Sun Devil Thoughts

[tower912]

1.  Luke Fischer was a man.
2.  So was Duane Wilson
3.  And then JJJ.     Big night for the sophomores.
4.  Juan was the unsung hero.   Absolutely huge in the first half.
5.  Derrick was bad.
6.  Carlino wasn't much better
7.  Nor Steve.
8.  The man-to-man looked completely different with a mobile 6'11 guy back there.  Love having options on defense.   This team will need both.   
9.  Going to have to get minutes from everybody.   I personally get uncomfortable when guys go much past the 32 mark.   Yes, it is arbitrary, but usually you see guys start to tire around that point.   You might have noticed that late run.   Tired everything and everybody.     
10.  I am not seeing a difference between practicing FT's and not practicing FT's.   Maybe is is just me. 
11.   There is certainly potential and hope.   Need to work out the rotations and get consistent effort from everybody.
12.  Nice to see the return of transition scoring.
13.  Need to finish strong.   Tonight was poor.   Learn from it. 
14.  Good win.   Lots of things to celebrate, lots of things to work on.   

[brandx]

JJJ played excellent defense tonite. With his offensive skills, that is the ticket to 30-plus minutes.

[forgetful]

1.  Luke Fischer was a man.
2.  So was Duane Wilson
3.  And then JJJ.     Big night for the sophomores.
4.  Juan was the unsung hero.   Absolutely huge in the first half.
5.  Derrick was bad.
6.  Carlino wasn't much better
7.  Nor Steve.
8.  The man-to-man looked completely different with a mobile 6'11 guy back there.  Love having options on defense.   This team will need both.   
9.  Going to have to get minutes from everybody.   I personally get uncomfortable when guys go much past the 32 mark.   Yes, it is arbitrary, but usually you see guys start to tire around that point.   You might have noticed that late run.   Tired everything and everybody.     
10.  I am not seeing a difference between practicing FT's and not practicing FT's.   Maybe is is just me. 
11.   There is certainly potential and hope.   Need to work out the rotations and get consistent effort from everybody.
12.  Nice to see the return of transition scoring.
13.  Need to finish strong.   Tonight was poor.   Learn from it. 
14.  Good win.   Lots of things to celebrate, lots of things to work on.   

Everything is spot on.

[bilsu]

In the first half we saw some of the five (JJJ #5)and dime (Anderson #10) show I was expecting to see last year. Of course JJJ is now #23,

[tower912]

Cohen needs to play just for rest for the other guys.   But coming in and shooting the first 3 you see and then committing a foul after the miss is not the way to get more minutes.    JJJ played D tonight.   His minutes went up.   Remarkable correlation. 

[nyg]

Yes, Luke opened up everything and total different ballgame.

Three point defense was real bad.  Plus, ASU made a bunch of the old fashioned ones, a lot.

FTs, well that was a surprise since Du Wilson was like over 80%, strange.

7 man rotation.  What happened to Cohen?  Juan was gassed bad at end, needed a break.

[We R Final Four]

JJJ played excellent defense tonite. With his offensive skills, that is the ticket to 30-plus minutes.

? JJJ was certainly not excellent on D. His weak side help D and D on back door cuts were as brutal as ever. Steals I'll give you. If you get a chance watch him around 11:30 in the 2nd half--he was lost.

[rocky_warrior]

MU played a great 1st half.

MU played a mediocre to bad second half.

Need to get guys more rest.

[79Warrior]

Yes, Luke opened up everything and total different ballgame.

Three point defense was real bad.  Plus, ASU made a bunch of the old fashioned ones, a lot.

FTs, well that was a surprise since Du Wilson was like over 80%, strange.

7 man rotation.  What happened to Cohen?  Juan was gassed bad at end, needed a break.

I did not think the three point D was that bad. They shot 38%, a few coming in the last minute or so when the guys were gassed.

Cohen was planted on the bench for a quick three followed by a foul.

[mattyv1908]

1.  Luke Fischer was a man.
2.  So was Duane Wilson
3.  And then JJJ.     Big night for the sophomores.
4.  Juan was the unsung hero.   Absolutely huge in the first half.
5.  Derrick was bad.
6.  Carlino wasn't much better
7.  Nor Steve.
8.  The man-to-man looked completely different with a mobile 6'11 guy back there.  Love having options on defense.   This team will need both.  
9.  Going to have to get minutes from everybody.   I personally get uncomfortable when guys go much past the 32 mark.   Yes, it is arbitrary, but usually you see guys start to tire around that point.   You might have noticed that late run.   Tired everything and everybody.    
10.  I am not seeing a difference between practicing FT's and not practicing FT's.   Maybe is is just me.  
11.   There is certainly potential and hope.   Need to work out the rotations and get consistent effort from everybody.
12.  Nice to see the return of transition scoring.
13.  Need to finish strong.   Tonight was poor.   Learn from it.  
14.  Good win.   Lots of things to celebrate, lots of things to work on.    

