Thoughts on UW-Parkside

[pantherhoops]

This team has some huge fundamental issues. We struggled unbelievably on offense. The entire first half we were way to content to shoot from 12 feet and out. There was no desire to pound the ball inside, and it seemed that if we did try we were completely inept. If we can't score inside on UW-Parkside I don't know who we will be able to score on inside. There were a few occasions were we made the worst entry pass in all of basketball. There is never a reason to try and enter the ball to the post from the wing when the post player is being fronted. It will either get stolen or the post player will catch the ball in a horrible position to score as the help side defense rotates over. It is a much better alternative to make the pass on the perimeter to the top of the key and have the post player turn and seal off the fronting defender. Now you have a high percentage inside shot. About midway through the second half we stopped settling for jumpers and began to look inside. This is how we got back into the game. On the offensive glass there was no sense of urgency to rebound, untill too late in the game. For how poor of a percentage we shot, we should have had more offensive rebounds. Overall our offense looked lost and nobody seemed to know what to do with the ball. It did seem that they were too worried about screwing up, and not worried about scoring.
On defense we were just sad. Now some credit is do to number 22 from parkside. He was a walk-on at Michigan State and he is a decent player. Tonight he looked like the best player on the floor for either team. We couldn't defend on the perimeter. Simple ball screens were killing us. Our post defense was possible even worse. There were numerous times where a UWP player had the ball in the post, and didn't make a single post move. He just realized that the defender did not have his hands up and put up a shot. I did not see a single defender get chest to chest and put his hands up. They were consistently shooting over us instead of through our defender.
The press needs to be fixed or just given up. We got beat long and that is partially the deep defenders fault, but more importantly it's the man on the balls responsibility to protect us long. Paulsen would start off on the inbounder with his hands up, but the minute he ran the baseline his hands would drop and he would get beat. When they got the ball inbounds we would double the guy and nobody would rotate over to intercept the pass back to the inbounder. If the press is designed to deny the inbound that's fine, but then everybody needs to get back on D. We didn't do that we stayed matched up and gave up many easy transition baskets. Our transition defense was horrible as well. It seems like we have no idea what is the purpose of our press. If it is designed to deny the inbound pass then get back on D. If it is designed to create turnovers then we need to focus on doing that. There is no pursuit either after the press is broken. The pursuit is what turns the game into a track meet and makes people play faster than what they would like to play. We have none of that. We are content in trapping the inbounder and the just applying lose pressure as they bring the ball up the floor. That seems like a waste of time to me.
Overall it was a sad state of affairs. I hope things can get fixed in a hurry. The good thing is that these are all things that can be taught. We have an athletic team and the players need to be put in a position to be succesful. I didn't see anyone in that postion tonight. There was too much emphasis on creating your own oppurtunity. We are not talented enough to do that yet. I don't remember seeing a single set play called. I think we may need a play call the majority of the trips down the floor, and if that doesn't work then go into our offense.
All i have to say is wow, we have a lot of work to be done.

[nighthawk]

I will sum the whole night up in one thought.

This team needs to visit the wizzard and ask for some heart. No fire, no urgency, no desire.

Defense is 75% desire, 25% ability and technique. Rebounding is 90% desire. It showed tonight.

The hill will be slick with puke tomorrow, I hope.

[milwsport]

I also didn't see much desire. Not much hustle. And IF this team is more athletic than last year's I saw little evidence of that.

I don't think I saw anyone jump to block a shot in the whole first half. They weren't running the floor hard, hitting the boards hard, or defending hard. Time after time we got caught flat footed on back door plays, long passes and passes to the guy standing by himself outside the arc.

They looked non chalant on defense and totally lost on offense. I know some things will come with experience but you don't need experience to know that when your defending someone who's going up for a shot, you have to go up with him. Nor do you need experience to know that you shouldn't pass the ball to the guy in the post when three defenders are in front of him.

Maybe they just took them too lightly. Maybe McKay played so much because he at least was playing hard. So was Skinner. In the last half of the second half, everyone seemed to be playing harder but it was too little too late.

Let's hope this was a lesson learned.

[Kroener3535]

I thought we would be more athletic than what we were but in all honesty we werent much more athletic and parkside. We looked flat out there....At least I still have Badger football to cheer me up in the fall

[milwsport]

The athleticism may come with more experience. Maybe it was just that they were too tentative.

[ArtVandelay]

I thought Skinner and Paulsen looked athletic. Both of them really went hard for rebounds in the 2nd half. Besides that the guards really never got a chance to show of their athleticism since they often settled for jump shots instead of using their quickness to get to the basket (Avo finally started to towards the end of the game). We haven't seen anyone willing to take on the Chris Hill type role of consistently driving the lane and not being afraid of the block or dishing to the open man on the perimeter. Boy that "dunk" by McKay really didn't make him look athletic... I hope that teaches him to take the easy layup from now on.

Art Vandelay

[Spike1057]

After all the sh*t I had to read from you guys over the years when we lost to sh*tty schools you would think I would be on here to give it back ten fold. But lets face it most of you are realistic and didnt think this team was going to win every game. Now some did and Im sure after seeing this score, or being at the game they have changed their minds a bit. But lets face it you guys will be working on building this team for the next few years. And loses like this will happen.

