@ Duquesne (12/1)

[pdt1081]

Answered my own question. It appears if you transfer you can play automatically but eat a year. If you stay you get 5 years.

You don't eat a year transferring. Last season did not burn any eligibility for players. But, last year's juniors became this year's seniors. Freshman became sophomores, sophomores became juniors.

[BPardonMyTake]

Saw so many good things from us tonight. Saw some of the same old same old, especially in the first half. But also saw consistent effort almost the entire game. The lone exception that stands out was a Matheny iso in the 2nd half where not only did the other 4 guys stand around unmoving - they did it IN TEH WAY so the defense could collapse on him super easily.

God it was inept.

But Curtis was finding guys in the paint in scoring position. We set things up by having shooters screen so the defense could not sage, THEN driving with fewer defenders, which caused rotations, which made for open shots. The Curtis-Reece combo was sweet. Matis and Reece was a solid combo on the floor together the last 10 minutes of the 1st half. Matheny got and hit open shots. Matheny at least twice also hit stop-on-a-dime-shoot-over-you-while-leaning-back jumpers that I don't recall being in his arsenal before. And in the 2nd Half, Plowden stopped trying to be THE MAN and just played ball (most of the time). He's not a lead offensive player. But he's a GREAT complementary piece on offense and a lead defender.

We also did a half court trap a couple times. Resulted in them stepping out of bounds twice ,and no blown coverages for easy shots off of passes out of it. I liked that little wrinkle to our defense.

This. All of this.

[Globetrotter]

Answered my own question. It appears if you transfer you can play automatically but eat a year. If you stay you get 5 years.

You don't eat a year transferring. Last season did not burn any eligibility for players. But, last year's juniors became this year's seniors. Freshman became sophomores, sophomores became juniors.

Doesn't appear to be that way.

But it's confusing

Matheny still has 4 years to play including this year. He has played for 1 year.
Mills transferred and has 3 years to play. He has played for 2 years. Formula seems to follow
Curtiss transferred and has 2 years to play. He has played for 2 years. His were at 2 different schools though, now a 3rd.
Reece still has 2 years to play. He has played for 3 years at ODU.
O'Neil still has 2 years left to play. He has played for 2 years. His were at 2 different schools though, now a 3rd.

It appears the number of transfers matters.

[hammb]

Someone earlier mentioned the Curtis drive/ dish to plowden cutting baseline and that was hands down the best sequence of offensive events so far this season in my opinion. This team is wild to watch in person. I constantly felt like we get getting hammered on the boards and losing by 20+. We out rebounded them and didn’t get down by more than 12.

But holy smokes we go on certain stretches where we look plain dominant on both ends of the floor. We rotate so well defensively at times and got some great looks off simple drive/ kicks. If this is going to be a free flowing offense then Curtis needs to run the point moving forward. Our lethargic offense can be at least improved if we go to the rim off those constant ball screens instead of just dribbling around the 3 point line/ handing it off. Yes, we for whatever reason REALLY struggle to finish around the rim, but we at least broke down the defense tonight and had way better looks overall than any other game this year. Curtis beat his man multiple times and Made the right pass to shooters spotting up.

Someone also mentioned Kula on this post and they are 100% right. This team needs offense and defenses are forced to extend to respect his shooting ability. You can tell he mostly just wants to hang around the 3 point line right now getting his legs back under him but he looks really confident shooting the ball given how long he’s been out.

Don’t care about ken pom rankings or whatever, we beat a good team tonight. All 5 Duquesne starters are over 6’3” and they are all athletic as hell. They had a pretty tasty ally oop in the second half that i thought for sure was the nail in the coffin.

Tonight was entertaining as hell and this team just screams month long winning streak at some point if they put it all together. Still a lot of moving pieces but i saw our overall talent simply take over down the stretch tonight.

FWIW, Plowden was limping around a little at the end of the game. He was laughing with the trainer afterwords so hopefully it’s nothing serious but something to monitor moving forward.

The key to this offense has always been individual talent at the guard spots. The dribble handoffs just go on forever until somebody can get forward off the dribble. When the people getting forward off the dribble are able to A) create their own shots, and B) facilitate things for their teammates it can and will work. IT's not that greatly different from the style of play that we've seen win NBA championships forever.

Last night it looked so much better because Samari Curtis was a legit playmaker for himself and others. IT allowed Matheny to play off the ball, but more importantly it gave us 2 guys out there capable of creating shots. If Curtis can be THAT player with any consistency the ceiling (and expectation) for this team went way up. Having 2 guys out there capable of being the ones to trigger off the dribble handoffs is great. Plowden & Reese are great 2nd chance/hustle guys, but neither are creating things on their own frequently. Diggs is still basically just a spot up shooter, but that has tremendous value on a team where you're playing multiple guards who can attack AND have the IQ to realize when/how to kick it out to those shooters. We shot over 50% from three in large part because we didn't just settle for bad ones, I think many of them were still off the bounce more than I'd like to see though; not sure how many of our 12 assists were threes, but I'd like to see that improve.

