Tuesday, November 12, 2019

SCU Men's Basketball - "Sluggish" Won't Do vs The Cougars





                                                                                               



The Bronco's opened last Tuesday against the UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs and on Thursday against the Cal Poly Mustangs.  

Most programs have a schedule that's a soft opening.  Even Duke played mighty Fort Valley state.  It's solely for getting the team "reps" - floor time.  That was all we were wanting from the UCSC game.  

Here's what we saw.  The coaches used their starters off and on for about 20 - 24 minutes.  The newcomers each saw 15-19 minutes of their first real game action.  

Questions were answered.  What about all the newbies?  Here's the rundown.  DJ Mitchell impressed.  Active, competitive, a power dunk high flyer, with an edge.  As for the two Williams, Jalen and Giordan, they played well and showed we have real depth.  Freshman Jaden Bediako also impressed, albeit against a much smaller lineup.  IMHO, the best thing about the "slugs" game was the ball was always moving in an up tempo game plan and open shots were everywhere.  

Different story when the Mustangs rode into Leavey.  The game started the same way as we did vs UCSC - good passes and two dunks.  One by Caruso, the other by DJ Mitchell onto an 8-0 lead.  
The next four minutes were flashbacks to last season, where we were plagued by turnovers and missed shots.  In that span, five fouls, three turnovers, and four misses resulting in an 11-2 Cal Poly run to lead by one.  
To our credit, the defense was aggressive and kept us in the game. We won't get away with the reach fouls going forward that lead to early foul trouble on three starters.  We found out we DO have a bench who compete with a "dive on the floor" mentality lead by David Thompson with a head first, fumble recovery type move, to force a game changing turnover and enable a nice run.  Vrankic and Caruso were able to impose their will deep into the second half for a 14 point win.  Shoulda, coulda, woulda, been a 20+ win, but there was no folding in this team a la Prairie View last season.  

For the next two games "sluggish" won't do.

Washington State will be a good early litmus test.  They have experience, decent size, and are coached by former USF head coach Kyle Smith, who would love to avenge last seasons loss at Leavey.  After that loss, USF fell into a four game tailspin and a post season snub that wasted a 21 win season.  They also have freshman DJ Rodman - yes the son of, on their roster.  
Forget about last year's SCU win away.  This will be a whole different deal.

Saturday away at Stanford will be another test of what our team can become.  Stanford has a combo of young and experienced talent and a strong defensive mindset.  A "W" would be great, but the experience playing better teams should help in prep for the WCC league play.
  
We should be close to full strength.  Keyshawn Justice, according to some G2 is a game time decision.  He did practice a bit,  but I'm sure the Coaches don't want to risk any longer term problems.   He can be a key piece for us this year and I hope he's ready to go.  

The team will be amped and ready to run.  The "corral" will be ready to taunt at every free throw.  All of us need to be loud and the sixth man for our team, because sluggish just won't do in this one!


























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