106 replies to this topic

[You Play to Win the Game]

Yeah, Allen had heroitis on his mind there. Had made the decision he was going to take that shot as he was dribbling up the court.

No doubt. A learning opportunity for a young man, and a young team. They have to rebound right away though vs. Miami. That's not going to be a walk in the park by any means.

[glenn__davis]

One final observation...

This is precisely what I was talking about in a post on another thread where I said that while Turgeon's 10-man rotation obviously has its strengths, I felt like this team had no real identity to turn to when the going gets tough. No set line-ups, no go-to guy, nothing concrete that they can fall back on and say, "Hey, this will work." That was precisely my concern, and I think it showed badly tonight.

[You Play to Win the Game]

One final observation...

This is precisely what I was talking about in a post on another thread where I said that while Turgeon's 10-man rotation obviously has its strengths, I felt like this team had no real identity to turn to when the going gets tough. No set line-ups, no go-to guy, nothing concrete that they can fall back on and say, "Hey, this will work." That was precisely my concern, and I think it showed badly tonight.

With bigs like Len and Mitchell, why aren't they that identity? Why didn't we go down to the post to end the scoring drought and just get the confidence back on offense?

Good post BTW, I definitely agree with what you've been saying about this.

[glenn__davis]

Well Len's only averaging 25 minutes a game (not counting tonight). Mitchell's at 16.

That was my point in the other thread. I get trying to get guys time, and experimenting, and tinkering, especially with this many talented players. And there are some strengths to having all that flexibility.

But I just feel like there's nothing concrete to fall back on. He can't put in his best line-up in tough times, because there is no best line-up.

[You Play to Win the Game]

Well Len's only averaging 25 minutes a game (not counting tonight). Mitchell's at 16.

That was my point in the other thread. I get trying to get guys time, and experimenting, and tinkering, especially with this many talented players. And there are some strengths to having all that flexibility.

But I just feel like there's nothing concrete to fall back on. He can't put in his best line-up in tough times, because there is no best line-up.

I hear ya. I think he needs to get a steady post game going with those guys though so that it can develop into that.

[bnickle]

FSU just collapsed on us in the post. Plus they have some athletic guys/ shotblockers. Thats what good teams are going to do. They're going to force the guards and in particular our outside game to beat them.


The other thing to note was how poorly we rebounded in the 2nd half on both ends of the court. Thats another concern. When teams limit us to 1 shot on offense and or can pretty much match us on the boards it could be a problem. We know how much and how big our rebounding has been to us this year.

[BSLMattJergensen]

Tough loss for a young team. This is why I hesitated putting MD ahead of FSU in the ACC. This is a team that is well coached, physical, has an All-American in Snaer (though he was in foul trouble most of the evening) and has averaged at least 10 wins the last four seasons.

FSU did a nice job of taking the off foward and helping on lobs to Len. They collapsed well to the ball and made most of his shots difficult. MD's other big (Mitchell, or Padgett) must make themselves available in the high to make the defender pay for not guarding them.

Turnovers particualry unforced turnovers were a huge issue last night. I was also surprised at the lack of rebounding down the stretch for a team that has size and strength. They appeared (no pun) shell shocked and stunned for a stretch late when the Seminoles started to come on strong. That was a concern for me. How will you react when you take a team's best punch? Luckily they did gather some long shots to make a run at the end so that was encouraging.

I understand the point about using ten players. Personally I prefer a 8 man rotation where you touch 9 or 10 if in foul trouble. Len did play 30 minutes last night.The Terps played 10 last night but I didn't see that as the reason why they faltered last night. Even while turning the ball over in the 1st half they pushed the lead to 14 at one point. Defensive intensity was there and offensively they were sharing the ball. The last point is a huge strength of this team as they've been averaging close to 18 assists a game. The issues were turnovers, poor outside shooting/half court execution, rebounding.

The identity of the team is a strong inside game with a top flight talent in Wells complemented by shooters in Layman, Aaronhalt, and at least yesterday Faust. Len should touch the ball most possessions followed by Dez. FSU did a good job discouraging looks to Alex. Dez forced too much of the action last night and took ill advised shots in the half court. Shooting went cold - Aaronhalt 1 for 6, Layman 1 for 4, Allen 4 for 10.Only Faust shot well from the field on the outside and hit some threes (4 for 6). FSU took MD out of their comfort zone and was able to sneak out with a road win.

I could also add a few mistakes at the end such as Allen not recognizing a wide open Len under the basket and not fouling Ian Miller (45% FT shooter) when he caught the ball in the front of press. I can't remember what the timeout situation was at the time so I don't know if a timeout called to set up a last play with 8 seconds on the clock would have beneficial. Sometimes letting the team play can work in certain situations.

Disappointing to lose when you come out so strong to start but it's just a learning experience in a long season.