Up Next: Southern Illinois

[hoopfan]

I try to be positive, but we're going to lose a lot of games if we can't figure any offense outside of Bennett. There has to be a point where we don't look to him so often. He will keep getting doubled, and when he does 90% of the time it feels like it's an ugly shot or a turnover. We just can't continue to rely on him so much if we want to be successful. Need to focus on ball movement and our guards penetrating, imo.

It's hard to run your offense through someone who cannot pass. Bennett has 4 assists this year compared to 35 TO's. Last year, he had 13 assists total for the year, but 67 TO's. Over his last 42 games, he has 17 assists to 102 TO's. Klint and Bennett combined this year have 62 TO's to only 30 assists. You would expect the turnover issues to be with the young backcourt, but they have taken better care of the ball than the senior leadership. For comparison, Juwan is the primary ball handler and has played 50 more minutes than Bennett and only has 25 TO's. Last night the team was better with Phyfe in the game. Bennett isn't a threat to step out to 15 feet and hit a jump shot so his guy is always in the lane. The starting backcourt is 29% from 3 this year. They need to get their points going to the rim and that is hard to do when you have a big clogging up the lane. The high ball screen isn't really a threat when the guards aren't shooting well. Bennett's man doesn't have to hedge and can stand in the lane taking away penetration and the guard's defender can go under the screen and dare us to shoot. Klint is shooting 30% on the year from 3 and isn't really a reliable pick and pop option. Take away the UT-A game and he is 21% on the year. This season isn't over by any means, but it would be great to see Phyfe's minutes dramatically increase and more 4 guard lineups to try and get to the rim and the foul line.

[PantherAlum 2008]

It's hard to run your offense through someone who cannot pass. Bennett has 4 assists this year compared to 35 TO's. Last year, he had 13 assists total for the year, but 67 TO's. Over his last 42 games, he has 17 assists to 102 TO's. Klint and Bennett combined this year have 62 TO's to only 30 assists. You would expect the turnover issues to be with the young backcourt, but they have taken better care of the ball than the senior leadership. For comparison, Juwan is the primary ball handler and has played 50 more minutes than Bennett and only has 25 TO's. Last night the team was better with Phyfe in the game. Bennett isn't a threat to step out to 15 feet and hit a jump shot so his guy is always in the lane. The starting backcourt is 29% from 3 this year. They need to get their points going to the rim and that is hard to do when you have a big clogging up the lane. The high ball screen isn't really a threat when the guards aren't shooting well. Bennett's man doesn't have to hedge and can stand in the lane taking away penetration and the guard's defender can go under the screen and dare us to shoot. Klint is shooting 30% on the year from 3 and isn't really a reliable pick and pop option. Take away the UT-A game and he is 21% on the year. This season isn't over by any means, but it would be great to see Phyfe's minutes dramatically increase and more 4 guard lineups to try and get to the rim and the foul line.

Bold points are correct. Even if Juwan or whoever gets past their defender, there is always Bennett's defender in the lane waiting for them because Bennett is unable to be anywhere but right under the basket.

I am impressed with this teams defense this year so far, but we so desperately need an entirely new game plan offensively. Nobody on this team or last year's team is able to create their own shot. Even Jeremy wasn't able to do this enough. Prior to that we had Wes and Deon who were able to make things happen, and of course Tuttle inside. With how we run things offensively, this team NEEDS someone who can create, if we don't have that, this is the outcome. Things need to be changed.

[PantherObserver]

One of Jake's biggest weaknesses has always been that he has this blind loyalty to seniors and continues to let them play lots of minutes even if they don't deserve them. Koch and Carlson come to mind here.

Carlson has regressed so much since it looked like he was having a coming out party in the NCAA Tournament two years ago. Bennett is Bennett. Same errors, year after year, which have been mentioned non stop in this post. Unable to pass, handle the double team, or really have any ball security in the post. This loss is on them. I agree with being excited for Bennett to graduate. His deficiencies and seemingly grand fathered in minutes and starting spot really hamper this team and their growth.

McDonnell showed a lot of promise in the past and has more practice, years in the system under his belt now. Would love to see what he could do. Phyfe shows more promise as a freshman than I've ever seen from Koch.

[uni1988]

So... are we saying it's time to move on from our seniors and give more playing time to Austin and Justin. I'm not a big fan of Klint. I know he has worked hard on his game, but I don't think he is getting better. Bennett on the other hand I think we should maybe give more time. I believe in Coach Jake... he will fix this mess.

[BCPanther]

We can't just, out of nowhere, start playing kids that haven't played. That's a recipe for disaster.

I do think we'll start seeing Zay at the 4 with Klint at the 5 more than we have.

[DownGoesKansas]

We can't just, out of nowhere, start playing kids that haven't played. That's a recipe for disaster.

I do think we'll start seeing Zay at the 4 with Klint at the 5 more than we have.

Isaiah has shown next to nothing on offense. I think he needs less minutes instead of more and at a different position. I am all for getting Phyfe as many minutes as possible though. I don't know what you do with Koch, he does so many very good things he just has the lowest basketball IQ I have possibly ever seen and games like yesterday its devastating.

