Peggy Po's
Sure McOreb's couldn't shoot, but holy hell did he bail us out in the second half. 6 McOrebs. 11 boards. Starting to get a little concerned about his shooting.
Will Spradling is what people thought Clent Stewart was. I am never nervous when Will is on offense. He still has the run back to a spot and take a charge move and also broke up an easy layup with a well timed run between the man and the hoop. He had a couple blocking calls, one for being inside the line and another for moving his feet. He hit his free throws, but like the rest of the team missed multiple open looks for 3.
J.O. is a legit Big 12 big man. Is this our leader? He's a total goofball, but he was the only one fired up in the first half. He is a defensive presence. If he can Oreb and attack the basket off the dribble when given space he will be an absolute monster on both ends. He really should have had a double-double but his hands failed him on at least two boards. A couple more Southern made very nice hustle plays to get a tie-up.
Not only did we win on the court, but Frank won. Frank's post-game with some instant gems:
" When I put guys in the game we are up 24 to 16, they did not play well and they can tell you that. They know what practice has been like the past two days, but we were still up 24 to 16, I make substitutions and all of a sudden you are down by fifteen and you are saying why did I play those guys, to win you need five not twenty-five (no clue what this means)."
[the subs that came in were Gipson/Jones/Ojeleye]
"Concerned? I am never worried about that, I am worried about inflation and taxes." (throwing red meat to our economically illiterate tuck fan base)
Nancy Neg's
Rod is not a vocal leader. One problem with Frank is that he demands strong, vocal leadership from his players. If you are getting clowned by Frank during the game, you need a charismatic leader to keep pace and grab attention of teammates. What scares me is that Rod is a fantastic role player, but I think we're seeing the problems that will arise if he is our best player.
Senior Guard Rodney McGruder
On being a leader...
"It is the same ole same ole, just being prepared and ready. It is the same position, stepping up and taking that role. That is all it is."
On what was missing from practice...
"No energy, no leadership and guys not stepping up and pushing those other guys so they can be ready for game-like situations
Sophomore Guard Will Spradling
On preparation for the game...
"The way we practiced, we did not practice with any intensity.......That is Rodney and my fault that we did not take leadership of our team. We did not get our team ready like we should have."
Please God. I cannot take Jamar sulking around all season and the Freshman not improving. And God Bless you Will, but you are not ready for prime time leadership. No one is going to listen to you yet. Apparently Frank has put this on Rod... and honestly, Cartier Martin had more leadership qualities than Rodney. I don't want to talk about it any more. Bottom line: "I won't talk to anyone the entire game and will try to lead by example" is not going to work on this team. I still can't believe he didn't finish that beautiful back cut play Frank drew up for a dunk. Maybe the bounce pass was a little overeager from JO. Did not see a replay.
Early verdict on the transition game is in.... it is terrible. We were unable all game long to burn their press for dunks. I really shouldn't say anything else, but I will. We squandered at least two 2 on 1's where their man played decent D and their trailers caught up. We had zero creativity or ability to create on the break. Maybe this gets better, maybe our bigs do a better job hoofing it down the floor, maybe Jamar's return helps, maybe Angel gets back in to form. As it stands, it was a complete failure. We were constantly beat down the floor on D, we were outscored in transition and we were really unable to do much of anything unless it was a clear break off a turnover.
These stats: Points in the paint-CSU-MBB 14,KS 14 Points off turnovers-CSU-MBB 19,KS 5 2nd chance points-CSU-MBB 15,KS 9 Fast break points-CSU-MBB 16,KS 6 Rebounds-CSU-MBB 48,KS 39
We got out Junkyarded. Hard.
The freshman looked like freshman. Gipson and Angel were terrible. Gipson showed an inability to be physical and establish position. He showed one possession where he flashed a nice aggressive move toward the bucket with his shoulder, but the rest of the time he was invisible thanks to an effective zone and his cluelessness. On defense he was a disaster. Angel had three bad fouls, could not shoot and turned the ball over and telegraphed passes. He did show some impressive hops as the the point in the 1-2-2 trap. Unfortunately I don't think the steals were converted.
Martavious was uncomfortable to watch. He had moments. He flashed his skill on several drives. Unfortunately, he telegraphed his passes all game long. It is a wonder he only had 1 turnover, because I would have guessed he had as many as McGruder. A few poor passes went as tips out of bound. He was generally terrible on the break as well.
Omari played 2 minutes, had 2 turnovers and a foul.
Can everyone stfu about Adrian Diaz for a bit?
