D
Derek Young
Guest
BEST PLAYER: MIKE MCGUIRL
I had it written at halftime for this honor to go with Nijel Pack. He was smart with the ball, had five assists to just one turnover and shot the three efficiently, was composed and showed off great feel for the game.
However, I had to make a switch. Mike McGuirl carried the Wildcats down the stretch. He didn’t make any critical mistakes, shot the ball extremely well, was assertive and aggressive on offense and was still a lockdown defender as well.
It was close at the break but McGuirl ran away with it in the second half. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough for Kansas State to claw away the win at home.
SURPRISES: SELTON MIGUEL ON THE BALL
It was my assumption that when McGuirl and Pack were not in the game, that it would be Rudi Williams that would be tasked with the ball-handling duties. Suffice it to say, that was not the case. They put the ball in the hands of another true freshman in Selton Miguel.
He didn’t appear the most comfortable in that role to be fair, but he was very confident when attacking the rim and has great size, sturdiness and is a pretty physical guard for his age.
As the game wore on, it did become obvious that, while he may not be a turnover waiting to happen (other than to begin the second half), there is no offensive flow if McGuirl and Pack are both on the bench.
In the future, they’ll have to stagger their minutes some because one of the two has to be in the game and on the ball at all times to prevent lulls on the offensive end.
On this day, they didn’t find that out quick enough and that stretch was one of the reasons why they were unable to fend Drake off, late.
KEY OBSERVATIONS: IMPROVED OFFENSE, WORSE DEFENSE
I’m not going to pretend that they were an offensive powerhouse by any means, but they did show more life on the offensive end and some positive upside that wasn’t always clear a year ago.
McGuirl was more confident on that end. Dajuan Gordon shot the ball with confidence. Miguel showed glimpses of really being able to attack the rim. Pack played like a veteran and shot it from behind the arc extremely well.
That gives them more threats on the offensive end than I can recall from the 2019-2020 season.
It was the defense that was their downfall. Typically, with a lot of newcomers and a youthful team, the struggles will be more magnified on the defensive end. That was undoubtedly the case and it may have been even more problematic than I imagined.
Too many open shots on the perimeter were given and a ton of second chance points were allowed as well. Chris Lowery had to have been seething at times since he takes so much pride on that end of the floor.
TOP CONCERNS: PERIMETER DEFENSE, INTERIOR OFFENSE
The defense left a little to be desired. Quite frankly, they left a lot to be desired to be quite honest. That probably is part of the equation when a team breaks in as many newcomers and as much youth as they will every game in the 2020-2021 season.
Communication and understanding seemed to be lacking on the perimeter. Guys were getting lost on a frequent basis and out of position, which allowed the Bulldogs to chuck quite a few open threes and they made the Wildcats pay, often.
What concerned me the most is that it just wasn’t the true freshmen that appeared clueless on that end at times. It was also the sophomores like Dajuan Gordon and Antonio Gordon.
They did ratchet up the intensity on the defensive end a bit at the beginning of the second half. However, Roman Penn was a problem for them and gave them issues, especially to close the game.
Rebounding on the defensive end was also wildly inconsistent. K-State opened up both halves struggling in that department and it allowed Drake to record quite a few extra possessions. They did close the gap a bit at the end of the first half.
However, those rebounding problems crept up once again in the second half and contributed to their demise.
While I did enjoy and appreciate the posts having much better hands in the post, they were not effective afterwards. I know that the coaching staff feels like they can score out of the post more and want to add that element on the offensive end, but it needs to be much more efficient than it was on Wednesday for that to be a winning formula.
LOOKING AHEAD: THINGS TO BUILD ON
If you’re looking for me to skewer them for the performance, I’m not going to do that. If you’re waiting for me to pump the sunshine, I probably won’t do that either. I saw some good things and some bad things.
There is enough to build on to make one a bit optimistic about the future, despite falling to Drake, and there were enough issues to leave one feeling a little discouraged about anything in the foreseeable future.
I think both of those things can be true, and probably are, to be fair.
The top issues were their ability to guard on the perimeter, the abysmal defensive rebounding and how the offense fell into a shell without McGuirl or Pack on the floor.
In fairness to Bruce Weber and his staff, they probably weren’t the recipients of enough live action in practice to understand how putrid the offense would be without McGuirl or Pack at their disposal. That was a tough stretch in the game and likely decided matters, at the end of the day.
That’s a bad lineup and simply one that I don’t envision being effective at any point this year.
The defense was very poor, and they were just dominated on the perimeter by the more experienced guards from the Bulldogs. It is discouraging now, but that is also something that should improve over time and can grow as the year proceeds, especially with the defensive philosophy of the coaching staff in Manhattan.
I’m a little less bullish on the rebounding. That’s a mindset, toughness and effort and they need to place more attention in that department.
All in all, I think there was enough to take away to make me feel like there’s some promise in the future, but in no way makes anyone feel good about the current state of the team.
The goal should be that Drake is a team that they can handle after a full year of growth, development and improvement. How much better can they become between now and the final game of the season will be the biggest key for this year and it needs to be vast to provide reasonable expectations for next season that are also a bit lofty in nature.
