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Post game FSU thoughts

nccardfan

Four-Star Poster
Sep 5, 2007
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lawrenceburg, KY
Here are my thoughts concerning at least the last two games. Maybe not on the same level but we seem to have our own James Harden issue. I love Carlik Jones and what he brings but he has discovered he can score or at least attempt to score anytime he wants. As a result, the other players are not getting fully involved, especially DJ who also needs the ball in his hands at time. We played better team basketball when Jones was making the assists and DJ ran the offense at times. Jones is thinking why pass the ball when certain guys are going to airball 3’s? Doesn’t work like that. You have to trust your teammate is going to make the shot. Jones is thinking score first, pass when he doesn’t have an opening. We only had 6 assists at one point and didn’t have that many in the loss against Miami. Can’t happen with supposedly the best backcourt in the ACC.

I realized Brickleberry is playing because Jones and DJ are playing too many minutes but if he can’t play defense he doesn’t need to be on the court. When we had narrowed the score, he literally cost us 8-9 points in a 3 possession span.

Go Cards, beat Duke!
 
We have multiple guys who can attack the basket or create their own shots. Not sure why they have gotten away from that, settling for rushed jump shots.

Someone show these guys footage of Siva driving the lane, drawing in the defense, and then kicking it out for an open 3. Both Jones and Johnson are plenty capable of this....and they'll draw the defense because those guys can attack the basket with success, especially Jones. Jones is the most Russ-like guy we've had since Russ.

The effort on defense and loose balls has been lacking these last two games....the good news is that it wasn't lacking before these last two games (toss out Wisconsin) so we know they can do it. I'm frustrated but am not going to over-react, willing to let the cake bake. With Louisville, Kentucky, and Duke all outside the Top 25, it is an odd year. They were off nearly a month and played very lethargic and heavy-footed in the first game back against Wisconsin….I'm inferring that COVID went through the entire team pretty much, so these guys can gel and get it together for a nice run in March, with immunity on their side.
 
We have multiple guys who can attack the basket or create their own shots. Not sure why they have gotten away from that, settling for rushed jump shots.

Someone show these guys footage of Siva driving the lane, drawing in the defense, and then kicking it out for an open 3. Both Jones and Johnson are plenty capable of this....and they'll draw the defense because those guys can attack the basket with success, especially Jones. Jones is the most Russ-like guy we've had since Russ.

The effort on defense and loose balls has been lacking these last two games....the good news is that it wasn't lacking before these last two games (toss out Wisconsin) so we know they can do it. I'm frustrated but am not going to over-react, willing to let the cake bake. With Louisville, Kentucky, and Duke all outside the Top 25, it is an odd year. They were off nearly a month and played very lethargic and heavy-footed in the first game back against Wisconsin….I'm inferring that COVID went through the entire team pretty much, so these guys can gel and get it together for a nice run in March, with immunity on their side.
Don’t forget UNC it is a strange year.
 
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I think it’s just flat out this team is overachieving and when our faults show we get upset, but it’s only because this team has played so well and raised expectations.

Reality is that Malik is out and we’re playing with freshman and sophomore bigs, he wear and tear of the ACC I coming on and they aren’t going to be able to dominate.

Reality is that we’re pretty much an entirely new team. The chemistry is better than expected, but still no one in this group other than DJ has played in the ACC grind before. Carlik is talented and can play with anyone, but even he has to adjust in the upgrade from mid-Major to ACC athletes nightly, all with new teammates.

I mean relatively speaking, this team hasn’t even played that many games together on top of missing 2 seniors with injuries. A high ceiling because of the young talent, but you can see that they may be limited in reaching that ceiling due to time.

We didn’t get 2 scrimmages and a full 2 months of non-conference to develop. We played a few, had a long break, then shot straight into Wisconsin, Kentucky, then ACC play.
 
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Our front line is too small and inexperienced to deal with good ACC front courts right now with Williams out. Aiden and Wiz have size but not the skill and experience yet. We have two 6 ft 8 freshmen playing out of position at center.

There are other problems but the inexperience and undersized front court definitely hurts.
 
Here are my thoughts concerning at least the last two games. Maybe not on the same level but we seem to have our own James Harden issue. I love Carlik Jones and what he brings but he has discovered he can score or at least attempt to score anytime he wants. As a result, the other players are not getting fully involved, especially DJ who also needs the ball in his hands at time. We played better team basketball when Jones was making the assists and DJ ran the offense at times. Jones is thinking why pass the ball when certain guys are going to airball 3’s? Doesn’t work like that. You have to trust your teammate is going to make the shot. Jones is thinking score first, pass when he doesn’t have an opening. We only had 6 assists at one point and didn’t have that many in the loss against Miami. Can’t happen with supposedly the best backcourt in the ACC.

