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So I'm scrolling the BB page this morning after what was admittedly a very disappointing loss. . .and I don't see a single shout out to Yanick on any thread. On the contrary, I've read several disparaging comments about him this morning, including that he is a "wussie" and is "passive". I don't get that at all. Yanick struggled in the first half to be sure. . .but in the second half he was one of the only reasons it didn't end up being a complete blowout. No, he is not an inside "banger". . .I'll grant you that. But he ended the game 9-12 from the field, with 20 points, 10 rebounds and a steal. Plus, he had one of the greatest (and funniest) coast-to-coast runs I've ever seen from a 7 footer! But I don't see even a single positive word about Yanick this morning on PF!

Personally, I like the way Yanick is improving as we go along. In the first couple of games, he looked like a floppy wet noodle out there. Last night, playing against some pretty formidable athletes for Arky, he looked great in the second half IMO.

Good job Yanick!!! Keep improving!

That coast-to-coast layup was classic. Yanick played very well in the 2nd half. One thing I've noticed about Yanick is he seems to get down on himself when he makes a bad play, similar to KF. At times it takes them too long to shake it off. Both are very good players as long as they can get over those mental hurdles.

That guy Portis is a beast. But when I look at the line this morning, I see:

Portis: 22 pts
Yanick: 20 pts

Portis: 9 boards
Yanick: 10 boards

Portis: 0 steals
Yanick: 1 steal

Portis: 8-13 from the field
Yanick: 9-12 from the field

Portis: 5 fouls
Yanick: 3 fouls

To me, it looks like they basically cancelled each other out. Not sure what else people expect from Yanick. He certainly wasn't the reason we lost.

Portis is an NBA player. No doubt Yanick held his own last night but the lack of execution by the entire team in the first half was too much to overcome. BTW, did anyone notice Yanick made a shoe change at the half from the pink to the blue?

First half=bad Yanick, second half=good Yanick. I went to the game last night with my sister, who hasn't watched a minute of SMU basketball all season, and within minutes of seeing Yanick play she said 'man, he sucks.' I agreed, as he continued to throw the ball against the rim and underside of the backboard from point blank range and have the ball bounce off his hands when he was in good position for a rebound. He went 1-4 in the first half with 4 or 5 rebounds.

Now in the second half, he played within himself, converted easy baskets that the flow of the offense had created for him, and even had a nice post-move score. In his excellent second half he went 8-8 and finished with 22 points and 10 boards. It was SO relieving to see him convert easy baskets from inside 5 feet that I regularly stood up and cheered when he scored.

People on here have been calling him soft and I don't really think that's the case. He is, however, severely uncoordinated with his hands. If I was on this coaching staff I would spend time in practice having him practice catching tennis balls or something. It is so frustrating seeing him not getting rebounds simply because he can't catch the ball.

If Yanick can simply finish at the rim with easy opportunities the offense has created and catch the ball when he is in position for a rebound he can be a HUGE asset to this team. He's already a good defender/rim protector. It's no coincidence that we got smoked in the first half when he was playing terrible and outscored Arkansas while he was playing well in the second. Our team's success is going to have a lot to do with Yanick's performance in the coming weeks (until Markus comes back at least).