USA - Puerto Rico Game RecapJambo! I'm going to have to give the post game address for this one. Korey apparently ate a bad plate of ceviche up in the press box and has been holed up in the bathroom since midway through the 3rd quarter. It might be the last time he tries the local cuisine.
Obviously a big win for us and we have a lot to be proud of but we also have a lot that we need to tinker with before I can claim a complete performance. A lot of good stuff happened this week at practice and with the team. First and foremost we got Ben Jack back from injury. He spent most of the game on the bike, trying to get his form back but should be ready to go for next week's game. With him unsure of playtime, I went ahead and called up Jimmie Brown. This kid is a phenom. I mean, pardon me I'm gushing, but that suave ass guy, to just come in here, as a 20 year old? I mean come on. I think Joey Bronson was the last guy to come in here at that age and just go right to work. Plan on seeing a lot of this kid.
As you know, last week I had BFiddy put the guys through a ton of drills to work on their passing and it really paid off against Bolivia. Unfortunately, that knucklehead took all the tires off the team bus so he could use them as targets. Let me just say, that not all of the guys got the hang of it right away and the tires came back pretty beat up. This week, BFiddy took the guys up on a hike to Machu Picchu. Once they got there, the guys from Dude Perfect
(http://www.dudeperfect.com/videos) were up there waiting for them. BFiddy had them work on their 3 point shooting from the most impossible angles and distances up there amongst the rocks. Lost a couple balls in the jungle down the mountain but you could tell it paid off.
As a group the boys went 19-33 from 3 point range, lead by Bev, Jimmie Brown, Suarez who went a combined 16-19.
While BFiddy had them up on the mountain I held a conference call with my successor, NT assistant coach namssor, trying to share some tactical insights. He agreed to help and after I showed him the blueprint to beating Canada, which he later shared with NT coach jfarb, he gave me some tips on box and one defenses. I'm still a little skeptical about his "knowledge" of the scheme because, although it held their guy Lopez to 3 for 16 from deep, he still put up 29 points, good enough to tie for the game high.
That said, I'm pleased with the offense we put up this week, 150 points is pretty incredible, especially with those percentages, no matter who you're playing. I'm not as happy giving up 106 points and 17 fouls so I'm going to have to have BFiddy put the boys through some defensive drills. We'll see what he can come up with because Paraguay is going to be a challenge.
Speaking of Paraguay, darkjester, our lead opposition scout was out watching the other games and reported that Mexico upset Paraguay in an intense 93-84 showdown. I still see Paraguay finishing 4th in the group but it defintely clouds the picture a bit. Next week he'll be at the showdown between Brasil and Colombia which should be a great game. Those look like two of the better teams in the field this year and they are also our final two opponents after Paraguay.
Anyways, I'm kind of rambling at this point so I'm going to wrap it up. Thanks to SAMUEL, coach of the Puerto Rican team for a good, clean game. I'm going to go ahead and give the game ball to Jimmie Brown with his 28/3/4 off 11/13 shooting and 6/6 from 3. Hopefully he can keep this up, I look forward to having him on the team.
Last edited by Rambo at 5/23/2011 9:41:01 PM