Orr Presser

Coach Orr had a relatively brief presser today...which I listened to so you don't have to.

There was not a lot of high quality information dispensed.

As you might expect, he is pleased that we had our best two offensives games right in a row.  As you also might expect, he is unhappy with our defensive performance in Milwaukee, saying that the Panthers shot 52% in the second half, had 8 straight scoring possessions and that BG allowed Meyer to take the game over with 3s in the final minutes, something we can't let happen.  He almost said that "we can't let our shooting percentage determine our winning percentage"--which would be the first time this year I heard him say that--but he backed off.

One thing I had noticed was that we started off the season again this year talking about being able to mix man-to-man and zone, but once again it has evolved into strictly a zone.  Coach talked about that, said if it is going to be zone we have to play it better, especially "tagging" the shooter.  Just to review, we played mostly zone last year, and had the worst 3-defense in the conference, and we're going to have to improve that to compete this year.

Still, he doesn't think it should.  He talked about A'uston Calhoun and said that he was pleased that he got as many points as he did in the paint with layups and dunks.  He talked about Calhoun scoring in the flow of the offense, and almost seemed to be implying that Calhoun previously was shooting too many jumpers.  But maybe I was imagining that.

He also said that Calhoun needs to do better getting to the line, which all great scorers do.

The most interesting answer concerned the point guard position. The question was whether the position is settled, and Coach gave a very long answer which amounted to saying "no."  We need both Joe and Jordan for different situations, and we can expect to see their minutes fluctuate based on who is playing better or who we need in a certain set, which just means to me that neither of them has a firm grip on the position or has as complete a game as they could.

He said that Luke Kraus gets minutes because he is our perimeter defender and our toughest player.

Craig Sealey brings energy, even in limited minutes.

He is hoping that the break from school will help Torian Oglesby continue his adjustment to D1 basketball.  He didn't play in the first five games or either of the last 2, after some productive minutes in the middle, especially against Niagara and Detroit.

He talked a little about Manhattan.  I will preview them tomorrow, but Coach said they are different from UMW in that they are a dribble penetration team as opposed to a 3-point team, and we need to be prepared to defend the dribble.