Why are people down on Dolan? Low turnovers, lot of assists, hitting threes.. what am I missing?

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Wasn't that disappointed.
1. Don't think New Orleans is a bad team.Well coached.
2. #1 hit some NBA 3's . some were Steph Curry step backs...hard to stop...
3. Other than the last 5 minutes thought we ran the offense better ..17 assists...
4. 6 of our 15 turnovers were by two of our post players Rubin and Adelekun, who did handle the ball too much...
5. two of our projected starters were out.
6. Dolan had 7 assists and 1 turnover....so what's the beef.
7. Improvement on defense as well...I think #1 was just an outlier yesterday.
8. Rubin is indeed the rim protector we anticipated.
9. We are like a good mol'e....lots of ingredients and takes a good amount of time to cook.
10. Team kept their composure down the stretch.
11. Welch gave us good minutes
12. Creighton is going to be a problem
13. I like the way Coach is conducting himself and interacting with players this year.

Sports reference tracks the box plus/minus: https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/sc ... vanced::25

Obviously small sample size after only four games, but the stats back up who we see really struggling, especially on offense. And remains puzzling why Edwards isn't utilized in the microwave role, he seems pretty suited for it, especially when we are going into one of our scoring droughts.

I think you can squint and see how this team could still be successful. If it were me, I'd tighten up the lineups like this once everyone's healthy:

PG: Norris/Dolan (don't see the point of having them on the court at the same time -- ride whoever has the hot hand from 3)
SG: Dawson/Edwards -- need playmaking at the other guard position, since the PGs are more spot-up shooters. Really hoping Dawson can make a leap.
SF: Watson/Mwamba -- Watson getting the vast majority of the time here
PF: Alston/Welch -- Welch pretty much filling in when Phil gets into foul trouble
C: Adelekun/Rubin -- playing time may flip depending on matchup, fouls, etc.

Regarding Schwieger... definitely see the potential but I also see him getting destroyed on every screen and leaving guys wide open for 3. For Quinn, I don't know if the issue is mental or what, but he is killing us out there.

Is it too early to start Drew Valenfloos chants?

The plus/minus stat is interesting. Tells you which lineups did what but does not include what the other team was doing...so if someone is playing against the subs...or if a key player for the other team is out.????? so I take it with a grain of salt and like you said it is a small sample size.

I thought for the most part,,,different from the UIC game we got some pretty good shots..we just didnt make them...


This is a problem with 11 new guys last year and 6 this year...they are players that are 1. most likely learning a new system and 2. Learning to play with other players....At best it will take a while...
It is one thing to integrate one new player but at times we have 3 to 4 new players.

This seems like a good group of guys who play hard ..so I am gonna be optimistic and give it some time although I am not looking forward to the Creighton game...and I really dont like Creighton.

Incredibly good points by a lot of posters. Great discussion.

I'll just add and echo a couple of points....

The guy on New Orleans who lit us up was the #1 3 point percentage shooter in all of D1 last year, hitting 48.2% of his shots. So you can take that either way, "hats off to his amazing shooting" or "damn, why didn't we do a better job in the gameplan on that guy?"

Great point by Nate on the coach's demeanor and interaction with players this year--- much, much better, which is great because last year it was the first thing I saw (in the exhibition) that sent up red flags for me.

Great find by Ramblor on the offensive/defensive/combined plus-minus on sports reference. I use that site a lot for previews, but didn't realize they have plus minus broken down like that, sortable, and very comprehensive.

I'd add I don't understand why Dolan doesn't shoot more, especially from three. And I thought the point of getting Dolan was taking pressure off Norris, who doesn't even try to shoot much any more. We've got three guards on the floor all the time, and only Watson seems eager to shoot. Hopefully Dawson gets back soon.

Also curious why we're having so much trouble at the end of games... any thoughts? We didn't score a field goal for the last 5:28 against New Orleans, and we only had one in the last four minutes against UIC. Both times without Alston, true, but we don't have any plays for screens, we won't put in Rubin for an alley oop, no plays for Edwards, and we don't play two bigs at once? Don't get it.... saving that stuff for conference play?

I think we're better than last year by quite a bit, with more tools and more competitive talent and experience. The body language is better, the turnovers are down, the potential is much higher. Need to get into comfortable roles, learn how to play together, and get better habits. It will start with getting Alston, Dawson, and Rubin (?) healthy.

