Game 12: GMU (7-4) at ODU (7-4) on Wednesday, December 21, at 4:00 PM.

[dr. gunnie]

While I completely agree with this it sucks when all three of your starting guards can’t play any defense (vbj plays some but he’s small). Did you want Polite on Jenkins (they scored at will on Ronnie all game)? Did you want Singleton in who while the best option seems to have a low bball IQ and fouls in the worst spots? You might as well forfeit the right to shoot free throws if he’s fouled also. If Oduro could play a lick of help defense without being a hack maybe they wouldn’t score wide open layups at will. Should have put in Ginka down the stretch for free throws and for at least a fake rim protector.

I go Singleton or I go big by putting Ginika in with Oduro and slide Ticket down to guard Jenkins. Your point is valid that our 1’s/2’s aren’t great defenders, but the one thing I don’t do is keep putting Cooper on Jenkins and expect a different result. That’s when I expect Kim to earn his mil and do something… anything.

 

[mkaufman1]

Just to add to Gunnie’s post, I’m not sure why Ticket wasn’t guarding Jenkins because he’s ODU’s leading scorer and Ticket is by default our best defender. You had to know they were gonna go to Jenkins down the stretch of a close game and as noted they did over and over again.

These are the questions that (hopefully) would get asked postgame if we had a beat reporter covering the team.

I think they switched Ticket to Scott Grayson (finally) after he hit like 10 points in a row over Ronny, but I too am perplexed by how the game unfolded towards the end. Running the same play more than like 2x and not knowing how to stop it, is really bad. And if we saw it, what the f**k is the staff doing?

I'm going to have to go back and rewatch it since I couldn't watch it that carefully with a little monster on my lap towards the end of the game yesterday.

 

[sleeperpick]

I go Singleton or I go big by putting Ginika in with Oduro and slide Ticket down to guard Jenkins. Your point is valid that our 1’s/2’s aren’t great defenders, but the one thing I don’t do is keep putting Cooper on Jenkins and expect a different result. That’s when I expect Kim to earn his mil and do something… anything.

it is a good point. Ginika is a better FT shooter than SS and provides a body that isn't powderpuff to play defense inside against guys that blow by our guards. I would put Ticket on Jenkins as well but when Grayson Scott scored 30 on Ronnie in like 11 mins CKE moved Ticket onto the hot hand and away from Jenkins. They then put Ronnie on Ezie and he quickly went from 3 points to 10. Bottom line is if we can't even pretend to play defense with our guards there isn't much we can do. Ticket can only guard one guy and our help defense with our bigs has been horrible since AJ left. Josh either fouls (75% of the time) or completely whiffs his assignment (15% of the time). We both agree something needed to change I just don't know what exactly with this personnel. when Estrada from Hofstra scored like 10 straight before he was injured he was guarded by VBJ, Cooper has always been a bad defender and Ronnie was absolutely abused this game as he is all games where they are televised and he is not injured... was hoping DInkins could be a pest defensively in clutch time games and I think he does ok even though he is small. I would have given him a chance

 

[sleeperpick]

Just to add to Gunnie’s post, I’m not sure why Ticket wasn’t guarding Jenkins because he’s ODU’s leading scorer and Ticket is by default our best defender. You had to know they were gonna go to Jenkins down the stretch of a close game and as noted they did over and over again.

These are the questions that (hopefully) would get asked postgame if we had a beat reporter covering the team.

he wasn't guarding Jenkins because he had to guard Grayson Scott who absolutely murked Ronnie all game. can't leave the guy who has dropped 30 on the same defender who let him get 26 of those points in 15 mins

 

[dr. gunnie]

I'm going to have to go back and rewatch it since I couldn't watch it that carefully with a little monster on my lap towards the end of the game yesterday.

When you do go back and watch it, just remember this:

 

[sleeperpick]

When you do go back and watch it, just remember this:

and Dinkins didn't play a minute did he? JF got pulled after two possessions in a row of bad defense but Ronnie and Coop certainly did not. He seemingly also pulled JO a couple of times due to horrible defense as well but maybe that wasn't why

 

[GMU79]

This loss is 100% preventable and due to bad coaching and bad defense, we gave ODU their Christmas gift four days early.

Let’s look at the last 5 minutes.

ODU has the ball up 3 at 4:37 - come down the court and we have Cooper guarding Jenkins. Jenkins gets the ball and drives right past Cooper without any meaningful screen, just goes right by him. Keep in mind, Kim has called out Cooper before for his lack of defense during the offseason. Ok. I’m sure we’ll adjust.

Fast forward to about 3:30 left after we tie it up on a Polite 3. There’s a timeout. Probably a good time to address the mismatch of Cooper on Jenkins. ODU comes down and we still have Cooper on Jenkins. What do they do? The same f’ing thing - Jenkins gets the ball at the exact same spot, drives and passes Coop like he’s standing still and gets an easy dunk.

