A simple question, but not sure if it will have a simple answer. Going forward, are you more concerned about our offense or our defense? And why.
P.S. Hope all those who attended the game, enjoyed the reception. Read that broguy did.
I’m more concerned about our press, since we are so heavily reliant on it. Right now our press gives up more points than it saves. We need to change that. Remember that we have only played 2 games this season and Tobin is trying to install his defensive system; that takes time and game experience.
Our offense is already better than last season. The current roster moves without the ball and cuts to the hoop far more frequently than last season.
Hofstra outplayed Iona last night. Giving up all those points off of our press in the 1st half was a killer. Hofstra also hit every open shot they had, and Davis’ drives to the hoop when we were making our 2nd half run sealed it for Hofstra.
New edition of the Awesome, Good, Bad and Ugly from Iona-Hofstra:
Awesome Rupert was by far our best player all game, 20p 6r 3a 3s. The 3 assists led the team. Kernan Bundy sparked our run with his defense, then along the way realized he could score, too.
Good Getting JoJo going, with 7 points Team shot 73% from the line Team shot 33% from 3, which isn't bad considering how we shot overall
Bad Energy level wasn't there until we were down 20. All our numbers improved after that point. We were getting manhandled on the glass--no excuse for that--but ended up only getting outboarded 39-35. Strange thing, we rebounded better when we went smaller, as our guards picked up the slack. Related... We'll need more from Biggie than 7 pts and 1 rebound. It's not a surprise the transfer to D1 will take some time, as he's now going against bigger and more athletic guys than he saw in D2. Also needs to cut down on the turns. Echoing Princeton: Moundi seems to be the teams' weak link on the line. Hopefully he'll get closer to 60% as he settles in. Hofstra watched tape on Njie and was ready. He only TRIED 6 shots, making 2, and had 7 pts 4reb, but only 1 assist on 3 turns. Maturity game for him.
Ugly The press was horrific, as Hofstra had a ton of easy baskets breaking it. We weren't much better in halfcourt D, but at least they weren't always layups on that end--though plenty were 3s. All in all, the porous defense is easily the biggest concern after two games. It wasn't Reaves' night, 3 of 12 overall and 1 of 7 from 3. Just 1 assist, but at least no turns. He and Njie were not as effective getting the O going last night. He did hit 5 of 5 from the line and grabbed 6 boards--I do like when he goes to the basket rather than going for 3s. But he had a rough night for sure. Time will tell if Hofstra ends up being really good or not, but falling down 20 is always ugly either way. The fight to get back was good, but honestly I was surprised we followed up that push with collapse in the final four minutes. Watching 3 former Gaels light us up absolutely sucks.
The greatest poster in the history of the MAAC as determined by THREE separate polls.
New edition of the Awesome, Good, Bad and Ugly from Iona-Hofstra:
Awesome Rupert was by far our best player all game, 20p 6r 3a 3s. The 3 assists led the team. Kernan Bundy sparked our run with his defense, then along the way realized he could score, too.
Good Getting JoJo going, with 7 points Team shot 73% from the line Team shot 33% from 3, which isn't bad considering how we shot overall
Bad Energy level wasn't there until we were down 20. All our numbers improved after that point. We were getting manhandled on the glass--no excuse for that--but ended up only getting outboarded 39-35. Strange thing, we rebounded better when we went smaller, as our guards picked up the slack. Related... We'll need more from Biggie than 7 pts and 1 rebound. It's not a surprise the transfer to D1 will take some time, as he's now going against bigger and more athletic guys than he saw in D2. Also needs to cut down on the turns. Echoing Princeton: Moundi seems to be the teams' weak link on the line. Hopefully he'll get closer to 60% as he settles in. Hofstra watched tape on Njie and was ready. He only TRIED 6 shots, making 2, and had 7 pts 4reb, but only 1 assist on 3 turns. Maturity game for him.
