The St. Mary's Game

Thought the Pilots played well on offense, not so great on defense, where they could not stop the Gaels center, who was 10 for 11 from the field. I think it time we start to consider changes to the starting lineup.

Hartwich for Barreno. Hartwich is certainly more active overall and I think ultimately will be as good a rebounder as Barreno if not already. Hartwich is far more active on the defensive side of the ball and has better hands. If we can keep Phillip out of foul trouble we have a decent player even for this level; it is the keeping him out of foul trouble that may prove difficult. I do not think Barreno does anything offensively, has bad hands, and does not deter many shots on the defensive side. I think this is the position where the Pilots suffer the greatest deficit. The Pilots need more from the center position. I think they need to try something; I suspect improvement will not occur so long as Barreno is the starter or plays significant minutes.

Think we have to start considering Tyson for Todd at the small forward, though Todd is a good player too and deserves playing time. We need another scorer on the floor. Jason has had some slow starts. You might consider Marshall here too.

Marshall for Taylor, perhaps. Again, the change is to help the offense. This substitution is perhaps not yet warranted but given the performance of the Pilots, it should be considered.

Though we lost by a fair amount to the Gaels, saw effort and some good play on our part.

Gaels were ruthlessly efficient. Best shooting percentage team in the country, and they showed why. Many of the shots by their center were defended, he just made them. The shot he missed was a wide open bunny.

It does look to me that the defenders in the lane back up until the driving offensive player is at the rim, or don't switch in the lane aggressively, resulting in too many easy chances in close. Afraid of fouls? Philip looked like a different player last night. Agree he should play more if he can learn to avoid fouls like the reach over the back one he had last night. Loved his two aggressive dunk baskets.

Noted that Jackson and Livingston played a little, when neither had played the last 4 games. Maybe coaches are looking for a spark. Also agree that Tyson has earned a starting role with his recent play.

I was not able to watch the game, so really appreciate the reviews....

wrv, I think all your points are pretty close to spot-on.  For whatever reason, Taylor and Todd have not been playing anywhere close to their potential recently, and UP is not getting the production it needs at center.  

There's no doubt the Pilots (and the WCC, for the most part) are guard centric, but UP has got to develop an inside presence of some sort to take the pressure off the guards.

None of us know what goes on in practice, but it would seem Jackson has got to bet more playing time, if for no other reason except to change up the lineup from time-to-time and add athleticism and leaping/scrambling ability to track down some of the long rebounds and add even more speed to the offense.

Alec has got to be wearing down at this point in the season after carrying the load since mid-November.  Yes, Jackson and Johnson are only freshmen, but I think they should be wound up and turned loose on occasion....as long as they can avoid defensive lapses and the crazy off balance shots that freshmen often take in an attempt to get on the board to garner more minutes.

What happened to the relaxed and loose flow of earlier in the season?  The boys just need to relax and enjoy themselves like they did against BYU.  At least there will be the revenge factor when facing USF and SCU this coming week.