And yeah, our interior finishing/shooting is a problem. It's been a problem forever. One of my biggest frustrations with Matheny...dude can get to the basket but never seems to finish there. Curtis did have a couple nice finishes near the rim last night. Matheny has the stepback/midrange shot that works well to keep things open though. If last night was not just a flash of a single great game I think we're settling in on who the top 2 guards are on this team, and I'm encouraged.

[Flipper]

Joe Reece was maybe the least heralded transfer into the program...but that kid is having a heck of an impact

[mbenecke]

Joe Reece was maybe the least heralded transfer into the program...but that kid is having a heck of an impact

Oh yeah. I'm a big Joe Reece guy now. Love that he should be back next season as well.

[guest44]

Joe Reece is what the program has needed for multiple seasons. He was the MVP last night. Also, time to move Diggs back to coming off the bench and time to start Fulcher. The lineup on the floor at the end is the best BG has.

[BPardonMyTake]

Someone earlier mentioned the Curtis drive/ dish to plowden cutting baseline and that was hands down the best sequence of offensive events so far this season in my opinion. This team is wild to watch in person. I constantly felt like we get getting hammered on the boards and losing by 20+. We out rebounded them and didn’t get down by more than 12.

But holy smokes we go on certain stretches where we look plain dominant on both ends of the floor. We rotate so well defensively at times and got some great looks off simple drive/ kicks. If this is going to be a free flowing offense then Curtis needs to run the point moving forward. Our lethargic offense can be at least improved if we go to the rim off those constant ball screens instead of just dribbling around the 3 point line/ handing it off. Yes, we for whatever reason REALLY struggle to finish around the rim, but we at least broke down the defense tonight and had way better looks overall than any other game this year. Curtis beat his man multiple times and Made the right pass to shooters spotting up.

Someone also mentioned Kula on this post and they are 100% right. This team needs offense and defenses are forced to extend to respect his shooting ability. You can tell he mostly just wants to hang around the 3 point line right now getting his legs back under him but he looks really confident shooting the ball given how long he’s been out.

Don’t care about ken pom rankings or whatever, we beat a good team tonight. All 5 Duquesne starters are over 6’3” and they are all athletic as hell. They had a pretty tasty ally oop in the second half that i thought for sure was the nail in the coffin.

Tonight was entertaining as hell and this team just screams month long winning streak at some point if they put it all together. Still a lot of moving pieces but i saw our overall talent simply take over down the stretch tonight.

FWIW, Plowden was limping around a little at the end of the game. He was laughing with the trainer afterwords so hopefully it’s nothing serious but something to monitor moving forward.

The key to this offense has always been individual talent at the guard spots. The dribble handoffs just go on forever until somebody can get forward off the dribble. When the people getting forward off the dribble are able to A) create their own shots, and B) facilitate things for their teammates it can and will work. IT's not that greatly different from the style of play that we've seen win NBA championships forever.

Last night it looked so much better because Samari Curtis was a legit playmaker for himself and others. IT allowed Matheny to play off the ball, but more importantly it gave us 2 guys out there capable of creating shots. If Curtis can be THAT player with any consistency the ceiling (and expectation) for this team went way up. Having 2 guys out there capable of being the ones to trigger off the dribble handoffs is great. Plowden & Reese are great 2nd chance/hustle guys, but neither are creating things on their own frequently. Diggs is still basically just a spot up shooter, but that has tremendous value on a team where you're playing multiple guards who can attack AND have the IQ to realize when/how to kick it out to those shooters. We shot over 50% from three in large part because we didn't just settle for bad ones, I think many of them were still off the bounce more than I'd like to see though; not sure how many of our 12 assists were threes, but I'd like to see that improve.

And yeah, our interior finishing/shooting is a problem. It's been a problem forever. One of my biggest frustrations with Matheny...dude can get to the basket but never seems to finish there. Curtis did have a couple nice finishes near the rim last night. Matheny has the stepback/midrange shot that works well to keep things open though. If last night was not just a flash of a single great game I think we're settling in on who the top 2 guards are on this team, and I'm encouraged.

Yep, the Samari analysis and NBA comparison is spot on. Obviously not comparing us to an NBA team apples to apples but this more 1 on 1 style is comparable to the NBA 100%. Simply put, we need a point guard that can create basic separation and efficiently facilitate. Matheny kept us in the ballgame in the first half and is our best individual scorer IMO but he just isn't it running the point. When that kid gets hot, he gets scorching hot. I have the utmost respect for him given his size the way he's able to make shots over taller defenders, regardless of how out of control it may look at times. But Samari is bigger/stronger and looks waaaaay more in control running the offense. Diggs needs to wade around the 3 point line and just try to find his spots. He is so offensively challenged at the moment and it is hard to watch him try to dribble/ pass but we HAVE to keep getting him shots.

[hammb]

Someone earlier mentioned the Curtis drive/ dish to plowden cutting baseline and that was hands down the best sequence of offensive events so far this season in my opinion. This team is wild to watch in person. I constantly felt like we get getting hammered on the boards and losing by 20+. We out rebounded them and didn’t get down by more than 12.

