I still think you need more production offensively from Block. Defensively he is slow at keeping up with his man and late when contesting shots. Yes, rebounds went right in his direction so that was a positive for him. Playing against upcoming Mac teams we are in trouble keeping him out on the floor and not producing on offense.

+1

I think this is a good assessment. Part of the issue has been that neither player is at 100 percent physically. Dartis has had his hip injury that he's playing through, and I understand that Block has been fighting some kind of an illness. Hopefully, they'll both be back at full strength soon.

Block should throttle back on shooting 3s. In MAC play he's 2-15 (.133) behind the arc but 2-5 (.400) inside. He might also draw more fouls; he's hitting 80% of his FTs. Last night he seemed to be set on shooting 3s and had a big goose egg (0-5). He can help the team more by stepping up and hitting more 2s.

Agree! This would be a coaching move. This is an easy observation but likely Saul will not alter the plan.

Everybody should be creating shots for everybody...I think that's where the hang up is when talking about have a main man at PG compared to not really needing one. It doesn't matter who creates the opportunity. It could be Jordy kicking to Jimmy G or Gavin kicking to Zach. Hell, even Gareri had a beautiful skip pass in the road game at CMU to give someone an open look. I don't care who the passes are coming from, just move the damn ball where it's supposed to go without having to dribble.

My coach used to say you can never beat a good defense with dribbling. One on one matchups? Sure, you have to dribble. But in a five on five, the ball shouldn't be touching the floor that much.

[/QUOTE]When we move the ball we are a very good offensive team but we only do it on about one of every five possessions. I'm thinking of going back and re-watching last night's game and counting the number of times we take a shot after two or fewer passes and how many times we pass the ball without dribbling it. Playing on offense isn't tiring. Playing on defense is. But we don't make other teams work because we take quick shots and many times it's off of one-on-one moves. We just don't have the patience to run the offense long enough to get the defense out of position. There's a reason we looked gassed at the end of the game last night and Ball State looked fresh. We have more individual talent but they play much smarter and that's on Saul.

He has a sweet jump hook, he should go inside out.

There were a bunch of early shots from guys who shouldn't be chucking that early in the shot clock where I said out loud "what the (insert choice word) was that?"

Block has one too. He used it a few times last year.

Love both these guys and I try to stay positive but the disappointment is warranted.

Gavin needs to shoot less 3s. I said this last year too. Come off a motion and be set up wide open, by all means fire away. But please don't look for it. I love the way Gavin plays in general but I'm starting to think he may need his minutes cut back some, whether it is related to injury or not.

Dartis' shooting numbers for his career looks like a 38 year old DH in baseball...regressing like a rock. I thought he was destined for absolute greatness after his freshman year. I don't know what the deal is but the regression is undeniable:

Freshman .487 FG%, .479 3P%, .885 FT%
Sophomore .440 FG%, .441 3P%, .883 FT%
Junior .408 FG%, .389 3P%, .829 FT%

I'd like to say it is due to defenses keying in on him but my eyes haven't told me that story. He had a better night last night so here's hoping he is turning it around. He looked like a man on a mission in the 2nd half.

Damn shame...really thought he'd be better than Nick Kellogg when it was all said and done. He's not even close. Kellogg had more aggression.

Two things I remember when I think about Spindle: his gold tooth back before the hip-hop revolution made gold teeth the go-to accessory; and how Spindle, at 6-feeet, would play in the back of Dale Bandy's 1-3-1 defense.

Maybe Giacomo can elaborate and/or correct me, but I think Spindle played two years at Ohio but didn't stick around when Nee replaced Bandy.

In the last 4 or 5 minutes of Tuesday's game he created 2 3 point baskets and a driving half hook. Would like to see more of that aggressiveness.