GDT: 12/20 @ Arkansas

[BisonJD]

I'm not any more enamored with the offense than you and a lot of people. It's ugly to watch. The Summit is pretty down this year. IPFW is really good, and on another level from everyone. IMO NDSU has been the 2nd best team despite the offense. There isn't 1 impressive team outside IPFW that is even concerning IMHO. South Dakota St who was picked to finished 2nd is basically a mess on offense with the exception of a couple games where they just shot lights out. Their defense has also been horrible. They may get better but their ceiling is a lot lower than it's been in the past. South Dakota and Omaha are 2 teams with better offenses in the Summit and they are never stronger than the defenses of Summit. Hell, UND would be a stronger Summit team this year and we now how we can play against them if we're clicking.

NDSU needs to finish top 3 and should to stay clear of IPFW in the first couple rounds of the conference tourney. Than were right back in that 1 game scenario where anything can happen like last year in that huge win over them. I would be surprised if NDSU got to the NCAA's, but I don't think the conference is going to be their parking brake as much as IPFW is because they look to be better than everyone and they should have been this year with who they returned.

This. Good post Silk.

You are high if you think we go .500 or worse in the Summit League. We'll struggle on the road, but expect this team to be playing on Tuesday in March for a shot at the tourney.

[bisonfan08]

Wow...I wasn't expecting to open this page this morning and be back to the same old shit we had when we lost to UND. I was very proud of how our guys played last night, Arkansas is one of the highest scoring teams in the NCAA and we kept them in check, held them to their lowest 1st half point total of the season. We played GREAT defensively, they hit some very tough contested shots in that 16-0 run that put us away. Other than those 5 minutes we played them about dead even and Arkansas is an NCAA tourney team. Offensively we just couldn't get some shots to fall, got hosed on a couple calls in the first half that took points off the board but we had a lot of open looks and just couldn't convert. This was not the same old awful weave we've seen, the offense was moving. Kingsley did a good job of contesting everything at the rim and altered a lot of shots he didn't block and made it tough on us which is why we had so many looks at 3. Get few more of those to fall and MAKE SOME DAMN FREE THROWS and this game is much closer. That being said Khy needs to stop shooting so damn many 3 pointers, he's a fantastic defender, a solid point guard, good at getting to the lane and passing from there but he's not a shooter and needs to stop acting like one. He was 0-6, the rest of the team was 7-21 (33%). We keep moving that ball and get those shots to someone else they have a much better chance of going in. I thought the guys played hard and played well last night but we struggled to shoot the ball well. That being said nobody in the Summit league is as athletic as Arkansas and outside of IPFW I don't think anybody has the offensive firepower to score a bunch on our defense so we should do well. As usual we'll play well at home, probably drop a few duds on the road but I think we can get to 10-6 possibly 11-5 in league play and lock up that 2 or 3 seed and be playing on Tuesday for the tourney bid. Time will tell but I've been encouraged by what I've seen in the 2nd half of the UC Davis game, through the 2nd UND game and for most of last night outside of a rough 5 minute stretch.

[phxbison]

I saw exactly what you saw bisonfan08 and agree completely. We didn't run the weave that everyone has complained about, including me and nobody even seemed to notice. Other than terrible shooting on some very good looks and the unexplainable poor free throw shooting, I thought we looked pretty good. Our ball movement I thought was very good !

[GRAFTONBISON]

Wow...I wasn't expecting to open this page this morning and be back to the same old shit we had when we lost to UND. I was very proud of how our guys played last night, Arkansas is one of the highest scoring teams in the NCAA and we kept them in check, held them to their lowest 1st half point total of the season. We played GREAT defensively, they hit some very tough contested shots in that 16-0 run that put us away. Other than those 5 minutes we played them about dead even and Arkansas is an NCAA tourney team. Offensively we just couldn't get some shots to fall, got hosed on a couple calls in the first half that took points off the board but we had a lot of open looks and just couldn't convert. This was not the same old awful weave we've seen, the offense was moving. Kingsley did a good job of contesting everything at the rim and altered a lot of shots he didn't block and made it tough on us which is why we had so many looks at 3. Get few more of those to fall and MAKE SOME DAMN FREE THROWS and this game is much closer. That being said Khy needs to stop shooting so damn many 3 pointers, he's a fantastic defender, a solid point guard, good at getting to the lane and passing from there but he's not a shooter and needs to stop acting like one. He was 0-6, the rest of the team was 7-21 (33%). We keep moving that ball and get those shots to someone else they have a much better chance of going in. I thought the guys played hard and played well last night but we struggled to shoot the ball well. That being said nobody in the Summit league is as athletic as Arkansas and outside of IPFW I don't think anybody has the offensive firepower to score a bunch on our defense so we should do well. As usual we'll play well at home, probably drop a few duds on the road but I think we can get to 10-6 possibly 11-5 in league play and lock up that 2 or 3 seed and be playing on Tuesday for the tourney bid. Time will tell but I've been encouraged by what I've seen in the 2nd half of the UC Davis game, through the 2nd UND game and for most of last night outside of a rough 5 minute stretch.

The team and staff deserved every bit of shit that was said after the first Und game. Since then they have adjusted and are playing better and much more aggressively. Kudos to them for making the adjustments. Hopefully continue down this road and adjust to what is and isn't working each game.

[Mr Meaty]

Next game is a big one to start off conference play on the road with the bunnies. Lets make a big statement and win the game going away.

