Whatever happened to Rene Castro?

In the +/- stats, Sanders (3), Steel (5), James (-1), Robinson (-3), Jones (-7) the best combo we can put on the court.

Mason (-13), Colter (-12), Powell (-10), Gill (-8), Jones (-7) the worst combo.

Well, let's hope they bounce back tomorrow.  One thing I did like is that they never gave up, despite being down by a huge deficit.  

ElDuque wrote:

In the +/- stats, Sanders (3), Steel (5), James (-1), Robinson (-3), Jones (-7) the best combo we can put on the court.

Mason (-13), Colter (-12), Powell (-10), Gill (-8), Jones (-7) the worst combo.

I'm not familiar with that stat. Is that the net point-swings related to each of those players' time on the floor?

38 free throws for Pepperdine. Not going to win many games giving up that many trips to the line

It's what happens when you rely heavily on the 3. There will be games when everything is dropping, and games with a lid on the basket. It's why even the elite teams that shoot a lot of threes, usually don't win the National Championship. There is always a going to be a game where they're not dropping. Doesn't mean you can't win a lot of games that way, just that there is an inherent weakness in that approach that will occasionally bite you. Colter was awful, and Mason was worse. Against PSU, when the threes started dropping, it energized the team. Today, they sagged when the shots didn't drop. Way too many fouls. Pepperdine shot 20 more free throws. How they bounce back will tell us a lot. We mostly said they needed to win 2 of the four games between PSU, and this tourney, with 3 wins being great. We'll soon see.

The problem is more than the 3's not falling it's a lot of the same old story. 9 assists for the game 4 of which came from Micah, double digit turnovers every game today 13, 26 team fouls. They shoot 38 foul shots to our 18. Our margin to win games is very slim and it begins and ends with the 3. ED you and I will say it till the cows come home, way too many minutes from the starters. One more note we may need to say goodbye to Tysean Powell, he just gets back and he gets a bad T and shows no discipline. This attitude toward referees started last year and looks to be starting again.

I was able to listen on WJAS.   I wish the result was better but I was happy for the radio coverage.

The Dukes just gave up 84 points to a team that broke the 80 point barrier only twice last year.  They allowed a team that shot 3 pointers at 50%+ last year in only 3 games and shot 4-17 and 4-20 this year against D-1 competition to go and shoot 10 for 20 against you. You are not going to win many games with this type of defense.

You're going to have cold shooting games; in those circumstances, you need to give yourself a chance by playing some defense.

I know Phildog must be disappointed — he's been anxiously awaiting this tournament for about a year — but maybe we can still win two out of three.

Maul Milwaukee!  Go Dukes!
 

Dukes2012 not sure I could agree this is a microcosm of most of the Dukes loses. One bright spot was the rebounding but that may have been generated by the Dukes pressing harder in the second half. This team had you down 19 at one point so you got within 7 did they break or did they turn up the heat. The final score is indicative of what the game was.

duq81 wrote:

CLK wrote:

ElDuque wrote:

Whatever happened to Rene Castro?

I raised this question after the PSU game where he only played 2 minutes in garbage time.  Either he is in the dog house for some reason or hurt, or he is not the impact player he was portrayed to be.

 

I don't think his court awareness is very good at this point. I saw him bringing the ball upcourt a few games back, and he allowed a defender that was behind him to come up and knock the ball away. If you're running the point, you have to know when there are defenders behind you. I also saw him make some lazy passes that you could get away with in high school, but that even D2 teams won't let you make. That's why I say he hasn't adjusted to the speed of the game. Every player he's facing now was a pretty good player in high school. You can't play lazy, or be hesitant with your moves. His problems are between his ears.
 

Castro is not going to get better on the bench.  He did not play at all today in a game where our guards were struggling offensively.  Josh Steel, a freshman, got the relief minutes.  Am I the only one here that finds it odd for a guy who was as highly touted ,and one of the building blocks Ferry is counting on for next year, glued to the bench?  I know it is early, but I just hope Castro does not turn out to be another White, or the other JUCO kid, who looked to be all world in the summer league but turned out to be a dud. 

Last edited by CLK (11/23/2015 6:08 pm)

No one expected them to go undefeated.  Our shooters had a bad game and we played a good team.
We will know more about this team over the next two games.  If they win both, we definitely have improved, if we only win one, there is hope, if we lose both, well, that's gonna be a problem.