Tarin Smith is 7-27 on the year. He's going to have to fix that, or he's going to lose minutes. Blackman could lose minutes as well.

duq81 wrote:

WashPaRick wrote:

In other games tonight that i got to see some of Canisius was up on Kentucky with less then 4 minutes to go to the half before losing by 20 plus and Bobby Mo hanging in at DePaul with 11 minutes to go.

DePaul is horrible.
 

Any team coached by Ray Meyer can't be horrible. Oh he.'s not there anymore. My bad.

I was at the game.  Some observations:

First of all, Penn State's freshmen played much better this game than they did against Albany.  I guess their nerves wore off which sucked for us.  We actually kept their best player (Garner) from hurting us, but Stephens and Carr are legit.  These are 4 star kids (legit 4 stars) and it showed.

I agreed about Robinson.  I felt like he was a huge spark.  In fact, I thought all of our big men played really well, and when they got the ball, most of them could create quite well.  Sanders and Robinson are much better than Lewis at putting the ball on the floor for spin moves, but I love Lewis's baby hook.  The foul trouble hurt us a bit tonight, but States centers (including hyped Frosh M. Watkins) couldn't stop any of our big men.    

I. Mike was the frosh getting all of the hype out of the gates, but Lewis and Littleston played much better tonight.  They both have really smooth shots.  Lewis's biggest issue is that he is so small.  Carr was able to shoot over him at will.  

Defense looks much better IMO.  Still, some of the PSU played had wide open looks. They just didn't fall.  

Castro still looks awful IMO.  No amt. of newspaper stories will convince me otherwise.  He is a liability.  

Blackman and Smith looked bad tonight.  

I think this team is very much a work in progress.  The loss was disappointing, but it was a close game against a team that arguably has more talent than us.  I wasn't that upset as I thought we were right in it until PSU had a late run.  

 

Last edited by Simms (11/13/2016 9:30 pm)

I think Robinson can be a more useful player, but if he's the best player on this team then there is a serious dearth of talent. That's not being disrespectful either, because I agree he should play more. But Ferry doesn't understand the value of tall basketball players.

Smith will get it together as the season progresses. This is a Bob Hurley kid, unless the chaos of the past four years rubs off on him.

With Daruis, Saunders and Robinson we have some big guys, but the guard play of Smith and Emile B is crummy at this point, and why does James get so few min. And Castro, the slow motion turnover machine seems to be a waste of playing time.

With our size we could have adjusted to a low post game at times, and for goodness sake keep Robinson in the game more. He could be a killer with his size and offensive ability, but it is hard to get put backs when you are glued to the bench.

There are bright spots here but with the A-10 quickly coming up, they need to improve quickly.

Phildog made a great point. "We could have adjusted to a low post game..." Why did we not do that? I mentioned how other coaches make adjustments when J Rob steps on the court. But yet Coach Ferry makes no adjustments during the game. He did this last year and years before that as well. If the talent was not available then I could understand. But the talent is sitting on the bench. This is what makes J Rob's game even more impressive. He comes into these games cold and tight and is able to generate significant points. Imagine if the Dukes had a coach that knew how to switch to a low post game. Robinson would be a double double threat every game and we would be a serious A10 contender. Instead we are in for another season of 'Let's Hope They Miss" (LHTM). Credit to the person who first posted it.

currentstudent wrote:

Offensive looked much better in the second half. Agreed that Tarin just needs to slow down and run the offense...points will come to him. I think its just an off night for Blackmon...not to worried about him.

Love the bigs...although I wish we could get I. Mike a little more involved.

Castro honestly doesn't bother me...if he sticks to 7 or so minutes a game I am okay with that. 

Last and most important note....Eric James? Where has he been?

Something's up with Eric. He does not look like himself. He appears to have lost a lot of confidence that he was playing with the first half of last season.

ElDuque wrote:

Smith will get it together as the season progresses. This is a Bob Hurley kid, unless the chaos of the past four years rubs off on him.

Again not a shot at you but this time my comment about smith is directed at you. Don't blame a kids poor performance on something that occurred when he wasn't even here.

That second sentence literally makes no sense. It should read "unless he's not actually as good as we thought, which may be why he left a bigger school." You can take shots at Ferry or anyone you want and I'll accept your opinion, but don't blame a coach or years of losing as to why this kid hasn't lived up to the billing yet, that falls squarely on his shoulders.

Coaches coach, players play. you really think Smith not playing well could be a product of a record or season that occurred years before he got here??

Just saying, I'm on the record as being both positive and critical about all players and all coaches. I'm not a "Ferry" or a "Ron" guy, my only agenda is to see this program become successful.

We need to be objective in our assessments, not be protective of "our guys" and overly critical of "the reason this isn't working". It's an across the board issue and what is black and white is that Smith has been disappointing in 2 of 3 starts (one being against a d2 team) and average in another (low level d1 team). He has a lot to prove at this point, and that's on him nobody else.

The "chaos of the last four years" doesn't seem to be affecting Littleson and Lewis 2, two other first year guys that are definitely outplaying Smith at this point.

Also I agree, I think that bs banked in three was the death knell yesterday, you could feel it as soon as that shot dropped.

Last edited by Duques102 (11/14/2016 12:42 pm)

Duques102 wrote:

ElDuque wrote:

Smith will get it together as the season progresses. This is a Bob Hurley kid, unless the chaos of the past four years rubs off on him.

Again not a shot at you but this time my comment about smith is directed at you. Don't blame a kids poor performance on something that occurred when he wasn't even here.

That second sentence literally makes no sense. It should read "unless he's not actually as good as we thought, which may be why he left a bigger school." You can take shots at Ferry or anyone you want and I'll accept your opinion, but don't blame a coach or years of losing as to why this kid hasn't lived up to the billing yet, that falls squarely on his shoulders.

Coaches coach, players play. you really think Smith not playing well could be a product of a record or season that occurred years before he got here??

Just saying, I'm on the record as being both positive and critical about all players and all coaches. I'm not a "Ferry" or a "Ron" guy, my only agenda is to see this program become successful.

We need to be objective in our assessments, not be protective of "our guys" and overly critical of "the reason this isn't working". It's an across the board issue and what is black and white is that Smith has been disappointing in 2 of 3 starts (one being against a d2 team) and average in another (low level d1 team). He has a lot to prove at this point, and that's on him nobody else.

The "chaos of the last four years" doesn't seem to be affecting Littleson and Lewis 2, two other first year guys that are definitely outplaying Smith at this point.

Also I agree, I think that bs banked in three was the death knell yesterday, you could feel it as soon as that shot dropped.

Chaos of the past 4 years = Ferry's style.

levon1975 wrote:

To be fair to Tarin, it should be noted that due to surgery on his knee he missed a crucial month of practice just prior to the opening game.  That is huge in that it takes time to rebuild your legs from an endurance and strength standpoint when you have been inactive for a month.  The legs are so important to a shooter; you need a strong base from which you can build your shot.  Factor in the lack of work with his team certainly hurts the continuity.  I think we need to give him time to catch up!!

Yeah he had 8 days of practice before Friday's game. I'm not going to start making any permanent judgments on his game at this point. If a month down the road he is still struggling, then I might be concerned.

If anyone could tell me who SHOULD be taking shots right now, I'd like to know. No one's knocking my socks off right now.

I would have thought James, Blackman and Abrahamson, but one's hurt and the other two haven't found rhythm yet.

I haven't seen any of these guys get to the hoop as well as DC did over the last four years; so we have seen guards effectively get to the hoop in recent years.  The biggest difference is that DC was usually able to avoid the shot blockers and get his shot off.

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