Not an impressive win against a team ranked 354 in the NET; however, a couple of good signs in the double-double production by Cooper and the 9 assists by Darius (though his 1-9 with field goals through 4 games on the season remains a thorny problem). On the other hand, Schmidt comes into the game shooting 70% from the field and 50% from the 3-point line but scores 0 tonight, only getting one shot. Also, for some reason Scroggins hasn't even seen the court in the two games since going 6-6 with 5 rebounds a couple weeks ago. Is he injured? Finally, team 3-point shooting looked very weak once more at 30%, though the free throw percent again was consistently strong at 86%.
The guy at Lindenwood has recruited a couple of nice players who are good at going one on one, but they had really carless turnovers and horrendous free throw shooting. Their best player is a freshman. Powell still trying to figure out rotations. Definitely play Sepp more. Outside of Cooper and Darius chemistry on offense the other guys are trying to go to much one one instead of how their offense comes out of the flow. I think we have a lot more upside on offense this year, guys still just feeling each other out. This was an ok win, should have extended it to 20 plus points as we had to many empty trips in the final 7 minutes. Eastern will be a much stiffer challenge. Expect the line to be Eastern -9 ish but what do I know.
If we play like that every game, we win 7 games again this year. On the bright side, it's better than how we played against Liberty and for the most part against CSU, and it looked like the team started to get more familiar with each other as the game went on.
To say the defense borders on elite is absolutely comical. 2015 Valpo would've held this team in the 40s. THAT was elite defense. When you have no rim protector or defensive rebounding, you don't have a good defense let alone elite.
I watched most of the 2nd half and came away…underwhelmed. We’re not that athletic. We don’t play a fundamental, disciplined style. We’re kind of just…there.
Did attendance break 1000? Sure didn’t look like it on the video feed.
Other thoughts: LU just looked quicker than our guys. I also recall LU getting too many second chance points in the paint. We have no rim protector ☹️. The more time that passes from Vashil’s last two years the better he has become in my mind.
BTW, Paul is now also on BlueSky.social. His game commentary is now there, not on X. I think he is transitioning off X. The link is on his X site.
If we play like that every game, we win 7 games again this year. On the bright side, it's better than how we played against Liberty and for the most part against CSU, and it looked like the team started to get more familiar with each other as the game went on.
To say the defense borders on elite is absolutely comical. 2015 Valpo would've held this team in the 40s. THAT was elite defense. When you have no rim protector or defensive rebounding, you don't have a good defense let alone elite.
I agree on the defense. Lindenwood played themselves out of a lot of possessions and Cooper and Sepp are not going to be able to do what they did vs MVC teams as they'll be bigger/bulkier. LU had no inside presence at all. They had quick guards which kept them in it. Darius is really good running the offense but they need something out of him in the points column. All Wright was giving me the heebie jeebies handling the ball. Devon Ellis continues to impress. Shaw was more active but still can't hit from 3 and Monegro apparently should shoot from 3 and not take any layups. He missed 4 tonight.
Not an impressive win against a team ranked 354 in the NET; however, a couple of good signs in the double-double production by Cooper and the 9 assists by Darius (though his 1-9 with field goals through 4 games on the season remains a thorny problem). On the other hand, Schmidt comes into the game shooting 70% from the field and 50% from the 3-point line but scores 0 tonight, only getting one shot. Also, for some reason Scroggins hasn't even seen the court in the two games since going 6-6 with 5 rebounds a couple weeks ago. Is he injured? Finally, team 3-point shooting looked very weak once more at 30%, though the free throw percent again was consistently strong at 86%.
That is the only game Scroggins played much at all including the pre-season game.
It is good to finally see our returning players producing. Despite this I'm reducing my season best case win total to less than 15. I just don't see enough individual talent among our newcomers to justify that number. Realistically I'm thinking Roger will have to perform some coaching magic just to get us into the 13 win range. Hopeful that he can prove me wrong but I am seeing many problems which don't appear to have good answers which can consistently work.
Lindenwood, for the most part, was a drive and shoot team. They were kept out of the interior, and when they did breach, I would argue 70% of those breaches came down in contested shots. Years past there were free passes to the paint completely uncontested. If the expectation of elite is that the defense have no lapses in all 40 min of play, then I would argue you are crazy. No team, NBA or College, is going to play a perfect 40 min. Its how you adapt that makes you elite. The guys were able to adapt and shut down the offense in key moments. I would like to see more punishment on the offense from these lapses, but that will come in time. Defense was not great in the opening minutes, bnut, get this, they adapted and were able to find their grove. Bad defenses keep beating a dead horse. Good defenses have a scheme that works, but cannot adapt to change that quickly. Elite defenses have a scheme that works, and can adapt that scheme quickly to mitigate bleeding. Did I call the defense elite, no, however the defense shows key signs of elite abilities by being able to adapt quickly. They just need to be firing on all cylinders in the opening minutes.
Some key takeaways are the offense is less of a problem, but still a problem.
Ball control is also a concern, but the drivers were operating relatively effectively with the only outlier being Jeff.
As the game went on, the team found their offensive identity more and more which is pleasing. Take what you learned, and put it to use on saturday.
