Game impressions

[Buffnik]

First, this was a very good basketball team we played tonight. We'll see how the season goes, but Wichita State looks to me like a team that will advance past the first weekend of the Dance.

I thought it was a good defensive effort tonight. Turnovers and giving up offensive rebounds turned into easy points for the Shockers in this one. If we take care of the ball and box out their guards, this game goes down to the wire.

This Buffs team has a lot of potential. One of the things that killed us tonight, also, is that Wichita State didn't let us get out and run.

Some general observations:

- Nate was a liability. He didn't box out, he caused turnovers, he didn't stop penetration, and he didn't make good decisions on when to shoot, drive or pass. If point guard play doesn't improve, this team's chances are very limited.

- The Mayor showed flashes of what he can be. I liked his defense. I liked his offense. Once he settles in, Spencer's going to be a very good player for us.

- Carlon is definitely a player. Plays strong on-ball defense and can create his own shot. We need to post him up more.

- Dre has parts of his game that are elite and parts of his game that run hot and cold. He was cold on offense tonight, but Dre will be a force by the last third of the season.

- Chen was an absolute steal for us. Every minute he's on the court is a quality minute on both ends of the court. Hustles.

- Shannon is turning into a good player. I really like his defense and his offensive game is much more under control. He just needs more minutes.

- Austin is completely overmatched when he has to play the 5. This was a terrible matchup for him tonight and he got absolutely worked when trying to guard the post. This also effects his offensive game because he's playing way too much with his back to the basket.

- Askia is still finding his way but the skill is obvious. He picked up his defense after getting torched off the dribble a couple times early. Freshman growing pains. He'll be an exciting player once he finds his groove.

- Shane I left for last. I read some of the comments before watching the game and thought he must have played awful. Anyone who thinks that is dead wrong. If you dvr'd the game, re-watch with an eye on Shane. He played very well. Set strong screens that freed people up, passed well out of the post, played great help defense, and moved well without the ball on offense to create some scoring opportunities. He hustles and he communicates very well on the court. He needs to work on making himself bigger when he's posting up and he needs to pick some spots to challenge shots to be more of a shot blocking presence. But he's a good player for us.

When we were down 52-49, this game was looking good for us. Pulling Shane and putting in Nate to try to get more offense is what turned this thing. Carlon didn't get enough minutes and was out of rhythm when finally brought in for the stretch.

We need another frontcourt guy to step up. Our best 5 that I'd like to see get the most minutes is Spencer, Carlon, Dre, Austin and Shane. Unfortunately, we don't have any bigs to bring in off the bench if we go with that lineup. I get that we can't go with that group much due to frontcourt depth issues, but that's the 5 I want to see in the game at crunch time.

Cain needs to make an impact for us this year. Also, we need to get Adams in there knocking down outside shots.

This team has real potential if things progress like I think they will.

 

[Shldr2Shldr]

This team has real potential if things progress like I think they will.

Exactly my feelings as well. I saw flashes tonight of some very exciting young team.

The thing that came back to bite us was that young part.

With the exception of UGA I feel like our OOC schedule gets a little easier from here. Plenty of time to get the team tuned up and running on all cylinders before conference play. SHT I feel does need to be more physical he has the size, he just needs to get out there and use it. Brown can be another CH for us. Solid scoring, solid defense, good effort, and a leader. Love watching ski run out there. Once he gets a handle on the speed of the game at this level I would watch out, kid is blazing fast on the dribble. Dre needs to step it up some I think. What I have seen on the Defense has been amazing, the offensive side is not at all what I expected from the hype. I hope it is just adjusting to the spot light. Shannon looks like the player I expected him to be coming out of high school, or at least is getting to close. He is great on defense, and when confident in his knee, is an absolute asset on offense. I am waiting to pass judgement till after UGA, I feel like at that point we are going to have a good idea of where this team is at and how far they will go this year.

 

[RK]

I think Cain scoring inside and Adams scoring outside could be the difference for this team.

 

[SECOBuffsFan]

Where is Adams...I have been in and out a lot lately...is there news?

 

[shang]

Where is Adams...I have been in and out a lot lately...is there news?

Adams suffered a concussion at the Creighton scrimmage and has not been cleared yet.

 

[shang]

First, this was a very good basketball team we played tonight. We'll see how the season goes, but Wichita State looks to me like a team that will advance past the first weekend of the Dance.

I thought it was a good defensive effort tonight. Turnovers and giving up offensive rebounds turned into easy points for the Shockers in this one. If we take care of the ball and box out their guards, this game goes down to the wire.

This Buffs team has a lot of potential. One of the things that killed us tonight, also, is that Wichita State didn't let us get out and run.

Some general observations:

- Nate was a liability. He didn't box out, he caused turnovers, he didn't stop penetration, and he didn't make good decisions on when to shoot, drive or pass. If point guard play doesn't improve, this team's chances are very limited.

