1,760 career (only 1.14 PPS)
844 at Hofstra (only 1.19 PPS)
First time in five games. The last halftime lead was against Delaware.triplec2195 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 25, 2024 11:05 pm I got to talk to Bryce briefly after the game and told him at least you had a lead at the half.
Was not a thing of beauty but all Ws look good and that's the main thing. However, you're completely right about what you said. There seems to be an "ostrich" approach with Thomas (bury heads in the sand and pretend it's not happening).joeg1 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 25, 2024 10:49 pm Lou Holtz used to have a mantra:
WIN = What's important now
Sorry to get on Speedy again, but he could take a little of that advice. Tonight, the "now" part was to order TT to stop shooting 3's (1/12 ???) and guard the only guy on the other team who was scoring. Win the game you are playing now. Don't let it spiral out of control before you adjust. We should have won by 30. W&M is awful.
That may have been the case last year, but it's a myth this year. This year, he's bombs a lot more than last year, whether he's making them or not.
If they want to go as far as they can, he'll need to. But from what we've seen and heard all season, it appears that the leash is still very long with no signs it will shorten regardless of whatever Thomas' actual shooting results will continue to be from behind the arc.triplec2195 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 26, 2024 8:05 am It certainly makes a lot of sense to score from 2 rather then shoot inefficiently from 3 but the question really is will Speedy try to force him at this point in the season to hit doubles rather then hitting home runs??
The only player in the nation attempting double-digit 3s per game yet shooting 3-pointers 5.7% worse than he did last year and he has shot 33.3% or worse from 3 in half of his games this year (in 9 of the 20 games, it was 27.3% or worse). Doesn't have to be complicated - if you're on that day, great. Fire way. But if you're not making them, stop taking so many and redistribute those shots elsewhere or get 2s or FTA for yourself. Otherwise, you're just hurting the offense and every game is a grind to try to win.
Not to keep harping on Thomas' shooting, but if he shoots even decently or passes up some of his missed 3s for others who were making shots last night, they probably do win by 20+ instead of just nine. I thought the team effort, especially defensively, was good.dutchPride86 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 25, 2024 10:03 pm Probably the most underwhelming wire to wire win I've seen from them in a long time. A good Hofstra team wins that game by 20+ in their sleep. Case in point from around the league tonight...
-Charleston pulled away late to win by 24 at Hampton
-Delaware beat A&T by 21
-UNCW blew out Northeastern by 23 on the road
Not much else needs to be said about Tyler at this point. Hofstra will lose to an angry Monmouth coming off a loss if they bring tonight's level effort.
Side note, curious to anyone there how the energy level was in the gym? Watching on Flo felt like it was a low level NEC game tonight
You can probably make the case that TT percentages were up last year in no small part due to all the attention Estrada was receiving. Now every team we play has him as their game plan to stop.Wags wrote: ↑Fri Jan 26, 2024 1:00 pmThat may have been the case last year, but it's a myth this year. This year, he's bombs a lot more than last year, whether he's making them or not.
Granted, his total shots (including 3s) were always going to go up this year with Estrada's departure. But...
Last year, he attempted double-digit 3s in six games and generally shot the 3 very well in those games - only one bad 3/10 game from 3. The others were 5/10, 5/10, 6/10, 5/11, and 5/12).
Different story this year. Not yet halfway through CAA play, he's already had 11 games with double-digit 3-point attempts and aside from 3-4 games, it has been pretty bad: 3/11, 1/12, 3/12, 4/12, 7/13, 8/13 (vs. DII St. Joseph's), 5/14, 6/14, 3/15, 4/15, 6/15 (7 of the 11 under 36% from 3 including 5 that were 27% or worse).
Last year, 49% of his total shots were from 3. This year, 55% of his total shots are from 3, when he's shooting the 3 significantly worse in a lot of games than last year.
If they want to go as far as they can, he'll need to. But from what we've seen and heard all season, it appears that the leash is still very with no signs it will shorten regardless of whatever Thomas' actual shooting results will continue to be from behind the arc.triplec2195 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 26, 2024 8:05 am It certainly makes a lot of sense to score from 2 rather then shoot inefficiently from 3 but the question really is will Speedy try to force him at this point in the season to hit doubles rather then hitting home runs??
