Who’s the fab 5?
All 5 freshmen on scholarship
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Why count the non-D1 games if you’re not counting the wins?
“In 22 D1 games, Miami has 9 wins” would make more sense
I would say 9 wins in 22 games. counting the d3 games in the denominator is totally misleading
Pretty bad stretch losing at home to niu and by 20 today. 6-31 from three is hard to believe. Not getting much from our seniors these last 3 games
I thought Miami got a lot of good looks today that simply didn’t go in. Georgia St. played very physically, which took Miami a while to respond to.
Interesting aspect for me is what the Staff does with the minutes down the stretch. They have everybody back healthy, but need to get guys back up to speed. I thought at times the shorter rotation the last couple weeks may have helped the guys playing get more in rhythm. We shall see…
Quick teams who get into you defensively we struggle against
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I hope the rest of this year’s scholarships go to older guys who are physical and very competiitive, guys who can drive and score and hit the boards and work hard on defense.
I don’t have much to add from what others have said. When we go up against physical guards, we have trouble offensively. Their guards bullied us. Even with that, we missed a lot of open looks. We have so many young players and inexperienced D-1 players, how many will hit the wall? Our shooting numbers haven’t been great the last few games.
Positively, I thought Potter and Morris gave it all they had against their bigs. They didn’t back down and stayed after it despite not getting any fouls called. There were obvious jersey grabs against them that weren’t getting called.
Getting a week off is good for us. We need to find 4 more wins to feel safe about going to Cleveland.
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I listened to the second half and the postgame ( no Steele) on the way home from the Women’s game. I had planned on watching the complete replay last night, but could not force myself to do so after listening to the second half. I watched a replay of the women’s game that I attended that afternoon instead. I knew I was going to enjoy that.
So I finally looked at the stats today and I do believe there is a lot to learn from going over the stats. I miss that they don’t put the + or - stats in there anymore… Anyway, here is what I found: Horrible shooting for a team made up primarily of shooters. 30.8% FG, 19.4% threes, 63.6% FT. individually we had Hunter 6 for 16 and 4 of 13 on threes. Cooper 0 for 9 from the floor, 5 of those were 3’s, Dean 1 for 5 and 1 for 3, Mabrey 0 for 4, all 3’s, Ipsaro 1 for 4, 1 for 3, Bultman 1 for 5 and 0 for 1. Hunter and the centers were our entire offense, and Hunter was below his season percentages. Observations, Cooper still got big minutes because he had 6 assists vs no turnovers and had a couple of steals and 4 rebounds. Mabrey, I think, has no points since he has returned from injury. Bultman was producing when we were winning, he needs to be better. All those guys I listed were 6 for 29 on threes, and Hunter had 4 of those, but shot 13. This offense is built on the idea that we have great shooters.
How about the center position? Several of us have been calling for Morris and/or Potter to get more playing time and Mirambeaux less. Well, that actually happened and it seemed to go pretty well, just looking at the stats:
Potter 20 minutes 7 rebounds 3 for 7 8 points
Morris 18 minutes 8 rebounds 3 for 4 6 points
Mirambeaux 12 minutes 2 rebounds 1 for 2 4 points
Total 50 minutes 17 rebounds 7 for 13 18 points
Since it totals 50 minutes, I am guessing that Morris played some minutes at the 4 ( Power Forward).
From reading comments I am guessing that physicality and aggressive pressure had an effect on our shooters, but I will have extra time this week with no Tuesday or Wednesday games for our teams, so I will watch the game and see what else I pick up. I would expect our team will take a little time off and then come back and work really hard for a couple of practices, then back off a day or two before Saturday. it is time for the final push to get to Cleveland and give ourselves a chance. Some time off this week and an opportunity to refocus and get themselves ready for some big games.
