**USC vs. Rider GAME Thread**

[FlorenceCock]

Originally Posted by cocknblue

Wish they would post videos of those in their entirety

They do.

[cocknblue]

Originally Posted by FlorenceCock

They do.

Linkage?

[ConwayGamecock]

Originally Posted by cocknblue

Linkage?

http://www.gamecocksonline.com/sport...skbl-body.html

They'll have it up later tonight....keep checking it. You may wish to bookmark that site too, it's the official athletic's website for USC. I am continuously shocked that there are USC fans that are not aware of that site...

[HeadCockFan]

Originally Posted by sodacitynate

@ 3-0, very pleased, though we haven't been exactly playing heavyweights. If we beat Elon, I'll consider us to be in a better position than a year previously.

I'm pretty sure we are better than last year, but it's hard to tell why specifically. Most obvious is shooting % all around. Besides that, we seem to be running a more organized offense with guys getting open more often. Defensively, we are still making tons of careless mistakes. If Frank can get our guys to increase awareness and stay ballside, we are going to be pesky, and might finish at .500 or slightly better. 15 wins would be awesome.

[eaglegolf018]

Turning the ball over too much. But other than that, I love this team. Page looks better each game. Got in some early foul trouble but played well. I love the balance. These guys are scoring. I know Frank isn't happy with the defense. It'll get better

[Regalcock]

Nice win. We would have lost that game last year i have no doubt. Team is tougher mentally.

[Coulwoodwarlord]

Originally Posted by usc1

Kachinas can play

Dude flat out hustles........period.

[carolinafan111]

just got back from the game.. a few thoughts from looking at the stats plus what I saw on the court:

this was one of the best shooting nights I have seen in my 25 games i have attended as part of the band. If Smith would not have shot any (he shouldn't as he is a driver not a shooter) we would have shot 13-24 from three. we also shot 53% (32-60) from the field

also, our free throw percentage is still really good (11-14). wish smith would have hit those two Tech free throws though.. not sure why brenton didn't shoot them

really well balance scoring tonight from a lot of people:
Lakeem had a good game with 14 points on 7-8 shooting
lashay went 4-6 from 3 for 12 points
Brenton went off (5-8 from three) for 22 points

and from our bench:
Richardson had 8, Leonard had 6, and Kacinas my man had 18 on 8-11 shooting

our passing was dr. jekyll and mr hyde:
there were a few possessions in the 2nd half where I have never seen this team with better ball movement. i think one possession it was passed like 12 times through the zone in quick succession and ended up with a made 3 (wide open). however, there were some times where the passing was horrendous. We need to make quick, strong passes.

Overall, I thought the team as a whole.. considering we were undermanned and in serious foul trouble, played a very good game. we had our sloppy moments but overall I think this team is showing great improvements game to game and is really playing hard and sharing the ball. (22 assists)



On another note, I think I may retire the "you're not gonna make it" free throw cheer. 1 out of 1 in an arena that was dead silent listening to it was absolutely priceless

[Metalrush24]

the positive I'm getting out of this is that we don't have Lchat and Carrera AND we're playing sloppy at times but we're STILL able to win by a good margin.


Very raw team, but it can improve

[ConwayGamecock]

Originally Posted by HeadCockFan

I'm pretty sure we are better than last year, but it's hard to tell why specifically. Most obvious is shooting % all around. Besides that, we seem to be running a more organized offense with guys getting open more often. Defensively, we are still making tons of careless mistakes. If Frank can get our guys to increase awareness and stay ballside, we are going to be pesky, and might finish at .500 or slightly better. 15 wins would be awesome.

IMO that's it right there: a more organized, disciplined offense with ball movement to players that are coached to take specific positions, keeping the spacing consistent and allowing for much higher-percentage shot taking. In past years, it seemed that there were no organization in our ball movement on offense: players would just dribble around and if they didn't have a shot to take, they passed it to whoever they found that was open, who would then dribble the ball around.

Usually it would either end up with a player taking a forced shot with the clock winding down, or another player taking a forced shot early in the shot clock: those shots would be forced because there was never good spacing, and never any organized ball movement that would find players open for uncontested shots.....so in either case there were more contested shots being taken, poor shot selection by players who were in bad position to take shots, and with the rest of the team in bad position to rebound if the shots missed.

Just an overall poor coaching on offense....what I'm seeing in the early games thus far is a very refreshing change from that kind of nonsense. If Martin and his staff are as good of recruiters as they have been claimed to be, and we start getting in better talent, IMO we are going to enjoy our BB program soon....

[ReadR00ster]

Originally Posted by ConwayGamecock

http://www.gamecocksonline.com/sport...skbl-body.html

They'll have it up later tonight....keep checking it. You may wish to bookmark that site too, it's the official athletic's website for USC. I am continuously shocked that there are USC fans that are not aware of that site...

It's up!

