Comments from the Couch: vs Kennesaw State

dbronco7sc

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I State - 91 : Kennesaw State - 51

No repeat of Georgia Tech tonight, as we win by 40.
All starters with 30 minutes or less this game, JVB only with 22.
Six guys with double figures today.

Before we break down individual efforts, I just want to once again state how amazing our guard play has been.
1) I know it's been said time and time again, but this group of guards as a unit make it look easy. The opposing guards we've seen so far just can't figure out how to stop these guys. Though it's easy to focus on the offense, they bring so much defensively as well.
2) Secondly, our upperclassmen (DG, Scott, Jake, JVB) are so consistent and make good judgement that it makes it easy for our young guys to play with them.
3) Finally, our ball movement is spectactular. Whether it be the quick counter, the press break, or kicking it out... the decisions are great and the passes are accurate giving us so many easy looks!

-- Individual breakdowns --

*DG: I want him back another year. Maybe it's the senior confidence, or maybe Fred just actually knows how to use the amazing talent that DG has. DG not only creates for everyone else (5 assists) but now creates for himself this year as well. A couple of treys, another stolen inbound pass for easy 2, 2/2 FTs for a cool 14. Coulda put up a lot more but rested much of the second half.

*JVB: Started us off quick with 3s (3/4 on the night). Continues to open up the lane for us with that threat. Even drove from the arc for a layup himself once. Great decision making and works well with the guards to move the ball around the court. Small injury scare but returned later but sat much of the second half due to our lead.

*Jake: Continues to track down the ball (7 Rebounds), a perfect 5/5 FTs. Again, brings an all around game to the table that simply fills whatever the team is lacking at the time. Will continue to be huge factor to this team's success. This was a fairly tall team we played... a fairly tall team that we outrebounded 43-29.

*Ejim: First Double Double (14p,12r) despite 2/6 FTs and a missed dunk. It's funny because I found myself getting excited everytime Ejim made a mistake. The reason being he would always make a huge makeup play after each mistake. Miss 2 free throws -> huge followup putback dunk. Dribble ball off knee after rebound -> Quick steal flying the other way resulting in two FTs made after fouled. Missed Bigtime easy dunk -> Blocked shot creating turnover followed by a difficult monster high flying fast break dunk. Not sure if you know this... but dude's a freshman... body of a senior.

*Scott: 3/5 3ptrs. 2/2 FTs (from opposing coach Technical). Jumpstarted our scoring at the end of the half after we let them claw back within 10. Continues to be one of our primary scoring options. Otherwise quiet day with 13 points.

Godfrey: Career high 11 points. Looks extremely comfortable scoring from beneath the hoop. Finishes quickly and makes good decisions with the ball down low. During the late minutes with all non-starters in... Godfrey looked like a leader and looked comfortable with the game flowing through him to move the ball around. 5/5 from the field is always a good stat in a solid 22 minutes of play. Displayed some explosive shot blocking ability we've seen in some games before.

Philips: 16 minutes. Reminds me a bit of Jake. Might be the guy who steps up to fill Jake's shoes next year. 7 pts 5 RBs. Gets after the ball and not afraid to go to the floor. 1/1 FTs converting a nice 3 point play.

Railey: 8 minutes. A rough short stint in the first half with some turnovers/fouls. Comes back in the second half with great play: steal, 2 blocks, and a big dunk from following up a missed fast break shot. I feel good about him developing into a good player for us over the years. Seems to get along fine getting up and down the court.

Bubu: In 13 minutes 1/1 3ptrs, 2/2 FTs, 2 assists. Not bad play, minus a couple of turnovers. Mostly ran the point with the rest of the bench in in the second half. A few solid minutes played in the first half.

McKnight: 4 minutes. 1 RB, 1 A. Not much playing time to base anything off of. I'm curious to see how he'd perform with the starters, giving him some room to showcase his talents better.

Fred Hoiberg: Team came out of every time out with good production. This guy appears to be very capable of being a quality Division 1 head coach. Through 5 games so far, he hasn't shown anything to prove he's not.
 
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Bobber

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Apr 12, 2006
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I State - 91 : Kennesaw State - 51

No repeate of Georgia Tech tonight, as we win by 40.
All starters with 30 minutes or less this game, JVB only with 22.
Six guys with double figures today.

