Good, Bad, Ugly vs Eckerd

[Ghost]

Pep band could always use work. They werent very good at Hoopla either. Free throw shooting has always been an Achilles heel for this team. Can never figure out why. I can guarantee you we will lose some close games against good teams because of free throws.

We need a pep rally or something for the students before Saturday and teach them some chants or something. You cant just expect the students to go and make **** up as they go along. The rebounding worries me a little. We need to be all over the defensive boards if we want a chance at the tourney. We need to limit the opposing team to one chance at the basket. The defense doesnt worry me much, since it was only an exhibition and the rotation kept changing to allow minutes. If we allow 65 against UCF, then I will worry. Nice to see us put up 74 though.

[Paisa el Toro]

As for the Noriega injury, I was surprised to see him come back on the bench. I'm guessing it must not have been serious, just a bad bruise??? Couldn't tell if he was icing it on the bench. But he could not even come out to the rest of the team on the floor during timeouts.

Reading Greg's article this morning he said the Collins was having issues with his calf. Why keep putting him back out there in an exhibition game?

Brock hadn't apparently practiced in two days, due to virus-like symptoms. Collins hadn't practiced yesterday, and was an apparent gametime decision to play. Noreiga's injury appears to be a pretty bad bruise, which will get evaluated today by team doctors. This was all according to Heath on his postgame show.

[ctbrown24]

It'd be nice to do a big promotion for students for the first game...green shirts or something maybe.

[outrunner]

How is it stressful to request tickets? See to me like an excuse for lazy students.

There was an OpEd in the Oracle yesterday describing it as a barrier (my mistake, I thought it called it stressful) and unnecessary. I was being sarcastic pointing out that it didn't seem to impede students last night.

The lack of size will hurt.

Yes I forgot to mention this. Our lack of size will really be an issue (ties in to rebounding). Jordan OMG will really need to develop quickly to help us in this area.

Free throw shooting has always been an Achilles heel for this team. Can never figure out why. I can guarantee you we will lose some close games against good teams because of free throws.

I am worried about FTs after last night, but we led the Big East last year in FT% and was 2nd in that category the year before. So it hasn't always been a problem. Prior to Stan Heath yes, but we have improved every year he has been here.

[swamprat]

The lack of size will hurt.

Yes I forgot to mention this. Our lack of size will really be an issue (ties in to rebounding). Jordan OMG will really need to develop quickly to help us in this area.

I wouldn't hold my breath. OMG is a project, very very raw right now. You can see his difficulty running the court. I doubt Jordan will contribute much this season.

[BullFan98]

What was the final score?

[swamprat]

74-65

[outrunner]

The lack of size will hurt.

Yes I forgot to mention this. Our lack of size will really be an issue (ties in to rebounding). Jordan OMG will really need to develop quickly to help us in this area.

I wouldn't hold my breath. OMG is a project, very very raw right now. You can see his difficulty running the court. I doubt Jordan will contribute much this season.

My biggest fear is that he will get injured. He has a Greg Oden type body.

[swamprat]

The lack of size will hurt.

Yes I forgot to mention this. Our lack of size will really be an issue (ties in to rebounding). Jordan OMG will really need to develop quickly to help us in this area.

I wouldn't hold my breath. OMG is a project, very very raw right now. You can see his difficulty running the court. I doubt Jordan will contribute much this season.

My biggest fear is that he will get injured. He has a Greg Oden type body.

Actually he is recovering from an injury, right now. At the open house, I was standing next to Coach when he was talking to Jordan's orthopedist. I tried not to listen in, but did know all was going well and they are looking to get the weight off.

[Vega]

The best of teams have close wins and the occasionally loss to an exhibition opponent. I keep reading that people expect to see the same defense this season as they did last season. That's not going to happen. This team just has a different makeup and even if Austin was here the defense would not be like last season's. Heath has always had good defensive teams so I'm not not going worry about that. What I hope Stan does do is extend his defense to pressure teams into more turnovers. We are not going to be a dominant rebounding team, so we need to win the turnover battle as much as possible. If we have to keep all 5 guys in to rebound then that takes away the advantage of speed and quickness that USF will have in their favor most nights. If Heath does that then it will be a big mistake imo.

Noriega has always been a great practice player which is why the coaching staff keeps giving him chances every season. Unfortunately he often times disappears when the real lights come on. He'll get a couple of games to try and prove this is the year, but if he doesn't produce then the bench is where he will stay. Aleem is the starter at the SG spot once he gets healthy enough to play and will be a handful for every team USF goes up against. I expect this team to be NCAAT bound again once all players are healthy and the chemistry develops. We do have an almost entire new team.