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Post by ptctitan on Dec 12, 2020 16:11:39 GMT -5
Brandon and Koka will definitely be available next weekend. Waterman will also play if he gets a waiver or if the NCAA grants a blanket waiver on the 16th when it votes on the proposal.
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Post by therealcoach on Dec 12, 2020 16:16:28 GMT -5
We struggled early, but pulled it out. Rose made some clutch buckets to help close it out, but long term we will have to play more than 7 players to be a successful team. Chris Brandon was on the bench and will be ready soon hopefully.
I’m not sure Coach Davis has confidence in anyone else. Which is sad, because he gave guys scholarships to be practice players. How does anyone get game ready if you don’t get game minutes. Brad played, but I’m not sure why.
I guess this is that system that I was told about a few post ago. Oh well, a win is a win. Go Titans!
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Post by udballer on Dec 12, 2020 16:41:56 GMT -5
Yep. I'll be happy with the win for the next week. Western struggled shooting the basketball but that seemed to correlate with some good defense played by the Titans. A couple big shots by Willie, a couple big shots by Rose, some clutch FTs and defensive plays by Kuol. Plenty of positives to take away from this one to make the team stronger moving forward.
I'd still like to see some minutes from any one of our other guards (not named Calipari).
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Post by uofdfan1983 on Dec 12, 2020 17:46:16 GMT -5
As to minutes played: there must be an obvious divide in practice between contributors / non-contributors. Last season, Davis played everyone, which I think was just an attempt to see who really wanted to play. This year, he realizes we actually have a chance to win games if he plays the guys who are the hungriest/most ready to play and that's what he's doing right now. As a team, you do have to learn HOW to win, and it appears this combination has the right attitude to turn that corner. You know he's counting on the 3 new bigs who will be available shortly (I can't wait to see Waterman and looking forward to seeing how Brandon can lift this team). I know he loves Liedel's long-term potential so it must be just a matter of the others not being ready yet for primetime.
It's way too early to say this team has an identity yet BUT I see so many similarities between what happened today and what happened routinely during the PW era: 1) the score itself, 67-57. When you play defense, you keep yourself in the game, even if you are struggling offensively. 2) we were aggressive on D and forced TOs 3) we only committed 8 TOs. Wow! 4) we hit dagger shots (Rose's late 3-pointer and Kuol's drive/foul being the 2 biggest ones) 5) we made our FTs all game long and especially down the stretch while protecting our lead
If you had told me we'd be in the MSU and ND games til the end and beat WMU with Antoine totalling zero 3 pointers in those 3 games, I would not have believed it. If you told me Isiani would play 30+ minutes in the first 4 games I would not have believed it. These are telling stats. Willie can't jump or run with the best of the NBA type prospects but when he gets the help that is coming shortly, we will be OK up front in our league. Fraser, Johnson and Buol are giving us exactly what we need, and Rose is a sparkplug off the bench.
Good start to the season...
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Post by motorcitysam on Dec 12, 2020 21:34:20 GMT -5
A road win over an instate MAC team is always something to feel good about
Go Titans.
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Post by upbasketballfan on Dec 12, 2020 22:03:47 GMT -5
Willy averaging 8.75 rebounds per. game playing out of position.
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Post by uofdfan1983 on Dec 13, 2020 8:36:36 GMT -5
There are eligibility issues with one of the young guards that has to do with HS transcript problems, and Waterman is waiting on a waiver. By January we will probably have the depth we need for those back-to-back games. If we get Brandon back for the Wrong State DH that will be huge. The big guy from Tulane is arriving in town this week and will have immediate eligibility.
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Post by ptctitan on Dec 13, 2020 9:19:33 GMT -5
There are eligibility issues with one of the young guards that has to do with HS transcript problems, and Waterman is waiting on a waiver. By January we will probably have the depth we need for those back-to-back games. If we get Brandon back for the Wrong State DH that will be huge. The big guy from Tulane is arriving in town this week and will have immediate eligibility. In his postgame interview on radio with Dan Hasty, Coach Davis said that Brandon was dressed and could have played at WMU; but he felt that Chris was not needed in that game. He also talked about three more guys being able to play next weekend versus Wright State, Chris, Koka, and then he hedged a bit on Waterman likely because it's dependent upon getting a waiver. So, I don't have as much concern as others here about a short bench for the Wright State series. I do have concern about how effective the new players will be because they have not played in real game situations yet this year. But Chris and Noah have been practicing with the team; so, they should know what is expected from them on defense. Overall, I thought that WMU was us for the past 4 years, a young team that would be competitive for about 60% of the game only to lose to a better and more experienced opponent down the stretch. Also, despite the heavy minutes logged by our core 6 in our first four games, I thought that we were better conditioned down the stretch. Finally, I think that Antoine deserves credit for changing his play in the second half to a driving style and for his defensive improvement so far this year. Along with the play of the others (including Willy), Antoine's play in the 2nd half really helped us win that game going away. That said, we are nowhere near perfect. We need to get even better if we are to contend in the HL. The only thing clear is that the so-called "experts" really had no idea about our new players and were stuck on their stats. (Not referring to posters here. Am referring to the other coaches and writers in the HL and on other websites.) I hope this expert "mistake" continues with Koka.
