Post by ghostofdylan on Jan 14, 2019 21:29:28 GMT -6
Just finished watching the game as if live and have some random thoughts.
Davis is a fun player to watch but I hate how he always wears his trunks like a diaper. What is that all about?
It was an entertaining game to watch. I thought the Panthers played well. I did not understand the technical foul against Vance Johnson. I assume it was for something he said, because his hang time on the rim was nothing out of the ordinary.
The Panthers did not show any quit on this roadtrip. Last week's comment on this board about the team quitting on PB was clearly emotional overreaction after a poor game or an effort to further support a redundant point that no one on here needs to be convinced of.
Beyond him?
- DeAndre Abram probably would start for one of the bad Jeter teams, like 06-07 or 12-13. I think a lot of his rebounds come from teammates just being terrible at grabbing them.
- Jake Wright can shoot...kinda. He's streaky and it can either single-handedly win us the game (Albany) or be a non-factor. At least he doesn't chuck it when it's not falling like Tone Boyle would do.
- Vance Johnson is faux-tough...for every hard dunk he gets, he fails to put a body on the other team's better rebounders. That kills us, because teams are getting a ton of second chances (MKE is 287th in opponent ORBs).
- Amir Allen can grow into something nice, but he'll never be able to stay on the court if he can't stop the dumb foul. That's a coaching thing and should be a focus with him this summer. He needs to be fed the ball underneath more for the rest of the season, so he can get more confident in his handling and post scoring. He's good at it.
- Bryce Barnes still has the lapse in multi-tasking that causes dumb turnovers. I have no doubt at all that this is what keeps him from the starting lineup, because he can defend, he can pass, he can handle the ball and he can body up people in traditional big guard fashion. One wonders how he would have developed had he had one coach his whole career.
- Bobby Arthur-Williams just seems like a guy to me. I guess that's fine, because he seems to be the
- Carson Warren-Newsome was the only guy besides Roy who didn't make me cringe when he drove the lane. Unfortunately, he's gone. I would have liked to see him grow here, but you could see on his face that he didn't mix with PB.
I am glad PB does not demonstrably complain to the refs much. Until recent seasons, we saw that for 11 years here. I thought the whining carried over to the players and adversely affected their play. I like the levelheadedness of the current squad. I think it helped us win the UMKC and WMU games. Having stated that, I understand that stressing points to officials can sometimes help. BP is masterful at that.
Now it's back home to face a couple of teams expected by many to finish above them in the conference. It seems the Panthers struggle more at home than on the road. I think that is because of a lack of energy in the Arena. Negative energy on the road is better than none at all. Hopefully they can do better at creating their own energy in home games.
Honestly, I think the references to Jeter's "whining" and Baldwin's "levelheadedness" come from the fact that you didn't want Jeter to be coach, so you're assigning negative terminology to the stuff he would do on the sideline when those same actions would be described as "masterful" later on.
I think Pearl, Jeter, Bo and Val all worked over the referees. I think the first three were actually a lot more similar in their demeanor doing this than you're remembering; I would agree with you if you said that Bo and BP were more successful at working over the refs than Jeter, but I don't think their actions themselves were noticeably different.
Once again, I think it's perspective. The Jeter I remember was nitpicked for stoicism as a young coach and nitpicked for "whining" later. I think we're looking harshly at a guy for the act he followed. This program has never been one that can expect NCAA tournament victories every few years, and it's unfair to whoever the coach of the time is to expect that in the future until we make the program itself better.
A flash in the pan can happen. Pearl had the right combination of guys at the right time and he got out when lightning struck. I don't fault him for that. To build long term success at this place requires more from this program than the guy on the bench can give alone. They need that practice facility. They need university leadership to understand the program exists, and then they need university leadership to understand what the program can potentially do for them, and then they need university leadership to act with the intention of realizing that potential.
Maybe Baldwin can get that flash in the pan. We all know the best chance he has at getting that flash - that's putting PB&J (can we call him PB&J please?) in Black and Gold.
I'm gonna suggest something on that. Let's stop assuming PB&J is going to pass on playing for Milwaukee. Let's go the other way - let's assume that PB&J will recognize the benefits of playing for his father here - not just helping his father's career, but having the opportunity to set all kinds of college records beating up on the competition, becoming a local legend and locking up a lottery pick. Elite NBA players often come from mid-majors now - Steph Curry, CJ McCollum, Kawhi Leonard, Damian Lillard, Paul George....the NBA can go through the Horizon League if your talent is there.
Positivity starts here. Pat Baldwin Jr. will wear the Black and Gold. Will it into existence.
Great to have you back, Tolstoy!