting behind me at the game yesterday? I literally said that to my dad.

Maybe Beancounter IS your dad!

Funny. You may have comedic talent.

I think the lineage is Tarpey to Prewitt to Pierce. It’s a key role for us and the quality of the players we’ve been able to field in it has been a major factor in our recent success. And it seems to me each of those players has had to wait patiently for his predecessor to graduate.

A recent post in another thread referred to Cameron Brown’s strength which makes me wonder if he and Blair won’t be competing for that spot when Pierce graduates.

(12-29-2018 03:27 PM)tribeinexile Wrote:  I think the lineage is Tarpey to Prewitt to Pierce. It’s a key role for us and the quality of the players we’ve been able to field in it has been a major factor in our recent success. And it seems to me each of those players has had to wait patiently for his predecessor to graduate.

A recent post in another thread referred to Cameron Brown’s strength which makes me wonder if he and Blair won’t be competing for that spot when Pierce graduates.

Not sure how accurate that is in Prewitt's case. He played significant minutes as a freshman.