MBB vs Ball State post-game snowflake thread

Livers needs more shots. His shot is smooth.

This team is going to be fun to watch come tournament time.

- Love Livers mid-range...that’ll get him paid at the next level. He clearly is the best player and leader of this team.
 

- Franz was better on offense tonight but again struggled at times on the perimeter guarding the quicker KJ Walton.

- Eli seems to turn up his aggressiveness out of halftime these past few games. If he can do that at the beginning of games our offense can go to a higher level.

Loved seeing Wagner go to the basket. His length makes him really hard to defend when driving and he's deceptively fast for his size, caught defenders off guard a few times. 

Brandon Johns didn't put up any points but his energy was great and he's a good athlete. I'd like to see him play backup to Dickinson. I like Davis but he can't play defense at all. 

They are making progress every time on the floor.  Defense is still very shaky at times.  Offense just needs everyone to figure out their roles.

-Livers is a cut above everyone else on this team. Mid-range is lethal. Still not the best dribbler, but I don't think he has to be.

-Wagner played better. Still has some work left to do to get NBA love.

-I know Davis is kind of that "honor starter", but Dickinson needs to absorb most of his minutes, including starting. He needs to play as much as humanely possible to develop.

-I'm really bummed out about Johns Jr. I don't think he has a fit on this team outside of being a hustle/effort dude.

-Did anyone else see that one set being run where Brown and Williams just stood right next to each other for what felt like 10 seconds and then split off? I think Brown got a three off the possession. It was the weirdest thing I have ever seen.

Livers mid-range reminds me of Rip Hamilton on the Pistons. 

Would like to see more Dickinson - Smith pick and rolls and see what kind of a dive man Dickinson can be.

The trio of Livers, Wagner, and Dickinson gives this team the chance to be elite. All three of these players are exceptionally talented, potential first round picks within the next 1 to 2 years. They also all have very excellent and complementary skill sets. Then you throw in the incredible athleticism off the bench with Brown and Jons, combined with solid on ball play with Brooks and Smith - and you can see why this team has incredible potential. I didn’t even mention Austin Davis who will be an important role player for this team down the stretch as well. 

According to the box score 12 played. I wonder how the culling/consolidating of the playing time is going. 

3 point shooting is in the toilet-though only Brooks took more than two. Must have been some sort of direction given in this regard. 56% on two pointers! The centers had 20 points and 17 rebounds.

Definitely a better display of basketball.  But....we had favorable matchups all over the floor. 

And Ball State did not play us in a zone. 

Really liked the way they played tonight - looked energized and prepared...offense had a lot of good sets, quick hitters and 3-man action...I was happy to see IL confident putting the ball on the floor - could be the best player in the B1G. FW played with more fire tonight and it was good to see JH settle on a patterned rotation  of minutes. 

If Defense can consistently play like they did for the majority of the game we could compete for the conference title.

Onward and upward - GO BLUE!

The first half defense was troubling in its inconsistency but then the offense kicked into gear in the second, the defense tightened, and it was a really complete effort.

I do think this team goes as far as Livers takes them; when he's on they look like a top-10 team and when he's off they lack rhythm and cohesiveness.  And similarly, they should probably start giving Dickinson and Johns more time at center because, at least now, Davis seems like he just can't play defense in Howard's system effectively (even though he did well enough in the brief second-half run he saw).

I sat down to watch on YouTube TV but it never recorded. It says it's unavailable. Any ideas why this game didn't record or where I can watch a recording?

Hoping as the schedule gets tougher and Big Ten starts the rotation shrinks. Williams and Jackson just aren’t ready yet. Hope we go 8 man rotation with even Davis only getting a few minutes. I want more Johns. Key 7 guys throw in Davis for a few. Only go to Willliams or Jackson if injury or crazy foul trouble.

i think smith is a much better PG than brooks. i hope brown takes more of brooks' minutes when we face teams like msu.  we will need more size and athleticism in games like that.

I’d like to see Johns get more minutes and Dickinson to be a little more aggressive under the basket. Come big ten play it’s going to be more brutal under there.

Hunter Dickinson is the real deal. I hope he’s not a one and done!

Between Franz and Dickinson, there’s not too many rebounds to go around for the other 8 players on the court.

Franz played a little 2 guard tonight and it wasn’t too bad. Maybe we see a little more of that to get Johns more PT. 
 

For all the halftime consternation in the game thread, it ended up an easy win and comfortable Kenpom/Torvik/Vegas cover. 

I trust that Juwan Howard is bringing Dickinson along at an appropriate pace so that he's confident and fresh through Big Ten and tournament season. Also, we're going to need Davis to play substantial minutes when we get into the heavy match ups in the conference, so you might as well get him time now even if HD is clearly a better option against MAC competition.

I looked up for one possession and thought Simpson was still on the team, the way Smith dribbled around the court. 

They're old and experienced but don't have a lot of time playing together. I expect them to work some things out but be rolling by the end of the year. It will be a fun year. 

We have the horses to compete for a lot this year. It’s going to be interesting to see how Juwan tailors lineups vs specific teams. Right now we have Brown and Johns coming off the bench and they are the two best athletes on the team. Brooks is a great defender good off-ball guard. Is there going to be times we sacrifice Smith’s pure PG ability to get someone like Brown out there? I expect to see the rotation tighten a bit more come B1G season. Zeb won’t see a ton unless absolutely necessary. Williams will play some spot minutes, and Davis’ minutes will begin to diminish as well. 

An 8 man rotation of: Smith, Brooks, Livers, Wagner, Brown, Johns, Dickinson, and Davis with a little Williams is a solid B1G squad 

My observations:

This team is so much deeper than last year's. Adrien Nunez is now a blowout-time guy and Brandon Johns is fighting for playing time. Juwan has so many parts to play with now. What we lost in experience, we've more than gained in depth.

Man, I love Chaundee Brown's energy and enthusiasm. This year's Zach Novak. I wish there were crowds this year, because Crisler would love him.

Hunter Dickinson's Oakland game was not a fluke. Hard to believe he's only three games into his college career.

Mike Smith plays like the veteran he is. Once he gets more comfortable with his teammates, he's going to be rock solid.

Ball State was not a bad team at all. That was a quality win.

Through 3 games, Livers is 9-17 from 3. The rest of the team is 13-52 from deep, or 25%. Meanwhile, the team is 73-113 from 2 for 64.6%. It’s obvious where the strength of the offense is. Granted, we’ve had a size advantage over the first 3 opponents. We need Eli, Franz, Smith and Brown to knock down those 3s when we get to BIG10 play.

the officials had several head scratchers during this one.  mainly Johns' spin move on the baseline in the first half where he was called for a charge.  That made absolutely no sense.  his arms were tucked close to his body - never hooked the defender in any way.

aside from the lapse at the end of the first half, that was a much better showing.  the defense was very good in the second half.

hopefully that's the first of many double doubles for HD

I would like to see the guards be better defenders. Opposing guards get to the basket to easy.