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Post by beavs6 on Jan 2, 2024 13:59:30 GMT -8
Pretty much agree with rgeorge's assessment of how Rueck will try to defend USC & UCLA this weekend. I think USC is more physically athletic, and their scorers are more prone to create-your-own-shot than UCLA. But they are both a coaches nightmare when it comes to D preparation. My guess (total guess) is that Rueck will start with Man D against USC to get them used to dribble penetration, then in 2nd quarter move to more compact zones to protect Beaver players who don't have the foot speed to handle man D. Zone defenses are a special problem on the road, because home teams more consistently bust a zone from the perimeter than visiting teams...(Hence a zone at Gill is more likely to work better against USC than a zone in LA). Athletically, I don't think the Beavs have anyone who can slow down Watkins - but when Rueck phones me about this, I'm gonna recommend AJ. !! 🏀 ----------- I'm hoping against hope for the Beavs this weekend but, from a basketball point of view, I simply don't know how they can cope with the speed and the shooting skills they are gonna run into in LA. I see one 20-point loss, maybe two......GO BEAVS!! For USC and UCLA! (I get it. A split would be excellent!)
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Post by beaveragain on Jan 3, 2024 13:14:50 GMT -8
So I'm curious. Given that quickness and athleticism defines who wins basketball games, and everyone knows THAT. Then if the Beav's were to win both games people will be faced with a quandry. They will either have to decide a) that the Beav's were the quicker/more athletic team all along, OR b) that quickness/athleticism doesn't define who wins games. Hmmm, or maybe c) just ignore all of this and go back to the old ways and pretend this anomaly never occurred. I'm guessing c.
My prediction is that the Beav's win against USC unless Marshall goes crazy scoring and/or gets Beers into foul trouble.
UCLA is a whole other beastie. They have a more well rounded team and Betts has a history of beating Beers. It's hard to switch those kinds of losses around.
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Post by rmancarl on Jan 3, 2024 14:12:39 GMT -8
So I'm curious. Given that quickness and athleticism defines who wins basketball games, and everyone knows THAT. Then if the Beav's were to win both games people will be faced with a quandry. They will either have to decide a) that the Beav's were the quicker/more athletic team all along, OR b) that quickness/athleticism doesn't define who wins games. Hmmm, or maybe c) just ignore all of this and go back to the old ways and pretend this anomaly never occurred. I'm guessing c. My prediction is that the Beav's win against USC unless Marshall goes crazy scoring and/or gets Beers into foul trouble. UCLA is a whole other beastie. They have a more well rounded team and Betts has a history of beating Beers. It's hard to switch those kinds of losses around. I just watched a replay of the ducks/Beavers game at Gill from last season 1/20/2023. I had forgotten how quick oregon was with Rogers, PaoPao, and Gray. Gray was also 6-12 from 3 point range. The Beavs won the game and Beers only played 13 MINUTES. The Beavs only hit 4 three's and the ducks hit 12. Now, considering how bad the Beavs record was last year, that game was a bit of an outlier. I'm not sure that game tells us anything, but it does show that you can win even when the other team is quicker, even if they are better at shooting 3's, and even if your most dangerous player barely plays. Admittedly, that's not the norm. I hope we all agree that speed is important much like height is important, but those ingredients alone don't guarantee a great player or a great team. If that were the case, Bendu (great speed) and Jelena (great height) would have made the Beavs a winner last year. As for this weekend, I expect the Beavs will lose both games. Quality opponents, first road games, young team early in the season. It won't shock me if they win one, but I don't expect it. I just remember the 2017/2018 team that went to #14 ranked UCLA on 1/5/2018 and lost 84-49 (yes, you read that right) and then six weeks later beat UCLA at Gill 67-64 and went on to make the final 8 in the NCAA tournament. I don't know if this version of the Beavs will improve that much, but they are much more likely to win games later in the season, than these first couple weeks of January.
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Post by beavsteve on Jan 3, 2024 15:11:43 GMT -8
I'm heading to LA tomorrow, visiting my son in Ventura. I'm definitely attending the UCLA game (with my son) but am a little concerned about the drive for the Friday night game and wondering about the parking situation. Any advice from someone who has attended a game at the Galen Center?
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Post by 411500 on Jan 3, 2024 15:37:23 GMT -8
beaveragain writes: "So I'm curious. Given that quickness and athleticism defines who wins basketball games, and everyone knows THAT." ----------- I'm not gonna say much about this segment of your post because it doesn't merit much.
But, for the record: NOBODY in their right mind has ever said quickness and athleticism defines who wins basketball games. Having a team with good basketball players is the most important variable. However, when both teams have good basketball players THEN quickness and athleticism become very important. Other important variables: skill of coach, shooting skills of players.