Sorry if this is a repeat, but I just see us playing 1 on 1 way too much. For most of the game, I thought we were better about it, but we fell back on it late in the game with zero success.

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Going back a bit in time here, but ever since our loss to Ohio State in the first round, things looked looser, on both offense and defense. I saw the three games later that summer against the French teams. It was the first time that I saw the Ramblers habitually throw the ball away. Ball control has been an issue ever since. It appeared to have been corrected a bit, but it did pay an ugly visit in this last game. Fingers crossed for future games.

As said by many, I applaud Drew’s portal recruiting ability. Unfortunately, the challenge does not end there. These portal recruits must successfully be played in merge fashion with the younger players like Ben and Trey. As for the younger players, albeit he shows fine athletic ability, JQ has gotten quite a bit of play time all the while turning it over and fouling a bit much, what gives?
On another note, maybe Drew’s up tempo of the game has sacrificed crisp passing and better ball movement and has affected the set up for the threes. I miss the uncontested threes of the past. Braden has been hurt by this in my opinion. I miss the kickouts so prevalent prior to arrival of someone like Alston. Has this driving and less ball sharing affected the entire offense even when he is not on the floor? BTW, no slam on Alston, as maybe we just need a minor correction here, as he does need to use his fine abilities to drive and finish. But we have been a less threatening three ball team last season and up until now. Or at least against effective opponents.
As for Drew, an accomplished recruiter but as someone pointed out, I am weary of his X’s and O’s. When we come out of a timeout, and maybe we became spoiled with Porter, but we too often do not get that bucket or, if not our ball, stop one. I would like to see the D emphasized more. To some extent that might fly in the face of those senior/grad portal guys possibly promised serious play time with little thought about defense. Who really knows. I thought being a former part of both the Izzo and Porter systems that we would see some more emphasis on D, but if that exists, I just have not seen it, or seen it enough. So as of now my faith in this team to have any sort of a lock down D is not there.

We lack that cohesion of our Porter days. We seem to have a little more than last season, but still too much of one hand not knowing what the other is doing. Sometimes our passes seem to lack purpose. We’ve had the ball stolen off of unsure / soft passes often enough to be of concern. In the end, I shutter to think what the entire team next year will look like if this continues. I do not want us to wind up with the effectiveness level of a mid range Horizon League team.

We’ll be playing a real team this Wednesday, we need to be better. Trying to keep the faith. Go blers!

Some cinematic highlights from Saturday with our RSN radio calls as the soundtrack. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JE9gVnVuoM

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I'm not at all ready to panic on this season or this staff quite yet, but I agree with many of the concerns mentioned by you guys.

A few thoughts to highlight:

1. My primary concern with this program under Drew is the lack of player development. Our HS recruiting has been good, but I don't see our talented young guys getting enough playing time or showing enough improvement. You schedule UNO to be a confidence-builder and to get the young guys minutes. I was not happy to see us with a starting lineup of 5 graduate students.

2. Our two tournament runs came with groups of players that had played together for 2-3 years. While the transfer portal makes that more difficult, I don't like the practice of bringing in 23 year-old role players every year. It messes with our culture and stunts young player development. I'd rather see 1-2 transfers per year, and they should be either difference-makers (Watson) or have multiple years of eligibility (Alston).

3. The Ivy League pipeline continues to make no sense to me. Knight was a good piece for us on that MVC team, but I don't think these guys should be starting on an A10 team. Neither one has the quickness or athleticism necessary, unless Dame is still limited by the injury. So far I don't think Dolan adds much at all, and he has a bit of the Ryan Schweiger-black hole thing going on. Dame was very effective against UNO, but I think Welch should be taking his minutes against more athletic competition.

4. Quinn is clearly lacking confidence and Dawson is obviously hurt, but their development is our best hope at improved guard play this season. I think Norris and Dolan are what they are, and that isn't good enough to be lead guards at this level. Our schedule will only get tougher and more athletic.

5. Drew is a very good recruiter, but it might not be a bad idea to leave a scholarship open or take a couple developmental players. We don't need 12 guys who can contribute. I have no idea how he keeps all these guys happy, and I'm worried it leads to the younger guys transferring.

6. I agree with others' concerns over Drew's ability to delegate.

7. I can't remember watching a Loyola game in the last 4 years where the announcers didn't spend 5 minutes praising Tom Welch's energy and enthusiasm. It's guaranteed every game and hilarious.