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Post by dylanrocks on Nov 30, 2006 13:30:13 GMT -6
That's a lot to address in a single post. I can say with certainly after reading the profiles of the incoming players that a great season a year from now will not constutute a "miracle turnaround." As for this notion of Thornton as a selfish player, I want everyone to realize that he was brought into the program for one reason: To shoot and shoot at will. He is the one player on the court that has the green light at all times. This kid has the potential to be the most dynamic shooter in the history of the program. He needs minutes. My issue is with the continued lack of productivity by Al Hanson and the continuing poor shot selection by Avery. When the team fell behind last night 56-55, it was Avery who decided that he needed to take over the game and took ill-advised shots on consecutive trips, enabling the Chippewas to take a 7-point lead. At this point, it was pretty much Katy-bar-the-door for a young team. This team's biggest issue at the moment is a total lack of quality veteran leadership.
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Post by bball30 on Nov 30, 2006 13:49:56 GMT -6
I think the thought that "Al was held scoreless" is way off base. Al DOESN'T score. At all. He has like 1 2pt field goal in his career. I know he's the mature one on the team, but he's gotta step it up.
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Post by pantherdon on Nov 30, 2006 13:51:08 GMT -6
Has anybody seen the rest of the conference standings?
Butler 7-0
Loyola (IL) 5-1
Cleveland State 4-3
Illinois-Chicago 3-4
Wisconsin-Green Bay 2-4
Wright State 1-2
Wisconsin-Milwaukee 2-5
Youngstown State 2-5
Detroit 1-4
We may still end up in the middle of the pack if we can get it together.
I think Messiah needs to start as well.
Mauldin's numbers were down because he barely played in the 2nd half. 17 minutes total.
Whatever the problem with AVO is, it better get fixed soon, it's obvious we need his scoring.
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Post by dylanrocks on Nov 30, 2006 13:55:33 GMT -6
Just to coat-tail on bball's post, Al had 1 assist and 4 turnovers in 21 minutes. That is not acceptable for someone who spends any amount of time at the point. How in the world are Sam, Marcus or Paige going to score when you have no distribution system. Charlie obviously also assumes some of the responsibility, but he at least has the excuse of being a freshman.
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Post by mfscho on Nov 30, 2006 14:25:01 GMT -6
Cleveland State has been playing some pretty good basketball this preseason, they just beat Kent state at home.
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Post by jhart05 on Nov 30, 2006 15:23:26 GMT -6
Maybe Thornton could get a little more playing time, but he is not the answer either. Chucking up shots everytime the ball is in his hands is not the answer either. He has no idea yet what a team concept is. He alone can not win games. Jeter puts Thornton in the game, to do that...chuck up shots from anywhere on the court. So, don't bad-mouth the kid for shooting everytime he gets the ball, that's what he's told to do in the 5 to 10 minutes of PT he gets. |
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Post by uwm97 on Nov 30, 2006 16:33:58 GMT -6
This team shoots a collective 35% EVERY GAME. If you can't shoot, you can't score. And if you can't score, you can't press. This team had a big problem coming into this season, and it's a problem I addressed at the end of last season: there isn't a natural shooting guard on this team. Not one. There is no Jason Frederick, Clay Tucker, Ed McCants, or Boo Davis. Smith can't shoot from the outside. Swiggett is more a PG, and I don't know what Franklin is. I do know he's shooting under 30% and throws up one brick after another. Hanson can't get his shot off unless he sets his feet - nothing is going up in traffic at all. This has NOTHING to do with experience so let's quit that crapola right now. It has to do with the type of players that are on this team. Thornton is the best of the bunch, but he's a Steve Novak-type SF, not a SG. Are these guys suddenly going to turn into competent 3-point shooters? No. When a team plays a 3-guard lineup and the guards can't shoot, you have a big problem on your hands.
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Post by FTA1982 on Nov 30, 2006 16:46:25 GMT -6
If you only played 5 - 10 minutes a game, wouldn't you shoot everytime you touched the ball too? The only way Thornton will get noticed is if he scores and the best way to do that is shoot when he is in the game. I cannot blame the kid for that. It must be tough for him to watch the rest of the team shoot brick after brick while he rides pine.
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Post by uwm97 on Nov 30, 2006 16:54:31 GMT -6
When did I diparage Thornton? In fact, I complimented him and said he's the only guy who CAN shoot. That's the entire problem here.
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Post by FTA1982 on Nov 30, 2006 16:56:08 GMT -6
I was not replying to your post. My post just followed yours. I was talking more about the whole Ryan Thornton shooting issue that people are having in many other threads. More in response to the Panthertrax statement of Thornton just chucking up shots.
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Post by teddyp00 on Nov 30, 2006 17:27:06 GMT -6
I think Jeter needs to shake the lineup some more. I was a huge Franklin fan coming into the year but he just has yet to do anything to justify him being in the starting lineup at this point. I'm not really sure what I would do right now if I were coach of this team but I think my lineup and depth would look something like this: PG - Swiggett; Al SG - Smith; Franklin SF - Gentry; Thornton PF - Paulsen; Skinner C - Mauldin; well we dont have anyone I think there's gotta be a spot for Massiah. He's arguably one of the most consistent players on the team and I think he's a leader by example. I never see him being overly vocal to the other players, but his play can be counted on game in and game out. If he could shoot from outside of 15 feet, he'd be deadly. Sorry completely forgot about Massiah during my post. He needs to be in the mix also. |
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Post by teddyp00 on Nov 30, 2006 17:31:30 GMT -6
As far as this team not being able to shoot right now I think that will come in time. Franklin, Swiggett, Gentry and Thornton did not graduate high school and suddently forget how to shoot the ball. Shooting is all about confidence and right now most of these guys just dont seem to have much is any. We all know this is going to get better maybe sooner maber a bit later but it will because we have seen some flashes of what each of these young guards are able to do. Think Swiggett's dunk in the Michigan game, some of the post moves Franklin has for a guard, Gentry hitting 3's in the Tenn Tech game, and Thorntons performane in 10 minutes last night. It will come together and when it does the fans will be back and we will quickly forget this horid few months of the season we are going to experience.
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Post by reggiewheelerfor3 on Nov 30, 2006 18:14:46 GMT -6
I think Thornton and Gentry are the purest shooters on the team, although it's tough to play them together...not that we want or need to do that. Franklin is more of a scorer, although he hasn't shown that ability yet. The coaches seem to have faith in him because he is certainly putting up shots and still getting minutes. I don't think Swiggett will ever score much for is...in fact, I hope he doesn't! He adds some creativity, but the turnovers are a little high right now. It'd be nice to see his assists to turnover ratio be above 1.0, which it will be once we learn to put the ball in the bucket. Still, he's a little careless at times, but definitely never out of control. He'll be just fine.
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