To repeat: NOBODY in their right mind has ever said quickness and athleticism defines who wins basketball games. GO BEAVS!! P.S. I hope your prediction about the USC game is right. I truly do.🏀 ------------------------
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Post by grumpybeaver on Jan 3, 2024 16:07:56 GMT -8
I'm heading to LA tomorrow, visiting my son in Ventura. I'm definitely attending the UCLA game (with my son) but am a little concerned about the drive for the Friday night game and wondering about the parking situation. Any advice from someone who has attended a game at the Galen Center? I am also in Ventura County. The traffic to USC is unpredictable and can be a brutal. Getting to the Galen Center and parking is easy. You will exit the 110 at Exposition, take an immediate right on South Fig and you will find the parking garage about a block ahead on the right. Tip - buy tickets at the box office and ask if they have courtside available. In the past it has been $15 ($5 more than the the stands) and is a fun experience with your feet on the hardwood. May be different now with USC success. In the past they drew about 300 fans.
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Post by rgeorge on Jan 3, 2024 17:03:48 GMT -8
I'm heading to LA tomorrow, visiting my son in Ventura. I'm definitely attending the UCLA game (with my son) but am a little concerned about the drive for the Friday night game and wondering about the parking situation. Any advice from someone who has attended a game at the Galen Center? I am also in Ventura County. The traffic to USC is unpredictable and can be a brutal. Getting to the Galen Center and parking is easy. You will exit the 110 at Exposition, take an immediate right on South Fig and you will find the parking garage about a block ahead on the right. Tip - buy tickets at the box office and ask if they have courtside available. In the past it has been $15 ($5 more than the the stands) and is a fun experience with your feet on the hardwood. May be different now with USC success. In the past they drew about 300 fans. Far different than when I attended, but now most say the 126 to I5 to 110 route is faster (average of 30 minutes??) than the south to the 101 (which can be crazy bad), to 134 to I5 to 110S. Either way the 75+ miles is going to be at LEAST 2hrs, give yourself 3hrs to have any type of cushion. Of course no idea where in VC you're coming from. My last trip ended up being lucky as there were multiple wrecks on the 126. We ended up going 101S to the 405S to the 10E to MLK and like Exit 20 off the 110S. Not the best, but saved us like 90 minutes that day. But, do what the locals do/say!
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Post by jrbeav59 on Jan 3, 2024 17:57:52 GMT -8
Far different than when I attended, but now most say the 126 to I5 to 110 route is faster (average of 30 minutes??) than the south to the 101 (which can be crazy bad), to 134 to I5 to 110S. Either way the 75+ miles is going to be at LEAST 2hrs, give yourself 3hrs to have any type of cushion. Of course no idea where in VC you're coming from. My last trip ended up being lucky as there were multiple wrecks on the 126. We ended up going 101S to the 405S to the 10E to MLK and like Exit 20 off the 110S. Not the best, but saved us like 90 minutes that day. But, do what the locals do/say! The 118 thru Moorpark is also an option and shorter than the 126. My wife is from Ventura and have taken that when going from Ventura to catch 14.
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Post by greybeav on Jan 3, 2024 18:18:48 GMT -8
Dang, isn't it nice to have Alum all over the country !
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Post by grayman on Jan 3, 2024 18:35:46 GMT -8
So I'm curious. Given that quickness and athleticism defines who wins basketball games, and everyone knows THAT. Then if the Beav's were to win both games people will be faced with a quandry. They will either have to decide a) that the Beav's were the quicker/more athletic team all along, OR b) that quickness/athleticism doesn't define who wins games. Hmmm, or maybe c) just ignore all of this and go back to the old ways and pretend this anomaly never occurred. I'm guessing c. My prediction is that the Beav's win against USC unless Marshall goes crazy scoring and/or gets Beers into foul trouble. UCLA is a whole other beastie. They have a more well rounded team and Betts has a history of beating Beers. It's hard to switch those kinds of losses around. The Beavers have already beaten at least three teams this season that I would say have more overall quickness and speed. So yeah, basketball skills/ability are the most important aspects that make up a good team. Pretty sure the Beavers had a distinct height/size advantage in those games as well. But I've also seen LSU and Stanford run past the Beavers with ease for blowout wins in recent seasons. So yeah, all things being relatively equal, having a highly skilled team that can run and make athletic plays on offense and defense is a huge advantage. I've said it in another thread, but I think Rueck has added some speed/quickness to the roster for this season. I'm not saying the Beavers can match every Pac-12 team in that respect but I think they are much more well equipped to deal with it than they have been in the past.
