Temple Game thread

[coqui900]

Good scheme drawing from a coach can only help get a team quality and good looks on offense/good defense to make an opponent take bad shots.

I really liked the scheme on offense. Last year at this time, we had absolutely nothing of the sort. This year we have a lot of people running around up top as a set starts, off-ball picks, attempts to find post mis-matches, etc. And that is with a ridiculous amount of minutes going to freshmen and sophomores, along with upperclassmen now in a new system who are not All-League performers.

We turned the ball over a good amount. There are players literally in their third game trying to adjust to college basketball against a tough Temple team that also plays a pretty unique defense — traps, matchup zone, etc. An undersized freshman PG is going to get tossed in that situation. I am sure if we went through the archives we would find complaints about Duren during his freshman year.

Even with that there were a good amount of open shots throughout the game. They did not start falling until too late. Shots will improve. FT shooting will improve. The same with reducing turnovers.

They gave up way too many offensive rebounds. Big Ed needs to get more minutes since he is a monster in that department. But Christian and Brandon aren’t physically strong enough yet to bang down low. Like... they are teenagers playing their third game. It is going to happen.

I can see us looking decent by the time conference season starts, especially if someone starts consistently making shots.

[gymrat67]

6'- 9", 230 lbs, 5th year grad transfer student Moustaphe Diagne ?

[explorer88]

I don’t see anyone panicking. I would just like to see better play than we have seen. Bill Lange turned over his roster and looked good beating Bradley and won at UConn. Duquesne showed improvement later in Dambrot’s first year and also in his second year. it can be done before 34 games to show something to look forward to.! I am not looking win-loss record. That i agree is unfair at this point.

We have 3 games against mid major teams coming up and then a tough one at Nova. We should see the team improve moving forward. I see nothing wrong with that. At some point everyone needs to find the time they should expect to see improved play.

[a10champion15]

Nov 16, 2019 16:39:53 GMT -5 explorer88 said:

Nov 16, 2019 16:35:00 GMT -5 MisterD said:

Lost by 5 to a mid-table team in a conference above ours and anyone who doesn’t throw tantrums online is an apologist. It’s truly shocking that the Giannini era whining is seamlessly carrying over into the Howard era. No one could have seen this coming.

Give me a break. We were never in the game. Temple took their foot off the gas. Kept us at arms length.

We lost. If you want to keep on taking closed it to 5 points after playing 35 minutes like crap go ahead. Not everyone thinks that is good enough. How about putting 40 minutes together of good basketball for multiple games?

It's gonna take time. I don't get how you don't understand that. It's not about being an "apologist" or thinking this is good enough cause it's not. Every game your going see something different for the time being.


One thing is clear, similar to last year they are very tough on the perimeter defensively. In terms of their offense, their 3 point shooting while rough in the beginning was really strong down the stretch. Spencer being a solid shooter wasn't a joke and Stone's shot as a 6-11 forward is so fundamentally sound. Another note, Hikim had 6 assists a few which were really crisp.

Howard is still figuring things out. The majority of the rotation is either freshmen or doesn't have more than a year of experience in his system.

Turnovers are going to be a problem until a solution is found between Hikim and Kenney at the point.
Free throw shooting is going to be a problem and needs to be worked on.
Shot blocking is probably going to be a problem and not solved until Moore is eligible next year.

Most of these flaws outside of shot blocking are fixable this year. They are gonna lose plenty of games and probably end somewhere near .500 give or take a couple games.

It was never about this season, it's a rebuilding year. It's a matter of improving as the season progresses and setting a real foundation going forward. Obviously, you want to win now but this is about the long term goals.

[vital]

Nov 16, 2019 15:18:51 GMT -5 explorer88 said:

10-39 from the field.

Either your players are not good enough or your offense runs crap and does not get your players easy buckets.

Mostly the last part of your conversation

[GlitterBro #2]

We are 324th in the country in FT% at 56%. Fortunately we have Morgan State on our schedule who is 334th at 55%.

