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4 Responses to “Kent State Scrimmage”

1. 1 UMDC
   November 1, 2008 at 5:13 pm

   Interesting, I remember reading the very ominous reports from that scrimmage last year. Of course, I didn’t believe them, but they proved prophetic.

   I hope to hear better things tomorrow.

2. 2 Tom
   November 2, 2008 at 12:22 pm

   Quite frankly, I wouldn’t put too much stock in these types of scrimmages, for a couple of reasons. One, theses scrimmages aren’t typically run like normal games. They probably will spend segments of time working against zone, man, press, traps, etc.

   Two, these scrimmages will likely have a ton of stoppages for coaching points. That means, it will be hard for teams(players) to get in a nice rhythm like you would see in a live game.

   I’m not saying the results of the scrimmage should be discounted…not at all. I’m just pointing out that due to the format of these scrimmages, they don’t necessarily mimic live game action, which when looking at the end of the scrimmage score, can be misleading.

3. 3 Dylan
   November 2, 2008 at 12:47 pm

   Good point Tom, but still the results and reports of last years scrimmage (beyond the score) were not good. There was of course nothing concrete, just a couple internet message board posts but it sounded like Kent State outplayed Michigan in most aspects of the game.

   Goodman makes some good points about reasons why scrimmages like this are beneficial to coaches which basically complements your list of reasons why the result isn’t as important.

4. 4 Tom
   November 2, 2008 at 1:48 pm

   Don’t get me wrong…I think you can certainly get a gauge of progress for a team based on the results of a scrimmage. But you just have to understand what each coach has in mind for the scrimmage.

   Kent St was a veteran squad last year, so they probably just used the scrimmage to tighten a few things up. UM, OTOH, probably spent more time trying to figure out player rotations, determining who fit where, getting an idea of how these guys operated in a competitive environment, etc. Not hard to figure that KSU would have their way with UM in that scenario.

   This season, I’d imagine UM is probably still trying to figure out line-ups and who gets what PT…but instead of doing it for 3 or 4 positions, it may only be for 1 or 2. Also, I imagine the entire offensive and defensive packages are pretty close to being ready to go, which should help.

   KSU will still be a good tester…even though they lost some frontcourt talent…they return all of their guards. Either way, it should be a good experience for the team.