I really liked the way Segura ran the team. He has a great burst of speed and is a star in the making. Because of him our overall team ballhandling was much improved. Also Rose benefited from the Segura factor and penetrated at will. He seemed to have a lot of assists
StevieJ is a great shooter but no assists. Disappointed that Nelson did not play. We need his complete game
I like the way Kirkland was active and same with degnan.
overall much better guard play
Kirkland and Degnan will be two great additions to frontcourt. Mike is probably a bit ahead right now, maybe partially because Kevin is just coming back from missing a lot of practice time in the past six weeks. As far as the guards, Segura did seem to be able to get where he wanted to go, and with a purpose. Interesting though that the stats say Rose went 10-2 assists to turnovers, so I guess there might be a correlation to having more than one ballhandler on the court at once. Nelson, big mystery why he didn't play. Was he sick? He certainly was in uniform. Ironically one of the things he would bring to the table is outside shooting, but led by Stevie J. 4-4 from the arc, and Marcus 5-10 the Stags managed to shoot a 3Pt. percentage of better than 60%. Not too shabby. I do believe in retrospect that a lot of the assists that Rose got were in finding the open men on the perimeter. BTW also glad to see some isolation plays to Marcus where he was posting up and getting the ball near the basket. Certainly when you compare this effort to what happened last season against UB this was much better. But to be truthful the Knights are thin in manpower and are not really that tough an opponent relative to what the Stags will start seeing when the regualar season starts. So yes it's good to beat an opponent for confidence, but yet the team has to get better when the real competition begins next week.
On the down side our interior defense was suspect in the 2nd half. Need to get more out of Amadou and Malcolm. Coleman too. I did not see enough of degnan on d. Kirkland was good.
Defense was suspect. Seemed like we lost focus in second half. Amadou fouling out is not a good sign. Marcus was beat off the dribble a few times as well. Not sure if Coleman played in second half. But Degnan did look very active underneath in his minutes as did Kirkland. (And who knew big Mike could shoot 3s?)
Agree With Tmaac that ultimately we are better off with Nelson over Stevie. But Stevie can shoot and he'll get plenty of time.
Segura got a little out of control with some passes in second half but he is the real deal. His game seems effortless. Having a PG like Rome looking the way he does out of the gate as a freshman is so critical for us going forward. He looks to have the stuff to be an all conference player.
Only an exhibition game against Division 11 UB, some good and not so good. The one thing, besides checking out the newcomers, I was hoping not to see was the "Stag in the Headlights" look the entire team seemed to have all of last year. Who knows what will happen when the real games begin, but a year of experience plus the newcomers seemed much more comfortable on the court last night, running some plays, playing some defense. Much more athletic, bigger team this year. Not sure if there is a rotation yet, but most of the kids seem to be able to play. Quick thoughts:
Malcolm - actually played some minutes last night, still seemed rusty, not much of an offensive game, but is 6'11 and will only improve with more minutes Marcus - seemed more confident, stepping up as a team leader, what happens when the 3 pointers don't fall KJ - although had a lot of assists last night, seems better as the off guard, much more confident this year Amadou - needs to be more active getting rebounds and garbage points Johnston - instant offense, should be playing off the bench in that role Coleman - not sure why did not get some more minutes last night, as a junior he should be ready Segura - I can understand why SJ was high on this kid, quick, can shoot and pass, will make some freshman mistakes but the team seemed better with him at the point and KJ as the off guard Kirkland - seemed to shoot better than his stats indicated last night, is active an can play and should be a be upgrade at the PF position compared to last year Degnan - good size, a scrapper, around the ball in his limited time, has huge upside Nelson/Threatt/Smith - agree with those that asked why no time. It is an exhibition game and kids do need to get ready for the games. I'm not sure what to read into this, but kind of disturbing.
SJ coached to win last night, don't know how that affected his rotation. Agree that the defense was suspect, especially interior in the second half. Stags do have good size this year, but were still having a difficult time with UB's front line. All in all, should be a very competitive team, especially in conference. Freshman an upgrade, a lot will depende on their playing time and development
Post by stagshoops3 on Nov 8, 2014 11:59:54 GMT -5
I agree with a lot of what has already been said. Here are my takeaways.
