For those who don’t know, I’m the type to go crazy over the little things. I love observing and learning about the details of schematics and how things should work. With that in mind, here’s my breakdown of some of the things I saw during Tuesday’s scrimmage against Mansfield. Feel free to comment. Would love to chat…
-Nice day from David Appolon, going 3-6 from the field and 2-2 from three. He was out of control at times, missing a pass on a fast break and settling for some wild, out-of-control layups, but overall he looked good. I’ve always said this about Appolon-- he understands floor spacing really well. He always finds himself open, it’s just a matter of becoming a better shooter. On his three shots made, two were open corner three’s (you’ll soon learn this will be a thing and was last year) and the other was a jumper he had on the wing with a toe on the three point line.
Appolon is the forgotten man by the fans. He’s not a great scorer but is an excellent defender and rebounder. Toole talks a lot about “winning plays” and Appolon does the little things that’ll earn him 15-20 minutes a game.
-RMU going 2-3 zone the whole game surprised me and looked really rough around the edges at times. Often, I thought Mansfield, being a low-end D-II school, bailed them out. Let me explain a few concepts…
The biggest concern I had was high post entry. Everyone knows that when running a 2-3 zone you want to get the ball in the high post and work from there. Mansfield got the ball in the high post too easy, too often. There were a few reasons for this, and I’d love to see the film (which I unfortunately don’t have), but watching in real time I saw one of two things:
1) The middle defender of the zone simply wasn’t pressing up trying to deny the high post. You’ll see teams put a ball handler on the wing with shooters sprinkled in both corners and on the opposite wing. In this case, the center has no one to occupy and needs to deny the ball. It sounds easy, but anyone unfamiliar with that position might feel uncomfortable stepping up.
2) The top of the wing has to deny the high post. In this case, you’ll have your ball handler, shooters in the corner, the high post, and another man down low occupying the center. At that point, the top of the zone has to crash down and essentially fight to take away a look. These are things that’ll improve more with practice.
-Staying with the zone, I think it went into RMU struggling with their rebounding. A smaller team like Mansfield has no business grabbing almost half of the rebounds available. The biggest problem was the bottom wing defenders weren’t picking up cutters quick enough. When shots would go up, no one was in position to rebound… except Mansfield.
Again, all of these things will get better with practice.
-I also think a few absentee’s went into some zone struggles. Stephan Bennett found himself on the wing instead of at center. When Aaron Tate returns, I would expect Bennett to slide back to the middle and have Tate and Lucky Jones on the wings, two guys who are excellent rebounders. I like the idea of Bennett on the wing: he’s lengthy and athletic as hell, but I’m not sure he has the foot speed to deal with what that position could require.
-I use the term “zone struggles” loosely. Mansfield shot 35 percent for the game and scored 49 points. I just felt like there were some things better teams will take advantage of.
-Between Lionel Gomis and Andre Frederick, Frederick was the better big tonight. Frederick grabbed five boards to Gomis’ three, stayed out of foul trouble, and blocked two shots. Toole on Frederick:
“Andre Frederick gave us some good minutes, and in all honesty that was probably his best performance of any practice or workout we’ve had so far. When he came out of the game I said, ‘how come your not tired,’ he said, ‘what do you mean,’ I said, ‘every day in practice, like three minutes in, you’re exhausted.’ Clearly it’s a mind set thing, understanding, ‘oh this is a game now this is important and I can be alert and be aware’ versus practice where you think it’s important yet. We go through the second drill and sometimes he looks like he’s Paul Meyer running up and down the court.”
-I am thoroughly going to enjoy watch Kavon Stewart. His court vision is incredible. As the season goes on, I hope he continues to work on finishing with his right and go for some mid-range jumpers. He took three three’s in this game and missed them all but I do think his shot looks better. He passed up some open looks for contested shots. When he learns to pull the trigger in the right situations, I think he’ll put up respectable jump shot numbers.
-Toole on Kavon: “I think he pressed a little bit in terms of wanting to make a three. He’s put a lot of time in on his shooting and he’s shot it really well in practice. For him, getting in the game there’s a million different things going on and he’s got to organize and communicate and do a lot of different things on his plate and sometimes I think he remembers the shooting part towards the end. I thought he did a good job getting into the lane, organizing us offensively, obviously six assists to two turnovers is terrific. I think he’s going to get some opportunities for other assists that maybe didn’t get finished or made. He’s our best creator of offense. I thought he did a very nice job of it. I heard him talking about it but the biggest thing for him is staying as detailed as he can defensively. I think if he can get there then he’ll be terrific.”
-Kavon on the intricacies of the point guard position: “I think part of it is basketball and part of it is how you treat guys on and off the court. One day I’ll just say something to Rodney just cause you don’t know how guys are feeling when they come in. Maybe they had a hard day in class, so I see that, I spot that immediately and go over and talk to them. Say a joke maybe to wake them up and get them ready.”
-Lucky Jones was Lucky Jones. He was awesome.
-Incredibly early Rodney Pryor scouting report: smooth shooting lefty with great length. Ideal fit for the three position. Rebounds his position well. Could be a pain on the wing in the 2-3 zone as he continues to understand the position. Needs his feet set to shoot, doesn’t seem like the kind to create off the dribble.
