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First Home Game
Topic Started: Nov 20 2015, 06:55 AM (196 Views)
reduno
Senior
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Good to be back at the Arena. Even tho very small, the crowd for a 'late' thurs night game was better than I expected...the floor seats were full and the student sections on the end court were full (well, until after the free pizza at half time).

It was good to see some young freshman play well. I liked that when the leads were cut down from 18 to 9 pts and then later from 28 to 18 that the guys found a way to get it back up. And I really like the way the young fr from Kentucky isn't afraid to shoot and even drive to the basket.

I'm still a little concerned at so many missed layups and how Kevin Hill just seems to be out of control many times but overall, they did what they were supposed to do against a lesser team.
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MidCityBuc
Junior
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Having watched and/or attended the first three games, I've come away with a few observations:

Cameron Reed is one of the better shooters we've seen come through in a while. I expect the production from behind the arc to continue as it is consistent with his track record in high school. The bench really lights up when he releases from deep which shows great confidence in his ability. He seems pretty smart, if not amazingly gifted, as far as on ball defense goes. He appears to get lost off ball, which is true for most of the team.

Other newcomers look solid and add to a roster that now goes 10 deep. Coleman Edwards has been impressive on offense and Erik Thomas appeared to gain some confidence against PCC. I also saw Thomas hit threes in warmups so a stretch 4 option could be possible for him to go along with his skill around the basket. With Thibodaux in addition as the anchor and Reed on the wing, the bench is far more capable than in years past.

I like running the three guards, Frye-Gill-Broyles, to start the game with Zeno and Hill at the forwards. I would like to see Zeno get more looks in transition and on the block. If he can get to respectable at the line he can be a real weapon. The unit is very vocal on defense, lead by Gill-Zeno-Hill, but needs to improve on rotations. Frye and Gill look to be solid options offensively again but I'd like to see Zeno and Hill do a better job clearing the paint for them, if not they should get more minutes with Edwards and Reed who can space from deep.

All in all, the overall talent level appears improved. We are getting close to a situation where we can really start judging Sless's coaching ability. Let's see if he can get this group ready to play at or near .500 in conference play and keep momentum moving forward. The offense appears to have a lot of potential but the defense must really improve. Go Privateers!
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Steve
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Administrator
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MidCityBuc,Nov 20 2015
09:07 AM
The offense appears to have a lot of potential but the defense must really improve.

It sure looks like that is what Jody Bailey was brought in to address. He's very very active in terms of defensive coaching and had the team running extensive non-shooting drills in warmups, something we haven't seen in a long time on the lakefront. Now, through two games against D1 competition it hasn't manifested itself in any results yet, but even with a reasonably veteran group it may take awhile to sink in. Hopefully before too much longer as we've already let probably the most winnable game of the D1 pre-conference slate slip by, but Tulane and probably Bradley loom as definite opportunities coming up.

Was overall more pleased with the game than I expected to be. Games like this, it's really hard to tell much of anything about your team, and while there were long stretches of sloppiness, I was happy to see a nice stretch of genuinely good basketball in the second half fueled by the new guys. Reed and Thomas both had excellent second halves. Reed can clearly shoot, it's just a matter of getting some confidence (this game should help on that front) and being able to get separation and clean looks against D1 competition as he's pretty slight.

The women won game one by 18 over LSU-Alexandria. They look a lot more skilled offensively than they used to -- I think some of that has carried over from the end of last season at least. Defensively for them as well, a long way to go.
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NSPRIVATEER
Senior
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"the student sections on the end court were full (well, until after the free pizza at half time)"

I can't blame them for leaving since I cut out at halftime also. Overall a good Home Opening Night for UNO. While you can't really tell anything from playing the type of opponent we faced in past years there were stretches in these games in past seasons that made us queasy. That was not the case last night. Also, no problem picking up my season tickets so it was all good for me. The biggest problem I have with playing these type of teams is I don't see it making your team better. They don't have to make the extra pass or the tough block out. They just overpower their opponent and play a lot of one on one.
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