Basketball Week 1: East Tennessee + NIT Tip Off Thread

[Ragingcroc]

Games this week:
vs. East Tennessee State: Saturday, November 12th, 2pm on ESPN3
NIT Tipoff Games:
vs. Monmouth: Monday November 12th, 7pm on ESPN3
vs. George Mason/FIU: Tuesday November 14th, 6pm on ESPNU
All games are in the Cassell. with games Wednesday and Friday in New York if we win both games.

I am glad we get George Mason early in year. Its an early test that will show us where we stand. I am really excited about the young talent we have this year. I realize it might take the freshmen a while to get used to the game, but it will be awesome watching them grow game to game.

 

[wildturkey]

Freshmen or not, I'm going to be pissed if we're not in NYC.


BTW, does phreak provide his services for the roundball just like he does the eggshaped ball? ESPN3 doesn't work with my provider.

 

[Ragingcroc]

Bump, first game tomorrow!

 

[Ragingcroc]

Game Notes: http://www.hokiesports.com/mbasketball/notes/20111112.pdf
Looks like the starting lineup will be:
1 Green
2 Hudson
3 Do-do
4 Eddie
5 Davilla

 

[wildturkey]

Good to see Green in the starting line up. I assume this means he's fine

 

[Lumbee09]

I doubt that Green will play tomorrow, but we'll see. I read earlier that the goal for his return was Monday.

The game tomorrow will be an ugly one. We should win.. but it won't be pretty. George Mason worries me.

 

[hunzworth]

1-0

It was sloppy at times but it i'll take the W.

 

[hokiecheme11]

Doe Doe had 10 pts, 16 rebs, 5 asts, and 4 blocks. Great first outing!

 

[Hokie Swagger]

didnt get to watch the game unfortunately. looks like finney-smith had a great debut. we are going to need him to be big for us this year.

 

[ckhokie]

I thought all the freshman, DFS, CJ, and Robert Brown all looked like they could be stars. DFS especially. Exciting to see so many talented young guys on the floor - even though you could tell they were freshman. I think RB has potential to be a solid outside shooter too, something we could really use this year.

I think the game is a blow out if we had Green on the floor. I've never been a Ty Garland guy

 

[wildturkey]

An ok performance, probably shouldn't have been as close as it was. Green being out probably had a lot to do with it along with some other stuff I'll mention below.


What I Liked:

-Freshmen looked good. Finney-Smith had a nice, well rounded debut. He could have had more points if he shot better so the stat line would have looked even more impressive. Still, 16 rebs, 5 dimes, and 4 blks is very impressive for a wing player. Barksdale looked good in a supporting role as well grabbing 7 rebs. I was most impressed with Robert Brown though. He was huge off the bench in the 2nd half.

-Scoring balance. We got a nice balance of scoring, getting contributions from just about everyone that played. I think everyone but Raines had 5 points or more. Lots of guys with 9 or more though.

-Greenberg used his bench in a significant way. I've killed him in the past for stubbornly overplaying the starters or having a short, 6 to 7 man rotation. Today we had 8 players that played 15 or more minutes. That's a nice balance and I imagine we'll have a good 9 man rotation once Green gets back.


What I didn't like

-Poor shooting. Despite the balanced scoring, we struggled to get it in the hoop a lot. Thankfully, ETSU stunk it up even more

-Lack of assists (especially from the guards). Lack of assists shows lack of efficient ball and player movement. Garland had more TOs than assists which isn't good for a PG (or anyone). Green was out so that's part of the reason but its something to keep an eye on. We've seen low assists totals in the past and it usually means our offense isn't very good and just finds ways to grind things out.

-Raines. I expected more. It's one game but we're going to need him to have more of an impact when Davila is out of the game.


Overall, a decent first effort. Things look promising and the schedule is easy enough to start out well and grow as a team.

 

[Lumbee09]

Very sloppy game. In the second half we were in control, though. Garland did not look good. His main skill is his ability to drive, but doesn't have to passing ability to be a solid PG. Seemed to pass the ball where people used to be, not where they moved to. May be a lack of communication/cohesiveness, or just a lack of vision on Garland's part. I think this will be a solid team when Green is back. He will be a leader this year.

Really was impressed with DFS and Robert Brown. Brown has a very smooth jump shot and appeared solid defensively. He could develop into a real outside threat on offense.

I'm worried about Tuesday's match-up, though. We will not beat George Mason if we play that sloppy. If Green is back, I think we win. If not, it will be a tough game.

Also, don't forget that Rankin is injured right now. I've heard he's been solid in practice before the injury. Could be a solid contributor off the bench when he comes back. It's too bad both him and Green are injured. We could use him at the 1, but we had to play Zo a lot at the 1 today instead.

 

[Hokie Swagger]

garland has never impressed me.

 

[wildturkey]

Anyone know if Green will be available next game?

 

[hunzworth]

Anyone know if Green will be available next game?

Not 100% sure but I think EG is basically day to day.

 

[hokiecheme11]

Anyone know if Green will be available next game?

I had heard he was targeting Monday to return. I worry if this is a bit of a stretch. Don't forget that we play Tuesday as well. I would rather he rested Monday and debuted Tuesday instead of playing two games in about 24 hours.

 

[Ragingcroc]

Our offense was sloppy to say the least. We really need to work on breaking the zone. When we got the ball inside, we were extremely effective. When we just passed the ball around the perimeter the entire possession, we ended with crappy shots. You don't beat the zone just by sitting there and letting the zone recover to you. BLEHARGHBLEHARGHARGH

I think the defense was pretty good, but we were lucky the ETSU was shooting pretty coldly. I think we let them get inside too much though. Although our guys did a pretty good job recovering once we got inside, we had like 9 blocks! However, it showed because we had a few guys in foul trouble. We also did a great job rebounding the ball as a team. Although Finney, Barksdale and Davilla got most of the rebounds, everyone else except Garland had a few rebounds.

Surprised we didn't see Raines play more, he looked pretty dominant inside and had 3 steals in his 14 minutes of play. I guess we can't have Raines and Davilla on the floor at the same time, so they will eat into eachother's minutes.

 

[Hokie200proof]

Yesterday showed that we really need Green back. We also need to get busy finding the guy to replace/spell him. Garland ain't it.

 

[Lumbee09]

Yesterday showed that we really need Green back. We also need to get busy finding the guy to replace/spell him. Garland ain't it.

Hopefully it's Rankin.

 

[Ragingcroc]

I think Garland would play better as a 2 than a 1 even though he's a little bit short for a 2. He didn't even play the 1 in high school. He just doesn't have the ball handling skills and court awareness for a 1. He's an awesome slasher though.