SWSiouxMN Posted November 5, 2022 Posted November 5, 2022 This years exhibition felt a little different as UND used a surge from Mitchell Sueker in the first half and leaned on their defense to win pretty easily against Waldorf. Well now the season starts for real: UND heads down to Texas and the famed Riverwalk in San Antonio to take on Incarate Word of the Southland Conference. About Incarate Word: In 2013, Incarate Word decided begin a journey. That journey was the transition to being a D1 school! In the first three seasons of D1 life, they were doing pretty well. 21 wins their first year, then back up with an 18 and 17 win seasons. Playing well in the Southland conference, things were looking pretty good. Then next two years, there was a slip in play and they fell to the bottom of the conference. It was then when the powers that be decided to jettison Ken Burmeister, who led them through the transition and hired Carson Cunningham, who was a successful NAIA coach at Carroll College in Montana. The hope was that Cunningham would be able to turn things around, like he did at Carroll. Going into his 5th season... it hasn't gone according to plan. The team hasn't cracked 10 wins in a season in his first 4 years and Incarate Word hasn't struggled to climb the standings in the Southland. They are once again picked at the bottom of the Southland standings for this coming season. One would think that expectations will be low once again for the Cardinals. But this is college basketball! Anything can happen! It is not like Cunningham has forgotten to coach or lead a program, it might finally all come together for the Word this year. They have their two best scorers returning at the guard position and brought in some transfers and incoming freshman. It could finally all come together. Let us however be brought back to this reality: They do need something to happen soon... or the winds of change will swirl down the Riverwalk. Let us believe in the Word*... expect for this matchup of course. *Incarate Word has a pretty interesting history on how it got started, worth a look. The Coach: Carson Cunningham (138-137 overall record, 31-85 at UIW, 15-51 Southland) The former OSU and Purdue guard had a decorated NAIA coaching career, turning around a downtrotted Carroll college into a perpennial winner. The same success hasn't followed him to the Word in his first 4 years, but all it takes it one good year to put the belief back in. Coach Cunningham isn't your regular coach, he has a Ph.D and an MBA and acutually has written 5 books! Even if things don't work down in UIW, I would fully expect Cunningham to land somewhere and get his coaching career back on track. Key players: Josh Morgan (Jr) and Charlie Yoder (So) For small schools, it is good to have some experience and talent in your backcourt. Fortunately, the Cardinals have two of them. Josh Morgan played the perfect 2nd option for former ORU player RJ Glasper and now looks to move into the primary role. He averaged nearly 12 points a game and shot 40% from the field. He also can shoot it from outside, shooting it at 38.5% from 3. Yoder only played 15 games but flashed with some big performances (scoring 25 points 3 times). He is the guy that wants to get to the free throw line a lot and will do most of his damage there. Can also effect the game with his rebounding (2nd leading rebounder with 5.5 rebounds a game). Perimeter defense has been a point of emphasis for UND this offseason and will be put to the test right away. The numbers: So I am trying something new this year and using the number info from Bart Trovik. Here are the adjusted offensive and defensive effiency numbers from UIW from the last 4 years. Offense effiency is listed first, Defensive effiencey is 2nd. These numbers mean that if there were 100 possessions in a basketball game, this is what UIW would score and give up defensively. 2018: 98.3 120 2019: 92.6 111.7 2020: 95.2 112.1 2021: 94.4 116.7 As you can see, they have had struggled with scoring and have given up a lot of points. Last year, they were one of the worst defensive teams in giving up 2 point shots, guessing this is why they brought in some height to try and fix that. Question in this game: 1) Who can play the better defense? Both teams are coming off of poor defensive showings last year and both teams felt that they have improved in this area. Whoever can show that they can stop the other team more will come away with the win. The call: I think that UNDs experience in the frontcourt with Sueker and T plus a better perimeter defense will supply UND with their first road win of the year. I would love for Omot to have a big game in his first real college game. UND 81-74 Game is on the plus 1 Quote
