My take on the game:
Let's look at the good
1. Impressive man overplay/help defense. Yes, that type of defense can leave open jumpers if the opponent moves the ball well, but can also create turnovers. Witness last night.
2. A win over a mid major that has a chance to play past the second week of March.
3. The return of Ty Charles, who will round into shape by the time the conference schedule starts.
4. A deep team
5. An offense that created a ton of open looks.
The bad:
1. Cannot shoot well from the perimeter. NDSU defended a more athletic team by taking away their strength, the slashing/interior game. They packed the lane and invited the Jacks to shoot.
2. Foul shooting. Hopefully, this was an aberration.
3. Ball security. This is a big problem. 16 turnovers against a slower, less athletic team is concerning.
4. Lazy fouls. Thank goodness for the fact the team is deep.
Overall, I like the offensive scheme, but unless we can shoot from distance, there will be no lanes to attack the hoop. Better team will eliminate that possibility. Loved the defense, it's a risk/reward defense and teams have to work to get good, open looks. The defense looks a lot like two years ago. On offense, when working through the high post, it's imperative to have the high post man able to drain the elbow jumper or the top of the arc three, since the high post defender sinks into the lane and doesn't honor the shot, cutting off slashers. Against a slower team like NDSU, a spread, two man game would have killed them. They had no one to stop our athletes.
Hopefully, this is a work in progress and I do see upside. It just has to be realized. Thanks for reading my diatribe and GO JACKS!