That’s the point. You’re pushing the screen higher up the court.
Regardless, communication has been the bigger issue. Screens, double teams, open passes. Nothing getting communicated across the team.
We really shouldn’t be losing at home by 12 to a 5-12 MAC team missing its leading scorer.
Niu is 303 in the net ratings coming into tonight
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Against a team that isn’t good in their ball screen coverage and plays drop coverage on the ball screen and by playing zone, is playing drop coverage by default. Free real estate. And we’re not a good zone team to begin with. Bad all around.
We can play with anyone and lose to anyone. Seems like a few players took that last part for granted today.
Nice post move by Safford. Then Lairy gambles for the steal for no reason, leading to a layup. Then we get beat on another 50/50 ball for a putback.
We need to extend this game and start fouling
Good defense by Williams against Thornton. Heels on the 3 point line, Thornton settled for a 25 footer.
About to lose to the only team picked below us in the pre-season poll. At home. Without their best player. We’ve shown signs of improvement at times, but this loss is demoralizing.
Don’t need a 3 yet, get something to the basket, extend the game.
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Terrible loss. Just awful. We were 7 point favorites and had an 80% win chance according to espn bpi.
completely outworked by NIU
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Again, what about this program in the last 15 years makes one think we “should” win any game? I’m amazed that Miami can’t find 6-7 players able to play basketball at a low level D1 college
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I think this is a really shortsighted comment at best age at worst disrespectful to the student athletes. First, you’re stuck with the decisions of the previous staff. Second, I’m not sure if you haven’t followed the class that’s been signed, but either way, this comes across as a knock on them too.
Tatum probably played the best of the Owens holdovers. The other two made decisions that cost the team.
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We are playing with the house’s money this year. Honestly. There is no reason to expect anything other than fits and starts. But, we will win more games. And by next year this time, we should be remarkably better. Like a 150 ranked team. For the pessimists it feels far away, but as a Bengals fan, I can tell you turnarounds do happen. Hang in there. It’ll be worth it.
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Credit to NIU. They were prepared well by their coaching staff, especially impressive since they lost their best player. They knew we’re not a good ball handling team, not a good ball screen defense team, and a poor transition defense team. And they maxed out our weaknesses as best they could. They were prepared to outwork us, which they did. That may have ended up being the difference in the game since the margin ended up at 4. Patience, as I keep saying. But it was hard to see us not be as hungry as our opponents tonight. Except for Safford, he laid it out all there tonight, as usual. But even Mirambeaux missed easy blockouts inside, as did Williams.
This was discouraging. Miami is showing they just can’t keep up with quick teams. NIU looked as good as Kent to me. It makes me wonder where other wins will come from.
I thought by now we’d see an offense built around screening and dishing to outside shooters. There seems to be a lot of uncertainty on offense and I’ll attribute that to youth. But if Smith and Mabrey are good shooters, they need to become really good shooters, because their other contributions are limited.
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When we run our offense efficiently, we score. That requires less dribbling, more passing, and harder cutting. There were glimpses of that tonight while against Kent and Buffalo, it was more consistent. We screen and we get the ball to shooters. But our young shooters have to realize if the shot isn’t there or an alley into the lane is cut off, it’s ok to pass, move, and look for the ball to come back around to them. About Smith and Mabrey, let’s not forget they’re freshmen and the average college freshman basketball player has a steep learning curve. They have to learn they can’t just show up and dominate a game and put up big numbers. Because they’re often the biggest or quickest in high school, they should put up big numbers. If they crested that learning curve quickly, they’d be at a Power 5. Smith and Mabrey have the potential to be very good. Hopefully the staff can get them there, which includes strength and conditioning getting them quicker.
Another thing, this is the first year, except for Lairy and Safford, that these guys have played major roles on a team and will do so for an entire year. That’s different than playing a supporting role or being the man in high school. In high school, these guys could just show up and get 15 points. Greater effort probably wasn’t required until their postseason tournament. It’s hard work to simply play significant minutes consistently, let alone put up some big numbers in a college game. So don’t let the talent gap get you down right now. But I hope we play hungrier than we did tonight. We took it for granted tonight and we’re not good enough to do that. We can’t lose so many 50/50 balls. It was only close tonight because NIU isn’t very talented. If we played Kent tonight with that effort, we would’ve lost by 20.
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This really was an astoundingly bad effort tonight.
Saw the score. . Reason I have not paid attention to Miami hoops in years.
Wow, it’s been since November since you reminded us that you haven’t followed Miami hoops in years.
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