Arizona State @ Oregon

[oregontrack]

Well, if it helps, we ARE in serious trouble.

[uostudent]

I swear I don't do this just to hear myself talk, but for the millionth time, just because you SAY Sim doesn't play defense, that doesn't make it so. Armstead has been our best perimeter defender, and Sim is right behind him. Nobody else on the wing plays even the slightest bit of defense, thus Sim gets his minutes. No, Sim isn't shooting well. Yes, Teondre is the better offensive player. But Sim plays because he D's up and he doesn't turn the ball over. Really, that's it. It's not a huge conspiracy. Teondre is an athletic freak of nature and he is indeed our best 3-pt shooter (he's automatic from the corner) but he's a matador on defense. That's why Teondre doesn't start, and Altman has to pull out insanely short line-ups like tonight's Armstead/Loyd/Strowbridge/EJ/Catron starting 5. Teondre offensive skill set and size would be IDEAL for what we want to do, but he just doesn't get it defensively.

And just because you say that Sim plays good defense, doesn’t mean he actually does. Sim (and others) “held” Brandon Dunson to a career high of 14 points. Opposing players continue to go off against Oregon, regardless of who’s defending them. As John Wooden used to say, don't confuse effort with results. Unless Sim has miraculously improved his vertical quickness during the offseason, he has not improved as a defender. The guy can’t keep up with quicker guards and has no idea how to rotate on the high screen pick and roll. Just because he is a scrappy player, doesn’t mean he has high basketball IQ. While he may be one of the team's best defenders (that's debatable), that really isn't saying much.

I agree with you that Armstead is the team’s best defender, but even he has been disappointing in this aspect of the game this year. Armstead appears to be sleepwalking on the court and has only shown intensity on the defensive end during select periods of time.

In general, this is a poor defensive team. I’m not targeting Sim specifically, but he has done nothing to warrant playing almost 25 minutes a game. We are going to be a poor defensive team whether he’s on the court or not. Offensively, Sim doesn’t turn the ball over because he rarely has to make decisions. He is never the primary ballhandler on the court, isn’t a playmaker, and struggles to create for himself. Most of Sim’s scoring comes on jumpshots that are assisted by another player. Coming out of high school, Sim was supposedly a good shooter. All I’ve seen from him in his time at Oregon, is a guy who is indecisive on the offensive end and is afraid to make mistakes. I think part of this behavior developed during his freshman year, when Ernie would immediately pull young players who did something wrong and would punish them for making mistakes. We are going to be a poor defensive team whether Sim is on the court or not. Since that’s the case, we might as well use our best offensive weapons.

Strowbridge is another guy who plays way too many minutes. Strowbridge is a terrible defender and arguably a worse offensive player than Sim.

Tyrone Nared is one guy who I think is worthy of more playing time. From what I’ve seen, Nared is a decent defender and a pretty good rebounder. I haven't seen much from him in the way of an offensive game, but he’s a good finisher and has a knack for getting tips ins. He’s a solid offensive rebounder too.

When Jeremy Jacob is healthy, I’d expect to see him playing close to 30 minutes a game.

I didn't want to make it seem like I was specifically targeting Sim. This team only has a handful of Pac 10 caliber players. Considering what Altman has to work with, he has done a magnificent job. This season is not about W's/L's; it's about developing Singler and Loyd.

Armstead might want to wake up because next season his starting position will be in jeopardy if he continues to play like this. Guys like Loyd, Barron, and Kingma are going to be hungry for playing time.

[oregontrack]

And just because you say that Sim plays good defense, doesn’t mean he actually does. Sim (and others) “held” Brandon Dunson to a career high of 14 points. Opposing players continue to go off against Oregon, regardless of who’s defending them. As John Wooden used to say, don't confuse effort with results. Unless Sim has miraculously improved his vertical quickness during the offseason, he has not improved as a defender. The guy can’t keep up with quicker guards and has no idea how to rotate on the high screen pick and roll. Just because he is a scrappy player, doesn’t mean he has high basketball IQ. While he may be one of the team's best defenders (that's debatable), that really isn't saying much..

