Canegrad89
Recruit
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2017
- Messages
- 1,149
Congrats to the players, their families, the coaches, the admin & everyone associated with the program for an amazing season. With very limited exceptions, this team played a beautiful brand of basketball that was fun to watch.
Being Co-Champs in the ACC for the regular season is one heck of an accomplishment. The ACC may not have had a bunch of teams for the ages but it's still the best conference for basketball. That's an awesome achievement no matter how you slice it.
The team's run in the NCAA Tournament was magical. We destroyed Houston, Texas & Indiana with highly efficient offense, great ball movement, great effort on the boards, hustle, and some timely turnovers. Those games were intense & so much fun to watch. I'll never forget Nijel Pack hitting 7 threes against Houston & Jordan Miller following that with another couple of threes from the corner to completely demoralize Houston & put the game out of reach. Magical. Super fun to watch. The huge comeback against Texas was also special & defied the odds. The Canes beat the #1, #2 & #4 seeds to get to the first Final Four appearance in program history. For me, it was almost surreal that we made it to the Final Four. That is a great accomplishment & the first time in program history. Hopefully, It won't be a surreal experience going forward & we'll consistently make deep runs in the tournament. The foundation has now been laid.
We must capitalize on the tremendous exposure the program has been given. Coach L & the entire basketball program deserves all the support & resources we can give them so this run of excellence can be continued for many years ahead. I've always felt Coach L was one of the best in the business. Now that he's laid an incredibly solid foundation for the program (with Elite Eight & Final Four appearances back-to-back), we should set our expectations higher...and if he can get some of the best 7-footers (from Michigan & Oregon) and 2 pure shooters in the Portal, we could make an even stronger run next year. In my opinion, one or two additions is not enough. We need 1-2 physical bigs (7 footers with an attitude) and a couple of pure shooters to really be a national title contender. Why? We've lost two years in a row to the eventual national champion (UConn should beat SDSU). Both Kansas and UConn dominated us in the paint. They were simply too big & too physical. We lost in the ACC tournament to a taller team as well (Duke) when Omier got injured. We're going to max out at the Elite Eight or Final Four stages, if we don't have bigs that can match the bruising play of the blue bloods (like Kansas & UConn) that had a serious height advantage in the paint as well as at tip-off. UConn dominated in two primary areas (defensive rebounding/blocks and quality DEPTH).
Coach L will need to do some serious roster evaluation & make some tough personnel decisions, if he wants to go deeper in Tournament play. UConn had the ability to rotate not only bigs but also pure shooters without any discernible drop off. We're not even close to that. We had 5-6 outstanding "go-to guys" and then a major drop off in performance -- this year -- after that. Super hard to win it all when your depth is that thin. What if 1-2 guys are having an off night or get injured? What do you do then? You've got to have QUALITY DEPTH to maximize the probability of making deep runs. UConn had that. It's actually totally remarkable that this team did what it did two short years off a disaster that decimated our program and led to a 10-win season. Without the Portal, that would have been impossible (for us).
Jordan Miller will be missed big time. What a great personality he has. What a great representative of the University he's been. What a vital role he played as the "glue" for the team and the one player you could always count on for some solid, high percentage scoring. Wish him nothing but the best for the future.
Isiah Wong should come back. He's a very good scorer but he needs to become a better shooter (a purer shooter). He also needs to get stronger and show he's a consistent force in big games. He's had games where he played a very limited role and his scoring evaporated (particularly against big time opponents with physical players -- which is exactly what he'd face at the pro level). In my opinion, he'd be best served strengthening his body & developing a pure stroke if he wants to be more than a role player in Europe. He has been terrific for us, the ACC Player of the Year and one of the unquestioned leaders of the team but he won't make it at the next level unless he continues to hone his craft, develop his body & show out consistently against quality opponents (particularly physical opponents).
Wooga will be more than fine. He will grow from this experience. Hopefully, it will motivate him to hone his craft even more (particularly mid-range jumpers and ball handling). He can be a force for us next year, if he learns from this experience and works hard to continue to refine his game.
