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Post by wolf41 on Jan 17, 2015 22:42:45 GMT -5
I just read the box score and was a bit shocked that we were out rebounded by 21. I knew it was going to be bad going in, but 21 is a shocker.
Yes, I too was pleased to see us use more zone as well as applying full court pressure late in the game. While that happened while Valpo put the game away, I don't think that is what led to their final 10 point margin. I think having Karena foul out and the over all fatique were the causes for the final minutes breakdown.
Also we have to give credit to Valpo. They were very short handed tonight, more so than us, but they had more of the big, solid players on the court at any one time than we had in total. They played a very solid team game. Valpo has had a long history of excellent coaches and its all been one family. What's scary is that they only have one senior.
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Post by Indy Raider on Jan 17, 2015 22:45:18 GMT -5
It's good to see Grant Evans playing and making some shots. +1. I have seen him play multiple times over the years in high school. I really hope making a few shots finally got the monkey off his back and will gain him some confidence. Evans is every bit as good as Benzinger has been for us this year. He can be a stud for us. I just hope he keeps getting playing time.
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Post by hhgreen on Jan 17, 2015 23:51:10 GMT -5
I noticed a lot of teams of late are guarding Benzinger a lot tighter on the outside now. All I have to say is if Billy could get a couple of the guards to play a full court pressing defense we would be even tougher. Half the time after we made a shot they were hustling back down the court like we always do instead of hanging around to press. Habit I guess. Our freshman looked good tonight I thought.
Even though we lost it was a more exciting game to watch with the press instead of it being a little more exciting to watch grass grow like usual. The move Mitchell made was awesome on that move to the glass around their big man was the best move to the glass this year by anyone. Evans looked good hitting the 3 tonight. If we are going to be a small team we should play like a small team. I thought we did that for the most part. We are not physically intimidating to any team we play so we have to let our 110% effort make the difference. I hate losing but I thought we played a decent game.
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Post by ohiopirate on Jan 17, 2015 23:51:27 GMT -5
In case you don't click the link - Yoho possibly done for year with knee injury.
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Post by uptempo on Jan 18, 2015 2:52:51 GMT -5
Can't cry over spilled milk, but Yoho would probably still be playing if Donlon had him playing small forward all year. You could see it coming, Yoho was playing too many minutes banging against guys that towered over him, you could tell he was worn out, and that is when injuries happen. Even with Sledge leaving the team we have 2 big men (redshirts) sitting on the bench that could be playing the 4 and 5 position. This season is pretty much over, Donlon needs to develop all of his remaining players and build towards next year.
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Post by wsuraider09 on Jan 18, 2015 11:33:48 GMT -5
Agree completely- We aren't going to be competitive in the league the rest of the season. We might win a few games...but we're going to get pummeled on the road, especially against anyone with decent size. We've lost our highest scorer and best rebounder. We don't have anyone who can pick up for Yoho on the offensive side of the ball. We can't expect Karena to play 35-40 minutes a game as our only contributing big guy, and we can't count on underclassmen to legitimately score enough points to keep us in games.
Our goal for the rest of the season should be to grow as a unit, get some underclassmen some valuable playing time, and show these kids what the future of WSU basketball will look like. As we've discussed, we've got some great players who are sitting out this season who should be able to provide a spark next year. We need to avoid having any more major injuries, and finish out the season with our heads held high. Griffin, Hopkins, and Arceneaux need to finish out their last year strong, and play to the level we've all seen them play before. It will be a disappointing finish for our seniors. Hopefully we can win our last 4 home games, and send them off right.
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Post by Dr J on Jan 18, 2015 12:07:10 GMT -5
With what has happened, I will still be at the games cheering for the Raiders. If I only want to go see wins I will go to the Women's home games. These players need to have support. They need a coaching staff that rebuilds a confidence in them. 09, we can still win if BD, will design an offense and defense strategy to account for the lack of size an utilize our strengths, speed and outside shooting. He needs specific plays using screens for the outside shooting to make the opposition play man to man and decrease doubling in the paint.
