1981 grad

I went to the link on espn 3 and could not find it listed for 730. It is now listed as an 8:00 P.M. game. The woman's game must have run over.

There were not many assist yesterday because we have guards that can beat their men off the dribble and score. Something we were sorely lacking last year. Nyles had at least 2 drives that he converted. This year we are dribbling north and south, not just east and west. With Tree out of the middle, it opens up the lane. I thought we missed a lot of open shots off passes, therefore the assist were down. I would love to see more off the ball movement but it looks like this year we will our guards taking the ball to the glass. If they can finish, it will work.

Biggest change from last year is this team won a game from the foul line and shot 81% while South Carolina shot 55%. Evans had a solid game shooting 4 of 6 with 5 rebounds and 2 steals. He had some great drives and finishes to the basket. I would like him to learn to take some easy jump shots. He does not have to take 3 pointers every time he shoots. Pat looks very solid in the post. He did not drop any passes and had only 2 turnovers. I think it is essential that we play with only one post player. Pat is much better when he has the whole lane to operate. He can drive to the left and use his drop step moves. I believe that it why he is more effective. Without Big Dog and Tree clogging the lane with their defensive players, it is much more difficult to double and triple team Pat. Kwon is not a post up player and this keeps the lane open for our guards. Even in the second half at Miami, Pat had open shots but they were not dropping. I really thought that McAdams would have a solid tournament. He was rebounding well in Akron and seemed to be doing more that just standing on the wing. I do not like our offense where Kretzer and McAdams are wing players to shoot the 3 ball but that seems to be their role. Kretzer was at his best when Miami went to a zone and they left him wide open for the 3 ball. After he made a couple they came out of the zone. I thought Kwan is much improved from last year. He was perfect from the line and made 2 foul shots to seal the game. (Also something different from last year). The only time he hurt us was in the second half of the Miami game where he forced a three, took a bad 2, and then lost his man on defense who sunk a 3. Their 5 point lead quickly went to 10 point lead. He has a great deal of potential and could be a beast the next 2 years if he gets stronger and learns to slash to the basket.

Tree's minutes had to go somewhere and it is great to see Kwan and Pat step up. I read that Kwan's family made the trip. How exciting for them to watch their son have a career game against a name opponent. I hope that their contributions continue and we can beat Miami tomorrow.

When Pat first starting playing with Akron he was very aggressive offensively and had a great drop step move. The refs then started calling him for traveling and the aggressiveness stopped. He was more hesitant when he got the ball. With Tree gone I think Pat will get a lot more touches. When he makes quick decisions he seems to score. When he holds onto the ball for a long time is when he gets into trouble. He also needs to get better hands since I have seen him drop a lot of passes through the years. Although he fouled out last game, a couple of the calls were terrible. Pat will need to step up as will all of the other players if we are to have a winning season.

Unfortunately, our team does not take many short jumpers. I think this is a problem. He always passes to a player for a three ball. We should be able to get some layups when Tree gets a triple team.

I do not share the optimism of everyone on the board. When Tree was double and triple teamed he had difficulty finding the open man and lost the ball on more than one occasion. I couple of times he was able to drive to the basket and score even with the double and triple team. This will not happen against better competition. Last year he got frustrated with the double and triple team. I hope it does not happen this year. Our offense seems to be built on one on one down low and perimeter passing. If our wing players are hot it works. If we hit a cold spell we will struggle. Our offense is also very predictable. When the player swings around the double pick their players just cut in from of our player and stole the ball in the second half at least 2 times. There is not question that our guards are vastly improved over last year. Noah runs the floor well and anticipates well on defense. He had a great drive to the basket and great full length pass as an assist for an easy basket. I thought Kwan played ok but nothing special. His first 2 wide open shots were 3 pointers that barely drew rim. His 2 made 3 pointers were at the end of the game when we were up big time. He had some nice defense in the second half but I do not believe he is physical enough when we play tough competition. I hope he proves me wrong. I will be very surprised if we do well when we get a dose of tough competition but I believe it will help us prepare for the MAC.

With Harney and Bentacourt leaving, there seems to be a trend of players not completing their 4 years of eligibility at school. I have followed the program for many years and it seemed that in the past players who did not improve their game would stay with the team and take a role as a bench player. Akron always recruited some big guys with limited athletic ability but they would stay with the program and complete their degree. The question would always be would the coach start the player on senior night. Now, it seems if the player does not get playing time they transfer out of the program and go to another school. I know Alex and Harney left for different reasons but they did not earn their degree. I cannot recall their names, but I would think we have had about a dozen recruits not graduate within the past 5 years.

I know this is a new season but had flashbacks to last season: Scored only one basket in the first 10 minutes Nyles Evans missing wide left, wide right, whatever. (I should not pick on him since everyone shot horribly) Our guards taking long threes and not getting close to scoring. Tree getting frustrated I know this was our first game but everyone in the Jar was expecting a better team. The only positive that I saw was our offensive rebounding. Our guards had some nice drives to the basket in the second half but I believe we had worn them out by that time. I did not see anyone really stand out last night.