Some thoughts on the basketball team coming out of the Sun Carnival Tournament and going into our toughest four game stretch of the season so far:
- During the first NMSU game I saw Efe pass out of a double team to Williams for a wide open dunk. In the same game he passed out of a double team to Vila for an easy bucket. While he was only 1 of 3 from the field that game in was happy with the way he played, as getting double and triple teamed was his kryptonite last year, and it seemed like he learned how beat it. Fast forward to the tournament and he was forcing shots up with three or four guys draped on him. This might be because he's trying too hard to prove himself with the limited minutes that he has been receiving. If that's the case then the staff needs to reinforce the lessons learned of passing the ball when multiple guys are defending you at once, and show some trust in Efe by giving him more playing time.
- I liked the energy that Tarke brought to the East Central game a few weeks back. Against NC A&T he really seemed to be forcing it, in a desperate bid to get some minutes. I'm sure that it didn't help his cause.
- I like the minutes that Verhoeven is receiving. He caused a lot of problems for the opposition with his interior defense, something that has been lacking when Vila has been on the floor.
- Someone on here said that Verhoeven was better than Efe. Defensively that is certainly true. Verhoeven moves better on defense, and can protect the rim, areas where Efe is deficient. However Efe has the advantage in rebounding, and a huge advantage offensively. Have you ever seen Verhoeven shoot anything other than a layup? That's because he can't, and, to his credit, Verhoeven doesn't attempt any other type of shot. Efe has some nice post moves and a midrange shot. When he doesn't force things, he's very effective (see the UNM game).
- At one point on Tuesday we had Verhoeven and Vila on the court at the same time. With Verhoeven's limited offensive abilities, and Vila unable to throw it in the ocean right now, offensively it was the worst possible front court for us right now. Given our erratic guard play we can't afford to have these guys on the floor at the same time, as there will be no reliable scorer on the court.
- In the second half against UCI it seemed like Williams realized that he's our only consistent threat, and tried to do everything himself. The result was that he tried to force things despite the fact that UCI was keying on him, resulting in a season worst FG percentage. He needs to take what the defense gives him, and trust his teammates more. They need to come through and give him support. So far this is a one time issue, and I'm not worried about it.
- Against UCI I thought that Hawkins was the opposite of Efe. lnstead of forcing things like Efe did Haekins seemed to play tentative, not wanting to make a mistake. He didn't call his own number of offense, and only made safe passes. Against East Central he was extremely aggressive in forcing the action, resulting in opportunities for him (12 points) and creating opportunities for others (8 assists). He needs to be aggressive when he's in there, but seems to feel like he will be pulled if he makes a mistake.
- I hope that Monday was a coming out party for Boum, he was fantastic.
- After a super strong start to the season Edwards appeared to be an answer to our prayers, lighting it up from outside and proving proficient at taking the ball to the hole. He hasn't played very well as of late. He needs to get going.
- My guess is that Terry got on Lathon about his lack of aggressiveness. If so, it was a good move. Lathon played his best game in a long time on Tuesday.
- At this point Archie should see only spot minutes unless we are playing a weak team or have a comfortable lead. I'm not giving up on the guy, but he's killing us right now.
- We are still giving our starting guards way too many minutes. I hope this doesn't come back to bite us when we play three games in four nights in Hawaii.
- We need to shore up our defensive rebounding. We are terrible in that department. If we don't it's going to cost us some games we should win.
- Our guards have all showed that they can play well in stretches, they have to now show that they can do it consistently. If not that, too, will cost us some very winnable games.
- During the first NMSU game I saw Efe pass out of a double team to Williams for a wide open dunk. In the same game he passed out of a double team to Vila for an easy bucket. While he was only 1 of 3 from the field that game in was happy with the way he played, as getting double and triple teamed was his kryptonite last year, and it seemed like he learned how beat it. Fast forward to the tournament and he was forcing shots up with three or four guys draped on him. This might be because he's trying too hard to prove himself with the limited minutes that he has been receiving. If that's the case then the staff needs to reinforce the lessons learned of passing the ball when multiple guys are defending you at once, and show some trust in Efe by giving him more playing time.
- I liked the energy that Tarke brought to the East Central game a few weeks back. Against NC A&T he really seemed to be forcing it, in a desperate bid to get some minutes. I'm sure that it didn't help his cause.
- I like the minutes that Verhoeven is receiving. He caused a lot of problems for the opposition with his interior defense, something that has been lacking when Vila has been on the floor.
- Someone on here said that Verhoeven was better than Efe. Defensively that is certainly true. Verhoeven moves better on defense, and can protect the rim, areas where Efe is deficient. However Efe has the advantage in rebounding, and a huge advantage offensively. Have you ever seen Verhoeven shoot anything other than a layup? That's because he can't, and, to his credit, Verhoeven doesn't attempt any other type of shot. Efe has some nice post moves and a midrange shot. When he doesn't force things, he's very effective (see the UNM game).
- At one point on Tuesday we had Verhoeven and Vila on the court at the same time. With Verhoeven's limited offensive abilities, and Vila unable to throw it in the ocean right now, offensively it was the worst possible front court for us right now. Given our erratic guard play we can't afford to have these guys on the floor at the same time, as there will be no reliable scorer on the court.
- In the second half against UCI it seemed like Williams realized that he's our only consistent threat, and tried to do everything himself. The result was that he tried to force things despite the fact that UCI was keying on him, resulting in a season worst FG percentage. He needs to take what the defense gives him, and trust his teammates more. They need to come through and give him support. So far this is a one time issue, and I'm not worried about it.
- Against UCI I thought that Hawkins was the opposite of Efe. lnstead of forcing things like Efe did Haekins seemed to play tentative, not wanting to make a mistake. He didn't call his own number of offense, and only made safe passes. Against East Central he was extremely aggressive in forcing the action, resulting in opportunities for him (12 points) and creating opportunities for others (8 assists). He needs to be aggressive when he's in there, but seems to feel like he will be pulled if he makes a mistake.
- I hope that Monday was a coming out party for Boum, he was fantastic.
- After a super strong start to the season Edwards appeared to be an answer to our prayers, lighting it up from outside and proving proficient at taking the ball to the hole. He hasn't played very well as of late. He needs to get going.
- My guess is that Terry got on Lathon about his lack of aggressiveness. If so, it was a good move. Lathon played his best game in a long time on Tuesday.
- At this point Archie should see only spot minutes unless we are playing a weak team or have a comfortable lead. I'm not giving up on the guy, but he's killing us right now.
- We are still giving our starting guards way too many minutes. I hope this doesn't come back to bite us when we play three games in four nights in Hawaii.
- We need to shore up our defensive rebounding. We are terrible in that department. If we don't it's going to cost us some games we should win.
- Our guards have all showed that they can play well in stretches, they have to now show that they can do it consistently. If not that, too, will cost us some very winnable games.
