Hans8891

That was a fun game and a good momentum booster. Winthrop is a legitimate team with some big and physical athletes. We are going to struggle inside all year. We just don’t have much there, but Eli and our young guards played with a chip on their shoulders and did just enough to get us a win. Refs lost control of this one early and it got ugly physical. 65 fouls called and a boat load of free throws taken, but mostly because they let it get out of control early and never got control of the game. Not sure what is going on with the Curtis twins but we could really use their size and athleticism going into conference play. We just can’t stop an inside game at all. Kraft needs to clear his head a bit. He is a great shooter but thinking too much the last two games. He had a lot of nice looks given to him and couldn’t connect on wide open 3 looks tonight including a wide open one at the end that would have been the dagger, plus he missed two technical free throws in a row - which is not like Zack. Get him back on track and opens up the middle a little more for Eli, Greyson, and Anthony to get to the hoop - which each of them can do. Zack is a pure shooter - he will get back on track. Eli was outstanding again tonight, offensively and defensively. If we can develop anything inside, we might be competitive in the conference. Without a lot of improvement, I don’t see us in the top 3 but could potentially be in the upper half if we play like we did tonight.

I do believe we made major steps forward this year. Comparing the defense this year to last year is like night and day. I continue to believe we are headed in the right direction, regardless of a tough loss today. Tarleton is good. Defense played well enough to be in the game, in spite of losing probably our best player and being down to two freshman corners against a big play team scoring 50 points a game. Offense collapsed the second half of the year. I can’t figure out what happened to Jerry, but he was definitely not the same qb the last 6 games he was in the first y6 or 7. His decision making was bad and his accuracy was worse. Maybe getting film on him for the second half along with Isaac’s refusal to change any game plan ever was part of the difference, but he is certainly not the guy that is going to put the game on his back and go out and win a game. It would be so much fun to get a Brunsgard or Rittenhouse some time that you can hang a game on and he goes and gets it done. We just haven’t had that. With respect to Isaac, there just does not seem to be an ability to make adjustments - ever. It is ungodly predictable. He doesn’t use the weapons that we should be using, i.e. Deng and Ziebarth. 4th and inches and we absolutely have to run out of shotgun covering 5 yards and given the defense 2 seconds to react rather than just go up and get the inches we need. 4th downs we never run a play to get the first down. Instead, we call a home run play that we have not completed one of all year long - and yet continue to do so. Sawyer is clearly our best outside back, but we run him up the middle continually. Z is our best short yardage option but we run Sawyer up the middle instead. I just cant understand what he is thinking, particularly when it is shown over and over and over again it isn’t working. 4th and goal from teh 2 and we need to throw 3 times. I don’t claim to be a great football strategist, but I just don’t understand the offensive play calling. Going into next year, we need consistent qb play and better play calling to go to the next level - and a kicking game…. Happy with the move forward, but now we need to take the next step.

Using a trap defense is something you do to disrupt, not play all game long. Every game, we start with a steal or 2 but give up 30 in uncontested layups and dunks after that once they realize the low post and weak side 3 will have nobody close to them. It also gets us out of position rebounding which is partially why we are getting destroyed on the boards. The hard part is that Eli is the only player on the team that can play d on vertical penetration so solid man d is not a good option either. The others just wave as their guy goes to the rack. We need a good defensive assistant who requires Schmitty’s JYD mentality. Players need to buy into defensive toughness. That does not appear to be a point of emphasis in our program.

Oof. Eli is the only defensive player on the Court. I get that the trap we are running will give up some easy looks in exchange for an occasional steal, but good god - we play absolute matador defense on vertical penetration. Half our guys don’t even attempt to pick someone up. They had over 50 points in the paint and most of it was wide open layups. I really can’t figure out why we play a defensive scheme that puts Uhlman and Smith down low on the inbound, leaving them defending the paint. That did not work well, which can’t be too much of a surprise leaving two 6 foot guys without a lot of girth defending 6’8 to 6’10 guys down low. Offensively, we have to find a way to get some ball movement or we are in deep trouble. We dribble up top forever off the screen and if we don’t get penetration, the ball never makes it to the weak side and rotation is non-existent. We have one 3 point threat on the team and the scouting report is out. Take Kraft on the outside and don’t worry about anyone else. Then there is the free throw line. We actually went 2 for 6 on technical shots and seem to hover about 60 to 65% from the line. We need to pick it up or we will be lucky to get 4 wins in conference play. Hawaii is not a bad team, but that was hard to watch.

We need to learn that mentality of how to WiN a game. Always close but never quite there. Great improvement this year but now it’s time to take the win…. Still not there.

Great play. Now we go. Need this win!!!

We have a whole 68 rushing yards and we do continue to run up the middle for no gain when we have Sawyer with incredible speed. WTF????

Defense is not the problem. We have given them 14 points turning the ball over in their red zone. Offense needs to show something here. South Dakota game all over. We are better than them but have to prove it on the scoreboard and not turn the damn ball over.,,,

SDSU is going to have its hands full with Illinois State today, so they may have their 4th conference loss going into next week. Their QB is still out from what is being said on the broadcast. They lose today and will have everything on the line playing us next week….

Well our offense will help to make Murray feel good about their closest game in 11 straight losses….

Imagine that. We run the ball on the 2 yard line and we score….. Who would have thought????

Thank you Defense for bailing out the offense again. D is back. Now lets see if we can find some semblance of an offense back and get some momentum for SDSU.

Defense came back in the second half exactly as expected. Making a statement right away. Not that they were terrible in the first half, just weren’t controlling the field like we have been. Offense is atrocious. I don’t know if it is Isaac with the play calling or Jerry not making good decisions. It seems like Jerry really wants his passing touchdown numbers. If we don’t have the confidence to run 3 yards for a td against one of the worst teams in the country, we don’t deserve to be in playoffs. That is especially true when Jerry has had very poor touch and success the last few weeks.

