Spaceman Spiff wrote:My thoughts so far.
Defense--The brightest spot. I know we're playing bad teams, but this has been the area we consistently produce in that's seen us through some rough patches. The really good part is our execution should improve and shave down mistakes. This team wants to play D.
Rebounding--The darkest spot. Against bad teams, barely winning on the glass bodes ill. A good defensive posession is completely negated by failing on the offensive glass.
Offense--We are very 3 dependent, and that worries me. Smith is in a dark hole and our overall shooting has been inconsistent. Being consistent from the 3 would go a long way towards solving issues because we have no real post attack.
Overall: Hawaii is really huge for us. Beating ISU would go a long way and a 2-1 record would really help our tournament resume. I could see it happening. I could also see us going 0-3 if we shoot poorly and the rebounding issues continue. This year, every game matters.
Wont have a whole lot to say until at least Monday. However, I agree with you on the above.
These dudes are coming to play, and play hard. Its exciting to watch, and we should keep an eye on Miller's rotations as well. Could this be the year he expands to 9 or maybe 10 guys in order to keep his defense fresh?
The offense definitely has a few new quirks, a lot of cross court, wing to corner balancing cuts, which will open up some threes moving forward once we become a but more proficient on that end. Also noticed Miller adopted more ball screen slips this year, at least more than I remember previously. That was something teams killed us with the last few years.