[vital]

This team don't look comfortable! To many guys looking over their shoulders when the make a mistake from the young to the old...Ash has to slowly bring along his new young guys..The big is a lot to put on young PGs...And the substitute pattern is to unpredictable...Saul to the bench now?? Wasnt he our glue guy...Ed looks like he dont wanna play..Beatty is not sure of himself...Scott don't know his role as Junior from the ACC..Deas cant take advantage of his role as a scoring punch when needed...just my outlook...Hopefully or maybe the long road trip will get this team right...

[broderickpresident]

“All Ash needs is time”

[diehardexplorer]

Nov 16, 2019 19:00:05 GMT -5 broderickpresident said:

“All Ash needs is time”

somebody is still butt-hurt that his boy legs didn't get the job.

[MisterD]

AAC and AAU are pretty much the same level.

[Happy Fortune]

My thoughts on today’s game are pretty simple.

Kimbrough has been horribly underutilized so far. So has Deas.

Sherif and Christian turn over the ball every other possession.

Scott Spencer should be the guy who begins the motion on all the offensive sets on the floor. Run him like Klay through four screens. Should result in some favorable switches.

[heftyexpl]

Nov 16, 2019 18:18:35 GMT -5 vital said:

This team don't look comfortable! To many guys looking over their shoulders when the make a mistake from the young to the old...Ash has to slowly bring along his new young guys..The big is a lot to put on young PGs...And the substitute pattern is to unpredictable...Saul to the bench now?? Wasnt he our glue guy...Ed looks like he dont wanna play..Beatty is not sure of himself...Scott don't know his role as Junior from the ACC..Deas cant take advantage of his role as a scoring punch when needed...just my outlook...Hopefully or maybe the long road trip will get this team right...

Couldn't say it better myself. My biggest gripe with Ash, has been his substitutions patterns. Guys have yet to get into a flow where 2 or 3 of them rattle off 10 - 15 points and get into a rhythm.

I love the talent of the freshman. But some need to spend more time on the bench adjusting to the game. Right now its evident, Ray is not up to speed. He turns the ball over a ton. He's rushing his jump shot. And even when he drives to the basket its like a bull with his head down. From what I've seen of Kenney, he carelessly dribbles the ball and it leads to him getting stripped. He also took 14 shots yesterday. 14! That needs to be curtailed. That type of play from a freshman is going to create selfishness. Kenney is simply not good enough to shoot that much.

I keep hearing Ash needs time to figure out the right guys to play to make his lineups. Well we're 3 games in. Yesterday should be the last time for that.

[GlitterBro #2]

Nov 17, 2019 9:48:01 GMT -5 heftyexpl said:

From what I've seen of Kenney, he carelessly dribbles the ball and it leads to him getting stripped. He also took 14 shots yesterday. 14! That needs to be curtailed. 

In fairness, 4 of those 14 were in the last minute when we were just hoisting 3's.

I'm not sure why he didn't use Stone more in the 2nd half.  He had a good first half - had 6 of our 22 points and was shooting 50% from 3, and was nowhere to be found in the 2nd half. He had 14 minutes total in the game which seems low for how he played in the first half. 

[explorer88]

Stone has a hamstring issue.

I also don’t like the substitutions. La Salle will never ever have 10 guys to play bulk minutes that are good enough for Big 5 or A-10 play.

We need to find the 7-8 players that deserve the majority of the minutes and just let them play and get comfortable with the flow. Not be afraid to make a mistake.

[JoeFedorowicz]

Nov 17, 2019 9:48:01 GMT -5 heftyexpl said:

Yesterday should be the last time for that.

This is insane. There are 6 new guys on this team. Gonna take more than 120 minutes to develop something cohesive. I’m totally fine with punting the OOC schedule. Not looking at an NIT berth from this team so who cares how they look in November or even December.