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Post by larrytitan on Dec 13, 2020 9:35:32 GMT -5
I enjoyed listening to the entire game thru my headphones locked away in my man cave corner of the living room. Dan Hasty does a solid job. Sometimes, I wish he had a color commentary partner ala Earl Cureton.
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Post by upbasketballfan on Dec 13, 2020 9:36:09 GMT -5
There are eligibility issues with one of the young guards that has to do with HS transcript problems, and Waterman is waiting on a waiver. By January we will probably have the depth we need for those back-to-back games. If we get Brandon back for the Wrong State DH that will be huge. The big guy from Tulane is arriving in town this week and will have immediate eligibility.
Nothing new at Liv. and 6. We should be going into our 5th game of the season and we still have a transcript problem with a player. If this wasn't such a pattern it could be explained by the pandemic but this seems to be common place every season with someone. Is there someone else working down there besides the department which sends out requests for donations and gifting. Makes me afraid to contribute anymore thinking it might not get into a designated account. Like the placards in the stands and the proceeds being sent off. True, to a good cause but not the place it was intended for. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE !!
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Post by udballer on Dec 13, 2020 9:52:08 GMT -5
Coach is pretty impressive. He must have known that WMU would shoot 36% (and 18% from 3) and judged that we didn't need Chris for this one. He saw the close win coming and decided to rest him. Great move, coach!
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Post by upbasketballfan on Dec 13, 2020 10:14:20 GMT -5
Coach is pretty impressive. He must have known that WMU would shoot 36% (and 18% from 3) and judged that we didn't need Chris for this one. He saw the close win coming and decided to rest him. Great move, coach! Yup! Baller take a look on line at Iron Mountain Daily News sports and check out the article on Whitens.
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Post by nctitan on Dec 13, 2020 11:16:22 GMT -5
There are eligibility issues with one of the young guards that has to do with HS transcript problems, and Waterman is waiting on a waiver. By January we will probably have the depth we need for those back-to-back games. If we get Brandon back for the Wrong State DH that will be huge. The big guy from Tulane is arriving in town this week and will have immediate eligibility.
I don't expect to see Buay Koka on the floor right away. It takes time to learn Coach's system.
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Post by Rogobob77 on Dec 13, 2020 13:15:20 GMT -5
There are eligibility issues with one of the young guards that has to do with HS transcript problems, and Waterman is waiting on a waiver. By January we will probably have the depth we need for those back-to-back games. If we get Brandon back for the Wrong State DH that will be huge. The big guy from Tulane is arriving in town this week and will have immediate eligibility. Nothing new at Liv. and 6. We should be going into our 5th game of the season and we still have a transcript problem with a player. If this wasn't such a pattern it could be explained by the pandemic but this seems to be common place every season with someone. Is there someone else working down there besides the department which sends out requests for donations and gifting. Makes me afraid to contribute anymore thinking it might not get into a designated account. Like the placards in the stands and the proceeds being sent off. True, to a good cause but not the place it was intended for. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE !! Doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Joey Liedel has already played. Pink has three college semesters under his belt. I’m guess the unnamed player with transcript issues is LeGreair. He graduated from one of the best academic schools in the PSL, Detroit Cass Tech. One wouldn’t think there would be still unresolved transcript-related eligibility issues involving someone who received his diploma from Cass more than six months ago.
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Post by udballer on Dec 13, 2020 15:08:37 GMT -5
Coach is pretty impressive. He must have known that WMU would shoot 36% (and 18% from 3) and judged that we didn't need Chris for this one. He saw the close win coming and decided to rest him. Great move, coach! Yup! Baller take a look on line at Iron Mountain Daily News sports and check out the article on Whitens. Great for him on the Ellis scholarship! Thanks for pointing out the article. Good to see him doing so well! Ah, COVID. Was wondering why he missed a couple games.
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