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Post by jellybean on Feb 2, 2014 14:23:31 GMT -5
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Post by gymrat67 on Feb 2, 2014 15:37:12 GMT -5
Methinks attempting to defeat UMass at home is always tough enough without the added emotional factor of being their next opponent immediately following a painful road loss to St. Joe's at Hagan yesterday.
Should St. Joe's somehow manage to upset SLU at Hagan on Wednesday night, then we will have the dubious distinction next Saturday as well of being the Bilikins' next opponent immediately following a tough road loss.
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Post by victoriouslasalle on Feb 2, 2014 16:27:50 GMT -5
Methinks attempting to defeat UMass at home is always tough enough without the added emotional factor of being their next opponent immediately following a painful road loss to St. Joe's at Hagan yesterday. Should St. Joe's somehow manage to upset SLU at Hagan on Wednesday night, then we will have the dubious distinction next Saturday as well of being the Bilikins' next opponent immediately following a tough road loss. You nailed it here for me, luck does not seem to be with us. Kinda feel like we got the spot in the parade behind the elephants. Tell you what though, if this were last year I would feel like we had a chance in most any game round this time of year we played. But I feel like we need all the luck we can get now. We are just not as good a squad as last year. Our lack luster performances against the Bonnies and GW (I would live easier with the losses if we were more competitive) and blowing the game against VCU when we had it in hand---makes confidence in this team very hard to come by for me. Performance-wise we make too many mistakes and are way too streaky and too inconsisent on O. I do not believe St Joes has it in them but if St Joes is peaking and ascending enough to beat St Ls this could spell some real sad realities for us. I never realized an elephant's anus was so big! |
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Post by durenduren on Feb 2, 2014 17:29:27 GMT -5
Streaky and inconsistent... Watch the tapes from last year, that team was streaky outside of Ramon and Tyreek. I didn't realize it until recent when it's been highlighted this year. We just had Ramon to hit some mile long three or a windmill slam to wake us up. I'm not sure anyone outside of Jerrell or Steve has even touched the rim this year. We're very one dimensional at times, flat-footed on offense, and streaky. When things aren't dropping, things go south fast.
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MisterD
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Post by MisterD on Feb 3, 2014 11:01:13 GMT -5
Long athletic guys (like Graham from VCU) can rip us apart. UMass is long and athletic. Bad matchup for the good guys.
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Post by JoeFedorowicz on Feb 3, 2014 13:48:17 GMT -5
Long athletic guys (like Graham from VCU) can rip us apart. UMass is long and athletic. Bad matchup for the good guys. I'll disagree. I think that UMASS relies heavily on Chaz Williams offensively, so much so that taking him out greatly inhibits their chances of winning. Williams is averaging 11.3 points per game in losses and 16.8 ppg per win. His lowest point totals in wins, those games were really close. UMASS goes as Williams does, and I think La Salle has the players to slow him down. Assuming that the bigs can stay in the game, I actually like this matchup. |
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MisterD
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Post by MisterD on Feb 3, 2014 14:05:21 GMT -5
I'd love to be wrong, trust me, I just won't be at all surprised if Putney sets a season high by a decent margin. We looked really vulnerable to size+skill combos.
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Post by durenduren on Feb 3, 2014 16:47:48 GMT -5
Assuming that the bigs can stay in the game, I actually like this matchup. hasn't this been a moderately big "if" though against quality front courts? |
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Post by calsufan on Feb 3, 2014 19:48:50 GMT -5
Long athletic guys (like Graham from VCU) can rip us apart. UMass is long and athletic. Bad matchup for the good guys. I'll disagree. I think that UMASS relies heavily on Chaz Williams offensively, so much so that taking him out greatly inhibits their chances of winning. Williams is averaging 11.3 points per game in losses and 16.8 ppg per win. His lowest point totals in wins, those games were really close. UMASS goes as Williams does, and I think La Salle has the players to slow him down. Assuming that the bigs can stay in the game, I actually like this matchup.These are absolutely the two keys to the game. I think we can slow Williams down, the question is can Zack and Wright stay on the floor? I don't expect a win up in Amherst, but if we want any shot, the two points Joe made have to happen. |
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Post by lasalle69bestever on Feb 3, 2014 20:25:59 GMT -5
True, but there have been some games where Jerrell's time has been severely limited without fear of fouling out or even having that many fouls. THIS is what occasionally bothers me. G's weird rotation pattern with too much JW bench time.
