Hoops

Saint Marys lose to Gold Coast

I was there last night - but left half way through the last 1/ so missed teh comeback win (which I thought was probably undeserved from what I saw) In short I thought we were crap. Admittedly we were without 4 big names (Pero, Gibbo, Vukona and Harvey) but still i expected to see more - a lot more. The imports, Ubaka looks to be able to create off the dribble and should be able to compliment Gibbos more defensive style. Joiner on the other hand is IMO too short, too unfit, too interested in taking ugly jumpshots from the perimeter. He is seriously undersized and doesnt do the hard work (Rosell Ellis style) to make up for his lack of height. Im with Mr Ben on him.
As for the other guys Vandy was good when he got the ball, still needs to be a bit more aggressive when atacking the ring and sometimes threw extra fakes/pivots when not needed. Petrie was short of a run and looked rusty, cetainly has a bit f agro about him which will give the team a bit more backbone than last season. Demos was OK in patches as was Goulding. He thrives on confidence and showed some good court vision and also dropped a couple of long bombs in the face of a SMC defender who he clearly didnt rate (#11 for those there who made Dan Joyce look like Mr Universe)

Obviously things will look vastly different with a full team but there is a LOT of work to be done in the next month if the Blaze want to be serious contenders this season

Joiner’s pedigree isn’t really NBL standard. Wright selected him on the basis of workouts, which is a questionable way of doing it. In Brisbane he picked up two proven NBL quality imports, so his ability to select new talent is still unproven.

Ubaka was a very good college player but hasn’t really found his feet as a pro yet. I suspect getting Cameron, Harvey and Gibson back into the team will take a lot of pressure off though.

I was there last night also Mr bEn and agree re the imports. Joiner, the big guy, didn't show too much really and made a very silly play near the end fouling St Mary's when the Blaze were over the limit and up only a basket or two and put them at the line.

Ubaka made some good plays. I note one play with Petrie made a good no look pass on the break that he should've just put in but put the ball on the floor and dribbled under the hoop. Petrie just stood there shaking his head bewildered as to why he didn't just put it in there and then...

tonights game is a bit earlier - tipoff @ 630pm

Normally they run a few minutes late when things are at TSS

FWIW Ive hardly heard any promo for the game so I doubt any huge crowd will arrive. Ill be having a look - but will hve to eave a bit early to get to my own game. Will be interesting to see how good our 2 imports are

If you read my orginal post it states it starts at 7pm.

Interested to see what others at the game thought of the music today. I sit pretty much behind the music guys in row H and the music was ridiculously loud. It wasn't just the volume of the music but it seemed like they had the frequencies all wrong. The pitch was way too high - it was piercing my ears. There were numerous complaints from around my area. And fyi, I'm in my mid-20's so i hate to think how the older members of crowd handled the noise. It's a shame the scoreboard keeps breaking down rather than the speakers...

Kad, game 2 is tonight at TSS if your interested.