Random thoughts on the Eastern Washington game

[.44caliberkiller]

1. HE STARTS! Finally we got to see James in the starting lineup, and not surprisingly we don't fall into an early deficit. After the game Edwards alluded to the fact he was treating this tournament as a step towards next season. Hopefully the ridiculousness of James not starting is a thing of the past. Our bench still outscored the opposing bench 50-5. Maybe this will finally be enough to convince the Coach that we don't need James to be a spark off the bench and can be used in a more traditional role for a teams leading scorer.

2. James really has improved his jump shot. He always had a smooth mid-range game but I'm pleasantly surprised how much he's improved from behind the arc. He went from shooting 34.5% as a freshman to shooting 43.5% this year. At the beginning of the year my brother even went as far as to say "James shouldn't be shooting three's," and I didn't completely disagree with him. Now he is easily our best shooter. The last frontier for James is to add about 10 pounds of muscle so he can finish at the rim through contact more effectively. I'm nitpicking of course because he's already a stud, but his ceiling is insanely high and I just want to see him reach it.

3. This is the Dalton we need to see next year (18pts/6reb/2asst/1blk/1to). Obviously the key in this game was that he only had one turnover. When he is playing within himself and not like a baby giraffe he truly is a matchup nightmare. He has a silky smooth mid range game as well as being an effective driver and 3pt shooter.

4. We played a fantastic game on the offensive end of the court. You can't ask for much better than shooting 58.3% from the field to go with hitting 61.1% from behind the arc. It was a well balanced attack, as we drove the lane more often and settled for less but more effective 3pt shots. When we share the ball like this we can be a very tough team to stop (21 assists to only 9 turnovers).

5. Our defense left a lot to be desired. Although Eastern Washington does seem like a very solid offensive team I thought we let them have a few too many open looks. Also they punished us down low more than any team I can remember this season. Hopefully our guys hit the weight room hard this off-season.

6. I for one didn't have a problem with Mcmanamen playing fewer minutes. It was great to see a glimpse of what this team could be next year without him. He had a better career here than most of us could have imagined, but it's time to build for the future.

7. Hopefully this is how we use Gorski next season. He can be very effective as a rotational player, who comes in and hits a few three's a game. But I think Edwards is fooling himself if he thinks we can be an upper echelon MTN West team with Gorski logging 30min a game. But to Edwards credit his rotations in this game were pretty much spot on.

8. I don't know what to make of the Lieberman/Kelley combination. I'm utterly convinced that our ceiling as a team would be better with these guys on the bench. But they've been remarkable solid as of late. Combined they played 32min and shot 66.7% from the field to go with 12pts/5reb/6asst/3stl/0to. Teams have won championships getting a lot less production than that.

9. Adams very well could be the wild card for next season. If we get the Adams that played against Eastern Washington then we could be in contention for a MTN West title. But if we get the inconsistent Adams that seemingly hasn't earned Edwards trust yet we could be at the bottom of the standings yet again. Adams has shown potential to be an amazing finisher at the rim, but he lacks consistency. Most junior college transfers that have been productive at Wyoming such as Justin Williams/Paco Cruz/Luke Martinez/Joseph Taylor/Tyson Johnson took nearly their entire first year before they adjusted to the Division 1 game, hopefully Adams is on the same trajectory.

[stymeman]

Jmac where are you?

['PokeForLife]

9. That is if Adams stays. If I were him I'd jet. Hopefully Edwards' "step toward next season" this tournament includes a heck of a lot more of Lou, because that may be what is needed to keep him here in my opinion. He still has a redshirt if I'm not mistaken, so he could easily leave.