It wasn't a fun process but somebody had to do it. Just one of those games...

So what's your assessment of this team now versus preseason when you said 6th ? Do you still think that a mid pack finish is possible in the ACC?

It's still possible, but right now that's looking more difficult. If Blacksher can get back to 16-20ppg on good percentages and we can work out some zone concepts then yes. It's never that far away, But trends are hard to break.

Hope it comes to pass.

parentswerebears said:

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Hope it comes to pass.

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San Diego fans were rude. They started harassing Cal,players at the end. Yelling for Dort to go back to Vanderbilt. I had enough and left early

oskidunker said:

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parentswerebears said:

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Hope it comes to pass.

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San Diego fans were rude. They started harassing Cal,players at the end. Yelling for Dort to go back to Vanderbilt. I had enough and left early

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Rude fans? That never happened at Harmon.

RodBenson said:

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A couple quick takeaways since it's too depressing to breakdown that whole game:

1) Blackshire doesn't look healthy yet. It's tough to gauge aginst the best defense in America, but even the shot selection early was uncharacteristic. I was yelling at the screen.

2) Our screens don't really get anyone open. I pointed this out in the video. This is for a couple of reasons. First, the screen angles often create open space going away from the basket. Second, we slip so many ball screens that they become ineffective.

3) We've started going 1v1 quite a bit. Hard to do against athletic teams with speed and length.

4) Turnovers. Man. Baby Jesus Christ.

Ok that's all for now

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when I'm watching a game live (in person or on TV) I get too caught up in the game, ball watch and can only pick up limited observations of what's happening or not happening and why.

it's only when I go back and watch replays, slow it down and watch what's happening off ball, and focus on the defense or iso a single player do I start to realize what is really happening, or why something is not working.

One reason why I really respect any D1 coach as they can seemly do this on the spot, without even a very good viewing angle.

A good example is your point about our high ball screens not working. Against SDSU I thought it was because SDSU was hedging the screens (which I still think was part of it) but didn't pick up the other reasons you spotted

I'm being a bit over conclusive, but it sure appeared that the SDSU defense was the toughest one we've faced all year. Just curious if anyone knows which ACC teams come closest to this, specifically on the defensive end. (As a fan, I kind of want to be ready for it.)

Bobodeluxe said:

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oskidunker said:

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parentswerebears said:

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Hope it comes to pass.

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San Diego fans were rude. They started harassing Cal,players at the end. Yelling for Dort to go back to Vanderbilt. I had enough and left early

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Rude fans? That never happened at Harmon.

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Well, we did this. The Straw Hat Band has always tried to unnerve the opposition from the beginning of the game. In the spring of 1958, after the announcer read the names of each of the players of the opposing team, the members of the Straw Hat Band would chant in tempo with the announcer: "Who's he? Drop dead! Turn blue! Orange juice .... SQUISH!" This custom continued into the early 1970s.

Up close and personal from the broadcaster table a few things…
1.) stojakovich looked sick (aka the flu or something)
2.) not enough off ball action on the weak side and our spacing with the bigs in particular seemed off all game long
3.) SDSU had 2 wing sized guards handling the ball all game and it seemed like the only offense they ran the entire game was a fancy version of loop x. I would have liked to see ola Joseph as the star in a box and 1 and not Wilkinson or blacksher trying to fight over there bigs
4.) rebounding technique. It seemed like at least 10 times where we came down with the ball only to be stripped because the ball was exposed.
5.) officiating. Yeah I'm going to. That was a terribly officiated game. Arm extended - elbow locked constantly by sdsu guards. Numerous goal tends by the giant dude on sdsu. I do like that madsen was firey and got t'd up for whatever that was but the bigger issue is we kept beating a dead horse looking for fouls going inside straight at their bigs. Were there fouls? Yes absolutely but sdsu is known as a scrappy team and if the mountain west crew isn't calling it? Adjust and play an in-out game.

Oh well just one game against a very scrappy bigger team. The issue going forward in my mind is the guard play of sdsu is very much at par for what the acc will bring so we have to find a way to defend the high pick and roll better. I think ola Joseph on ball or omot if he ever comes back will help. Not a knock on Wilkinson or blacksher as I think Wilkinson is our best defender but they are simply not big enough to play that game against 6-8 wings.

good points. I'm also concerned about ACC games

the scouting report says cal likes to attack the basket, so defenders are swiping at balls on the drives and rim protecting

when they have a shot blocker our strategy is going to be tough, and agree that if it's not working we have to try something different

if teams shut down Blacksher like in this game we are going to struggle

we really need Omot back as he is one of our players who can match the length and aggressiveness of the high D1 teams