Thoughts on Alaska

Few thoughts from last night's game. Keep in mind it was against a D2 school.



It's a young team with some talent. They like to go fast and get down the court, which is good news because I'm not sure running half court sets is this team's strength.



Carlino looked real good. Really dominated the game and as he went, we went. He's worked on finishing at the rim. At first it was a bit frustrating that he wasn't passing it out to open shooters on the wing, but after seeing how poor our 3 point shooting was I don't fault him; take it to the rim and go for the old fashioned 3 point play.



Haws shot little, but his shot is there and he looked good. Very aggressive on the boards.



Mika played well and I believe he got his double double. Looks like we may have a legit shot blocker. Will be interesting to see what he can he can do against better opponents.



Bartley looked out of control. A lot of players did. His defense looked solid, but once again we may be lacking points from the 2 this season.



Austin looked good. He looked stronger and more athletic. Had some good passes and was aggressive on the board.



KC was out of control in the first half. Was great in the second. He can play PG, if you call dribbling up the court and passing it off before reaching the arch.



Rebounding was great and it allowed us to push the ball. The team is young and it showed, especially in the beginning. There was no reason Anchorage should have ever led. Don't know if it was just guys trying to show off for coach, but there was a lot of dribbling into traffic. 3 point shooting is bad...again.



[ Post made via Mobile Device ] http://cougarcorner.com/images/mobile.png" alt="" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%">

I was watching the game for a short time, but had to leave. I heard comments about some close ties between the Alaska team and BYU and there were some return missionaries on the Alaska team. Anybody got any skinny on that?

urroner wrote:
I was watching the game for a short time, but had to leave. I heard comments about some close ties between the Alaska team and BYU and there were some return missionaries on the Alaska team. Anybody got any skinny on that?

I briefly listened to it on the radio, one of the AA players was named Teancum.

Three players from Utah (at least part from Snow). Coach's wife from Utah, and son plays baseball at UVU. Coach went to high school with Coach Rose.

Gunk



You credit MC for not kicking it out for open 3s due to shooters not hitting them. Ok. Makes sense. But, I do not get the MC Honeymoon every year. He did some things well. But at least mention that his own 0 for 5 from three did not help the 3 point shooting average.



So I guess I agree with your comment - As MC went BYU went - MC sucked as bad as or worse than anyone on 3 point shooting - and the entire team followed his lead.



We need a rising tide - to lift all of the 3 point shooting boats.



Gonna need MC or Haws to do the lifting.



[ Post made via Mobile Device ] http://cougarcorner.com/images/mobile.png" alt="" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%">

I posted a few of this thoughts in scatter pattern so I will put them down here-



KC was very good. He got the hoop at will and finished. He isn't vertically explosive so he will need to be more crafty against better competitions.



Bartley isn't ready to play D-1 minutes-- so maybe he will be redshirted.



Halford give max effort all the time. But I think he will struggle with athletic teams due to his lack of strength.



Mika was physically dominating. He controlled the paint. He doesn't seem like a natural shot blocker to me. He could really improve his defensive positioning and using both hands for blocks.



Carlino looks strong. He is finishing around the basket and getting boards and starting the break. He still makes headscratching plays but he has cut those back.



Haws was fine. Had a little foul trouble and didn't play much.



Austin looked healthy and played fairly well.



Winder was okay.



Overall our team looks physical and aggressive. KC and Mika bring an attitude and strength we haven't had much of. If we can get consistent scoring from either KC or Carlino to go with Haws, we'll be pretty good.

Qman wrote:



Mika was physically dominating. He controlled the paint. He doesn't seem like a natural shot blocker to me. He could really improve his defensive positioning and using both hands for blocks.

Compared to what we've had the last 10 years, Mika might as well be Mutombo. Having seen most of his highlights he seems to put on a pretty regular block party. We'll see I guess.

mizzoucoug wrote:

Mika was physically dominating. He controlled the paint. He doesn't seem like a natural shot blocker to me. He could really improve his defensive positioning and using both hands for blocks.

Compared to what we've had the last 10 years, Mika might as well be Mutombo. Having seen most of his highlights he seems to put on a pretty regular block party. We'll see I guess.

I think he'll block the shots and foul the guy at the same time.

Qman wrote:

Qman wrote:



Mika was physically dominating. He controlled the paint. He doesn't seem like a natural shot blocker to me. He could really improve his defensive positioning and using both hands for blocks.

Compared to what we've had the last 10 years, Mika might as well be Mutombo. Having seen most of his highlights he seems to put on a pretty regular block party. We'll see I guess.

I think he'll block the shots and foul the guy at the same time.

So he is going for the Kaufusi approach?

BlueIsBetter wrote:

mizzoucoug wrote:

Mika was physically dominating. He controlled the paint. He doesn't seem like a natural shot blocker to me. He could really improve his defensive positioning and using both hands for blocks.

Compared to what we've had the last 10 years, Mika might as well be Mutombo. Having seen most of his highlights he seems to put on a pretty regular block party. We'll see I guess.

I think he'll block the shots and foul the guy at the same time.

So he is going for the Kaufusi approach?

Did Kaufusi actually block the shot?

Qman wrote:

Qman wrote:



Mika was physically dominating. He controlled the paint. He doesn't seem like a natural shot blocker to me. He could really improve his defensive positioning and using both hands for blocks.

Compared to what we've had the last 10 years, Mika might as well be Mutombo. Having seen most of his highlights he seems to put on a pretty regular block party. We'll see I guess.

I think he'll block the shots and foul the guy at the same time.

He seemed to block most of his shots as a help side defender. I don't recall him being unusually aggressive or out of control or fouling while blocking shots. Unfortunately he probably will get too many fouls from other areas of his game.