just got back from watching the basketball game

[DeepInTheDistrict]

Without stats to back it up, here are my thoughts.

1. Randy "brick" Stewart needs to sit the bench way more than he does.

2. We can't shoot free throws worth a ****.

3. Dee Bost was the only reason we were in this game in the second half. (forgetting his air ball three with 20 seconds left)

4. Varnado can block the hell out of some shots but still acts like a ***** underneath.

5. Bury has yet to come up with an in-bounds play or an offensive scheme.

6. I like Osby's hustle and I think with a little more playing time he will become one of our studs

7. Texas Tech has a very stable offense and takes smart shots. Seemed like they were always in the right place at the right time.

8. We seem to be playing street ball at times.

So nothing really new from last year. Go ahead and put us in the dance (the sec sucks this year) but unless we improve on free throws and shot selection we will not go any farther than we did last year.

 

[3000lbchicken]

1. Agreed. he hasn't changed since last year.

2. These two games maybe, but the other games we have been solid.

3. Disagree. He had more than 1 Jamoney moment.*

4. Agreed.

5. Disagree. We don't execute. (/Croom)

6. Agreed. We do get after it. We're young. Not being sarcastic but we always are.

7. They were hot. Don't know about smart shots. They're always smart if you hit them.

8. Agreed. But Stansbury was chewing their *** for taking those silly shots and not being smart.

We won't be in the dance. Maybe NIT. Maybe. Next year, yes.

*We are a very young and individually talented group of basketball players. They continue to have some flashes of unselfish brilliance though. Next year, we'll be a good SEC team.

 

[maroonmania]

when every year you lose STARTERS to transferring or leaving for the NBA when they CAN'T EVEN GET DRAFTED you tend to stay young. We will be NIT this year at best and won't do any better until there is better continuity in our program. We don't recruit at the level needed to have the turnover we've had the last few years and still be an NCAA type team.

 

[DeepInTheDistrict]

We don't execute because Stans does not draw plays up. Im telling you its been this way for years. Have you ever seen us actually run an in-bounds play?

 

[3000lbchicken]

actually, yes, and we used to execute it to perfection. It used to be money in the bank. I watched us win the SEC with that play numerous times. I saw it at Alabama when we came from behind and whooped their *** at Coleman. I'm agreeing with you for the most part and why the #$!+ are you so defensive?

 

[DeepInTheDistrict]

i'm just pissed that we continue to lose games that we should win

 

[3000lbchicken]

We can both agree on that.

 

[fishwater99]

This team is young.

Osby needs to start along with Bost, Ravern, Kodi & SWAT..
Randy needs to be the 6th man.

We have no inside threat on offense.
Bost made a big mistake on that 3 & The Recruiter let him know about it.
We had a chance today, better shot selection and control over our players and you never know.
We will live and die by the 3-Ball this year.

I think next year we will win the West...

 

[hankp]

Inbounds plays....Stans gets layups on inbound plays underneath our basket all the time from the baseline. We line up in the box set set and the down screen, cross screen play has provided many baskets in Stans coaching career. Another inbound play, we set the double screen at the top of the circle and have our "shooter" open at the top. I bet Winsome Frazier scored a million points on that play. </p>

With that being said, i agree with you on #1 and #2. However, at this point, Barry is the only guard with experience on our basketball team. Other than Barry and Varnardo, and maybe Elgin and arguably Phil, this was the first road trip many of these guys have been on while playing significant minutes. Ravern, Kodi, Osby, Bost, Benock, Beckham, etc.....they have never played a college road game. The beginning of the season is going to be a roller coaster ride....so get use to it. There is a ton of raw talent on this team, but it will be a chore to develop them before March. We can all agree that we are an NIT team at this point....but the potential to be a solid basketball team is there.

And one more thing, this team does not know how to win. We get behind against WSU and TT, and we try to get it all back in thirty seconds. If you will take notice, we played under control in spurts in the second half.....and we looked good. We also played as if we were behind by 30 when we got down seven, and due to that, we forced shots and had turnovers resulting in us failing to climb out of the hole we put ourselves in. In order to win close basketball games, you have to have a group of guards that understand how to win....and were trying to develop that.

I hate the young excuse and i try to never use it. However, if there were ever a team on this campus that is young, its this years basketball team. How a football team could be "young" for 5 straight years is beyond me.

And as fishh20 stated, we have got to find a consistent scorer from the inside....he is dead on with that.
</p>

 

[GhostDawg.sixpack]

...is it me or is this a consistent struggle every year? We're shooting about 67% so far this year.

 

[DawgatAuburn]

That's all well and good Hank, but these last two were neutral games. We won the true roadie on this trip.

My gripe with Stans (a couple of them) are they we never value the ball. We must be amongst the worst in the country at turnovers. Stans likes to say we offset it by outrebounding people. Imagine what we could do if we cut down the TOs AND stayed tough on the boards. My other one is that we seemingly always lose games against teams from major conferences outside the SEC. Maybe I am forgetting the wins. But in the last two years we lost twice to Clemson, to Miami, to Southern Illinois, to Missouri, to West Virginia.....I know we beat Oregon, FSU, Missou and Miami as well. I don't know....I just don't ever go into one of those type of games feeling like we have an advantage on the bench.

 

[DeepInTheDistrict]

because we have been "young" for the past 4 years.</p>

We need to keep these guys around. Once we do that, we will consistantly be a very good basketball team.</p>

To backup my statement about the offensive scheme....... its obvious we don't have one. Once again, Stans wants to run the floor and shoot the three. This can be very very good as we have proved in the past. With such a young team (said while biting lip) we are not going to win as many games with this type of "run the floor" game.

we will be dancing this year... write that down mofo's</p>

 

[hankp]

I agree with most of what you said dawgatauburn.....

However, when you take a team with 3 new starters and several new key bench players, any game you play away from starkville will be a road game. I know we played on a neutral court, but its still not home. I think we win both of those games if we play them in Starkville.

And i agree district dawg on the offensive sets. We look confused and play an up tempo game when we should be patient. But that will come with playing time when our guards learn that slowing down is a good thing in basketball. Like i said previously, this team HAS to learn how to win. Both games we got behind early, and we tried to catch up in thirty seconds. We played as if there were only 3 minutes left in the game. That will come with experience......

In bound plays, however, are not our problem. We have had a lot of success in the past with inbound plays.</p>

 

[mstateglfr]

from what ive seen so far this year(all the games), Bost has more than a little Gary Ervin in him. he is sometimes too quick for his own good. yeah, he can get down court on a fast break in a flash, but it does no good if others arent there to help. too many times, ive already seen him drive the lane and screw himself by running into the defense without a plan.
now i do think he is WAY better than Ervin so far...but he does still have a couple drops of Ervin in his blood that needs to cycle out sooner rather than later.

and i still dont think he is a 'true' PG...even though so many have said so over and over and over again. he is a scoring guard that is being asked to run our offense(whatever the hell it is) and set up others.

with all that said, i do think he will improve and learn how to wait for others and also learn how to pull the ball back out and not force the issue. he may have Ty Lawson's speed, but he doesnt yet have Lawson's ability to finish so often.