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BG came back to win 91-89 in OT. I didn’t watch but seemed pretty sloppy. Lots of different combos of players on the court so I’m not overly concerned about the result. Fairmont is no slouch in D-2. They had one player transfer to Baylor and their other star (who dropped 27 points) could have easily transferred to a MAC school or better if he chose. Very solid team. Hope the team learns and grows from it.

Ugly for sure but I don’t think I can say enough good things about the maturation of Metheny. His skills have improved and nobody is going to out hustle him in the floor. It’s looking like a three headed monster of Metheny, Diggs and Plowden so far.

That also was an incredibly well coached team. We had an obvious advantage in talent but they had an glaringly obvious advantage in coaching. There still is no real offense being ran and there were too many possessions to count where the ball never crossed the three point line.

All in all we have some dudes but coach is going to have to bring his A game to figure out the right rotations.

Anyone else think Chandler Turner deserves a lot more time than he got tonight??

From my view I'm hesitant to say any of the backups deserve more time. Yeah we're never going to play those "all bench guy" lineups in actual games but they got absolutely DESTROYED tonight. Dunno if anybody has +/- but it has to be abysmal for the second unit. They were brutal on both ends of the floor.

Matheny was outstanding. Diggs was good diggs. Plowden didn't have much on offense but had about 4-5 blocks. Mills looked good.

Reese reminds me of a shorter Wiggins. Got some boards and does some good things but not a great finisher and some really awful looking attempts when they wanted to dump it to him in the post and just watch him work.

Curtis and Gordon both had some good moments when playing with other rotation guys, but they also both had some out of control crazy turnovers. Gordon, in particular,hit some big shots in OT.

O'Neal has some nice touch around the rim (really about the only guy that could score in the second unit). But boy that is NOT a D1 body at all. He looked completely gassed 2 mins in every time he saw the floor.

Guys like cam young, Turner, and Etim all had maybe a moment or two where I said nice play, but on the whole they struggled.

Overall I don't like to draw too many conclusions from the exhibitions. We played some bizarre lineups and guys that won't see the floor in real games. Still, can't help but be disappointed that we needed our top 6-7 to play the entire last 5 and OT to eek out a win against a D2 school, and we had a hot shooting night from 3. We got away with murder for much of the crunch time as well.

As somebody else said, Hugers coaching is still just so obvious no matter who the players are. Awful offensive sets, especially against zones. Relying completely on jacking up 3s. And a whole lot of bad defense to go with it.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to go since I have play volleyball on Thursdays. (I plan around basketball and Thursday is usually not game days)

I appreciate the analysis hammb and hoping a few more people went and can give their opinions. Not surprised we still can't beat a zone. Did matiss or fields play at all? Going to be tough to get Turner more minutes once fields is playing.

Can't wait to go back to the stroh next Friday

Also what about fulcher? I figured he would be a solid 4th option

Fulcher, Fields and Matiss did not play.

fanatic13 wrote: ↑Thu Nov 04, 2021 11:27 pm Also what about fulcher? I figured he would be a solid 4th option

Where do you play volleyball?

Just doing some Box score scouting: https://bgsufalcons.com/sports/mens-bas ... core/11539

Rotation is probably
1 Metheny
2 Fields
3 Diggs
4 Plowden
5 Reece

Then you have 4 guards vying for time in order based on expected minutes Fulcher-Mills-Gordon-Curtis, with Fulcher being a huge wild card.

Then the Bigs in order as well O'Neal-Turner-Young-Etim-Mattis, with Matiss being a huge wild card

Fascinating team. Somebody is going to not be very happy with their minutes.

Globetrotter wrote: ↑Fri Nov 05, 2021 9:48 am Just doing some Box score scouting: https://bgsufalcons.com/sports/mens-bas ... core/11539

Rotation is probably
1 Metheny
2 Fields
3 Diggs
4 Plowden
5 Reece

Then you have 4 guards vying for time in order based on expected minutes Fulcher-Mills-Gordon-Curtis, with Fulcher being a huge wild card.

