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Post by FIUPantherFan on Nov 21, 2007 22:42:04 GMT -5
Went to my first men's basketball game tonight and I just wanted to give my impressions:
1. Hicks can dominate any team that doesn't have the size to match him (and that can be a lot). He gives FIU 2nd and 3rd opportunities just by timpping the ball up.
2. Galindo is still just as good, if not better than last year. Great energy and definately wants the ball.
3. This team can not handle pressure. During the last few minutes when KSU was trying to come back, they used the full court press and FIU could not deal with it. James, Russell, White, Taylor, Nsangou...none could control the ball and/or pass it to the open player down the court.
4. I thought we were going to have some outside shooting this year, but except for Galindo, no one else stepped up. White is a big disappointment for me. I thought he would be able to hit the jumper, not so. He needs to step up. Gacesa seems to have really improved and he is 6'9", if we could get him in as a PF, we could move Galindo to SF and Fuller to SG. I think that could be the best bet. Right now we have a glut at PG but they don't seem to be able to handle to rock.
5. Defense and rebounding are great, and a lot of it has to do with the inside prescense of Hicks and Ndiaye.
6. Free Throw shooting, so so, we need to be consistent in the 70%.
I really like the make up of this team, as far as the game, except for the opening 5 minutes in the 2nd half, it was never really in doubt, I was a bit upset that they couldn't blow them out but I was never worried. This is a far better team than last year, but there is definately room for improvement.
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Post by FIUFanatic on Nov 21, 2007 23:52:46 GMT -5
Good points...I thought we played pretty sloppily this game, yet wound up beating them by 9. If we could have controlled the ball a bit better, we beat them by 25. That is the question to be asked....are we better (or will gel down the road) handling the rock than we showed?..or is it gonna be our achilles heel this season?...
We have to put in perspective that, while this team lost by 35 to Western Kentucky, and by 28 to Colgate, they also lost by just 12 to Auburn....so they are definitely scrappy. I"m surprised how good a touch Hicks has from 8-12 feet in....Badara showed flashes of his athleticism, which is a plus for players his size.
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2006PA
Juvenile Panther
Posts: 91
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Post by 2006PA on Nov 22, 2007 0:25:14 GMT -5
I agree. I watched the game on Panther Pass (which has sucky quality! and skips around like a school girl!)lol. I noticed that we aren't that aggressive. KSU was really putting all their effort to take this game away from us, and almost did. This KSU team has been Div I for only 3 years! we should have blown passed them! But anyway, I think Hicks needs to be dunking left and right without hesitation. He can bring a lot of excitement into this team by doing that. On the bright side, they were off for 9 days and it's turkey day tomorrow so I'm sure they weren't really in the mood to play lol... IT'S ANOTHER W!!! =D... Still undefeated!!!
Go FIU!!!!!!!
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Post by kevinkagy on Nov 22, 2007 0:40:29 GMT -5
GO PANTHERS!!
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Post by FIUPantherFan on Nov 22, 2007 6:49:13 GMT -5
This answers the question about handling pressure. Hopefully they will correct this. Though I must admit that this is a great problem, since it means that we are up with the game winding down. Let's start putting people away.
FIU rusty after long layoff, but still beats Kennesaw State
BY PETE PELEGRIN
The last thing Florida International needs is another long layoff.
Because of a quirk in the schedule, the Golden Panthers did not play a game in the past nine days.
It showed Wednesday night at Pharmed Arena in FIU's 83-74 win against pesky Kennesaw State. The Golden Panthers (2-0) have four days to iron out the kinks before South Florida visits Pharmed Arena on Monday night.
''It looked like a team that had been off for nine days,'' FIU coach Sergio Rouco said. ``We had an opportunity to put them away when we were up 17 and we didn't. I took full responsibility because we haven't practiced enough against the press breaker.''
Behind forward Alex Galindo's 16 points and 12 rebounds and their two big men, centers 7-0 Russell Hicks and 6-11 Badara Ndiaye, the Golden Panthers forged an 18-point lead with 5:25 remaining.
Hicks had 18 points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots. Ndiaye, making his FIU debut after missing the season opener because of a stress reaction in his left shin, had eight points and six rebounds.
''He played with a bounce,'' Galindo said of Ndiaye. ``He gave us energy off the bench.''
The Owls provided energy late with a stingy full-court trap and narrowed its deficit to eight twice late in the second half.
A layup by forward Ronell Wooten (25 points) with 2:22 left cut the Owls' deficit to 73-65.
''I thought we handled it wrong,'' said Rouco, whose team had 14 of its 25 turnovers in the second half. ``We were too lackadaisical. We tried to split [the press] with a dribble instead of passing the ball and we did not get to the right places, but it's something that is correctable.''
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Post by MaXx on Nov 22, 2007 7:38:11 GMT -5
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Post by gpantera on Nov 22, 2007 12:11:01 GMT -5
First, congrats boys on the win and the 2-0 start.