Observations on the UConn game:
1) The team seemed unquestionably tight for long stretches of the game (not just at the beginning). The shooting was particularly brutal in the first half. We scored only 24 pts in the 1st half. Was UConn good? Were there bigs a tough matchup for us? Did they play well on D? The answer to all of those questions is "yes". However, we lost this game due to being far too tight on a huge stage as opposed to UConn being a team for the ages. UConn only scored 72 points. We missed 14 layups and Wooga (who most of us view as a talent) had a really tough night with zero points & lot of bad misses. He'd been shooting lights out during March Madness at critical moments (prior to the UConn game). As others have pointed out, if we made only 50% of our LAY-UPS, we would have had 73 points...and won.
2) We scored 35 points in the 2nd half...same amount as UConn.
3) I don't understand why we continued to force shots in the paint when it became clear early on that every shot would be highly contested, UConn was going to block quite a few shots, and even lay-ups were being routinely missed as the degree of difficulty on those was high due to the size & physicality of UConn's bigs & the need to materially adjust the execution of those shots). We would have been better off with Wong hitting some fall away jumpers from mid-range and Pack & Miller raining threes from the outside (much better off).
4) Sneaker Gate was an absolute killer. Pack gave signs early on he was feeling it from 3-point range (he made his first two & they looked good). He's the best pure shooter we have on the outside & he was our best shot at closing the deficit rapidly in the second half...and he was on the #*@&%^# bench for much of the 2nd half trying to find a new pair of sneakers. Coach L should make it a policy going forward that for every regular season game the equipment managers have at least two of everything COURT-SIDE marked with the players name & number so a switchover takes no more than 30 seconds. This was a game of a lifetime. A Final Four appearance and our best pure shooter was sidelined for around 15-20 minutes. That's inexcusable. For March Madness, the equipment managers should have at least three shirts, pairs of sneakers, shorts etc for each player right behind the bench. Representatives from Adidas should also have a workstation on site for the Sweet Sixteen onwards to repair equipment and provide spares etc. Not a good look for Adidas that Pack had a wardrobe malfunction.
5) We should have played "Hack-A-Shaq" with Sanogo and Clingan to get them out of their rhythm and make every shot they took a highly contested shot using some minutes from Casey & others (other than Norchad) to implement the strategy & play a really physical brand of ball when Norchad was taking breaks (to keep Norchad out of too much foul trouble). Sanogo used to be a 55% Free Throw Shooter and he clanged one FT badly tonight. By playing Hack-A-Shack we might have lowered his point total by 3-4 points...and it might have unsettled the UConn team. Norchad needed to play smart to avoid serious foul trouble but at the margin he was probably too careful not to get into foul trouble. UConn had far too many easy baskets, second chances on offense & they dominated in terms of defensive rebounds & blocked shots. That absolutely killed us.
6) UConn had a big size advantage, played very tenaciously on D, was far deeper than we were, and was fairly efficient on Offense. They looked far more comfortable in the Final Four setting (their entire team seemed totally relaxed) and they played better than we did. We could have beaten them with a typical shooting performance and a different approach. Coach L said we didn't even implement the game plan that had been devised. There was too much individual play (and not enough sharing of the ball). The beautiful ball movement on offense we saw against Houston was virtually non-existent in this game and we had far fewer quality shots as a result. Was that due to tightness or were guys trying to make a name for themselves on the Big Stage? My sense is that it was mostly due to tightness and quality defense played by UConn as offensive ball movement had been really good up to this point...and it was making everyone look great.
7) UConn got away with a lot of fouls...but you have to give them credit as they played a fairly solid game (scored 72 points while holding us to less than 60).
Thank you to Canes Basketball for all of the incredible moments & indelible memories during this historic run. You energized the Alumni base & Canes fans of all types around the world. Even my daughter watched the highlights of the Houston & Texas games and the whole Final Four broadcast...and she's not really into basketball at all. It was so much fun to watch. Magical.
I hope we can get 1-2 athletic bigs in the 7-foot range from Oregon and/or Michigan and add 2 more pure shooters via the Portal. If we do that, we may go deeper in both the ACC & NCAA Tournaments next year and really cement Miami Basketball as a thing. I don't think one or two additions will be enough...especially if Wong decides to leave. Coach L & the entire program deserves our support. Let's get behind them fully & make Miami Basketball a force to be reckoned with for decades to come. What seemed inconceivable at one point in time can absolutely happen, if we take advantage of the incredible progress made to date.
