UND @ SUU 12/17

[Irish]

Moving up to DI means that you will have to adjust to playing better athletes and a faster game - It may take a few years. It doesn't mean that your team should suddenly play like they have never heard of the fundamentals of the game or teamwork. This applies also to the football team.

[jodcon]

Not a good start to conference play, everyone has picked SUU as a bottom dweller and UND has to beat teams like that even if it is on the road.

They have to figure out these road woes, 2 years is enough.

[SWSiouxMN]

Thoughts:

-Traylor: I thought he played very well off the bench, and gave this team a nice little spark. We need to get him set plays so he can hit those 15 footers. He is very good at that. If we can get this type of production from him, I will be very happy. Thought he worked his butt off. He is getting more confident, hopefully we can move him into the starting lineup sometime soon

-Wilmer: I'll give his some credit for at least not disappearing in the offensive end and making it back to back respectable games. He was also pretty cluch from the line. Mitch, I'll just say it, you should have had 15 rebounds. Every board that goes up you need to get. You are 6'11 and have a well build frame I suggest you use it.

-Archer: Just wasn't at his best tonight, but was halfway aggresive and had a nice dunk. Right now he should be getting the minutes over Allard at this stage of the year.

-Allard: Another performance where you just go ugh... Right now he has been the least effective big man we got. He is starting to lose minutes to Archer and could be losing more whenever Brekke comes back.

-Antwi: Just a bad shooting night, we need to start getting him going again. Like with Schuler, I would like to see a play or two run towards his direction

-Anderson: I just don't know where to begin here. He was aggressive in his attacking to the rim and he did get to the line 12 times. Here is the thing, you are not going to always get that call. You gotta move the ball around kid when you drive, or else you are going to get hurt. I know you are a city kid and all, but you are a generous 5'10 and 150 and you are attacking trees. You can drive, just kick it out like what has been suggested from time to time and it will make you life easier.

-Schuler: Good news is you were dead on perfect from the line, but I didn't notice you were on the court as much. We need to get you the ball in your hands so you can shoot.

-Webb: Where do I begin with this kid. I thought the UMKC game would be the game where he broke out of his awful start to his year, well guess not. He had 5 TOs and ZERO assists tonight. All 5 I thought were stupid and very preventable. His shot and drive was there for 1 game and has not shown up and everyone knows it. Everyone is just waiting for him to attack and draw a charge. Someone needs to get into this kids ear right now and let him know that he needs to make a few changes before he start coming off the bench, which I think is coming sooner rather than later.

Team:

-Free Throws single handly kept this team in the game (28/35) 80%. As of right now, I feel that our free throws are not our #1 concern for this team anymore, we have bigger problems cropping up.

-Rebounding: We should have won the battle, without question. Let too many balls get away from us.

-Shooting: Awful, you went 18/60... you make Hanks and Cheesman look like Bol and Mutumbo out there with all those blocks and it got into their heads. We shoot 50% in that game, we win by 10+. Shot selection was poor at times during this game.

-TOs: 11 turnovers aren't awful, its a respectable performance. When your starting Point Guard accounts for 5 of them, THAT'S A PROBLEM

I usually will not call out coaching but in this case, Jones needs to make a statement to his players that this type of play ends today. He needs to either give his team an A) Come with Jesus moment or B) run 17/60s until they puke to get the message acrossed. I also did not care for the altitude excuse for why this team did not play well. Okay, I am sure you were out there for a couple of days before the game so you would have some adaption to the climate. The hockey team plays at CC and DU this year, and did I hear Hakstol ever use the excuse "it was the altitude" that we lost the game to CC. NO! Has Hardee ever used that excuse this year? NO! Did Muss? NO! Oh, and I think someone did an analysis where most of these teams play above 2000 feet! They better get used to it!

[Matt]

Jones says in the postgame that nothing wrong with the offense. Just didn't hit a few threes like we need to. Problem was defense, fatigue, and altitude..................

Holy s**t, did he actually say that! Even if you believe that, you just can't come out and say it...not when you play in this league. You are putting that in players' heads now when you play in altitude, and it's a lame excuse anyway. Very poor choice of words.

