Tiffin (11/5)

[mbenecke]

Early in the 2nd half, Turner hits a three and Mattos gets another block.

[mbenecke]

I've been following election results on TV (not a political statement, I promise) so I haven't been following super closely in the 2nd half. At the under 12, BG leads 63-46.

Todd Walker made the remark that it looks like BG is playing at half speed while Tiffin is still playing hard.

[mbenecke]

Another block by Mattos.

[mbenecke]

Under 4 minutes left in the 2nd half, BG leads 85-61. Time to bring it home, boys.

[Diemilkweed]

Was out and about - got turned in with a little under 5 minutes left.

Just in time to see a Tiffin player blow by Sierra for a layup.

He looked ... plodding.

Does he have the speed of a 7 footer in a 6-7 body? Or was that an anomaly?

[mbenecke]

Was out and about - got turned in with a little under 5 minutes left.

Just in time to see a Tiffin player blow by Sierra for a layup.

He looked ... plodding.

Does he have the speed of a 7 footer in a 6-7 body? Or was that an anomaly?

Probably a mix of both. Lol. He's got some athlete in him, but it's inconsistent. Like I mentioned earlier, it looks like we're playing at half speed in the second half.

[Diemilkweed]

OK - with a big lead against a not-challenging opponent, I can take that.

Liking the energy from these freshman on the court late in the game.

[mbenecke]

This one's over. BG wins 94-73.

[mbenecke]

Turner finishes with 20 points and 6 boards.

Plowden goes 16 points, 12 boards, 3 assists.

Frye had 13 points, 6 boards, 3 assists.

Mattos had 9 points and added an important 15 rebounds and 3 blocks.

Diggs added 12 points off the bench.

[Falconfreak90]

Always good to get a win...no matter the opponent. On to the next one.

[Globetrotter]

Would love to hear some thoughts on Turner2, Mattos, Mattis and Zeigler.

[mbenecke]

Chandler Turner looks alright in the limited amount of playing time he's gotten. It seems like he won't be heavily used this year, though. I'd like to see more from him to make an accurate evaluation.

I like Mattos but I also think he has a ways to go. He's slow and doesn't really jump out of the gym, but he does work hard. He is still very raw, and I think he'll grow a lot this year with more playing time. He needs to work on consistency. I did like that he had 15 boards last night, though.

Matiss needs more reps, too. He's got a gorgeous shooting stroke, but he looks uncomfortable if he's not catching and firing. He needs to work on being more confident when putting the ball on the floor.

Zeigler looks like an energetic freshman. It's possible he'll fill the role that Caleb Fields played last year, being an energy guy off the bench that plays hard on both ends.

[footballguy51]

Mattos actually looked pretty decent. I would say he looks significantly better than last year. I know he didn't play much last year, but his playing time last night looked more comfortable and more natural than the playing time he got last year. He needs to work on his touch around the rim, but then again the entire team needs to work on actually making layups.

Mattis looks like he's finally healthy. I know he missed the entire season two years ago (?). Last year he looked cautious as if he didn't want to injure himself again. Last night he was active on the floor. He needs to work on the 3-ball or else he's just a tall guy down low--we have enough players like that.

Zeigler looked good but you could tell it's his first year. He seemed out of position on defense which caused him to rack up unnecessary fouls. He's got talent; he just needs time to mature. Once Fields is back, I'm sure he'll be coming off the bench and things should get better.

Chandler Turner is the same story. You can tell it's his first year. His defense seemed a little better than Zeigler, but Turner wasn't usually playing against the #1's. He's athletic for sure. He reminds me of Lillard, for better or worse. I don't know, it's hard to tell from the limited minutes he got last night.

All in all, I think the team has some good potential. Losing Wiggins will be tough because, as much as people ragged on him, he became a huge part of our success last season. Mattos has some big shoes to fill and he's not there...yet. However, where we lost a bit at center for now, I feel we've gained in other areas. Frye, JTurner, and Plowden have all gotten better. Mattis looks more confident. Laster looks to have matured into his role very well.

The player I wasn't impressed by was Sierra. Maybe that's because there's been talk on here of him being the person that should be playing the 5, but he didn't show me anything last night that proved he belonged in the starting rotation. He looked overmatched defensively by the Tiffin players, and as a Senior I'd expect him to actually make his free throws. I'd be half-tempted to get Swingle or Gadson playing the back-up minutes at 5. I know Gadson is hurt, but what's the story with Swingle? The kid looks HUGE and I want to see him on the court.