But holy smokes we go on certain stretches where we look plain dominant on both ends of the floor. We rotate so well defensively at times and got some great looks off simple drive/ kicks. If this is going to be a free flowing offense then Curtis needs to run the point moving forward. Our lethargic offense can be at least improved if we go to the rim off those constant ball screens instead of just dribbling around the 3 point line/ handing it off. Yes, we for whatever reason REALLY struggle to finish around the rim, but we at least broke down the defense tonight and had way better looks overall than any other game this year. Curtis beat his man multiple times and Made the right pass to shooters spotting up.

Someone also mentioned Kula on this post and they are 100% right. This team needs offense and defenses are forced to extend to respect his shooting ability. You can tell he mostly just wants to hang around the 3 point line right now getting his legs back under him but he looks really confident shooting the ball given how long he’s been out.

Don’t care about ken pom rankings or whatever, we beat a good team tonight. All 5 Duquesne starters are over 6’3” and they are all athletic as hell. They had a pretty tasty ally oop in the second half that i thought for sure was the nail in the coffin.

Tonight was entertaining as hell and this team just screams month long winning streak at some point if they put it all together. Still a lot of moving pieces but i saw our overall talent simply take over down the stretch tonight.

FWIW, Plowden was limping around a little at the end of the game. He was laughing with the trainer afterwords so hopefully it’s nothing serious but something to monitor moving forward.

The key to this offense has always been individual talent at the guard spots. The dribble handoffs just go on forever until somebody can get forward off the dribble. When the people getting forward off the dribble are able to A) create their own shots, and B) facilitate things for their teammates it can and will work. IT's not that greatly different from the style of play that we've seen win NBA championships forever.

Last night it looked so much better because Samari Curtis was a legit playmaker for himself and others. IT allowed Matheny to play off the ball, but more importantly it gave us 2 guys out there capable of creating shots. If Curtis can be THAT player with any consistency the ceiling (and expectation) for this team went way up. Having 2 guys out there capable of being the ones to trigger off the dribble handoffs is great. Plowden & Reese are great 2nd chance/hustle guys, but neither are creating things on their own frequently. Diggs is still basically just a spot up shooter, but that has tremendous value on a team where you're playing multiple guards who can attack AND have the IQ to realize when/how to kick it out to those shooters. We shot over 50% from three in large part because we didn't just settle for bad ones, I think many of them were still off the bounce more than I'd like to see though; not sure how many of our 12 assists were threes, but I'd like to see that improve.

And yeah, our interior finishing/shooting is a problem. It's been a problem forever. One of my biggest frustrations with Matheny...dude can get to the basket but never seems to finish there. Curtis did have a couple nice finishes near the rim last night. Matheny has the stepback/midrange shot that works well to keep things open though. If last night was not just a flash of a single great game I think we're settling in on who the top 2 guards are on this team, and I'm encouraged.

Yep, the Samari analysis and NBA comparison is spot on. Obviously not comparing us to an NBA team apples to apples but this more 1 on 1 style is comparable to the NBA 100%. Simply put, we need a point guard that can create basic separation and efficiently facilitate. Matheny kept us in the ballgame in the first half and is our best individual scorer IMO but he just isn't it running the point. When that kid gets hot, he gets scorching hot. I have the utmost respect for him given his size the way he's able to make shots over taller defenders, regardless of how out of control it may look at times. But Samari is bigger/stronger and looks waaaaay more in control running the offense. Diggs needs to wade around the 3 point line and just try to find his spots. He is so offensively challenged at the moment and it is hard to watch him try to dribble/ pass but we HAVE to keep getting him shots.

Diggs becomes an exponentially better and more valuable player when you ask him to do less and let him just shoot. He's a tremendous shooter. When the flow of things are getting him open catch and shoot shots you'll see his percentages go up up up. Asking him to make plays off the dribble makes the shots he takes far less efficient, he's a turnover machine, and then he looks lost.

Defensively he's always a liability, but if you can camp him on the perimeter and having him scoring 10-15ppg while shooting 40% from deep? You'll gladly give up the defense. Not nearly as easy to stomach if he's also handling the ball enough to be turning it over multiple times every night.

[Diemilkweed]

Joe Reece was maybe the least heralded transfer into the program...but that kid is having a heck of an impact

Totally agree. Love his impact all over the court. Can't really remember t4he last guy his height I was this fond of overall. Probably Holmes. although he was listed at 6-8 for us.

[BGSU33]

Joe Reece was maybe the least heralded transfer into the program...but that kid is having a heck of an impact

Agreed, and Curtis looks to be getting settled in and he's starting to really look good as well.

[fanatic13]

Little late to the party but easily our best game and a lot of energy. Reece and Curtis were fantastic. I think Curtis will have some growing pain but long term he could be our most critical player. I actually agree with guest and the end lineup should be the starters with Diggs being our sixth man. Matiss gives us a different dimension for the interior and we can different looks off the bench with him, young, and O'Neal.

Happy we have clearly improved. Still plenty of work to do but that's what non conference is for