[sioux2013]

Thoughts:

-Traylor: I thought he played very well off the bench, and gave this team a nice little spark. We need to get him set plays so he can hit those 15 footers. He is very good at that. If we can get this type of production from him, I will be very happy. Thought he worked his butt off. He is getting more confident, hopefully we can move him into the starting lineup sometime soon

-Wilmer: I'll give his some credit for at least not disappearing in the offensive end and making it back to back respectable games. He was also pretty cluch from the line. Mitch, I'll just say it, you should have had 15 rebounds. Every board that goes up you need to get. You are 6'11 and have a well build frame I suggest you use it.

-Archer: Just wasn't at his best tonight, but was halfway aggresive and had a nice dunk. Right now he should be getting the minutes over Allard at this stage of the year.

-Allard: Another performance where you just go ugh... Right now he has been the least effective big man we got. He is starting to lose minutes to Archer and could be losing more whenever Brekke comes back.

-Antwi: Just a bad shooting night, we need to start getting him going again. Like with Schuler, I would like to see a play or two run towards his direction

-Anderson: I just don't know where to begin here. He was aggressive in his attacking to the rim and he did get to the line 12 times. Here is the thing, you are not going to always get that call. You gotta move the ball around kid when you drive, or else you are going to get hurt. I know you are a city kid and all, but you are a generous 5'10 and 150 and you are attacking trees. You can drive, just kick it out like what has been suggested from time to time and it will make you life easier.

-Schuler: Good news is you were dead on perfect from the line, but I didn't notice you were on the court as much. We need to get you the ball in your hands so you can shoot.

-Webb: Where do I begin with this kid. I thought the UMKC game would be the game where he broke out of his awful start to his year, well guess not. He had 5 TOs and ZERO assists tonight. All 5 I thought were stupid and very preventable. His shot and drive was there for 1 game and has not shown up and everyone knows it. Everyone is just waiting for him to attack and draw a charge. Someone needs to get into this kids ear right now and let him know that he needs to make a few changes before he start coming off the bench, which I think is coming sooner rather than later.

Team:

-Free Throws single handly kept this team in the game (28/35) 80%. As of right now, I feel that our free throws are not our #1 concern for this team anymore, we have bigger problems cropping up.

-Rebounding: We should have won the battle, without question. Let too many balls get away from us.

-Shooting: Awful, you went 18/60... you make Hanks and Cheesman look like Bol and Mutumbo out there with all those blocks and it got into their heads. We shoot 50% in that game, we win by 10+. Shot selection was poor at times during this game.

-TOs: 11 turnovers aren't awful, its a respectable performance. When your starting Point Guard accounts for 5 of them, THAT'S A PROBLEM

I usually will not call out coaching but in this case, Jones needs to make a statement to his players that this type of play ends today. He needs to either give his team an A) Come with Jesus moment or B) run 17/60s until they puke to get the message acrossed. I also did not care for the altitude excuse for why this team did not play well. Okay, I am sure you were out there for a couple of days before the game so you would have some adaption to the climate. The hockey team plays at CC and DU this year, and did I hear Hakstol ever use the excuse "it was the altitude" that we lost the game to CC. NO! Has Hardee ever used that excuse this year? NO! Did Muss? NO! Oh, and I think someone did an analysis where most of these teams play above 2000 feet! They better get used to it!

