Quote :

"Neither of the post players had any attempts---something is wrong with that. "

we don't really feed the post. walker scores mostly on put backs and funderburk doesn't really post guys up and back them down to draw foul. it's not our style offensively. but i agree with your point - it's kinda unbelievable how few FTs we attempt game after game.

1/25/2019 10:21:52 AM

Overall it's hard to be upset with that performance on the road against a ranked ACC team while missing our best player. I agree I'd like to see some more pick and roll action with Funderburk and Walker, but again, Markell is really the only guard on the roster who can execute that.

As far as the fouling, we mostly have a team of wings with average athleticism and lateral quickness, guards driving to the bucket have been eating our lunch all season. That probably won't change, we just need to do a better job of stepping into the driving lanes and forcing them to pull it or drawing offensive fouls. The bigger issue is cutting down on the sloppiness and turnovers when we have the ball on offense.

[Edited on January 25, 2019 at 12:07 PM. Reason : .]

1/25/2019 12:05:05 PM

Not usually a proponent of addition by subtraction, but if we didn't have Walker and Daniels in the rotation, I think we'd be a better team. Will leave Harris out of it as he barely plays as it is.

Seriously though, Walker is a place-holder in the post at best and an offensive foul machine at worst. Daniels...smh...no amount of points can off-set the habitual bone-headed turnovers he commits, often at critical times during the game.

I get Keatts wants to play frenetic defense and needs a deep bench to do that, but if the pace is constantly leading to excessive fouls on the defensive end and turnovers on the offensive end, what good is it?

We really need to shorten our rotation once Markell gets healthy to be Johnson, Beverly, Dorn, Bryce, and Funderburk with Lockett and Hellems logging decent minutes as needed to spell the starting 5. Walker should only see the floor when Funderburk has to come out and size is imperative to guard the other team's big man. Daniels should only see the floor if the other team is up by 10+ and we need some quick offensive production to close the gap.

I actually think putting Daniels in a diminished role would help him improve. Looking at his numbers from Utah vs with us, his shooting is down this year and his turnovers are up. Some of that can be attributed to the level of competition in the Pac 12 vs. the ACC, but as others have said, he seems to be trying way too hard to be the hero we don't need. Coming off the bench for 10-12 minutes a game would highlight the fact that nobody is expecting much from him and maybe he'd stop pressing so much and just play his game.

1/25/2019 1:38:32 PM

https://i.imgur.com/OsbNBzQ.png

link to Kenpom player stats


[Edited on January 25, 2019 at 2:28 PM. Reason : just forget it]

1/25/2019 2:24:09 PM

I wouldn't call Markell the best player on our team to be honest. If you look at who leads the team every game in points, assists, steals, etc, Markell was never above 3rd on the team, after Dorn and CJ.

Still, missing him definitely hurts, though

[Edited on January 25, 2019 at 3:22 PM. Reason : more words]

1/25/2019 3:21:35 PM

Most important player is maybe more accurate, then. Losing him hurts more than hypothetically losing Dorn imo.

1/25/2019 3:36:46 PM