You know, today’s game left a much better taste in my mouth than the loss to UVa. Maybe it’s because it wasn’t our rival, but I think it’s the energy I saw from the team. They refused to give up. In fact, at the lowest point of the game, they responded.
The Hokies were down 12-0 and got their first score SEVEN minutes into the game. Nothing was going right. With about 8 minutes remaining the first half, I saw the team spark and something got them going. The Hokies switched to a 2-3 zone (they ended up staying in it for the rest of the game) and became extremely active. The entire team looked determined to close the deficit and win, not just Erick Green.
Quick ThoughtsThe 2-3 zone looked pretty good. Everyone was extremely active and it forced quite a few turnovers. Tech had issues with shots from deep, but the majority of the threes made were contested.
JamesJohnson on giving up 10 3-pointers to Clemson: “Nothing went wrong. They made shots." #Hokies #ACC— Mike Barber (@RTD_MikeBarber) January 27, 2013
With learning the 2-3, comes rebounding issues. In the zone, no one has a man to box out. Practice will improve this problem and it’s safe to say that the ball was bouncing pretty weird today. Sometimes I didn’t know how the ball could go right into Clemson’s hands.
I saw effort and energy. That made me very happy. Clemson’s made three’s weren't the result of open looks like against UVa, every played tried to close out and contest each jumper. The team lost a bunch of 50/50 balls in the first 10 minutes but really locked in later on. Players were diving and fighting hard to get to balls, the complete opposite of previous games.
Point Guards: Erick looked excellent in the first half, but Clemson did a great job frustrating him later. At one point in the second half he took a terrible shot that appeared to be from his lack of attempts. Other than that, a pretty typical Erick Green night.
Marquis Rankin has now been good for two straight games. He was 2-4 with both makes from behind the arc. His only bad part of the game was his missed layup on the very first play. If he keeps it up, I wouldn’t mind his attempts going up.
Shooting Guards: Robert Brown was much improved from previous games. No, he still couldn’t shoot from deep, but he was able to drive and score in the post. Something looked different about him; he had a different level of confidence. It was different than his, “I’m going to jack up a ton of shots.” It was more of a, “I will get past my man and score.” He did that multiple times, and his floater fell. He was 4-13 and 0-3 from long range. His stats won’t prove this, but I thought he looked VERY different.
Forwards: Jarell Eddie responded from the UVa game. His usual rebounding presence wasn’t there but made up for it with his aggressiveness on offense. He drove very well and his stats prove it; he was 5-11 but most importantly got to the free throw line 8 times.
Poor C.J. Barksdale had to make up for the lack of Dot and JvZ. For the majority of the game he had to play at the 5 spot, and fouled out with 24 seconds left. He led the team in rebounds and scored 5 points.
Christian Beyer was effective again during his short time on the court. In 16 minutes he had 4 rebounds and knocked down a three. Unfortunately, with less than a minute to go, his shot was blocked which sealed the game. It was an impressive block that probably wouldn’t have happened if he didn’t have size limitations.
Marshall Wood had another rough time with his shot. He was 0-3 from the field but did snag 3 rebounds and dished out 2 assists. It’s nice having another scholarship player, and hopefully he can add something offensively in the coming weeks.
Centers: Cadarian Raines was non-existent offensively and failed to provide the ‘beast’ in the post we needed. He fouled out with five minutes left and didn’t do too much on the day.
Joey van Zegeren fouled out in 9 minutes of play. I think that describes his day well enough, right?
Stat of the Game: Clemson made 10-21 3-pointers, doubling their average in the ACC.
Mike’s Player of the Game: Erick led the Hokies with 25 and scored 9 of the teams point’s during their 13-4 run to end the half. He finished with 5 assists and showed the ability to find open teammates when help came towards him.
Back to the drawing board, again! I think the main change needed is for the team to come out ready to play for 40 minutes. Not 30, not a half, but the ENTIRE game. Too many times do the Hokies wait to go down by 10 and end up playing catch-up. It’s that simple, play all 40 and have a chance at winning. I saw a couple bright spots today that I hope we can build on.
The games aren’t going to get any easier from here on out. This Wednesday the Hokies take on nationally ranked Miami at 9 p.m. Cassell should be rocking for a late game against a top-25 team. Go Hokies!!!
Comments
I like the idea of the zone, it was a good change for once. But when a team is knocking down 3's like Clemson was you have to throw in some man-to-man and try to confuse them on what you're going to be doing. It's something I think JJ will learn with more experience.
I still don't know why Brown gets so many minutes (well I guess I know with the lack of depth, but it's very frustrating). I agree that he was better in this game, but better is by no means good. Rankin is the better all around player, he's our best defender and has been knocking down some 3's lately. I hope he starts getting more minutes.
Outside of those, I don't really have too many complaints about how we played. There was some good effort out there and that's all I can ask for at this point. Hopefully Miami will be overlooking us and we can get a nice win at home on Wednesday. Pack Cassell guys! I know this season isn't going very well (it's what most of us expected before the season started though), but Miami is leading the ACC and when Cassell is packed it is a very tough place to play.
I disagree about Robert and Rankin. Rankin is very much one dimensional on offense and is unable to create scoring opportunities. Yes he can knock down an open 3 every now and then, but when he's in at PG it's embarrassing to watch him hand it to RB to run the offense. A PG should run the offense, and he's currently unable to do that.
