Simon & Garfunkel said it best

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Chase is very good.

Nigel will start soon.

Defense is good.

Sean and Caedin might confuse me this season being on the court as often the were, and project being as starters

Zaide was second in minutes 

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Defense was superb.

Offensive rebounding was excellent.

Defensive rebounding was putrid.

Loved how much we got to the line. Didn't love what we did when we got there.

Turnovers were fine in context. First game, Sean's first game in years, Albany plays a funky defense, last year Albany was very good at forcing turnovers, it's part of their DNA.

Shooting was putrid. Last year, I would have said that it will come around. After watching Joplin and Kam struggle all season, I'm a bit gun shy. But statistically, it should come around.

Spread was 21, we won by 27 with a terrible shooting game. Definitely more positives than negatives in this one.

[Mutaman]

Good thing they had their musical talents. Just like you, they would be totally worthless on a basketball court.

Not so fast my friend

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ff8LEx9Mw54

[DoctorV]

Any concerns about the brutal 3pt shooting?

Nope. Unfortunately I've kind of become accustomed to it.

This years team has two drive and distribute or finish first PGs, so I doubt it becomes settle for 3 happy.

When they see good defenses that collapse the lane it'll become a problem, but both SJ22 and NJ0 are more adept at breaking down bigger and more organized defenses than their predecessors.

We had better passing PGs and finishing PGs in the past, but I said this before Sean's injury- his biggest strength was breaking down organized good defenses. They just attack off the dribble and are shifty enough to break a defense down. They will turn it over plenty, but they will also succeed plenty amongst the trees.

This years team will be more effective at one on one attacking, so hopefully we see more of a version of last years StJ offensively- relentless attacking.
StJ settled for plenty of mid range shot, and Marquette will settle for plenty of 3s, but hopefully they start to go down a bit more.

I highly doubt Nigel starts over Sean soon- Shaka has said that SJ22 spends the most amount of time being a student of the game than anyone on the team and he will reward that.
I suppose I could see a smaller lineup with Sean and Nigel together in the backcourt and Benny moving to the 5, Chase at the 4, but I don't think Shaka wants to do that.
So more than likely, given health, Nigel is one of the first off the bench all season

[Mutaman]

Simon & Garfunkel recorded Sounds of Silence initially as an acoustic song and it bombed. Without telling them, their producer, Tom Wilson, remixed it with a rock backing band and released the new mix. According to Simon he was in Europe when he got a telephone call from Wilson : "Are you sitting down, you've got the number one single in the United States".

Those were the days when having the #1 song was a really big deal.

[BM1090]

Liked what I saw from NJ and AS.

Phillips shot looks smooth, it'll fall. But he's behind the others on defense.

Need a lot more from Royce. Aggressiveness is good, but too many dumb plays.

Nice to see Ben playing tough. Not sure playing at warp speed will help his shooting though.

Tre looks improved. Zaide looks real solid.

Chase looks like he has the mentality to lead the team. I'm not convinced he's skillful enough. Not sure where this team goes end of shot clock, but lots of time to figure it out.

Overall I thought it was a promising start. There will be some big clunkers but the ceiling is high. Speed, length, and athleticism increase is notable.

[MU82]

Everything in context - Albany is quite bad. Also, as someone else said above, there was so much substituting and so many combinations out there, it undoubtedly hurt continuity on offense.

The biggest positive IMHO is that James only had cramps and that he's OK. He actually looked great in his 2-3 minute stint after returning to the court.

Ross was the best player on the court by far. Got loose with the ball a couple of times, but otherwise was in control and got to where he wanted. His shot looked good, and he was awesome on D. He's gonna have a big season.

Our defense was superb throughout. Loved causing havoc with the 1-2-2 press. Owens is a tough player to pass around or over. James, Jones, Ross, Lowery, Norman ... they were all active and effective.

Sean showed no traces of knee problems, still looked quick as hell. But watching him drive into all the trees with nowhere to go and nowhere to pass is painful.

The whole team looked more comfortable offensively in the first 10 minutes of the second half. Ross, Owens and Lowery really settled in and made some nice plays. Norman had a nice stretch, including an impressive drive; I'd take what he contributed tonight in every game.

Gotta shoot better than that from 3 - hopefully we can, because those 3s are gonna be open all season. We also have to convert after we get steals. There were a few too many poor decisions and missed shots when we should have had layups. Would be nice to make more of our FTs, too. An airball, Ben? Really? (Gold played well on D, though.)

I was really surprised that Parham played so little in the first half - I thought maybe he was hurt or something. He played a lot more in the second half and was OK.

James is definitely going to be a stud. Stevens certainly looked like he belonged out there. Some decent work by Clark, as well - an intriguing prospect.

Some of the offensive rebounds we allowed were fluky - off airballs, deflections, etc. But still far too many given up. A familiar refrain, of course.

We're used to Kolek and Kam controlling the pace and keeping the offense organized. The combination of new PGs and the pace Shaka wants them to play will be a huge change. Here's hoping we can be fast but not rushed and careless.

All in all, a good first game to shake off the rust and any jitters. Covered the spread, and still a ton of room for improvement.

We Are Marquette!

[tower912]

Tower, I love your recaps but this must have been preprepared. If it's off the top of your head you should be a poet. Even if it was precooked I love it.

I started it early in the second half.  It all came from 'slow down, you're moving too fast.'   

[tower912]

A switch was flipped at halftime.   The first half was spent hoisting 3s.  The second half was spent getting to the rim.  The 3 pt shots weren't bad shots, per se, but they young team had too much energy and adrenaline. 

[MuggsyB]

Liked what I saw from NJ and AS.

Phillips shot looks smooth, it'll fall. But he's behind the others on defense.

Need a lot more from Royce. Aggressiveness is good, but too many dumb plays.

Nice to see Ben playing tough. Not sure playing at warp speed will help his shooting though.

Tre looks improved. Zaide looks real solid.

Chase looks like he has the mentality to lead the team. I'm not convinced he's skillful enough. Not sure where this team goes end of shot clock, but lots of time to figure it out.

Overall I thought it was a promising start. There will be some big clunkers but the ceiling is high. Speed, length, and athleticism increase is notable.

Solid points. 

[tower912]

What bothered me. 
Damarius at the 4.  There were at least 3 sequences where Ben helped and contested the shot.  Damarius was the 4, along with Chase, and both found themselves under the basket when the ball came off the rim.  Not in position for the rebound.  All resulted in baskets, two in fouls on Ben contesting the shot after the offensive board.

Sean trying so hard to be a facilitator that he passed on a lay up to throw a wraparound d bounce pass at Clark's shins.  Clark ain't catching that pass.

Settling 4 3s early.  They got out of it.

Sean and Nigel are still short and both had get in the paint with nowhere to go moments.  To be expected.

Rebounding. 

By the way, the answer to the high pick and roll appears to be double and recover, at least on opening night.