WV Gameday!

[Diemilkweed]

Lightfoot, Curtis, Agee, Towns and O'Neal

The only players to hit more than 1 shot.

Make that the starting 5.

And for god's sake, stop playing Matheney at all.

You can't play Towns-Agee and O'Neal together. They couldn't guard anyone.

Does it matter if nobody can score anyway?

[Falcon]

A few thoughts after watching the game last night (both good and bad).

THE BAD:
1. Offense looked bad. It looks rushed and terrible. I actually think the team got a lot of open shots but missed all of them. For what it’s worth, WVU pressured beyond belief and I can’t recall any MAC teams playing that type of defense.

2. Felt and McCombs did not play. Since felt had his warm up pants on the whole time I’m guessing he is hurt. We all know BG is notorious for not giving us the information we want. My biggest pet peeve!

3. Metheny couldn’t hit anything. There was a lot of high hopes for him and Fulcher after they made all rookie team. Fulcher is no longer here and Metheny hasn’t lived up to his… dare I say… “potential”.

4. Turnovers. Barf! We were throwing that ball everywhere. I will withhold judgement on this for 2 reasons. 1. WVU pressure was insane. 2. If hugers teams traditionally do one thing well it’s not turning the ball over. If turnovers are our new thing it will be an ugly season.

THE GOOD:
1. The game was really never out if reach. At least to me it felt like it was a game the whole time until the last 3-4min. Either WVU is really not good, or maybe there is hope for us?

2. Defense. Our defense was actually pretty solid for most of the game. I don’t know anything about rotations but it looked wayyyyyy better than last season. Even the zone looked okay

3. The team played hard and the guys didn’t quit. I’ve long been frustrated at Huger’s teams for inconsistently playing hard. They’ve been a roller coaster and it has always driven me nuts. Yesterday it seemed like they played hard and looked like a team. Hopefully this continues. Last season was the opposite.

Personally, I don’t feel good but I don’t feel bad. Offense has always been stagnant but if we can actually defend this year we give ourselves a chance to win some games. I think this team can win just enough to still have a coaching change after the season.

[JohnFloyd4Life]

I think Felt had knee surgery. I’m assuming he’ll be a medical redshirt.

[BillyLP]

Here are my thoughts after watching the game in person and having a day to think on it.

The overall negatives: No one played great. Shooting was horrible, ball handling was subpar, fouled too much and didn't draw enough fouls.

The overall positives: They actually passed pretty well and were constantly moving on the offensive and defensive side. Free throw shooting was fantastic. They got on the floor to fight for the 50/50 balls. All things were improvements on last year.

Thoughts on individuals:
- Samari Curtis is our best player, hands down. He was the only player who was doing well at drawing fouls. He wasn't the best at bringing the ball up the floor, but in the half-court game, I preferred it when the offense ran through him.
- Kaden Metheny has a broken shot right now. It'd possible he was in his own head playing in front of a lot of friends and family, plus the student section singled him out as the player who was booed anytime he touched the ball. Coaches pulled him aside multiple times to settle him down. His quickness makes him a value to bring the ball up the floor and he had the best passes of the night, which mostly went unconverted. I think he needs to be on the floor, but should revise his game to where he isn't shooting so much.
- O'Neal looked much better as the game went on. He isn't the quickest up the floor but does a nice job getting a body on people in the paint and moves really well under the basket. Has the best touch around the rim of anyone on the team.
- Ayers was not great. He played a lot but seemed to have several lapses defensively and offensively. I liked that he seemed to bring positive energy the whole time, but he was clearly having an off-night. He seems to have the talent to be a good MAC player, so withholding judgment.
- Agee was the biggest negative on the floor, IMO. Terrible body language, several dumb turnovers, made some passes that led to turnovers by others, and had the worst +/- on the team. He is clearly one of the most talented players on the roster, but he was so quick to turn negative that I could see it being a Myron Gordon situation again.
- Turner's offensive game just has not developed the way it should've, but he played the best defense and hustled more than anyone on the court. Bowling Green played their best when he was out there, and I think I'd like to see him be a starter. His ball handling has definitely improved, too.
- Lightfoot is legit. He should be a starter now, and I believe he will be on the MAC all-freshman team. He is quick, has an incredible handle, and is very active defensively. He was too quick to go iso-ball and took some dumb shots when he should have passed, but I'll forgive it because he was a true frosh against a Big 12 team. Very excited about his potential.
- Towns has some really nice tools and I think could be a good fit here, but he isn't there yet. I think he needs to be the ninth person is an 8-man rotation. Reminds me of freshman Wiggins where it seemed like his hands were bricks at times.
- Mills played surprisingly little and really had no impact on the game. Not sure what's going on there. I was thinking he was an improved shot away from having a real impact on the team, but it doesn't seem like that happened.
- Madani Diarra inexplicably only played 5 minutes. This guy is a tank and has great energy on the court. He definitely needs softer hands but he was fast up and down the court, can jump out of the gym, and did well at bodying up defensively. He has game changing size and I think could be a huge asset defensively in MAC play. It could be a huge miss from me, but I was really excited watching with him on the court.
- I was glad to see Etim on the court so soon after he recovered from the gunshot, but I don't think he will make a big impact on the team this year.
- Elsasser is a walk-on and mostly played like it. He did pretty well defensively, and drew an offensive foul almost as soon as he stepped on the court and had a nice hustle rebound. He also bricked a pretty open shot and let a pass go through his wickets (granted, it was a pretty errant one from Agee).