I had it written at halftime for this honor to go with Nijel Pack. He was smart with the ball, had five assists to just one turnover and shot the three efficiently, was composed and showed off great feel for the game.
However, I had to make a switch. Mike McGuirl carried the Wildcats down the stretch. He didn’t make any critical mistakes, shot the ball extremely well, was assertive and aggressive on offense and was still a lockdown defender as well.
It was close at the break but McGuirl ran away with it in the second half. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough for Kansas State to claw away the win at home.
SURPRISES: SELTON MIGUEL ON THE BALL
It was my assumption that when McGuirl and Pack were not in the game, that it would be Rudi Williams that would be tasked with the ball-handling duties. Suffice it to say, that was not the case. They put the ball in the hands of another true freshman in Selton Miguel.
He didn’t appear the most comfortable in that role to be fair, but he was very confident when attacking the rim and has great size, sturdiness and is a pretty physical guard for his age.
As the game wore on, it did become obvious that, while he may not be a turnover waiting to happen (other than to begin the second half), there is no offensive flow if McGuirl and Pack are both on the bench.
In the future, they’ll have to stagger their minutes some because one of the two has to be in the game and on the ball at all times to prevent lulls on the offensive end.
On this day, they didn’t find that out quick enough and that stretch was one of the reasons why they were unable to fend Drake off, late.
KEY OBSERVATIONS: IMPROVED OFFENSE, WORSE DEFENSE
I’m not going to pretend that they were an offensive powerhouse by any means, but they did show more life on the offensive end and some positive upside that wasn’t always clear a year ago.
McGuirl was more confident on that end. Dajuan Gordon shot the ball with confidence. Miguel showed glimpses of really being able to attack the rim. Pack played like a veteran and shot it from behind the arc extremely well.
That gives them more threats on the offensive end than I can recall from the 2019-2020 season.
It was the defense that was their downfall. Typically, with a lot of newcomers and a youthful team, the struggles will be more magnified on the defensive end. That was undoubtedly the case and it may have been even more problematic than I imagined.
Too many open shots on the perimeter were given and a ton of second chance points were allowed as well. Chris Lowery had to have been seething at times since he takes so much pride on that end of the floor.
TOP CONCERNS: PERIMETER DEFENSE, INTERIOR OFFENSE
The defense left a little to be desired. Quite frankly, they left a lot to be desired to be quite honest. That probably is part of the equation when a team breaks in as many newcomers and as much youth as they will every game in the 2020-2021 season.
Communication and understanding seemed to be lacking on the perimeter. Guys were getting lost on a frequent basis and out of position, which allowed the Bulldogs to chuck quite a few open threes and they made the Wildcats pay, often.
What concerned me the most is that it just wasn’t the true freshmen that appeared clueless on that end at times. It was also the sophomores like Dajuan Gordon and Antonio Gordon.
They did ratchet up the intensity on the defensive end a bit at the beginning of the second half. However, Roman Penn was a problem for them and gave them issues, especially to close the game.
Rebounding on the defensive end was also wildly inconsistent. K-State opened up both halves struggling in that department and it allowed Drake to record quite a few extra possessions. They did close the gap a bit at the end of the first half.
However, those rebounding problems crept up once again in the second half and contributed to their demise.
While I did enjoy and appreciate the posts having much better hands in the post, they were not effective afterwards. I know that the coaching staff feels like they can score out of the post more and want to add that element on the offensive end, but it needs to be much more efficient than it was on Wednesday for that to be a winning formula.
LOOKING AHEAD: THINGS TO BUILD ON
If you’re looking for me to skewer them for the performance, I’m not going to do that. If you’re waiting for me to pump the sunshine, I probably won’t do that either. I saw some good things and some bad things.
There is enough to build on to make one a bit optimistic about the future, despite falling to Drake, and there were enough issues to leave one feeling a little discouraged about anything in the foreseeable future.
I think both of those things can be true, and probably are, to be fair.
The top issues were their ability to guard on the perimeter, the abysmal defensive rebounding and how the offense fell into a shell without McGuirl or Pack on the floor.
In fairness to Bruce Weber and his staff, they probably weren’t the recipients of enough live action in practice to understand how putrid the offense would be without McGuirl or Pack at their disposal. That was a tough stretch in the game and likely decided matters, at the end of the day.
That’s a bad lineup and simply one that I don’t envision being effective at any point this year.
The defense was very poor, and they were just dominated on the perimeter by the more experienced guards from the Bulldogs. It is discouraging now, but that is also something that should improve over time and can grow as the year proceeds, especially with the defensive philosophy of the coaching staff in Manhattan.
I’m a little less bullish on the rebounding. That’s a mindset, toughness and effort and they need to place more attention in that department.
All in all, I think there was enough to take away to make me feel like there’s some promise in the future, but in no way makes anyone feel good about the current state of the team.
The goal should be that Drake is a team that they can handle after a full year of growth, development and improvement. How much better can they become between now and the final game of the season will be the biggest key for this year and it needs to be vast to provide reasonable expectations for next season that are also a bit lofty in nature.
