I saw same thing FAM and Kellen is good athlete and gave them a lift and toughness tonight!IT was the first time I saw him barking back to basketball coaches but not 1st time I saw him barking  with coaches or teammates.I would like to see more help defense as a team too but not a bad effort overall!Obviously nothing from guards except Lewis. GO DUKES

there is one day in the not-too distant future where we should be the favorite in this series.

i did have hope that would start tonght and...*sigh*

The future is bright though. ML2 I hope you can lead this team to the promise land. Eric Williams can play every day of the week for any team.

OT - D-Swingle had 26/13/6blocks in his opener tonight. I cannot WAIT to see what next year's team has in store for us.

Go Dukes

KenOTR73 wrote:

We glaringly lack a point guard. But we knew that. Castro and Smith would give up the dribble 5-10 feet outside of the three point line. Neither was effective getting to the hoop at all. Castro's herky-jerky drives ok against low majors but not against power-5. Smith made some poor decisions and worse shots. It will be a long season but Williams and Tydus will be interesting to watch. And how about Kratholm! Two shots, two treys. Nice. Keep the faith. 

I agree with you to a certain extent on the point guard, but with an overanalyzed caveat. 

Now that I live in Greensburg, I have a long time to think about the game after the game before I get to react. Ferry, by design, consistently recruited combo guards or essentially a hybrid of a 1 and 2. In general, I don't have a huge issue with this as it leads to less rigid offense that's more difficult to defend compared to the classic one who rarely shot the ball and the classic two who generally was a pure shooter / finisher. I think you need a guy who can score at the one and a second guy (maybe a third?) who can handle the ball and pass in the A-10. I think there is a continuum combo guards. If someone like Martin Osamani was a pure 1 and someone like Emile Blackman was a pure 2 even though he played the three, you have guys directly in the middle like Micah Mason. He would be a 1.5. Guys like Colter and Eric Evans were combo guards with considerable shooting guard tendencies but who looked slightly more like point guards. They would be 1.4s. TJ would have been closer to a pure point guard, but was still in the middle. I'd call him a 1.20 while he was here, but he may have been 1.1 at Zona. On the other end, Sean Johnson was about a 1.7. Mike Lewis II is pretty darn close to being a pure two. We'll call him a 1.8. 

The problem is right now, I think the Dukes have no one that leans point guard enough. Smith is probably a 1.65 and Rene is about a 1.7. So while I don't want a pure point guard ever again or a pure two, I think you'd like to have one guy who solidly leans point, at least 1.3 and a guy who backs him up in 1.5 - 1.6 range. That's good balance that will provide scoring and make plays to make the guys 3-5 look even better. 

Since we're talking about what this team is missing, they could also use a taller players who can spread the floor and force a big guy to the perimeter. They do not have that. 

ElDuque wrote:

I like the tone right now. Disappointed but optimistic. I think this is the right tone.

Castro-Canedy not showing up killed us tonight. Can't wait until the little guy from Akron and our incoming freshman man the point.

Kratholm sank a couple shots, Verhoeven keeps playing well, and Williams right now is our best player. Lewis II needs to step up a little.

ED, did you see the practice highlights that Dunn Martin posted on his Twitter page the other day? Really, really impressive. His passing looks light years ahead of anyone on the current team. He will get mike Lewis plenty of open looks.

Last edited by Dukes2012 (12/02/2017 7:46 am)

PhoenixRising2 wrote:

Dukes2012 wrote:

ED, did you see the practice highlights that Dunn Martin posted on his Twitter page the other day? Really, really impressive. His passing looks light years ahead of anyone on the current team. He will get mike Lewis plenty of open looks.

Here you go Dukes2012.  Worth a look even though it was recorded off of a laptop screen.
https://twitter.com/nolimitTDM_11/status/936064822910832641
 

Thanks. He is going to add another deminsion to this team just with his quickness. Out guards this year have had a tough time staying in front of quick guards on defense.

Last edited by Dukes2012 (12/02/2017 8:31 am)

PhoenixRising2 wrote:

Dukes2012 wrote:

ED, did you see the practice highlights that Dunn Martin posted on his Twitter page the other day? Really, really impressive. His passing looks light years ahead of anyone on the current team. He will get mike Lewis plenty of open looks.

Here you go Dukes2012.  Worth a look even though it was recorded off of a laptop screen.
https://twitter.com/nolimitTDM_11/status/936064822910832641
 

Thanks Phoenix. That sequence at 1:25 where he dribbles around three defenders is eye-popping. I'll just keep popping the pills for next year.
 

We all seemed to know that 17-18 would be a difficult year, however seeing a little of the practice video really gives hope for the upcoming seasons.

And I just bet that there will be more improvement and games won and "stolen" from a few of our foes this season.

Gents while I agree there is a lot to look forward to the inexcusable play of our guards is hard to tolerate. Although we are one of the worst 3 point shooting teams in the country we continue to fire at 47% of our total shots. You also can’t survive on 8 assists per game. Last night Pitt had 19 to our 9. Our guards are as likely to turn it over than get a assist. The best we looked offensively last night was with Smith and Castro on the bench. Leave then there!

Steve if I’m going to lose let’s at least make it beneficial. In the past 3 games against mediocre competition Smith, Castro and Lewis have combined for 16 assists and 21 TO’s. They are a combined 29% from the field. Say what you want about Stallings his message of SHARE the ball or lose has resonated. It’s obvious Dambrot hasn’t been able to get through to these 3 since his hands are tied but God Bless him he is trying.
I’m also not near as positive about Lewis for 2 reasons, he is no longer a secret and has little protection so he is drawing a good defender and since he now is being ask to play defense I’m not sure he has adjusted to what it’s going to take to play that hard just yet.

Dukes2012 wrote:

ElDuque wrote:

I like the tone right now. Disappointed but optimistic. I think this is the right tone.

Castro-Canedy not showing up killed us tonight. Can't wait until the little guy from Akron and our incoming freshman man the point.

Kratholm sank a couple shots, Verhoeven keeps playing well, and Williams right now is our best player. Lewis II needs to step up a little.

ED, did you see the practice highlights that Dunn Martin posted on his Twitter page the other day? Really, really impressive. His passing looks light years ahead of anyone on the current team. He will get mike Lewis plenty of open looks.

 
Saw him put on a dunking clinic at the open practice. He's going to be fun to watch.

Just saw the box score and Brown had 3 rebounds in 5 minutes.

Judge Jack McVay Jr wrote:

Btw effort and rebounding wasn't the problem I don't think. I wanted to see better man to man and also better help man to man... in other words leave your  guy  to help swat at ball if you are a guard and Luther  is posting or leave your guy if you are,a big and your  guard teammate  is beat down the lane or baseline.

Agreed, Judge. The Dukes actually outrebounded Pitt. The defense from our guards has been really disappointing, especially Smith who I would have thought coming out of that acclaimed NJ high school to be fundamentally sound defensively- he’s a liability right now. And our guards’ inability to deliver interior passes is hurting the offense. I personally way overrated these 3 guards regarding how quickly they would pick up Dambrot’s system and produce results. I think they are collectively better than they have showed so far.