[Oskee] No comments?

[Robert Mingee]

I just got around to watching the Georgia game last night because I had recorded it while we were out of town.  I knew there was a reason to be hesitant that they had really made a major step forward until seeing them play well in a road game.  It certainly wasn't the worst game I've seen them play, and in fairness, Georgia made some real circus shots down low.  But by far the biggest thing that stood out was that we simply don't know how to rebound.  Every friggin time a shot went up, the Georgia players immediately reacted and attempted to establish position.  We, on the other hand, stood around and watched.  There was one time when we had 3 guys under there and Georgia had one, and the Georgia player was the only one that even JUMPED, for heaven's sake!  That's coaching, plain and simple.  Bruce has got to find a way to make that second nature with these guys.  If he's already trying, he's got to try harder.  I am stunned that the rebound margin was
 only 9, it felt a lot bigger than that.  And we really caught up late on offensive boards, because we had very few at some point in the second half.

Aside from that, the defensive intensity was reasonable, though certainly better in the second half.  We're willing to go for the steals and go after the loose balls, so I really can't see rebounding being an effort issue as much as coaching.  Tisdale really was trying hard to take it strong to the hole, but he's just not big enough.  He ends up trying to go around instead of through to potentially draw the charge, and his shot is just too awkward.  He's honestly better taking a short-range jumper, especially as polished as his hook is.  Heck, Davis got stuffed on one shot by a kid a full 6 inches shorter than him, unless the announcers misquoted the stats on the other player, so we really don't have anyone capable of taking it strong to the hole against a big man.  That could hurt in the Big Ten, but I think we can succeed if we just play to our strengths and stick to the short-range jumpers.  The obvious downside is we won't draw many/any fouls on the
 opposing bigs, and won't take a lot of free throws.

I feel better after this loss than the Vegas flame-out, because I feel like if we can fix the rebounding, we'll be in much better shape.  Georgia gave an amazing effort, and like I said, made some unbelievable shots down low, and we still only lost by 3 points.  Had that game been played in Champaign, I'm fairly confident we'd have won.  I know they said we had a lot of fans there, but it was still really close to their school, and a bit of a trip for us.  We've got all season to figure out how to play on the road.  But Bruce needs to treat this rebounding thing as top priority.

Anyone else?  Everyone already off for the holidays and away from email?  I'm off all this week and next, which will be a much-needed break.  A very happy holidays to all the oskee gang!

-- robert
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