And I'm not saying he's the second coming of Gary Payton. I'm saying he's one of our top perimeter defenders, and that's why he plays. People here seem to think it's a mystery, when in fact it's really quite simple. We aren't going to beat ANYONE in an offensive shoot out this year, IF ("if") we win a Pac-10 game this year it's going to be because of defense. Armstead and Sim play it adequately, Strowbridge, Loyd, and Teondre don't play it at all. Loyd fits your John Wooden reference better than Sim does. The kid tries, but it's just not there. Sim isn't going to lock anyone down, but he can hold his own. With everybody else (sans Armstead) it's an automatic bucket or foul for the opposition.

I agree with you that Armstead is the team’s best defender, but even he has been disappointing in this aspect of the game this year. Armstead appears to be sleepwalking on the court and has only shown intensity on the defensive end during select periods of time.

I would agree with this.

In general, this is a poor defensive team. I’m not targeting Sim specifically, but he has done nothing to warrant playing almost 25 minutes a game. We are going to be a poor defensive team whether he’s on the court or not. Offensively, Sim doesn’t turn the ball over because he rarely has to make decisions. He is never the primary ballhandler on the court, isn’t a playmaker, and struggles to create for himself. Most of Sim’s scoring comes on jumpshots that are assisted by another player. Coming out of high school, Sim was supposedly a good shooter. All I’ve seen from him in his time at Oregon, is a guy who is indecisive on the offensive end and is afraid to make mistakes. I think part of this behavior developed during his freshman year, when Ernie would immediately pull young players who did something wrong and would punish them for making mistakes. We are going to be a poor defensive team whether Sim is on the court or not. Since that’s the case, we might as well use our best offensive weapons.

For the first part of this, if you consider Teondre seems to be spelling EJ at the 3 far more than he's playing the 2 these days, none of our guards "warrant" 25 minutes a game. Armstead is a shell of a his sophomore self offensively, and his turnovers tend to negate his decent defense. Strowbridge is crazy bad, can't play a lick of D and shoots more than Sim, despite shooting worse than Sim both inside and outside the arc. Loyd's kind of fun to watch because he tends to play halfway out of control, but he really doesn't "do" anything, and that includes defense. He shoots it the same as Sim behind the arc, and at least Sim can score a bucket in transition, whereas Loyd really can't.

For the second part of this, particularly the last sentence... what better offensive weapons? We have four guards, since Altman seems to view Teondre more as a wing. None of them are worth s*** offensively.

Strowbridge is another guy who plays way too many minutes. Strowbridge is a terrible defender and arguably a worse offensive player than Sim.

Agreed.

Tyrone Nared is one guy who I think is worthy of more playing time. From what I’ve seen, Nared is a decent defender and a pretty good rebounder. I haven't seen much from him in the way of an offensive game, but he’s a good finisher and has a knack for getting tips ins. He’s a solid offensive rebounder too.

When Jeremy Jacob is healthy, I’d expect to see him playing close to 30 minutes a game.

Agreed, and agreed.

I didn't want to make it seem like I was specifically targeting Sim. This team only has a handful of Pac 10 caliber players. Considering what Altman has to work with, he has done a magnificent job. This season is not about W's/L's; it's about developing Singler and Loyd.

I think the bolded is also a good reason why some players are getting the minutes they're getting.

Armstead might want to wake up because next season his starting position will be in jeopardy if he continues to play like this. Guys like Loyd, Barron, and Kingma are going to be hungry for playing time.

Agreed.

[greenyellow]

I wouldn't be surprised if we hear talk of Armstead transferring again once the season ends. I think most fans probably wish this season was already over so that we can talk about the new players coming in next season.

[woundedknees]

Go ahead and talk... Kingma is definitely a pure shooter, Jabari Brown has a nice touch as well, as does Kuemper, even though he is not the quintessential big Duck fans crave... Bruce Barron has a reputation as a slasher who finishes nicely.

The foundation is being poured for the future... Growing pains?

We got 'em!

At least we can see that there is a basketball coach in residence.

[dthomas=ddixon]

I understand this team looked pretty good the start of the season but are any of us surprised by whats happening now? These guys have come up in culture of losing under Ernie. They're comfortable shooting 35%, it what they've done their entire careers here. Its what they're used to & its so easy for them to slip back into it. Its going to take some time to break them free of that. And its probably going to take a totally new crop of guys till that losing mentality is totally gone.

