Long Beach State Sports : Watched the Replay

The defense is for real and becoming a team identity like I'd hoped. Guys are communicating, hands up in man to man all the time, staying with their man more often than not, and were coordinated with their movement. The first time in a long time this early in the season it looked like our team really knew one another and how to run the team defense.

On offense they looked improved even from the foolerton game. Sure Askew had a huge game (not far off from a quadruple double) but Johnson came up big inside against tough competition and Martin is a revelation, good handle, nice stroke from 3, heady, vocal, and quick. Wainwright had his best game in a while. The offense should get more polished over time but as it stands is looking pretty good 2 games in a row.

Hawaii is a solid team. Beating them at home was no gimme. They have some weapons and size. Sure looks like the team is on an upswing and I hope they can snag at least one quality non conference Div I win against USD or Pepperdine coming up.

Previous Message

As noted, this is a new team, with new coaches, a new system - all new.

Yes there was a bad non-conference showing, but it also wasn't completely surprising. Hard games, new system, no time to practice.

We are now 2-0, with a 20 point beating of Fullerton away from home.

It's natural for fans to freak out, but please remember we started from zero.

I personally already like Acker ball better than almost 2 decades of Monson ball. You can see the defensive emphasis.

And it's also funny how people on here forget that players like Askew were some of the top recruits in High School. He played as a freshman at Kentucky for crying out loud. It's nice to see a little bit of that come back today. Huge showing.

Mad props to Johnson. He had his hands full with Hawaii's big, and it's almost like he took it personally to take him on. Some solid moments through a tough challenge.

Again, give this team and coaching staff time to work. When they are firing up, they play a good brand of basketball.

GO BEACH