Jump to content

ORU vs TCU


eagle88

Recommended Posts

DJ was going against TCU's big man who outweighed him by 50 pounds and also had 4 inches on him.  That is a lot to ask of Weaver.  DJ won't face may centers that size in the Summit League. 

Lufile has good size and can rebound but on the screens, teams will not guard him because they know he will not shoot the ball.  Then they double team Max and blow up the play.  He had a couple of looks at layups and TCU blocked both of them.  Lufile's offensive game is limited, and I think that is why Coach only plays him a few minutes each game.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, Keenan Henderson said:

Lufile has good size and can rebound but on the screens, teams will not guard him because they know he will not shoot the ball.  Then they double team Max and blow up the play.  He had a couple of looks at layups and TCU blocked both of them.  Lufile's offensive game is limited, and I think that is why Coach only plays him a few minutes each game.

First of all, Lufile does not HAVE to be played in replacement of DJ. They COULD play together. I'm calling for that change more than Lufile replacing DJ. Secondly, there are plenty of things you can do after a high ball screen that don't require popping to the three point line. I agree that Lufile's offensive game does not offer what DJ's does, but we were manhandled last night. I've been impressed with DJ the last several games  - he's been phenomenal - but he wasn't able to replicate that last night and I'm doubtful he can maintain it in the long term, even against smaller Summit teams. 

I'm just saying, I like the bigs that we've got. Hate to see us stuck on small ball, which I'm not really even opposed to, I just want to see us try some bigger lineups. I'm sure the coaches have tested all of these combos together in practice and maybe the small ball lineups are the only thing that work out. Using Lufile more just makes so much sense to me, I don't see how it couldn't work.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In watching the game last night on ESPN+ I too felt that when Lufile was in the game that TCU's "Bigs" had a lot more respect for him than DJ.  As a matter of fact it appeared to me their Bigs tried to shove DJ around but when Lufile was in they backed off and appeared to not want to have anything to do with him.  I also agree that why not run DJ at the 4 and play Lufile at the 5.  One thing is for sure, not many teams/players are going to shove Lufile around.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a couple of observations to share with the community.

OT, my objective 19 yo son had the same observation.  TCU has some talent and they have some size.  Lampkin, in particular, is a load.  I thought TCU played really good defense, especially on Max.  They did a good job of limiting his good looks.  In the second half it seemed that Max, and the team, figured out how to get him some space and he was able to be....Max.

Lacis played really well, taking advantage of the opportunities afforded by all the attention Max received.  We had a very objective TCU fan sitting in front of us with his lovely family.  After a nice 3 pointer in the second half he asked me if Frances is our best player.  I was polite as he obviously did not read the scouting report.  I told him a little bit about Max and as the second half unfolded he came to a better understanding.  I think Lacis is our most improved player thus far in the season.

Weaver is also improved and played well but he's still leaving some meat on the bone.  Missed bunnies and dunks on alley oop passes.  I don't expect him to be perfect but the team is giving him great opportunities for easy baskets.  If he can clean that up he can make a real impact on our success this year. 

The officiating was horrible imo.  Probably what you expect in a power 5 road game.  It isn't the reason that we lost but it  was frustrating to me.  It appeared that they thought "well TCU is so much bigger everything down low must be clean."  At one point, after we had 2 or 3 players go to the floor under the basket on the same possession I yelled "and there's no fouls down there?" and said objective TCU fan turned back and said "I was thinking the same thing."  They also got tricked by a flop.  They did finally call an over the back after about 5 went uncalled.  I'll admit that I'm not as objective as the TCU fan in row D.

I really like the maturity of our team.  At the end of time outs, after bad calls, I saw our guys, Lacis, Weaver and Max in particular, talking calmly with the officials.  They were asking  questions and seeking clarification in a very professional manner.  DJ was joking around a bit with the ref I thought was least inclined to blow his whistle.  I don't know that it made a difference but I was impressed and proud of our team.  I also found it interesting that while Jamie Dixon used every second and then some of every time out that our guys were out on the floor ready to play and engaged in diplomacy.  This will probably prompt a criticism of Coach Mills 🙂

A question for the athletic department.  We had great representation in Fort Worth.  Can we please schedule at least one game in the DFW area each season?  There are a lot of alums and a lot of talent in this area.

Final observation, in the section to our right there was a father with two young boys that were cheering for ORU.  At half time I noticed that he was wearing a Jesuit shirt.  I guess he was a fan of Max's from high school.  I was impressed by that.

 

  • Upvote 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

43 minutes ago, Otis 83 said:

  I also found it interesting that while Jamie Dixon used every second and then some of every time out that our guys were out on the floor ready to play and engaged in diplomacy. 

This is a regular occurrence for Mills that I've never seen before from any other coach. He'll send em back out there 30+ seconds before the other team breaks their huddle. Most coaches are trying to fit in as many instructions and updates as they can.  

