Scream wrote:
Observations after catching up on everything here over the last several days-
Here's my conspiracy theory. Without evidence, I'm suggesting that some guys may have aftereffects of Covid. Many people who recovered easily say that they have continuing symptoms such as fatigue and brain fog.
Number one suspect is Kaifes. By the end of the 2019 season this guy was doing everything: he was on every loose ball, stealing rebounds, creating short range shots, and playing good defense. This year, although he's almost 40% on 3s, he's not getting any other shots and he doesn't seem to have his head in the game on either end of the court. That's not who he is at all. Or it could be taking a year off. Other suspects: Hall maybe; Kennedy has regressed a little. I thought Clemons for a while, but it looks more and more like it was the leg injury.
Like everyone else, I'm thrilled to see the development of Welch and I thought the Krutwig-Welch offense looked pretty cool. Some work to do on defense for Welch, but what a pleasant surprise.
As someone already mentioned when you're suffering through an 8 point (and counting) run, you want to get it to either Krutwig or Kennedy to take it to the basket to at least get fouled. (I'd say Hall too, but I don't want him to get fouled) You can go back to shooting 3s when the game gets back to normal, but you have to break the run.
I love Kennedy's skills. On the other hand, sometimes he dribbles way too much for our offense. To me it looks disruptive. I wonder if that's contributing to his decrease in minutes.
Indiana State effectively took Norris to the basket with bigger guys early in the first game. I don't know why they stopped doing that, but I hope we have a way to deal with it.
Big reminder from the double header: it's all about defense.
I’m not sure that Kaifes is underperforming because of COVID, he did tear his labrum last season. Who knows though it could be a mixture of both.