Ugly The press was horrific, as Hofstra had a ton of easy baskets breaking it. We weren't much better in halfcourt D, but at least they weren't always layups on that end--though plenty were 3s. All in all, the porous defense is easily the biggest concern after two games. It wasn't Reaves' night, 3 of 12 overall and 1 of 7 from 3. Just 1 assist, but at least no turns. He and Njie were not as effective getting the O going last night. He did hit 5 of 5 from the line and grabbed 6 boards--I do like when he goes to the basket rather than going for 3s. But he had a rough night for sure. Time will tell if Hofstra ends up being really good or not, but falling down 20 is always ugly either way. The fight to get back was good, but honestly I was surprised we followed up that push with collapse in the final four minutes. Watching 3 former Gaels light us up absolutely sucks.
New edition of the Awesome, Good, Bad and Ugly from Iona-Hofstra:
Awesome Rupert was by far our best player all game, 20p 6r 3a 3s. The 3 assists led the team. Kernan Bundy sparked our run with his defense, then along the way realized he could score, too.
Good Getting JoJo going, with 7 points Team shot 73% from the line Team shot 33% from 3, which isn't bad considering how we shot overall
Bad Energy level wasn't there until we were down 20. All our numbers improved after that point. We were getting manhandled on the glass--no excuse for that--but ended up only getting outboarded 39-35. Strange thing, we rebounded better when we went smaller, as our guards picked up the slack. Related... We'll need more from Biggie than 7 pts and 1 rebound. It's not a surprise the transfer to D1 will take some time, as he's now going against bigger and more athletic guys than he saw in D2. Also needs to cut down on the turns. Echoing Princeton: Moundi seems to be the teams' weak link on the line. Hopefully he'll get closer to 60% as he settles in. Hofstra watched tape on Njie and was ready. He only TRIED 6 shots, making 2, and had 7 pts 4reb, but only 1 assist on 3 turns. Maturity game for him.
Ugly The press was horrific, as Hofstra had a ton of easy baskets breaking it. We weren't much better in halfcourt D, but at least they weren't always layups on that end--though plenty were 3s. All in all, the porous defense is easily the biggest concern after two games. It wasn't Reaves' night, 3 of 12 overall and 1 of 7 from 3. Just 1 assist, but at least no turns. He and Njie were not as effective getting the O going last night. He did hit 5 of 5 from the line and grabbed 6 boards--I do like when he goes to the basket rather than going for 3s. But he had a rough night for sure. Time will tell if Hofstra ends up being really good or not, but falling down 20 is always ugly either way. The fight to get back was good, but honestly I was surprised we followed up that push with collapse in the final four minutes. Watching 3 former Gaels light us up absolutely sucks.
Solid insight. I agree with everything. Personally thought Princeton was a much better team than Hofstra, so a bit of a head scratcher. With all of the preseason accolades, Biggie has been a bit of a surprise - I personally expected much more. Plenty of time to turn it around though. Tuesday night will be telling.
“Watching 3 Gaels light it up against us absolutely sucks”. Totally agree, was hard to watch that!
Good:there is a lot of talent out there, but will take sometime to figure out the best rotation.
Bad: not enough of the talent is offensive skills, going to have to give more minutes to any player that shows the ability to score, without hurting the defense too much.
We must find a way to press without giving up easy baskets, and have to do a better job in half court d preventing the open 3. Tobin needs to fix these problems for this team to have success.
New edition of the Awesome, Good, Bad and Ugly from Iona-Hofstra:
Awesome Rupert was by far our best player all game, 20p 6r 3a 3s. The 3 assists led the team. Kernan Bundy sparked our run with his defense, then along the way realized he could score, too.
Good Getting JoJo going, with 7 points Team shot 73% from the line Team shot 33% from 3, which isn't bad considering how we shot overall
Bad Energy level wasn't there until we were down 20. All our numbers improved after that point. We were getting manhandled on the glass--no excuse for that--but ended up only getting outboarded 39-35. Strange thing, we rebounded better when we went smaller, as our guards picked up the slack. Related... We'll need more from Biggie than 7 pts and 1 rebound. It's not a surprise the transfer to D1 will take some time, as he's now going against bigger and more athletic guys than he saw in D2. Also needs to cut down on the turns. Echoing Princeton: Moundi seems to be the teams' weak link on the line. Hopefully he'll get closer to 60% as he settles in. Hofstra watched tape on Njie and was ready. He only TRIED 6 shots, making 2, and had 7 pts 4reb, but only 1 assist on 3 turns. Maturity game for him.