- The Mayor showed flashes of what he can be. I liked his defense. I liked his offense. Once he settles in, Spencer's going to be a very good player for us.

- Carlon is definitely a player. Plays strong on-ball defense and can create his own shot. We need to post him up more.

- Dre has parts of his game that are elite and parts of his game that run hot and cold. He was cold on offense tonight, but Dre will be a force by the last third of the season.

- Chen was an absolute steal for us. Every minute he's on the court is a quality minute on both ends of the court. Hustles.

- Shannon is turning into a good player. I really like his defense and his offensive game is much more under control. He just needs more minutes.

- Austin is completely overmatched when he has to play the 5. This was a terrible matchup for him tonight and he got absolutely worked when trying to guard the post. This also effects his offensive game because he's playing way too much with his back to the basket.

- Askia is still finding his way but the skill is obvious. He picked up his defense after getting torched off the dribble a couple times early. Freshman growing pains. He'll be an exciting player once he finds his groove.

- Shane I left for last. I read some of the comments before watching the game and thought he must have played awful. Anyone who thinks that is dead wrong. If you dvr'd the game, re-watch with an eye on Shane. He played very well. Set strong screens that freed people up, passed well out of the post, played great help defense, and moved well without the ball on offense to create some scoring opportunities. He hustles and he communicates very well on the court. He needs to work on making himself bigger when he's posting up and he needs to pick some spots to challenge shots to be more of a shot blocking presence. But he's a good player for us.

When we were down 52-49, this game was looking good for us. Pulling Shane and putting in Nate to try to get more offense is what turned this thing. Carlon didn't get enough minutes and was out of rhythm when finally brought in for the stretch.

We need another frontcourt guy to step up. Our best 5 that I'd like to see get the most minutes is Spencer, Carlon, Dre, Austin and Shane. Unfortunately, we don't have any bigs to bring in off the bench if we go with that lineup. I get that we can't go with that group much due to frontcourt depth issues, but that's the 5 I want to see in the game at crunch time.

Cain needs to make an impact for us this year. Also, we need to get Adams in there knocking down outside shots.

This team has real potential if things progress like I think they will.

nice observations...I gotta agree w/ you literally on every point listed, and especially on SHT. Whether he ever gets to monster #'s or not, his prescence clearly is a plus for the rest of the buffs and especially for Dufault and Dre. I took your suggestion and replayed a handful of parts of the game and SHT is the SHT... that pick and roll w/ chen was killer. I think w/ Cain in, the rotation in the front court gets even better and we will have more different combinations of forwards and guards.

The only thing I gotta second guess the coaches after seeing both games and looking at the boxscore, and correct me if I'm wrong...besides Carlon's numbers, couldn't we say that both Ski and Chen are pound for pound and literally minute for minute the most productive offensively coming off the bench, yet their minutes are very limited. Even Tad had raved about how effective Chen was for the minutes played against Ft. Lewis(and I beleive the same applies to Ski), so all I can say is give them more minutes until they prove otherwise... just a thought, let me know what you think....

 

[GoBuffs!!]

The only thing I gotta second guess the coaches after seeing both games and looking at the boxscore, and correct me if I'm wrong...besides Carlon's numbers, couldn't we say that both Ski and Chen are pound for pound and literally minute for minute the most productive offensively coming off the bench, yet their minutes are very limited. Even Tad had raved about how effective Chen was for the minutes played against Ft. Lewis(and I beleive the same applies to Ski), so all I can say is give them more minutes until they prove otherwise... just a thought, let me know what you think....

I will agree with you on Chen, he seems to have worked his way into deserving more minutes. Ski, well if you noticed he was very productive at the begining of his time on the court, but falls into freshman mistakes rather quickly, which is when Boyle takes him out, but with that said, they are slight mental mistakes, something he could get away with in HS, but needs to focus not to make them in College, I expect him to get more minutes in the coming weeks.

But, we say who should get more minutes, but that means they have to take someone out, who? Other than tomlinson whos minutes should we limit? And if Cain and Brown come in as who we are expecting them to come in as, the minutes are going to be even more limited.

 

[Goose]

The only thing I'll disagree with you on is SHT -- and that's only on D. Honestly, I thought he looked a little lost out there on D. I'll re-watch the game tonight or tomorrow because I may be wrong, but I didn't see much from him out there on D. Now on offense, I thought he looked good. His pick & rolls with Nate were a thing of beauty and that's definitely something we're going to have to run again and again. The Australian Connection could be a nice go-to play for our offense.

Kind of surprised everyone is still so high on Adams. From everything I heard about him this summer, if we get anything from him this year I'm considering it a bonus. Right now I'm fine keeping Chen in there in his place.

