Agree that it's just one game, and many of us said 0-2 is likely anyway.
That said, if we get crushed at Oregon St, it'll be clear that we are not going to be a great team. Maybe THAT is a positive, because Cluess' one not-great team is the one that won the MAAC. Here's hoping we're complaining about a 15 seed about 4 months from now.
Agreed. Let's get hungry and hunt teams down. Get humbled. Lesson learned
Post by hawaii bill on Nov 15, 2015 17:10:56 GMT -5
I actually feel good. A lot of guys played. I liked what I saw out of Rountree and Much. Usually we're great in November and December and fall apart/run out of gas in March. Let's build this team the right way this year. Face it Valpo is a really experienced team that lost one guy (a reserve) off a 26 win team. AJ, Sed, IW, and Amayo were playing with five new guys. I'm encouraged that Cluess wasn't freaking out, let a lot of guys get in there including Proctor. Let's see what we have and figure roles out now. Get the team strong and ready for MAAC play. I'm very encouraged by the approach here, if not the result. It didn't help that Valpo was firing on all cylinders either. I don't think they missed a shot while I was watching. We need better ball movement (too much one on one hero stuff) and we need to contest shots better. Let's go!!!!
Last Edit: Nov 15, 2015 17:11:40 GMT -5 by hawaii bill
Here comes one of my most negative posts ever. Wish I could have seen this team practice because I wouldn't have been as surprised but this awful effort. We are simply not as good as last year and that is because David Laury graduated.
This team misses Laury so much its crazy. We miss his inside scoring, we miss his passing, dribbling and point guard ability, we even miss his inside defense believe it or not and the combination of Roundtree, Washington and Bessick isn't even half of Laury.
That is my next biggest complaint, the new guys just aren't that great. Washington does have some ability and potential but he is no where near Glover or Laury. Roundtree is just a complimentary player as is Bessick, and that is what I thought I saw in Bessick last year at Meet the Gaels.
Much has some ability but is a bit out of control.
Amayo looks worse and is not a point guard and probably not healthy.
English can't score against a top notch tough defender and desperately needs a point guard to help him.
IBN-we probably need him to play more but it makes us too small.
Casimir-has trouble scoring against tall good top notch defenders.
IW-Didn't look himself but a lot of that was probably Valpo's defense
Our coaching staff still doesn't coach defense.
I don't want to hear Valpo is good, they are strong but not a top 25 team, we should not get killed by them if we are any good. We are going to be in deep trouble because we have no inside game and no point guard. Monmouth is better and we are probably going to have trouble winning more than 14 Maac games.
Sorry but this is my analysis, this is what I saw, kill me if you want.
Excellent synopsis joebird
One game does not make a season but we may have to lower our expectations with this group.
FWIW. Cluess teams need to play with a chip on their shoulder. They looked like they were half asleep. You won't see that next time. Guaranteed. You can't judge a team by one game.
Here comes one of my most negative posts ever. Wish I could have seen this team practice because I wouldn't have been as surprised but this awful effort. We are simply not as good as last year and that is because David Laury graduated.
This team misses Laury so much its crazy. We miss his inside scoring, we miss his passing, dribbling and point guard ability, we even miss his inside defense believe it or not and the combination of Roundtree, Washington and Bessick isn't even half of Laury.
That is my next biggest complaint, the new guys just aren't that great. Washington does have some ability and potential but he is no where near Glover or Laury. Roundtree is just a complimentary player as is Bessick, and that is what I thought I saw in Bessick last year at Meet the Gaels.
Much has some ability but is a bit out of control.
Amayo looks worse and is not a point guard and probably not healthy.
English can't score against a top notch tough defender and desperately needs a point guard to help him.
IBN-we probably need him to play more but it makes us too small.
Casimir-has trouble scoring against tall good top notch defenders.
IW-Didn't look himself but a lot of that was probably Valpo's defense
Our coaching staff still doesn't coach defense.
I don't want to hear Valpo is good, they are strong but not a top 25 team, we should not get killed by them if we are any good. We are going to be in deep trouble because we have no inside game and no point guard. Monmouth is better and we are probably going to have trouble winning more than 14 Maac games.