Then the Bigs in order as well O'Neal-Turner-Young-Etim-Mattis, with Matiss being a huge wild card

Fascinating team. Somebody is going to not be very happy with their minutes.

I'd rather have so much depth that someone isn't happy with their minutes rather than having to run people out for 40 minutes a game, like we've had to do at points in the past. I think your starting 5 looks great. I'd guess the "second team" would probably be something like Fulcher, Mills, Turner, O'Neal and Young. Then remaining minutes and spells going to Gordon, Curtis and Matiss. I don't think Etim will play this season, at least enough to remove his redshirt.

BillyLP wrote: ↑Fri Nov 05, 2021 10:09 am

Globetrotter wrote: ↑Fri Nov 05, 2021 9:48 am Just doing some Box score scouting: https://bgsufalcons.com/sports/mens-bas ... core/11539

Rotation is probably
1 Metheny
2 Fields
3 Diggs
4 Plowden
5 Reece

Then you have 4 guards vying for time in order based on expected minutes Fulcher-Mills-Gordon-Curtis, with Fulcher being a huge wild card.

Then the Bigs in order as well O'Neal-Turner-Young-Etim-Mattis, with Matiss being a huge wild card

Fascinating team. Somebody is going to not be very happy with their minutes.

I'd rather have so much depth that someone isn't happy with their minutes rather than having to run people out for 40 minutes a game, like we've had to do at points in the past. I think your starting 5 looks great. I'd guess the "second team" would probably be something like Fulcher, Mills, Turner, O'Neal and Young. Then remaining minutes and spells going to Gordon, Curtis and Matiss. I don't think Etim will play this season, at least enough to remove his redshirt.

Great point.

Nothing like getting some free basketball to open back up the Stroh to the fans. With so many new players I think this team could be up and down all season. Hopefully they can get everything right come MAC play.

Fairmont St. played a great game and their best player is easily a MAC level player surrounded by a bunch of really good shooters and two Derek Koch like bigs. They ran 3 plays all game that allowed them to get a lot of open looks. The ability for our guards to get screened was frustrating and had Huger visually upset.

Our offensive play calling is still nonexistent and will rely on Metheny, Diggs and Plowden to hoist contested shots with 5 seconds or less on the shot clock like it has been for the last 6 years. We did pick up full court in this game and the exhibition quite a bit so I wonder if we are going to rely on depth and turnovers to help offensively.

The back court looked crowded and that is without Fields and Fulcher suited up. When they come back I have no idea how they keep everyone happy. If Gordon can buy into the Laster role and come in fresh and dominate other teams second units and finish the game he could easily be a 6th man of the year type player.

Looking forward to watching this team grow and build throughout the season.

I'm not so certain Fields or Fulcher play over the Mills that played last night. Defensively he wasn't good, but we haven't seen either of our returning guards consistently score at all. Both have had spurts, then they go games where they can't score at all. If Mills last night was a highlight then he'll be competing for minutes, but if he can give us some decent shooting and 10ppg every game then he's likely ahead of those returners. I haven't seen enough of him at this point to really know.

I see a whole lot of guys on this team who might be worthwhile contributors, but I still don't know how the minutes will shake out. I have little confidence in Fulcher or Fields to be consistently good players, and both Gordon & Curtis had some struggles last night. All of them look like they're good enough to see some minutes in the MAC, but I don't know how you roll through 6 guards. I suppose it is certainly better than not having enough, but I foresee a lot of games cycling through the back 4 (5 if Mills is also not a consistent player) hoping to find which one is hot on a given day. I'm not a particular fan of that either.

My prediction for the season hasn't changed. I see a team full of MAC capable talent, but not a lot of All MAC players. More than good enough to be middle of the pack, this is a group that with good coaching could elevate above the level of its talent. With Huger I expect middle of the road and an early round exit. The one thing that can elevate us beyond that ceiling (to me) is if Matheny becomes a true all-MAC star. I just don't see how these Huger teams can win without some individual player becoming a "do anything" superstar, there are simply way too many possessions where we rely on somebody doing something on their own.