Random thoughts on the 3rd Coastal Carolina game

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.44caliberkiller
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1. WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS! Obviously winning the CBI isn't what we should aspire to, and if this doesn't help spring board to something greater then it will be disappointing. But as things stand now this was a very positive experience. A team that returns essentially their entire squad back minus one guy got the opportunity to continue their growth and learn how to win in the postseason. I also think it was a huge benefit to the maturation process of Allen Edwards. He learned to rely on his best player, most of his rotational decisions seemed reasonable, and had his players motivated and ready to play.

2. Turnovers and rebounds were the key to the series. In the first game we got clobbered on the glass and were sloppy with the ball. In game two we were able to pull away in the second half when we were able to our turnovers and their offensive rebounds. In game three we completely dominated in all facets, especially on the glass. We out rebounded them 44-39, as well has having more offensive rebounds than Coastal Carolina (13-11). It was impressive to see us get better and better at our weaknesses as the series moved along.

3. It's hard to believe that the AA was only about half full. Because the crowd that was their was loud and energized from the out set, and you could never guess that the arena was half empty. It should also be noted that the Arena looks so much better with the lower bowl completely filled, as well has creating a better atmosphere with all the fans sitting together. It was also a solid showing from the students, as about 2,000 were in attendance. Hopefully this will carry over to next season and there is at least moderate interests from the onset of the season.

4. Our defense was suffocating. We held Coastal to 33.9% shooting from the field and 19% from the arc. I thought nearly everyone of their shots was contested. In addition to playing great defense we limited their second chance points, because it pointless to play great defense if your going to allow your opponent to get multiple shots possession after possession. The Cowboys fought and battled the entire night and for once they seemed to get more of the 50/50 balls than their opponent. This needs to be the norm next season not the exception.

5. Word is that Herdon only has a sprained ankle, THANK GOD! It would have been so Wyoming to have an otherwise special night marred by a significant injury, as well as putting a huge question mark onto next years team. Which really appeared to be the case two separate times, but thankfully that was not the case this time and we can all just enjoy the moment.

6. Dalton was good Dalton. After a slow start where his first two shots were hideous line drives Dalton found his groove from the arc (5/9) as well as being a beast on the boards (11). After Herndon went down Dalton stepped up huge and was essentially the difference maker in the game. If he can manage some consistency next year to go along with a good off-season in the weight room the MTN West conference should be put on alert.

7. Barnes did the exact same thing as he did in game two, which was be a spark at the beginning of the game to ignite energy and toughness into the rest of the team. His two early offensive rebounds including one put back really set the tempo for game. Maybe just maybe Barnes can be a contributor next year, I'm still not entirely convinced but I won't count out the kid and I will be rooting for him. Barnes seems like a stand up dude and great teammate, after Herndon got hurt Barnes ran up the tunnel to show him his support. And he is always the first guy off the bench to comfort or congratulate his fellow teammates.

8. Gorski was used to perfection in game two, not so much in game three. Even thought he wasn't hitting his shots, Edwards stuck with him and he played the third highest minutes on the team. Now Gorski wasn't completely awful, he did hit a couple shots as well as chip in 4 rebounds. But he is much better suited to be used sparingly since he is a limited player. It's really quite simple if he's hitting his shots his minutes increase, if he's missing his shots he plays sparingly. I continue to fear Gorski playing a Mcmanamen type role next year, and if he does I think it really limits our ceiling. Hopefully either Edwards goes another route or Gorksi makes me look like an idiot.

9. What a way for Mcmanamen to go out! The Wyoming all-time leading three point shooter hits his last shot, which is a three and does it while winning a championship. Again it's obviously not the championship anybody wanted but I'm sure Jmac is happy to end his season cutting down the nets, as opposed to getting whooped by Air Force in a game he was basically a no show. I'm so happy for him that his last memory of playing for the brown and gold is a positive one. Unfortunately for him I'm pretty sure Anthony Mack is going to break all his three point records.