Before we break down individual efforts, I just want to once again state how amazing our guard play has been.
1) I know it's been said time and time again, but this group of guards as a unit make it look easy. The opposing guards we've seen so far just can't figure out how to stop these guys. Though it's easy to focus on the offense, they bring so much defensively as well.
2) Secondly, our upperclassmen (DG, Scott, Jake, JVB) are so consistent and make good judgement that it makes it easy for our young guys to play with them.
3) Finally, our ball movement is spectactular. Whether it be the quick counter, the press break, or kicking it out... the decisions are great and the passes are accurate giving us so many easy looks!

-- Individual breakdowns --

*DG: I want him back another year. Maybe it's the senior confidence, or maybe Fred just actually knows how to use the amazing talent that DG has. DG not only creates for everyone else (5 assists) but now creates for himself this year as well. A couple of treys, another stolen inbound pass for easy 2, 2/2 FTs for a cool 14. Coulda put up a lot more but rested much of the second half.

*JVB: Started us off quick with 3s (3/4 on the night). Continues to open up the lane for us with that threat. Even drove from the arc for a layup himself once. Great decision making and works well with the guards to move the ball around the court. Small injury scare but returned later but sat much of the second half due to our lead.

*Jake: Continues to track down the ball (7 Rebounds), a perfect 5/5 FTs. Again, brings an all around game to the table that simply fills whatever the team is lacking at the time. Will continue to be huge factor to this team's success. This was a fairly tall team we played... a fairly tall team that we outrebounded 43-29.

*Ejim: Another Double Double (14p,12r) despite 2/6 FTs and a missed dunk. It's funny because I found myself getting excited everytime Ejim made a mistake. The reason being he would always make a huge makeup play after each mistake. Miss 2 free throws -> huge followup putback dunk. Dribble ball off knee after rebound -> Quick steal flying the other way resulting in two FTs made after fouled. Missed Bigtime easy dunk -> Blocked shot creating turnover followed by a difficult monster high flying fast break dunk. Not sure if you know this... but dude's a freshman... body of a senior.

*Scott: 3/5 3ptrs. 2/2 FTs (from opposing coach Technical). Jumpstarted our scoring at the end of the half after we let them claw back within 10. Continues to be one of our primary scoring options. Otherwise quiet day with 13 points.

Godfrey: Career high 11 points. Looks extremely comfortable scoring from beneath the hoop. Finishes quickly and makes good decisions with the ball down low. During the late minutes with all non-starters in... Godfrey looked like a leader and looked comfortable with the game flowing through him to move the ball around. 5/5 from the field is always a good stat in a solid 22 minutes of play. Displayed some explosive shot blocking ability we've seen in some games before.

Philips: 16 minutes. Reminds me a bit of Jake. Might be the guy who steps up to fill Jake's shoes next year. 7 pts 5 RBs. Gets after the ball and not afraid to go to the floor. 1/1 FTs converting a nice 3 point play.

Railey: 8 minutes. A rough short stint in the first half with some turnovers/fouls. Comes back in the second half with great play: steal, 2 blocks, and a big dunk from following up a missed fast break shot. I feel good about him developing into a good player for us over the years. Seems to get along fine getting up and down the court.

Bubu: In 13 minutes 1/1 3ptrs, 2/2 FTs, 2 assists. Not bad play, minus a couple of turnovers. Mostly ran the point with the rest of the bench in in the second half. A few solid minutes played in the first half.

McKnight: 4 minutes. 1 RB, 1 A. Not much playing time to base anything off of. I'm curious to see how he'd perform with the starters, giving him some room to showcase his talents better.

Fred Hoiberg: Team came out of every time out with good production. This guy appears to be very capable of being a quality Division 1 head coach. Through 5 games so far, he hasn't shown anything to prove he's not.

Nice recap. Should post it in the post game thread. Lot to like right now, but wonder how we'll do when we finally play a good team?
 

WaverlyCy

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Wow... I listened to the whole first half of the game on the radio, but missed most of the 2nd half. Thanks for the comprehensive recap!
 

dbronco7sc

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Feel free to merge with one of the other post game threads... I take a looooong time to type this up and many threads get started while I do so. I don't intend to start the 5th thread covering the same topics.
 

Ry4Cy

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Nov 4, 2010
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Ankeny
I State - 91 : Kennesaw State - 51

No repeate of Georgia Tech tonight, as we win by 40.
All starters with 30 minutes or less this game, JVB only with 22.
Six guys with double figures today.

