ISU at UNI

[RedbirdSoxFan]

Go back and replay the time that Rey was in the game, I counted 4 times when he kept a rebound alive and we were able to retrieve and I don’t think he played at all with either Fisher or Ndiaye on the floor with him. He’s a sophomore with limited experience and what he brings is the same thing Ndiaye does when he is in the game with Fisher- i.e. they are backstop defense, they fill up the lane, and they free Fisher to not have to play against the 5 at offensive end. I don’t know why with the 2 forward lineup working again at beginning of the game, that the coaching staff went away from it and never went back. Why did Ndiaye sit the second half? When he was in the game with Fisher, we had floor balance that created shoots inside and out.

LOYL, your analysis all game was outstanding. Thanks for your input.

Simply no way, imo, that Lijah gives us a better chance to win vs Torres. Don't understand that at all. Nor Ndyiae being absent 2nd half.

I think Donnelly has shown the willingness to sell out on defense and that earned him some time when the other freshman guards have shown some defensive weakness. That being said, I agree that considering both ends, Torres is the best alternate point guard, when Horne needs to be off floor.

I’m a big proponent of keeping players in roles to build continuity. If you have to sub, sub with someone that will play a similar game, so that everyone else doesn’t have to change their game. We saw Copeland again put in a ball handling role tonight and we all know what the result will be, why not play Torres in that spot.

This is the second game recently that the Birds are playing well with Ndiaye (and Fisher) on the floor in the first half and then we don’t see Ndiaye in second half. I am perplexed by that coaching decision.

Maybe Coach figures he’s playing Thursday night in St. Louis. Going to take a deep bench to win four games in four days. Keeping the players fresh this last two weeks, and getting everyone game minutes, will be crucial.

 

[Trey_Guidry4three]

LOYL, your analysis all game was outstanding. Thanks for your input.

Simply no way, imo, that Lijah gives us a better chance to win vs Torres. Don't understand that at all. Nor Ndyiae being absent 2nd half.

I think Donnelly has shown the willingness to sell out on defense and that earned him some time when the other freshman guards have shown some defensive weakness. That being said, I agree that considering both ends, Torres is the best alternate point guard, when Horne needs to be off floor.

I’m a big proponent of keeping players in roles to build continuity. If you have to sub, sub with someone that will play a similar game, so that everyone else doesn’t have to change their game. We saw Copeland again put in a ball handling role tonight and we all know what the result will be, why not play Torres in that spot.

This is the second game recently that the Birds are playing well with Ndiaye (and Fisher) on the floor in the first half and then we don’t see Ndiaye in second half. I am perplexed by that coaching decision.

Maybe Coach figures he’s playing Thursday night in St. Louis. Going to take a deep bench to win four games in four days. Keeping the players fresh this last two weeks, and getting everyone game minutes, will be crucial.

Or maybe coach looks around and figures he better play some guys so next year they have "experience " since a few guys may be considering transfer and the others graduate or will be hurt all year.

 

[AllFacts]

Boyd, Reeves, Horne and Copeland combined for 43. Get that up to 55-60 and we will be tough to beat. Shooting percentage decent except for Copeland.

But only 6 assists between those 4 guards so they are not sharing it enough. They have GOT to do that better for us to have a shot.

We need to get to a point where Boyd takes more of Hillsman’s minutes against smaller teams like Drake, UNI, SIU, Valpo.

Doesn't mean they aren't sharing enough, IMO I saw a decent amount of sharing/passing the ball. Issue is you can't get assist if the pass is made and the shot doesn't fall.....

 

[DWRedbird]

I’m not sure what it is that Rey brings to this team. Anyone?

Go back and replay the time that Rey was in the game, I counted 4 times when he kept a rebound alive and we were able to retrieve and I don’t think he played at all with either Fisher or Ndiaye on the floor with him. He’s a sophomore with limited experience and what he brings is the same thing Ndiaye does when he is in the game with Fisher- i.e. they are backstop defense, they fill up the lane, and they free Fisher to not have to play against the 5 at offensive end. I don’t know why with the 2 forward lineup working again at beginning of the game, that the coaching staff went away from it and never went back. Why did Ndiaye sit the second half? When he was in the game with Fisher, we had floor balance that created shoots inside and out.

I was wondering why Ndiaye sat second half. My biggest issue with Rey is how he plays the high screens. Shows too and early for too long. Leaves team exposed and creates mismatches.

Rey needs a lot of work on setting legal screens. He is either moving or leaning his shoulders out on almost every one of them and refs have picked up on it and call it every time. He's not alone, our team isn't great at setting legal screens in general, but others have shown improvement over the year. I like Rey, one of my favorite players on the team, but it is definitely something he needs to work on.

