vs Ball State - 12/17/2022 - 2:30 PM - ESPN+

[MadBird]

So Schmidt starts vs SIU-E and plays a pretty decent 12 minutes. Then today he's past up for everyone including Andrews? I don't get that.

Also one of the reasons Lewis was in foul trouble was he was asked to guard Sparks some. That is a BIG ask.

Regarding Sparks, he flopped on a block call. Not sure why the refs didn't hit him up for the flop as well. Maybe it has to be one or the other, but this whole flop thing is puzzling.

Need Petrakis to hit those wide open looks too. His ability to stretch the defense and bring a big out to cover him opens up alot. He's certainly not bashful to put em up.

I don't think we are good enough to win multiple games without Liam. He does too much for us.

Good to see Malachi P bring some instant offense off the bench too. If he's not starting, it's nice to have that spark off the bench.

I came away imagining Schmitt was hurt or sick or somehow not able to play - otherwise hard to explain why he didn't see the floor. If nothing else, they needed his fouls. Kotov isn't polished, but he's got some . . . . something. He can help. Had a couple decent inside moves and buckets today.

Lewis had an "off day" I would say, foul trouble, not much offense, etc. We are much better when he is much better. Altho 13 points and 7 rebounds in 25 minutes isn't a bad day at the office. So, hard to say.

I thought Knight looked "out of sorts" today too. And I was wondering if having Sissoko out there, to some degree, was throwing off the "synergy", Knight and Lewis weren't totally sure where to go, what to do . . . . I don't know.

I was hoping for more from Petrakis, maybe it will show up sooner rather than later. He's got "confidence", that's for sure. I get that he's not an inside player, not sure if he's comfortable/capable guarding the 5 or not. Seems like he should be helping more.

The flop business . . . what a mess, overall, big picture. Have watched several games where a flop is called, than later someone hits the floor but no call. It's not clear to me, if there's contact - and these guys go banging and banging on the low post - but no foul call one way or the other, if the defender goes down, is that automatically a "flop"? Or is it possible to be bumped by the offense player, go down, but no flop called? I haven't figgered it out yet.

 

[Bird Friend]

I came away imagining Schmitt was hurt or sick or somehow not able to play - otherwise hard to explain why he didn't see the floor. If nothing else, they needed his fouls. Kotov isn't polished, but he's got some . . . . something. He can help. Had a couple decent inside moves and buckets today.

Lewis had an "off day" I would say, foul trouble, not much offense, etc. We are much better when he is much better. Altho 13 points and 7 rebounds in 25 minutes isn't a bad day at the office. So, hard to say.

I thought Knight looked "out of sorts" today too. And I was wondering if having Sissoko out there, to some degree, was throwing off the "synergy", Knight and Lewis weren't totally sure where to go, what to do . . . . I don't know.

I was hoping for more from Petrakis, maybe it will show up sooner rather than later. He's got "confidence", that's for sure. I get that he's not an inside player, not sure if he's comfortable/capable guarding the 5 or not. Seems like he should be helping more.

The flop business . . . what a mess, overall, big picture. Have watched several games where a flop is called, than later someone hits the floor but no call. It's not clear to me, if there's contact - and these guys go banging and banging on the low post - but no foul call one way or the other, if the defender goes down, is that automatically a "flop"? Or is it possible to be bumped by the offense player, go down, but no flop called? I haven't figgered it out yet.

Neither have the refs.

 

[redbirdron1]

12 games in and I here's what I believe we have in our Beloved Birds -

Mal P. - steady guy who can shoot. Not a dynamic PG/assist guy but the best guy we have to hold onto the ball when
directing an offense I guess.

Sandage - heart and soul of Team. Can't b put in spot of PG when the D gets sticky as he's exposed.

Knight - somewhat an Enigma. He's been scouted and if the competition can, they will shut down his drives
and force turnovers. Otherwise, the Wrecking Ball will bull his way to hoop and contribute.

Lewis - he's not a closer and I personally think he starts off games not ready to compete. He warms up but
if he's R Leader he's gotta be ready at the tip to Produce. Foul tendency kills us.

Cheese - Liam is a fun player when he's on the court. When I was a child my mother would seem to scold
me when I got a cold or some ailment..........I feel like Munn must greet McCheese every week with, "what
is it today Liam"?

Sissoko - I like the potential energy he brings to the team.

Kusubke - kid in a candy store getting a lot of minutes since his K-State days. He's a hard working dude.
Must continue to contribute 3's at 40% clip.

Petrakis - must get his confidence/release point back at launching. You do that through repetition in practice.
Staff has gotta turn him around.
Kotov, Andrews, Johnson and Schmitt - taking up minutes and doing their best to help when called upon.

 

[ISU86]

Petrakis needs to not see the floor much. The ball sticks in his hands then he shoots. Always seems to think before he shoots as well like he knows he should make a one or two step dribble and pass but decides to throw it up.

He can be a gunner. 3:1 ratio of shooting 3s versus 2s. And not a lot of arc in his shot either. He certainly was in a different offensive rhythm than the team in general.

