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Originally posted by houstonbrave
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Who will be our third ball handler? Totally agree on all your points. I'll be happy with a win. -
So far really liking the 10-15 from 3 in the 1st half....
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Christian Davis breakout game...4-3's, regular buckets...rbs, steals.....looking like he belongs....16 pts...
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Add Atlason to the career breakout night....shooting lights out on 5-6 for 3....Braves with 15 3's....record is 20 lets get it....
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Burch with a 3...16 3's for the BravesComment
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Atlason 6-7 on 3....18pts....17 made 3's for the Braves....
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Final 63-86. BravesComment
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Double figure games for Burch and Atlason, only three games in, they have so much potential. I wonder why Burch didn’t play in game one watching him and Ellis now. I love the two freshmen’s games so much and they really are complimentary to each other.
It sure looks like we’re down to three true guards for a while. Man I hope it isn’t as bad as it looked for Burch. Just such a poor roster decision to go with so few guards and point guards.
Ellis will have to step up big time if Burch is out a while. He looks like a few minute a game player right now and nothing more.
I love Davis as a player and our top four did their thing. I love our top seven. But that might have taken a hit with injuries.
Meta took a step back again today after looking a little better in the second half against Utah St. Most Valley teams play three guards, and don’t play huge. I don’t know about his role still as the season wears on. He reminds be of a bigger Sam Singh after all the injuries, but not as experienced. I just am not sure what he does well other than being tall.
The gap between our top seven players and the rest is enormous and there isn’t seemingly much potential in the bottom 5 (I’m starting to doubt Ellis too, he looks rough so far). Needed to hit one at minimum one of the three transfers. We don’t have any depth. Remember the discussions of how to get 12 guys minutes?
Great night overall, but my main reaction is worry about Burch.Comment
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Holy cow!! If we can play like this on a regular basis, it's gonna be a fun year! Just hope Burch is okay. My only concern.Comment
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It wasn't a simple decision to go with few guards. Zek suddenly announcing he was leaving on March 28, then Ville's late decision not to return, plus the failure of Weathers to adjust to D1 ( he was an effective 20 ppg PG at a high level juco) were factors. There weren't many good guards available that late and they didn't want another kid who couldn't play. Instead, they landed Atlason and Burch, and the portal guys. Plus, the coaches were counting on Pettigrew as another guy who was capable of playing the point, but he didn't work out.Comment
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When describing Almar Atlason just before the season started, Dave Eminian of the PJS said "think MVC Newcomer of the Year." Tonight we saw evidence of why he'd say that.Yajusneverno!Comment
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... and they take a hit with the Nevada kid leaving the team.Originally posted by Da Coach View PostComment
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More likely possibility is Freshman of the Year. What a game he had tonight! I am sure the coaches would like to see him be more physical. He only had 2 rebounds in 23 minutes, and a few times he appeared to have a clear lane to the basket, but he pulled away and passed the ball out. But how can you not like what we saw tonight from the two freshmen?Originally posted by BUSongwriter View PostComment
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Game 3 Thoughts / Grades
Overall: When you look at this one on the schedule, it is supposed to be an easy win. The cliches around trap game and "oh we saw these guys are quick in another game" really don't change the fact that Tarleton State really isn't a great team, especially defensively. They'll win some games getting in a run-and-gun contest with some teams, but outside of Jakorie Smith, I didn't see a ton of talent there. But, with previous teams, even some of the Bradley good ones of past seasons, you could see how this could have been a lot closer than it should have been. The early parts of the game were sloppy and the speedy nature of the Texans caused both forced and unforced turnovers for the Braves. Only six turnovers in the second half shows how the Braves cleaned up their half court offense.
Shooting 60% from the floor and hitting 17 three-pointers is going to win you most games, similar to how the numbers from last game will generally lose you most games. It's refreshing to see how well overall this team has played to start the year, knowing that there is always growth from November until March. What you see today is far from where we'll be in February, which a potentially scary thought for the rest of the Valley.
Watching this game should help most see that future vision of why we should have plenty of depth in the backcourt. The narrative that we have nothing behind Deen and Hickman was a little silly after two game. The injury to Burch is concerning obviously, but as long as that isn't something that is going to last, you have those three plus Ellis to handle the ball. That should be more than enough, especially considering that Deen is probably playing 30-35 minutes a game.
