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Nazareth @ UB (11/11 - 7:00pm ET)


BrooklynBull

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13 minutes ago, mikescherrer8 said:

I must say, Josh Mballa has been impressive. All 3 games so far he’s shown a lot of athleticism and ability to make a play.

We would have been VERY thin at forward if he didn't get the waiver.

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1 hour ago, mikescherrer8 said:

I must say, Josh Mballa has been impressive. All 3 games so far he’s shown a lot of athleticism and ability to make a play.

Agreed, like what I’ve seen, lot of potential. Better work on those FTs as teams will exploit that if they know he can’t hit consistently. 
 

Hard to take much from this game, offense got going but that was expected from competition. Defense was better, but still had some miscues which led to easy buckets at the rim. We’ll see how we measure up against Harvard.

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Some of my take aways:

Free throw shooting - has to be better - 13/31 (18/44  for the season) - they should have had about 8 more points tonight.  I know tonight was primarily Mballa, but freethrows was a concern against Dartmouth.  They actually shot better from three tonight.

Defense - to me seemed like they played with more urgency then Dartmouth, but they need to take it to next level in upcoming games.  

Williams/Johnson - should look to be aggressive and drive to the hoop more to get high percentage shot for themself or a teammate.    

Segu/Grant - I will like to see what they do in next few games.  I am hoping they can be more consistent from outside.   Both shot well tonight.

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Wasn't a great game by any means, but Jeenathan finally showed some opportunity in living up to his recruiting profile potential. Still looks relatively slow overall, but was more decisive today and it showed in his stat line. Again, not that hard to do against Nazareth though...

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8 hours ago, UB Alum said:

Wasn't a great game by any means, but Jeenathan finally showed some opportunity in living up to his recruiting profile potential. Still looks relatively slow overall, but was more decisive today and it showed in his stat line. Again, not that hard to do against Nazareth though...

He clearly has talent. He just looks like he hasn’t fully grown into his body yet, which is a little odd for someone who someone who is 6’5”. The way he accelerates and runs reminds me of a couple of the 6’7”+ centers that went to my high school/we played against.

Not sure what it is exactly. It almost looks like when he starts to run he pushes up more than out.

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9 hours ago, UB Alum said:

Wasn't a great game by any means, but Jeenathan finally showed some opportunity in living up to his recruiting profile potential. Still looks relatively slow overall, but was more decisive today and it showed in his stat line. Again, not that hard to do against Nazareth though...

You’d be surprised how many players fail to live up to their recruit ranking. But I think Jeenathan is on the right path in his development. Same with Rondo.

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Hard to take too much away from this game.I'm still very concerned about our lack of interior defense and spotty help defense. Right now I think Segu/Jordan/Graves/Williams/Mballa is our best lineup with Grant/Johnson being good energy guys off the bench. Johnson will find his shot eventually but right now he looks a lot better when he's driving to the basket. He reminds me a lot of Willie Conner with how he's able to muscle through contact near the basket. Jordan has really worked on his shooting over the off-season and it shows (FT not so much). I think that should allow us to to play 2 PGs on the floor more with Segu similar to when we had Bearden/Evans. 

I'm not sold on Mballa yet but he's clearly the best option at the moment. Hardnett is going to take some time to develop. 

Since Skogman is the only (presumably) healthy player to not get any floor time I have to assume he's redshirting this year? I think that's probably a best case scenario for his development.

Really happy to see the home whites broken out for this one. I wouldn't be sad if that's the last time we saw the grays this year. 

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A big thing I noticed about last night was the communication and talking on the floor. Very little of that happened against Dartmouth

Also hopefully it isnt because of the competition but the players we are counting actually played aggressive. Against Dartmouth it seemed as everyone was hoping someone else will step up

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I felt the effort and defensive assignments were much better last night.  Still a lot to work on but a step in the right direction.  As I said yesterday there will be growing pains with this team as they are young with many news faces.  It will take us time for all the players and coaches to determine their roles and to get used to playing together.  I suspect as the season goes along we play better and better.  A few of my thoughts after watching the game last night:

I think our best lineup is:

1. Segu

2. Jordan

3. Graves

4. Grant

5. Mballa

This lineup is strong defensively, minus Grant, and allows us some flexibility on both ends of the floor.   Segu has proven he should start and this team is more efficient on offense with him running the point.  Jordan's defense is still needed, but we are a better team with Segu running the team.

Free throws are a real problem thus far.  MBalla looked very uncomfortable at the line last night.  He will spend a lot of time at the line this season as he is so active offensively, he really needs to get in the gym and work on his free throws.  Same for Jordan, we will need the two of them on the floor at the end of games.  If they both continue to shoot free throws like this we cannot have them on the floor at the end of the games.

I like the idea of red shirting Skogman.  Allow him to put on some weight and adjust to the college game.  He seems very engaged on the bench, and with the guys, love that.

Savion Gallion looks to be a pleasant surprise.  His effort on defense was contagious last night and really seemed to inspire the other Bulls players.  He is not overly quick but can get to the rim.  We have not seen him shoot the outside jumper much yet, but if he continues to play defense with this effort Coach will have no choice but to play him more minutes.

Nickleberry is a good rebounder, and he got some minutes last night but he does not appear ready for this level just yet.  He will need sometime to adjust.  Prior to the season I had him as a starter.  based on what I have seen he is only a role player at best this season.

Johnson, WIlliams and Hardnett all showed glimpses last night.  But to me they all are still not ready to be starters on this team.  They will all be big contributors to this team this season and moving forward but at this time we have better options to start.  Williams looks much improved, but still needs to work on his game.  U still think a MAC POTY is in his future if he continues to work.

I love to hear how hard Segu and Williams are working.  When a teams best players are the hardest works it sets the tone for the entire team.  They both have very bright futures and I cannot wait to see how they develop.

This team needed a game like this.  I am hoping we can keep ramping up the defensive intensity.  I am a bit nervous about our interior defense, especially when we face a legit big in the post.  I liked the style of play from last night and I like the pressure our guards placed on Nazareth on the perimeter.  This season is going to be a grind and will be defined by how we handle adversity.  I will be here cheering the entire way and loving each step of the way.  I like this team and I cannot wait for Saturday, Go Bulls!

 

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8 hours ago, mikescherrer8 said:

You’d be surprised how many players fail to live up to their recruit ranking. But I think Jeenathan is on the right path in his development. Same with Rondo.

We have won the last few years with no-name recruits.

I am always suspicious of any highly touted recruit that goes to a lower tier program like one in the MAC.  I can't help but think that it is more a case of other programs passing over these highly rated recruits because they saw something in them that made them think they were over ranked.

A lot of great D1 players were not said to be big recruits.

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