Sooner04
1/6/2009, 10:16 AM
As an extremely biased fan of up-tempo basketball, I loved what I saw last night. Going in, we knew that we'd play lots of guys so fatigue wouldn't be a problem. We had the full-court press, we had traps at half court, we had overplaying of the passes. It was a lot of fun to watch, even if it wasn't the most asthetically pleasing game at times. Coach Mark Cline, substituting for Coach Capel due to a vicious strain of plague, or maybe it was a stomach virus, I don't know, did a fine job in getting as many guys as many minutes as he could. My group was chapped that Ray Willis didn't get as many minutes as we thought he deserved, but Cline admitted after the game that he flat forgot all about "Gamma" Ray in the first half, and ended up playing him for 15 of the second half's 20 minutes.
The game was a bit of a snoozer competitively, but you really got to see what the second brigade has to offer. I learned a few things last night. One, Orlando Allen has a semi-competent hook shot. It's awful flat, but it's a real, in-the-flesh, hook shot. Kyle Cannon and "Gamma" Ray both have pretty polished offensive games. Once things click defensively, or once Kyle quits getting into trouble, they'll both be strong contributors. Beau Gerber might have the most horrid jumper I've seen since I quit playing, but he scored.
The second half me and my quasi-math club were obsessed with our pursuit of the 100-point barrier. Straining our mental calculators to the limit, we constantly checked and re-checked our pace. With 73 points scored and 13:52 to play, we appeared to be in fine shape. But we became spurty, and we'd fall below only to catch back up. With 95 points scored and only 60 seconds to go, things looked bleak. But there was a dunk from Orlando Allen (his 10th points of the night), and MDES responded with a quick shot.
WE HAD A CHANCE!
Down the floor we came. Don't run out the clock! SHOOT! Here's Kyle Cannon, he doesn't play often so you know he's going to fire. From the wing............for three.......SWISH! 100! The 800 people left in the arena went bananas. Strangers are making out in the upper level. Old ladies are disrobing and waving their bras above their heads. Pandemonium at the Lloyd Noble Center not seen since the fall of Saigon.
SCORING BREAKDOWN:
1st - 21 [Eastbound and down....]
2nd - 27 [Loaded up and truckin'!]
3rd - 27 [90 days, Jerry!]
4th - 25 [When you hot, you hot!]
Total - 100 http://thetwinzone.com/forum/images/smilies/shocked/thud.gif
LEADING SCORERS:
20 - Blake Griffin: On one dunk he was forehead level with the rim. And he took off a LONG way away.
15 - Tony Crocker: 15 a night. Keep it up.
15 - Willie Warren: 10-10 from the line. THAT was nice.
10 - Orlando Allen: Most of it on hook shots. Little flat, but those were hook shots, by God.
LEADING REBOUNDERS:
16 - Blake Griffin: He would've given Alvan's 34 and 28 a run for its money.
5 - Orlando Allen
5 - Taylor Griffin
PLUSES:
1. Orlando Allen: I like seeing guys get rewarded for playing hard, and it was obvious Orlando's minutes went up after his play against Coppin State. He still needs a ton of work on defense, because it's Oden-esque down there with the fouls. He was moving bodies around down low, and really attacking the glass. His hands need work, but he's playing hard. FIVE blocks.
2. Kyle Cannon: This guy needs to get his act together because he's got a lot of offensive game, much more than I anticipated. He's got a smooth stroke from the outside, and he'll hold a place in my heart for hitting that trey to get us 100.
3. Blake Griffin: If he had a point guard who truly pushed the tempo there's no telling what kind of numbers he could put up. 20 and 16 in 22 minutes was pretty wild.
4. Jeff Capel: Get well soon.
5. Scoring: Our last three games we've scored 88, 93 and 100. It was our first time to hit 100 since February of 2005. The last time we scored 88 or more in three straight games was in December of 2001. That team was pretty good too.
MINUSES:
1. Ryan Wright: No mas! The Longar Longar/Roberto Duran "Hands of Stone" award is sewn up before conference play. Balloting is in, and it's unanimous.
2. Austin Johnson: Did he play? Yes, but when he did he slowed us to a crawl.
3. Rebounding: We gave up 26 offensive boards. Most of the time it was due to our reserves going up with one hand and either smacking it out of bounds or drilling it back to the floor for MDES to catch the carom. Twice in a row Omar Leary had to come in and clean up the mess. It was doing big damage to our pursuit of 100 too, which had me quite aggravated.