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Post by JoeFedorowicz on Feb 3, 2014 21:07:03 GMT -5
True, but there have been some games where Jerrell's time has been severely limited without fear of fouling out or even having that many fouls. THIS is what occasionally bothers me. G's weird rotation pattern with too much JW bench time. He explained this after last game. Dukes went four guards a lot which, given their tendency to get run outs, prohibited Wright from seeing as much time as he would. |
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pjjack
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Post by pjjack on Feb 4, 2014 12:23:41 GMT -5
Umass will likely be missing Maxie Esho who is probably the best 6th man in the conference. He took a stray, unintentional elbowed in the head Saturday and is being evaluated for a concussion. Derrick Kellogg said last night on a radio show (that is available online) Esho was unlikely to play Wednesday. Not having Esho is a huge loss for UMass Wednesday. When UMass struggles with tempo Esho comes in and brings a ton of energy.
UMass does have two big guys, Cady Lalanne and Putney who can each put up double digit in points but both are very prone to foul trouble and the quality depth up front after them is non-existent. And in LaLanne's case he has been plagued with a lack of effort lately esp on defense. Putney will probably be the key to UMass if they win, he has tremendous outside range for a guy his size and has a great ability to drive to the basket. Tyler Berginitno plays 10 minutes a game backing up LaLanne but he is more of a bruiser and not much of an offensive threat.
Chaz Williams goes without saying the straw that stirs the drink and he will get his 15-20 points as he always does. His points tend to come in bunches. Some games he'll have nothing at the half then put up 20 in the second half. UMass isn't very deep and without Esho against a 3 guard lineup their freshman will probably see significant minutes. Derrick Gordon had a great game Saturday so they hope he can build off that.
Their freshman have been non-factors this season, Seth Berger has played some quality late game minutes but mostly as a defensive substitution, D. Dyson and Clyde Santee have not played much more. The box score on Santee will show a double digit point game earlier this season but all those points came in garbage time when the game was well in hand. The last freshman is Zach Coleman who hasn't played all season after suffering a foot injury in October and despite being 100% healthy is unlikely to play this season so they can Red Shirt him. Kellogg hinted on the radio yesterday the starting lineup may see some changes so backup guard Trey Davis may be inserted in place of Sampson Carter.
Trey Davis is by far the most underrated players on UMass. He plays good defense, he can hit the three and as of late he has shown the ability to drive to the basket. He is also a good FT shooter and has a high basketball IQ. On the flip side Cady LaLanne would be a guy with a low basketball IQ with his turnovers and some of the fouls he gets called for.
Umass is reeling after dropping 3 of 4 and the loss Saturday at St. Joes was painful because they stormed back in the second half to erase a 17 point lead and had a chance late with the game tied to win. Umass is no longer ranked but they are a good team and a veteran team. They have a nice resume of quality wins and since the start of the 2011/12 season they are 34-5 at home. With one of the 5 losses against LaSalle in 2012.
If you have seen Umass play this season I have a feeling Wednesday night you may see a different team in terms of lineup, player rotation and defense. Umass may play a lot more zone defense. A big snow storm is expected in Amherst Wednesday morning that will last all day so there is a –slight chance this game could be PPD but that is unlikely. What is highly likely is a small crowd for the game. Ticket sales are good but with the game on TV many fans might choose to stay safe and watch it at home.
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Post by La Salle 08 on Feb 4, 2014 13:21:49 GMT -5
Good post, thanks pjjack
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Post by 23won on Feb 4, 2014 15:14:55 GMT -5
True, but there have been some games where Jerrell's time has been severely limited without fear of fouling out or even having that many fouls. THIS is what occasionally bothers me. G's weird rotation pattern with too much JW bench time. He explained this after last game. Dukes went four guards a lot which, given their tendency to get run outs, prohibited Wright from seeing as much time as he would. That is a bad approach, as I have noted before. It's also no excuse since it wasn't limited to the Dukes game. It has been happening all season. You take your most productive force, limit his time in absolute terms and then play with his head with the check in, don't check in yo-yo, and you wind up with a far less effective an under-utilized resource. BTW, how could even the most confident player (e.g., like Ramon) not be affected by this joke of a coaching approach? He needs to keep Jerrell in 30 or more minutes all the time! If he gets into PF trouble, let him work it out on the court - just like Schmidt did with Kloof in the first half of the Bonnies game, which he turned around by staying in the game with 2 fouls and being incredibly productive. I am sick of seeing line scores with Jerrell with 10 points, 6 rebounds, 3 or less fouls in 20 minutes and then see: 1) Sam with 35 minutes, one third of the productivity and 2x the turnovers. That doesn't even take into account dumb off-ball plays where Sam hurts us (like the 10 second possession at the end of the VCU game) but where a TO is not recorded; and/or 2) DJ with thirty minutes and 2-4 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist and 2 turnovers. We need people who can score, rebound and amp up the game more than G's strategy of having 2 guys on the floor who play hot potato. If he needs one of those glue/defensive guys fine, but do it one player out of 5 at a time. In case G loses track of this, we have had far too many losses where 1) our guards have failed to score (and/or shot sub 20% or less), 2) G uses Jerrell less, and we score in the 50s or sub-50 points. |
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