Houston Thread

[hotterthanyourhusbandTU]

The "we're young" comment is over-used and inaccurate in TU's case.

One senior and 4 juniors isn't young.

 

[nevadanatural]

How about inexperienced? Of the five you mentioned only two had more than one season of D-1 experience coming into the season and they didn't play last year. For two this is their first D-1 year. Our PG is a sophomore who played less than 10 minutes a game as a freshman. Now they have played like crap the last 3 games.

 

[Air_Raid918]

Yes we're inexperienced, but we're not steadily improving like we had been.

Chemistry seems to be an issue. As well as leadership. When we were winning, Taplin was leading this team. He's been inconsistent.

What disappoints me is the effort/hustle. And so careless with the ball.

 

[noble cane]

The incredible u-turn in performance over the last 5 games is disturbing.

I didn't feel that the ecu performance was indicative of this team.. I still don't.. I believe this team is the team that whipped Ucf and took cincy to the limit but 3 double digit losses in a row has me wavering..

 

[hotterthanyourhusbandTU]

I struggle when people use the "inexperience" card when referring to Juco guys.

That's the whole point of signing them! To give a young team some maturity and experience.

There are many Juco transfers that do well every year.

 

[Air_Raid918]

I struggle when people use the "inexperience" card when referring to Juco guys.

That's the whole point of signing them! To give a young team some maturity and experience.

There are many Juco transfers that do well every year.

Inexperienced in terms of division 1 minutes. Really not that hard to understand. We're something like #330 in the nation in players with division 1 gametime minutes. There's no sense in trying to argue that. JUCO's help, but just because you bring in a few, doesn't mean you're all of a sudden experienced.

 

[hotterthanyourhusbandTU]

Agree to disagree! What kind of stat is "D1 experience"...???

I guess it's objective, but it shouldn't be used as a crutch. Especially when so many freshman and sophomores are the better players across the country.

Just because Edogi has more "D1 experience" than Igbanu, I'll take Martins right now.

And, if I sign two Juco guys (including 1 with D1 experience) I expect them to improve as the season progresses.

Next year, TU will have 4 seniors. I guess we'll go from an "inexperienced D1 team" to a veteran team in 9 months...

 

[Weatherdemon]

So you're saying playing football at NSU is equivalent experience to playing at TU.

Jucos are more mature and have better experience than HS players thus the thought is they will adapt to the D1 game quicker.

Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't.

The whole damn team is out of sync since Cincy, including the coaches. If they don't sync up and get some fire under their asses we may not end up at everyone's acceptable level of .500.

Maybe a good promo would be free lighters to the fans to light during the game to get the teams fire back!

 

[hotterthanyourhusbandTU]

NSU isn't a JUCO. There is high D1 talent all over the country at the JUCO level.

I'll stop beating a dead horse. Collectively, our guards are poor at the D1 level based on nearly every key stat.

 

[I.I.]

Paul Pressey had no D-1 experience when he came here. Neither did Brandon Kurtz, David Shelton, or Tony Heard. And neither did Shea Seals in his first D-1 game.

 

[mcane]

a 500 finish only occurs if TU beats USF and ECU here, and at Tulane - feasible, then drops to the 6-12 conference, wins the first game and upsets the higher seed. A 500 finish ended tonight absent a road upset.

 

[Weatherdemon]

NSU isn't a JUCO. There is high D1 talent all over the country at the JUCO level.

I'll stop beating a dead horse. Collectively, our guards are poor at the D1 level based on nearly every key stat.

I thought they were a 2 year, my bad. Comparison is still valid though.

To your point, they're thinking too much vs just playing.

We've seen Taplin just playing and he's D1.
Wheeler, too panicky but I think our quickest to the basket. D1 Backup.
Henderson again, good D1 backup.
Korita, if he could his shot is D1. Right now, he's not.
Birt is, but isn't this season.
Battle.... I have no idea why he's on the bench so much so I can't tell if he is D1.

Hopefully Curran is and our recruits we love have one in there.

So yea, we seem to have one legit D1 starter at guard based on the season and that will not cut it in this conference at all.

Magnay should be really good next year.
Igbanu too.
Etou is so close and really should be much more consistent than he is.
Edogi is much improved and our only player to haul *** down court on a TU steal. D1 backup.
Aston and Artison, no at this point.

 

[Weatherdemon]

a 500 finish only occurs if TU beats USF and ECU here, and at Tulane - feasible, then drops to the 6-12 conference, wins the first game and upsets the higher seed. A 500 finish ended tonight absent a road upset.

And I will not be a happy camper if we finish under .500.

 

[Air_Raid918]

Paul Pressey? Shea Seals? I'm not sure how to attack that. Smh

I guess one could compare those 3 JUCO recruits during Self era to Haith's combo of Birt, Wheeler, Henderson. That's setting a pretty high standard. I have been impressed with Henderson lately. He's been one of the few bright spots.

 

[Original TULSAFAN]

these guys have 20 plus games under their belt...

they are experienced now...

and they kind of stink at the moment.

play Battle more, Birt less.

let's try and upgrade another player or two in March/April/May.

 

[cmullinsTU]

I'm as frustrated as everyone but I cautioned everyone 6 games ago how challenging the 2nd half of the conference schedule would be.

We are seeing that now. This team isn't ready for the upper level of the conference. I can't pinpoint why but the young guys don't seem to be improving this season, except Igbanu. I'm hopeful the combo of Scott, Jeffries, and Joiner gets us to the point of being competitive.

 

[aTUfan_rivals]

Has Haith lost the team?
Does he deserve to be back next year?

 

[noble cane]

Challenging is losing close games to good teams... Collapsing is losing those games by 20 plus points and never looking competitive....

 

[Gold*]

Has Haith lost the team?
Does he deserve to be back next year?

Words, words, words

 

[I.I.]

I am concerned that while Scott, Joiner, Jeffries + Magnay, Taplin, and Igbanu may get us to the upper half of the AAC, I think it will take some upgraded recruiting on the level of SMU, UConn, Memphis and Cincy this November to compete for the crown in 2018-2019. I believe in the following very simple statement....... "The team that recruits the best players has the best chance to win the AAC."

 

[Air_Raid918]

Has Haith lost the team?
Does he deserve to be back next year?

Don't know that he has necessarily "lost the team", but they haven't been playing with much cohesion. Yes, Haith deserves to be back next year. If we struggle again, then we can start that talk. I personally think Haith has done a good job up until this point. We need to get some momentum heading into next year, it's time to play with nothing to lose. Birt seems disconnected with this team.