Sorry but this is my analysis, this is what I saw, kill me if you want.
Wouldn't write Washington off so quickly. Don't forget he lost a month of practice time due to injury and is still playing catch up on learning our system and plays.
Valpo kid looked like Bill Russell-blocked or altered every shot. If a few early threes fall for us we maybe stay somewhat competitive. No way we were going to beat a much better Valpo team. Really disappointed we didn't even make a run. Looked like a bad CYO team. Hope some better days are ahead.
There is nothing you can say, it was a terrible effort. When you get out of the gate that slow against a very good defensive team, you'll never get your footing.
My observations from the third row:
* A lot of confusion. Nobody seemed to know where they should be. It was very frustrating to the staff, though how much do you put back on the staff. * Short leashes. Almost everytime a player made a mistake, they rode pine. It's obvious Cluess was looking for the best combo, but it was also clear that bad mental mistakes would be penalized. * Much didn't shoot well (3-11) but did seem to be in more of a rhythm than the other new faces. Obviously his spring practice time helped. He needs a bit more strength, but he'll be a very good player. * Washington seems to be the emotional leader of the team -- showed a lot of life and was barking at teammates from the bench. * This team is more active defensively than past teams. Seems silly to say in 25-point loss. But Valpo got a lot of loose balls, a lot of last minute fouls to bail them out, and just about every bounce. Valpo was 7-14 from 3 in the first half to give themselves separation, but Iona will play a little more defense than you think. * The staff seemed upset that we didn't get down court fast enough. Iona didn't push the pace as much as they could have. The game didn't set up that way too often, but when we had a chance to run, we were almost always too slow. * Iona lacks chemistry, or timing, or familiarity. It did seem like they just met each other today. In shutting down Casimir (who was in the doghouse on the bench for long stretches) and English, Valpo disrupted their pace. * Amayo still too often plays out of control. he should be better. * Valpo is a very good team, a very experienced team, and they know each other well. They have the physical size to compete with anyone. It was a terrible Iona performance but losing to Valpo isn't bad.
There is nothing you can say, it was a terrible effort. When you get out of the gate that slow against a very good defensive team, you'll never get your footing.
My observations from the third row:
* A lot of confusion. Nobody seemed to know where they should be. It was very frustrating to the staff, though how much do you put back on the staff. * Short leashes. Almost everytime a player made a mistake, they rode pine. It's obvious Cluess was looking for the best combo, but it was also clear that bad mental mistakes would be penalized. * Much didn't shoot well (3-11) but did seem to be in more of a rhythm than the other new faces. Obviously his spring practice time helped. He needs a bit more strength, but he'll be a very good player. * Washington seems to be the emotional leader of the team -- showed a lot of life and was barking at teammates from the bench. * This team is more active defensively than past teams. Seems silly to say in 25-point loss. But Valpo got a lot of loose balls, a lot of last minute fouls to bail them out, and just about every bounce. Valpo was 7-14 from 3 in the first half to give themselves separation, but Iona will play a little more defense than you think. * The staff seemed upset that we didn't get down court fast enough. Iona didn't push the pace as much as they could have. The game didn't set up that way too often, but when we had a chance to run, we were almost always too slow. * Iona lacks chemistry, or timing, or familiarity. It did seem like they just met each other today. In shutting down Casimir (who was in the doghouse on the bench for long stretches) and English, Valpo disrupted their pace. * Amayo still too often plays out of control. he should be better. * Valpo is a very good team, a very experienced team, and they know each other well. They have the physical size to compete with anyone. It was a terrible Iona performance but losing to Valpo isn't bad.
The only positive 3 minute spurt we had toward the end of the first half was because we pushed the ball. Clearly, this team, as most of TC's teams excels while playing 100 mph. We are not comfortable in a half court set, thus the confusion and poor spacing.
Last three games, We got out-classed, out-hustled by Manhattan in the MAAC Tourney, We were a COMPLETE no show in the NIT game against R.I and now a pummeling by Valpo. What is going on?
What is going on?