True, But..
It's true that Rankin is not much of an offensive threat, but at least he's knocking down open 3's. Brown is currently "zero dimensional" on offense and is a much worse on-ball defender than Rankin is.
Honestly, right now I think Tech's best lineup is EG, Rankin, Eddie, Wood, and JVZ. Barksdale and Raines have been HUGE dissapointments and have provided absolutely zero inside presence. You can't win consistently with only one player and we are proving that right now.
The way I see it is Robert doesn't really have any great moves, he tries to take it to the basket but it almost never works. Plus, Rankin is our best defender to me and that would be a reason to leave him on the court regardless of how good you think he is on offense. But this also goes back to coaching, I don't think we run any offensive sets. It seems like our only play is an Iso for either Green, Brown or Eddie. If someone else happens to score then it's because they were wide open and the Iso player saw them. JJ really needs to implement some half-court stuff because watching a bunch of Iso's isn't going to work very often.
Robert Brown
Good News/Bad news for RB detractors.
Good news: He probably won't be in the starting lineup next year. Unless he beats out Rankin for PG, he will probably be replaced by Adam Smith next year at SG and if Donte Clark is as good as advertised, those two would probably be the main rotation.
That being said he will probably be playing some point next year with Rankin being the only true point guard on scholarship. I basically see him being the primary reserve for PG/SG/SF unless he takes some strides the rest of the season and during the summer.
Theme of the season
No matter what D they play, either a team as a whole or an individual player has a career game/season best/etc etc.
On the flip side, other than one game, Eric has 20 or more and more times than not JVZ has one ridiculous dunk a game (see JVZ gif).
A Couple of Observations/Thoughts
I was both enthused and frustrated watching the game yesterday; enthused by the effort and the continued confidence that regardless of how well EG is defended he is going to figure out a way to get his points (heady guy), and frustrated by a few fundamental errors I think need to be adjusted ASAP.
1.) EG is a beast. Yesterday was a great example of what an elite scorer and leader needs to do when he is being shut down by opposing defenses. He not only allowed his teammates to get their own shots and to get into the flow of the game, but when it was his time to take the reigns he found a way to get points. The vast majority of the time it was him taking it to the hole and drawing contact, or ball-faking the hell out of the Tiger defenders and getting to the line. It pays dividends in SO many ways and that was evident yesterday.
2.) The 2-3 Zone was by-and-large effective. As a defense, you want the other team to launch threes against you because of how low-percentage the shots were, and as JJ did postgame, Clemson deserves credit for making those shots. My issue with the D was that they aren't extending enough and playing with their hands up. All 5 guys should have their hands up and out the entire time to disrupt the vision, passing lanes, and shots of the defenders. Hands down is typically a sign of fatigue or laziness, and if I'm JJ, I'm telling my players to keep their hands up or I'm pulling them out because they're telling me they are tired. The best stretch we had was at about the 4-minute mark in the 2nd Half where we repeatedly trapped the first pass over mid-court and used our feet and hands to smother the ball. We need more of that harassment throughout the other 38 minutes.
3.) As previously noted, I love EG, but the dude is being put into a position of having to score too often. That element is leading to way too much Iso and screening at the top of the key. We've seen it all year, but ACC teams have hedged the shit out of that play and made it effective only 20% of the time. If we can make that screener more effective as a roller and scorer, we can force defenses to cover both the ball and the screener. At this point, no one (Cadarian, CJ, JVZ, or Mr. HighTopFade) has exhibited any ability to roll off the screen and move with the ball from 17 feet out. This is an element that should be worked on to take some pressure off of EG and the rest of our ball handlers. It will keep defenses honest, create more options off of the play, and might free up more open jumpers along the wing.
Thoughts on thoughts
1. Agreed, there really can't be enough said of him this season. If you asked most people and probably green himself, if he thought he'd be this good by his senior year after the freshmen season he had, most people thought he would have transferred. He is consistently one of the main people in the practice gym putting in the extra work. The only other person on this team that can match his hustle doesn't come close in talent and that's Joey Racer.
2. Most of them are tired/lazy. Dave Jackson is always on them during conditioning and practices about not being lazy. There are times that I believe he cares more about the game than most of the players and coaching. This might be the most frustrating part of this team.
3. CJ is the only one with any confidence to hit from 17/18 ft, but he is an awful screener so it isn't effective. Cadarian/JVZ don't shoot unless they are right under the basket. High top fade is more of a 3 than a 4 so like Jarrell last year, he is forcing a lot of things since he is out of position.
I think Beyer puts out as much effort as Green. He gives it his all, I love watching players like that, even if they lack pure talent.
Beyer
Yes Beyer puts in the effort in games and gets the "dirty rebounds" as he said the other day, but I'm talking about as a whole. During the summer, during workouts, etc. Beyer would be a close second behind those two, but that is the problem, of the three hardest workers, two are walk ons. Says something about the players focus more than their talent.
Love the idea of the pick and roll, and I mentioned it a couple of recaps ago. The team really needs to practice/implement that as it would give us another piece of offense in the half court. Sadly, I haven't seen us come close to seriously adding it.
Don't worry guys, I have this picture to cheer everyone up.
Ohhhhh the good old days!