at UIC - 11/30/23 - 7 pm - ESPN+

[DoubleDeuce]

 

[Chicagobirdfan]

It's not necessarily a bad thing not having one go-to guy for baskets. Having a balanced attack where several people could score on a given night is fine...provided we have the right combinations and offensive flow to do that. We need better movement and transition. We don't run enough. Drive and kick is fine and our guards can do that, but that shouldn't be our only option. I'd like to see us get down the floor more, and you can kickstart some of that with defensive boards & turnovers. Get your asses up the floor and attack the hoop or find a trailer.

Agreed! Especially if we keep going 10-11 folks deep. Everyone should be fresh.

 

[Popsto4]

Agreed! Especially if we keep going 10-11 folks deep. Everyone should be fresh.

I agree to a certain point. If going 10/11 deep doesn’t get the results wanted why do it. I’d be lying if I say I’m not biased. I will say if bringing Mal off the bench will help the team then I say do that. I believe we’re just deep on paper to this point but hey thoughts do change.

 

[Chicagobirdfan]

I agree to a certain point. If going 10/11 deep doesn’t get the results wanted why do it. I’d be lying if I say I’m not biased. I will say if bringing Mal off the bench will help the team then I say do that. I believe we’re just deep on paper to this point but hey thoughts do change.

I’m right there with you. I think we are losing a lot with these huge rotations and hopefully conference play the bench tightens. But if he is dead set on these lineups then we need to at least use to our advantage!

 

[Popsto4]

I’m right there with you. I think we are losing a lot with these huge rotations and hopefully conference play the bench tightens. But if he is dead set on these lineups then we need to at least use to our advantage!

And that’s my point completely. It’s all about the mindsets of the kids on the floor at any given time. Being a vocal leader is one thing but being that leader by play is a whole different monster. I don’t see a kid taking the team by the horn and leading it honestly. I believe the make up is just a bunch of really nice kids. Sometimes you have to be mean as a team and that’s not there yet.

 

[BirdGrad2011]

How we feeling? After last night I have no clue what to expect. Roll damn Birds though. Lets kick off conference play right.

 

[MadBird]

Pops has an advantage over the rest of us reading the tea leaves . . . that said:

Seems to me the longer rotation works better with the type of team we seem to have, that Pops describes - no one in particular to step up and "lead". So, you gotta look for the hot hand, and since we seem to have some, sort of, inconsistent shooting in particular and play in general, you just keep running them in there until someone looks like its their night. Get a group that looks like they're getting the job done, handling the matchups, and ride 'em for a while.

Based on what I've seen, Burford looks like the logical "best guy to get a hoop". He seems to be okay with the ball in his hands, seems to find a way to get at least close to the rack, he's got the killer little 12 foot jumper in the lane. Etc. 9 times out of 10, I'd say give him the ball and let him work.

There's a few guys that are good candidates to get warm any given night - Poindexter, Kasubke, Kinziger, Lewis. Foster probably. Banks can get it done. Get them in there, see how the match-ups are going, and chances are we'll be okay.

Pence hopefully will come around. Sissoko will give you some good hard minutes, will probably pick up some fouls and be done, but for 6-8 minutes a night, some good energy and hopefully some boards and a couple put backs and/or lay ins.

Lieb is gonna be iffy, I'm afraid. He doesn't seem to do much offensively, geez a 7 footer shooting 30% from the field, even if you take away the 2-9 from three point range. Gotta keep him close to the hoop IMHO.

A work in progress, but if they're a bunch of nice guys, as Pops says, and enjoy working together, I think they've got a chance to put it together.

 

[Adunk33]

When we're talking about "the guy" to step up, I don't really look at as "the guy to take over," I just see it more as "the guy to get us out of the slump." During Wright State, everyone on the team was pressing and trying to be the guy to finally get the ball rolling, and none of them did.

Rotations have to shrink tonight. I get three games in three days, you want to utilize your "depth" and see what you have but you've gotta coach these games to win. We all know where the top 8/9 is right now. Roll with that until you have the game in-hand and then you can do your experiments with rotations and guys 10, 11, 12 and 13.

