Riverside

[Pistol Pete 1]

As frustrating as the last game was this one gave me a lot of encouragement for the future. Diong has come a long way and will continue to grow as the season progresses. He had 2 fouls in the first half and that was where he finished for the game, Jonathan is gonna be a force to be reckoned with and he gave us a glimpse of his quick explosive power on a beautiful move and slam dunk tonight.

I have loved Beck's game since he got here and really liked what Sandler said about him when he said at the end of the night you look up and he is in double figures and he did it quietly. It would be nice if he started grabbing a few more boards. Clyburn looks to be playing with more passion and purpose and with more confidence in his shot.

Fans are gonna love Ntwambe & Hamilton. Ntwambe hasn't played a lot of ball and is raw but he really has a nose for the ball and is one of those guys that brings lots of energy and is quite good around the bucket and while his outside shot hasn't been dropping it won't be long. He has nice form and good rotation. Hamilton looks very much to be as good as advertised and may very well lead this team in scoring this year. He is also active on the boards, good hops and his defense looks better than Menzies stated.

The downside we have this year is the same one we have had for many years now. Our guards especially at the point have been pitiful. The defense is improved with Robotham but there is no penetration and dishing, just passing the ball around. With Hardy you get penetration but you also get his turnovers when he drives into double coverage. Should this situation remain I could see us going without one of the points and having one of the big guards or forwards bringing the ball up and play zone on D. Ntwambe just might be the ticket there. 6'9" guy at the top of the zone would make it tough for smaller guards to get shots off.

We have a long way to go but hopefully this team will get it rolling in time for conference.

 

[Rebel_Luv]

You mean a long long long way to go. Riverside was one of the worst teams I've seen us play in awhile.

 

[Pistol Pete 1]

No, I actually think they can get it rolling by conference time.

 

[khokhol8]

More hope now but still a long way to go.

 

[billd99s]

Hamilton is open in the corner and Robo misses him time after time. Coach will probably talk about it. I think it is just a matter of time before Beck, Hamilton, Juice, Hardy, dominate as their more familiar with American basketball. Hamilton and Hardy will be the guards because Hardy can penetrate and dish if the team develops some motion in their offense.
The African kids continue to impress with their speed but offense is lagging. Coach has done a good job of bringing height and speed to the perimeter to challenge UNR and SDSU. CSU has new coach from Drake and USU is running. Go Rebs.

 

[lvhiker]

Clearly there is a lot of room for roster juggling when the "reserves" outscore the starters 41 to 31. Of course only time will tell if that was a fluke. I am very curious to see who can play at a high level consistently.

Regardless of how it all shakes out, we appear to have some serious depth, at least ten deep and that does not include Woodbury who is recuperating from a knee injury.

 

[LAmarzBARS]

I think our guard play will be where we fail yet again. Noah shoots like he is concentrating soo hard on putting it in. Just shoot your shot. Hardy doesnt follow his shot and missed two opportunities in row to get offensive rebounds. Dembele looks unhappy. There were times when the players seemed over coached and didnt know what they were supposed to be doing and too nervous to make a mistake. Yes we got a 20 pt win but riverside was a sad team to say the least. Two maybe 3 dudes that could dribble the rest were a turnover waiting to happen.

 

[BornRebelRed]

I get upset more than most people when we lose. Puts me in a bad mood out in real life. However, the Riverside game put me in a good mood. I saw tons of improvement and confidence. I’m not one who says, “oh look who we played they stink” I’m more observant of how WE played, how we shoot, how much energy and passion we have. I’m worried about our point guard and I don’t loke Hardy being the backup. But i liked a lot of what I saw. I’m pretty sure when we play Cincy it will be a close game. If we continue to improve as the season goes along ( rare ) we might have a little fun this year. We need to win all the way till we play the Bearcats, then leave it all on the court. My outlook improved dramatically last night . I know Riverside is no good, but it’s all about us and our improvment.

 

[LAmarzBARS]

easy to look improved when playing lesser talent. I will say the bigs play with energy and noahs defense is quick. If players play to their strengths we will be competitive in conference unlike recent past years.

 

[dcut03]

UCR should have been our opener. We have a long way to go and our guys are extremely green. So many underclassmen getting minutes.

LMU isn't a world beater by any means, but they are experienced. Not the best opening night. Don't get me wrong, should have never lost that game.

Oakland will be better than both teams, despite coming on losing their first 2 (Bot close).

Interesting to see how our defense evolves over the year. Playing exclusively man thus far with our bigs pressuring the ball deep on the perimeter. Not a great thing unless you rotate well with help, which we don't do right now.

I like our size, length, and bounce. Hopefully we can utilize that more. We've seen the alley oop a few times, I'd like to see some plays meant to utilize that more in the future.

 

[j. spilotro]

UCR should have been our opener. We have a long way to go and our guys are extremely green. So many underclassmen getting minutes.

LMU isn't a world beater by any means, but they are experienced. Not the best opening night. Don't get me wrong, should have never lost that game.