I am sick of having players who cant make shots play. (Not being able to shoot is by far my biggest pet peeve with basketball). Wyatt (and maybe Spencer) needs to start and Hunter needs to play more. His D is obviously not on Juwans level but at some point you have to score. I had been hopeful McDermott a proven shooter would be able to play, but he got a chance and immediately left a shooter wide open. (shrug)

But I do get your Brown thoughts. Have we missed on so many recruits that Klint has to play 40 mins a game, especially games when he is doing nothing?

Oh UNI basketball. Why must you do this to us....

[UNIGrainer]

Sure, they were not very good last night to be sure. But I am not going to blame yesterday's debacle squarely on Klint and Ben. We are at our best when we don't need to completely depend on them, and yesterday we got next to nothing from our guards. At some point in the game, you have to make an open shot. We had plenty of opportunities and they just wouldn't fall. Seems like we have a handful of games every year where any shot that isn't a layup has a 90% chance of clanging off the iron and yesterday was one of those days. If they know our only option is to give it to Ben or Klint and everyone else just stands around and makes no effort to create a good shot, that is pretty easy to defend.

As bad as Koch and Carlson were, if Brown/McCloud/Pickford had played like the guys we saw in the Bahamas, yesterday would have been an entirely different game.

I guess my point is that it was a team effort last night. Perhaps it will be like 14-15 where a turd in the opener will wake us up. Or perhaps it will be like the last two years where we just don't show up in January. We'll see.

Whats the word on Haldeman? Is he out for an extended amount of time? His shooting ability is pretty much exactly what we were missing last night.

[BCPanther]

Whats the word on Haldeman? Is he out for an extended amount of time? His shooting ability is pretty much exactly what we were missing last night.

As a guy with chronic back issues and a nasty surgery in my past, watching him walk last night was pretty painful. Granted, I'm not a Division I athlete, but I can't imagine that resolves itself in two days with a 4 hour bus ride included.

[sevelev711]

Whats the word on Haldeman? Is he out for an extended amount of time? His shooting ability is pretty much exactly what we were missing last night.

Might miss the Bradley game, bust should be back in time for Mizzou State

[run&blade]

Ouch on Koch’s TO & Assit numbers. That is brutal.

[hoopfan]

So... are we saying it's time to move on from our seniors and give more playing time to Austin and Justin. I'm not a big fan of Klint. I know he has worked hard on his game, but I don't think he is getting better. Bennett on the other hand I think we should maybe give more time. I believe in Coach Jake... he will fix this mess.

I don't think anyone is saying to stick them both at the end of the bench and forget about them. They both deserve minutes on this team, but maybe not 40 and 25 per night. My biggest issue is that the game plan is typically to pound the ball inside. Unfortunately, you never know what Bennett is going to show up. Is it the guy who went for 30 against a potential 1st round draft pick and UNLV or the guy who scored 3 points the next night out against UT-A? Is it the guy who went for 26 against a top-10 Xavier team or the guy who went for 5 points last night against a team he should have dominated? I just don't know what more time is going to show with Bennett. The high points are pretty high, but the low points completely derail the game plan and seem to happen far too frequently.

Like I said in an earlier post, the season definitely isn't over and I think Jake can pull some strings to make this all work. Losses like last night though really hurt.

[unifan]

The good thing is that I don’t see a lot of Valley teams having a completely up or down season (AKA no clear-cut favorite). We’ll be alright, but who’s going to be the ones to step up? Two years ago when we had a rough start to Valley play, those seniors got together and stepped up to make something happen. Who can/will that be with this group?

[PantherAlum 2008]

Sure, they were not very good last night to be sure. But I am not going to blame yesterday's debacle squarely on Klint and Ben. We are at our best when we don't need to completely depend on them, and yesterday we got next to nothing from our guards. At some point in the game, you have to make an open shot. We had plenty of opportunities and they just wouldn't fall. Seems like we have a handful of games every year where any shot that isn't a layup has a 90% chance of clanging off the iron and yesterday was one of those days. If they know our only option is to give it to Ben or Klint and everyone else just stands around and makes no effort to create a good shot, that is pretty easy to defend.

As bad as Koch and Carlson were, if Brown/McCloud/Pickford had played like the guys we saw in the Bahamas, yesterday would have been an entirely different game.

I guess my point is that it was a team effort last night. Perhaps it will be like 14-15 where a turd in the opener will wake us up. Or perhaps it will be like the last two years where we just don't show up in January. We'll see.

Whats the word on Haldeman? Is he out for an extended amount of time? His shooting ability is pretty much exactly what we were missing last night.

Good point. What happened to these 3. Especially with McCloud, I feel like there is a noticeable regression in his offensive game since the Bahamas. I was amazed at how well he was getting to the rim and making baskets in the Bahamas compared to last year, but ever since they got back he doesn't seem to have that same spark. The talent hasn't simply gone away, it's his edge and mindset that is different, don't know why it would be though.

[sivert]

I’m not sure it’s all Bennett’s fault. Brown, Pickford, and Carlson needs to watch some Marvin Singleton. When the double team hits Bennett, one of then needs to follow the double teamer for a quick low pass. Marv probably drove with the ball once in his career. But he got a ton of layups that way.

[BCPanther]

Marv had the best post passer in the country getting him the ball...