Still, no change has been made. I’m guessing we are keeping Cooper in because he’s been so hot on the offensive end?

Anyway, ODU gets the ball back tied at 71 with about 2:15 left. Cooper is still guarding Jenkins. Any guesses what they are going to do? You guessed it. He gets the ball and after some help from Oduro on his initial drive, Jenkins drives past Cooper for the bucket - granted it was a tougher shot, but he scored again.

Keep in mind, we got Singleton on the bench this whole time who has shown to play much better defense, but we still are going with Cooper on Jenkins. Also keep in mind that Kim is telling us defense is our calling card. We are going to win with defense. Yet, we just gave up three layups by putting one of our worst defenders on their scorer and didn’t change a thing. Gave them three baskets.

Polite hits a basket and we are up 2, ODU goes right to Jenkins who still has Cooper on him. This time, Cooper makes no attempt to stay with him and calls for a switch which is done late by VBJ and Jenkins gets fouled by VBJ at the basket. He makes one free throw - now 7 easy points for Jenkins all under the 5:00 mark.

VBJ hits 2 free throws with :20 and we are up 3. Kim finally puts Singleton in to guard Jenkins. He has 4 fouls and we still have one to give. Who ends up giving the foul? Singleton! So we finally get a better defender on Jenkins and it lasts for about 3 seconds. Why is Singleton the one giving the foul? Now he’s back on the bench and we have Cooper back on Jenkins. Jenkins gets the ball, Oduro comes out to help Cooper because he can’t guard him alone and we leave Fields wide open under the basket. We have to foul Fields and he makes both free throws.

Of course, we throw the ball into Oduro up one on the inbounds, he gets fouled and can’t hit the free throw. ODU drives with under 10 seconds - Jenkins takes it end to end and scores on VBJ who got matched up with Jenkins during the scramble. Would have loved to have Singleton in for that matchup, but he’s on the bench because apparently nobody else was available for the meaningless foul :15 prior.

For a team that is going to make defense their calling card, we sure didn’t act like it. Not sure if I should be more upset with Cooper for not being able to guard down the stretch, or Kim for allowing it to happen… over and over and over again.

Yes, "that meaningless foul." Sure, we have a foul to give, but THEN!!! How about giving it when it's meaningFUL???
Like during Jenkins' final drive?

 

[gmujim92]

he wasn't guarding Jenkins because he had to guard Grayson Scott who absolutely murked Ronnie all game. can't leave the guy who has dropped 30 on the same defender who let him get 26 of those points in 15 mins

It’s obviously hindsight, but if we had to choose I would have preferred to live with Scott-Grayson launching 3s in lieu of letting Jenkins get to the rim over and over.

It’s a shame that on a day when our guys did so much good, it was all undone by allowing the other team’s best player to go coast to coast and make what was basically an uncontested layup.

 

[Mason2005]

Reality is def isn't our calling card. Offensive fire power is the way to go for us in conf, our schedule is looking pretty cake. Double bye or bust.

 

[Petey Buckets]

Ticket is nominally our best defender but I don't think he's been anything special on that side of the ball this year. Has given up his share of buckets. It's tough to say how much of that is on him and how much is on the switch-everything scheme that lets opponents into favorable matchups all game long.

 

[GMUSSTN]

I won't quote all of Gunnie's post here but it seems to me that Cooper's stock was probably inflated after last year when we literally couldn't afford to play anyone else. I was excited when he wanted to come back but at this point I'd rather start JF or literally anyone else who gives us a defensive upside, because at this point the chances of Cooper having an offensive impact that negates his defensive shortcomings is getting slimmer by the game. VBJ is having more success in the same role Cooper played last year.

 

[sleeperpick]

I won't quote all of Gunnie's post here but it seems to me that Cooper's stock was probably inflated after last year when we literally couldn't afford to play anyone else. I was excited when he wanted to come back but at this point I'd rather start JF or literally anyone else who gives us a defensive upside, because at this point the chances of Cooper having an offensive impact that negates his defensive shortcomings is getting slimmer by the game. VBJ is having more success in the same role Cooper played last year.

JF is one of the worst defensive players I have ever watched in the limited time i have seen him in. Even CKE commented that he only plays on one side of the ball (if he thinks Polite and Coop are better defenders that must mean JF is BAD). He got scored on 2 straight plays and pulled yesterday and routinely bites on any pump fake. He is young so I hope it changes. A 5th year senior should not be blown by at will

 

[GMUSSTN]

JF is one of the worst defensive players I have ever watched in the limited time i have seen him in. Even CKE commented that he only plays on one side of the ball (if he thinks Polite and Coop are better defenders that must mean JF is BAD). He got scored on 2 straight plays and pulled yesterday and routinely bites on any pump fake. He is young so I hope it changes. A 5th year senior should not be blown by at will

Yeah bad example. At least JF will be here next year and there's an upside to him getting more minutes.

