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Breakdown of Griz Roster Strengths and Weaknesses so far

CleanHOUSE

Well-known member
After the USCB game disastor Im seeing people say that it was just an off shooting night and the shots will come, but its a bit sad, because I don't think the shots will come...that's just hoping against what we've seen so far in every game. If they had any perimeter shooting or just a couple guys with a smooth strokes that when left wide open can consistently make you pay we would have hammered Pitt and probably beat Penn State. They didn't get out talented or out worked by Penn St., Penn just shot the ball better down the stretch.

When Ogi and Rori shoot you feel like its got a good chance of going in, but they aren't good shooters, more prone to go 0-5 then 2-2 from behind the arc.
Moorhead has the best 3pt shot, but he seems like a mental case at times and its streaky and might go 5-8 from 3 or go 0-9 with 2 airballs
Krisz is good kid but totally groundbound and misses lots of stuff from point blank
Pridgett has got game but so far still looks very freshman at times, and looks like he has more of a upside as a PF type than a shooter
Falls just looks overwhelmed most of the time so far, like things are moving to fast and he has to work hard just to avoid turning the ball over.
Akoh looks good, his post moves lack much subtly but he gives you the extra size the Griz needed
Eps, Spujo, Bevins...hard to say much on these guys, theyv'e looked pretty awful lol, but sample size so small have to hope that maybe one of them can develop from 3pt range, they seem to be best hope so far.
Nicholls is great so far, gets in Freshman foul trouble but best moves down low.

With all that said I was really excited about this year, because last year with Ogi, Rorie and Priggett griz had 3 of top five or six guards in the conference in one back court, they just had no size and no outside shooting. With the addition of lots of size (Akoh and Nichollas and 7 ft C) and some outside shooting in Bevins, i thought we would be a complete team this year.
But it appears we have only added depth at the PF 6'8" type position, which has had an impact being able to rotate 3 solid 6'8" PFs instead of just playing Krisz at C all game has made a big difference. So this year we are now going to enter most games saying we have and advantage or this position/area is a a strength:
+Great Defense
+Gaurd Play
+Powerfoward
However, with Kramer and Besjovichesdf 7ft C guy not seeing any time it doesn't look like we have done anything to find a true center. and we are still the team that has it's tallest guy at 6'8" and all the space above that is uncontested.
So Rori and Ogi are probably two best players in Bigsky and Ogi might be NBA guy, think how much better they would be if we had a real post prescene to draw the D in and give them more room to work on the outside and let them get closer to basket before starting their drives, not to mention having someone to dish to at the last second. Second Ogi and Rori are awesome at getting to rim as it is but last few games its been tougher because D is is just colapsing in because they have nothing to worry about, "we'll stop your drive and make you kick it out to an open shooter because he's probably going to miss."
So in conclusin I guess unless we have some shooters emerge and/or a true Center emerge, this is the same team as last year...ok a solid bit better because of better depth and scoring from PF position and Ogi and Rori and Pridgett have all improved a bit, but even so if we can shooters and/or a post presence to take a little focus of Ogi and Rori our D will keep us in every game, but it will be an up and down year because every game will be close, without shooting we won't be able to pull away/close people out and many games that, if we had just hit 3 more open shots we win by 8, we instead lose by 2 or whatever. This is a really good team, but just so lame in a the shooting department that it will be hard even for out special talent at guard and on D to propel us to much more than 18 or19 win blue collar season which is good, but I really thought/ was hoping that this team would be a team that could be in the tournament with a real chance to upset any of the 3 or 4 seeds, but if you can't shoot you're not pulling any upsets,,,Griz ain't going to grind-out and upset against bigger more physical teams (Pitt doesn't count they are awful)
But Jordan Gregory kinda developed out of nowhere so I still have hope that a couple reliable 3pt threats will emerge and this team can really take off to its full potential.
 
Good post. I agree with you on a lot of it. I'm just not a fan of having so many similar athletic type players, that can shoot the 3 but can't hit free throws (except Rorie). I also don't buy into 3 point shooting so much. What would you rather have every 10 shots?

30% 3-PT - 9 pts
45% 2-PT - 9.5 pts PLUS some potential 3 point plays.

Its clear we need a post player that can score and rebound. Even when Breunig was an undersized post, we played much better IMO because we had that inside/outside ability. And if the big can step outside, and occasionally hit a 3, then all the better. Perimeter play, with attacking the rim simply is not a good approach. Personally I am not a fan of the 3 pointer anyway, because it takes away from the game itself. The game now have guys that literally can only shoot from long distance, but cannot do any fundamentals like it a free throws.

I dont see this team being a top 3 Big Sky squad......yet.
 
I agree with everything you said but understand that there are a lot of first year guys playing their first D1 basketball. I would give them until the home games against the UC teams or even the UW game to adjust to the speed of the game. By the time they get into conference play I believe we will see what kind of team they are and see if these new players have adjusted.

I saw Bevins play a few games at NIC last year and know he can hit the 3. From the little playing time he has got this year it looks like he is rushing his shot.
 
You guys REALLY need to relax. I was at the Malibu tournament, and there was a lot to like about this team. They're not shooting well right now, that is their biggest issue and shots will either start falling or they won't. Given Ahmads previously displayed ability to shoot and how well Michael and Bobby shot down the stretch last season, I'm inclined to believe that'll improve vastly. As we get Niko and Timmy more shots, will also improve. If you paid attention at all, against a good UCSB team, Karl was very impressive in his time and gets better every game, except at the free throw line. When Akoh isn't in foul trouble and gets the ball on the block, he's nearly unguardable with his back to the basket. This team has nice upside still and has quite a few new kids to work in, and whether good or bad, this team will look a lot different in 3 weeks.

Take a deep breath

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casewinter13 said:
You guys REALLY need to relax. I was at the Malibu tournament, and there was a lot to like about this team. They're not shooting well right now, that is their biggest issue and shots will either start falling or they won't. Given Ahmads previously displayed ability to shoot and how well Michael and Bobby shot down the stretch last season, I'm inclined to believe that'll improve vastly. As we get Niko and Timmy more shots, will also improve. If you paid attention at all, against a good UCSB team, Karl was very impressive in his time and gets better every game, except at the free throw line. When Akoh isn't in foul trouble and gets the ball on the block, he's nearly unguardable with his back to the basket. This team has nice upside still and has quite a few new kids to work in, and whether good or bad, this team will look a lot different in 3 weeks.

Take a deep breath

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I would currently rank them 5th in the Big Sky, but obviously yes, they can improve. A lot of good teams this year at the top.
 
With six games under their belts (roughly one-fifth of the season) ... this version of the Griz can't shoot worth a damn.

They are #196 in field-goal percentage (44.5%, current NCAA stats) out of 351. That's actually better than I expected, based on the game-by-game stats ... but it's still twenty spots worse than the median value. They are horrible on treys: #314 at 28.7% (i.e. only 37 teams worse than they are.) They suck even worse from the free-throw line: #333 at 64.5%. That all translates into #210 in scoring offense, at 73.3 ppg.

They've won games only because they are okay in scoring defense: #165 at 71.2 ppg.

I like the team's effort, with plenty of steals and hard work on the boards. But if they don't improve their shooting, pretty much across the board, they aren't going to do diddly-squat when the games get serious. The good news: Shooting is something that can be improved with practice and some coaching.
 
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