[hammb]

Mattos actually looked pretty decent. I would say he looks significantly better than last year. I know he didn't play much last year, but his playing time last night looked more comfortable and more natural than the playing time he got last year. He needs to work on his touch around the rim, but then again the entire team needs to work on actually making layups.

Mattis looks like he's finally healthy. I know he missed the entire season two years ago (?). Last year he looked cautious as if he didn't want to injure himself again. Last night he was active on the floor. He needs to work on the 3-ball or else he's just a tall guy down low--we have enough players like that.

Zeigler looked good but you could tell it's his first year. He seemed out of position on defense which caused him to rack up unnecessary fouls. He's got talent; he just needs time to mature. Once Fields is back, I'm sure he'll be coming off the bench and things should get better.

Chandler Turner is the same story. You can tell it's his first year. His defense seemed a little better than Zeigler, but Turner wasn't usually playing against the #1's. He's athletic for sure. He reminds me of Lillard, for better or worse. I don't know, it's hard to tell from the limited minutes he got last night.

All in all, I think the team has some good potential. Losing Wiggins will be tough because, as much as people ragged on him, he became a huge part of our success last season. Mattos has some big shoes to fill and he's not there...yet. However, where we lost a bit at center for now, I feel we've gained in other areas. Frye, JTurner, and Plowden have all gotten better. Mattis looks more confident. Laster looks to have matured into his role very well.

The player I wasn't impressed by was Sierra. Maybe that's because there's been talk on here of him being the person that should be playing the 5, but he didn't show me anything last night that proved he belonged in the starting rotation. He looked overmatched defensively by the Tiffin players, and as a Senior I'd expect him to actually make his free throws. I'd be half-tempted to get Swingle or Gadson playing the back-up minutes at 5. I know Gadson is hurt, but what's the story with Swingle? The kid looks HUGE and I want to see him on the court.

If the NCAA approves Swingle's waiver (highly questionable given our history at BG) he'll be playing the bulk of the minutes at the 5.

Personally I find it tough to draw many conclusions good or bad from these games against Tiffin, etc. The level of competition is so bad.

Mattos was completely awful for the first 5 minutes of the game. After that he played OK. Of course it's against guys that were 4+" smaller than him. I still think he's a major liability on both ends of the court. But if we cannot find a way for our smaller guys to get rebounds to make up for the lack of size we're probably going to be stuck with him playing major minutes. Personally I think this will be our achilles heel this year.

Agreed on Sierra. He was not good last night. I wasn't real impressed by him last year, and he lost a ton of weight in the offseason. What I see now is a guy that still isn't exactly quick for his size, but is also too light to play inside.

I don't know that we're going to get much meaningful at all from Ziegler or Turner this year. Both look like they have some athleticism and potential, but they're not yet ready to play major roles on a MAC contender. Mattis, I can't figure out. Supposed to be a shooter; his shot looks great; but then it never goes in...*shrug* If he's not a threat deep I don't see his role either. He's not going to guard anybody, really.

What I see for this year's team is the polar opposite of last year. Last year depth was our greatest attribute; we had 6 guys that could, on any given day, give you 20+ points. On this year's squad I'm afraid only Trey Diggs will give us much bench scoring, and that's with one starter I also don't expect to contribute much at all. The top of our roster should be the best in the MAC, but we're not deep at all. If Swingle or Gadsen can't play, I don't think we have a single 5 on the roster. At PF I'm not sure where Uju's minutes go, I guess to Sierra, but I'm not sure he's a guy you want playing 20mpg either.

In reality this team is going as far as Turner/Frye/Plowden can take them. Fields & Laster give us great guard depth, and Diggs should easily pick up the minutes Lillard played last year. We're really, really thin at PF/C though.

[mbenecke]

Swingle still hasn't received word on his waiver. I think it's ridiculous that the NCAA has kept him in limbo this long. There's no reason to not have a yes or no answer by the start of the season. I don't think he'll get the waiver, but it would be nice if they could do their job and figure this out BEFORE the season so we knew what pieces would be available for us.