Griz fall to .500 with Friday night loss to Pacific
I realize Monday morning is a tad late to write about a game from Friday night but what the hell, here's my opinion anyway. Here's the AP story for those who missed it.
After the wins in Spokane, I was hoping this team wouldn't even sniff .500 until they started out the '08-'09 season at 0-0. After three straight losses, the Griz are back there for the first time since November 11, when they lost to Gonzaga.
I don't know if it was lack of endurance or what but the Griz locked up bad down the stretch. There were very few solid offensive possessions towards the end of regulation. I believe we freed up Staudacher for a wide open 3 in overtime but he missed it. That's the only good offensive set I can remember.
It seems like it's been forever since someone on this team made a game-winning shot. Hasquet had a chance to win the game at the end but missed. From what I heard, this sounded like another jumbled offensive possession. We swung it around for ten seconds before dumping it down to Hasquet and giving him a shot. This came after Pacific came out in a 2-3 zone, something the Griz surely weren't suspecting. Probably wouldn't have hurt to call the last timeout there and reset. We didn't, we missed and it went to overtime.
My guess on why the offensive sets aren't working: having Martin and Staudacher on the court at the same time down the stretch. They have very close to the same game. Neither of these two are particularly quick. They don't quite have the skills required to create their own shots which means they either have to take contested shots or run hard off of screens. It's not a huge knock on them, both are legit spot-up shooters capable of playing the shooting guard position, it's just that we don't need two of almost the same player out there. Staudacher's size gives him an advantage on contested shots—I recall a few occasions where he made a fadeaway with a hand in his face—while Martin has a bit more quickness.
I'm not sure who to plug in there. I've mentioned I few options in an early post: either going big at the three with Hasquet or going with a small three guard set of Rundles, Martin or Staudacher and possible Graves. Basically, the loss of juco transfer Sean Watson hurts and we need to cover up the bald spot he leaves behind as soon as possible.
After the wins in Spokane, I was hoping this team wouldn't even sniff .500 until they started out the '08-'09 season at 0-0. After three straight losses, the Griz are back there for the first time since November 11, when they lost to Gonzaga.
I don't know if it was lack of endurance or what but the Griz locked up bad down the stretch. There were very few solid offensive possessions towards the end of regulation. I believe we freed up Staudacher for a wide open 3 in overtime but he missed it. That's the only good offensive set I can remember.
It seems like it's been forever since someone on this team made a game-winning shot. Hasquet had a chance to win the game at the end but missed. From what I heard, this sounded like another jumbled offensive possession. We swung it around for ten seconds before dumping it down to Hasquet and giving him a shot. This came after Pacific came out in a 2-3 zone, something the Griz surely weren't suspecting. Probably wouldn't have hurt to call the last timeout there and reset. We didn't, we missed and it went to overtime.
My guess on why the offensive sets aren't working: having Martin and Staudacher on the court at the same time down the stretch. They have very close to the same game. Neither of these two are particularly quick. They don't quite have the skills required to create their own shots which means they either have to take contested shots or run hard off of screens. It's not a huge knock on them, both are legit spot-up shooters capable of playing the shooting guard position, it's just that we don't need two of almost the same player out there. Staudacher's size gives him an advantage on contested shots—I recall a few occasions where he made a fadeaway with a hand in his face—while Martin has a bit more quickness.
I'm not sure who to plug in there. I've mentioned I few options in an early post: either going big at the three with Hasquet or going with a small three guard set of Rundles, Martin or Staudacher and possible Graves. Basically, the loss of juco transfer Sean Watson hurts and we need to cover up the bald spot he leaves behind as soon as possible.