Ugly The press was horrific, as Hofstra had a ton of easy baskets breaking it. We weren't much better in halfcourt D, but at least they weren't always layups on that end--though plenty were 3s. All in all, the porous defense is easily the biggest concern after two games. It wasn't Reaves' night, 3 of 12 overall and 1 of 7 from 3. Just 1 assist, but at least no turns. He and Njie were not as effective getting the O going last night. He did hit 5 of 5 from the line and grabbed 6 boards--I do like when he goes to the basket rather than going for 3s. But he had a rough night for sure. Time will tell if Hofstra ends up being really good or not, but falling down 20 is always ugly either way. The fight to get back was good, but honestly I was surprised we followed up that push with collapse in the final four minutes. Watching 3 former Gaels light us up absolutely sucks.
I know saying its early might not fly with some of our fans. Good observations by Guy along with his insight. No one said our OOC schedule would be easy. Anyway how about also noting Hofstra did a great job scouting us. Also JA who is very productive for Hofstra might have also been very familiar with our defensive schemes. Two positives here We never give up And by playing ten plus players last night we are developing our depth and allowing players to understand better their roles!! The bench 24 points- 13 rebounds Team 22 points off of turnovers Always a silver lining and referred to as being positive! Mistakes will be corrected! Coach Al
Yup, I meant to mention that--Princeton had NO way to scout us, so they had to adjust on the fly (meaning, at halftime)--and to their credit, they did. Hofstra of course had the Princeton tape. Meanwhile, the only tape we had for Hofstra was vs a non-D1. These things DO matter.
That noted, it sounds like most of us are aligned above, except for I70, who apparently wants Tobin fired.
The greatest poster in the history of the MAAC as determined by THREE separate polls.
Yup, I meant to mention that--Princeton had NO way to scout us, so they had to adjust on the fly (meaning, at halftime)--and to their credit, they did. Hofstra of course had the Princeton tape. Meanwhile, the only tape we had for Hofstra was vs a non-D1. These things DO matter.
That noted, it sounds like most of us are aligned above, except for I70, who apparently wants Tobin fired.
Not fired but able to adjust, you literally just helped my cause. Once Princeton saw us and adjusted did we adjust? When Hofstra went through our D like a hot knife through butter did we adjust? Nice guy, brings in good kids, but Cluess adjusted in year 2, I'm just waiting. Both had success at a lower level and needs time to adjust, just waiting.
Last Edit: Nov 9, 2024 14:01:04 GMT -5 by iona1970
Yup, I meant to mention that--Princeton had NO way to scout us, so they had to adjust on the fly (meaning, at halftime)--and to their credit, they did. Hofstra of course had the Princeton tape. Meanwhile, the only tape we had for Hofstra was vs a non-D1. These things DO matter.
That noted, it sounds like most of us are aligned above, except for I70, who apparently wants Tobin fired.
Not fired but able to adjust, you literally just helped my cause. Once Princeton saw us and adjusted did we adjust? When Hofstra went through our D like a hot knife through butter did we adjust? Nice guy, brings in good kids, but Cluess adjusted in year 2, I'm just waiting. Both had success at a lower level and needs time to adjust, just waiting.
Not fired but able to adjust, you literally just helped my cause. Once Princeton saw us and adjusted did we adjust? When Hofstra went through our D like a hot knife through butter did we adjust? Nice guy, brings in good kids, but Cluess adjusted in year 2, I'm just waiting. Both had success at a lower level and needs time to adjust, just waiting.
Pretty fair statement here imo
He did stop pressing for a bit.. but that's his claim to fame. He's kinda do or die with that.
Cluess biggest adjustments came years later when he realized that you have to play defense come conf tournament time.. that showed in 2016 when they went on that run of 4 straight. Yes he had a lot of success.. but years 1 thru 5 he won 1 MAAC title.
Years 6 thru 9, 4 MAAC titles.
Last Edit: Nov 9, 2024 16:31:50 GMT -5 by broguy99
