MBB: #4 Oregon @ Colorado (Thu 6 PM ESPN2)

[shoparound]

Got the comeback going but didn't manage well when we got close.
Yes boulder is just a house of horrors for the program (like the state of AZ for football).
Always like returning the favor to them though when they come in Eugene.

[GrantDuck]

Positives:
-We actually did a really solid job on the boards tonight.
-Duarte had a really nice stretch in the 2nd half.
-You can still tell there's a lot of pieces trying to fit together. So we have lots of room to grow as a team. I like that Altman is willing to play the freshman more this year, even if we lose a couple games because of it.

Negatives:
-Pretty awful ball movement. Everything we were doing was going off the dribble. We HAVE to learn to cut harder off the ball. Dante rolls to the basket like he's taking a leisure stroll on a sunny Eugene afternoon. The bad offense hurt our transition defense, which also left a lot to be desired.
-Dante and Juiston turnovers. New/Rust.
-Bad shooting.(see, every time we go to Boulder).
-Pac-12 refs in Boulder. Wright was mugging Pritchard(like Romar ball style with the holding and grabass) all game yet Pritchard somehow had 4 fouls?

[nogerO]

Positives:
-We actually did a really solid job on the boards tonight.
-Duarte had a really nice stretch in the 2nd half.
-You can still tell there's a lot of pieces trying to fit together. So we have lots of room to grow as a team. I like that Altman is willing to play the freshman more this year, even if we lose a couple games because of it.

Negatives:
-Pretty awful ball movement. Everything we were doing was going off the dribble. We HAVE to learn to cut harder off the ball. Dante rolls to the basket like he's taking a leisure stroll on a sunny Eugene afternoon. The bad offense hurt our transition defense, which also left a lot to be desired.
-Dante and Juiston turnovers. New/Rust.
-Bad shooting.(see, every time we go to Boulder).
-Pac-12 refs in Boulder. Wright was mugging Pritchard(like Romar ball style with the holding and grabass) all game yet Pritchard somehow had 4 fouls?

4 offensive boards is NOT a good job on the boards. Especially when you’re jacking up threes that are clanging off the rim. Turnovers are a concern still as well. The good news? It’s early January and Altman will have this team playing great by February. Young Team will learn after laying an egg. Every top team has had one this year...

[Merganzer]

We played a bad game against a good team on the road. Glad we mounted a comeback, I think that bodes well for the future, but obviously still a disappointing night. Offense looked clunky and we didn't create enough good looks, and our shooters didn't save us. Doesn't really change my feelings about this team, which are quite optimistic.

Really not worried after this loss. Team was reintegrating Juiston back in, still working to get Dante in playing condition, and ran into a dangerous, inexperienced Buffs team that has been pretty good so far this season. They'll have to bounce back fast since the Utes have actually looked good considering all the players they had to replace this off-season.

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[Merganzer]

Positives:
-We actually did a really solid job on the boards tonight.
-Duarte had a really nice stretch in the 2nd half.
-You can still tell there's a lot of pieces trying to fit together. So we have lots of room to grow as a team. I like that Altman is willing to play the freshman more this year, even if we lose a couple games because of it.

Negatives:
-Pretty awful ball movement. Everything we were doing was going off the dribble. We HAVE to learn to cut harder off the ball. Dante rolls to the basket like he's taking a leisure stroll on a sunny Eugene afternoon. The bad offense hurt our transition defense, which also left a lot to be desired.
-Dante and Juiston turnovers. New/Rust.
-Bad shooting.(see, every time we go to Boulder).
-Pac-12 refs in Boulder. Wright was mugging Pritchard(like Romar ball style with the holding and grabass) all game yet Pritchard somehow had 4 fouls?

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[dd10snoop28]

A few notes from my observation (I missed a some of both halves):

1- The refs were calling things tight tonight. Most, if not all, drives resulted in some sort of foul - whether offensive or defensive. A bit frustrating as a fan, but they were consistent both ways.

2- Colorado was REALLY aggressive on offensive. It's almost like they knew how the game would be called and planned for it. For most games, I think this would've gotten them in trouble because a good chunk of them were "bad" drives, but it worked well for tonight (being at home and aggressive whistles).

3- Too dependent on Pritchard. There were consecutive possessions where the play-call was ISO for Pritchard. We can do A LOT better than that. Moreso disappointed that Altman didn't adjust. In fact, it took Pritchard going out with foul trouble to get the ball moving again. Not PP's fault.

4- We lacked play-making last night. Once Juiston gets back health, would like to see him become more involved. He has skills as a play-maker.

5- Our defense is shaky right now. Rotations are poor, help defense is slow, containing drives were bad last night etc.... There have been some up's and down's so far this season for the defense as a whole. Not nearly close to being on the sane level as we were for the end-of-year stretch last season. But we usually get better over time so not huge worry.

6- N'Faly has to do a better job of making himself available for post-entry and guards need to be more actively looking for him.

7- Will Richardson played really well - as per the usual this year.

8- Duarte is going to be such a large part of our success this year. Would like to see him use his size to his advantage. Sometimes he has a shorter dude guarding him and he'll choose to take him all the way to the rim instead of just shooting over him. He's such a good shooter and his size is such an advantage. He should watch film on Klay Thompson.

[GrantDuck]

All good observations ddsnoop!

N'Faly is also trying to post up a lot like 12 feet away from the basket and then plow over people instead of using hard cuts to get like 6 feet from the basket. Needs to do more work without the basketball. He's unstoppable if he catches 6-7 feet.

[UOducksTK1]

Our team looked poorly coached a lot last night. Especially on transition defense and defensive rebounding. Our close out defense was bad, but our help defense was the worst I've seen all year, AWFUL!

It's good to have one of these games though so we can learn.