|
Post by jellybean on Nov 28, 2020 10:55:08 GMT -5
Boy did I misevaluate this team with my pre-season prediction....but as "they" say it's still early.
Second game in a row no Anwar Gill and not a word why? Suspense is building.
|
|
big5vet
Mop-Up Time
Posts: 101
Likes: 89
|
Post by big5vet on Nov 28, 2020 11:02:12 GMT -5
Good plan 23. More minutes to Jig and AH can help the offense tremendously. We must improve our foul shooting % and cut down on TOs. There ought to be limited tolerance for college scholarship starters not performing the basics. When I was keeping track yesterday (not the whole game), not one Explorer during a trip to the foul line made two shots except Clark who had three chances.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 28, 2020 11:03:07 GMT -5
Everything is gonna be ok! For 1 Lasalle runs a different offense from last year. With COVID he didn’t have an off season with the players. Trust me it makes a huge difference!! So basically he had 1 month before the games started. In the off season is where a coaching can be hands on with development. It’s where they would be able to see and figure out which player’s skill set would fit whatever role in the offense! Coach Ash didn’t have the benefit of that. And most importantly the players didn’t have to the off season to get comfortable with each other in the mechanics of the new offense. They will get better as the season goes on! No one in the program is in comfortable place yet. Yes they’re turning the ball over like hot cakes BUT the flip side of that is that they’re sharing the ball which means no one is going rogue in frustration. So they’re still together! Ash will turn this around Sharing the ball=\= turnovers. Did you watch any of the game? It wasn’t “making the extra pass” turnovers. It was throwing a 40 foot lob at center court turnover.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 28, 2020 11:04:01 GMT -5
Everything is gonna be ok! For 1 Lasalle runs a different offense from last year. With COVID he didn’t have an off season with the players. Trust me it makes a huge difference!! So basically he had 1 month before the games started. In the off season is where a coaching can be hands on with development. It’s where they would be able to see and figure out which player’s skill set would fit whatever role in the offense! Coach Ash didn’t have the benefit of that. And most importantly the players didn’t have to the off season to get comfortable with each other in the mechanics of the new offense. They will get better as the season goes on! No one in the program is in comfortable place yet. Yes they’re turning the ball over like hot cakes BUT the flip side of that is that they’re sharing the ball which means no one is going rogue in frustration. So they’re still together! Ash will turn this around I assume this is a burner account of a coach or manager?
|
|
|
Post by stlexplorer on Nov 28, 2020 11:52:14 GMT -5
Jeez I'm as not pleased at the start to this season as anyone but calling for Ash to be fired yikes. Remember how we felt when he got hired? We also debated what if they played well how soon he'd leave for a bigger program, let's settle down and see how this season goes before we are trying to get rid of Ash after G got a decade and a half
|
|
|
Post by thelasallelunatic on Nov 28, 2020 12:11:42 GMT -5
88, this team is playing no better than any G team right now. I have hope they will but something has to give on the lineups and offensive approach for this to work. Biggest problem I see with O is that there is no system or flow and people are lined up on four spots around the arc, where we move the ball like a CYO B team, hoping for an open shot and often getting a low percentage covered shots from or near the corner. We're not Nova with loads of talent. You can't run that and hit an open 3 more than 34% of the time with our personnel. We also have no one cutting off the ball so when someone does drive lane it is usally defended by 2 or 3 opponents and this leads to a miss, turnover or runout. Based on what I've seen, the core group should be Jig, AH, Spencer, Clark (based on promise and the need to shed rust) and Moore. We need to drive with cutters nearby and start making close in shots. We can't have four guys cemented to their space on the arc. We can get a lead with this group and there is enough backline height to compensate defensively. the two guards here can create speed mismatches and we can 3/4 court press where the long-armed backline should steal lazy or pressured passes. we also need to aggressively attack opposing presses. Jig and AH could do this but we have to pass over the pressure and make the press pay by beating the back end. Moore at half court could get the pass out to cutting Clark or Scott. Once this group can get a lead, you can rotate in pieces that can change pace with defensive pressure (Beatty, Ray and Jared), but you have to keep Jig or AH in the mix and we need a scorer (Clark or Spencer). If we can maintain a lead, others can come in. Kenney can be an instant offense threat or a shooter spotting Clark or Scott, but he has to cut the TOs or his time should be cut from the 20s to the sub 10s until he can improve on the mental lapses and TOS. He's capable of coming in and dropping 9 points in a minute or two and that is great, but he needs to improve overall. With Moore and Jared getting PT, I'd be inclined to redshirt Brandon. He is developing and getting stronger, but to be candid, he is not going to compete this year in the A10. Guys like him have benefitted from this and what is the rush with his development when we have a lot of people fighting for limited PT? If he is cool with that, it would benefit him to RS IMO. No need to redshirt anybody with the covid rules. This is basically a free year for everybody where there isn't any eligibility used because of Covid.
