My thoughts

[cheypoke]

I went to both games yesterday. First, Pepperdine is pretty darn good. They are quick and athletic and their zone defense is excellent. Monument kept in that game because they have some good outside shooting. But when they cooled off at the end, the game slipped away. We will have NO way to break that zone today.
As for the Pokes game......yikes. Dermody was a disaster. Not only was he shooting airballs from the arch, but quite a few of the defensive breakdowns were his. AJ tried hard. He has good energy, but his shooting is atrocious as well. Then when he decided to take over, every time he got the ball he drove to basket. He wasnt successfull and in the meantime everyone else on the team seemed to just quit and watch.
Luster is fun to watch, but EVERYONE out there knows he wont shoot the ball. He stands at the arch and they dont even cover him. Thiam had a good game. He works, and has imporved skills.

Sylla is improving and has some good moves. But he is wasted. Why dont we post him up , feed him and let him try some turn-arounds or hooks? We have superiour highth and athleticism than everyone we've played but we dont take advantage of it.

Defensively, I like what we do on the press and in the backcourt, but underneath we are losing guys and allowing easy layups and backdoor plays. It is totally embarassing that we have lost all advantage of playing in our own arena at 7200 feet.

 

[bladerunnr]

I was at the DU game and my impressions are a little different. First, Syla is worthless. He catches the ball in the post and tries to dribble it. Of course, he lost it at least 3 times in the du game. He is painfully slow. Waddell is not a post up player. So we have no one to post up.

You're right about Luster. He will not shoot the outside shot. Jackson will occasionally huck one up and so will Davis, but we have no perimeter threats. I thought Manzano was going to be our next Ogirri? He hardly plays. What is the scoop on him?

It seems like we have a bunch of 2 guards who can't shoot and are'nt really point guards either. We don't really have any strong rebounders other than Waddell. I don't understand the make up of this team. Someone explain to me where the outside shooting and the rebounding are going to come from.

 

[Poke Around]

Just exactly why is Luster fun to watch? He is a none factor offensively, dribbles around with no purpose gets in the middle of the lane, finds himself in midair and then throws some off-balance pass.

He contributes exactly nothing to the game and isn't even a factor on defense.

Pokes will be humiliated in the MWC if we try and play him at point guard.