Also very good write up by pantherhoops, you seem to know your x's and o's really well. How many guys deep did you run tonight? Sorry I didnt see a box score up yet on the game.

One more thing was the guy who played for UW-Parkside, a three point shooter. I remember when we played them the guy hit a career high 9 or something like that against us.

[franklinthefuture]

for the next few years? you know nothing about this program or about college basketabll if u think its going to take this team 2 to 3 years to jell. especially with the horizon leagues most talented player, Torre johnson coming in next year.

[Spike1057]

wait you have said that about ever player you guys have recruited this year. I'm not saying you wont be good next year. I'm saying don't expect to win this conference anytime soon. The teams above you (Detroit, UIC, UWGB) will have most of their players back the next couple of seasons. So unless all these recruits pan out, which lets face it they don't always. It's going to take some time.

[nohopspanther]

Spike, UIC has not had a team loaded with talent and zero experience in quite a long time. This is different than UIC dropping games with a team in place. Besides the point, Parkside wanted it tonight and UWM didn't. It was that simple.

[jhart05]

I hope one of two things...

Milwaukee plays much, much, better than tonight or...

Parkside doesn't loose a game this year.

[PANTHERfan]

well, i'm glad i was no where near a computer after the game last night... i'm just glad to see the board didn't blow during the last 12 hours.

i'd have to agree with many of the observations i've read thus far. frankly it's not entirely surprising we lost when you look at the reality of this situation:
1 - this team looked like they've never played a game together
2- Jeter truly treated this as the exhibition game that it was. it was all scrimmage out there verging on playground ball. i don't think we once saw the "swing" implemented and actually that was not unexpected according to Jeter's comments in the paper yesterday.
3- defense... oh man this one worries me. there were a handful of possessions where they played something that resembled defense. otherwise it was flat out embarassing. i guess the good thing there is defense is more a product of desire, hustle, and smarts... all of which better come sooner than later or it'll be the long year many of us have been hoping to avoid.

some have already noted this but the press was very unorganized. they'd pressure the ball but forget to trap, barely guarded the inbound, repeatedly got burned on the long ball, etc, etc.

what strikes me about this team is they're undersized and there's no clear leader at this point. Skinner showed a ton of promise. i liked just about everything i saw from him except that lazy pass that got him pulled from the game. anyone else notice he sat for the last 10 minutes or so? Jeter was certainly making a point... play hard 100% or you don't play at all.

this will undoubtably be a season of growing pains so buckle up. there's certainly talent there but that doesn't amount to much when you don't have experience. the coaching staff has their work cut out for them, but i'd like to think they're up to the challenge. i'm looking forward to seeing some major improvements next week.

[pnthr97]

I agree with a lot of things already said, and to be honest, I didn't read all the comments. But, here's my quick take on things.

I thought Skinner looked very good and was impressed with his range. He's going to be a very good player.

Al Hanson looked aggressive in the first half and showed a quick trigger, but didn't do much in the second half. He'll need to show much more consistency.

Other than his botched dunk, I was actually impressed by Miles McKay. He didn't hit a lot of shots, but showed the ability to take it to the hole and wasn't afraid to do it time and time again. He was quick with the ball and very aggressive.

That is really all I can think of that was positive.

On the otherhand, I was not impressed at all with Ricky Franklin. He wasn't aggressive and from the now three times I've seen him play this year, he hasn't shown the ability to shoot from the outside. In the Panther Madness scrimmage I thought Swigget really outplayed Franklin. I hope Swigget's eligibility gets straightened out soon. He looks like the better player of the two right now.

I wasn't impressed with Paulsen either. He needs to be much more assertive.

It was clear to me that Mauldin is still feeling the effects of his injury. On his sprints up and down the court he was noticeably favoring his bad leg.

The team has a lot of work to do. At the same time, I was happy with the way Jeter handled things. A friend of mine said it well during the game, if Rob would have let them "just play" they wouldn't have had a problem beating Parkside simply because of the difference in quickness and athleticism. But Rob made them stay within the system. He needed to. The guys need to learn.

And Tyrone Deacon is a very good player.

[brewtownbrian]

pnthr97 said:

And Tyrone Deacon is a very good player.

I agree, he's a baller.

But how many times can one guy (Franklin) get beat on the same, methodical, behind-the-back cross-over dribble?

Others got beat on it, but Franklin guarded Deacon most of the time and repeatedly got burned on a move that I could see coming a second or 2 before he "unleashed" it.

[BBFran]

As I said to the coaches after the game -- a great teaching opportunity. ;D

A lot of people are going to be scratching their heads in February saying "How could these guys lose to UWP?" Answer: Youth, inexperience, unfamiliarity with each other, layoffs, etc.

But I'll tell you what it's not -- it's not a lack of talent. We have plenty.

Time will heal.

Kudos to Parkside, by the way. They played great. Smart, well coached team and they shot the lights out.