This, for sure, is a major factor but I think it's more than that. The loss of Estrada has seemed to not only affect how opposing teams are guarding Thomas but affect Hofstara with the non-stop green light HU's staff has given Thomas. Rather than allow the top scoring option to replace Estrada be a competition (one that Dubar has earned to this point), it seems that HU's staff made its mind up early that Thomas would get that role by default. And now, instead of adjusting, they appear to be sticking with that no matter what Thomas does, praying that he'll somehow be a lot more efficient. But hope is not a strategy, especially when there are things they can do to help Thomas and to help the offense as a whole.triplec2195 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 26, 2024 3:43 pm You can probably make the case that TT percentages were up last year in no small part due to all the attention Estrada was receiving. Now every team we play has him as their game plan to stop.
Sounds great on the surface but I'm not sure this is the problem. He's doing things like putting up airballs and hitting the side of the backboard. And many of these misses when he's going 1/12 or 3/15 from 3 are already open looks. So if he's already getting those and still missing a lot, the answer isn't to keep firing away from 3 with good looks he's not converting on. It's to trust the rest of his game (he CAN score in other ways, they just utilize it far too infrequently) and to trust his other teammates, especially when they have Dubar who can score efficiently and others (like Plotnikov starting and more in the mix now), maybe Washington, Robinson, and Carlos at times, who can all make shots in certain situations. Again, this doesn't have to be complicated. It's really about stubbornness in the face of what you're seeing vs. adjusting the way you know you can.triplec2195 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 26, 2024 3:43 pm After listening to Speedy post presser and Tom Parotta in the Pride Lounge it does seem that really nothing is going to change other then finding different ways to get him better looks.
Any shooter can have slumps, so it's not the 1/12 by itself. It's context tied to the 1/12. It wasn't like - well, no one else is hitting either, so let's see if Thomas can get hot. It's the 1/12 out of 17 total shots. When you're missing that badly, why do you as a player and how does a staff allow that to be so disproportioned? He went 3/5 from 2. That's efficient. Do more of that and a let less of what is not working. And it's also the 1/12 when everyone else was 7/15 from 3 with no one else taking more than four 3s. To me, that still IS hero ball. Recognize when you're off and you're just chucking, especially when the rest of the team is playing efficient team ball.dutchPride86 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 26, 2024 5:22 pm There's no defending 1-12 from 3, but I do think the quality of Thomas' shots has been better the last 2 games and that they've been able to somewhat curtail the "hero ball." Not far enough, but baby steps in the right direction.
The problem to me is twofold-
1. The staff let it get way out of hand, and Thomas lost his rhythm and confidence in the process. And for a shooter like Tyler, the only way out of a slump is to shoot your way through it. He's bricked some quality looks the last couple games. Yes he's not the elite shooter they think he is, but he's still significantly better than what he's shown
2. Even with Dubar as the better #1 option, the team just doesn't have enough offensive pieces to beat the top teams in the CAA if Tyler isn't scoring 16-20 ppg.
So would Thomas going 3-8 from 3 and Dubar getting 4 more shots be preferable to the 1-12 we saw last night? Of course. But Thomas has fallen so deeply into a slump he would have still been only 1-8 taking only quality looks last night.
And not to be all negative - German is averaging 11 ppg in his 3 games as starter, and Bryce is averaging 6.7 off the bench. That's a good 6-7 more ppg between the two than they were getting before making that swap, so it's not like the staff hasn't done something to improve the offense
Again, the perception vs. the reality (overall, but particularly with Dubar) is mystifying.triplec2195 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 26, 2024 7:22 pm It's funny that Parotta only gave credit to Dubar stepping up in the Stony Brook game saying we finally had somebody step up when Tyler is not hitting his shots when in reality Dubar has been the most efficient shooter and playing both ends of the court. It's not just the points he's scoring but also the ones that he's stopping on the other end of the court. I was definitely taken back listening to that and was going to interrupt him but decided not to.