[23won]

I am sold so far on a rotation that goes something like

Ayinde
Beatty
Phiri
Spencer
Croswell

Next subs within the flow of who is playing well are

Deas for Ayinde (Phiri and Beatty can share 1 duties)
Stone for Spencer
Kimbrough for Croswell

I see Ray and Kenney needing more time to adjust to play at their level. I’d give them minutes but not in the 20s like they have been experiencing

Could do
Ray for Phiri
Kenney for Beatty.

[MisterD]

Nov 17, 2019 10:31:18 GMT -5 JoeFedorowicz said:

This is insane. There are 6 new guys on this team. Gonna take more than 120 minutes to develop something cohesive. I’m totally fine with punting the OOC schedule. Not looking at an NIT berth from this team so who cares how they look in November or even December.

Insane indeed ... that you’re willing to wait. Ash has already had 125 minutes, not a mere 120.

[MisterD]

(But also your last part is dead on. Sacrificing development and future wins makes absolutely no sense.)

[vital]

To put things in perspective..Croswell played really well last year due to the fact he had 3-4 year experience players around him in the starting line-up last year..Ed is not on his game because players arw on learning curve! The last time this program was successful is going on 7 years when the yeam had some tough old plauers who won't get emotional or look over there shoulder or let the bright lights on the road freeze them..I take my hat off for Saul and Deas! These 2 players has been in and out of a line-up their whole career..example: last year the teams 1st win and win streak and AC boardwalk tourney came because Ash had took Deas off the bench and Started him and Saul came back for the first time being out for the first 10 games..Let the young guys play and learn...We dont have 4-5 Star players that are one and done potential..Next year same scenario Beatty and Spencer sits and 2 more incoming plays..its crazy how he starts Stone in a rivalry Philly 5 game over Saul??? Did anyone hear the answer after the game press..WOW...a injured player plays??...its still early in the season maybe the getaway will help #BELIEVE

[GlitterBro #2]

Nov 17, 2019 10:31:18 GMT -5 JoeFedorowicz said:

Nov 17, 2019 9:48:01 GMT -5 heftyexpl said:

Yesterday should be the last time for that.

This is insane. There are 6 new guys on this team. Gonna take more than 120 minutes to develop something cohesive. I’m totally fine with punting the OOC schedule. Not looking at an NIT berth from this team so who cares how they look in November or even December.

Billy Lange seems to have figured it out.

[durenduren]

Nov 17, 2019 12:51:15 GMT -5 GlitterBro #2 said:

Nov 17, 2019 10:31:18 GMT -5 JoeFedorowicz said:

This is insane. There are 6 new guys on this team. Gonna take more than 120 minutes to develop something cohesive. I’m totally fine with punting the OOC schedule. Not looking at an NIT berth from this team so who cares how they look in November or even December.

Billy Lange seems to have figured it out.

One win against a UConn doesn't mean he's figured it out, because he totally didn't have it figured out against Loyal Chicago and Old Dominion.

[JoeFedorowicz]

Nov 17, 2019 13:09:18 GMT -5 durenduren said:

Nov 17, 2019 12:51:15 GMT -5 GlitterBro #2 said:

Billy Lange seems to have figured it out.

One win against a UConn doesn't mean he's figured it out, because he totally didn't have it figured out against Loyal Chicago and Old Dominion.

thanks for this obvious rebuttal

[a10]

Went to the game yesterday. The first bad sign was watching the girl trying to sing the National Anthem constantly looking at her cell phone for the words. And she STILL got some wrong. What a disgrace! The next bad sign was having a La Salle zealot sitting next to us by himself muttering angrily and shouting awkwardly embarrassing things out all game. When this guy in his 30s/40s started playing video football on his phone at halftime, we all decided that we were going to collectively hit the deck the minute we saw him break out a semi-automatic weapon. (The funniest moment was when this psychotic said to the disinterested guy in back of him, "I'm going to really be an ass next year when we go to Temple...." Next year? You're doing a pretty good imitation of an ass THIS year!)

