Rotnei and Welsh

[jry04]

Welsh passed it to Rotnei quite a bit tonight. Also, as soon as the game ended Welsh ran over to Clarke and they jumped up to chest bump.

I think this should put to rest any rumor of them having problems. If they did in fact have problems perhaps they have set aside their difference and decided to be teammates once again. Regardless, we looked more like a team tonight.

[FSHog67]

yes!

[Hawg Barry]

A SEC win cures alot!

[BrooklynRoss]

Man, Rotnei was on fire tonight. He was seriously feeling it. I hope he has many more games like this one. Also, although the stats don't show it, Fortsen played a heck of a game as far as getting the ball to the right people. Henry also did well. A nice victory all around.

[joeyself]

Welsh passed it to Rotnei quite a bit tonight. Also, as soon as the game ended Welsh ran over to Clarke and they jumped up to chest bump.

I think this should put to rest any rumor of them having problems. If they did in fact have problems perhaps they have set aside their difference and decided to be teammates once again. Regardless, we looked more like a team tonight.

It did look better tonight.  While one game would not have been enough to begin the suspicions, one game will not quell the idea.  But another one or two where Welsh isn't working hard to avoid him--and does the off-court things to show unity--should suffice to change opinions as to his attitude.

JcS

[HawgnCorona]

Welsh passed it to Rotnei quite a bit tonight. Also, as soon as the game ended Welsh ran over to Clarke and they jumped up to chest bump.

I think this should put to rest any rumor of them having problems. If they did in fact have problems perhaps they have set aside their difference and decided to be teammates once again. Regardless, we looked more like a team tonight.

Here you loud and clear...but I will betcha somebody will find something to say.

[donewithdale]

The first person to run up to Rotnei at the end of the game and celebrate was Welsh.

[Conway Hog]

I still think Welsh is selfish and is jealous of Clarke...glad to see the role players playing their roles

[HawgnCorona]

not even two post go by...

[thirtythree]

Man, Rotnei was on fire tonight. He was seriously feeling it. I hope he has many more games like this one. Also, although the stats don't show it, Fortsen played a heck of a game as far as getting the ball to the right people. Henry also did well. A nice victory all around.

Very true. He could have ended up with a few more assists but the shots were missed. CF actually played like a true PG tonight. He needs to keep doing that.

[Niels Boar]

It did look better tonight.  While one game would not have been enough to begin the suspicions, one game will not quell the idea.  But another one or two where Welsh isn't working hard to avoid him--and does the off-court things to show unity--should suffice to change opinions as to his attitude.

JcS

Welsh was looking for Clarke against Auburn.  He passed up an open trey to pass to Clarke on Clarke's air-ball attempt.  One other drive and dish was knocked away by a defender.  Auburn didn't leave Clarke open that much, and he was cold. Clarke was hot tonight, and Fortson, the guy with the ball 75% of the time, got it to him.  The offense is looking steadily better.  They are running more offense now than at any point in the season.  Tonight guys stopped taking shots the defense wanted them to take, too.  They waited for a shot Pel wanted them to take.

[Jeffcphog]

I counted at least 3 assists that Courtney did not get because the shots were so wide open that the receiving player tried to showboat and missed the easy basket.  CF played an excellent game tonight.

[cardinalhawg]

As being a critic of Welsh, I thought that he played one of his better games tonight.  No, he did not score a whole lot, but he played within himself and the shots he took were good shots.  He was really looking to get the ball to Clarke, as Clarke was getting hot.  The team did a good job of feeding the ball to Clarke.  Shooters need a number of shots sometimes to get into that rhythm.

Welsh looked like a player tonight, who was not trying to force things.  Some nights Welsh will score a lot, but he just doesn't need to go overboard trying to force things.

[HawgnCorona]

I counted at least 3 assists that Courtney did not get because the shots were so wide open that the receiving player tried to showboat and missed the easy basket.  CF played an excellent game tonight.

yes, and welsh made a few really good passes for scores(assist) too...he had a good game other than scoring.

[diehardrbackfan]

.

[UltimateHog]

Rotnei had a great night, no question.

But, he can actually do better than tonight, shooting wise.

He missed a couple of 3's, and one was WIDE open.

It's going to be fun watching him for 3 more years, and watchin him get hot like this every game as he matures and grows in the future!