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Excellent analysis as usual. My low quality non-nuanced observation: how much can we keep hyping our 3 point shooting when teams can bang inside on us? And, we get stone cold from deep at times. Aren’t two point shots at scale worth more if you can make more? Also, why are we at a huge disadvantage when we play lengthy teams when St. Peter’s made Elite 8 with a roster shorter than ours…I love this staff and team so don’t take any negativity here. I’m honestly just curious.
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When can we fire travis
He just called me and told me he still loves you.
St. Peter’s guards were quick, good shooters, and turned defense into offense. They were a top 25 defense nationally so our guards and their guards aren’t even in the same conversation. They were also upperclassmen and coached by at this point, a more proven coach than ours.
Since MAC play started, our 3 point shooting has suffered and part of it is probably due to teams knowing how we’re going to play. If I were scouting us, I would make Ipsaro and Cooper beat me driving the ball, pressuring them when they’re handling the ball. I would make Hunter a driver because his ballhandling is suspect, not letting him catch and shoot because he’s strong with deep range. I make Mabrey and Dean drivers for the same reason. When Mirambeaux is in the game, I don’t let him catch the ball deep on the block and double him on the low block when he’s more than 6 feet from the basket.
Back to coaching us, I would run our system in the 1st half then when it bogs down in the 2nd half, go to my scouting and my in-game analysis and go back to something that works for a specific player. Just like football coaches do during games, I would go back to plays that work. For example, a couple of times on Saturday we got Elmer on the block against a smaller player, which will happen at his position and he’s arguably our best finisher inside, maybe 2nd to Morris (percentage wise he is from 2 point range). Go back to that. Hunter has a great step-back 18 footer coming off a baseline pick and roll. Go back to that. Run that to both sides of the floor. Then run some action off of that, like the big guy rolling to the basket may be open after Hunter knocks a couple down.
Running some set plays takes some pressure off the guys on offense, giving us a better chance to keep some rhythm. We likely won’t do this, but I can always hope. One thing that could happen is Ipsaro finding his form from earlier. He passes up too many shots. He can be more selfish IMO.
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Well written and well said.
33.3% on threes give you equal production to 50% on twos. In other words, if you shoot 18 threes and you make 6 you have 18 points. If you shoot 18 2’s and make 9 of them you also have 18 points.
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As a man enjoys the ponies, I understand the basic notion of math. What I was getting at was this:. I was taught that closer shots have higher probability of going in and thus are considered “better shots.”The rise of truly great three point shooters has lessened this perhaps? Or maybe the modern strength of college players makes getting inside harder? I don’t know. But here’s the kicker: if I am able to successfully build the Time Machine I have sitting in the garage on blocks, I will transport the great 1970’s team we had that upset Marquette to 2024. I will do this via multiple trips as the Pontiac Fiero seats about 3. And because that team wasn’t built on the three point shot, they won’t seek it. And because they can score in the paint they will. And because they know excellent fundamentals, they will win at will. Now, you must excuse me as I have a meeting with some fellows who can get me the rare elements I need for my flux capacitor.
Rare? All you just need is garbage.
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I could just run the Fiero on my posts!!!
After finally watching the game last night, their guards were faster and more aggressive and benefited from refs who let a lot go. Cooper is our fastest guy but even he was outmatched. I wonder if the plane trip caused us to be a bit off.
I agree with a couple of suggestions mz made. Calling some plays would be a good change for our offense and would likely help our regular offense. It would change the look and make it much harder on the defense. I also feel like we are not getting the same version of Ipsaro that we got pre injury when he looked for his shot more and penetrated more.
I think our issue on offense isn’t just schematic. We are basically a team of second and third options. We don’t have any true studs. Darweshi and Anderson are both nice second options, but neither is a lead guy. Otherwise it’s a roster of complimentary players.
I think the trio of Elmer, Potter, and Ipsaro have the potential to be number one option type players, but they’re not there yet. As a result we just don’t have enough punch on offense. We’ve made real strides on defense, but night to night it’s hard to know what we’re going to get from a scoring standpoint.
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