GP1

My review of the sseason is we have 5-7 talenttale and 5-7 coaching.

Narrows bowl season travel plans.

Mine is the talent levetl. Talent alone should beat lent.

First Firsdrive of second half important. Good to get fg.

Finding someone better to call plays is a better answer. We still need a lot more talent. Nobody seems to want to talk about that.

Then why is our qb so average and qbour back up a turnover machine? Bowden is involved in the signaling of plays. I don't believe he doesn't have a say. The final say is his.

I'm about ready to move on from the whole thing.

This shows me how tired the team had to be. Everyone shot badly. You shoot with your legs and guide the ball with your arms and hands. No legs, no shots made. Very simple. The conditioning they got in the past week will pay dividends down the road.

Tough four game road trip. Not unusual for a team to run out of gas in the second half of the last game of a long trip. All in all, going 2-2 against power conferences on the road is a good road trip.

Sorry to hear one of the team hotels fell short of expectations. The last time I stayed there was around 7 years ago so a lot must have changed. The Courtyard across the street from the arena was really nice and newly remodeled. Two of the teams were staying there and seemed satisfied with it. Was there another team staying at your hotel or only the Zips?

Good post. I like Gaudio as well. Not as much as you, but in general, he is able to help fans understand the finer points of the game. For example, one of the teams ran a baseline back screen and scored. Gaudio was able to break down which player was responsible for rim protection in that scenario and why that breakdown resulted in a basket. He is also a good commentator for ESPNU studio shows so he can do color and studio. He is a younger and smarter version of Dick Vitale (Was Dick Vitale ever young?) before Vitale bought into his own hype and sort of became a cartoon character of himself. Frank Martin? Interesting guy. Not sure if he is a great coach or a lunatic. I'm not certain that is an either/or situation. I'm leaning towards lunatic. In SC, we hear about all of his great recruits. Not sure where they all are, but they aren't on the court. On the other hand, how many point blank shots did they miss the other night? Why no SC fans at the game? Because there are few SC basketball fans. Their home games are thinly attended. They have even fewer fans outside of Columbia. Probably a result of little success over a long period of time.

The luckiest woman in the world, Mrs. GP1, just sent me a note saying the Hurricanes just walked through her department at work on their way to the basketball court to practice. They play UNCC tomorrow. Interesting how at least two of the team who played in that tournament have games the following Tuesday after the tournament.

I totally understand, but in general, they seem to be ahead of where they normally are. Are they perfect? No, but that sort of goes back to the basketball smarts. If they can continue to do the basics of athletic competition, they are going to continue to get much better. Scoring will increase and mistakes will decrease. That's my prediction anyhow.

After this weekend, I believe Zips fans are going to be entertained by the point totals scored this season. There is still some chemistry that needs to be built, but in general the team looked very good considering the hurdle that had recently been thrown in front of them. Early season, I look for the following before I consider point totals because I think if a team can do the following early, points will easily follow: 1. Physical conditioning - I went to the CCU game a year or two ago around this time of the season and the Zips looked horribly out of shape and lost to a poor CCU team. Generally speaking, the team is in very good physical condition. 2. Organization - Generally speaking, they looked well organized and better organized this early in the season than they usually are. Players generally knew where to be, what to do and who to give the ball to. The coaching staff seems to have a firm understanding of who they want in the game, when and why. Less substitutions because I think many of the players are good at a variety of things so situational substitutions are as frequently needed. 3. Basketball Smarts - The upper classmen have pretty good instincts on the floor and seem to know what they are doing. The under classmen don't have as much, but seem ahead of where their peers were at the same age. 4. Fundamentals - We seem to do the following things well: run, catch, jump, pass, throw, rebound, etc. I know it sounds simple, but early in the season these basic things escape a lot of teams and we seem to have a grasp on the basics.

PSU Analysis

I'd be interested in hearing some reviews. Lots of places I haven't been there and maybe someone had some good experiences at some places I should be visiting.

