Montana st game thread

[edgecliff hall]

So. The quality of coaching makes a big difference. And now we have a quality coach.

[muskieman]

Nice game for KyKy.It seems Sean has gotten thru to Freemantle and Hunter that they are not 3 point shooters.I don't think either has attempted one yet

Anyone close to the bench could tell us what made Hunter cry. I saw Jack consoling him and the tears were flowing?

[skyhops]

I saw the same thing I think he was pissed about Miles getting minutes ahead of him. He did end up with four folduls.

[Kevin Reilly]

The team looked good. The offense was really moving the ball. Twenty three assist's is great. Sharing the ball is the way to play. Kunkel had three steals and at least 6-7 deflections. Tandy and Boum will have to be used carefully. They both struggle on keeping their man in front of them. I think both freshman will be very good. You have to wonder what has happened with Edwards. He is by far our most physical big man. When we play a big team we will need him. Miles got 11 minutes? We have some good teams coming up and we will need Edwards. Xavier looks like a real team again instead of a lot of selfish one on one play. Couldn't be happier about having Miller back.

[skyhops]

Edwards is slow footed and has a hard time grasping Sean’s system. Not a Miller type player. Miles still looks lost too. Steele wasn’t a great recruiter

[X-Expert]

The team looked good. The offense was really moving the ball. Twenty three assist's is great. Sharing the ball is the way to play. Kunkel had three steals and at least 6-7 deflections. Tandy and Boum will have to be used carefully. They both struggle on keeping their man in front of them. I think both freshman will be very good. You have to wonder what has happened with Edwards. He is by far our most physical big man. When we play a big team we will need him. Miles got 11 minutes? We have some good teams coming up and we will need Edwards. Xavier looks like a real team again instead of a lot of selfish one on one play. Couldn't be happier about having Miller back.

Kunkel had a very good game defensively as did Tandy. I saw one time where he didn't come over to help but overall has been very good defensively as evidenced by his 3 steals and more importantly, because Miller said he was very pleased with Kyky D. I don't really understand "Tandy and Boum have to be used carefully." They are the best shooters on this team and hopefully, Kraft develops. Kunkel is definitely improving coming off of shooting 26% and a huge improvement of 33% last year from 3. His shot selection seems to be improved over last year and would be a huge life for X. As for the bigs, completely agree with the Edwards assessment. I heard he hasn't picked up Sean's system as well as others so his minutes are limited. I would love to see a 3rd big come into the picture as they need that going forward. Players playing up to their potential thus far but keep things in perspective. X has beaten two teams in which they were favored by 23.5 and 17.5. Defense overall not great but Sean did say that played much better in the 2nd half. Indiana game will be telling.

[Kevin Reilly]

X-expert until you put it that way I never thought of Kandy and Boum as good shooters. LOL. Kandy has shot 38%, 37% and 16% last three years. Boum has shot 40%, 38% , 36% and 36% the last 4 years. By comparison Jones has shot 42%, 48% . I really was talking about their defense . Both to me get over powered physically when defending mam to man. They get backed down and give up easy baskets or have to foul. I am hoping Kraft can help out on the outside shooting. We may be facing a lot of Zone defenses

[X-Expert]

X-expert until you put it that way I never thought of Kandy and Boum as good shooters. LOL. Kandy has shot 38%, 37% and 16% last three years. Boum has shot 40%, 38% , 36% and 36% the last 4 years. By comparison Jones has shot 42%, 48% . I really was talking about their defense . Both to me get over powered physically when defending mam to man. They get backed down and give up easy baskets or have to foul. I am hoping Kraft can help out on the outside shooting. We may be facing a lot of Zone defenses

Shooting wise, i was talking about 3 point shooting. I don't really count last year as Tandy played in a handful of games. However, to your point, if talking about overall shooting percentage, you are correct, Jones is the best shooter of the 3. You forget Kunkel who also has only shot 39 and 37% the last two years so adding him to your mix so i guess all three aren't considered good shooters. Not sure how you can assess in two games Boum getting backed down and giving up easy baskets. I don't think i have seen him backed down this year. He typically has guarded the point guard and i have seen him D up on the perimeter. Same with Tandy. I haven't seen him overpowered these first two games. Perhaps you are thinking of him two and three years ago. If these two give you pause, not sure how Kunkel doesn't fall in the same category. Even Steele last year said that he gets picked on by other teams for his D. Either way, i think we can agree that the three have played good D to start. I know defense is way more than steals but so far, Boum has 5, Tandy, 4, and Kunkel has 3. Boum has also had 3 rebounds and Tandy has had 6 thus far. That is very solid production from all three.

Its early. Your assessment may play out and i certainly hope not. They have played two bad teams and did what they were supposed to do. Indiana game will be telling.

[pdxmuskie]

Great offensive game. Just about the whole team played well offensively. Defensively, the effort is generally there but obviously not quite clicking for 40 minutes. Up 12 at half when shooting lights out is not good. Some of that is Montana was also shooting well but they also had plenty of good looks.

Free is playing at an extremely high level right now. He hasn't faced the type of player that has given him trouble in the past just yet but he is playing smart while executing at a high level. His decision making is significantly better and that should translate to him having success against long athletic bigs that he struggled with previously. This will likely be key to X having a great year.

Nunge is continues to be dependable and is letting the game come to him.

Tandy lit it up. He is giving great effort on D.

Indiana is the perfect game before the trip to Portland. They are dominating mediocre/bad competition just like X so far. The Freshmen need that experience.