Thoughts on 1st basketball game

Submitted by PeteM on

Here are some thoughts on the first basketball game that counts:

1.  I wish that they would find a way to hold off on pre-game events like banner raisings (not many such events recently I know) and senior sendoffs until the last possible moment.  I realize that they have to do the player intros, national anthem etc., but I got to the game at 6:35 and felt like the banner went up immediately.  The crowd was sparse when it did.

2.  That said, because of the banner it was, eventually, a nice-sized crowd for a game against UMass-Lowell.

3. Derrick Walton seemed like a solid ball handler and defender.  I realize that he's not a scorer, but I'd like to see him take a few more shots.

4. Levert was impressive.

5. Watching the backups come in at the end was weird.  It felt like a TV show that recast all of its supporting actors.  The only one I recognized was Bielfeldt.  I kept thinking -- where's Person, Akunne and Bartelstein?

UM Fan in Nashville

November 8th, 2013 at 10:35 PM ^

Borges needs to go!!!!

Funk was terrible on the front lines!  Fire Funk!  McGary was terrible, where was Funk's direction Fergodsakes!

Hoke should be held accountable for this!

Youth is not an excuse!

 

LSAClassOf2000

November 8th, 2013 at 10:59 PM ^

Save for McGary (who would start, of course, were it not for the back injury), I think everyone was out there for a bit. If I am not mistaken, Irvin, Dakich, Lonegran and McConnell were all actually in the game for at least a minute or two. Did Anlauf - who walked on mere moments ago basically get in there as well? 

MastaDon

November 8th, 2013 at 11:00 PM ^

Person and J Bart were there. They came over to where I was sitting in the student section and showed us their rings.

EDIT: Those guys all graduated if you were refrencing playing time

mgoman

November 8th, 2013 at 11:36 PM ^

I believe this game will represent how our season goes. The team will show glimpses of greatness, and will play poorly at times as well. We will beat some really good teams and play down to teams we should beat. Either way, McGary coming back will make a big difference. 

Yinka Double Dare

November 9th, 2013 at 3:08 AM ^

Walton's actually a fine scorer, but he's a distributor first and given the weapons on the team I think he'll rack up the assists first.  He's got a good outside shot and he can play D, and with the other guys on the squad who can also do some ballhandling (Nik, GR3, Zak) to a lot of ballhandling (Spike and Caris) he won't have the huge pressure to be the lone ballhandler.   I think the biggest issue in the nonconference season, and it might stretch into the conference season, is that there isn't an "alpha" scorer type right now.  Last year obviously there was Trey, and THJr had that attitude too.  I don't know who is going to do that this year.  Thankfully, there's a fair bit of time, and there's enough OOC tests that I think it will be more clear by the time the B1G schedule rolls around.

MGJS SuperKick Party

November 9th, 2013 at 8:12 AM ^

Re: Alpha type scorer - I think Caris is going to surprise some folks this year. He needed to add some muscle and some weight. He hadn't grown into his body yet, and IMO, he is going to be the best player out of the fresh five.

Also, having McGary back will help a lot too. He will provide scoring inside and will open the floor more.

TheBlueAbides

November 9th, 2013 at 6:38 AM ^

I saw them raise the big ten banner last year and I agree, a big step for the program (first conference crone since the 80s) and a big game against what was supposed to be a good nc state team, and the banner ceremony was short and early without a full arena

TheSacko221

November 9th, 2013 at 7:23 AM ^

The whole ceremony plus former players returning and being around the locker room may have caused a slight distraction that had them lose focus because it seems like 2 different teams played last night. Nice to see Coach B have them refocused fir 2nd half.

True Blue Grit

November 9th, 2013 at 7:39 AM ^

Wasn't trying very hard.  Too much standing around on offense.  The 2nd half, when they improved their defensive effort is when things got much better.

I thought Irvin, Walton, Lavert, and GRIII all looked pretty good.  Stauskas and Horford, kind of meh (other than the latter's rebounding).  I was disappointed with Morgan - missed easy shots, turned the ball over, and just didn't look that sharp.

But, it's only the first game so I realize you can't read too much into how well players did or didn't do.