It was a nice win. Everyone's healthy as far as I know, and now the fun begins with conference play. At 14-1, we're off to our best start in 20 years. Do the math, if we go 13-3 or 12-4 in conference then we'll have a pretty gaudy record to present the committee and some nice wins to go with it too. They mentioned on the radio last night that Capel has yet to go on the road in the North and win a game. First step to changing that hideousness begins Saturday in Manhattan. It should be fun.
Thank you for your time.
The game was a bit of a snoozer competitively, but you really got to see what the second brigade has to offer. I learned a few things last night. One, Orlando Allen has a semi-competent hook shot. It's awful flat, but it's a real, in-the-flesh, hook shot. Kyle Cannon and "Gamma" Ray both have pretty polished offensive games. Once things click defensively, or once Kyle quits getting into trouble, they'll both be strong contributors. Beau Gerber might have the most horrid jumper I've seen since I quit playing, but he scored.
The second half me and my quasi-math club were obsessed with our pursuit of the 100-point barrier. Straining our mental calculators to the limit, we constantly checked and re-checked our pace. With 73 points scored and 13:52 to play, we appeared to be in fine shape. But we became spurty, and we'd fall below only to catch back up. With 95 points scored and only 60 seconds to go, things looked bleak. But there was a dunk from Orlando Allen (his 10th points of the night), and MDES responded with a quick shot.
WE HAD A CHANCE!
Down the floor we came. Don't run out the clock! SHOOT! Here's Kyle Cannon, he doesn't play often so you know he's going to fire. From the wing............for three.......SWISH! 100! The 800 people left in the arena went bananas. Strangers are making out in the upper level. Old ladies are disrobing and waving their bras above their heads. Pandemonium at the Lloyd Noble Center not seen since the fall of Saigon.
SCORING BREAKDOWN:
1st - 21 [Eastbound and down....]
2nd - 27 [Loaded up and truckin'!]
3rd - 27 [90 days, Jerry!]
4th - 25 [When you hot, you hot!]
Total - 100 http://thetwinzone.com/forum/images/smilies/shocked/thud.gif
LEADING SCORERS:
20 - Blake Griffin: On one dunk he was forehead level with the rim. And he took off a LONG way away.
15 - Tony Crocker: 15 a night. Keep it up.
15 - Willie Warren: 10-10 from the line. THAT was nice.
10 - Orlando Allen: Most of it on hook shots. Little flat, but those were hook shots, by God.
LEADING REBOUNDERS:
16 - Blake Griffin: He would've given Alvan's 34 and 28 a run for its money.
5 - Orlando Allen
5 - Taylor Griffin
PLUSES:
1. Orlando Allen: I like seeing guys get rewarded for playing hard, and it was obvious Orlando's minutes went up after his play against Coppin State. He still needs a ton of work on defense, because it's Oden-esque down there with the fouls. He was moving bodies around down low, and really attacking the glass. His hands need work, but he's playing hard. FIVE blocks.
2. Kyle Cannon: This guy needs to get his act together because he's got a lot of offensive game, much more than I anticipated. He's got a smooth stroke from the outside, and he'll hold a place in my heart for hitting that trey to get us 100.
3. Blake Griffin: If he had a point guard who truly pushed the tempo there's no telling what kind of numbers he could put up. 20 and 16 in 22 minutes was pretty wild.
4. Jeff Capel: Get well soon.
5. Scoring: Our last three games we've scored 88, 93 and 100. It was our first time to hit 100 since February of 2005. The last time we scored 88 or more in three straight games was in December of 2001. That team was pretty good too.
MINUSES:
1. Ryan Wright: No mas! The Longar Longar/Roberto Duran "Hands of Stone" award is sewn up before conference play. Balloting is in, and it's unanimous.
2. Austin Johnson: Did he play? Yes, but when he did he slowed us to a crawl.
3. Rebounding: We gave up 26 offensive boards. Most of the time it was due to our reserves going up with one hand and either smacking it out of bounds or drilling it back to the floor for MDES to catch the carom. Twice in a row Omar Leary had to come in and clean up the mess. It was doing big damage to our pursuit of 100 too, which had me quite aggravated.
It was a nice win. Everyone's healthy as far as I know, and now the fun begins with conference play. At 14-1, we're off to our best start in 20 years. Do the math, if we go 13-3 or 12-4 in conference then we'll have a pretty gaudy record to present the committee and some nice wins to go with it too. They mentioned on the radio last night that Capel has yet to go on the road in the North and win a game. First step to changing that hideousness begins Saturday in Manhattan. It should be fun.
Thank you for your time.