Honestly, it's probably nice if you're the player to quiet yourself and visualize the game, rather than trying to remember every comment that your coach asked you to improve on in the huddle, as well as whatever play was drawn up. 

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Otis 83 said:

also found it interesting that while Jamie Dixon used every second and then some of every time out that our guys were out on the floor ready to play and engaged in diplomacy.  This will probably prompt a criticism of Coach Mills

I am of the opinion that either your team knows and understands what they are supposed to accomplish from practice or they don't. 30 seconds isn't really going to change much except give everyone a chance to rest.

1 hour ago, Otis 83 said:

A question for the athletic department.  We had great representation in Fort Worth.  Can we please schedule at least one game in the DFW area each season?  There are a lot of alums and a lot of talent in this area.

Totally agree. I'm sure that's a scheduling consideration every year. It's just that other schools might not want to let us into their potential recruiting grounds. I know Dixon was making a late recruiting push to Max towards the end of his senior year...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, Dr. Cornelius said:

I am of the opinion that either your team knows and understands what they are supposed to accomplish from practice or they don't. 30 seconds isn't really going to change much except give everyone a chance to rest.

 

I agree that trying to "draw up plays" in a time out isn't going to work, if a team is running plays that they haven't practiced over and over again they have bigger problems!!

But, what coaches are doing in a time out is addressing or adjusting to very particular situations happening in the game. How they may be switching a screen, are they double teaming on a particular play or match up.  What are they doing offensively or defensively to our sets.

Those little in game adjustments that should be made in a time outs are important, coach Mills has a smart veteran team and he may just make his points quickly and there really is a limit to what your going to convey- I don't think its a problem to keep it short and simple! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

41 minutes ago, ORU40 said:

I agree that trying to "draw up plays" in a time out isn't going to work, if a team is running plays that they haven't practiced over and over again they have bigger problems!!

But, what coaches are doing in a time out is addressing or adjusting to very particular situations happening in the game. How they may be switching a screen, are they double teaming on a particular play or match up.  What are they doing offensively or defensively to our sets.

Those little in game adjustments that should be made in a time outs are important, coach Mills has a smart veteran team and he may just make his points quickly and there really is a limit to what your going to convey- I don't think its a problem to keep it short and simple! 

I want to be clear, I wasn't criticizing Coach Mills.  I liked it.  On the other side of the ledger, we were directly across from the TCU bench.  A lot of activity there during time outs with Coach Dixon screaming, grad assistants holding up signs over his head, plays drawn up on Coach's white board, multiple conversations going on in the huddle.  I've always respected Coach Dixon but that's a lot of instruction in a short period of time.  My objective 19 year old thought it was too much.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Regarding the Time Outs, an ORU athletics official told me the timeouts were running 30 seconds longer than they do in the Summit. Not sure why, but that explained why our guys were on the floor with so much time left in those timeouts. The coaches undoubtedly didn't want to change their routine for one game. 

Great fan attendance from current students and alums in the arena. Someone sponsored tickets for students and another sponsor paid for their gas to get to the game. 18 students jumped on it. Also, ORU has an affiliate college in Keller, Texas (who knew). That school doesn't have an athletic program, and became big fans of ORUMBB after the NCAA tournament run. They brought 23 students from that school to the game. It was pretty cool. This was the last week before finals for ORU students. That meant all final work for the semester was due this week. Otherwise there would have probably been 50+ in attendance. 

Let's do the same for the UMKC game in Kansas City. Its on Saturday, January 15th I think. I know a sponsor who is going to pay for alums in the area to go to the game for free. We just need to coordinate with Alumni Relations to get the word out to alumni in the area and get a final count for tickets by Monday, January 3rd. Let's bring some Golden Eagle energy to to the Roos arena and make them feel our presence! 

  • Like 1
  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Dr. Cornelius said:

Totally agree. I'm sure that's a scheduling consideration every year. It's just that other schools might not want to let us into their potential recruiting grounds. I know Dixon was making a late recruiting push to Max towards the end of his senior year...

I'm a helpful sort so here's a list of area names to consider.😛

Southern Methodist University, University Park, TX

University of North Texas, Denton, TX

University of Texas at Arlington, TX

Texas Christian University, assume you know where they are

And I still wish that Coach Drew at Baylor would throw us a bone and schedule a game in Waco...I'd be there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

North Texas seems like an easy deal given that their head coach and Paul Mills were on the staff at Baylor together, but I'll take any one of those I can get!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ORU will be back in the Dallas area next season, as they have a scheduled return game with UTA or Texas-Arlington.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, Keenan Henderson said:

ORU will be back in the Dallas area next season, as they have a scheduled return game with UTA or Texas-Arlington.

Excellent!  I will be there. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...