Pros Johnston's offense - Don't know if he should start but he's earned minutes. His 3 point shot is incredible. Marcus Gilbert - He should average 15+ points a game. His defense and rebounding is also strong. He needs another scorer on the floor with him so defenses won't key in on him completely. KJ Rose - The team just played better with him on the floor. Mike Kirkland - He can hit 3's?! Very versatile. Reminds me a little bit of Yorell Hawkins. Kevin Degnan - Didn't see much but he has a nose for a ball. If he was a little luckier on tip ins he would have a nice line in the box score. Rome Segura - Quick and fearless to the basket.
Cons Malcolm Gilbert - Wow. He's perpetually slow footed and constantly out of position. He has a reach advantage but quicker players blow by him and strong players will push him around. Ryan Olander made more progress by his junior year. I have no confidence in him on the floor. Amadou Sidibe - Can't stay on the floor. Every foul was legit. He has more pieces around him to contribute offensively but it won't matter if he defends like that Demarcus Threatt and Tyler Nelson - Didn't see them...at all. Rome Segura - Passed up several open 3's. Everything was a pump fake. I like that he gets to the rim but didn't show much confidence in his shot.
Unknown Coleman Johnson - Looked solid in limited minutes. I have no idea what to expect from him.
Did Threatt and Nelson look sick or hurt? Was lookign forward to hear about Nelson's shooting ability and Threatts scoring ability as a 2 Guard.
Also was Chapell there? He wasn't a bad scoring option last year that can develop.
All 3 were there and dressed. Threatt came in for the last minute. The other two didn't see the floor. They all participated in lay ups lines and pre game shoot around.
The offensive sets are not good. Hoisting up 3's at all times is no way to win. Syd better figure this thing out quick. Remember guys SHU beat UB by 19 last week. Did anyone else notice the Fairfield banner is no longer on the arena? UCONN using the arena more and more for hockey and basketball has probably made the arena rethink how they want to market the arena. Can't blame them. Who would want to market a 9th place MAAC team. Thanks Syd...
I've always thought the Arena or the University never advertised themselves properly there. Look at the MAAC and NCAA banners tucked into the corner of the Arena. Not with a telescope could you see what it says on it. Why not hang legitimate size banners from the rafters closer to center court? Yes, there are not that many of them but, still, it would be nice to recognize past accomplishments.
With respect to the game last night, I agree with the above, you live with the 3, you will die with the 3. One thing that was different last night was that many of those 3 pt attempts were wide open looks thanks to guard penetration, hopefully the staff has a contingency to deal with a defense that stays true and covers the perimeter to guard against the 3.
There were some positives last night and that's good. But, what is up with Sidibe? 14 mins, 5 fouls??? If I remember correctly, he was in foul trouble for most of last season. He's gotta learn to play hard with picking up the contact fouls. We"re going to need his size and scoring.
So now it's bad we are making 3s? You run your offense outside the arc whenever you have the shooters to do it. That's the formula for nearly every college team. With Marcus, Stevie Nelson Degnan Kirkland and Segura we have a stable of shooters who can play. SJ has upgraded. No doubt
But, what is up with Sidibe? 14 mins, 5 fouls??? If I remember correctly, he was in foul trouble for most of last season. He's gotta learn to play hard with picking up the contact fouls. We"re going to need his size and scoring.
Amadou had foul troubles for the first 1/3rd of last season and only was playing 16mpg because of it..... that was likely due to his sore knee. After he he got healthy, he was playing 29mpg and was rarely in foul trouble. So the question is if Amadou is currently completely recovered after off-season surgury ..... because 14 minutes and 5 fouls seems very similar to last years start to the season.