Grades
(Note: Games like these are a little more difficult to grade because of the one-sided nature of it. It's important to consider that the player's overall ability and contributions when they played are keys to grading.)
Hickman - A - He only scored seven on a night where everyone was scoring, but that wasn't needed. Six assists to go along with 3 steals tell the tale to go along with a stat I noticed in the box score around efficiency, which takes into account essentially all the plays you're involved in positively and negatively. He was our third most efficient (16.0) player, which is more indicative of how he played. He wasn't the player of the game but he didn't need to be. Hickman, along with maybe Leons, are probably the most aware of what their team needs on a game-by-game basis and adjusting accordingly to that need.
Leons - A- - On a game where the team played as well as it did for the last 30+ minutes, it's hard to be too critical of any of the contributors. There's really very little Malevy did wrong in the game other than maybe grabbing a few less rebounds than usual.
Deen - B+ - This grade feels a bit like the teacher saying they can't give out all A's to the entire class. I think Duke made some mistakes early and did have three turnovers. But, honestly, this is a bit of nitpicking. He caught some fire in the second half and his game is just infectious to watch when he's confidently putting up his jumper.
Hannah - A+ - Is it crazy to say that someone could get an A+ rating and still not be the player of the game? It's possible here, because Darius just did everything well tonight, especially on the defensive end. In the opposite of what I'll say about Jonovic later, this was a Darius style game, where true athletes shine. He finished with 10 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 blocks and just one turnover. Clearly the tops in efficiency (23.0), he did all of this in only 22 minutes. If we would have needed him, he might have had a triple double.
Davis - A - Maybe it's not a real definition to say a guy "plays the right way", but any basketball fan will know what that feels like and it really fits Davis in all three games this season. He leads the team in scoring with 16 and shows confidence both from inside and out. Although not the same player, he is starting to show that tenacity that Ja'Shon Henry had every night. The team is just better with him on the floor and hope he's starting most nights.
Burch - B+ - Getting it out of the way first, Burch got injured near the end of the game (some kind of leg injury). They showed nothing on the broadcast, so it's really hard to know about the severity of it, so we'll have to wait there. But when he was in there, you can see the potential every time he touches the ball. I do think, while a bit more of a scorer first now, can be the heir apparent to Duke and can spell him a lot when needed as the season goes on (barring the injury of course). He can get to the basket effectively and has pretty good vision. There are mistakes there for sure but I'm more excited every time he plays.
Atlason - A+ - This is not an intentional burying of the lede. Atlason was absolutely awesome tonight. The Ville comparisons are apt for a few reasons. Obviously, he has an absolutely beautiful shot. Even when he missed a few the first games, you could just see how pure it is overall. This won't be his last game hitting six threes, you can be pretty sure of that. But, he also had the Ville slash and drive to the hoop in his game. He seems a little tentative to try and score in the paint and he passed out of probably 5-6 shots in close. As much as I'd like for him to be more confident to score in the post, he made good reads and his inside-out passes were on the mark. The only element of his game that might be in question is his strength and if he might get bullied around by stronger guys. But, when we have our bigger lineups out there, hopefully that won't matter.
Ellis - C - On the record, I do see a lot of potential for Ellis, too. And honestly, if we're healthy and he's our 8th guy in the rotation, providing good defense and some offense, I think that's enough. He was a little sloppy tonight, so we'll have to see if his minutes go up if Burch is limited in the next game.
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Jonovic - NO GRADE - He only played four minutes, but I do want to call him out separately because he seems to be a lightning rod for fans. It's really hard to assess him too much in a game where his style was never going to get a ton of minutes; he would have tired too fast. He did drop a rebound, kick the ball on offense and miss an easy shot. One positive was that he did draw an offensive foul. It definitely was his weakest game of the three, but stylistically this just was too small of a sample.
Hardtke, Hennessy, Thomas, Biliew, Linke - NO GRADE - While it was great to see these guys get a few minutes, they really didn't play much to really get graded. Thomas didn't look ready with his couple touches, but again, this really is such a small sample that there's not much to go on here.
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Coaching - A - It's hard to screw up too much in a game like this one. I'm glad to see what was closer to the 9-man rotation that I'd prefer, especially in slower paced games where you can get 8-12 minutes from Jonovic.
3-0Go Braves!Comment
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