Follow me to Victory!!!
Wow, what a game last night for the Jackets! I completely missed the first half, and have yet to see it on tivo. But that second half, I have not seen defense like that since the Ish and T-Mac days, nor have I heard the Thrillerdome that loud since Bynum and Ish used the rim like a bars on a jungle gym.
Without a doubt, we won this game with defense. Guys were flying around on the floor, hustling for loose balls, grabbing boards. No easy layups in that second half, which has been our M.O. all year. I bang on D'Andre Bell alot, but he played a great game. When Rio picked up some fouls, D'Andre stepped in and played great D on Atsur. Atsur's line of 1-9 from the field and 6 T.O.'s says it all.
It has become clear to me that this team lives and dies with J.C. Another fantastic game for Crit on both ends of the court. He is becoming so much more efficient, taking care of the ball, taking higher percentage shots, and his defense has stepped up a level.
I'm gonna rip off your Ear!
Speaking of stepping it up a level, Thad Young did exactly that last night. He was so much more aggressive offensively and most impressively was flying around on defense, 2 steals, a block, and 7 boards. We should post this guy up all day. No ACC small foward can stop him down there.
Where has Aminu come from??? I don't know, but I'm glad he's contributing! For the second straight game he has brought energy and 10 pts to the table. He was lost a couple times on D last night, but I'll let that slide for now. I'm glad he's in the rotation.
I always hate playing State in hoops. They seem like they own us despite having equal or inferior talent. When we get our asses kicked by Dook, I understand, cause they bring in 5 All Americans a year, but State we SHOULD beat. I really thought we'd have our hands full with NC State, and we did. They are clearly a different team with Atsur, victories over V-
Tech and UNC prove it. I was unsure if the W over Clemson was a fluke, we just matched up with them well, just our lucky day etc. But I think the light has come on for us. I'm still not too confident we can dig out of this grave we've been digging for ourselves to get to the tourney. The biggest test is next week in Talahassee, see if we can get rid of that albatross that is winning on the road.
Finally, while myself and pretty much everyone around me has beaten up Coach Hewitt, he did a great job tonight. Didn't see the first half, so not sure what adjustments he made, but they worked, and he had us fighting and scrapping. Heats not off you yet, but great job Coach!
posted by TSHwouldntdothat @ 7.2.07
5 comments
5 Comments:
That second half was fun. There were a lot of empty seats in the house, but it hasn't been that loud in 2-3 years.
It was a horrible start. Dickey forced two bad shots and blew two assignments and was benched for the rest of the game. Morrow just stood around on offense like he usually does and was benched. In comes Bell and Aminu and a lot energy. Cut the lead to five but State pushed it back to double digits before the half. Crit's heave was sick.
The second half was completely different. We were moving on offense and Aminu and Bell brought great energy on defense. 18-0 run was fantastic.
I wouldn't mind if Dickey and Rio barely play the rest of the year. Aminu and Bell can play much better all around. I know they don't have experience...but I can't stand t.o.'s and standing around on offense.
Crit's play was solid and Smith was hitting his free throws. I am still not sold on Thad. He gets abused on defense. They ran on high screen on him three plays in a row and he made the wrong decision all three times. I know he made some big baskets at the end and can score with ease. But he gives up more points a game than he scores. and many of them are easy baskets too. He should be posting up every play and guarding smaller people.
As for PH's adjustments. His biggest one was playing the backups. They wanted it more and actually ran the offense. Aminu gets great pressure on the full court D. But we still got worked over by a flex offense. Giving up 65 to NC State's slow it down flex is like giving up 100 to a normal team. We are still terrible at getting through screens. PH tried to go zone D a couple of times and even put Aminu on the point guard to help that high screen, but none of it mattered. Disciplined teams are still going to get the best of us.
Sunday will be a big test. UCONN is getting hot and its on CBS. Morrow needs to up his game and move on offense. Thad needs to post and get tougher on D. And if all else fails, put the backups in again. They did nothing but hustle on both ends and hit their shots on offense.
I hope this is the start of nice run. I think 6-3 in the final 9 is not out of the question.
I love the swagger by Crit after his heave..."been there, done that"
I love Aminu's energy, but truth be told, Sean is a monster in the post offensively. He is the only guy that can provide that element. If he's not playing D, then don't play him, but I think our best hope is for him to play some D, and earn back his PT. I feel as if I have made these comments about Sean many times before.
Jeremis has somewhat quietly played outstanding the last 2 games. He is an anchor.
I think we have 7 reg season games left. I think we can lose 2 more conference games, we'd be in great shape for the tourney at 20-10, 8-8 in conf. If we lose 3, I think we have work to do in the ACC tourney. Winning on the road is also foreign to us.
I, too, love what Jeremis has been doing. He has been very steady.
As far as Sean...you said it best. We have kept making excuses and hoping he steps it up. When is it time to move on? When he is double teamed, he has a turnover rate of about 80%. At the very least Aminu has shown he deserves some pt coming up. UCONN has a guy who is 7'3".
We have road games at FSU, Duke, and Virginia. UCONN in the dome. And three more home games: UNC, Wake and BC.
I think we go 3-3 in ACC games and hopefully beat a hot UCONN team. But that means beating wake and BC at home and either FSU or Virginia on the road (where we don't usually play well). Our easier games are behind us for the most part. Lets hope PH can get these rolling in the late season yet again.
I have to vehemently disagree in regards to Spiderman Smith. He has had 2 good games, but he is no doubt on the long list of inconsistent players we have and can hide with the best of them. While he has noticeably strong manhands and bows up from time to time, he only takes what is given to him on the offensive end. That's fine with me because scoring isn't his talent. However, what befuddles me is how he can go through 25 minutes of game and pull down only 2 boards.
I think Smith has done a better job than most at playing within himself and getting to the basket. His defense has been solid. We are not giving up offense boards. And I think he has been making several big plays each game that are not recorded on the stat sheet.
Dare I say, he has even matured. He hasn't tried to kill anyone this year. He only takes good, open shots. And he is surprisingly not turnover prone.
And when Morrow, Crit and Dickey all like to yell and scream at each other, Smith just does the job.
I don't think he deserves an All-ACC spot by any means. But he has been pretty consistent on a team that has been anything but.
Not to mention that he hit the biggest shot of his life last night with that three!!
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