I realized Brickleberry is playing because Jones and DJ are playing too many minutes but if he can’t play defense he doesn’t need to be on the court. When we had narrowed the score, he literally cost us 8-9 points in a 3 possession span.

Go Cards, beat Duke!
I thought that in the Miami game we showed no energy, especially in the first half. Florida State just bullied us and we did not show much fight until late in the second half. Some of the substitution patterns showed the coaches lack of approval at the lack of competition in some of our players.
 
Here are my thoughts concerning at least the last two games. Maybe not on the same level but we seem to have our own James Harden issue. I love Carlik Jones and what he brings but he has discovered he can score or at least attempt to score anytime he wants. As a result, the other players are not getting fully involved, especially DJ who also needs the ball in his hands at time. We played better team basketball when Jones was making the assists and DJ ran the offense at times. Jones is thinking why pass the ball when certain guys are going to airball 3’s? Doesn’t work like that. You have to trust your teammate is going to make the shot. Jones is thinking score first, pass when he doesn’t have an opening. We only had 6 assists at one point and didn’t have that many in the loss against Miami. Can’t happen with supposedly the best backcourt in the ACC.

I realized Brickleberry is playing because Jones and DJ are playing too many minutes but if he can’t play defense he doesn’t need to be on the court. When we had narrowed the score, he literally cost us 8-9 points in a 3 possession span.

Go Cards, beat Duke!
 
When your options are limited on offense,you have to make every possession a good one. Bad shots and quick shots only add to the empty possessions, which in essence are just like turnovers.
We haven't seen anyone run that high pick n roll like Siva and Gorgui did. Peyton understood that it was on him to get others the ball where they could score.
Having guys parked out on the 3 line while Carlik rubs off that high screen doesn't work. Those guys should be screening for one another.
Just way too many empty possessions...
 
When your options are limited on offense,you have to make every possession a good one. Bad shots and quick shots only add to the empty possessions, which in essence are just like turnovers.
We haven't seen anyone run that high pick n roll like Siva and Gorgui did. Peyton understood that it was on him to get others the ball where they could score.
Having guys parked out on the 3 line while Carlik rubs off that high screen doesn't work. Those guys should be screening for one another.
Just way too many empty possessions...
Let’s let this sink in for a minute. Out of 357 teams, we are 327 in number of possessions. As far as major D1 schools, only Virginia and ND play slower than us. So, bottom line those possessions are more valuable to us compared to most teams.
 
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Let’s let this sink in for a minute. Out of 357 teams, we are 327 in number of possessions. As far as major D1 schools, only Virginia and ND play slower than us. So, bottom line those possessions are more valuable to us compared to most teams.
They absolutely are. They're Gold.
 
There's are ways to get easier looks. One we won't see is to press. The other is to get it out and go after misses. That has to be seamless, with no hesitation.
You know,in years past the defense has been able to prop up the offensive deficiencies. If that can't happen, have to be able to get easier shots.
 
Just lacking the horses, razor thin bench this year. Green in a lot of places. This program has history of bringing some guys off the bench ready to produce as soon as they get into the game. Not this team. I remember debates where there were so many good players in uniform people disagreed on who should be starting. There were a lot of available combinations.

I think the staff and the team have done a good job this year but it is pretty clear they are a cut below the upper tier teams. The young guys have shown some skills and have bright futures here if the program can avoid catastrophic NCAA penalty and keep the core together a few more years.
 
"the staff and the team have done a good job this year but it is pretty clear they are a cut below the upper tier teams."


Sums it all up nothing more or less !
 
Just lacking the horses
That phrase made me think of my Dad,who said it all the time. Thanks for that.
Yeah, definitely don't have the horses. I'd love to see this team play well and compete the last 6 weeks of the season though. I'm positive we're probably a year away.

I want to see this group handle Basketball 202 a little better. Your shot might not be the best shot. Once the guys understand that,the rest is easy.
 
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That phrase made me think of my Dad,who said it all the time. Thanks for that.
Yeah, definitely don't have the horses. I'd love to see this team play well and compete the last 6 weeks of the season though. I'm positive we're probably a year away.

I want to see this group handle Basketball 202 a little better. Your shot might not be the best shot. Once the guys understand that,the rest is easy.

I think if they had Malik the team would be dangerous. Your Basketball 202 made me think of him, he really developed into a great team player that made a lot of good things happen out there. He was set up for a big year and I know he would have taken some of the young guys under his wing and been a great mentor.

He has a good nose for the ball, offensive rebounds would be up, and with that, you get those 2nd chance 3 pt shots on kick outs. A guy like this makes the game easier for the other 4 guys out there with him.
 
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