RE: MBB Game 2 - @American
Really enjoyed the Tribe's performance on Friday night. The offense was bad in the first 8 minutes that led to that 24-8 gap, but honestly the defense didn't look that bad. American just couldn't miss from 3. Dane even said after the game that American took the shots we wanted them to take. But I was impressed with the team's ability to recover from that deficit, stick together as a team, keep executing on the fundamentals, feed the bigs, and win confidently. A 2-0 start on the road is awesome...let's keep it up at Wofford! Other observations:
- Bryce Barnes was a difference maker. Coming out of the timeout when we were down 24-8, he had solid offensive and defensive plays to get us back in the game. When the rest of the team sees a leader step up and give max effort when we're down by that much, it gives everyone confidence to keep plugging away.
- Scott's made 3 was beyond NBA distance. When he shot it, I shook my head, but dang, it was important that it went in given how little we had done offensively up until the point.
- Scott should keep developing his mid-range game. A few nice floaters in this game. If he can keep shooting the 3 with a good stroke, if he develops a mid-range game in addition to his strong passing skills, he'll be a big threat.
- While Scott had a good game overall, he seems to make a few bone-headed lazy passes each game. But we'll take it, as long as he keeps competing so well on both ends of the floor.
- Really good game by Loewe. If he can keep hitting 3's, that changes the look of our team significantly.
- Others have said the same, but AVV is so much better in the post than I thought he'd be. Even if he hasn't been playing against amazing post defenders, his positioning, offensive moves, and rebounding instincts suggest he knows what he's doing, and can continue to perform against even better post defenders...
- ... though, whenever both Knight and AVV are in the game, AVV will be guarded by the 4, and there just aren't many (any?) 4's that we will play who can post-defend a 7-footer.
- If Knight stays out of foul trouble, and he touches the ball as much as he should, he could AVERAGE a double-double this season. That is an amazing feat. I don't expect his Assist #'s to be as high as last year, but all other #'s could/should increase.
- While Knight had 2 offensive fouls, he does seem to have better foul discipline than in past years. I bet he'll still foul out of a few games, but I'm not as nervous watching him as I was last year.
- One thing I'd like to see Knight do better is go up straight and with authority every time he tries to score. I think that stands between him and being an offensively dominant big man who could (not necessarily will) score 30 points in every game. He still seems to go up off-balance and/or leaning, with makes his shot more difficult and minimizes the chance of drawing a foul. Especially against the last 2 teams we played, I would have expected Knight to be able to finish strong nearly every time he has the ball and is facing the basket in the post.
- Continued game-day development for Blair and Harvey will be a tricky thing for Dane & staff to navigate this year. Both are critical for the future, but we've never had such a dominant Twin Towers duo like we have this year. So I, like the rest of us, would love to see us get 30+ minutes out of both Knight and AVV every game, which admittedly limits development opportunity for our back-ups. That said, practicing against those guys every day is worth something. I also don't think the comments are fair that talk about the step down when Blair goes in. I mean, sure there's a step down, but Knight and AVV are potentially BOTH 1st-team All CAA players. We almost never have a single one. So when we have that level of talent in our starting line-up, any back-up is going to be a significant step-down.
- I love watching this team compete and play together as a team. We are bound to lose some games (maybe even quite a few), but I think they will rarely get too high or too low, and will never give up.
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