They hit threes--We took a few but not many. Turk not a factor. When he hits we win big--otherwise--- Having said that Doyle and Thomas !!!! If only Thomas did not have to play out of position--BUT it is what it is. Milton was superb and had great help. Our boys MUST get some boards !!

They stayed close because of threes and got boards-----Good learning game.

Now the season commences.

Pretty terrible. If we're allowing 53% shooting and getting outrebounded by five against McKendree, there's going to be some mighty ugly times this season. Like maybe this Friday in East Lansing.

I know he's earned a starting spot until Jeff White comes back, but I think maybe Turk should go back to 6th man role and either Ingram or Peterson should start. Turk is 4-13 from the field and 2-7 from behind the arc in two starting assignments against weak opponents.

I traveled through the tundra to get to the game today.

Some general ramblings:

- Athletics raised the cost of parking, but general admission tickets were lower than last year.
- Despite lower ticket costs, arena was the emptiest I've seen it in years! The fans that were there were passive, as usual. It was pretty embarrassing seeing LU Wolf having to try so hard in order to hand out a free t-shirt for the "fan of the game" in the student section. Our student section is really shy : /
-
- The pizza was cold.

Some positive thoughts:

- Even though McKendree is clearly an inferior opponent, I enjoyed the game. It looks like the guys are starting to click like a team. Most importantly, nearly every single one of the player was hustling and playing hard.
- Great to see Christian Thomas being efficient, as usual.
- Milton Doyle is a beast! He's really fun to watch and made some great plays. He forced a few shots when he didn't have to, but I'm ok with that because they turned out to be good. The labrum doesn't seem to be an issue for him...he even had a nice two-handed dunk.
- I like Done Ingram's athleticism and his hustle. The kid has a lot of upside and I'm looking forward to watching him develop!
- Ben Richardson and Earl Peterson will both contribute this season which should give us plenty of depth at guard.
- Devon Turk is playing hard, but it looks like he is forcing some shots. His shooting percentage beyond the ark is not so hot right now, but that's ok. If I'm PM, I'd still encourage him to take the shot because he's definitely one of the best shooters on team.
- Crisman has definitely become a leader on this team and it seems like PM really relies on him to be vocal on the court. He had a great 2nd half.
- Our defense looked good, mostly because we hustled and got a lot of turnovers. You gotta hand it to McKendree for making some tough 3's.
- PM seemed a bit more relaxed than usual. He didn't attempt to micromanage every second of the game until the last few minutes of the 2nd half.

Cons:

- Terrible attendance
- Our lack of height is going to be our downfall this season. Montel James is a decent player and he hustles, but we will be out-rebounded on a consistent basis.
- Rajala is terrible. He seems really lost out there and does not appear to play with any confidence. I noticed him making a lot of "wtf is going on?" gestures with his hands. Moser was not pleased and called him out on it toward the end of the game. I felt like everyone was really hustling and appeared to put in their all, except Julius. He seemed quite passive and almost disinterested. I don't think he'll be back next year unless he makes some sort of significant improvement this season. In fact, i wonder if he will even make it to the end of this year?!
- McKendree should not be able to hang there with us. We have to learn how to protect our leads and close games out!

From where I was sitting in the student section it looked like Ingram was out of breath and tired during the game. Did anyone else notice that or is that just me? Not saying it is this but I am hoping Rajala just needs time to adjust to the college game and will be able to develop because we will really need his height.

JF - wouldn't worry too much about Ingram, he's a rook getting used to the speed of the college game. I think being winded is perfectly normal in his 2nd contest.

12 - not great to hear about Julius but hopefully he's going through an adjustment phase and will pick it up. I'd say give him a bit of time before we send the jury out.

Re Rajala- I know he's a little older than the typical college freshman (19 or 20). That said, putting myself in his shoes for a while: could you imagine going to Finland as a 19 year old for your first time away from home, with a massive language barrier, coaches who probably can barely communicate with you, and try to play basketball at a high, D1-type level? It'd be hard for him to fully adjust even if he filled out and was ready physically, nevertheless on a team that needs something out of him because they lack height and can't afford to redshirt him.

It seems Julius needs a little more SISU!


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisu

Not much to add to what others have said. Doyle was awesome. CT did his usual work down low. It was just a game where it was tough to bring much intensity. We led pretty comfortably throughout, but they hit enough threes to keep within fighting distance.

Poor Julius. Kid checks into the game and right away has no idea who he's guarding or what offense we are running. Moser actually did pull him after his two ridiculous reverse layup attempts, but he put him back in. I would have pulled him after he stood there watching a bouncing ball.

I agree with the comment about Turk. He's a classic heat check guy. Great weapon off the bench, but if the shots aren't falling you need to get him out of there - especially with the way he plays defense. I'd rather start Earl and let him and Milt play off each other.

It's nice having nine or ten guys who can play 15+ minutes a game. I just wish a few of them were bigger and stronger.

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It wasn't so much that he made the attempts; he just couldn't finnish.