Your thoughts?
Being Co-Champs in the ACC for the regular season is one heck of an accomplishment. The ACC may not have had a bunch of teams for the ages but it's still the best conference for basketball. That's an awesome achievement no matter how you slice it.
The team's run in the NCAA Tournament was magical. We destroyed Houston, Texas & Indiana with highly efficient offense, great ball movement, great effort on the boards, hustle, and some timely turnovers. Those games were intense & so much fun to watch. I'll never forget Nijel Pack hitting 7 threes against Houston & Jordan Miller following that with another couple of threes from the corner to completely demoralize Houston & put the game out of reach. Magical. Super fun to watch. The huge comeback against Texas was also special & defied the odds. The Canes beat the #1, #2 & #4 seeds to get to the first Final Four appearance in program history. For me, it was almost surreal that we made it to the Final Four. That is a great accomplishment & the first time in program history. Hopefully, It won't be a surreal experience going forward & we'll consistently make deep runs in the tournament. The foundation has now been laid.
We must capitalize on the tremendous exposure the program has been given. Coach L & the entire basketball program deserves all the support & resources we can give them so this run of excellence can be continued for many years ahead. I've always felt Coach L was one of the best in the business. Now that he's laid an incredibly solid foundation for the program (with Elite Eight & Final Four appearances back-to-back), we should set our expectations higher...and if he can get some of the best 7-footers (from Michigan & Oregon) and 2 pure shooters in the Portal, we could make an even stronger run next year. In my opinion, one or two additions is not enough. We need 1-2 physical bigs (7 footers with an attitude) and a couple of pure shooters to really be a national title contender. Why? We've lost two years in a row to the eventual national champion (UConn should beat SDSU). Both Kansas and UConn dominated us in the paint. They were simply too big & too physical. We lost in the ACC tournament to a taller team as well (Duke) when Omier got injured. We're going to max out at the Elite Eight or Final Four stages, if we don't have bigs that can match the bruising play of the blue bloods (like Kansas & UConn) that had a serious height advantage in the paint as well as at tip-off. UConn dominated in two primary areas (defensive rebounding/blocks and quality DEPTH).
Coach L will need to do some serious roster evaluation & make some tough personnel decisions, if he wants to go deeper in Tournament play. UConn had the ability to rotate not only bigs but also pure shooters without any discernible drop off. We're not even close to that. We had 5-6 outstanding "go-to guys" and then a major drop off in performance -- this year -- after that. Super hard to win it all when your depth is that thin. What if 1-2 guys are having an off night or get injured? What do you do then? You've got to have QUALITY DEPTH to maximize the probability of making deep runs. UConn had that. It's actually totally remarkable that this team did what it did two short years off a disaster that decimated our program and led to a 10-win season. Without the Portal, that would have been impossible (for us).
Jordan Miller will be missed big time. What a great personality he has. What a great representative of the University he's been. What a vital role he played as the "glue" for the team and the one player you could always count on for some solid, high percentage scoring. Wish him nothing but the best for the future.
Isiah Wong should come back. He's a very good scorer but he needs to become a better shooter (a purer shooter). He also needs to get stronger and show he's a consistent force in big games. He's had games where he played a very limited role and his scoring evaporated (particularly against big time opponents with physical players -- which is exactly what he'd face at the pro level). In my opinion, he'd be best served strengthening his body & developing a pure stroke if he wants to be more than a role player in Europe. He has been terrific for us, the ACC Player of the Year and one of the unquestioned leaders of the team but he won't make it at the next level unless he continues to hone his craft, develop his body & show out consistently against quality opponents (particularly physical opponents).
Wooga will be more than fine. He will grow from this experience. Hopefully, it will motivate him to hone his craft even more (particularly mid-range jumpers and ball handling). He can be a force for us next year, if he learns from this experience and works hard to continue to refine his game.
