Jagging off

[Spaniel with a Short Tail]

[JakeBarnes]

2nd half was what I was hoping to see from the team out of the gates.

Nice to see Sean, Zaide, Chase, and Ben settle in nicely. Ben hitting 3s, strong defense, solid rebounding, and even a baby hook--he is starting to play with an edge.

Really like what I've seen from Adrien and Nigel. AS is a monster on defense and Nigel isnt far behind. Josh could be a nice minutes role player--lots of altered shots when he is in (but maybe we hedge less with him?).

Royce and Damarius need a few confidence boosters. Royce nailed a nice rhythm 3 early but not much else. I think that'll come. For Damarius, I thought this speed would really showcase his talents. Still feels like he is finding his footing. Let's hope for a breakout game when the lights shine bright on Sunday.

Tre seems to be the calming force on a young unit. I still think he has a lot to offer, but would love to see him hit a few shots on top of the drives I know he is capable of.

Caeden--liked the 2nd half. Still a little off tempo on defense, but we haven't had an anchor presence in the paint on offense like that in a bit.

Phillips--wow was that pure. Please let the game slow down for you soon so we can give you some nice bench mins.

Lots of good things out of this one. Score doesn't show everything--this team needed a confidence boost, and they did pretty well to keep a zone honest.

[Captain Quette]

Tower, great recap. A lot of potential on the floor for us. A bit surprised we gave up 80 pts to a low D1 team and switched to a zone. Still trying to figure out who can score against a power5 team and what solution shaka worked on in off season....when teams pack the paint and dare us to shoot 3s. Should be great test v Indiana, am sure the boys will play hard.

[muwarrior69]

Through two games, probably due to all of the young guys, all of the energy, all of the depth, the team has felt more like a salad than a soup.   You get these little chunks of good at from lots of different people at different times.  12 poi is from Zaide in a hurry, Caedin for 3 minutes, Stevens with back to back 3s, 2 minutes of insane defense from NJ.   Chunks.  Tomatoes, carrots, lettuce, avocado.  Chunks.

They haven't become a soup yet, with one broth making everything a seamless connection where you occasionally notice a good chunk of meat, a bay leaf, a random spice, but usually just soup.

It is way too early to make a definitive judgment, but I don't know  if this team ever becomes a soup.  I think it has so many usable pieces, and so much youth potentially leading  to inconsistent play on a game to game basis, that it may never become seamless.

Ah, well.  I like salad better than soup anyway.

I am a gumbo guy and hope this team gets spicey hot!

[wadesworld]

He's very good at color.  Like when he does Marquette games

Yeah, same.  Hated him as a player.  Like when he's calling MU games.

[wadesworld]

Tower, great recap. A lot of potential on the floor for us. A bit surprised we gave up 80 pts to a low D1 team and switched to a zone. Still trying to figure out who can score against a power5 team and what solution shaka worked on in off season....when teams pack the paint and dare us to shoot 3s. Should be great test v Indiana, am sure the boys will play hard.

Southern scored 77 points against #14 Arkansas on Monday.

[StillAWarrior]

Southern scored 77 points against #14 Arkansas on Monday.

And that was without Barnes who scored 17 last night.

[Captain Quette]

Valid points on that score and player. My thought was that man to man D would be a more apparent strength for us and hopefully it will. But the jags aren't the Blue Devils. Perhaps our D is more of a WIP than I thought, which is fine.

[tower912]

The weakness I see compared to previous seasons is help defense.  It was referenced elsewhere, but so far this season Ben is being asked to clean up a lot of messes.  He has played solid D and rebounded well, but his fouls are generally cleaning up somebody else's missed assignment.

[cheebs09]

Yeah, same.  Hated him as a player.  Like when he's calling MU games.

His biggest weakness is his voice sounds like Dan Dakich.

[MUbiz]

His biggest weakness is his voice sounds like Dan Dakich.

I laughed harder than I should at the Dan Dakich comparison.

[Uncle Rico]

I laughed harder than I should at the Dan Dakich comparison.

Hopefully, Brian doesn't take the same path as Dakich professionally and personally