Creighton suffers a loss at Marquette on Saturday afternoon.
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wildjays wrote:Creighton suffers a loss at Marquette on Saturday afternoon.
Matt DeMarinis and Jacob Padilla break it all down and more in the Bluejay Beat podcast. Available to our Patreon Subscribers.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/bluejay-b ... =join_link
JacobPadilla wrote:Being a bit smarter/stronger with the ball and working a little harder/smarter on the defensive glass are things they can do better without changing personnel, and if they had done just a little bit better in those areas we'd be celebrating a road win over a top-10 team. The troubling part of the ball security part is it was a major focus after the Villanova loss with 9 days to think about and work on it, and it happened again.
JacobPadilla wrote:While I think there are some tweaks that they can make in their approach to hopefully produce different results, this largely comes down needing the guys to just play better. I think that's where the disconnect comes in the discourse with some vs. others. It's easy to lock in on the negatives and see them as fatal flaws that will always be there while forgetting about the positives and how everyone else has things they have to overcome as well.
Ashworth is the best example of this. There's no doubt he's been a miss to this point, but he was also a pretty darn good player before he came to Creighton and there's a reason the staff went after him and outside observers were high on the fit between him and Creighton. Even with the physical limitations, this thing would look a lot better if he was simply hitting shots anywhere close to his normal career rate (Matt detailed the difference in unguarded C&S looks this year compared to last year in the pod, and that has little to do with competition level). The only way this thing works is if he settles in at some point and gets back closer to the guy they thought he could be.
Saturday was one of Kalkbrenner's worst games of the season, and they need him to be better — which we know he is capable of based on his entire career.
Being a bit smarter/stronger with the ball and working a little harder/smarter on the defensive glass are things they can do better without changing personnel, and if they had done just a little bit better in those areas we'd be celebrating a road win over a top-10 team. The troubling part of the ball security part is it was a major focus after the Villanova loss with 9 days to think about and work on it, and it happened again.
Jaybird wrote:JacobPadilla wrote:Being a bit smarter/stronger with the ball and working a little harder/smarter on the defensive glass are things they can do better without changing personnel, and if they had done just a little bit better in those areas we'd be celebrating a road win over a top-10 team. The troubling part of the ball security part is it was a major focus after the Villanova loss with 9 days to think about and work on it, and it happened again.
The last time Creighton won a turnover battle was last February, at home against Nova. That's 27 straight games where we've given the ball away more than we've taken it (there was one push in there). Florida A&M, No Dak St, and Texas Southern all beat us in the turnover column, and now we're emphasizing ball security?. We're 18-9 in that stretch, btw, so we overcome it most of the time, but...overcome it enough? That's not the profile of a FF contender (although, admittedly, last season we missed it by an eyelash, or maybe by Nembhard's fingernail. But we had different guys who could help make up deficiencies).
We've got this turnover disparity down to an art form. One game last year--the return match against Nova--we had six TOs. It's hard to improve on that. That's next to nothing. It was our season-low. Except, Nova had 3, and we lost by double digits. We apply zero defensive pressure, and it shows.
Maybe "being a bit smarter/stronger with the ball" is all it'll take, and I admire your optimism, but it's hard to be all that confident at this point. When Bello handed the ball to a Marqueteer yesterday, then watched him sail downcourt while barely even turning in his direction (he could have missed the bunny; it happens)...well, screw it, looks like we're gonna have to live with this, and "being a bit smarter/stronger with the ball" feels very far away.
JacobPadilla wrote: Ashworth is the best example of this. There's no doubt he's been a miss to this point, but he was also a pretty darn good player before he came to Creighton and there's a reason the staff went after him and outside observers were high on the fit between him and Creighton. Even with the physical limitations, this thing would look a lot better if he was simply hitting shots anywhere close to his normal career rate (Matt detailed the difference in unguarded C&S looks this year compared to last year in the pod, and that has little to do with competition level). The only way this thing works is if he settles in at some point and gets back closer to the guy they thought he could be.
JacobPadilla wrote:While I think there are some tweaks that they can make in their approach to hopefully produce different results, this largely comes down needing the guys to just play better. I think that's where the disconnect comes in the discourse with some vs. others. It's easy to lock in on the negatives and see them as fatal flaws that will always be there while forgetting about the positives and how everyone else has things they have to overcome as well.
Ashworth is the best example of this. There's no doubt he's been a miss to this point, but he was also a pretty darn good player before he came to Creighton and there's a reason the staff went after him and outside observers were high on the fit between him and Creighton. Even with the physical limitations, this thing would look a lot better if he was simply hitting shots anywhere close to his normal career rate (Matt detailed the difference in unguarded C&S looks this year compared to last year in the pod, and that has little to do with competition level). The only way this thing works is if he settles in at some point and gets back closer to the guy they thought he could be.
Saturday was one of Kalkbrenner's worst games of the season, and they need him to be better — which we know he is capable of based on his entire career.
Being a bit smarter/stronger with the ball and working a little harder/smarter on the defensive glass are things they can do better without changing personnel, and if they had done just a little bit better in those areas we'd be celebrating a road win over a top-10 team. The troubling part of the ball security part is it was a major focus after the Villanova loss with 9 days to think about and work on it, and it happened again.
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