Very nice and after a nights sleep and calming down alittle I want to add to your game thoughts. Traylor, excellent game again and very agressive on the offensive boards and put backs. Liked his game from the very beginning and he needs more minutes. Wilmer please box out and push you man away from the bucket and do not shoot 15-18 foot jumpers. That was 3-4 possessions we lost with those shots. Anderson and Webb you are point guards and your job in this offense is to penetrate and find the open man, if the lane is open and I mean open then drive to the bucket for a lay up. Combined last night you two had 2 assists and that was from Anderson in the last 3 minutes of the game. Jones needs to pick one of these guys to run point and the other back the starter up. Starting 2 points guards that one turns the ball over consistantly and the other is playing for himself does not work. Webb, why do you penetrate so deep with trees around you and then try to pass, get rid of the ball sooner for once please. Above you said you hardly noticed Schuler and that is because our point guards dont see him, plan and simple, he is open everytime someone penetrates but of course they force up a shot or get it blocked. Agree more plays need to be run for Schuler, but then again they dont pass it to him. Another poster hit the nail of the head when they posted screens need to be set for him but our coaches have not figured out how he can best be used. Allard, another poor game and I'd agree his minutes are fading fast and with just cause. This is not a team right now and major changes need to be made especially once Brekke and Huff return. It's only going to be worse cause this group of players do the exact same things each and everygame. Once the ball goes down low it never comes out, once our point guards penetrate it never comes out and certain guys should never ever shoot from the outside but they do everygame and miss. Once again this game was down to a possession and we waste 10-12 possesions or more everygame with the same old stuff. This is going to be a long and disappointing season if changes are not made immediately. Once Brekke and Huff return we need to get down to playing 8 solid players and if some of these 8 continue doing the same mistakes bench them and go alittle deeper. They are not freshman or sophomores anymore coach and our offense has issues.

[darell1976]

Holy s**t, did he actually say that! Even if you believe that, you just can't come out and say it...not when you play in this league. You are putting that in players' heads now when you play in altitude, and it's a lame excuse anyway. Very poor choice of words.

Didn't UND play at Utah Valley every year in the GWC I can't imagine their altitude being much different than SUU's.

[UND92,96]

How bad are the road woes for this program? UND has won just 2 of the last 23 road games.

UND is 15-2 at home during that same stretch.

[JohnboyND7]

Didn't UND play at Utah Valley every year in the GWC I can't imagine their altitude being much different than SUU's.

4796 avg elevation in Orem Utah(UVU)

5840 ft elevation in Cedar City (SUU).

[bincitysioux]

Just to clarify, it is not like Coach Jones was blaming the elevation. He just mentioned it in passing when addressing the fact that they are short-handed right now and he felt fatigue was a factor and the altitude didn't help.

However, I'd prefer he had not mentioned it all, and just admitted that his team played like crap against a slower, less athletic, less talented team, that plays much more sound fundamental basketball than we do............................

[sioux2013]

Just to clarify, it is not like Coach Jones was blaming the elevation. He just mentioned it in passing when addressing the fact that they are short-handed right now and he felt fatigue was a factor and the altitude didn't help.

However, I'd prefer he had not mentioned it all, and just admitted that his team played like crap against a slower, less athletic, less talented team, that plays much more sound fundamental basketball than we do............................

Your last line sums it all up. Teams we've played against so far this year play sound fundamental basketball and we don't. That is the difference of a 2-7 record versus what could easily be 6-3. Maybe after getting beat game after game by our opponents basic basketball some of it will rub off and a little light will go off in somebody's head, not holding my breath.

[darell1976]

Just to clarify, it is not like Coach Jones was blaming the elevation. He just mentioned it in passing when addressing the fact that they are short-handed right now and he felt fatigue was a factor and the altitude didn't help.

However, I'd prefer he had not mentioned it all, and just admitted that his team played like crap against a slower, less athletic, less talented team, that plays much more sound fundamental basketball than we do............................

Maybe he blames the fatigue on altitude and the players will get used to it. That's what he should have said. It is hard to go from around 900ft to over 5000 feet, but if that's the case tell Fullerton to give UND the same deal as Cal Poly and UC Davis and lets leave the football team in the BSC and move the rest to Douple Country.

[SiouxVolley]

Maybe he blames the fatigue on altitude and the players will get used to it. That's what he should have said. It is hard to go from around 900ft to over 5000 feet, but if that's the case tell Fullerton to give UND the same deal as Cal Poly and UC Davis and lets leave the football team in the BSC and move the rest to Douple Country.

A team just has to be highly conditioned and with a deep roster when going to elevation. San Diego St, Fresno St, and UNLV don't seem to have problems at elevation in the MWC. Meanwhile, Sac St and Portland St have had significant problems over the years, but that says more about their commitment to basketball and basketball facilities.