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Games in Israel Thread


toddc

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Last year’s team was at one point ranked #1 in the country. 

And that changes nothing about my statement. We looked REALLY bad to end the season. We would have been ran out of the gym if we played this team last year in March.

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I'm fine with general observations but when someone says something stupid like half of our guys haven't improved I'm gonna call it out. Last years team doesn't hang with this Israel team. Everyone has improved and while KD may make some boneheaded mistakes you only have to look as far as his FT shooting to know he's improved.

I wish he wouldn't take so many 3s but that's the case with a lot of players and Bruce lets them take those shots because he has faith in them to make them. He knows way better than I do about what their ability is.

In that case, agree 100%. Agree i can see the improvement with a lot of guys. Guys like Jaylin and Flan look a lot more confident in just taking shots. Dylan has clearly improved. I'm glad the guys got this experience. Only going to help the team for sure.

I do think Bruce has to reel in guys like KD and Wen at times. I want him to use his timeouts more and draw up plays to help those guys when needed. But i do like how he has so much faith in his players and that's why guys like playing for him.

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I didn’t notice Zep as much today, you’re probably right though. Moving him to the 2 should allow him to do more of those things.

I think - like last season - Wendell will win some games for us and maybe cost us one or two. Overall, he’s one of our most critical players.

Flan has nowhere to go but up, he was one of the worst starters (statistically) in the power five last season. You’re right, he’s better. I still question how good he can be though, honestly. Hope I’m wrong.

I think you’re generally right re: KD. He is who he is. Sometimes his heart and hustle mask his inefficiency on offense. 

So when you said those players are similar to what we saw in March you were either lying or over exaggerating. Good to know.

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Great learning experience all the way around. Losing today means nothing in the grand scheme of things. They just played back to back games and finished against grown men. A lot to learn from and a great opportunity. War Eagle!

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So when you said those players are similar to what we saw in March you were either lying or over exaggerating. Good to know.

Was trying to engage with you on your points, some of which I think were good. I’m always open to the opinions of other folks here who love the team as much as I do. 
 

Generally I think guys with a few years of experience in CBB stay pretty similar players in the span of a couple months. Still plenty of time for more improvement! 

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We had one guy who Bruce trusted to defend the NBA player, the NBA player looked like a NBA player for a whole quarter, and we only lost by 10

Should also shout out Wendell, who never looked intimidated. 

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Would this Israel team basically be their Olympic Team?

How many of their players play in some sort of Pro League?

 

Edited by AUFAN1972
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I'm fine with general observations but when someone says something stupid like half of our guys haven't improved I'm gonna call it out. Last years team doesn't hang with this Israel team. Everyone has improved and while KD may make some boneheaded mistakes you only have to look as far as his FT shooting to know he's improved.

I wish he wouldn't take so many 3s but that's the case with a lot of players and Bruce lets them take those shots because he has faith in them to make them. He knows way better than I do about what their ability is.

I wouldn’t agree with that just because Jabari was a NBA caliber defender last year and could actually stifle Avdija. I think Kessler probably looks just as bad as on the perimeter defending as our 5s did, but I think his length is a better equalizer against that monstrous center Israel has. 
 

As with how that team liked to play out though, if Jabari had a tough time vs them, we would’ve been in a rough situation. I feel like that team just has more variance than this one…coulda performed better or performed way worse 

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There are lots of ways to look at this game, and positives and areas for improvement on all sides. This was a great game for our guys to learn and grow from, and I'm really impressed with our newcomers. Broome is going to be a force this season.

But I still worry that we are going to face a similar ceiling that we saw last year. When our backs are against the wall, our guards have a tendency to either jack up 3's or drive inside with no hope of a basket. It looked like the same thing in the second half of last year. And we simply aren't a good enough 3 pt shooting team to win that way. This team will only go as far as its' guards will take it.

If you ask me, more Westry and Donaldson, and less Green and KD. 

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Would this Israel team basically be their Olympic Team?

They have a few guys that haven’t joined the team yet for practice, but yes. They’re preparing for FIBA Eurobasket 2022, which is the European championship. 

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There are lots of ways to look at this game, and positives and areas for improvement on all sides. This was a great game for our guys to learn and grow from, and I'm really impressed with our newcomers. Broome is going to be a force this season.

But I still worry that we are going to face a similar ceiling that we saw last year. When our backs are against the wall, our guards have a tendency to either jack up 3's or drive inside with no hope of a basket. It looked like the same thing in the second half of last year. And we simply aren't a good enough 3 pt shooting team to win that way. This team will only go as far as its' guards will take it.

If you ask me, more Westry and Donaldson, and less Green and KD. 

