Shot Selection, Toughness, and other random thoughts...

[Blackmagic804]

Larry should take a simple lesson from Adako, just turn and bank it off the glass all night long. It's was that simple for him. I'm not gonna bash Larry but state the obvious, he has zero basketball IQ and I know it's because he has been playing a short time. All he knows is he is suppose to shoot it! Larry from your teammates big guy. Hey, borrow TJ pump fake, and every now and then, kick it out to the open man because you got atleast 4 defenders on you.

I think Joey (12pts 7 assist 3 rebs 3 steals) and Brandon (9 pts 5 rebs 2 steals) both played aggressive and they both had numerous deflections that caused turnovers. IMO I think we need to run a couple plays a game to Rozz one of the top 3 point shooters in the country and no plays designed for him? We need to develop an inside/outside game, right now it's one or the other.

Lastly, Shaka got work out this rotation! You can not make everyone happy with minutes with a team as deep as this one.

 

[VCU4LIFE]

I didn't like how Shaka took Brandon out immediately following a 9 point explosion. The man was on fire and he was pulled for some reason! "You've earned yourself a break!"

I wasn't there and couldn't tell from watching on TV, but someone mentioned on another thread that Brandon appeared to be getting worked on by the trainer and their guess was that it was cramps related....

 

[mwalvlior]

I never thought i would do this, but Shaka should take some lessons from the Knicks. Early on they were playing everyone in all sorts of situations and about a month ago D'Antoni said i am using an 8 man rotation and while the players in it might change it is 8 guys and that's it and since then the Knicks are actually a good team because everyone knows their dang role and isnt worried about am i in or am i out. Sometimes i think with all the subbing we do guys come in thinking they have to either get theirs before they are pulled or show they are hot so they can stay in. Gavin has become the epitome of that mentality, but others also have this syndrome.

 

[SPQR anTMan]

Larry showed No Aggressiveness, Totally different from Saturday when he was the first one up the court and getting easy lay-ups. Guess not enough NBA scouts there for him tonite.

His NBA stock is dropping. He's starting to think he's Ralph Sampson.....LARRY GET YOUR @SS IN THE PAINT!
When Skeen was in the game, he kept pushing Larry toward the basket. Skeen knows where a big man should be.

First off, sweet name.

I agree with you. Larry was very soft tonight. He needs to show a lot more aggressiveness. It was like he wanted to show off his jump shot tonight - which wasn't any good.

 

[Blackmagic804]

I didn't like how Shaka took Brandon out immediately following a 9 point explosion. The man was on fire and he was pulled for some reason! "You've earned yourself a break!"

I wasn't there and couldn't tell from watching on TV, but someone mentioned on another thread that Brandon appeared to be getting worked on by the trainer and their guess was that it was cramps related....

I saw him on the sideline with a ice or heat pack on the groin area, maybe a groin strain and the stretching seemed to confirm that.

 

[VCU Finance 2008]

I didn't like how Shaka took Brandon out immediately following a 9 point explosion. The man was on fire and he was pulled for some reason! "You've earned yourself a break!"

I wasn't there and couldn't tell from watching on TV, but someone mentioned on another thread that Brandon appeared to be getting worked on by the trainer and their guess was that it was cramps related....

I saw him on the sideline with a ice or heat pack on the groin area, maybe a groin strain and the stretching seemed to confirm that.

He posted something before the game that indicated that he might not be at 100%. Hopefully he gets better soon. Hurt or not he still has a hot hand lately, we need him on the court as much as possible right now.

 

[ShoeSh1ne]

This may sound odd, but I kinda blame the crowd for tonights loss. Everything just seemed blah the whole night, and that transferred to the team. There was some moments in the second half where we got it going, but not much other than that.

 

[Pavarotti]

This may sound odd, but I kinda blame the crowd for tonights loss. Everything just seemed blah the whole night, and that transferred to the team. There was some moments in the second half where we got it going, but not much other than that.

My bad.

 

[mwalvlior]

This may sound odd, but I kinda blame the crowd for tonights loss. Everything just seemed blah the whole night, and that transferred to the team. There was some moments in the second half where we got it going, but not much other than that.

I would agree to that to some extent, but each time the crowd got going we took a dumb shot and killed the momentum of the game and the crowd as well.

 

[ShoeSh1ne]

Yeah it wasn't just the crowd, obviously - the bad shots didn't help. But I realized tonight that we have a greater impact that we may think.

 

[VCU Finance 2008]

This may sound odd, but I kinda blame the crowd for tonights loss. Everything just seemed blah the whole night, and that transferred to the team. There was some moments in the second half where we got it going, but not much other than that.

Kind of a chicken or the egg scenario. Was the crowd blah because the team was blah or was the team blah because the crowd was blah. Both had their moments though. Yes, the crowd does have a huge impact, but you are not going to get your best crowd on a Monday night during the holiday break. Northeastern took the crowd out of it every time they got going towards the end though, or mistakes on our part however you look at it.

 

[RamboRowdy]

This may sound odd, but I kinda blame the crowd for tonights loss. Everything just seemed blah the whole night, and that transferred to the team. There was some moments in the second half where we got it going, but not much other than that.

Really?! The students were horse after the game. When was the last time you saw most of the East Side jumping up and down screaming to will the VCU defense. I've seen it loud Siegel but not people literally jumping up and down for most of the second half trying to will the Rams. You can hardly blame the crowd itself for being somewhat off when every time they rise to their feet its to no avail. The entire crowd over and over tried to help the Rams when they were on defense and they didn't stop Northeastern. The crowd was at fault here. The fans tonight did everything they could. Besides we all learned last year that Northeastern isn't bothered by crowds.

The blame tonight is on bad judgment, sloppy play, bad shots, and not locking down on defense when the game was on the line.

 

[vcu_dan]

This may sound odd, but I kinda blame the crowd for tonights loss. Everything just seemed blah the whole night, and that transferred to the team. There was some moments in the second half where we got it going, but not much other than that.

Really?! The students were horse after the game. When was the last time you saw most of the East Side jumping up and down screaming to will the VCU defense. I've seen it loud Siegel but not people literally jumping up and down for most of the second half trying to will the Rams. You can hardly blame the crowd itself for being somewhat off when every time they rise to their feet its to no avail. The entire crowd over and over tried to help the Rams when they were on defense and they didn't stop Northeastern. The crowd was at fault here. The fans tonight did everything they could. Besides we all learned last year that Northeastern isn't bothered by crowds.

The blame tonight is on bad judgment, sloppy play, bad shots, and not locking down on defense when the game was on the line.

i gotta go with 3R...the last 8 minutes of the game people are jumping going nuts...but we kept missing shots and making bad plays. The crowd can only do so much...

 

[Mistachill]

If that's the case will we ever win another road game?

This may sound odd, but I kinda blame the crowd for tonights loss. Everything just seemed blah the whole night, and that transferred to the team. There was some moments in the second half where we got it going, but not much other than that.

 

[Mistachill]

I thought the same thing watching it live, but after watching the recording of the game after I got home and looking at the box score that's actually not true. Brandon hit his last three at 15:16 and he was pulled at 12:39 after missing two shots. He was the last starter to get a blow.

I didn't like how Shaka took Brandon out immediately following a 9 point explosion. The man was on fire and he was pulled for some reason! "You've earned yourself a break!"