HoopsFan03 Posted November 5, 2022 Posted November 5, 2022 Excited to watch them on the road. Should be able to get the first road win of the season against a team that was 7-25 last season. They have some bigger guys: 6'11", 6'10", and a couple 6'7" guys that could cause some problems. Hopefully the young guys are settled in after the exhibition game and aren't nervous on the road. Quote
SWSiouxMN Posted November 5, 2022 Author Posted November 5, 2022 23 minutes ago, HoopsFan03 said: Excited to watch them on the road. Should be able to get the first road win of the season against a team that was 7-25 last season. They have some bigger guys: 6'11", 6'10", and a couple 6'7" guys that could cause some problems. Hopefully the young guys are settled in after the exhibition game and aren't nervous on the road. I like to see how the perimeter defense is going to be this year with Trent running the point. They have two decent guards that they have to deal with. This will be a good test for T to see how legit his improvements are. If he can have a big night here, that will do wonders for his confidence. They should win this game tbh. Quote
HoopsFan03 Posted November 5, 2022 Posted November 5, 2022 47 minutes ago, SWSiouxMN said: I like to see how the perimeter defense is going to be this year with Trent running the point. They have two decent guards that they have to deal with. This will be a good test for T to see how legit his improvements are. If he can have a big night here, that will do wonders for his confidence. They should win this game tbh. I expect Trent to have a big impact on the defensive side of the ball for UND this year. He is LONG and looks the part of an elite wing defender. He showed it a little bit in the second half of the exhibition. Excited to see it for a full game. The post play on the defensive side of the ball worries me. TT is a lot smaller than he is listed at. He is listed at 6'9" but I have been by him a few times, being at 6'5" myself, and he wasn't much taller than me. I hope Mathews continues to work back from the back injury and gets more comfortable. He didn't seem to be moving very fluid or comfortably in the exhibition. 1 Quote
sioux24/7 Posted November 6, 2022 Posted November 6, 2022 Super pumped for this. Excited to see all the new pieces. 1 Quote
forksandspoons Posted November 6, 2022 Posted November 6, 2022 Excited for the new season! Let’s go! Quote
forksandspoons Posted November 7, 2022 Posted November 7, 2022 Game day! Play tough defense and rebound and come out with a win! Quote
SWSiouxMN Posted November 7, 2022 Author Posted November 7, 2022 7 minutes ago, tnt said: Is this ESPN plus or Midco plus? ESPN Quote
SWSiouxMN Posted November 7, 2022 Author Posted November 7, 2022 15 minutes ago, forksandspoons said: Game day! Play tough defense and rebound and come out with a win! I also want to see if they can shoot it from outside a little bit better than they did in the exhibition 1 Quote
HoopsFan03 Posted November 7, 2022 Posted November 7, 2022 13 minutes ago, SWSiouxMN said: I also want to see if they can shoot it from outside a little bit better than they did in the exhibition I think the shooting from 3 may take a while to really pick up. Brooks needs to be willing to shoot it more from 3. Omot can shoot it but isn't a great 3 point shooter. Trent is the same way. Most of our guards can shoot it but none are true knockdown shooters. I think as the season moves on they will get more comfortable shooting the 3 and it will improve. Quote
sioux24/7 Posted November 7, 2022 Posted November 7, 2022 I think what I’m most excited for is the added athleticism. How many dunks did we have last year? A handful, maybe? 1 Quote
SD UND Posted November 7, 2022 Posted November 7, 2022 56 minutes ago, HoopsFan03 said: I think the shooting from 3 may take a while to really pick up. Brooks needs to be willing to shoot it more from 3. Omot can shoot it but isn't a great 3 point shooter. Trent is the same way. Most of our guards can shoot it but none are true knockdown shooters. I think as the season moves on they will get more comfortable shooting the 3 and it will improve. I don't think we want Brooks to be a willing shooter- he is not a shooter as that is not part of his game... He is a driver/slasher, hopefully he can fill the stat sheet and average about 8-10 pts 6 reb 2 steals 4 assists and shoot a high percentage. IMO that would be a success for him Quote