I think the shooting is the problem when it comes to driving than us just aimlessly driving. Wendell would go in and be met with two at every time in that 4th quarter, from what I’ve seen.
 

idk how we look like from outside with THE ball we’ll be shooting with normally, but it can’t be worse lol. There are some troubles that arise when you have a bunch of 5s who can’t shoot and a bunch of 4s who aren’t consistent knock down shooters. Another problem is that there’s a lot of actions this offense has that just involves having the “center” at the top of the perimeter. Hurts if that guy isn’t respected at all 

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Would this Israel team basically be their Olympic Team?

How many of their players play in some sort of Pro League?

 

Deni Avdija was a recent lottery pick and plays for the Wizards. Yam Madar was drafted by the Celtics and plays in Europe. They have bigs that were A-10 and SoCon players of the year. Most of their guys play professionally in Israel or Europe. 
 

Kentucky and Arkansas will have a few NBA-level prospects, but we aren’t playing a team this seasoned all year. These are grown men that are playing basketball for a living. In that sense, gotta be happy with our guys’ effort. 

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Our guys have 4 months before the season starts, just think of the improvement these guys will have after that. Then about 12 games before they start SEC play. Gonna Be another Great Year!!!

 

Edited by AUFAN1972
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I don’t think Auburn is a tier 1 CBB team, but I hope this really illustrates to everyone from all walks of life how big the divide is between some really good college kids and a solid NBA player. Even Traore, who will definitely be a first rounder if he leaves, not in the same ballpark. No knock to him, in fact, he now has a blueprint for what he needs to be and what he wants to be. 
 

Avdija is gonna be proof of concept for all of our potential NBA guys. THIS is what you need to be 

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I'm fine with general observations but when someone says something stupid like half of our guys haven't improved I'm gonna call it out. Last years team doesn't hang with this Israel team. Everyone has improved and while KD may make some boneheaded mistakes you only have to look as far as his FT shooting to know he's improved.

I wish he wouldn't take so many 3s but that's the case with a lot of players and Bruce lets them take those shots because he has faith in them to make them. He knows way better than I do about what their ability is.

That’s tough to say because Kessler and Bari height would have made a significant difference. I will say each team has pros and cons

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Great game today it was just that one bad stretch where Auburn didn’t run their offense and started jacking up shots in panic mode that allowed them to pull away.

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Baffles me how some complain about an exhibition game that’s 4 months away from the season, also in the offseason and against NBA caliber competition….

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Baffles me how some complain about an exhibition game that’s 4 months away from the season, also in the offseason and against NBA caliber competition….

Respectfully, these games give a glimpse of what some of the players have improved on and what some of the new guys are capable of. College isn’t like the pros where u already know what to expect from ur starters/ superstars and have people playing that’s trying to make the team. Even though an exhibition u can bet CBP gonna look at the film to see what they did well and what they didn’t.

Three months isn’t that far away. The season will be here before u know it.

Edited by e808
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Encouraged by the newcomers’ talent level. Front-court will be very good again, back-court will limit our ceiling again. With the newcomers, think our upside at guard is higher than last season. Saw some nice flashes out of them. 

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Respectfully, these games give a glimpse of what some of the players have improved on and what some of the new guys are capable of. College isn’t like the pros where u already know what to expect from ur starters/ superstars and have people playing that’s trying to make the team. Even though an exhibition u can bet CBP gonna look at the film to see what they did well and what they didn’t.

Three months isn’t that far away. The season will be here before u know it.

Will definitely give you a glimpse. The main purpose of this trip was to have a life time experience and I can only imagine what it will do for the chemistry moving forward 

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Pretty pleased that other than the last min of the game, the score was within 10 the entire time and finished that way. Honestly was hoping to see us within 10 of we lost and we did that.   We hung with these grown professional men. Valuable experience gained and nice to see how we respond to a more physically imposing team.  Not satisfied with a loss but pleased at the effort nonetheless. 

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I won't offer too much of an opinion as when I do some take it as their opinions don't, interesting seeing the aggression in this thread and it's just an exhibition game......

But anyway even as big as losing two front court players to the NBA I'm really really really hoping to see an upswing in our guards to be complete players. Also interested in seeing who will or can be an alpha in this group

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I won't offer too much of an opinion as when I do some take it as their opinions don't, interesting seeing the aggression in this thread and it's just an exhibition game......

But anyway even as big as losing two front court players to the NBA I'm really really really hoping to see an upswing in our guards to be complete players. Also interested in seeing who will or can be an alpha in this group

With Westry I saw a huge improvement in guard play. I think we have three players capable of being Alpha Traore, Broome, Westry with my vote going to Traore.  Traore and Broome give us a 1-2 punch down low with two very capable backups in Williams and Cardwell.   The other guards are what they are maybe a year together and a little more discipline and they can be good. Now if Flanigan can take the next step and get his offense back we can be really good. 

We have the size and length to be a really good defensive team and we have more than one player who can manufacture scoring. I think we have potential to be better then last years team but there is work to be done especially in defending teams that move the ball quickly and with purpose via passing.

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