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Post by Big D on Jan 18, 2015 12:46:46 GMT -5
Can't cry over spilled milk, but Yoho would probably still be playing if Donlon had him playing small forward all year. You could see it coming, Yoho was playing too many minutes banging against guys that towered over him, you could tell he was worn out, and that is when injuries happen. Even with Sledge leaving the team we have 2 big men (redshirts) sitting on the bench that could be playing the 4 and 5 position. This season is pretty much over, Donlon needs to develop all of his remaining players and build towards next year. Yoho hurt his knee when he collided with another player while taking a lay up. It was a freak knee on knee contact with the player that caused his injury. It had nothing to do with the amount of minutes he was playing or the position he was playing. It was a standard basketball play where 2 players collided. JT has good size for a mid-major PF. He is 6-6 and weighs 225#. He doesn't play SF because he isn't athletic enough to defend the SF position. He is more than athletic enough to defend the 4 and has plenty of bulk to defend the 4. Roderick Davis doesn't play more because he is a typical mid-major post recruit. He has sufficient height and athletic ability for the position, but lacks ideal bulk for center and the basketball IQ to give us much at center this year. Most high schools play 20-30 games a year. Very few high schools have interior players that have the size or ability to go onto play D1 basketball. A kid like Roderick might have played against 1-2 D1 basketball centers a year in high school. It is very hard to develop the skills you need to compete at the college level without more experience. He isn't playing much this year because he isn't ready to help us. When he has played he is lost on offense and picks up a foul on average every 2 minutes he is on the court. He will get better but in an ideal world he would have been red-shirted this year. Our other 2 freshmen post players are red-shirting and they should be. Neither is ready to contribute to this team and Parker in particular had a legit chance of picking up a real injury if we would have played him this year. He physically is not strong enough to play at this level yet. Donlon would have been negligent to play him. Mid-major post players develop and contribute slower than guards. We have wasted eligibility of players in the past forcing them to play before they were physically ready to contribute. As good as Jordan Pleiman was for us in his career, he could have been even better if we would have red-shirted him. Cooper Land had a solid senior year for us and is making a living playing ball overseas now. We would have benefitted from a red-shirt year. Cole Darling had an injury plagued 4 year career at WSU. He should have been red-shirted and he might have been able to avoid some of those wear and tear injuries. AJ Pacher was an ALL HL player for us last year. Imagine how good he could have been for us this season if we would have red-shirted him as a freshman. We would have a great 1-2 punch with AJ and Karena right now in the post. All of these guys are making a living playing pro ball now. They could have contributed more in their college careers if we would have red-shirted them and helped them physically mature and learn their craft more. Red-shirting Ernsthausen and Lett is the right move. If we would have played them this year they wouldn't help us win many games. Four years from now when they are both 5th year seniors, I think everyone is going to be happy with this decision. In regards to this season. Some of you are finally figuring out that this is a rebuilding year. We were picked to finish 5th in a down year of the HL for a reason. We lost 5 players to graduation that accounted for 85% of our offense (4 who are playing pro ball now). We lost a senior center before the season even started who we were relying on to play major minutes for us. We also added NINE new members on our roster (3 of whom are red-shirting). We needed everything to go our way to finish in the top 1/3 of the HL. Things haven't gone our way, but the season isn't over yet. I'm looking forward to seeing the development of our younger players. We had a great recruiting class last year. Thomasson and Karena are having a large impact already. Benzinger and Mitchell have flashed and shown that they can be real gems in the future. Grant Evans and Roderick Davis are taking their lumps this year transitioning to college but I am still exited about both of their futures. We have Ball State transfer Mark Alstork red-shirting who is ready to step in and contribute next year and Ernsthausen and Lett doing everything they can to get ready to play next year. I see this team as Valpo circa 2013/14. They were coming off the HL championship season last year and had a very young but talented team. They took their lumps last year on the court playing a lot of young players. They are reaping the rewards of that this year. We are going to finish this season playing a lot of young players and we are going to take our lumps. I think that will all pay off next year.
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Post by Dr J on Jan 18, 2015 20:07:20 GMT -5
Thanks BigD, I am not giving up on the team or the Raiders. We can still make an impact. We are going to be playing a different style of game and the young players should be getting PT experience for the next three years. How many of you are green and gold inside as well as outside.
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