[Cockhornleghorn]

Originally Posted by carolinafan111

just got back from the game.. a few thoughts from looking at the stats plus what I saw on the court:

this was one of the best shooting nights I have seen in my 25 games i have attended as part of the band. If Smith would not have shot any (he shouldn't as he is a driver not a shooter) we would have shot 13-24 from three. we also shot 53% (32-60) from the field

also, our free throw percentage is still really good (11-14). wish smith would have hit those two Tech free throws though.. not sure why brenton didn't shoot them

really well balance scoring tonight from a lot of people:
Lakeem had a good game with 14 points on 7-8 shooting
lashay went 4-6 from 3 for 12 points
Brenton went off (5-8 from three) for 22 points

and from our bench:
Richardson had 8, Leonard had 6, and Kacinas my man had 18 on 8-11 shooting

our passing was dr. jekyll and mr hyde:
there were a few possessions in the 2nd half where I have never seen this team with better ball movement. i think one possession it was passed like 12 times through the zone in quick succession and ended up with a made 3 (wide open). however, there were some times where the passing was horrendous. We need to make quick, strong passes.

Overall, I thought the team as a whole.. considering we were undermanned and in serious foul trouble, played a very good game. we had our sloppy moments but overall I think this team is showing great improvements game to game and is really playing hard and sharing the ball. (22 assists)



On another note, I think I may retire the "you're not gonna make it" free throw cheer. 1 out of 1 in an arena that was dead silent listening to it was absolutely priceless

I missed the "you're not gonna make it", cheer. I'll help with it on Wednesday night. I can't believe I still have a voice after basketball and football games 5 consecutive days. I need to find out Mindaugus' and Laimonas' nicknames because they're at the other end of the court before I can finish saying "good play", lol. Mindaugus and Michael have been pleasant surprises as freshmen so far, especially on offense and rebounding.

[carolinafan111]

Originally Posted by Cockhornleghorn

I missed the "you're not gonna make it", cheer. I'll help with it on Wednesday night. I can't believe I still have a voice after basketball and football games 5 consecutive days. I need to find out Mindaugus' and Laimonas' nicknames because they're at the other end of the court before I can finish saying "good play", lol. Mindaugus and Michael have been pleasant surprises as freshmen so far, especially on offense and rebounding.

i won't be there on Wednesday. I will be back in Atlanta.

and like I said, I may just retire that cheer because it won't ever be the same again

[b381l]

Originally Posted by carolinafan111

just got back from the game.. a few thoughts from looking at the stats plus what I saw on the court:

this was one of the best shooting nights I have seen in my 25 games i have attended as part of the band. If Smith would not have shot any (he shouldn't as he is a driver not a shooter) we would have shot 13-24 from three. we also shot 53% (32-60) from the field

also, our free throw percentage is still really good (11-14). wish smith would have hit those two Tech free throws though.. not sure why brenton didn't shoot them

really well balance scoring tonight from a lot of people:
Lakeem had a good game with 14 points on 7-8 shooting
lashay went 4-6 from 3 for 12 points
Brenton went off (5-8 from three) for 22 points

and from our bench:
Richardson had 8, Leonard had 6, and Kacinas my man had 18 on 8-11 shooting

our passing was dr. jekyll and mr hyde:
there were a few possessions in the 2nd half where I have never seen this team with better ball movement. i think one possession it was passed like 12 times through the zone in quick succession and ended up with a made 3 (wide open). however, there were some times where the passing was horrendous. We need to make quick, strong passes.

Overall, I thought the team as a whole.. considering we were undermanned and in serious foul trouble, played a very good game. we had our sloppy moments but overall I think this team is showing great improvements game to game and is really playing hard and sharing the ball. (22 assists)



On another note, I think I may retire the "you're not gonna make it" free throw cheer. 1 out of 1 in an arena that was dead silent listening to it was absolutely priceless

What kind of crowd was there.

[carolinafan111]

i would say about 4000-5000 or so. about the same as most games.

it was big enough to make an impact when we started making our run middle of the way through the second half

EDIT: according to gamecocksonline, it was just under 7200.

maybe my estimate is not that good

[Cockhornleghorn]

The crowd is sure to be sparse on Wednesday night.

[sodacitynate]

Originally Posted by HeadCockFan

I'm pretty sure we are better than last year, but it's hard to tell why specifically. Most obvious is shooting % all around. Besides that, we seem to be running a more organized offense with guys getting open more often. Defensively, we are still making tons of careless mistakes. If Frank can get our guys to increase awareness and stay ballside, we are going to be pesky, and might finish at .500 or slightly better. 15 wins would be awesome.

Definitely more ball movement - 22 assists 2nite is good by past standards.

[b381l]

I really liked his final comment....."I may yell at them, but I don't give up on kids."

[b381l]

Originally Posted by carolinafan111

i would say about 4000-5000 or so. about the same as most games.

it was big enough to make an impact when we started making our run middle of the way through the second half

EDIT: according to gamecocksonline, it was just under 7200.

maybe my estimate is not that good

Well 7,200 is a lot better than 720. If we keep winning, playing hard, and showing effort, the crowds will come back.

[Roosterboy]

Much better offense...more aggressive on the boards...better foul shooting...more hustle.
Right now I'm damn happy...satisfied no, but happy.

These first games are a great step.
Defense will get better, we are just a small team.
Passing will get better with time.
The good thing is the mistakes that are being made are correctible.

Good win guys...I'm actually excited about basketball and feel we have a shot to win games.