 

[jgisland]

I am going to watch the game again here in a bit so I will try to reserve any harsh criticism. It is easy to overreact to what you see in the "heat of the moment." But my initial thoughts on SHT were that he doesn't know how to make himself big in the post. The basic fundamentals of sticking your butt out, getting your arms wide and elbows out he fails at. A couple of times in the post his hands were down and there the defensive guy was able to reach around and deny the entry pass with ease. He needs to make himself big. The pick and roll he did look good, but the high pick and roll is most effective when the guy setting the pick is a threat to pick and pop, SHT not so much of a threat to shoot.

Chen - Has impressed me more than anybody, I didn't think he would get much court time, my naive mentality was "what is a transfer that couldn't get on the court at DU going to do for CU". I was wrong, he plays good D and that spin move he made on the break was impressive.

The defensive effort was really good, CU just lacks the interior presence to bang with big teams like WSU. Early in the game CU did a nice job of denying the ball into the post and penetration into the lane, they just couldn't keep it up. The way CU wins that game is to keep that up and make WSU beat you shoot jump shots.

All in all I think CU played poorly on offense, forced some jump shots, didn't rebound well (especially on the offensive boards) and were outsized. AND THEY ONLY LOST BY 9.

 

[GoBuffs!!]

I am going to watch the game again here in a bit so I will try to reserve any harsh criticism. It is easy to overreact to what you see in the "heat of the moment." But my initial thoughts on SHT were that he doesn't know how to make himself big in the post. The basic fundamentals of sticking your butt out, getting your arms wide and elbows out he fails at. A couple of times in the post his hands were down and there the defensive guy was able to reach around and deny the entry pass with ease. He needs to make himself big. The pick and roll he did look good, but the high pick and roll is most effective when the guy setting the pick is a threat to pick and pop, SHT not so much of a threat to shoot.

Chen - Has impressed me more than anybody, I didn't think he would get much court time, my naive mentality was "what is a transfer that couldn't get on the court at DU going to do for CU". I was wrong, he plays good D and that spin move he made on the break was impressive.

The defensive effort was really good, CU just lacks the interior presence to bang with big teams like WSU. Early in the game CU did a nice job of denying the ball into the post and penetration into the lane, they just couldn't keep it up. The way CU wins that game is to keep that up and make WSU beat you shoot jump shots.

All in all I think CU played poorly on offense, forced some jump shots, didn't rebound well (especially on the offensive boards) and were outsized. AND THEY ONLY LOST BY 9.

SHT, I dont know if he is that bad of a shooter, he didnt do too bad in the 3pt shoot out with tomlinson, and I have heard a lot of thing saying he was a pretty good shooter, just had a broken hand all his freshman year. But with that said, these past two games, he hasnt shot the ball other than the free throw line (which looked better).

Chen, I am also now very curious why he didnt get much playing time at DU.

Offense needs to be picked up, but who would have thought that after losing players like Burks and Higgins.... We arent as bad on offense as I feared, but it will need to pick up to win some games.

 

[btbuff]

So, I just rewatched the game. For those of you interested it is on replay at Espn3. Or Watchespn. or Whatever the **** they want to rename it.

I really had high hopes for a Dufault, SHT lineup this year. So far, that lineup sucks. Neither of them are bruisers or great rebounders.

A couple of quick observations.
The Good:
Chen is athletic on both ends. He has earned more time. He goes for rebounds, he hustles, he uses his strength well.
We are deep and will only get deeper with Adams and Cain.
Ski gives it his all. He is going to be a great player he just needs to gain some experience.

The bad:
Sharpe still hasn't learned to penetrate and kick out.
SHT still looks lost on defense.
Dre spent so much time helping that he gave up a large number of three point attempts, against a very good three point shooting team.
Nate made a series of bad decisions.
The team lost energy towards the end of the game.
Our team doesn't hold screens. We screen and immediately roll. That is fine if you are running a play but half the time we gave a partial screen, roll, and no one was helped out as the defense stayed with their man.

 

[shang]

I will agree with you on Chen, he seems to have worked his way into deserving more minutes. Ski, well if you noticed he was very productive at the begining of his time on the court, but falls into freshman mistakes rather quickly, which is when Boyle takes him out, but with that said, they are slight mental mistakes, something he could get away with in HS, but needs to focus not to make them in College, I expect him to get more minutes in the coming weeks.

But, we say who should get more minutes, but that means they have to take someone out, who? Other than tomlinson whos minutes should we limit? And if Cain and Brown come in as who we are expecting them to come in as, the minutes are going to be even more limited.

I think we're on the same page and ski clearly raised his game against MD. As for whose minutes, I dunno, it seems we are pretty effective when we roll w/ 4-5 guards on the court! I'm wondering if anyone has kept any rudimentary stats for points for/against w/ lets say a 3,4 and 5 guard rotation, that would be most interesting. Notice that when tad put ski and chen in the first half, I think the buffs may have been down by 5 or 7 and by the time they came out, up by 12....