This has been a complete game of bad - both offense and defense. Looks like Bubba road game where nobody is ready to play. No fire. No push. Late to plays. Just not ready to play. With Schmitt’s, I do expect a different look after the half or there will be hell to pay. But…. We can’t do this from here on out or we are done with the season. Need consistency now….

Looks like we jumped past this one and were thinking about SDSU - or the ghost of Bubba away games has come back to haunt us. Both D and offense look flat. I suspect there will be be a good tongue lashing at half time…

Good god Jerry. Threw right into double coverage and not well at that. We need the first half of the season Jerry back if we are going to get anywhere in playoffs. This should be a 50 point offensive opportunity to get some momentum going into next week. Nice throw to BJ for an early longer ball, but way too many bad passes and choices mixed in, much like the last couple of weeks.

I think we are nearly unanimous in questioning the 3 passes from the 2 yard line and not going under center when we only needed 3 inches on 4th down. I can’t understand what Issac was thinking on those. It just makes no sense to me. The remainder of the game, it is easy to be an armchair quarterback when one thing doesnt work, but those were the only plays that I can honestly say left me scratching my head in bewilderment. At some point, the players have to make plays. People on this blog have short memories. 3 weeks ago there was mention of Jerry as a Harlen Hill and even Heisman candidate (albeit not realistic). He has not played his best games the past two weeks. Underthrown balls, not seeing the open receiver, and not putting it in places that only the receiver can get to. He has had some really good throws too, but not consistently enough yet to be an elite QB that we can count on to put the game on his shoulders to win. He has had 4 opportunities to do that and has folded in each one of them. I think he will get there but he is a first year starting quarterback. He makes first year mistakes when the game is on the line. The defense was incredible yesterday. The offense was not, but lets be realistic about the offense too.. Like it or not, NDSU is the number one team in the country for a reason. The only team that has really put any points and yards on them was Beau Brunsgard and Youngstown, who is a formidable threat. Illinois state got 300 yards on them. South Dakota did as well, but only because they got 10 points in the 4th quarter with 3rd and 4th string defense down 44-3. Other than that, NDSU has hardly given up 150 yards to most teams all year. They are a legitimate defense that does not give up yards easily. We left some yards and points on them board to be sure, but their defense had something to do with it as well. I hard an NDSU fan on the way out the door telling his buddies how bad their offense was,. That is equally stupid. It clearly had something to do with our defense and not just their offensive ineptitude. We need to take care of business the next two weeks and we will be in the playoffs and are capable of making a run. We just need to keep making progress and hopefully Jerry will learn with experience and be able to take that next step. When he does, look out.

Smith is going to struggle with strength on d, but he has a wicked fast first step to the lane. He has left people in the dust several times in the last couple of minutes.

Our young guards show some promise offensively but are going to need a lot of work defensively. We play matador defense on vertical penetration. Defensively Eli can’t leave the floor or we are in trouble. Shooting has been very poor but getting open looks. Just not falling. Shooting 36 percent. Jones has gone strong on the inside which is encouraging. Kraft so far is the only one who has hit a 3.

Today was definitely not our best effort. We can argue with play calling here and there but this game was lost on turnovers and bad penalties. It was not Jerry’s best day without question. He had all kinds of opportunities that he didn’t connect with and the god awful throw away floater that cost us at the end of the half will likely give him nightmares for a while. Until now he has been very good. I have every belief he will come back and play better next week. We had some very poor tackling and angles we haven’t seen much of this year. It happens. We went from being an unknown before the season to a genuine contender. Back away from the ledge. Schmitty will get them ready to go. It will require an exceptional game to get a win over the Bison. As much as it pains me to say it, they are very good. But it is at home in the Alerus and not out of reach. The other two are very winnable games. Need to get a big and loud crowd next week and not let anyone hear a word Payton says and not just on 3rd down…

This team looks way better this year. Anyone thinking the d this year looked like last year clearly didn’t go to any games particularly the last half of the year. I still think we are on the right trajectory. Now we need to learn to finish. We had 2 good teams on the ropes but couldn’t finish. We have 4 games to figure that out and then see what we can do with the other Dakota schools…. Hate to not win games we have in hand but there is clearly progress occurring….

Should have put it away early, but good god with the calls in the last 4 minutes. Bailed out twice with pi calls on Grant that were iffy to say the least and then that last mugging with no call. Big sky officiating lived up to its reputation.

I only watched Ouse in the state tournament, but he has skills and length that will make him an offensive asset. He can shoot outside, he has reasonable ball handling skills, can hit the floater and pull-up jumper, or get to the rim - plus a lot of length. He will definitely need to hit the weight room, but if he works hard, he is long and could be a matchup issue. More of a Grant Nelson type that could beat 4 or 5 type guys off the dribble from outside. Like most North Dakota players, it will be a significant jump in physicality and learning to play defense at the D1 level, but he moves well and has good ball control for a 6’9 kid. I like his potential.

Ok. We officially prove we don’t belong in the championship. We can blame Sather all we want, but your players have to not throw away the ball everytime they come down the court - even when unforced. This is ridiculous….

We should not have Trey playing point this much,. 9 turnovers now. They are well coached and know they need to use smaller guys up in his grill to prevent the crossover and we can’t figure it out. Take their shorter asses down on the block and go to work. We are not a good enough 3 point shooting team to live there, especially when they are overplaying the perimeter. Granted, they naven’t missed the last 67 possessions even when the defense hasn’t been bad, but our ofefense in the second half has been non-existent…….again…..