at Northern Iowa - 01/18/2023 - 7:00 PM - ESPN+

P

Popsto4

Guest
Other than Penn at Drake, I don’t know if there are many teams in the Valley operating with a true point guard offense. I don’t think a lack of a true point guard is our primary issue. Our problem is our guards lack in certain skillsets that can take any one of them out of a game at any point. But our biggest problem is we have no presence inside and teams can pack it in on us and hope our guards can’t break them down.

Yuri Collins at SLU is a true point guard, but he constantly has the ball in his hands and their offense is stagnant most of time because everyone is waiting for him to do something. And their head coach is catching heat because this team hasn’t performed to pre season expectations.
Honestly I believe the true pg/old school 1 have all just about disappeared. The game of basketball have evolved into bucket getters from the 1 to the 5 and I mean being able to shoot the long ball. The scoring pg is what it is now. A old school 1 guard= true pg couple that with the ability to get a bucket from where and when you want to and you have the makings of a great team even without a dominant big. On the other hand have a dominant big down low without a true pg and the team will struggle.
 

Birdfriend72

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 6, 2017
Messages
1,902
100% 100% 100%. I keep pressing on Liam to impact the game outside of scoring. When he doesn't score he's mentally about half the player. I can see his ceiling (which is pretty high) but his mental game has a long way to go for him to surpass that ceiling. I'm not sure what's up with Kendall. As a leader on this team you can't get completely shut out of scoring 2 games in a week or 2 unless you're pulling down 15 rebounds. I really like Kendall but doggone it. Find your game, leader!! We're pulling for you. C'mon Liam - it's hard, man, but rise to the occasion!!! Stop letting circumstances dictate your play! Respect the game and she'll respect you!

We've got to get Malachi off the ball next year. He's not our answer at PG and our offense suffers because of it...he just can't break a defender down. A BIG credit to him, though, for stepping up and filling the slot. He's a SOLID player with safe ball-handling, and he's most definitely an asset...perhaps one of our best, maybe even our best when it comes to steadiness. I really like his attitude on the court. He's got the Tony Bennett feel about him. We need him on the team next year...just not full-time PG.

I like all these guys. I thought at the beginning of year it might be Feb 1 before we start seeing good basketball...hopefully. Man this feels like a long trip. See ya Saturday, 'Birds. Give the students a reason to let loose on campus after the game!
Agree with everything you said. I do think our guards are good enough to win- the lack of a consistent and quality big is hurting us. I hope Pedon is scouring the portal and juco ranks. We could use two- but 1 is good enough.
 

Loyl2u

Active member
Joined
Jul 23, 2017
Messages
564
Not a very good Jacobson team. Birds could have won the game in Normal & could have won in Cedar Falls. As with every coach, Pedon is is trying nightly to figure out how to disguise weaknesses and make most out of matchups. Didn’t work for Liam to switch onto bigs, as they went right at him if he covered a big- he had 20+ points last game and they went at him with intent. Burford got the runner in the lane off screen without opposition in first half, they switched on him and doubled in the second half. As Popsto4 said, game situations change and Birds must be able to recognize, adjust. UNI didn’t jump Seneca on screen and gave him room to get to basket unlike many previous opponents-paid the price. Birds switching on Born with bigs and the length of those guys seemed to give Born problems. Ultimately too many tweeners right now. I’d still like them to try the one lineup I don’t recall seeing all season, putting Mal, Luke, Liam, Lewis and Sissoko on floor
 
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