|
|
|
Post by explorer88 on Nov 28, 2020 12:23:01 GMT -5
Jeez I'm as not pleased at the start to this season as anyone but calling for Ash to be fired yikes. Remember how we felt when he got hired? We also debated what if they played well how soon he'd leave for a bigger program, let's settle down and see how this season goes before we are trying to get rid of Ash after G got a decade and a half These two are not mutually exclusive. Just because G got extra time doesn’t mean Ash should. Two wrongs don’t make a right. That being said most are not calling for Ash’s head. What can’t be denied is now in year three the program has not gotten better. I hope these young kids getter better and he makes us all feel better as fans and makes us eat our words. The issue I have is we are not disciplined at all with the basketball and we have no identity. If we had that I could see the prospects of getting better as a program. However, both of those things are missing from program. I would have hoped by the third year these would have been established. It is still a young season. I would just feel much more at ease with a disciplined team and a roadmap I could follow we are going to down to get the result we all desire. Neither are there that I can see.
|
|
gymratlsc72
Mop-Up Time
Durrett Status
Posts: 103
Likes: 127
|
Post by gymratlsc72 on Nov 28, 2020 16:26:53 GMT -5
Boy did I misevaluate this team with my pre-season prediction....but as "they" say it's still early. Second game in a row no Anwar Gill and not a word why? Suspense is building. From the November 26 Phila Inquirer, St. John's game story by Damichael Cole: "... freshman Anwar Gill was held out after suffering an injury in practice. Howard said that Gill is “doubtful” to play Friday." No explanation as to what the injury is, but that's rarely disclosed. Hope it's not serious.
|
|
|
Post by calsufan on Nov 28, 2020 22:35:46 GMT -5
Everything is gonna be ok! For 1 Lasalle runs a different offense from last year. With COVID he didn’t have an off season with the players. Trust me it makes a huge difference!! So basically he had 1 month before the games started. In the off season is where a coaching can be hands on with development. It’s where they would be able to see and figure out which player’s skill set would fit whatever role in the offense! Coach Ash didn’t have the benefit of that. And most importantly the players didn’t have to the off season to get comfortable with each other in the mechanics of the new offense. They will get better as the season goes on! No one in the program is in comfortable place yet. Yes they’re turning the ball over like hot cakes BUT the flip side of that is that they’re sharing the ball which means no one is going rogue in frustration. So they’re still together! Ash will turn this around I assume this is a burner account of a coach or manager? I can absolutely assure you that they are neither.
|
|
|
Post by calsufan on Nov 28, 2020 22:41:39 GMT -5
This is laughable. 2 games in and here we are.
|
|
|
Post by GlitterBro #2 on Nov 29, 2020 10:40:59 GMT -5
This is laughable. 2 games in and here we are. I'm not in the camp for that yet, but...we are technically 63 games in, not 2, and 3rd year is the year to show progress. First year you get a pass, second year you have "your guys", 3rd year you should have coached up your guys beyond what we've seen so far.
|
|
|
Post by calsufan on Nov 29, 2020 11:59:36 GMT -5
This is laughable. 2 games in and here we are. I'm not in the camp for that yet, but...we are technically 63 games in, not 2, and 3rd year is the year to show progress. First year you get a pass, second year you have "your guys", 3rd year you should have coached up your guys beyond what we've seen so far. New players, new roles, lack of practice and instruction due to COVID restrictions, for me it's 2 games in Do I mean a total reset? Of course not. By season end, if the team fails to improve or regresses by season end the team's record is far worse than predicted, sure, there should be discussion, but the call to fire him was flat out ludicrous. We're nowhere near that point.
|
|
|
Post by GlitterBro #2 on Nov 29, 2020 18:22:15 GMT -5
It was ridiculous for him to use Covid as an excuse in the pregame interview. Every team is dealing with that. If anything, they had it easier as being one of the few groups actually on campus and being somewhat in a bubble without the distractions of a full campus community. Sorry. I don't want to hear that Covid is responsible for 26 turnovers. Brickus had fewer than the veteran guards and he has had the least practice with the team.
