Some Questions

I’d start Pullin at PG and figure the rest out.
For certain teams, I’d try to run them out of the gym; Mich was very gassed at the end of the game. This years team can really push the ball and seems to like it.
Improving free throws can be obtained by a ton of practice - Samuels shoots the ball way too hard on his FT’s. Players should be able to make five in a row at practice; guards should try to make ten in a row. Shoot FT’s before and after every practice. It can be improved!

 

Depth and rebounding are the two things we have going for us that we can count on so I agree, we should run, run, run, get up a many shots as we can, rebound the misses and get put backs, and try to tire out the other team so we can put them away late in the second half. If we hit free throws and shoot a decent percentage from 3, we can beat anyone with that formula. Last night we win in regulation if we make 70 percent of our free throws, which shouldn't be too much to ask.

 

Yes, Pullin should start.
I think we should begin with Pullin, Walter and Richard. Let’s if it’s a spark to have Riley coming off the bench.
Unfortunately, I think he will somewhat struggle all year. I really think he excels when he is the center-piece and in position to force his offense. He blew up last year when CC went down, and our offense became ….”Riley, go make a play”.
This team doesn’t need to defer to that style, and so Riley will often need to settle into a half court… where his teammates can be eqaul, if not stronger, options.
I think Riley should be a priority in transition and early offense. And he is a very athletic defender, capable of creating turnover. I’d love to see us press on occasion… where I think he’d excel, and where the game pace would play to his strengths.

 

This all sounds reasonable. Just one proviso:

This is not the resume of a person who is going to be drafted as a sophomore into the NBA. But if gets his head straight, he just may get there before the end of the season. And in my way of thinking, he could then come back for a magical third season. I think that is who he is and not a two-year rental.

 

maybe, though I’d be really surprised if he was back for a third year.

 

Denzel looked more confident and in control. He play within the scope the coaches wanted and played tough defense. They jerked him when he shot a three early in the shot clock. Hopefully he learns from this. Definitely he needs to improve on his three point stroke and only use it sparingly, as he is not a sure bet to make it, like Will or Walter, even Zion last night, who was what you want in a good point guard for our type of offense. Run and gun most times and rebound, when the defense slows our offense, work hard to get people good looks for scoring, while under control. Seth Greenberg, kept saying when they would go to their network analysts, that if CTG can get the working parts together, watch out. He also said keep an eye on them tournament time, they are a team, if they catch fire could make a deep run. I think he is one of the best of college basketball analysts, fair, unbiased and on point. He was talking about us the whole game even though others just wanted to talk about Michigan’s point guard who was on fire. Look who was right, he knows we have great depth. Telling…………

 

The two freshmen played great last night, the unsung hero’s.
Condon 32 minutes 14 pts, 6 rebs, 3 blk, 1 steal.
Haugh. 8 minutes, 5 pts, 3 rebs, 1 blk, 1 steal, hit 1 of two three pointers*
* Both played tough, pesky defense, off the bench.
Matter of fact, all the bigs put on a rebounding clinic.

 

Pull a Nembhard? What makes you think his game is NBA-worthy? I see winning a college game (if focused) but to presume that will work at the next level is questionable. I hate that leaving after the sophomore season is a consolation prize and not the minimum for everyone except the James', Bryant's and Garnett's. The silliness of the "friends" around players these days in just plain awful.

 

Pullin deserves the start, but as long as he gets starters minutes and is okay coming off the bench, I'm okay with him coming off the bench.
Turnovers and free throws. Yep. Clear weaknesses. Both can and will over the course of the season. Mark it down.
Aberdeen looked good and didn't try to do too much. I think CTG wanted to see if his perimeter length helped defend the 3.
Kugel is too talented to not play. He just needs--broken record here--to let the game come to him.
I think Haugh is not being punished with fewer minutes. It's just that with ZP and Handlogten healthy, we have a full lineup and minutes have to be distributed accordingly. He's doing great though. His 2nd-half 3 was a huge shot for us last night.
One thing that will help at the free throw line is more minutes for Zyon, Clayton, and Richard, and getting the ball in their hands in late-game situations with the lead. They'll ice the game for us at the line. Haugh needs to shoot better than 30% at the line to help increase his minutes.

 

Riley K needs to improve his shot a lot to sniff the NBA. I think he can but it needs to start with shot selection. Sometimes he's firing away when it's just not open, or he's outside his range.

 

He had a gorgeous assist when he could have tried to take the ball to the rim himself.

 

Great topic 108...
Pullin is coming off the bench and playing at a starter level. Earlier this year when he started his numbers went down. I'd like to see a comparison of his stats when he starts and when he comes off the bench, perhaps a good analytics coach could dive in here. That said I prefer him to start to limit turnovers. When Pullin started Will Richard was a reserve and seemed to disappear, perhaps more analytics to consider.

As to Kugel and Haugh, Riley has a ton of potential and might catch fire any game. To me, Thomas moves well on the court and seems very athletic for his size. He has 10 assists to only 7 turnovers so he shows some ability to control the ball but with few dribbles. He's 5 for 13 from three so he shoots better than most on the team but with few attempts. My suggestion I made a few weeks back is to try him in a rotation or two each game at the three spot especially if we ever get the Human Consonant back. As long as Micah, Tyrese, and Alex are playing so well at the 4/5 spots, Thomas is getting less and less time. If Thomas can play the 3/4 positions it will only improve our rebounding strength. I know Thomas at the 3 is a stretch but if it works CTG could have more variety to show on the court and make defending us more complicated.

 

Condon, Samuel, Kugel, Clayton, Pullen. Richard is the sixth man. Others as the situations arise: fouls, not playing hard on D, mind elsewhere, etc

 

I'm not ready to move Condo ahead of Handlogten. I see in Micah a lot of the fine points...screens, picks, passing,
recovery defense, etc., that Condo hasn't yet mastered. Plus he doesn't turn it over as much. But Condo seems to get a little better each game.
Both of them have done something in the last two games that probably drives coaches mad. They had position for an easy rebound and tried to get cute and tap it out to a guard. Both times were picked off and resulted in easy buckets for the oppo.

 

I like Clayton at the 2.

Condon should be taking the job from Micah soon if Micah doesn’t start playing better.

Start Richard at the 3 and let Riley back up Clayton and Richard until Riley shows he can fit into the offense.

Find a way to get Haugh a few more minutes.

 

Haugh’s steal he ripped away from the stunned Michigan big, was something I haven’t seen from a Florida’s big in a while.

 

Pullin needs to start, he’s the most important guy out there with the offense we run. His plus minus was also the highest on the team last I looked. For me it’s Clayton Micah Richard and Samuel as the others.
Sucks for Riley but performance matters. And the season still has a long way to go for him to come on.

Micah going down helped us long term, Condon and Haugh have already improved dramatically. Until they can defend effectively without fouling though, it’s Micah.

 

Micah is the worst one for defending without fouling and that goes back to before he came to Florida. I just looked up the stats so far this year.

Micah is averaging a foul every 6.36 minutes.
Condon is averaging a foul every 8.12 minutes.
Haugh is averaging a foul every 6.74 minutes.

Condon is our best center and you won’t convince me otherwise. There were at least 2 or 3 times against Michigan where Micah could have grabbed a rebound or loose ball but instead slapped at it and it went to Michigan every time. He needs to play tougher.

 

I’m all about stats, so fair enough.