HoopsFan03 Posted November 7, 2022 Posted November 7, 2022 10 minutes ago, SD UND said: I don't think we want Brooks to be a willing shooter- he is not a shooter as that is not part of his game... He is a driver/slasher, hopefully he can fill the stat sheet and average about 8-10 pts 6 reb 2 steals 4 assists and shoot a high percentage. IMO that would be a success for him We absolutely want and need him to be a willing shooter. I'm not saying he needs to shoot 5+ threes a game but he needs to shoot 2 to 3 a game to at least keep the defense honest. Or at least look at the rim from behind the 3 point line. That will open up the lanes to drive and make him that much more effective in slashing to the hoop. I mean, he is our starting shooting guard. Why would you want your starting shooting guard to not even look at the rim from 3? I understand his game is to be a slasher but he also needs to be willing to shoot the ball. It opens up many things for his game and for the the whole team. It will come as he gets more comfortable and used to the college game. 1 Quote
sioux24/7 Posted November 7, 2022 Posted November 7, 2022 I would generally agree you don’t want him to be completely scared to shoot. Hopefully over time he can develop a shot. I don’t want him chucking if that’s not his game but it will help open up a lot if he can at least keep the defense honest. Quote
HoopsFan03 Posted November 7, 2022 Posted November 7, 2022 29 minutes ago, sioux24/7 said: I would generally agree you don’t want him to be completely scared to shoot. Hopefully over time he can develop a shot. I don’t want him chucking if that’s not his game but it will help open up a lot if he can at least keep the defense honest. Exactly. I guess SD UND doesn't agree judging by the downvote. Watch him shoot in warmups. His form isn't bad. It's not like he literally cannot shoot a basketball. He can shoot a couple a game. I'm not sure why you would want your starting shooting guard to not even look at the rim and only be a slasher. That doesn't make much sense. Quote
HoopsFan03 Posted November 7, 2022 Posted November 7, 2022 As a senior, so last year, Brooks shot 2.39 threes per game and made 33% of them. I understand this is college so it is harder to shoot than high school, but even if he can shoot 2 to 3 a game and make 33% of them it at least keeps the defense honest and opens up so many things for him and the team. Your starting shooting guard needs to be willing to shoot the 3 ball. To say he should only be a slasher is absurd. He is a capable low volume jump shooter. Quote
SD UND Posted November 7, 2022 Posted November 7, 2022 24 minutes ago, HoopsFan03 said: As a senior, so last year, Brooks shot 2.39 threes per game and made 33% of them. I understand this is college so it is harder to shoot than high school, but even if he can shoot 2 to 3 a game and make 33% of them it at least keeps the defense honest and opens up so many things for him and the team. Your starting shooting guard needs to be willing to shoot the 3 ball. To say he should only be a slasher is absurd. He is a capable low volume jump shooter. I guess we will see.. I hope you are right. Quote
sioux24/7 Posted November 7, 2022 Posted November 7, 2022 Hoping for the starting lineup of Trent, Brooks, Omot, Sueker and T (I guess). Hopefully T is as improved as it sounds because it was tough to watch at times last year. 1 Quote
SWSiouxMN Posted November 8, 2022 Author Posted November 8, 2022 Game will be a late start. UIW had a WBB game before hand 1 Quote
Nodak78 Posted November 8, 2022 Posted November 8, 2022 Damn it is taking time for the men's game to started. Quote
Nodak78 Posted November 8, 2022 Posted November 8, 2022 9 minutes ago, SWSiouxMN said: Game will be a late start. UIW had a WBB game before hand Thanks Quote
sioux24/7 Posted November 8, 2022 Posted November 8, 2022 Nero, Brooks, Omot, Sueker, T to start. Quote
sioux24/7 Posted November 8, 2022 Posted November 8, 2022 Well allowing offensive rebounds is an early problem…. Quote
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