Oakland will be better than both teams, despite coming on losing their first 2 (Bot close).

Interesting to see how our defense evolves over the year. Playing exclusively man thus far with our bigs pressuring the ball deep on the perimeter. Not a great thing unless you rotate well with help, which we don't do right now.

I like our size, length, and bounce. Hopefully we can utilize that more. We've seen the alley oop a few times, I'd like to see some plays meant to utilize that more in the future.

LMU was perfectly acceptable as a home opener. They’re a bad team. If we are looking for bad teams with zero experience, then you’re suggesting the #355th rated team instead of the sub 250 that LMU will end up. In no way was LMU an inappropriate opener. Losing was the unacceptable part, not the opponent as a home opener. A game that shouldn’t have been tight was tight and then UNLV decided to leave the only guy that could shoot a little bit open and he broke the game open.

I’m not buying into the argument that we should have played somebody even worse. I’ll buy into the argument that we crapped the bed instead.

 

[dcut03]

LMU was perfectly acceptable as a home opener. They’re a bad team. If we are looking for bad teams with zero experience, then you’re suggesting the #355th rated team instead of the sub 250 that LMU will end up. In no way was LMU an inappropriate opener. Losing was the unacceptable part, not the opponent as a home opener. A game that shouldn’t have been tight was tight and then UNLV decided to leave the only guy that could shoot a little bit open and he broke the game open.

I’m not buying into the argument that we should have played somebody even worse. I’ll buy into the argument that we crapped the bed instead.

All I'm saying if we switched the order of the first 2 games, a win against LMU being more likely.

When you play teams matter. We were not prepared for even lowly LMU game one. Inexperience plays a big part, but also being prepared to play is a part of that too. LMU is experienced enough to exploit that. The beat BYU last year, they played Washington close. They have a decent coach.

We are a raw hot mess, that should get significantly better as the year goes on.

No excuses for the loss.

 

[j. spilotro]

All I'm saying if we switched the order of the first 2 games, a win against LMU being more likely.

When you play teams matter. We were not prepared for even lowly LMU game one. Inexperience plays a big part, but also being prepared to play is a part of that too. LMU is experienced enough to exploit that. The beat BYU last year, they played Washington close. They have a decent coach.

We are a raw hot mess, that should get significantly better as the year goes on.

No excuses for the loss.

Our spacing was beyond awful in game one, our defense was poor too. Not that both were great in game two but they were improved.

Who’s to say if the games weren’t flip flopped they wouldn’t have lost to Riverside then beat LMU?

It may have been one of those first game things regardless of opponent.....

 

[dcut03]

Our spacing was beyond awful in game one, our defense was poor too. Not that both were great in game two but they were improved.

Who’s to say if the games weren’t flip flopped they wouldn’t have lost to Riverside then beat LMU?

It may have been one of those first game things regardless of opponent.....

You may be right, but LMU is better than UCR. That is pretty apparent. Plus UCR didn't seem to have a guy to exploit the especially porous defense.

 

[BornRebelRed]

Loyyplays Georgetown tomorrow night. Let’s see how they do.

 

[Rebel1986]

LMU easily beat up on Georgetown!

 

[BornRebelRed]

So Joe says Loyola is a bad team. But I’ve always said they are just a lower ranked team. Not a bad team. As of course Georgetown found out tonight. Loyola plays some very good defense. However, if the Rebs played tomorrow, we would win. ( in my estimation). I was most impressed with the Rebs tonight vs Oakland as I have ever been in the Menzies era. Although we didnt get many turnovers, just the idea of a full court press ignited our mindset. Hope we just play that way all year. We took it to the hole aggressively, now if we can knock down a few more threes we could be tough. Way to go Coach Menzies. Way to go Rebs!

 

[j. spilotro]

So Joe says Loyola is a bad team. But I’ve always said they are just a lower ranked team. Not a bad team. As of course Georgetown found out tonight. Loyola plays some very good defense. However, if the Rebs played tomorrow, we would win. ( in my estimation). I was most impressed with the Rebs tonight vs Oakland as I have ever been in the Menzies era. Although we didnt get many turnovers, just the idea of a full court press ignited our mindset. Hope we just play that way all year. We took it to the hole aggressively, now if we can knock down a few more threes we could be tough. Way to go Coach Menzies. Way to go Rebs!

Loyola will finish in the bottom third of the WCC. They're bad. Beating UNLV and G'town won't change that.

We will wait until season's end - but it's going to be like last year's... Eastern Washington was a good team, we lost to a quality UNI team.... and when the metrics panned out, they sucked.

We really aren't going to be able to tell much about this team until... well, when they come across a decent opponent.

This is why I hate wimpy scheduling. You can't tell much and you twiddle your thumbs and hope the good you've seen is actually something instead of a mirage.

The Rebs defense did look really good tonight, though. But, eh.... again, I want to see if a "good" team can shred it or be suffocated by it....