Observations on the UConn game:
1) The team seemed unquestionably tight for long stretches of the game (not just at the beginning). The shooting was particularly brutal in the first half. We scored only 24 pts in the 1st half. Was UConn good? Were there bigs a tough matchup for us? Did they play well on D? The answer to all of those questions is "yes". However, we lost this game due to being far too tight on a huge stage as opposed to UConn being a team for the ages. UConn only scored 72 points. We missed 14 layups and Wooga (who most of us view as a talent) had a really tough night with zero points & lot of bad misses. He'd been shooting lights out during March Madness at critical moments (prior to the UConn game). As others have pointed out, if we made only 50% of our LAY-UPS, we would have had 73 points...and won.
2) We scored 35 points in the 2nd half...same amount as UConn.
3) I don't understand why we continued to force shots in the paint when it became clear early on that every shot would be highly contested, UConn was going to block quite a few shots, and even lay-ups were being routinely missed as the degree of difficulty on those was high due to the size & physicality of UConn's bigs & the need to materially adjust the execution of those shots). We would have been better off with Wong hitting some fall away jumpers from mid-range and Pack & Miller raining threes from the outside (much better off).
4) Sneaker Gate was an absolute killer. Pack gave signs early on he was feeling it from 3-point range (he made his first two & they looked good). He's the best pure shooter we have on the outside & he was our best shot at closing the deficit rapidly in the second half...and he was on the #*@&%^# bench for much of the 2nd half trying to find a new pair of sneakers. Coach L should make it a policy going forward that for every regular season game the equipment managers have at least two of everything COURT-SIDE marked with the players name & number so a switchover takes no more than 30 seconds. This was a game of a lifetime. A Final Four appearance and our best pure shooter was sidelined for around 15-20 minutes. That's inexcusable. For March Madness, the equipment managers should have at least three shirts, pairs of sneakers, shorts etc for each player right behind the bench. Representatives from Adidas should also have a workstation on site for the Sweet Sixteen onwards to repair equipment and provide spares etc. Not a good look for Adidas that Pack had a wardrobe malfunction.
5) We should have played "Hack-A-Shaq" with Sanogo and Clingan to get them out of their rhythm and make every shot they took a highly contested shot using some minutes from Casey & others (other than Norchad) to implement the strategy & play a really physical brand of ball when Norchad was taking breaks (to keep Norchad out of too much foul trouble). Sanogo used to be a 55% Free Throw Shooter and he clanged one FT badly tonight. By playing Hack-A-Shack we might have lowered his point total by 3-4 points...and it might have unsettled the UConn team. Norchad needed to play smart to avoid serious foul trouble but at the margin he was probably too careful not to get into foul trouble. UConn had far too many easy baskets, second chances on offense & they dominated in terms of defensive rebounds & blocked shots. That absolutely killed us.
6) UConn had a big size advantage, played very tenaciously on D, was far deeper than we were, and was fairly efficient on Offense. They looked far more comfortable in the Final Four setting (their entire team seemed totally relaxed) and they played better than we did. We could have beaten them with a typical shooting performance and a different approach. Coach L said we didn't even implement the game plan that had been devised. There was too much individual play (and not enough sharing of the ball). The beautiful ball movement on offense we saw against Houston was virtually non-existent in this game and we had far fewer quality shots as a result. Was that due to tightness or were guys trying to make a name for themselves on the Big Stage? My sense is that it was mostly due to tightness and quality defense played by UConn as offensive ball movement had been really good up to this point...and it was making everyone look great.
7) UConn got away with a lot of fouls...but you have to give them credit as they played a fairly solid game (scored 72 points while holding us to less than 60).
Thank you to Canes Basketball for all of the incredible moments & indelible memories during this historic run. You energized the Alumni base & Canes fans of all types around the world. Even my daughter watched the highlights of the Houston & Texas games and the whole Final Four broadcast...and she's not really into basketball at all. It was so much fun to watch. Magical.
I hope we can get 1-2 athletic bigs in the 7-foot range from Oregon and/or Michigan and add 2 more pure shooters via the Portal. If we do that, we may go deeper in both the ACC & NCAA Tournaments next year and really cement Miami Basketball as a thing. I don't think one or two additions will be enough...especially if Wong decides to leave. Coach L & the entire program deserves our support. Let's get behind them fully & make Miami Basketball a force to be reckoned with for decades to come. What seemed inconceivable at one point in time can absolutely happen, if we take advantage of the incredible progress made to date.
Your thoughts?
