Offense with a purpose!

[Neckfansince71]

So I had the opportunity to watch the Necks from a front row, black seat, last night. My impression of the first half had everything to do with two IPFW possessions in a row in which the Necks played text book defense only to have a Mastadon hit a three as time was almost up on the shot clock. I mean Jalen Morgan had his long arm up right in front of the Leatherneck bench, and the kid from IPFW hit a three. At that point, it would be easy to think, "whats the use!" But totally contested shots that go in early usually fail to go in late as fatigue sets in.

I think though that we got to see the extremes of the same type of offense. Sometimes the Necks take way toooooo many dribbles and you just want to yell, "move, move!" Down the stretch feeding it to the "big guy" ended up being very effective. IPFW ran the offense like clock work, but at times, their rate was waaaaaaaaay out of whack. And yet as I said earlier, I would to see more calculated movement from the Necks. Both teams constantly set screens, both shot threes, both excelled in the full court game, in fact, their was a point in the 2nd half where we could have moved the game to a hoop in the park. But the Leathernecks had more energy at the end, more defensive energy which eventually resulted in made baskets and a victory. Neither team helped themselves with free throws in the OT, but still, the Necks prevailed.

Got some great minutes from Bruster, Hughes, and Morgan. In fact, Morgan was asked to defend a 3 and did a nice job in my opinion. The Necks needed this win and I hope they enjoyed it last night. I certainly did! jc

[leatherneckcountry]

The 2 biggest factors to me were in the last 10 minutes we either feed into Brandon or are guards attacked the rim but I thought another huge factor was IPFW didn't bury them in the end of the 1st half when Brandon and Dalan went out with 2 fouls we kept it within striking distance Hughes and Delo played really well even though the box score might not show still not sure why Jalan gets on the court

[sealhall74]

It was musical chairs for the #5 spot when Brandon went out with his 2nd foul. Defense looked pretty good, or at least chaotic enough to prevent the 'Dons from going on a run. On the offensive side, we looked a little shaky IMO. I think most coaches have settled in to their 7 or 8 they can rely on in conference play. Not sure we are quite there yet.

[wiu2013]

I agree, we are definitely uncertain on a 7-8 man rotation, but most games I can tell why we are still unsure. Although Jeremiah did not score a lot of points he did do little things to contribute and he was another body that we could count on in the rotation. Brewster and Johnson (although sometimes worries me) would make a consistent 7-man rotation. Now that Jeremiah is finished for the year who do you fill in as the constant 7th man? Morgan either gives you good minutes or he makes you want to throw him under the bench (Wednesday night). Hughes had good minutes Wed, so hopefully he can start giving some minutes to relieve Gilbeck. I heard Hughes had a slightly injury so hopefully he is on the mend. On a good note Duff's shots and form looked good Wednesday night. He has struggled thus far, and he was one player that was counted on to pick up some of the scoring from Covington. Hopefully that was his break out scoring game. If nothing else, he does a good job defending the other teams top players.