10. Not much can or needs to be said about James that hasn't already been said. But it's very exciting that we still have JJ for another two years. And Edwards basically said in the post-game press conference that James will start next year, so there is no need for us to worry. With a good off season from James and the rest of the squad we could be in for an exciting season next year.

11. Thanks for reading my ramblings. I really appreciate all the positive feedback as I really enjoyed doing these wright ups. I'll see ya next season!
nwpoke
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Hey, thanks for your reviews! I appreciate your recaps. It helps that I genrally agree with you. I might add that this was a young team, and one trait we suffered from was inconsistency. I have no idea how scheduling is done, but I hope we book tough teams OOC. that ought to take care of any lingering immaturity, and maybe we'll see how good we might be.

Meanwhle, thanks to the team for a frustratingly fun season!

Go Pokes!
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LanderPoke
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Thanks for your great reviews, .44. I thoroughly enjoy them.

First of all congrats to the Cowboys. This goes a long way in chasing the foul taste of the AF debacle out of our mouths. Hopefully this gives us confidence going into next year and hopefully Edwards learned a thing or two and APPLIES it to next year.

I don't know why, but we decided to actually go for offensive rebounds the last two games. Why now? No clue. It took Allen Edwards 37 games to figure out that trying to get offensive rebounds is a good thing. Who would have thought that the easiest way to get extra possessions is the a positive thing? Abandoning O rebounding is a flawed defensive strategy (at least in the college game).

Cody Kelly is better than Lieberman in every single way. He rebounds better, he is a better defender (stays in front of his man way better and this helps with rebounding indirectly) he drives and creates way better, can get to the rack (impressive for a 5'8'' guy) and he's a much better three point shooter. Just give Kelly most of Lieb's minutes.

Herndon played really well. He actually got some O boards! wow! Even got a foul trying for an O board. never thought I'd see the day. Hopefully that continues next year.

Anything Gorski does good occasionally is fool's gold. He's a 5 min/game type player.

It shouldn't be surprising that we won this thing. We had the talent to do much better this year, but were coached out of many games this season. Starting and playing James enough minutes is the #1 thing that Edwards fixed in this CBI run. Now if we can eliminate transition threes, O rebound better, not play really bad players lots of minutes, get a better offense w/ sets and good strong screens to help get penetration into the lane, and hopefully get a set rotation with defined roles and expectations we'll be an NCAA team next year.

Laslty, please get in the weight room, Pokes! S&C guy, go home and let Dennison take over. We need someone to get some weight on these guys. If JJ can get 10-15 lbs heavier he'll dominate next year and will be a POY candidate. Imagine what Dalton could do with 15-20 more pounds? We could be scary

This was a frustrating year, but I'm glad it ended on a good note.
NebraskaCowboy
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LanderPoke wrote: Sat Apr 01, 2017 10:05 am Cody Kelly is better than Lieberman in every single way. He rebounds better, he is a better defender (stays in front of his man way better and this helps with rebounding indirectly) he drives and creates way better, can get to the rack (impressive for a 5'8'' guy) and he's a much better three point shooter. Just give Kelly most of Lieb's minutes.
Before you go making claims this bold, maybe Cody could learn to hit a layup first. To me, he's nothing more than a good set shot who gets most of his looks thanks to his teammates. Liebs know his roll on this team and doesn't try to do more than that. Personally, I think they both leave something to be desired at the PG spot but claiming that Kelly needs all of Liebs minutes is foolish. Given a larger sample size of Kelly, I think you'd see his flaws just as readily as you'd see Liebs.
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MrTitleist
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You do good writing, 44. Thanks for the recaps.
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LanderPoke
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NebraskaCowboy wrote: Sat Apr 01, 2017 10:38 am
LanderPoke wrote: Sat Apr 01, 2017 10:05 am Cody Kelly is better than Lieberman in every single way. He rebounds better, he is a better defender (stays in front of his man way better and this helps with rebounding indirectly) he drives and creates way better, can get to the rack (impressive for a 5'8'' guy) and he's a much better three point shooter. Just give Kelly most of Lieb's minutes.
Before you go making claims this bold, maybe Cody could learn to hit a layup first. To me, he's nothing more than a good set shot who gets most of his looks thanks to his teammates. Liebs know his roll on this team and doesn't try to do more than that. Personally, I think they both leave something to be desired at the PG spot but claiming that Kelly needs all of Liebs minutes is foolish. Given a larger sample size of Kelly, I think you'd see his flaws just as readily as you'd see Liebs.
First of all I agree. We need to improve at point guard if we are going to go anywhere next year and beyond.