I personally think the best starting five would be Lightfoot, Curtis, Turner, Agee and O'Neal and would like to see a rotation of Metheny, Ayers, and Diarra as the main subs, with Mills and Towns playing a few spells here and there.

BUT I'm guessing the starting five will end up being Metheny, Ayers, Curtis, Agee and O'Neal with Towns, Turner, Mills and Lightfoot playing significant minutes.

I think the ceiling for this team is third in the MAC if everyone plays at their best and Huger doesn't Huger as badly as he normally Hugers. The basement is, well, the basement.

[Globetrotter]

Here are my thoughts after watching the game in person and having a day to think on it.

The overall negatives: No one played great. Shooting was horrible, ball handling was subpar, fouled too much and didn't draw enough fouls.

The overall positives: They actually passed pretty well and were constantly moving on the offensive and defensive side. Free throw shooting was fantastic. They got on the floor to fight for the 50/50 balls. All things were improvements on last year.

Thoughts on individuals:
- Samari Curtis is our best player, hands down. He was the only player who was doing well at drawing fouls. He wasn't the best at bringing the ball up the floor, but in the half-court game, I preferred it when the offense ran through him.
- Kaden Metheny has a broken shot right now. It'd possible he was in his own head playing in front of a lot of friends and family, plus the student section singled him out as the player who was booed anytime he touched the ball. Coaches pulled him aside multiple times to settle him down. His quickness makes him a value to bring the ball up the floor and he had the best passes of the night, which mostly went unconverted. I think he needs to be on the floor, but should revise his game to where he isn't shooting so much.
- O'Neal looked much better as the game went on. He isn't the quickest up the floor but does a nice job getting a body on people in the paint and moves really well under the basket. Has the best touch around the rim of anyone on the team.
- Ayers was not great. He played a lot but seemed to have several lapses defensively and offensively. I liked that he seemed to bring positive energy the whole time, but he was clearly having an off-night. He seems to have the talent to be a good MAC player, so withholding judgment.
- Agee was the biggest negative on the floor, IMO. Terrible body language, several dumb turnovers, made some passes that led to turnovers by others, and had the worst +/- on the team. He is clearly one of the most talented players on the roster, but he was so quick to turn negative that I could see it being a Myron Gordon situation again.
- Turner's offensive game just has not developed the way it should've, but he played the best defense and hustled more than anyone on the court. Bowling Green played their best when he was out there, and I think I'd like to see him be a starter. His ball handling has definitely improved, too.
- Lightfoot is legit. He should be a starter now, and I believe he will be on the MAC all-freshman team. He is quick, has an incredible handle, and is very active defensively. He was too quick to go iso-ball and took some dumb shots when he should have passed, but I'll forgive it because he was a true frosh against a Big 12 team. Very excited about his potential.
- Towns has some really nice tools and I think could be a good fit here, but he isn't there yet. I think he needs to be the ninth person is an 8-man rotation. Reminds me of freshman Wiggins where it seemed like his hands were bricks at times.
- Mills played surprisingly little and really had no impact on the game. Not sure what's going on there. I was thinking he was an improved shot away from having a real impact on the team, but it doesn't seem like that happened.
- Madani Diarra inexplicably only played 5 minutes. This guy is a tank and has great energy on the court. He definitely needs softer hands but he was fast up and down the court, can jump out of the gym, and did well at bodying up defensively. He has game changing size and I think could be a huge asset defensively in MAC play. It could be a huge miss from me, but I was really excited watching with him on the court.
- I was glad to see Etim on the court so soon after he recovered from the gunshot, but I don't think he will make a big impact on the team this year.
- Elsasser is a walk-on and mostly played like it. He did pretty well defensively, and drew an offensive foul almost as soon as he stepped on the court and had a nice hustle rebound. He also bricked a pretty open shot and let a pass go through his wickets (granted, it was a pretty errant one from Agee).

I personally think the best starting five would be Lightfoot, Curtis, Turner, Agee and O'Neal and would like to see a rotation of Metheny, Ayers, and Diarra as the main subs, with Mills and Towns playing a few spells here and there.

BUT I'm guessing the starting five will end up being Metheny, Ayers, Curtis, Agee and O'Neal with Towns, Turner, Mills and Lightfoot playing significant minutes.

I think the ceiling for this team is third in the MAC if everyone plays at their best and Huger doesn't Huger as badly as he normally Hugers. The basement is, well, the basement.

Great post