[HoopsBison]

Not a terrible effort, besides a 4 minute stretch...we played them even. To beat and keep it close against the power 5 schools we have to shoot the ball better. Simply have to knock down more shots. I actually thought the offense looked much better last night, problem was we could not make anything. Khy really struggled shooting last night, 0-9 from the floor not going to cut it. AJ has to be a bigger factor as well, 2-7 and only 6 points...need more from him. Defenseively we were fantastic and really controlled the tempo of the game. Holding Arkansas to only 5 fast break points is very very good. Free throw shooting continues to be an issue. Really hope that doesnt cost us close games down the road.

We start conference play on the road against SDSU next wednesday. We will see a lot of zone, hopefully we can knock down some shots.

Lastly its said after every game but damn is it fun to watch big Dex play, all out effort every second hes on the floor.

[StL Bison Fan]

Listened to the game in the car. Toward the end of the game they said the players were just running out of steam.

[Professorbum]

Wow...I wasn't expecting to open this page this morning and be back to the same old shit we had when we lost to UND. I was very proud of how our guys played last night, Arkansas is one of the highest scoring teams in the NCAA and we kept them in check, held them to their lowest 1st half point total of the season. We played GREAT defensively, they hit some very tough contested shots in that 16-0 run that put us away. Other than those 5 minutes we played them about dead even and Arkansas is an NCAA tourney team. Offensively we just couldn't get some shots to fall, got hosed on a couple calls in the first half that took points off the board but we had a lot of open looks and just couldn't convert. This was not the same old awful weave we've seen, the offense was moving. Kingsley did a good job of contesting everything at the rim and altered a lot of shots he didn't block and made it tough on us which is why we had so many looks at 3. Get few more of those to fall and MAKE SOME DAMN FREE THROWS and this game is much closer. That being said Khy needs to stop shooting so damn many 3 pointers, he's a fantastic defender, a solid point guard, good at getting to the lane and passing from there but he's not a shooter and needs to stop acting like one. He was 0-6, the rest of the team was 7-21 (33%). We keep moving that ball and get those shots to someone else they have a much better chance of going in. I thought the guys played hard and played well last night but we struggled to shoot the ball well. That being said nobody in the Summit league is as athletic as Arkansas and outside of IPFW I don't think anybody has the offensive firepower to score a bunch on our defense so we should do well. As usual we'll play well at home, probably drop a few duds on the road but I think we can get to 10-6 possibly 11-5 in league play and lock up that 2 or 3 seed and be playing on Tuesday for the tourney bid. Time will tell but I've been encouraged by what I've seen in the 2nd half of the UC Davis game, through the 2nd UND game and for most of last night outside of a rough 5 minute stretch.

Athleticism is of course important. But so is skill. I don't have the stat, but just from watching most of the past several games, I'm guessing our FG percentage is bad. And we can't seem to buy a free throw to save our life. This is concerning. Sure, most of the guys have heart. They don't give up. Dexter and Geu have tremendous work ethic. But I'm concerned. Again, nothing will make me happier than to be wrong. I'm into my 3rd year of season tickets. Those seats aren't a cheap, throwaway expense for me. So I will much rather sit there and watch us win games than have my posts here be validated. Fingers crossed.

[silkamilkamonico]

FG % is actually pretty good at .466.
FT % is pretty bad at .641.
3 pt shooting is really bad at .313.

I think where it looks bad is the 3 pt shooting. That's a really low % in comparison to how many 3 pointers NDSU puts up a game. If you're going to take almost 19 three pointers a game, you better be shooing significantly higher than .313. Our offense doesn't even set ourselves up for good looks from deep. The majority of our 3's are just bad shots against man up defense. I would also be curious how many of NDSU's three pointers are forced shots with 5 seconds or less on the shot clock. That's just low efficient offense. If NDSU runs uptempo offense with more possessions, it's not as bad, but with our plodding system of limiting possessions, there's just far too many empty possessions throughout the course of the game.

[bisonfan08]

FG % is actually pretty good at .466.
FT % is pretty bad at .641.
3 pt shooting is really bad at .313.

I think where it looks bad is the 3 pt shooting. That's a really low % in comparison to how many 3 pointers NDSU puts up a game. If you're going to take almost 19 three pointers a game, you better be shooing significantly higher than .313. Our offense doesn't even set ourselves up for good looks from deep. The majority of our 3's are just bad shots against man up defense. I would also be curious how many of NDSU's three pointers are forced shots with 5 seconds or less on the shot clock. That's just low efficient offense. If NDSU runs uptempo offense with more possessions, it's not as bad, but with our plodding system of limiting possessions, there's just far too many empty possessions throughout the course of the game.

Yeah FT % is awful, how Paul is only at 68% baffles me after shooting 78% last year but he's been coming around the last few games so hopefully that picks up as well. As I mentioned above a big killer on our 3pt % is Khy shooting so many, he's 2nd on the team in attempts with 51 and has only made 12 (a woeful 23.5%). AJ needs to take more as he's shooting 20-41, he had a bit of a rough night shooting it last night but when you're shooting 49% from 3 you're the guy who should be leading the team in attempts or at least be 2nd. I think if Khy can focus more on getting to the hole and facilitating from there and letting the other guys do the shooting we'll see that percentage go up.

If we can get these numbers up even close to where they were in 13-14 for Summit League play we will be a very tough team to beat with the way we play defense, they were:
FG% - .505
FT% - .751
3PT% - .364