YSU vs Louisiana mens basketball

[ucfpengbuck]

Who Starts ?   I have no clue.  Coach said something like that this is his deepest team 1 through 10.   Not sure there if one guy that could take over a game like Cohill could and not sure we're better in the paint with the graduation of Nelson and Green.

A lot of  new guys who have played 4 years of baksketball and some double digit scorers.

Brandon Rush will start and might lead us in scoring .He was good for about 14 pts a game last year.  EJ Farmer plays a similar position to Rush and was a part time starter at Toledo .  Nice size for 2 guard at 6'5" and in the limited videos I saw he looks like he can put up some points with 3s and drives.

The point guard position has two canidates in Brett Thompson who averager 12 pts a game at Tennessee Tech and Bryson Langdon who started for 3 seasons at NKU.  They might be able to play together with Thompson playing off the ball.

Ziggy Reid averaged  14 pts a game at Merrimack and at 6'6" 245 lbs brings some beef.   Not sure if he plays more of a three forward since he's a 3 point shooter or plays on the post.   Probably both.

John Lovelace was our 6th man last year as a frosh.  we'll see if he makes a level up and proves he can hit some outside shots.  Great defender and athletic.

DJ Burns looks to be strong post player at 6'7". Two year starter at Murray State brings experience and toughness.  Looks to play bigger than his size.

Jaylen Bates is 6'7" and put up 9 pts a game at Florida A&M .   Looks to me more of a non post player.  Looks very athletic and plays above the rim.

Two bigs at 7'0" and 7'3".   Not sure where they are at with their development but Zorgvol should probably get more minutes than Dynes based on experience.

Four fosh and a juco.  Not sure where they fit in the rotation.

Lousiana Lafayette went 26 -8 last season and 14 -0 at their home court. lost by 3 to Tennessee in the NCAA tourney.  Real tough opener for the penguins.

I just want to mention that I have 0 inside knowledge.  I'm looking at videos which can be deceiving and what they did at previous colleges.

[YsuPride]

Rush starts for sure and everyone else is a guess.  We are very deep and beat Akron by 29 in a scrimmage last week or so.   Akron is the Mac favorite.  Interesting.  Been to a few practices and they look like they can jump out of the gym and size is there for sure.  this is the deepest team and most athletic team Calhoun has had a YSU.  Now we gonna see if we can compete.   I see another good season ahead.  Could win a few more games than last year if we jell and stay injury free.  Based on what i see in practice and production by transfers at other schools.   Any thoughts?  Good to see we have a big interest in the basketball programs at YSU for a change.   We need to not lose Calhoun for sure.  Do everything in our power to keep him. 

[Double ET]

Do we have a go to guy on this year’s team?
When offense wasn’t clicking last year, Cohill took over and was a one man show. Other teams had difficulties in stopping him. He brought us back almost single handed.

I don’t know if anyone on this team has that capability. Any comments or observations?

[IAA Fan]

Has anyone seen a game-day roster? I suspect we will see more tomorrow after the football game.

[YsuPride]

Rush does.   He is better this year and will shine

[Double ET]

From today’s Tribune/Vindy

https://www.tribtoday.com/sports/local-sports/2023/11/fresh-off-first-league-title-ysu-looks-to-confound-expectations-with-new-roster/

[Cimo7]

Louisiana currently favored by 4.5

[ucfpengbuck]

Need to rebound better and win those 50/50 balls.  Down 4 at half.

[ucfpengbuck]

Three point shooting and over all bad perimter shooting tonight.   Compound that with turnovers and foul trouble make for tough game on the road.

[YsuPride]

Played hard but we lost in a warm gym...don't think we had a shot in the south with an opener on the road.

[ucfpengbuck]

Had some defensive break downs late in the first half especially down low on the left side where the cajuns scored about 3 to 4 times uncontested that gave them a lift going into half time.

Rush had too many unforced turnovers expect better form the team leader.   Liked they way Langdon ran the point and Dynes gave much better play than I would of expected.  Had some nice blocks.

Thought Ziggy was ok and Farmer didn't get going.  Not sure what his game is.

DJ Byrnes played tough and had some phantoms calls that took him out of the game.  Kind of cool to see him rebound and push the ball the other way.   looks like coach wants this team to run and run a lot.

Winnable game but need guys to hit  shots from the perimeter.  Only one game and a long season ahead but need to get better than what we saw last night although the guys did play hard.

[YsuPride]

going to take a few games until we get our footing and a cohesive unit.  should take only 5 games to do this then lets all start to worry.  We need a go to guy like we had with Cohill.

[mudclods]

Just watched the replay.  Very UGLY & sloppy game.  Thought YSU came out with a lot of intensity and played hard.  Should have been up 20 or so early but blew several opportunities to stretch the lead out.  Louisiana went on that run and it just seemed like it was a different game after that.  YSU did come out strong in the 2nd half and got the lead back then that was pretty much it.  No one stepped up. 

Thought YSU played reckless and too much street ball.  The fouls in the 2nd half were ridiculous along with the technical on Lovelace for woofing. 

Very disappointing game for Rush.  Coach was pretty harsh on him in the post-game with Robb Schmidt, and sounded really pissed off & embarrassed for the fans.  Only 4 assists to 17 turnovers is unbelievable.  And hard to believe just 2-23 from 3.