Before we break down individual efforts, I just want to once again state how amazing our guard play has been.
1) I know it's been said time and time again, but this group of guards as a unit make it look easy. The opposing guards we've seen so far just can't figure out how to stop these guys. Though it's easy to focus on the offense, they bring so much defensively as well.
2) Secondly, our upperclassmen (DG, Scott, Jake, JVB) are so consistent and make good judgement that it makes it easy for our young guys to play with them.
3) Finally, our ball movement is spectactular. Whether it be the quick counter, the press break, or kicking it out... the decisions are great and the passes are accurate giving us so many easy looks!

-- Individual breakdowns --

*DG: I want him back another year. Maybe it's the senior confidence, or maybe Fred just actually knows how to use the amazing talent that DG has. DG not only creates for everyone else (5 assists) but now creates for himself this year as well. A couple of treys, another stolen inbound pass for easy 2, 2/2 FTs for a cool 14. Coulda put up a lot more but rested much of the second half.

*JVB: Started us off quick with 3s (3/4 on the night). Continues to open up the lane for us with that threat. Even drove from the arc for a layup himself once. Great decision making and works well with the guards to move the ball around the court. Small injury scare but returned later but sat much of the second half due to our lead.

*Jake: Continues to track down the ball (7 Rebounds), a perfect 5/5 FTs. Again, brings an all around game to the table that simply fills whatever the team is lacking at the time. Will continue to be huge factor to this team's success. This was a fairly tall team we played... a fairly tall team that we outrebounded 43-29.

*Ejim: Another Double Double (14p,12r) despite 2/6 FTs and a missed dunk. It's funny because I found myself getting excited everytime Ejim made a mistake. The reason being he would always make a huge makeup play after each mistake. Miss 2 free throws -> huge followup putback dunk. Dribble ball off knee after rebound -> Quick steal flying the other way resulting in two FTs made after fouled. Missed Bigtime easy dunk -> Blocked shot creating turnover followed by a difficult monster high flying fast break dunk. Not sure if you know this... but dude's a freshman... body of a senior.

*Scott: 3/5 3ptrs. 2/2 FTs (from opposing coach Technical). Jumpstarted our scoring at the end of the half after we let them claw back within 10. Continues to be one of our primary scoring options. Otherwise quiet day with 13 points.

Godfrey: Career high 11 points. Looks extremely comfortable scoring from beneath the hoop. Finishes quickly and makes good decisions with the ball down low. During the late minutes with all non-starters in... Godfrey looked like a leader and looked comfortable with the game flowing through him to move the ball around. 5/5 from the field is always a good stat in a solid 22 minutes of play. Displayed some explosive shot blocking ability we've seen in some games before.

Philips: 16 minutes. Reminds me a bit of Jake. Might be the guy who steps up to fill Jake's shoes next year. 7 pts 5 RBs. Gets after the ball and not afraid to go to the floor. 1/1 FTs converting a nice 3 point play.

Railey: 8 minutes. A rough short stint in the first half with some turnovers/fouls. Comes back in the second half with great play: steal, 2 blocks, and a big dunk from following up a missed fast break shot. I feel good about him developing into a good player for us over the years. Seems to get along fine getting up and down the court.

Bubu: In 13 minutes 1/1 3ptrs, 2/2 FTs, 2 assists. Not bad play, minus a couple of turnovers. Mostly ran the point with the rest of the bench in in the second half. A few solid minutes played in the first half.

McKnight: 4 minutes. 1 RB, 1 A. Not much playing time to base anything off of. I'm curious to see how he'd perform with the starters, giving him some room to showcase his talents better.

Fred Hoiberg: Team came out of every time out with good production. This guy appears to be very capable of being a quality Division 1 head coach. Through 5 games so far, he hasn't shown anything to prove he's not.
That was amazing i about choked on my pop cuz i wanted to cheer so bad
 

drednot57

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Nice recap. Should post it in the post game thread. Lot to like right now, but wonder how we'll do when we finally play a good team?
The team will play a very competitive game similar to the Creighton game. We may lose, but not for the lack of hustle and effort.
 

Judoka

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Jun 16, 2010
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I'm excited to see how these guys perform in Big XII play. I am not drinking the Kool-aid enough to think we'll have an above .500 conference season, but this team is wonderful to watch/listen to and I think we'll hold our own and get an upset or two. Fred obviously has a great locker room and I think his experience will help it stay that way once we hit the grind of conference play.
 

bawbie

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I know it's early, but some interesting stats I've noticed:

The team has had a positive assist to turnover ratio in every game, including 21 to 10 tonight. The team is averaging 19 assists and 12 turnovers.

As a team they are shooting 51.6% from the field and 46.2% from 3pt land, for an outstanding effective FG% of 59.7%.