[greenyellow]

I understand this team looked pretty good the start of the season but are any of us surprised by whats happening now? These guys have come up in culture of losing under Ernie. They're comfortable shooting 35%, it what they've done their entire careers here. Its what they're used to & its so easy for them to slip back into it. Its going to take some time to break them free of that. And its probably going to take a totally new crop of guys till that losing mentality is totally gone.

Ernie broke a lot of these players and Altman is having to do a repair job on the fly. He's not going to get all the bugs out of the older ones like Armstead, Jacob, Catron, Williams, or Sim, but he can probably salvage Singler and make him an all-conference player by the time he's a SR.

[Duck07]

I understand this team looked pretty good the start of the season but are any of us surprised by whats happening now? These guys have come up in culture of losing under Ernie. They're comfortable shooting 35%, it what they've done their entire careers here. Its what they're used to & its so easy for them to slip back into it. Its going to take some time to break them free of that. And its probably going to take a totally new crop of guys till that losing mentality is totally gone.

Ernie broke a lot of these players and Altman is having to do a repair job on the fly. He's not going to get all the bugs out of the older ones like Armstead, Jacob, Catron, Williams, or Sim, but he can probably salvage Singler and make him an all-conference player by the time he's a SR.

I'm excited for EJ because I think that he can end up being a great player for us over the next 2 1/2 seasons. He may be a jack of all trades and a master of none, but he's one of those "glue" type guys whose upperclassmen leadership is going to be vital for DA and the recruits he brings in the next two seasons. While Catron is here still, I think EJ at least needs to end up asserting that this is his team going forward. Every team needs to have a player they can look to and I hope he becomes that guy for us.

[Boom]

Go ahead and talk... Kingma is definitely a pure shooter, Jabari Brown has a nice touch as well, as does Kuemper, even though he is not the quintessential big Duck fans crave... Bruce Barron has a reputation as a slasher who finishes nicely.

The foundation is being poured for the future... Growing pains?

We got 'em!

At least we can see that there is a basketball coach in residence.

But can those guys play defense!? I have serious doubts about Kingma.

[UOducksTK1]

Go ahead and talk... Kingma is definitely a pure shooter, Jabari Brown has a nice touch as well, as does Kuemper, even though he is not the quintessential big Duck fans crave... Bruce Barron has a reputation as a slasher who finishes nicely.

The foundation is being poured for the future... Growing pains?

We got 'em!

At least we can see that there is a basketball coach in residence.

But can those guys play defense!? I have serious doubts about Kingma.

As long as Kingma shoots 40%+ from the arc, and has a high ast/to ratio, which I believe he will have both, then I'd be very happy with his contributions.

It's not like anyone on this team plays defense anyway, I'm sure Kingma could play better D than any of the guards we have now. Outside of Armstead getting some steals here and there, our perimeter D is awful.

[Duck07]

Our defense, while not stellar, is mostly what has allowed us to stay in so many games. Kingma may not be a great solo defender, but in this system he'll be fine, especially when you consider what he should be able to do for us on the other end of the floor. Relax guys, this team is going to be really good, not this season but soon enough.

[duckgrad99]

http://www.maxpreps.com/athletes/q85I51 ... -brown.htm


I found those stats for Jabari Brown. Looks like he is having a solid senior season.

[woundedknees]

Good looking numbers.

Brown and Kingma are going to be fun to watch...

[UOducksTK1]

Our defense, while not stellar, is mostly what has allowed us to stay in so many games. Kingma may not be a great solo defender, but in this system he'll be fine, especially when you consider what he should be able to do for us on the other end of the floor. Relax guys, this team is going to be really good, not this season but soon enough.

That's a good point. Individual defenders aren't always a need, as long as they can fit in the system.

[Boom]

Our defense, while not stellar, is mostly what has allowed us to stay in so many games. Kingma may not be a great solo defender, but in this system he'll be fine, especially when you consider what he should be able to do for us on the other end of the floor. Relax guys, this team is going to be really good, not this season but soon enough.

That's a good point. Individual defenders aren't always a need, as long as they can fit in the system.

Having a "defensive system" does not make up for undersized and below average athleticism.