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+/- Wake Forest

Dan E. Dangerously

Dan E. Dangerously

This board...it's my note
Maude
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Nov 3, 2011
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Plus:

+The Game is Over: Pretty sure that in ****, any fan of UM basketball is forced to watch this game on a loop. For the last 12 minutes of the game I felt like Joe Pesci at the end of Casino.

Minus:

-Barry Larkin Wasn't There: Announcers mentioned he was in Japan to manage in the World Baseball Classic Cup thingy. Pretty sure him not being in attendance is why we lost.

-Adjustments: I'm treading lightly because I really don't know what the **** I'm talking about. I've seen it mentioned that teams have started doubling Larkin off of the high ball screens to get the ball out of the hands of Barry's son. Teams have been doing that non-stop for 3 games straight now, and our offense can't seem to generate much consistently because of it. What do?


Not Sure:

= The Winning Streak/Undefeated Conference Record is Over: I really wanted this team to go undefeated in Conference play. But you're crazy if you thought this team was going run the table from Christmas day through April. The best thing to hope for is that the team can refocus towards the next game and not be preoccupied with being undefeated.

But at the same time, I think this team played with a certain amount of confidence in that they were always finding a way to come back and win in the 2nd half. @Va Tech, @NC State, @FSU, @Clemson, UVA, all saw us shining in the 2nd half to come out with the W. That invincibility is now gone. Do they play better/smarter now or do they lose their confidence going forward?
 
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couldn't agree more with the +. And Barry needs to be at all of the games going forward. I need the announcers to mention at least 3 times a half that Shane's the son of a hall of fame baseball player.

The last point you made is very interesting because I also felt that one of the reasons the streak continued for so long was the team gaining a bit of confidence from each win. ESPN talked about a loss possibly helping out our season about a week or so ago and at the time I wanted nothing to do with that citing that a loss could possibly bring down our confidence. Hopefully we can regroup after this and come out stronger
 
Well Barry won't be at any more games until the NCAA tournament since he's a coach for Team USA at the World Baseball Classic which lasts until the 19th of March I believe.
 
an ongoing -: Rion Brown continues to be a CRIPPLING offensive player for us. He almost single-handedly stopped our rally at the most critical juncture, when we had gotten the lead down to 5 points with something like 13 or 14 minutes to go. He took one terrible, off-balance 3 on an out of bounds play that barely drew iron, and then missed another(wide open) 3 while the game was still in single digits.

Don't know if the kid has hit his ceiling, but his bball IQ out there looks even worse than Reggie's. He's simply out of sync and does terrible things when the ball is in his hands. Don't see a solution in sight.
 
-having to watch our team play today

-having to watch that officiating crew call a game

+getting this type of game out of the way, rather than having it in either tournament.
 
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Brown had some good moments against UVA, and he's really the least of our worries. We can win without him, though it obviously helps. I'm more worried about Larkin and others. The ball screens adjustments or lack of is troubling and puzzling. I love Coach L, but he needs to earn his paycheck after this.
 
I can't help but think that Larkin, who is not a big durable guy to begin with, is worn out from playing on a team with 2 guards.
 
tcgrad1014 said:
I can't help but think that Larkin, who is not a big durable guy to begin with, is worn out from playing on a team with 2 guards.
Click to expand...

Both guards are hurting. Not having a credible backup means one or the other has to be playing every minute of the game. Bishop Daniels, wherever you are, I hate your guts.
 
DCF in LA said:
an ongoing -: Rion Brown continues to be a CRIPPLING offensive player for us. He almost single-handedly stopped our rally at the most critical juncture, when we had gotten the lead down to 5 points with something like 13 or 14 minutes to go. He took one terrible, off-balance 3 on an out of bounds play that barely drew iron, and then missed another(wide open) 3 while the game was still in single digits.

Don't know if the kid has hit his ceiling, but his bball IQ out there looks even worse than Reggie's. He's simply out of sync and does terrible things when the ball is in his hands. Don't see a solution in sight.
Click to expand...

I felt that the play where Kadji turned it over in the post when we were down 5 and had a chance to cut it to 3 was the turning point of the game. Wake scored on the fast break going the other way, and pretty soon, the lead was back up to double digits. That said, Brown had a very poor game... 1-10 from the field isn't going to cut it.


My +/-:

+ Wake Forest's tie-dyed student section shirts. I've always loved those.
+ Losing in such a way will hopefully give our team a wake-up call. They haven't played well in two weeks, so if this doesn't snap them out of their funk, I don't know what will.

- Missed shots around the hoop. I know some of our shots around the basket are quite difficult, but we missed two dunks, several layups, and waaaay too many other shots within five feet of the hoop.
- Bigs in the post. I don't know what's going on with Reggie, but a guy who's 6'10", 300 lbs, should never get a layup blocked. He needs to pump fake less and use his body more around the hoop... I'd love to see a dunk instead of a weak layup, but there just doesn't seem to be much explosiveness there lately. Reggie also needs to stop bringing the ball down when he's in the post... that's just inviting defenders to swipe at the ball and knock it away.
- Defense. We seemed a step slow from the beginning, and that let Wake Forest get a ton of open shots from the perimeter. I think they were 7-10 from three to start the game. Once that happened, even when we picked up the intensity in the second half, Wake's players were still in rhythm and just didn't miss.
 
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I've said for 4 years Reggie makes himself 6-2. It's maddening, but not going to change now.
 
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We had 13 FT to their 30+, which means we are settling for the three instead of attacking the rim. If I were coach L, I wouldn't let Rion shoot a three until he scored twice from the elbow or closer. I would like to see TMJ drive stop and pop more as well. He seems to settle for the three the later the game goes. We have to get back to attacking instead of settling.
 
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