This post was edited on 11/5 1:44 AM by Chris Cappella
-Nice day from David Appolon, going 3-6 from the field and 2-2 from three. He was out of control at times, missing a pass on a fast break and settling for some wild, out-of-control layups, but overall he looked good. I’ve always said this about Appolon-- he understands floor spacing really well. He always finds himself open, it’s just a matter of becoming a better shooter. On his three shots made, two were open corner three’s (you’ll soon learn this will be a thing and was last year) and the other was a jumper he had on the wing with a toe on the three point line.
Appolon is the forgotten man by the fans. He’s not a great scorer but is an excellent defender and rebounder. Toole talks a lot about “winning plays” and Appolon does the little things that’ll earn him 15-20 minutes a game.
-RMU going 2-3 zone the whole game surprised me and looked really rough around the edges at times. Often, I thought Mansfield, being a low-end D-II school, bailed them out. Let me explain a few concepts…
The biggest concern I had was high post entry. Everyone knows that when running a 2-3 zone you want to get the ball in the high post and work from there. Mansfield got the ball in the high post too easy, too often. There were a few reasons for this, and I’d love to see the film (which I unfortunately don’t have), but watching in real time I saw one of two things:
1) The middle defender of the zone simply wasn’t pressing up trying to deny the high post. You’ll see teams put a ball handler on the wing with shooters sprinkled in both corners and on the opposite wing. In this case, the center has no one to occupy and needs to deny the ball. It sounds easy, but anyone unfamiliar with that position might feel uncomfortable stepping up.
2) The top of the wing has to deny the high post. In this case, you’ll have your ball handler, shooters in the corner, the high post, and another man down low occupying the center. At that point, the top of the zone has to crash down and essentially fight to take away a look. These are things that’ll improve more with practice.
-Staying with the zone, I think it went into RMU struggling with their rebounding. A smaller team like Mansfield has no business grabbing almost half of the rebounds available. The biggest problem was the bottom wing defenders weren’t picking up cutters quick enough. When shots would go up, no one was in position to rebound… except Mansfield.
Again, all of these things will get better with practice.
-I also think a few absentee’s went into some zone struggles. Stephan Bennett found himself on the wing instead of at center. When Aaron Tate returns, I would expect Bennett to slide back to the middle and have Tate and Lucky Jones on the wings, two guys who are excellent rebounders. I like the idea of Bennett on the wing: he’s lengthy and athletic as hell, but I’m not sure he has the foot speed to deal with what that position could require.
-I use the term “zone struggles” loosely. Mansfield shot 35 percent for the game and scored 49 points. I just felt like there were some things better teams will take advantage of.
-Between Lionel Gomis and Andre Frederick, Frederick was the better big tonight. Frederick grabbed five boards to Gomis’ three, stayed out of foul trouble, and blocked two shots. Toole on Frederick:
“Andre Frederick gave us some good minutes, and in all honesty that was probably his best performance of any practice or workout we’ve had so far. When he came out of the game I said, ‘how come your not tired,’ he said, ‘what do you mean,’ I said, ‘every day in practice, like three minutes in, you’re exhausted.’ Clearly it’s a mind set thing, understanding, ‘oh this is a game now this is important and I can be alert and be aware’ versus practice where you think it’s important yet. We go through the second drill and sometimes he looks like he’s Paul Meyer running up and down the court.”
-I am thoroughly going to enjoy watch Kavon Stewart. His court vision is incredible. As the season goes on, I hope he continues to work on finishing with his right and go for some mid-range jumpers. He took three three’s in this game and missed them all but I do think his shot looks better. He passed up some open looks for contested shots. When he learns to pull the trigger in the right situations, I think he’ll put up respectable jump shot numbers.
-Toole on Kavon: “I think he pressed a little bit in terms of wanting to make a three. He’s put a lot of time in on his shooting and he’s shot it really well in practice. For him, getting in the game there’s a million different things going on and he’s got to organize and communicate and do a lot of different things on his plate and sometimes I think he remembers the shooting part towards the end. I thought he did a good job getting into the lane, organizing us offensively, obviously six assists to two turnovers is terrific. I think he’s going to get some opportunities for other assists that maybe didn’t get finished or made. He’s our best creator of offense. I thought he did a very nice job of it. I heard him talking about it but the biggest thing for him is staying as detailed as he can defensively. I think if he can get there then he’ll be terrific.”
-Kavon on the intricacies of the point guard position: “I think part of it is basketball and part of it is how you treat guys on and off the court. One day I’ll just say something to Rodney just cause you don’t know how guys are feeling when they come in. Maybe they had a hard day in class, so I see that, I spot that immediately and go over and talk to them. Say a joke maybe to wake them up and get them ready.”
-Lucky Jones was Lucky Jones. He was awesome.
-Incredibly early Rodney Pryor scouting report: smooth shooting lefty with great length. Ideal fit for the three position. Rebounds his position well. Could be a pain on the wing in the 2-3 zone as he continues to understand the position. Needs his feet set to shoot, doesn’t seem like the kind to create off the dribble.
This post was edited on 11/5 1:44 AM by Chris Cappella