|
|
|
Post by explorer88 on Nov 29, 2020 20:26:43 GMT -5
It was ridiculous for him to use Covid as an excuse in the pregame interview. Every team is dealing with that. If anything, they had it easier as being one of the few groups actually on campus and being somewhat in a bubble without the distractions of a full campus community. Sorry. I don't want to hear that Covid is responsible for 26 turnovers. Brickus had fewer than the veteran guards and he has had the least practice with the team. NPOA
|
|
|
Post by victoriouslasalle on Nov 30, 2020 9:47:00 GMT -5
It was ridiculous for him to use Covid as an excuse in the pregame interview. Every team is dealing with that. If anything, they had it easier as being one of the few groups actually on campus and being somewhat in a bubble without the distractions of a full campus community. Sorry. I don't want to hear that Covid is responsible for 26 turnovers. Brickus had fewer than the veteran guards and he has had the least practice with the team. Seems other here are certain, but I am not at all sure of what Coach Ash's exact intentions were (e.g excuse or explanation) in his first game comments/analysis. I strongly suspect though he was trying to explain why we were so bad. And for me it logically provides some explanation as to why we were so awful. It doesn't change the "fact" to me that 26 TO's is unacceptable (We should perform better than this). I have no doubt the coach would agree. They sure looked like a team that had't practiced much . My gosh we are certainly in trouble if with practice this level of awful sloppy play remains.
|
|
LaSallePal
Mop-Up Time
Formerly FjordExplorer, currently handsome
Posts: 117
Likes: 95
|
Post by LaSallePal on Nov 30, 2020 18:36:23 GMT -5
Everyone had to deal with coronavirus, but obviously coaches are going to deal with that differently and the more unscrupulous ones are going to be the ones making hay while the sun shines. You'll note no one here is talking poorly of Howard's integrity. Beyond that, the unique circumstances of this season mean that it's largely a continuation of last season with some skills atrophy, which has largely played out. Villanova and Kentucky both lost games they shouldn't have because of this, and at least in the case of Villanova in ways they don't normally lose. With these things in mind, I don't really hold anything that happens this early in the year against Howard... if the season plays out anything like the college football season, it's all a bunch of glorified exhibitions anyway and perhaps to that end it would be more wise to experiment this year than most. This thinking would explain the minutes, at least. Alternative possibility is that everyone's similarly hobbled and you can rise above in ways unlikely in a more typical year.
One thing I do hold against Howard is that it feels like in year three the roster turnover is still functionally at year one levels. People leave after a new coach comes along all the time, but I felt like he lost that year of development when so many people left AFTER his first year. Where would the team be with Ed Croswell now? Between losing that year of progress and being unable to tend to player development this year, dude's career timeline feels cursed right now. Either way, La Salle signed him for five years and the only way he's not coaching out the contract is if there's a bigger problem than on court performance. Each year the team has looked better at the end of the year, which is a great contrast to prior years, and he's still got two years with what I assume are his guys now. Time will tell.
|
|
|
Post by JoeFedorowicz on Nov 30, 2020 18:38:08 GMT -5
We can all agree that the cupboard was bare when he got here right. Sure, Ed showed flashes of what, being a slightly above average A10 big? Building a program from nothing is hard. When G started he had all-A10 guys.
|
|
|
Post by explorer88 on Nov 30, 2020 18:58:47 GMT -5
We can all agree that the cupboard was bare when he got here right. Sure, Ed showed flashes of what, being a slightly above average A10 big? Building a program from nothing is hard. When G started he had all-A10 guys. I just can’t buy this. You don’t need more than 60 games to have disciplined team with some players that can break the defender down and score. He should be at this point now. An identity created. Put your players in better positions to succeed. Not asking to beat Top 25 teams yet but also not accepting getting our ass kicked by MAAC teams.
|
|
|
Post by JoeFedorowicz on Nov 30, 2020 19:04:51 GMT -5
Sure. But his best players are 18 or 19 years old.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2020 19:24:07 GMT -5
Sure. But his best players are 18 or 19 years old. He has a 22 year old ACC player and 23(?) year old SEC transfer. And a 21 year old Big 10 transfer. If the best players are 18-19 (freshman) than he still hasn’t recruited the right guys. Dambrot walked into Duquesne and gave them an identity. Steve Pikiell Walked into Rutgers, a much tougher conference and immediately gave them an identity and won games with discipline and defense. That’s all you need to be competitive. We are probably the least disciplined team in the country.
|
|
|
Post by diehardexplorer on Nov 30, 2020 20:33:40 GMT -5
Building a program from nothing is hard. When G started he had all-A10 guys. when g started, the only all a10 player on his roster was steve smith. he barely had enough scholarship players to have a full practice.
|
|
MisterD
The Baptist Himself
Voted Most Popular Poster 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023
Posts: 8,392
Likes: 6,325
|
Post by MisterD on Nov 30, 2020 20:39:31 GMT -5
Correct, he only inherited one all A-10 player (who would be two-time A-10 PoY) and only two others who would score over 1,000 in their careers. The starting rosters weren't really comps.
