November 14 UWM vs Ball State

[BBFran]

Al Hanson -- 7 assists, 2 steals, 0 turnovers. That will keep you in the starting lineup, to say the least. We all know Ricky and Deonte have more talent, but throwing the changeup with them makes a lot of sense. If Al can stay as steady as this he'll be an important player in the rotation all year long.

[brewtownbrian]

Wow, what a 2nd half comeback! A great road win...anytime a team can win on the road, regardless of how ugly it might have been...you've gotta take it.

A couple of things I noticed...

I posted at halftime that Torre needed to work on his 12-15 ft. jumper...I noticed that for the 2nd half he ditched the black t-shirt he was wearing under his uniform and I don't know if that had anything to do with it, but he seemed to shoot better in the 2nd half...not great overall (6-19) but they seemed to be falling more in the 2nd half.

uwm97 posted at half that this tem didn't hve an outside shooting threat and through 2 1/2 games...that was true, but if Paulsen can knock'em down like he did in the 2nd half...he could be that threat.

Glad to see Franklin warmed up a little bit. Roman struggled mightily, but he's still young and has time to get going. And I'd echo what other have said about Gentry starting over Deonte...what is more important is who finishes the game.

One other thing I found ironic was with about 40 seconds left in the OT, Al missed the front end of a one-and-one. I thought he was on the floor for his senior leadership and FREE THROW SHOOTING...?? The next possesion, Deonte got fouled and made the first, missed the second. I think Deonte is experienced beyond his freshman status and I'm not worried about him getting rattled by the pressure.

All in all...a great game to watch. I said at half "The good thing is I don't know if they could shoot much worse in the 2nd half, so let's see a better, less sloppy 2nd half and pull out the win. Come-from-behind style...." And that is exactly what they did!!!

2-0...why does Sunday's game have to be at 2:00pm...right in the middle of the Packer game.

[pantherballa12]

spreaditon said:

it seemed like we were settling for 3 pointers on occassion. i would have liked to see us pound it inside a little more. Johnson & Flowers should be getting touches down low on basically every possesion IMO

I agree with that, but especially Flowers has to know he can dish it back out for an open jumper. It seems like once he gets the ball and puts it on the floor, he's going up for a shot. He's our most consistent scorer down low, we all know that, but kicking the ball back outside would open up a ton of good looking 3's for Franklin and Paulsen.

[bball30]

I think you'll see Flowers send it back outside as the season progresses, however, last night I have a feeling he was told to put the thing in the basket if he got the ball down there. With Ball State sagging their defense so low all game, I think the plan was for a shot or drawn foul if the ball was even able to get down there.

[Kingsbury]

Holic,

You are reading too much into it. Although, redhirts usually don't travel to away games, Jeter is allowing him to travel. If he's going to travel to away games, might as well have the warmups ons.


Back to the game: new players, first road game and a win - I'll take it.

[dylanrocks]

Perhaps no one has been a greater detractor of Al Hanson than I have, but I have to say that the line he mustered is precisely what this team needs. It conjures memories of Chris Hill at his best (without, evidently, the clutch free-throw shooting; though he's capable). It appears as if Al's become an effective "game-manager," finding Tim and Torre down on the blocks and Roman and Paige on the wing. It sounds like the latter two were getting open looks throughout the night, but didn't begin to convert until late in the second half. I'll take seven assists and no turnovers from my point guard every day of the week and twice this Sunday. As for Roman, he needs to pick up the pace or face the prospect of coming off the bench. I'm sure Rob is making him well aware of this fact. As for dislodging him from the lineup, I'd say that's still premature. Roman is more than capable of pulling himself through. He appears to have an itchy trigger finger in games (I wish all of you could see him in practice). Overall, it's hard to be disappointed when a newly assembled team comes from 17 down in the second half to win its first game on the road.

[nighthawk]

I think one thing that's been overlooked in this win thus far is the obvious growth of Rob Jeter as Head Coach.

He made the right adjustments, the right calls, and made it possible for the players to play their way back into this game.

That's the growth I was hoping to see this season from him. If he continues at this pace, he will be a lock for Coach of the Year, and this team will be very special.

Congrats, Coach Jeter. Keep up the fantastic work.

[mwu]

i never did get out of studio. did anyone go to karma last night? how was it?

[jhart05]

The PLAN is for Carroll to redshirt this year.

If something ridiculous happens during the game where 2 or 3 guards get hurt, then they would have to use him.

So I would supposed he needs to be in a regular uniform in order to be ready to go into the game.

[jhart05]

I thought Al did hit the front end of that one-and-one, but missed the second, just like Deonte did. Al was 1-2 from the line.

[BBFran]

You're right, Al did hit the first.

[brewtownbrian]

My bad. And I wasn't meaning to call out Al...I'm one of his supporters.

[formerseasonticketholder]

dylanrocks said:

Perhaps no one has been a greater detractor of Al Hanson than I have, but I have to say that the line he mustered is precisely what this team needs. It conjures memories of Chris Hill at his best

nice post DR - way to give credit where credit is due. You may want to be careful using Al's name in the same sentence as Chris though - some folks in these parts aren't too keen on that kind of talk. ;D
Senior leadership from Al, Paige and Torre was certainly a huge factor in last night's win. I hope we see that continue throughout the season. I think that as well as those three played in the second half & OT, there's still room for improvement from each - it's exciting to think of what they can bring to the table this year.

[jhart05]

(5) Georgetown 57
Ball State 48

[fan]

jhart05 said:

(5) Georgetown 57
Ball State 48

On DC sports radio they were talking about the Thompson-Thompson feud involved with this game and whether Georgetown would sit their starters in the second half or run it up. Looks like Ball State made it a game. I was hoping for a big upset cause I don't like Georgetown, but this will do.