Completely agree. Take care of business tonight and against UNF and give the starters some well-deserved rest and popcorn while they watch the bench players take over in the last game before conference play
Not surprising at all. Poor contributor offensively, but dominant defensively in terms of getting proper depth against ball screens, making good hedges, recovering well, helping in the paint, boxing out, and rebounding his area. What I've noticed most is that he has reduced his fouls by contesting shots rather than trying to block them. His block rate is down 50%, but so are his fouls. That was a major concern coming into the season--for him and for our team. Our fouls per possession are down to 21.7% (56th nationally) from 24.3% (192nd). Haugh is down by 20%, Condon by 40%. Even better, we are down to 16.3 FTA allowed (72nd) from 22.1 (301st!!!). Those numbers will obviously go up in league play, but they are still substantially better than they were at this time last year (22.5 FPP, 97th; 20.4 FTA allowed, 237th). That is like taking back 2-3 points per game, plus handful of defensive possessions that enable us to get out and run.
UF does not need much scoring from Chinyelu as long as he dominates the glass and plays great defense. He seems to get better and better as the season progresses, heck, the entire team is.
I'm amused logging on, looking at the NBN headings and seeing this one - "We're a Good Team". It's like, hey, no sh*t. LOL
I'm not disagreeing that he is a limited offensive player, but he converts his share of opportunities. Put differently, he gets his tip ins and when somebody throws an oop, he knows how to spike that thang.
Sure. We aren't asking him to do much. It's just that he has a modestly negative impact on us offensively by comparison with our other bigs--and a massively positive impact on us defensively.
Agreed. I wonder if that contributes to our "slow starts" as well. Not that it's a bad strategy: impose ourselves physically on the defensive end, then start pouring it on offensively.
Maybe, but we haven't always been great offensively in that first four, either. Right now, Haugh is essentially the exact opposite of Chinyelu: modestly negative impact defensively versus massively positive impact offensively. That's largely because of his terrific effective/2pt %, low usage rate combined with relatively high assist rate, and his ability to get to the line and convert when there. But I'm not sure how well that correlates to our big runs in the middle 20-24. What's been impressive about those stretches it not so much our offensive execution in the halfcourt, but rather how our our defensive performance (in the shape of repeated "kill" shots) turns into easy, quick offense. Those runs are so often fueled by transition threes or fast break finishes that come off loose ball turnovers or early offense from pushing the ball after defensive rebounds. But I think it has mostly started with our defense. Will be interesting to see how Golden fiddles with rotations once we hit conference play to get certain units on the floor together. I personally don't love or live by the lineup data because they don't account for who you are facing at the time or for time/score/situation of game. But I do think +/- ratings (not box) complement lineup data points to give you a good idea how best a player contributes. Staff will obviously incorporate that going forward.
Yes we did what we were supposed to do. ESPN actually had us at 49.7% chance of winning before the game. Take that, predictor algorithm
We fall in NET after the dub. Iowa St leap frogs us to #5. We drop to #6. Iowa St beat Omaha three days ago.... Confused
Chinyelu shows a little bit of improvement each week and I'm happy with his progress. He's protecting the rim and rebounding, which is his primary role at this time. One thing I see from him almost every game is bad hands. He loses the handle in traffic. Now, as the Zooker said, "It's correctable." Our big man coaches need to drill him constantly on protecting the ball when he has it in his hands. Too many strips or simply not corralling it when it's in his grasp is limiting his effectiveness. Another thing... he's a naturally nice guy. That's a great quality in a human being... off the court. I want him to put his game face on at opening tip.