My other thoughts:

--Overall I thought we played about as well as we could against a team this good on the road. We never gave up, never gave in and that should help the guys build confidence

--I'm also curious as to why Ndiaye sat so much this game. He is arguably our best help defender and I think if we could figure out a way to fit him in the offense other than giving him the ball 45ft from the bucket he could create some match up problems.

--Horne looked like he wanted to dominate the game tonight from the get go. I think he is starting to put the scoring mantle that Copeland has wore much of the year on and it fits. He will be fun to watch the next 3 years in the Valley.

--AJ Green is a monster. The announcers multiple times talked about him making unguardable shots, and I watched him do it time and time again last night. I could see him getting drafted, but were I him I'd stick around for another year and try to get the national accolades and improve his draft stock. I selfishly want him to stick around 2 more years and make the league better.

--Good to see Boyd him some shots. This will be a big boost to his confidence, and he could use it.

 

[chuckie1980]

Thank you, everyone. Reading the game highlights here....was pleasant.

 

[CaliRdBrd]

Loyl2U...

Dude, your insight is pretty solid. I really enjoy your posts. Do you coach?

Thanks for sharing.

 

[DoubleDeuce]

Loyl2U...

Dude, your insight is pretty solid. I really enjoy your posts. Do you coach?

Thanks for sharing.

Probably just stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

 

[Brick]

It’s possible Ndaiye got hurt. He took a real shot from their big guy one trip playing defense. UNI started the game playing our bigs one on one and we scored. But once they double teamed our big guys we couldn’t recover. Our bigs don’t know how to pass out of a double team. We simply couldn’t get the ball to the weak side for good shots.

 

[Brick]

It’s possible Ndaiye got hurt. He took a real shot from their big guy one trip playing defense. UNI started the game playing our bigs one on one and we scored. But once they double teamed our big guys we couldn’t recover. Our bigs don’t know how to pass out of a double team. We simply couldn’t get the ball to the weak side for good shots.

 

[Redbird28]

Go back and replay the time that Rey was in the game, I counted 4 times when he kept a rebound alive and we were able to retrieve and I don’t think he played at all with either Fisher or Ndiaye on the floor with him. He’s a sophomore with limited experience and what he brings is the same thing Ndiaye does when he is in the game with Fisher- i.e. they are backstop defense, they fill up the lane, and they free Fisher to not have to play against the 5 at offensive end. I don’t know why with the 2 forward lineup working again at beginning of the game, that the coaching staff went away from it and never went back. Why did Ndiaye sit the second half? When he was in the game with Fisher, we had floor balance that created shoots inside and out.

I was wondering why Ndiaye sat second half. My biggest issue with Rey is how he plays the high screens. Shows too and early for too long. Leaves team exposed and creates mismatches.

Rey needs a lot of work on setting legal screens. He is either moving or leaning his shoulders out on almost every one of them and refs have picked up on it and call it every time. He's not alone, our team isn't great at setting legal screens in general, but others have shown improvement over the year. I like Rey, one of my favorite players on the team, but it is definitely something he needs to work on.

My other thoughts:

--Overall I thought we played about as well as we could against a team this good on the road. We never gave up, never gave in and that should help the guys build confidence

--I'm also curious as to why Ndiaye sat so much this game. He is arguably our best help defender and I think if we could figure out a way to fit him in the offense other than giving him the ball 45ft from the bucket he could create some match up problems.

--Horne looked like he wanted to dominate the game tonight from the get go. I think he is starting to put the scoring mantle that Copeland has wore much of the year on and it fits. He will be fun to watch the next 3 years in the Valley.

--AJ Green is a monster. The announcers multiple times talked about him making unguardable shots, and I watched him do it time and time again last night. I could see him getting drafted, but were I him I'd stick around for another year and try to get the national accolades and improve his draft stock. I selfishly want him to stick around 2 more years and make the league better.

--Good to see Boyd him some shots. This will be a big boost to his confidence, and he could use it.

It's just as much the set as it is how our other players use the screen. If they don't get the shoulder rub when they pass then they're leaving their teammates open for moving screens as they try to compensate. I'm not saying that's necessarily the case here since I was unable to watch last night's game, but I've seen our guys leave gaps coming off screens before so I know the problem exists on that side of it too.

[mention]Loyl2u[/mention] solid job, man. Refreshing to see some actual insight being shared. Thanks.

 

[DWRedbird]

It's just as much the set as it is how our other players use the screen. If they don't get the shoulder rub when they pass then they're leaving their teammates open for moving screens as they try to compensate. I'm not saying that's necessarily the case here since I was unable to watch last night's game, but I've seen our guys leave gaps coming off screens before so I know the problem exists on that side of it too.