|
|
MisterD
The Baptist Himself
Voted Most Popular Poster 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023
Posts: 8,392
Likes: 6,325
|
Post by MisterD on Nov 30, 2020 20:43:44 GMT -5
If the best players are 18-19 (freshman) than he still hasn’t recruited the right guys. And yet he did recruit a lot of the right guys to Villanova so did he forget how to recruit or is he in a program that makes recruiting really, really, really tough? Steve Pikiell Walked into Rutgers, a much tougher conference and immediately gave them an identity and won games with discipline and defense. He won 6 games total in conference over his first two seasons. I know I go to this well all the time, but are we really going to pretend this board wouldn't have been firing him before Year 3 even started? We are probably the least disciplined team in the country. Probably the whole world.
|
|
|
Post by JoeFedorowicz on Dec 1, 2020 6:55:41 GMT -5
Correct, he only inherited one all A-10 player (who would be two-time A-10 PoY) and only two others who would score over 1,000 in their careers. The starting rosters weren't really comps. Jermaine Thomas made a third team all A10. Darnell Harris made a second team. So you have the two time conference player of the year, a top 15 guy and a future top 10 guy on your roster. Ash inherited nothing like that.
|
|
|
Post by diehardexplorer on Dec 1, 2020 10:34:54 GMT -5
Correct, he only inherited one all A-10 player (who would be two-time A-10 PoY) and only two others who would score over 1,000 in their careers. The starting rosters weren't really comps. Jermaine Thomas made a third team all A10. Darnell Harris made a second team. So you have the two time conference player of the year, a top 15 guy and a future top 10 guy on your roster. Ash inherited nothing like that. steve smith was the only all a10 (third team) player that g inherited. jermaine didn't sniff making an all league team until playing under g for two years and darnell didn't make an all league team until his senior year, his 4th year of playing for g. so this year's team has three players (spencer, beatty and kimbrough, not counting jack clark because of his injury situation) who've been in the program for 3 years now who were higher rated recruits than smith, thomas and harris and do you think any of them will be considered for an all league team? nope.
|
|
MisterD
The Baptist Himself
Voted Most Popular Poster 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023
Posts: 8,392
Likes: 6,325
|
Post by MisterD on Dec 1, 2020 10:35:56 GMT -5
We're going to get into a weird place if people who couldn't stand Giannini start screaming that he coached Thomas and Harris up from nothing into all-conference players.
|
|
|
Post by explorer88 on Dec 1, 2020 10:42:25 GMT -5
Correct, he only inherited one all A-10 player (who would be two-time A-10 PoY) and only two others who would score over 1,000 in their careers. The starting rosters weren't really comps. Jermaine Thomas made a third team all A10. Darnell Harris made a second team. So you have the two time conference player of the year, a top 15 guy and a future top 10 guy on your roster. Ash inherited nothing like that. That doesn't matter. These are Ash's players. Other than JK and JC the rest we recruited by Ash and his staff and their commitments accepted by Ash. That is 11 of the 13 players. This is his team now. They are undisciplined, play too fast, and lack an offensive system and identity. Those have nothing to do with who G had when he became coach. There is not enough talent in this program. The schools in this conference are getting better talent. They probably always will because of the disadvantages Ash and previous coaches have faced here. You certainly can't overcome that talent being undisciplined, yanking players in and out of the lineup, creating no role definition. I hope Ash turns this around but he has not moved the needle much in 2+ years. It is plain as day. John Glaser once told me the only way you can win at La Salle is to hire a coach who runs the Princeton offense and recruits gym rats to play that system. That was probably back in 2002 or 2003. I thought he was crazy at the time. Looking back now he may have been right all along. It seems every year is groundhog day.
|
|
|
Post by diehardexplorer on Dec 1, 2020 10:55:27 GMT -5
We're going to get into a weird place if people who couldn't stand Giannini start screaming that he coached Thomas and Harris up from nothing into all-conference players. nobody is screaming anything. but those guys were examples of players who got better under g. i realize it's early and ashley deserves more time, but so far, i haven't seen any real improvement from the guys he's had for three years now.
|
|
|
Post by GlitterBro #2 on Dec 1, 2020 10:56:24 GMT -5
The irony of all this is that we've had the "should we move back to the MAAC" discussions on here, and the answer has always been "No, because we won't get the kind of players we have now." And the players we have now lost to a MAAC team.
We are one of only 3 current A-10 teams to never have won the conference...the other two being Fordham and George Mason.
|
|
MisterD
The Baptist Himself
Voted Most Popular Poster 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023
Posts: 8,392
Likes: 6,325
|
Post by MisterD on Dec 1, 2020 11:41:27 GMT -5
nobody is screaming anything. but those guys were examples of players who got better under g. i realize it's early and ashley deserves more time, but so far, i haven't seen any real improvement from the guys he's had for three years now. The only players on this roster he's had for more than 35 games are Beatty and Kimbrough.
|
|