Welsh is starting to learn his role a little more I think.

I REALLY wish Henry was 100%, I like his style and what he has to offer when he's out there.

I also think Britt needs more PT and needs to shoot more.

[hawgsav1]

Welsh was looking for Clarke against Auburn.  He passed up an open trey to pass to Clarke on Clarke's air-ball attempt.  One other drive and dish was knocked away by a defender.  Auburn didn't leave Clarke open that much, and he was cold. Clarke was hot tonight, and Fortson, the guy with the ball 75% of the time, got it to him.  The offense is looking steadily better.  They are running more offense now than at any point in the season.  Tonight guys stopped taking shots the defense wanted them to take, too.  They waited for a shot Pel wanted them to take.

Exactly.  Welsh has looked for Clarke in several instances this year.  Before, Welsh was a little too obsessed with getting his own shot.  However, he's improving.  I liked the way Fortson also gave up his 3 point opportunities and tried to create offense for others instead of jacking up 3s. 

Also, great job by Britt.  He's really starting to look for his offense a little more and I think it's really helping us. 

Our defense was still very questionable at times.  While Bama didn't shoot well from 3, they're not a good 3 point team anyway so it didn't make a difference.  i'm definitely hoping to see some improvement on the defensive end.  Giving up 26 to Green and 18 to Gee isn't great.  I can live with 18 from Gee but not 26 to Green.  Our post defense was a little lacking tonight (though Bama is very strong inside).

[12247]

If we had about 4 more fresh able bodies our D would improve.  It takes great effort and intensity to play great defense and we don't have the numbers to exert for 4 quarters.  Welsh did play better overall last night.  He passed to Clarke but Clarke was working is arse off to get wide open.  He was hard to ignore he worked so hard.  Clarke earned those passes and Welsh rewarded him.  Maybe if Clarke had moved that way all season long, Welsh might have rewarded him sooner and then maybe not.  I do know Welsh put some passes on the money last night to all the players that I hadn't seen before.  That was impressive.

[Mr Burns]

I hope Rotnei can keep knocking down the 3's, things will really open up for him and our team. I've seen many a time this year where he was open on the wing, especially in transition, but never gets the pass. Instead it usually goes to someone plowing into the paint out of control and we get nothing. If Clarke shoots the ball like last night you are going to see him pulling up for 3 more often(you can tell he's comfortable doing this), and getting the ball in transition as the trailer. In the half court you are going to see him get the ball and demand close defense, and somtimes a double team. If he is hitting those shots from well beyond the arc that will really stretch a zone defense. If they play man, Fortson can usually beat one guy off the dribble. If they have to play that step deeper on Rotnei the defender on the wing can't help out on Fortson. That leaves Fortson more room to operate and get the ball to Washington, or if bottled up, kick it out to Clarke. Bottom line, lots of good things flow from having someone that can knock down an open 3.

I still didn't see Welsh going out of his way to get it to Clarke. Fortson did. It looked like Fortson figured out my guy over here is feeling it tonight, i'm going to feed him. Welsh seemed more like, ok I have nowhere else to go, i'll throw it to you, which is an improvement over his, I have nowhere else to go but i'm going to go there anyway play the last few games.

I think Welsh has talent. I think the Defense he played in the Texas game was incredible. That said, I think if Rotnei consistently shoots like everyone thinks he can, Welsh might be coming off the bench and the team be better for it. We are tiny on the perimeter with Rotnei, Fortson and Welsh. Start Fortson and Rotnei, and then have a bigger guy at the 3 spot, either Henry or Andre Clark(who can also knock down a 3 ball). That would help a lot on defending teams that can shoot the 3. Welsh has been the point guard most of the time when Fortson is out, so let him be first off the bench, subbing for both Fortson and Clarke. He'd give some needed scoring to the 2nd team, play hardnosed defense on the other teams best guard, etc., I just think this team would be better with him off the bench. Whether his ego could take that might be another question.

[MDH]

All I see and have seen is that this is an undersized team that is scrappy and talented despite their size.  We had one hell of a long shooting drought by Welsh and Clarke that caused mobs on Washington and therefore CF tried to carry games.  When one guy goes cold it is bad but when more than one do, it's a death sentence.  If there was friction between RC and SW, it wasn't there last night, which makes me doubt how serious it was to begin with and even if it existed at all.