16 Comments

Bears competed!!

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Watched from 0900 onward but when the lead reversed in the second half, I headed to gym. Not until I checked last evening did I see the surprising outcome. Need to stick these out with this team.

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This team is playing their hearts out. If Butler gets on a roll in league play they will jump into the top 20. We lack depth. Nice to see Celestine but it appears he’s not quite recovered.

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Very tough loss. We are better than our record but still a work in progress.

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So close, again. Feel bad for them. Better than their record indicates.

How long is Devin Askew out for?

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Butler is a real team, right? Seems like we have a real team too. It’s weird. I actually read these articles now.

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Can we talk about Newell?

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Dec 11, 2023·edited Dec 11, 2023

Absolutely. I've been disappointed in him - watched him a lot in San Juan Cap and he's just not giving them very much. As Hoop said below, some of it is definitely confidence.

He's got skills...just has to figure it out a bit.

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Dec 10, 2023Liked by BentPawn

Newell seems to have two issues ... he plays a SF game in a PF body (he grew an inch+ since last season). As a SF he doesn't have the handle needed, and as a PF he doesn't have the strength a back to the basket game.

Defensively I think he is solid, but I'd like to see more rebounding from him.

The second issue is his confidence which I think is shot right now. If there is any coach in the world to fix that, I think it's Madsen

And yes, that was a bogus call for his 5th. That was either a block or a no-call

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Celestine has disappeared too. Madsen needs to drw some stuff up to get them going early in games.

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Dec 9, 2023·edited Dec 9, 2023

One layup away from a nice win. Crap call on Newell to foul him out of second OT. We got a basketball team.

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yeah, that Tyson layup at the buzzer would have won the game.

but although it was 'only a layup' he was driving hard, and extended his body/arm to get past defenders which makes that scoop shot much tougher.

Defenders were looking for his drive all game and he had to slash through 2 players. It was a very tough shot

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Sometimes you’re so surprised you made it through and have a shot it throws you off.

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Agree. And sometimes you make the shot harder than you need (e.g. double clutch) because you expect a block attempt

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Exactly. That’s what happened. Probably contributed to by leg instability.

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Dec 10, 2023·edited Dec 10, 2023

We have a legit basketball coach and staff.

Give Mad Dog one more off season to get some quality players and depth and we could be a problem in the ACC next season.

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