Blue Tinted Point of View: Cleveland State

This game was very hard to watch. There was no flow or rhythm because of turnovers and the way the game was officiated. Oh well, we got another 20+ points against decent competition. Every game doesn't have to be a thing of beauty, and I think winning a few of these ugly games will pay off down the road. Come March, there won't be many teams that are willing and able to run with us. We had better figure out how to grind out some ugly wins, and we are doing a good job of that so far.

I spent most of the game in a state of frustration due to the way the game played out, but that doesn't mean there aren't several positives to take away.

First off, I liked how our team responded to Patterson having to leave the game. This was the point where we extended our lead, and we didn't seem to miss a beat without our fallen leader. I felt like we got a really good effort from all of our big guys. Harrelson and Stevenson both can provide a solid effort off the bench, and Orton is showing that he is a difference maker.

Hate to state the obvious, but John Wall is awesome and indispensable to this team. I am hoping that the jacked up court can be partly to blame for some of his turnover issues tonight. I always wondered what it would be like to have the best player in the country on our team. I am sure it has happened in the past, with Dan Issel, Mashburn, and Chapman able to make a claim to this title. I have read rumors that the NBA is going to be changing their policies in the near future with the collective bargaining agreement expiring in 2011. They should just mandate that the best players serve a one year tour of duty in Lexington and call it a day... David Stern has that kind of power right?

Cousins managed to play less than half the game, while still padding his stats enough that you wouldn't notice if you didn't watch the game. I am still a little unsure if he is capable of playing 25 minutes. I think he knows deep down if he played that long something bad would end up happening to the other team. That technical he got for the elbow is nothing compared to what would happen if he had to play more than 5 minutes in the first half.

Miller was a little more active tonight. Seems like he took the praise of Harris' rebounding to heart and showed up with 8 of his own to go with his 9 points. Harris chipped in 8 rebounds of as well. If these two can play great defense and chase down the longer rebounds we can be really efficient and dangerous. These two rebounding allows Wall to bounce out and do his thing as the one man fast break.

I am still a little curious what a smaller lineup would look like with Patterson, Miller, Harris, Wall and Bledsoe/Dodson. I think that unit would actually be capable of running the Dribble Drive as opposed to the Dump Down Offense we have been employing. I don't think we will be able to simply dump it down there against teams with real big guys. We will have to develop some more continuity on offense, and maybe a smaller look could help with that. We still haven't had our full compliment available, so hopefully when those problems get resolved we can find out what shape this team is going to take. There are a lot of options on this team that haven't been explored. It seems logical to think we could start to see different looks sooner than later.

Finally, and probably most significantly, the defense is really stepping up. It is impressive that the team has identified weaknesses early in the season and improved on them dramatically in a short period of time. After the first two games Cal said we needed to pick up the pace, and we answered with two high scoring outputs. When the onus was placed on defense, our team stepped up the intensity on that end. There is still room for improvement, but it is promising that they have shown an ability to shore up weaknesses. We shut down Rider on Saturday, and held Cleveland St to 26.6% from the field tonight.

It is now time for the quick turnaround as the Stanford Cardinal await  tonight. Hopefully the team can resist the temptations of the open bars lurking at every corner. More on that game later.