1.  Very impressed with his defensive positioning (thanks Gardner and Otule during his year practicing against him last season).
2.  Best player on Marquette this year and it's not even close
3.  Where has he been?  Perhaps he will have a Vander Blue style progression.
4.  Could make the case that he had the best OVERALL impact on the floor this game.
5.  Derrick is the same Derrick he's always been.  Bad entry passes (it really hurt Gardner last season), half court offense stalls with his dribbling, same poor shooting.  The difference is that we had multiple players tonight who played the game at a high level so the contrast is more than usual.
6.  Agree, and thus lies the conundrum and why this team will be frustrating all season.  Carlino, while a good FT shooter and obviously capable of helping offensively, is a mediocre dribbler and makes horrible decisions facing any full court pressure.  Derrick, on the other hand is a very sure handed ball handler but you can't rely on him in the final minutes with a lead when the team is getting fouled.
7.  Somewhat disagree, I think Steve and Juan will flip flop with who contributes depending on the matchups moving forward.  ASU had more height that was somewhat slow footed which allowed Juan to blow by them in the half court.  Against smaller athletic forwards where Juan's strengths are neutralized you may see Steve excel.
8.  I disagree.  Carlino was terrible.  Derrick was average.  JJJ was still average at best.  The difference was not Fischer's movement, but rather his ability to alter shots when others were badly beaten and out of position.
9.  I don't think fatigue was a factor.  I think it was having Carlino receiving the inbound passes and subsequently making terrible decisions.  Also, burning 28 seconds in the halfcourt has a negative effect on the offense IMO.  I understand the rationale, but I think this game remains a victory by about 15 had we kept attacking.
10.  Duane Wilson had a poor night at the stripe which drew the percentage down, but if you looked at every single shot he took they were all on line and almost everyone looked good leaving his hand.  He's an excellent FT shooter with great form who had a bad night.
11.  Yes, but living on the West coast and watching a lot of Pac 12 basketball I can tell you this was a poor performance from ASU.  I still think a .500 record in conference is the most likely outcome.
12.  Hate to say this, but Johnson having the game he had helped facilitate this because it ate into #12's minutes.
13.  See my response to your number 6.  I think Duane Wilson is the guy who needs to get the inbounds pass with Carlino getting the pass across halfcourt which ensures our two best FT shooters touch the ball (and limit Carlino fighting the press).
14.  Agree.

[patso]

Carlino was better than you think watch the game again good passes

[patso]

and I think Deonte would really benefit from playing with Luke. Too bad

[brandx]

and I think Deonte would really benefit from playing with Luke. Too bad

Deonte saw Luke everyday in practice. He knew what Luke brought to the table.

[patso]

Ok I get a little hyped after  a good win

[brandx]

Ok I get a little hyped after  a good win

Hey, that's a good thing.

[TallTitan34]

77% of points (60/78) were scored by freshman or sophomores.

[warriorstrack]

Kenpom we are up to 103, lets finish the non-con strong get ready for Big East

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Great points Tower. I would add:

JjJ's defense looked much improved.
Carlino was TERRIBLE, I honestly think Derrick was better
Derrick's fear of the entry pass needs to disappear. Feed the Big Fisch!
Making FTs would have turned this one into a laugher

[brandx]

Great points Tower. I would add:

JjJ's defense looked much improved.
Carlino was TERRIBLE, I honestly think Derrick was better
Derrick's fear of the entry pass needs to disappear. Feed the Big Fisch!
Making FTs would have turned this one into a laugher

I stated earlier that JJJ looked much better on defense. Good to see others saw the same thing.

You are probably right about Carlino, but, when he is on the floor did you notice how spread out the ASU defense was? That Duane and JJJ were able to get in the lane at will? Juan was also able to drive into the middle several times. Carlino's man isn't going to sag into the lane.

[Texas Western]

At least for tonight, the theory that Luke would open things up for the other players was true. JJJ took advantage of the opportunity and demonstrated his considerable athletic talent. Duane also had lots of space to work and do his thing. My sense is Wojo was very deliberate about not hyping him. The kid has a complete set of skills and obviously our weight training program really helped him . The year off to practice against Davante and Chris also really refined his game.

Was a little disappointed that STjr didn't do much , but maybe that was to be expected given the occasion.  We are going to need him to step up in the Big East. Juan continues to bring it hard on every play. He is the one player we can count on every game. Carlino showed us more of his ugly side than his good side tonight but he is enough of a threat to keep the defense from totally sagging on Luke. I was encourage to see Derrick down to 24 minutes, when we get him to 10-15 things will be optimal.

The huddle shots showed Wojo's intensity and focus. He is right we have to play hard every possession. That is what Big East games are all about.

We have to work on the finish. The guy who needs the ball at the end is Duane. I know he missed a few free throws tonight, but I attribute that more to him being overly excited. As most of the misses were long. His form was fine.

We have three games to practice and refine what we are doing with our new lineup. This team will be able to compete with anyone in the conference.

[muhoops1]

Carlino was better than you think watch the game again good passes

I thought he really forced shots that weren't there.  He appeared frustrated by ASU's physical defense on him.  Their coaching staff had scouted him well, they were screaming about the double screens, etc on D.

He didn't play in the flow of the game and threw the ball around a bit toward the end.  Seems a little emotional...good and bad I guess.

[RushmoreAcademy]

At some point we will have to rely on Steve.  There will be at least a few games this season when Luke is in foul trouble. 
Let's hope we can build some leads against the supposed cupcakes in the next few games so that we can get some guys some rest before conference play starts.

[downtown85]

Regarding 13.  I hate the prevent defense/offense.  I felt Wojo called off the dogs and ASU was closing the gap.  I hope he learns that no lead is safe. 

[tower912]

Even though guys were still getting beat on the perimeter, having a 6'11 player who clearly understands help defense and positioning made up for a lot of mistakes.   I need to force myself to remember that it was one game and other teams are now going to start planning for him so they won't all be like this. 

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

I thought he really forced shots that weren't there.  He appeared frustrated by ASU's physical defense on him.  Their coaching staff had scouted him well, they were screaming about the double screens, etc on D.

He didn't play in the flow of the game and threw the ball around a bit toward the end.  Seems a little emotional...good and bad I guess.

Carlino can be a very good passer. He's got a ton of ability. He's just not the best of decision makers and that goes for shooting and passing. He had some really, really bad turnovers last night.