 

[BirdGrad2011]

When we're talking about "the guy" to step up, I don't really look at as "the guy to take over," I just see it more as "the guy to get us out of the slump." During Wright State, everyone on the team was pressing and trying to be the guy to finally get the ball rolling, and none of them did.

Rotations have to shrink tonight. I get three games in three days, you want to utilize your "depth" and see what you have but you've gotta coach these games to win. We all know where the top 8/9 is right now. Roll with that until you have the game in-hand and then you can do your experiments with rotations and guys 10, 11, 12 and 13.

All of this. My reference to a go to guy wasn’t a 20 ppg guy, but a shits hitting the fan we need one bucket to break us out now guy.

 

[stielowp]

If we want to use our "depth" to our advantage, we should probably push the ball up the court more often. We rarely run and get a shot before setting up anything in the offense. This is one reason why we don't get very many assists. We are not a good transition team. We don't have very many "finishers" at the rim. DB is the best at it, Banks has had his moments. Mal, Luke, JK, KLew, and both bigs are weak at finishing at the basket in transition. Some are better served to spot up for 3, but we need someone to collapse the defense because they are a threat to the basket before teams will respect that. This will only get more obvious in conference play when teams have full scouting reports on our strengths and weaknesses. One reason we don't get out and run very often is that our guards are often going to get defensive rebounds. Our big guys usually get tied up blocking out and our guards are going in to get the defensive rebound. I am not saying we need to leak somebody out, but all of our momentum is going away from the basket we are scoring at. When you watch some of the premier teams, look at how quickly they advance the ball and get transition baskets (especially 3's). The amount of scoring on set offense is actually pretty low, unless you have a stud post player. The ball just moves around faster and the drives to the basket are quicker and with a purpose (other than passing). Our BEST teams have always had that solid post player. We still don't have that. Maybe he is sitting on the bench with a boot on (sometimes at least), but I would doubt that he will be "ready" to be that solid post player the first year he plays (whenever that is). Let's face it, we haven't had a Fayne, Carmichael, Dinma, Rico, Cornley, Zwart or Lamb for quite awhile. Those guys may not have been the best player on their teams, but they made it possible for others to shine. Don't get me started on the PG position either!

 

[ScoreboardDotRace]

As the assists go, the Birds go.
O/U 10.5. Over win, under lose. That’s my guess.

 

[SlackBooDom]

How we feeling? After last night I have no clue what to expect. Roll damn Birds though. Lets kick off conference play right.

Have to be up at the half and guard without fouling. If we play from ahead and keep them off the line I think we can win an ugly one. First to 60 likely wins. I’ll take 63-57 UIC.

 

[Phantom]

As I've said before in this thread, the time off coupled with the CareBear effort we gave against Wright State has me more than concerned about this tough, albeit very winnable, road game.

Just don't get blown off the floor.

Better yet, just f'ing win.

 

[redbirds2000]

I still say offensively it’s still a bit confusing to me. If you have dogs at different positions that can just go get a bucket then all good. If not a system need to be placed to get more open looks other than perimeter shots. Granted, those open shots still need to be knocked down when opportunity arrives. If we don’t have a player getting at least 18 pts consistently it’s going to be hard to win at a high clip in conference. Look around most of these teams in the Valley have a go to guy. Who or where is ours? It’s a huge advantage to have a kid like that. Sure balanced scoring is great, but lacking in the go to player is missing. It’s early and someone need to really step up in this category to be a leader offensively and pretty much demand the rock on the offensive end. Defensively we could’ve played better in Florida but man we held those teams pretty much under their averages for the most part. Defense can’t be overrated but putting the ball in the hole wins the games honestly.

Who is our "guy"??

 

[ChiRedbirdfan]

As I've said before in this thread, the time off coupled with the CareBear effort we gave against Wright State has me more than concerned about this tough, albeit very winnable, road game.

Just don't get blown off the floor.

Better yet, just f'ing win.

Exaclty how if feel!

 

[Dmills]

 

[Redbird222]

The team looked loose during warm-ups for what that is worth

 

[Sladerunningbear]

I hope we get a shot off.

 

[GOP_Redbird]

What point in the game does J Hood start talking about Justin Fields on the broadcast

 

[Birgs]

This is difficult to watch.