After the Maimi game, I wanted to see Pat more decisive and he was in a way that moved the offense. Wanted to see more #4 and got it in a big way...would still like to see him starting. Wanted to see less McAdams...did he even play yesterday...oh, he started. I'm happy today with what I saw.

I never liked or disliked him in the past. What I see now is a guy who brings energy into the game and I like it alot. Not yet ready to call him a star after one good game. 6th man of the year? He should be starting and McAdams should be coming off the bench for 4-7 minutes a game until he can prove he can make some shots.

He's more than just a little out of shape. One can keep weight off while hurt by shoveling in less food.

Carolina looks like the kind of team that is scared of their coach. Martin is so unbalanced his hands shake all the time.

Player development. His physical conditioning is poor and impacts is mobility. No excuse for it.

For those of you in Charleston, any thoughts on TD Arena?

Miami hit almost 50% of their 3 point shots. I haven't been to too many college basketball games where the passing to guys positioned for 3 point shots was so good. In addition, Miami's shooters were almost always in a "ready to shoot" position with their bodies and the passes were hitting them in their torso region. Excellent fundamentals.

Good post skip. In addition, we need to hit open shots. One of the nice things about the TD Arena is it posts FG%. Ours remained relatively the same for the two halves. We aren't going to beat anyone shooting 33%. We weren't missing difficult shots either. Guys were put in a position to hit the types of shots that player should be able to hit and they didn't execute. This is D1A basketball and we need to shoot better. Miami's FG% went up in the second half and after their run to start the second half it was up at 60%. Lots of layups helped, but they still were able to move an already high number higher...sign of a team that came out prepared in the second half. Moving forward, some things need to change. First, if Reggie Mcadams can't hit open shots, or even come close for that matter, he needs to find more time on the bench. Three point shooting is his only attribute. God knows he isn't a very good defensive player. If he can't shoot better, don't play him, let alone start him. A starter shouldn't be limited to 12 minutes. KD must know he is coming up short, both literally and figuratively. Second, Pat needs to get better at the following because right now he is their best hope and all of us can always get better at something. I really like what I see out of him, but like the rest of the team, his FG% was too low yesterday. One, less dribbling in the post. A couple of dribbles are OK if you need to, but not 5-6. If a center has to dribble 5-6 times, he is either missing out on a passing opportunity or indecisive. Don't press. Second, Pat gets all of the rebounds that come his direction. Really good rebounders get those and many that don't come their direction. Development in this area is important. Third, develop a turnaround finesse shot. The Miami center was no world beater, but he had a variety of shots he could take including a nice turnaround shot. Third, bring the energy level of the team up early to start the game by shaking up the starting line up. With the loss of Tree, options are limited as I look at the roster, but one kind of stands out. #4 displays good energy. Bench Mcadams and play Deji. He may not be a world beater, but he tries hard from one end of the court to the other and can provide some senior stability. The other players can feed off of that. Right now, we don't need a streak shooter standing around the three point line and missing shots. We need higher percentage shots and a guy who could increase FG% with some quick points off of turnovers. Points off of turnovers are important in lots of sports. Develop some defensive traps that could do this for the team. Lastly, this is not an opportunity for improvement, but a concern. Every game is on video. Every team we play gets to see our games. Miami uncovered a lot of deficiencies in our game yesterday and we need to get better and get better quickly. Specifically, we had better start making wide open shots or our best player, Pat, is going to have so many defenders around him he will never get the ball or when he does, he won't be able to get a shot off. We can't just sit back and wait for the opponents to get worse.

He is the only guy who played with any energy in the second half or for the full game yesterday. Pat is good player, but the other guys are going to have to step up their games this season. It takes zero talent to try hard for two hours. It all starts there and some of the guys need to look in the mirror this morning and think about whether or not they really tried as hard as they could yesterday.