 

[gmujim92]

I won't quote all of Gunnie's post here but it seems to me that Cooper's stock was probably inflated after last year when we literally couldn't afford to play anyone else. I was excited when he wanted to come back but at this point I'd rather start JF or literally anyone else who gives us a defensive upside, because at this point the chances of Cooper having an offensive impact that negates his defensive shortcomings is getting slimmer by the game. VBJ is having more success in the same role Cooper played last year.

JF can’t stay on the floor because of his defense. Coop was bad yesterday but he was mostly good during the win streak … the reality is we need him to play well because other than Saquan (who is limited) there aren’t any other great options.

 

[GMUSSTN]

Ok I shouldn't have said JF in my post...sorry everyone

 

[tblack33]

It shouldn’t be so funny to me but I’m dying at the idea that we all bought the “defense is our identity” schtick after watching this team get burned by bad teams all OOC and we immediately give up 75+ to a very average ODU squad. I wish we had any sort of identity, because right now we don’t. We are a streaky shooting team, don’t cause turnovers, don’t push the pace on offense.

If you had to describe this teams squad in 5 words or less, what would it be?

 

[Patriotsince81]

It shouldn’t be so funny to me but I’m dying at the idea that we all bought the “defense is our identity” schtick after watching this team get burned by bad teams all OOC and we immediately give up 75+ to a very average ODU squad. I wish we had any sort of identity, because right now we don’t. We are a streaky shooting team, don’t cause turnovers, don’t push the pace on offense.

If you had to describe this teams squad in 5 words or less, what would it be?

Soft, streaky, leaderless, undisciplined, careless.

I keep waiting for someone to just be a pit-bull on either side of the ball. Don't know that we've had one since Ryan Pearson. What we really need is about 7 guys with a singular focus and toughness. We're just too damn nice, at least it appears to me to be that way. Anyone with access to practice have anything to clarify? Am I correct or totally misguided in my thinking?

 

[Bricker]

Soft, streaky, leaderless, undisciplined, careless.

I keep waiting for someone to just be a pit-bull on either side of the ball. Don't know that we've had one since Ryan Pearson. What we really need is about 7 guys with a singular focus and toughness. We're just too damn nice, at least it appears to me to be that way. Anyone with access to practice have anything to clarify? Am I correct or totally misguided in my thinking?

Bingo.

Call me crazy and/or stupid, but I believe the reality is we are still dealing with some bandaids slapped on a Paulsen-era team. One of the things I hated about Paulsen squads was how wide-eyed and easily rattled they were in almost every situation. They came onto the court "just happy to be there" and not demanding to win. Not always the case, but mostly. Overmatched physically and mentally.

Even with new pieces, this team still appears mentally overmatched most of the time. Our opponents always look more fired up, angrier, hungrier, etc. Yes, we have some pieces there to turn the corner. But there is that lingering softness, and it starts with existing senior leadership. VBJ and Ojiako have some dog in them. Who else? Ticket, most of the time? Dinkins is ice cold for a freshman, which is great to see.

But Ronny? Oduro? Coop? They don't seem to be demanding to win or getting in anyone's face. Nice kids. That's the leadership core.

Hopefully the staff can figure it out. Rooting for them, but it feels like it's going to take another year at least to even think about real changes to the culture.

 

[Mason2005]

It shouldn’t be so funny to me but I’m dying at the idea that we all bought the “defense is our identity” schtick after watching this team get burned by bad teams all OOC and we immediately give up 75+ to a very average ODU squad. I wish we had any sort of identity, because right now we don’t. We are a streaky shooting team, don’t cause turnovers, don’t push the pace on offense.

If you had to describe this teams squad in 5 words or less, what would it be?

We like shooting 3 balls

 

[mkaufman1]

Just re watched the final 5 minutes and as expected @dr. gunnie is spot on with his post and analysis. This isn't rocket science, and I too have questions about why Cooper was allowed to guard him and they didn't try something else. It looks like they wanted to trust the veteran squad to get it down in the final seconds.

This is the sort of stuff that shouldn't be super obvious to fans and what the staff should know how to correct on the fly. They know more basketball than any of us.

I will say, that when Jenkins got by Cooper (when he asked to switch), it looked like the staff was going crazy trying to tell the guys to get a stop. I'm not sure if there was anything specific, but you can see CKE jumping up and down. After that play and after Fields got fouled (where Josh stepped to help and Ticket saved an and 1), you could tell they were talking about how to play defensively. Lets hope they didn't execute correctly and were being told the correct things.

Who knows if any of this matters. We could have put anyone on Jenkins, and he may just continue to get to the rim. But these are the type of adjustments that you need at this level in order to steal a game like this or many games in the A10.