Purdue Game Observations

[cheesepony]

I watched the entire game yesterday and saw OBVIOUSLY some good signs, and then some immediate things that need to change in order for Mike D to keep his job...

POSITIVES
1) Bhop penetration, passing, shooting - his shot wasn't falling yesterday, but he squares to the basket very nicely (a little right-left drift on his 3's, which affects his shot%). When his shot wasn't falling, he began to penetrate and pass. HE WAS AWESOME DOWN THE STRETCH with several terrific assists to Castro and Simpson. Again, if he can alleviate that drift in his jumpshot, he EASILY has the best looking shot I saw.

2) Castro and Rak - Both guys contested every shot they could get to, worked very hard to step out on baseline jumpers, AND GOT THEIR HANDS UP at every opportunity. They fought and fought and fought the bigger Purdue guys inside. Castro is an excellent passer when he rotates to the top of the key.

3) Isham - Put the ball in the basket when nobody else wanted to....

NEGATIVES (if these guys correct ONLY these 3 things, they will go to the NCAA!)
1) WAY TOO MANY UNFORCED TURNOVERS - 4 on 1 break where Bhop travelled, Isham bounced the ball off castros foot, several steps out of bounds, backcourt violations, charges, etc... It was the same old SMU mental part of the game - if they can just minimize these, they could have won this game by 9-12 points.

2)SLOW DEFENSIVE ROTATION from the "3", particularly the bench players. I thought Isham and Bhop played pretty good defense on the sagging 2-3 zone, but Simpson's rotation (and his subs) was pretty poor. I'm still waiting for some these "cat-quick" guys on offense to show some the defensive prowess of guys like Butch Moore and Kato Armstrong. Those guys seemed to take tremendous pride in shutting people down.

3) SHOT SELECTION - Wow, Kris Lowe has an ugly looking shot and took some elementary school looking shots (did anyone see that drive in the lane in the first half where he chucked it sideways one-handed at the hoop when 3 of his teammates were standing open?). He was the leading scorer, but man, the entire team needs to take better shots.... they took alot of what I call "quitter shots" - i.e. 17 seconds left on the shotclock and I don't feel like running the offense anymore, so I'll just chuck it up there and see what happens. THis is the hallmark of Dement's teams, and if he doesn't fix it, it will cost him his job.

MY MESSAGE TO THE TEAM - You're good athletes and players, be more patient on offense (you're good enough), work harder on individual defensive intensity, and you'll get to the SHOW. If you don't do those 2 things, you'll wind up with 14-17 wins, and miss the tourney. That'll do ya.

[mrydel]

I could be wrong and I certainly am not a BB expert, but it seems to me that although the team is extremely high on turnovers, that the far majority of them come in the first 5 minutes of the game. In the last 2 games they have had 10 or more TO's in the first 5 minutes. Is this a lack of being ready, jitters, or just common in the game? Just an observation from one who was very impressed with the way they held together against a good team on Sunday.

[Matt97]

Great win! C-USA hoops will be much stronger than many think.

Go Pirates!!!!

[Cheesesteak]

Cheesepony,

Are we distant curd relatives?

Cheesesteak

[cheesepony]

I've never been to Northern Iraq, and my relatives aren't from around there either.