My only concern is that we are not scoring tds in the red zone.
Take away the first three games where we had a lot of explosive scoring plays that originated outside the red zone, and it’s a cause of concern. We need to make the most of these chances to create separation earlier than inducing early stage turtling.
Too many fgs, which to me is caused by the stubborn reliance on running the ball in, rather than utilizing the short passing game. It’s getting to the point where there is an established tendency to run which I think compounds our difficulty to convert to tds.
In the early years of our marriage, my wife, who is a non-sports person, thought it amusing that someone could care as deeply for a thing/institution as one would a child, a puppy, or a best friend.
Many years later, my wife no longer amused, still no closer to understanding the WHY, just shakes her head and asks, “Why do you keep doing this to yourself? It’s unhealthy!”.
I do it because I must, because it’s there, and because I know how good it feels when it works and how great it will feel when that old feeling is made real again.
Thank you Brian for all that you’ve done to create a great source of content for legions of devoted UM athletics fans. The outpouring of support from the community of readers will hopefully be more than cold comfort in this challenging time for you. You are loved man and I hope stepping back from your job gives you the ability to seek out satisfaction from things other than oblong shaped leather objects.
As a fan of your writing, it was good to hear your voice again, but not under these circumstances. A man is nothing without his family and I hope that your decision will mean better things both for yourself and your loved ones.
Nova’s short bench and aggressive style of play on both ends of the floor was a testament to their great conditioning. Of course, their superior play also had a big part in how fatigued we got. They cruised thru the first five games of the tournament while we with the exception of the A&M game, had to battle at times to get to the finals.
We all know it takes a while for freshmen to learn how Coach runs his offense. It took nearly a whole season for this team to become a highly proficient defensive unit.
That said, I think we will have more dispersed scoring with a more diverse cast of shooters. The four spot should become a strength. Hopefully, a platoon of Brooks, DDJ and Poole can replace MAAR’s output. Not so sure about Teske-he will never be the dynamic perimeter threat that Moe is/was (!), but adding a 10-15 jumper will make him much more dangerous.
Our improved overall length on defense is promising. Teske is no doubt a better defender and rim protector than Moe, but his rebounding needs a lot of work (getting boxed out by Brunson last night was infuriating). I’m not so sure about Iggy on d-maybe his development path mirrors that of Duncan. Excited to see what Johns can add. Again, we will miss MAAR’s contributions-his on ball defense was pretty good.
God bless him, but Moe still has a lot of work to do to improve his defensive game.
In the pros, he could occasionally play the 5, but he is neither a rim protector or able to stop opposing bigs from backing him down.
The four which most likely his future position, requires a good deal of athleticism in today’s league-he just doesn’t have the foot speed.
Another year with Yacklich may prove to be helpful as he still lacks some of the awareness to play great d-watch him carefully at times and he’ll turn his back to the ball, be slow to help against dribble penetration or hedge a second too long before falling back into position.
If turnovers are unavoidable with such a young offense, I'd rather see us turn the ball over in an effort to be more aggressive in attacking defenses by getting the balls in the hands of our playmakers. Of course, in order to do that, you have to deliver balls on a more timely and accurate basis. Wilt's completion percentage over 2 games is concerning. I'd like to more higher completion shorter to intermediate routes (fb, rb, te and slots).
Issac showed good patience today and nice bounce to the outside-given his YPC, he could have hit 200 yards today with 10 more carries. Think Hidgon would be a nice change of pace, but he simply isn't getting the chances.
Recent Comments
My only concern is that we are not scoring tds in the red zone.
Take away the first three games where we had a lot of explosive scoring plays that originated outside the red zone, and it’s a cause of concern. We need to make the most of these chances to create separation earlier than inducing early stage turtling.
Too many fgs, which to me is caused by the stubborn reliance on running the ball in, rather than utilizing the short passing game. It’s getting to the point where there is an established tendency to run which I think compounds our difficulty to convert to tds.
In the early years of our marriage, my wife, who is a non-sports person, thought it amusing that someone could care as deeply for a thing/institution as one would a child, a puppy, or a best friend.
Many years later, my wife no longer amused, still no closer to understanding the WHY, just shakes her head and asks, “Why do you keep doing this to yourself? It’s unhealthy!”.
I do it because I must, because it’s there, and because I know how good it feels when it works and how great it will feel when that old feeling is made real again.
Thank you Brian for all that you’ve done to create a great source of content for legions of devoted UM athletics fans. The outpouring of support from the community of readers will hopefully be more than cold comfort in this challenging time for you. You are loved man and I hope stepping back from your job gives you the ability to seek out satisfaction from things other than oblong shaped leather objects.
As a fan of your writing, it was good to hear your voice again, but not under these circumstances. A man is nothing without his family and I hope that your decision will mean better things both for yourself and your loved ones.
Dude, that’s awesome. I actually work for ManCrates and we’re in the process of developing a Groomsmen gift assortment.
I’m glad you liked your crate!
Go Blue.
That said, I think we will have more dispersed scoring with a more diverse cast of shooters. The four spot should become a strength. Hopefully, a platoon of Brooks, DDJ and Poole can replace MAAR’s output. Not so sure about Teske-he will never be the dynamic perimeter threat that Moe is/was (!), but adding a 10-15 jumper will make him much more dangerous.
Our improved overall length on defense is promising. Teske is no doubt a better defender and rim protector than Moe, but his rebounding needs a lot of work (getting boxed out by Brunson last night was infuriating). I’m not so sure about Iggy on d-maybe his development path mirrors that of Duncan. Excited to see what Johns can add. Again, we will miss MAAR’s contributions-his on ball defense was pretty good.
In the pros, he could occasionally play the 5, but he is neither a rim protector or able to stop opposing bigs from backing him down.
The four which most likely his future position, requires a good deal of athleticism in today’s league-he just doesn’t have the foot speed.
Another year with Yacklich may prove to be helpful as he still lacks some of the awareness to play great d-watch him carefully at times and he’ll turn his back to the ball, be slow to help against dribble penetration or hedge a second too long before falling back into position.