In terms of construtive criticism, the PG's looked sloppy handling the ball at times, especially against the press late in the game. The point guards need to get better. As for shooting, the only player with consistent long range is Galindo. We need more players that can shoot and convert from long distance. In short, improve perimeter shooting.
The positive impact of height by way of two 7 foot centers was obvious and immediate. Badara Ndiaye is more athletic than I had anticipated for a 7 footer who did not grow up in the U.S. Russel Hicks has a nice short jumper when facing the basket.
Again, way to go. Go FIU Panthers!
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fiu12
Juvenile Panther
Posts: 56
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Post by fiu12 on Nov 23, 2007 0:22:28 GMT -5
WHite is going to take a little time just like Galindo did last year to get acliminated. White and James will have big years along with Erick. Russ, Alex, and Fuller are all good players as well and Cedric is going to come along well. The Juco kid can play too. Sergio Rouco represents everything that is right about FIU basketball and even with Garcia taking away his scholarships and making him dismiss kids who were eligible, he is still winning. Garcia wanted him out of here but he won games at the end of last year. Sergio is the man, Pete is a ..... nevermind.
FIU Basketball in 07-08 baby!
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Post by FIUPantherFan on Nov 23, 2007 8:54:19 GMT -5
I love how Pete became the NCAA and is able to pick which sport losses scholarships. I was under the impression that if the grad rate for a particular sport weren't up to par then that sport lost scholarships (which is what happened to MBB). Apparantly I was wrong. I want Sergio to succeed and I think with his recruiting ability and the players he has now and is going to get (FSU Guard - Souto and possibly Asprilla, this team will be a monster next year) but please don't lie about things that Garcia has no control over.
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fiu12
Juvenile Panther
Posts: 56
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Post by fiu12 on Nov 25, 2007 17:25:50 GMT -5
This is what pete garcia did and does. Made coaches get rid of players WHO WERE ELIGIBLE so that the APR numbers go down now and therefore when he could get all his own people in, the effects will already have been felt. The scores go down and then pete looks like he is the reason the APR scores go up when in reality he is a big reason they went down, especially as low as they did.
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Post by FIUFanatic on Nov 25, 2007 22:18:06 GMT -5
If a player leaves the team in good academic standing, the APR computation is not negatively affected. A player who leaves in bad academic standing, behind the graduation rates, does affect the APR.. In other words, if a player leaves while having good grades and in pace to graduate within the guidelines standards...IT DOES NOT AFFECT APR as much as if the player is in academic trouble. Hope this helps clear out some misconceptions...
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Post by FIUPantherFan on Nov 26, 2007 8:47:20 GMT -5
Oh, no. You mean that if Pete "forced" out players in good academic standing, that it would not help out his devilish plot to have HIS FIRST EVER AD JOB FAIL? wow. What is he going to do in order to make sure that all his teams are losers and that he comes off looking like a loser himself? (NOTE THE SARCASM).
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fiu12
Juvenile Panther
Posts: 56
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Post by fiu12 on Nov 26, 2007 22:32:29 GMT -5
Wrong! You still lose an APR point if somebody leaves eligible. It's a possibility of 2 points. 1 for being eligible and one for retention. However in a sport like basketball where there are so few scholarships, losing two ELIGIBLE players is a loss of 2 points (non retention) and basically gives them no chance to get to the required .925 APR score. They were very close anyway because Sergio got rid of some of Donny's kids. Pete wanted to get rid of Sergio's kids so that the scholarship penalties could be enforced and he could bring in his own guy with a clean slate and make it look like he cleaned things up. Pete knew that everyone would give him a pass during his 1st year on the job anyway. pete garcia is garbage you'll see.
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Post by FIUFanatic on Nov 26, 2007 23:51:45 GMT -5
At least you accept it doesn't affect as much as a player leaving inelegible... Regardless of that, I believe most of the APR problems in basketball stems from players that were here in Marsh's regime...not from Sergio's players. You can't blame SR for all the problems..Actually men's basketball had (I believe) its best cumulative GPA ever....good for Sergio and his staff!!
"IT DOES NOT AFFECT APR as much as if the player is in academic trouble. Hope this helps clear out some misconceptions... "
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fiu12
Juvenile Panther
Posts: 56
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Post by fiu12 on Nov 27, 2007 10:45:52 GMT -5
I'm not blaming Sergio at all I think he's done a good job with what he's had. This is a key season and it was unfortunate that they didnt play better last night. I talked to a couple of the fellas and they are pretty down. What I blame is Pete for forcing him to send away eligible players and therefore lose FIU's scholarships now. Sergio and his staff are trying like crazy to win but it's hard when your own AD wants you out so he can bring in his own guy. Luckily, he has a contract unlike all the other coaches who were fired (except of course Strock). I know as of last year, Sergio and Strock were the only ones with multi year contracts. All the rest were year to year. I don't know if Garcia has changed that at all but I just hope Sergio can win a bunch of games this year and contend in the Sunbelt. I think and hope that he can!
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