I agree with you on this as well. I think problems exist on both sides of it.

 

[Hamdonger]

Impossible to set a perfect screen every time, matter of fact it's hard to create a good screen scenario without proper communication. Doesn't have to be a shoulder rub but the idea is to create separation between the offender (haha) and the defender.

Knight taught the screener to look for the defender, not the offensive player...while the offensive player being screened for was to anticipate where the screen would be set and make his move based on that...a curl, a fade or a blow by.

Comes down to communication and we see alot of communication breakdowns with our Redbirds. All that said, we played a top 25 team pretty well last night. Question is, will we make progress in these last few weeks of the season or will we cash it in mentally? As always, rooting for everyone involved.

 

[SgtHulka]

Don't drive through the screen till it's set

 

[DWRedbird]

Impossible to set a perfect screen every time, matter of fact it's hard to create a good screen scenario without proper communication. Doesn't have to be a shoulder rub but the idea is to create separation between the offender (haha) and the defender.

Knight taught the screener to look for the defender, not the offensive player...while the offensive player being screened for was to anticipate where the screen would be set and make his move based on that...a curl, a fade or a blow by.

Comes down to communication and we see alot of communication breakdowns with our Redbirds. All that said, we played a top 25 team pretty well last night. Question is, will we make progress in these last few weeks of the season or will we cash it in mentally? As always, rooting for everyone involved.

I also agree on the communication breakdowns, on both ends of the floor.

And I also agree, will we build on this and get better as the season ends, or will we regress. I'm hoping for the former.

 

[redbirdfan04]

I do not feel the team played poorly last night. We got beat by a more talented team. I was more concerned with the substitution patterns. The announcers were pretty on the money when they said the field goal percentages would even out in the end. Horne and Reeves are going to be fun to watch as they learn the pace of the college game and mature. This board may be harder to follow than the actual team right now. Hopefully a couple of these young guys start to figure this out. Also at least we are not having Evansville season, beat Kentucky, coach gets a cheerleader pregnant and fired, and lose every game in the valley. I mean then we would really have some things to be angry about.

 

[Hamdonger]

Also at least we are not having Evansville season, beat Kentucky, coach gets a cheerleader pregnant and fired, and lose every game in the valley. I mean then we would really have some things to be angry about.

Man oh man you said it.

 

[crazzymark]

I do not feel the team played poorly last night. We got beat by a more talented team. I was more concerned with the substitution patterns. The announcers were pretty on the money when they said the field goal percentages would even out in the end. Horne and Reeves are going to be fun to watch as they learn the pace of the college game and mature. This board may be harder to follow than the actual team right now. Hopefully a couple of these young guys start to figure this out. Also at least we are not having Evansville season, beat Kentucky, coach gets a cheerleader pregnant and fired, and lose every game in the valley. I mean then we would really have some things to be angry about.

To bad we will be watching them play somewhere else, along with Ray. I wouldn't blame them leaving the RBA dumpster fire. If you heard he post game last night, sounds like they are gone, reading between the lines from Dan comments.

 

[Loyl2u]

Enjoy and appreciate the discussions (heck, on X&Os I agree with “Rico” an awful lot)- I think it is fair to say both Idowu and Ndiaye struggle with footwork in the high screen and Rey is slower than Ndiaye. But I see the same issue with big men across the country with the officials directed point of emphasis this season. Also agree Birds can do better with both post players and “drivers” doing their jobs. It makes sense to coach and substitute to it, if that is the emphasis of the offense -but players that don’t need work on a couple portions of their game are in the NBA, not the MVC or even the B10. Seems like on the roll, the Birds want to force the pass in, while I love it when it works, the drive and shot/foul opportunity is higher percentage play more times than not.

I haven’t heard anything on an Ndiaye injury, but as I’ve said before- injuries, discipline, etc. can always be A reason. Can someone provide a link to postgame interviews, I have never been able to find them- thanks for any assistance.

 

[CaliRdBrd]

Also at least we are not having Evansville season, beat Kentucky, coach gets a cheerleader pregnant and fired, and lose every game in the valley. I mean then we would really have some things to be angry about.

Man oh man you said it.

I hate throwing stones from my glass house, but Evansville is so bad that if Kentucky went 30-1, with that one loss being to Evansville, UK would be a bubble team

 

[Hamdonger]

I haven’t heard anything on an Ndiaye injury, but as I’ve said before- injuries, discipline, etc. can always be A reason.

Unless we're there day in and day out, on the floor, in the lounge, in the locker room, on the plane, in the bus..none of us really know. Even if we know someone who is there day in and day out.

Doesn't GoRedbirds post the postgame presser?