I love what JVB can do when healthy. On the season he has 7 assists, only 2 TOs, 4 steals and 13 blocks.
 

Clones33

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I have to ask, how did you come up with the couch comments? Just from the radio? Or should it be comments from the stands? :wink:

Great recap!
 

bosco

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JVB is the key to this offense. He is a legitimate 3pt threat that spreads out the defense. Our guards can either shoot the 3 or penetrate. I think we are becoming a rather feisty offense to try to defend. When JVB went down earlier I was thinking the worst because we are entirely a different offense without him.
 

bawbie

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JVB is the key to this offense. He is a legitimate 3pt threat that spreads out the defense. Our guards can either shoot the 3 or penetrate. I think we are becoming a rather feisty offense to try to defend. When JVB went down earlier I was thinking the worst because we are entirely a different offense without him.

As Coach says every time he talks about the offense, spacing is the key. JVB helps the offense because he makes proper spacing that much more dangerous, and he's really good at getting good spacing.

I still feel they get too long ball happy at times, I think they need to focus on driving the ball consistently to the hoop.
 

dbronco7sc

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JVB is the key to this offense. He is a legitimate 3pt threat that spreads out the defense. Our guards can either shoot the 3 or penetrate. I think we are becoming a rather feisty offense to try to defend. When JVB went down earlier I was thinking the worst because we are entirely a different offense without him.

As Coach says every time he talks about the offense, spacing is the key. JVB helps the offense because he makes proper spacing that much more dangerous, and he's really good at getting good spacing.

I still feel they get too long ball happy at times, I think they need to focus on driving the ball consistently to the hoop.

I agree with you guys and I tend to not give JVB as much credit as he deserves. I'm used to thinking of JVB's weaknesses as he was used last year. When Hoiberg talks about playing to our players strengths, I figured he was just giving the media sometihng to write... but you can tell he truly means everything he says.

JVB is no longer, our post player that has a poor post game and keeps stepping out of position to shoot the three. He's truly an amazing 3 point threat, that forces the defense to bring out their posts to the arc and helps space the floor. In addition, to being a valued offensive spacing/3 point threat... he is 6'11' and gives us a tall guy in the paint defensively.

Essentially, instead of thinking of him as an average defensive post that gives us little offensively in the post so we sometimes pull him out to the three just to get value out of him... I now think of him as a big offensive perimeter threat, with the bonus of an extra tall guy that we can put in the paint on defense.

His ability is big part of what allows us to run our guard heavy lineup!
 

CycloneErik

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I agree with you guys and I tend to not give JVB as much credit as he deserves. I'm used to thinking of JVB's weaknesses as he was used last year. When Hoiberg talks about playing to our players strengths, I figured he was just giving the media sometihng to write... but you can tell he truly means everything he says.

JVB is no longer, our post player that has a poor post game and keeps stepping out of position to shoot the three. He's truly an amazing 3 point threat, that forces the defense to bring out their posts to the arc and helps space the floor. In addition, to being a valued offensive spacing/3 point threat... he is 6'11' and gives us a tall guy in the paint defensively.

Essentially, instead of thinking of him as an average defensive post that gives us little offensively in the post so we sometimes pull him out to the three just to get value out of him... I now think of him as a big offensive perimeter threat, with the bonus of an extra tall guy that we can put in the paint on defense.

His ability is big part of what allows us to run our guard heavy lineup!

You mean that now we're playing him as a talent and not a mismatched sort of freakshow?
 

jsb

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I agree with you guys and I tend to not give JVB as much credit as he deserves. I'm used to thinking of JVB's weaknesses as he was used last year. When Hoiberg talks about playing to our players strengths, I figured he was just giving the media sometihng to write... but you can tell he truly means everything he says.

JVB is no longer, our post player that has a poor post game and keeps stepping out of position to shoot the three. He's truly an amazing 3 point threat, that forces the defense to bring out their posts to the arc and helps space the floor. In addition, to being a valued offensive spacing/3 point threat... he is 6'11' and gives us a tall guy in the paint defensively.

Essentially, instead of thinking of him as an average defensive post that gives us little offensively in the post so we sometimes pull him out to the three just to get value out of him... I now think of him as a big offensive perimeter threat, with the bonus of an extra tall guy that we can put in the paint on defense.

His ability is big part of what allows us to run our guard heavy lineup!

True, but Jamie played some pretty good post defense against Drake last week---I didn't know he had it in him to do that! And he has shown the desire to post up a bit too.