Anyway, I gave a detailed list of why I think Kelly deserves way more court time than Lieberman. The sample size is big enough now that we can see what Kelly really is - better than Lieberman at most everything. The offense looks so much better w/ Kelly because he drives and pulls multiple defenders (Kelly is a lot quicker so he can do this) plus he doesn't allow dribble penetration literally every possession on defense like Lieberman.
Vt poke
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LanderPoke wrote: Sat Apr 01, 2017 10:05 am Thanks for your great reviews, .44. I thoroughly enjoy them.

First of all congrats to the Cowboys. This goes a long way in chasing the foul taste of the AF debacle out of our mouths. Hopefully this gives us confidence going into next year and hopefully Edwards learned a thing or two and APPLIES it to next year.

I don't know why, but we decided to actually go for offensive rebounds the last two games. Why now? No clue. It took Allen Edwards 37 games to figure out that trying to get offensive rebounds is a good thing. Who would have thought that the easiest way to get extra possessions is the a positive thing? Abandoning O rebounding is a flawed defensive strategy (at least in the college game).

Cody Kelly is better than Lieberman in every single way. He rebounds better, he is a better defender (stays in front of his man way better and this helps with rebounding indirectly) he drives and creates way better, can get to the rack (impressive for a 5'8'' guy) and he's a much better three point shooter. Just give Kelly most of Lieb's minutes.

Herndon played really well. He actually got some O boards! wow! Even got a foul trying for an O board. never thought I'd see the day. Hopefully that continues next year.

Anything Gorski does good occasionally is fool's gold. He's a 5 min/game type player.

It shouldn't be surprising that we won this thing. We had the talent to do much better this year, but were coached out of many games this season. Starting and playing James enough minutes is the #1 thing that Edwards fixed in this CBI run. Now if we can eliminate transition threes, O rebound better, not play really bad players lots of minutes, get a better offense w/ sets and good strong screens to help get penetration into the lane, and hopefully get a set rotation with defined roles and expectations we'll be an NCAA team next year.

Laslty, please get in the weight room, Pokes! S&C guy, go home and let Dennison take over. We need someone to get some weight on these guys. If JJ can get 10-15 lbs heavier he'll dominate next year and will be a POY candidate. Imagine what Dalton could do with 15-20 more pounds? We could be scary

This was a frustrating year, but I'm glad it ended on a good note.
I think that we have a very strong core in Dalton and James. James is so smooth offensively, and very underrated defensively. He proved with more minutes that he will be all first team MWC next year. Dalton has a very crafty offensive game. He can post up with multiple moves out of the post and can drain the three. He is a great weakside rebounder and just seems to be all over the court. If he can clean up his sometimes shake your head errant passes we have ourselves a great foundation for a very good team. Naughton and even Barnes will get better and provide some spark. We need these guys for when the other teams bigs have some beef on them. Love Moemeka, but to win against CCU we needed a little more beef in the lane. I think Kelley is like a Sherman tank versus the Cadillac from Callabassas Liebs. Both have their role. Kelley is like a linebacker while Liebs brings more finesse. I think that They both played effective minutes during the tourney run. As far as Gorski, he would do well on some lower level teams, but he is not the replacement for Mac. Can't wait to see what Mack and Maldonado bring to the table
stymeman
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Good job Pokes what a fun run it was!!!!
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