this year's team

[kyyote]

Last year the team spent the whole season looking for who it was going to be. I was not happy about that as it seemed more like a bus station than the Don. This season as the dust settles it appears to have the beginnings of a team with a heart. I think Boum is going to show his East Bay Grease and what it is to play hoops in Oakland. Last year he was feeding out of respect. This year he will be the threat and Williams will be fed because he is open. The big man is getting comfortable in his role and that's all he needs to do. Core is pretty solid. If the rest can be addition and not subtractions to the team on the floor is the key.

[Chanson]

Anybody have deeper insight into Agnew? For 18min, this kid balled. The kid should have looked awkward for his 1st game. Well...he didn't. I loved that kids energy.

[SisyphusMiner]

Anybody have deeper insight into Agnew? For 18min, this kid balled. The kid should have looked awkward for his 1st game. Well...he didn't. I loved that kids energy.

Were you able to watch the game?  What did you think of him?  I could only listen so I really couldn't tell.
Sure hope last game was a breakout game for Verhoeven.  If he can consistently add rebounds and offense, then we have a frontcourt.

[Chanson]

Sis,
I didnt watch. Only listened. I heard his name & saw clips from the re-cap. Then I talked to a buddy who saw the game & said he focused on the kid & saw he had a high IQ for the game as well as being a lock down defender. He compared him to JWash. When he said that, I wanted to do as much homework on the guy as I could. That's why I brought up the question.
It's tough to use JWash's 4yrs vs Agnew's 18min. Since the kid is a Jr, I want to know about the kids production where ever he came from. He's 6'2" & built like a brick house. Clips showed him driving to the hoop & making a defensive stop. CRT described him as the missing piece to the team. What the Fudge can this guy do that we dont know about?

[Chanson]

So I listened to the 1st half & saw the 2nd. We cannot judge this game or the game with OLLU. It is very clear CRT put the kids in that needed the work. He also put them in to practice Jacking up 3s. Agnew looked good.
The other thing I wanted to point out is Vulikic. The kid can rebound & control the ball. I think that's it. His defense is meh, put his scoring needs work badly. I'm curious to hear others assessment of the game.

[SisyphusMiner]

I was same as you, only watched 2nd half during garbage time.

Agnew looked rough, but it's all there.  I feel like right now he is an acceptable sub, but could develop into a key player.
Sjolund looks like a sub you can put in and he won't hurt you.

Vulikic -- agree completely with you  Not ready for the speed of American D1.

Onyema looked completely lost, but gives us glimpses of the player he will turn into.  Hope we can keep him.

Efe looks in better condition but plays just like the old Efe.  He is simply as good as he is going to get


I was really really happy to see TV being aggressive offensively.  To me, this is the key to the season.  If he can be a 7-8 point per game offensive threat it forces other teams to respect him and back off the BW double-teams.  It's not good to have a starter that doesn't score.  You can tolerate it some from Bienemy up at PG.  I also note that we are getting way too little production per minute played from Kennedy.

[Minermojo]

Kennedy has his moments but I saw that at times he can be a loose cannon without discipline. Too many errors for my taste but he does have a machine that keeps on going. I think as a bench player he can come in when the other teams first teamers start getting tired.

[kyyote]

I watched it all and it was an exhibition. The first half showed what was to be expected and it was pretty damned good. Verhoven has found his fit and it makes a huge difference. No more one trick pony.  Inside and out the team has serious fire power. The second half was a reward to the bench and to see what they could do. Individually inserted into games they will look much better. Like Efe looked like Efe trying to do too much in a game wth Williams Souly and Bienemy he will play much more effectively and efficiently giving Verhoven a breather.

[Chanson]

Good point, KY. Efe is not good at finding his own shot. He is better when someone else sets him up for it. He also needs to be a better defender. Verho didnt have Efe offensive skills when he got here, but he won the job because he can hold in the paint on D.
Kennedy, however, is a kid who is built to create, but needs to own it & repeat with frequency.

[SisyphusMiner]

BTW... The name of one of the opposing players seemed like it rang a bell.  Is there a reason why Nick Sessions would ring a bell with me?  Am I just imagining it?

[Chanson]

I have no clue, Sis.
I will say this. This entry is interesting, because I think it started just after St. Mary & the team is completely different since. I think if they played them again, they would win the game.
I hope we try to get game with NMSU. I think we would beat the shit out of them.

[SisyphusMiner]

SDSU just beat St Mary's by 25.

Assuming you are correct and we could beat them now, I don't think it's a beatdown like that.  I feel like on a good night, we are a good mid-major, and a very good CUSA team  Top 75 for sure.  My question is how consistently can we have good nights?

Our offense requires good 3 point shooting.  Right now we have 4 acceptable 3 point shooters.  Boum and Williams present a serious threat.  Sjolund at 33% and Hess at 45% also get less than 20 minutes of play time and are currently our 7th and 8th bench players. 

I think CUSA is pretty weak except for W Ky.  This year and next should determine if CRT is on the right track.

[Chanson]

I think you are right about the 3 point shooting. CRT is letting them jack up as many as possible in order to become more effective down the road. I think it will come at this pace.
The thing that caught my attention is how we got better at perimeter defense. It's because of that is why ASU had no chance in catching up.

[Minermojo]

Perhaps because Hess is a sophomore(?) he is only getting so many minutes but if he is shooting at 45% that is awesome. I don't remember someone hitting 3s like that except for that Miner that got hot in his last year and was in the news not too long ago about him losing his mind thing. I can't remember his name but at one time everyone groaned when he was inserted because he was really bad but improved tremendously his last year. I think he hit 9 threes in one game one time.

[SisyphusMiner]

You're thinking of Chris Craig.  He became a very good PG for us.  He shot 42.6% from 3 pt for his career for us.  Maybe best ever for us?

Omar Duran was great until the opponents started guarding him, then he couldn't create.