So now it's bad we are making 3s? You run your offense outside the arc whenever you have the shooters to do it. That's the formula for nearly every college team. With Marcus, Stevie Nelson Degnan Kirkland and Segura we have a stable of shooters who can play. SJ has upgraded. No doubt
We have a good amount of 3-point shooters on this team, so we should take advantage of that. The key is getting them open shots, which were able to do with better ballhandling and passing. We now have multiple Ballhandlers, multiple passers and multiple shooters..... not just KJ Plus the Basketball IQ of this team is a lot higher. We took
The 23 Free Throws is a nice increase over last year. I thought we pushed the ball more inside on fast breaks with both Segura and KJ leading the way and that led to more FT's.
Post by reindeerfan on Nov 8, 2014 16:50:21 GMT -5
Well, there were positives, but I was hoping to be a little more impressed with this team than I was. First I expected to see stronger guard play than last year, and essentially I saw last years guards along with Segura. So Segura's a nice edition but hard to understand why Threat and Nelson didn't see a full minute. With regards to the interior play, our rebounding was weak, interior defense was awful and we didn't really score inside the paint. Sidibe and Gilbert did not show improved play, and Kirkland did not play enough on the inside. I was however impressed with Degnan, not with his scoring but he showed he knows how to box out, anticipate a rebound and hustle. I expect him to contribute, and we will need him to because between Sidibe and Gilbert I don't see us getting 40 minutes at Center because of the foul bug neither seems to be able to shake.
Johnston's offense - I love this kid, a great story and someone that I see getting a good amount of minutes this year. I can't say a bad world about him but I do have an expectation that we should have recruited some freshman guards that should be as good as Steve. If we don't I'll consider it a recruiting failure. Gilbert - I think he is all Maac and our leading scorer. I want to see him take the ball to the rim a little as yesterday he relied too much on the three. KJ Rose - I remain concerned at the idea of Rose at the 2 guard. We need Rose to give us some ballhandling, but I would hope we have the talent that he doesn't need to play 35 minutes a game or any minutes at the 2. Mike Kirkland - I was high on Mike coming into the game but was disappointed he spent so much time outside the arc. We need an aggressive rebounder and an interior player, I'd like to see Mike deliver on that. Don't want to read too much into one game, but that's what I am hoping we will get from him. Kevin Degnan - Yeah he's rusty but I really liked his game, his energy, his positioning, hustle and nose for the ball. He's better than I expected. Rome Segura - Biggest plus of the night was his play. A reason for optimism, and while he made several freshman mistakes I expect him to improve with the season. Wish he would have taken at least one trey, would like to have seen his stroke from the outside. Malcolm Gilbert - Gilbert was slow. Didn't show much of a shot. Was constantly out of position defensively. He fouled a kid who was 5'10. He made some mistakes. Still I think he has to be on the floor this year. He has upside potential and wasn't getting better sitting on the bench. A real work in progress still I would have expected more development in the off season. Still have some level of hope for him though. Amadou Sidibe - Did not play well when he was in, and wasn't in much with his fouls. Disappointing effort, we need more from him and Malcolm. Demarcus Threatt - He looked good sitting there on the bench with his warm-up jersey on. Would have liked to see it come off though.... Tyler Nelson - Ditto Coleman Johnson - He looked like the same guy we had last year, saw solid but not spectacular play.
Segura was the brightest spot of the scrimmage....
Post by nashvillestag on Nov 8, 2014 18:16:52 GMT -5
RF, unfortunately I am having all kinds of problems with my computer (it threatens to shut off at any minute), so I will try to be brief by responding to one main point, that being that we have indeed improved the guard situation greatly with Segura and Nelson. Indeed just the fact that Segura looks good (as you have noted) makes the backcourt better than last year. And trust me Tyler will make a difference. Still a mystery why he didn't play but I do know the staff thinks very highly of what he has done so far this fall. To be truthful I'm not so sure what we are going to get from Threatt (no glowing reports yet) or Chappell. But when Nelson does get back in there, a rotation of KJ, Jerome, Stevie J. and Nelson will certainly be better than what we had last season IMO.
When Nashville says "I'm not sure what we are going to get from Threatt" ,it concerns me.
Appreciate all the first hand reports. Hard to get a read on things from just listening on Vof and live stats but coupled with the first hand accounts it paints a picture of an improved team. The question is how many wins over 7 will it improve by?