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Diamond Head Classic - Oregon State


GoZips88

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Reggie has been starting at the 3 at least the past 3 games, right? ...

Reggie began starting at the 3 in the Malone exhibition game, so 6 games including last night. But in some of those games Nyles, Q, Deji and Melo did not play a combined 80 minutes, which means that Reggie was still playing some minutes at the 2. This is the first game that Nyles, Q and Deji handled all 80 guard minutes, and if all of them keep improving at the rate they have been, those three can handle the guard rotation by themselves. Reggie remains an option to backup the 2 and Melo the 1 if needed. This team has a ton of flexibility.

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Did Pat have his coming out game?

I hope so, but I don't see some sudden emergence of an all-around productive Center.

I know I've been a little rough on Pat through some bad performances this year, but I said this among friends last night:

Give me GREAT hard-nosed effort defensively, attack the rim a few times, and pull down 5 rebounds a game consistently, and I think we get all we need out of him. He may never be much of an offensive weapon, and with the talent we are putting on the floor, we probably don't ever need him to be. Big Dog appears to have far more potential as a point scorer, and the two of them rotating should do the job.

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@Zipmeister

Forsythe had a great game. His first great game in a long long time. He was motivated, active, and aggressive.

The drop off when Cheatum or Big Dog entered was very apparent. Cheatum lost his man on multiple occasions. Big Dog was too slow to guard anyone. Forsythe played great straight-up defense, and help defense. He was a difference-maker.

It will be interesting to see if Big Dog's size can compensate for his foot-speed issues vs a comparatively small, fast Cyclone team.

Cheatum just needs reps. If Harney plays in a fog again, it is to Kwan's benefit. Maybe not the Zips benefit in the short term. But getting Kwan up to speed with some increased PT will only help as we get deeper into the season.

To beat Iowa State we need Harney to contribute. This should be an up-tempo game, which plays to his strength. Attack the rim, Nick.

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@Zipmeister

Forsythe had a great game. His first great game in a long long time. He was motivated, active, and aggressive.

The drop off when Cheatum or Big Dog entered was very apparent. Cheatum lost his man on multiple occasions. Big Dog was too slow to guard anyone. Forsythe played great straight-up defense, and help defense. He was a difference-maker.

It will be interesting to see if Big Dog's size can compensate for his foot-speed issues vs a comparatively small, fast Cyclone team.

Cheatum just needs reps. If Harney plays in a fog again, it is to Kwan's benefit. Maybe not the Zips benefit in the short term. But getting Kwan up to speed with some increased PT will only help as we get deeper into the season.

To beat Iowa State we need Harney to contribute. This should be an up-tempo game, which plays to his strength. Attack the rim, Nick.

@therestoftheboard

The Captain directed the above comments to me and I think they are worth sharing with the rest of you.

GO ZIPS

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@Zipmeister, I have to admit, I did read it before you posted, please don't let the other ZN members know, thanks. :wave:

Thought you might like this link.

Your secret is safe with me.

I am going guess the photo in your link was taken before the game started.

edit: upon further investigation, the photo in your link was taken way before the start of the Zips licking of the Beavers because they are both in different clothes than they were wearing at yesterdays game.

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@Zipmeister

Forsythe had a great game. His first great game in a long long time. He was motivated, active, and aggressive.

The drop off when Cheatum or Big Dog entered was very apparent. Cheatum lost his man on multiple occasions. Big Dog was too slow to guard anyone. Forsythe played great straight-up defense, and help defense. He was a difference-maker.

It will be interesting to see if Big Dog's size can compensate for his foot-speed issues vs a comparatively small, fast Cyclone team.

Cheatum just needs reps. If Harney plays in a fog again, it is to Kwan's benefit. Maybe not the Zips benefit in the short term. But getting Kwan up to speed with some increased PT will only help as we get deeper into the season.

To beat Iowa State we need Harney to contribute. This should be an up-tempo game, which plays to his strength. Attack the rim, Nick.

I think you'll find that Big Dog has tremendous foot speed for his size. I think you need to watch him a little more.

I agree that Cheatum is going to be a needed commodity. I've been harping about this for awhile. I think he just had a few mental errors last night.

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I think you'll find that Big Dog has tremendous foot speed for his size. I think you need to watch him a little more.

I think you need to watch tape from last night's game. There is "Detroit" foot speed, and there is "Oregon State" foot speed. Big Dog couldn't handle the Oregon State quickness. Forsythe could. Tree could. There was a noticeable drop in our interior defensive presence when Big Dog entered.

I'm as big a Big Dog fan as the next guy. He has soft hands, and good (different than "quick") footwork. But he is slow. And his vertical is about 2.5 feet less than Forsythe's.

With a motivated, aggressive Forsythe the Zips can play with anyone. The same motivated, aggressive Big Dog doesn't have nearly the upside at this point in his career. Especially on defense. Especially against marquee OOC opponents.

Could Big Dog have a big offensive day today? Sure, if he makes quick decisions and is aggressive. He will have a big size advantage on any ISU defender. But he's gonna struggle to get up and down the floor.

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Coach Dambrot voted on the center issue last night by not playing Big Dog more than 2 minutes. Pat is just a lot quicker and more nimble than Big Dog, who tries to compensate by playing smart. It's a major luxury for the Zips to have two quality true centers with such different styles. During the course of the season there will be some opponents who Pat matches up against better and some where Big Dog will have an advantage.

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Coach Dambrot voted on the center issue last night by not playing Big Dog more than 2 minutes. Pat is just a lot quicker and more nimble than Big Dog, who tries to compensate by playing smart. It's a major luxury for the Zips to have two quality true centers with such different styles. During the course of the season there will be some opponents who Pat matches up against better and some where Big Dog will have an advantage.

The backup C minutes are going to depend a lot on the matchup. Against a team that runs with a bigger low post C you will probably seem more of Johnson. Against a team that runs a lot of 3 forward or 3 guard sets without a true C you will probably see more Cheathum and/or more of the 3 forward/3 guard sets that we can run. In a lot of ways we are kind of lucky to have this kind of versatility.

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The backup C minutes are going to depend a lot on the matchup. Against a team that runs with a bigger low post C you will probably seem more of Johnson. Against a team that runs a lot of 3 forward or 3 guard sets without a true C you will probably see more Cheathum and/or more of the 3 forward/3 guard sets that we can run. In a lot of ways we are kind of lucky to have this kind of versatility.

Regarding the ISU game: I think you will see a lot of Forsythe, unless he screws up or gets in foul trouble. And you probably won't see much of Cheatum unless Harney is ineffective. Like he was last night.

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Regarding the ISU game: I think you will see a lot of Forsythe, unless he screws up or gets in foul trouble. And you probably won't see much of Cheatum unless Harney is ineffective. Like he was last night.

I would agree. Pat will get all of the minutes he can handle. When Pat comes out I expect us to go without a C. You might see a few minutes of Kwan depending on the situation. I don't expect you will see much of Isaiah at all. He's going to be a liability on defense against a team like this.

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  • 4 months later...

Hard to believe their AD took THAT long to can him -- after the season ended! Did they have to get WH approval, or something??

BTW -- didn't mention since I was busy at the time, but I had an opportunity to talk for about 30 secs with the Nation's First Grandma after OSU's game vs GMU and before Akron's with ISU. She was absolutely incredulous that her son's team had lost! She didn't know who "Akron" was, and it was the first time she had ever seen his team lose a game. He should now get a decent high major assistant coaching spot...

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