On a side note, one major difference between HCDM and HCRP is Dan (probably) would have pulled Joe after one of those shots, almost certainly after two; Ryan is almost 180° in his approach as he appears to allow players a lot of give in their playing time rope - for better or worse.

 

[cpacmel]

 

[Popsto4]

12 games in and I here's what I believe we have in our Beloved Birds -

Mal P. - steady guy who can shoot. Not a dynamic PG/assist guy but the best guy we have to hold onto the ball when
directing an offense I guess.

Sandage - heart and soul of Team. Can't b put in spot of PG when the D gets sticky as he's exposed.

Knight - somewhat an Enigma. He's been scouted and if the competition can, they will shut down his drives
and force turnovers. Otherwise, the Wrecking Ball will bull his way to hoop and contribute.

Lewis - he's not a closer and I personally think he starts off games not ready to compete. He warms up but
if he's R Leader he's gotta be ready at the tip to Produce. Foul tendency kills us.

Cheese - Liam is a fun player when he's on the court. When I was a child my mother would seem to scold
me when I got a cold or some ailment..........I feel like Munn must greet McCheese every week with, "what
is it today Liam"?

Sissoko - I like the potential energy he brings to the team.

Kusubke - kid in a candy store getting a lot of minutes since his K-State days. He's a hard working dude.
Must continue to contribute 3's at 40% clip.

Petrakis - must get his confidence/release point back at launching. You do that through repetition in practice.
Staff has gotta turn him around.
Kotov, Andrews, Johnson and Schmitt - taking up minutes and doing their best to help when called upon.

That’s a really good and fair assessment of the team for sure. Any takes on Burford?

 

[Redbird222]

That’s a really good and fair assessment of the team for sure. Any takes on Burford?

My take on Burford is he could be one of our most explosive players. I think he is a good rebounding guard and our quickest player. He can finish at the rim but there are others that have a better perimeter shot

I think he needs to work on his passing and being more consistent. He sometimes commits unnecessary fouls that have put him on the bench.

I was not able to see the game yesterday but i posted earlier that I was concerned with our interior defense and our ability to match the physical with Ball St. I thought foul trouble could be an issue. Based on the stats and comments it sounds like that may have come to fruition. I did see a post by Adunk showing a video clip of them blatantly pushing us. That definitely would have worked against us if this was how the entire game was called. The one Redbird stat that impressed me was our offensive rebounding. I was not expecting that against Ball St.

Our offense has improved the past 4 games. The rest of the Valley teams have proven to be very inconsistent and the door is open for teams to step up and take advantage. I think our 2 pt defense will be the area to watch as we enter conference play.

Go Birds

 

[redbirdron1]

Hey Pops - forgot my man Burford. I believe he's best athlete on the floor. Gotta let him go and use his speed to
create. I think Pedon and him are on the same page with his role so all good moving forward with Burford.

What I didn't speak to was D and Rebounding as it's not just about offense. I do believe all the guys do their best.
Lewis and Poindexter are the 2 best on D but I wouldn't say we have a real shutdown guy. Lewis has the knack to
enable his length to intercept in passing lanes. In today's game, if the opponent has the speed and strength he will
get to the basket........and that's where McCheese comes in. Gotta get him upright and on the floor for rim protection.

 

[Popsto4]

Hey Pops - forgot my man Burford. I believe he's best athlete on the floor. Gotta let him go and use his speed to
create. I think Pedon and him are on the same page with his role so all good moving forward with Burford.

What I didn't speak to was D and Rebounding as it's not just about offense. I do believe all the guys do their best.
Lewis and Poindexter are the 2 best on D but I wouldn't say we have a real shutdown guy. Lewis has the knack to
enable his length to intercept in passing lanes. In today's game, if the opponent has the speed and strength he will
get to the basket........and that's where McCheese comes in. Gotta get him upright and on the floor for rim protection.

I think we need to push the pace a bit more after gathering a defensive rebound. The key is knowing when to attack the rim or look to pass out. We aren’t getting enough easy looks offensively at the moment.

 

[Hamdonger]

Our lack of a true distributing point guard (who can still score) will keep our team average at best. We have 42 more turnovers than assists. Yikes. Only 1 player (barely) averages more than 2 assists per game, and only one consistent starter has a better than (barely) 1.0 to 1 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Liam is not our savior. He'll have a few really good games and some games he might completely get shut out. He can, however, impact the floor every single outing (if he so chooses) with offensive rebounding and shot-altering.

This IS an easy team to like, though...they play hard and seem to root for one another on the court. I enjoy watching them play. SeeyaMonday...

 

[Hamdonger]

I think we need to push the pace a bit more after gathering a defensive rebound. The key is knowing when to attack the rim or look to pass out. We aren’t getting enough easy looks offensively at the moment.

100%

 

[Phantom]

Just one of those games. Didn't defend the perimeter terribly well, and they were red hot most of the game. That'll do it. We played OK, but just one of those bump-in-the-road days. We're still moving in the right direction IMHO.