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Post by ag87 on Jan 3, 2024 19:29:46 GMT -8
I'm heading to LA tomorrow, visiting my son in Ventura. I'm definitely attending the UCLA game (with my son) but am a little concerned about the drive for the Friday night game and wondering about the parking situation. Any advice from someone who has attended a game at the Galen Center? When I worked in SoCal, I did some consulting for Metrolink. The Ventura County Line is about 1 hour and 50 minutes to LA Union Station. metrolinktrains.com/ The downside is there are no late trains to return to Ventura. The E line is about 30 minutes from Union Station to Galen. I don't know what the price of an uber ride back would be. Guessing $100 to $150.
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Post by beavsteve on Jan 4, 2024 8:47:42 GMT -8
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Post by beaveragain on Jan 4, 2024 12:29:03 GMT -8
So I'm curious. Given that quickness and athleticism defines who wins basketball games, and everyone knows THAT. Then if the Beav's were to win both games people will be faced with a quandry. They will either have to decide a) that the Beav's were the quicker/more athletic team all along, OR b) that quickness/athleticism doesn't define who wins games. Hmmm, or maybe c) just ignore all of this and go back to the old ways and pretend this anomaly never occurred. I'm guessing c. My prediction is that the Beav's win against USC unless Marshall goes crazy scoring and/or gets Beers into foul trouble. UCLA is a whole other beastie. They have a more well rounded team and Betts has a history of beating Beers. It's hard to switch those kinds of losses around. I just watched a replay of the ducks/Beavers game at Gill from last season 1/20/2023. I had forgotten how quick oregon was with Rogers, PaoPao, and Gray. Gray was also 6-12 from 3 point range. The Beavs won the game and Beers only played 13 MINUTES. The Beavs only hit 4 three's and the ducks hit 12. Now, considering how bad the Beavs record was last year, that game was a bit of an outlier. I'm not sure that game tells us anything, but it does show that you can win even when the other team is quicker, even if they are better at shooting 3's, and even if your most dangerous player barely plays. Admittedly, that's not the norm. I hope we all agree that speed is important much like height is important, but those ingredients alone don't guarantee a great player or a great team. If that were the case, Bendu (great speed) and Jelena (great height) would have made the Beavs a winner last year. As for this weekend, I expect the Beavs will lose both games. Quality opponents, first road games, young team early in the season. It won't shock me if they win one, but I don't expect it. I just remember the 2017/2018 team that went to #14 ranked UCLA on 1/5/2018 and lost 84-49 (yes, you read that right) and then six weeks later beat UCLA at Gill 67-64 and went on to make the final 8 in the NCAA tournament. I don't know if this version of the Beavs will improve that much, but they are much more likely to win games later in the season, than these first couple weeks of January. I think that the Beav's are a young team that will keep getting better as the season goes along. The oddity with USC is that they are kind of the opposite in some ways. Their starters consist of three grad transfers and a freshman. That means that none of them have ever played together before this season, but that they have a lot of playing experience. My thought is that as they play together they have a good chance of getting more and more in sync with each other and also improve as the season goes along. I think the Beav's greater experience in playing with each other and the self confidence in beating them the last time they played each other will make a win probable rather than possible. There is a slight possibility I'm wrong. Nawww. 😜😎
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Post by jones on Jan 4, 2024 12:51:05 GMT -8
Which Beaver will be assigned to guard the USC 6'2" freshman phenom guard Juju Watkins? Juju is the second leading scorer in the Nation, averaging 26.8 points per game, behind only Caitlin Clark of Iowa who is averaging 30.9 points per game. Other stats for Juju: 7.3 rebounds per game. 46.9% shooting, 45.5% 3-point shooting, 1.6 blocks, 4.0 turnovers, 77.6% free throw shooting, 3.7 assists, 2.5 steals, in 31.7 minutes per game. I would guess TVO will be assigned to guard Watkins, at least start, even though Watkins has 3 more inches in height. Although we'll probably try a mix of defenders to see what works, I wouldn't be surprised to see AJ guarding her initially. It would be nice to get her in foul trouble early. Anytime she's driving hard to the rim, we should be looking to take a charge.
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Post by rmancarl on Jan 4, 2024 13:41:41 GMT -8
Interesting interviews. I tried to read between the lines on a few comments, but I'm thinking my reading level is much like many of our current grade school students....way below the level I should be reading at. Nevertheless, I think Coach Rueck isn't too happy about playing in the WCC next season. Again, I could be reading this wrong, but if that's true, I would expect the Beavs to schedule a pretty tough non-conference schedule to make sure they are not overlooked in the rankings. Of course, that depends on who returns to the team. If there is a max exodus, then the easy non-conference is probably the route they will go. Secondly, my between the lines reading leads me to believe that SR really does think he has a very good team right now. That's what came across to me. I hope he is right. I can say, if Timea can play like she did in the second half against Oregon, and if Talia can be the player she was pre-injury, and Adlee and/or Lily can hit 3's off the bench the Beavs may exceed our expectations. This weekend will tell us a lot about how good, and how ready this team is.
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