Having watch this and the Iona game I can see that so far we can't shoot, we can't handle the ball, we can't rebound, and we can't make foul shots. There wasn't one player that I watched that I thought to myself, "Boy, I'm glad we have HIM. He's someone we can depend upon." And this Croswell kid is lazy and can't make a 3-foot lay-up. Other than that, we're a lock for the NCAA Tournament. (LOL!)

[blueandgold]

Nov 17, 2019 10:31:18 GMT -5 JoeFedorowicz said:

Nov 17, 2019 9:48:01 GMT -5 heftyexpl said:

Yesterday should be the last time for that.

This is insane. There are 6 new guys on this team. Gonna take more than 120 minutes to develop something cohesive. I’m totally fine with punting the OOC schedule. Not looking at an NIT berth from this team so who cares how they look in November or even December.

My thoughts exactly. Would have said this verbatim but I’ve only seen the box scores and barely even listened to the games this year so far. Not starting ESPN+ til mid-December.

[GlitterBro #2]

Nov 17, 2019 13:09:18 GMT -5 durenduren said:

Nov 17, 2019 12:51:15 GMT -5 GlitterBro #2 said:

Billy Lange seems to have figured it out.

One win against a UConn doesn't mean he's figured it out, because he totally didn't have it figured out against Loyal Chicago and Old Dominion.

Didn't say he totally figured it out, but he got 2 wins in 3 games when half his team quit. It took us 12 to get that last year and still waiting this year.

[MisterD]

Just gonna file that quote away for a later date ...

[a10champion15]

Nov 17, 2019 14:57:04 GMT -5 GlitterBro #2 said:

Nov 17, 2019 13:09:18 GMT -5 durenduren said:

One win against a UConn doesn't mean he's figured it out, because he totally didn't have it figured out against Loyal Chicago and Old Dominion.

Didn't say he totally figured it out, but he got 2 wins in 3 games when half his team quit. It took us 12 to get that last year and still waiting this year.

He lost 3 players, not half the team. Oliva was done mid season due to injuries and Holston barely played. They are currently running a rotation of 7 players which isn't nearly as difficult to manage. 

I don't know if you watched them but they are a mess. They turnover the ball a ton, they aren't great at rebounding, defensively they are a disaster. Watching that Old Dominion game I was lost at what defense they were even running at times (shocker for Billy Lange). The offense runs through Ryan Daly and if he isn't on they lose. No different when Pookie or BJ would go off and we win a game we shouldn't

They might be better than expected this season but going forward their roster is a complete mess. 

[explorer88]

They lost their best players. I only saw the Bradley game and they looked pretty good. They went up to UConn and won so they can’t look too bad.

You can’t build up our program up by trying to tear St. Joe’s down. We have to play better as a program. Once Ash puts some games together we will feel better.

[a10champion15]

Nov 17, 2019 15:51:42 GMT -5 explorer88 said:

They lost their best players. I only saw the Bradley game and they looked pretty good. They went up to UConn and won so they can’t look too bad.

You can’t build up our program up by trying to tear St. Joe’s down. We have to play better as a program. Once Ash puts some games together we will feel better.

So we can't criticize what St Joes is doing but we can criticize Ash based on what Billy Lange is doing.

Got it.

[explorer88]

Nov 17, 2019 16:19:13 GMT -5 a10champion15 said:

Nov 17, 2019 15:51:42 GMT -5 explorer88 said:

They lost their best players. I only saw the Bradley game and they looked pretty good. They went up to UConn and won so they can’t look too bad.

You can’t build up our program up by trying to tear St. Joe’s down. We have to play better as a program. Once Ash puts some games together we will feel better.

So we can't criticize what St Joes is doing but we can criticize Ash based on what Billy Lange is doing.

Got it.

I am not sure how you come to that conclusion. I didn’t say or infer that. Lange won at UConn. Ash has no win like that. That is it. Ash may be 10 times better when we look back 5 years from now. That is all we have to measure right now. Lange did it 3 games and Ash hasn’t done it in 34 games.

I don’t think what had been said is unfair or highly critical but the insistence to not objectively look at how we have played is just crazy.