The demise of Phil Turner...

[8dog]

This has been depressing. He's gone from a freak show that could hit 3s to a guy that just looks completely uncomfortable when he's in there.

Is it the rotation? Thoughts?

 

[dawgstudent]

when out there like he has no role. He was amazing last year. Something is not right.

 

[maroonmania]

is not getting the contributions from Turner and Osby that were expected.

 

[SallyStansbury]

Maybe it is difficult for him to get into a rhythm playing only 15 min per game? He tries to bring a spark, hustle, but I have noticed that he looks really pissed off most of the time when he is in the game.

If I were him, I would be disappointed with my playing time too. That might lead to crappy shooting?

With Kodi playing like hell, that favors Stans playing Phil @ the 4 because for some reason, Stans won't play Osby @ 4 so we effectively have no backup for Kodi other than Phil?

Phil is a spark, he tries to make the other players hustle, kick ***, etc.....but with less of him, we see more standing around, less movement, etc...I made the point earlier in the year that Ravern, Barry, and to some extent Jarvis are pussies. When those guys get 35+ min each, there is a decided ***** factor that is offputting. Lots of times they get the ball taken away from them, make stupid turnovers, settle for the fade away (lower %) instead of going strong to the hole (higher %). It is disappointing to see this play out against a decent team like Western Kentucky.

 

[OMlawdog]

When I watch MSU there seems to be several players that all want to be the man and take the shot. Kodi, Dee, Barry, Ravern, and Varnado all want the ball and want to get touches. Some more than others, but I think all 5 of those guys are shoot first guys.

Varnado is not looking to pass it once he gets the ball, same goes for Kodi, hell when Kodi gets the ball, you know its going up. Ravern is becoming more and more of a shoot first guy, he used to shoot when open and shoot few contested jumpers, now he is shooting more and more contested jumpers. Bost is actually looking to pass more now than last year, but it seems against his nature, which is a shoot first PG. Stewart tries to shoot himself out of a shooting slump, and doesn't look to pass enough. Even when they run isolation plays, he rarely looks to pass and he has fallen in love with a fade away 20 footer.

This sounds crazy, but you need someone like a Brandon Vincent or even a more athletic Riley Benock who is more than willing to just play defense, rebound, pass and not shoot. One thing that Zimmeran and Bowers did so well is look to make the extra pass, that is not happening this year.

Same could be said for Turner and Osby who look to be pressing. They want to jam 30 minutes worth of stats in 15 minutes of playing time.

 

[tenureplan]

I don't think Jarvis is a *****, but he does become a headcase when he feels like he isn't getting the call.

Phil is the role player that brings energy and other intangibles to our team. I don't think he is able to get into a rythym with his 7 minutes per quarter. He should be getting more of Barry and Ravern's minutes for sure. One thing that really makes him look worse is that when he comes in, so does Benock and Osby, so he feels like he has to press a little more.

I don't know if anyone else noticed, but in the timeout after his first two bricked free throws, he and Stansbury were getting into it pretty good. There's something he is unhappy about, and I'm not sure it is just minutes.

 

[Thick]

He's a better all around player than Kodi. Kodi did well in the SEC tourney, but Phil did it year round. I think that would turn Phil's engine back on. That's RS call, but after Kodi pulled that stunt to start the season, he would have been coming off of the bench for quite a while.

 

[DawgatAuburn]

Kodi doesn't shoot that much more often than the others. If anything, we need him to shoot MORE since he is shooting it better than Barry, Dee and Phil. But that won't happen because if he takes ONE bad shot, he goes to the bence and a 34.9% shooter replaces him.

Minutes per shot and shooting percentage
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 395px; height: 326px;" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <col style="width: 145pt;" width="193"> <col style="width: 48pt;" width="64"> <tbody> <tr style="height: 15.75pt;"> <td class="xl63" style="height: 15.75pt; width: 145pt;" height="21" width="193"> <table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 194pt;" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="259"> <col style="width: 108pt;" width="144"> <col style="width: 38pt;" width="51"> <col style="width: 48pt;" width="64"> <tbody> <tr style="height: 15.75pt;"> <td class="xl65" style="height: 15.75pt; width: 108pt;" height="21" width="144">Ravern Johnson</td> <td class="xl65" style="width: 38pt;" align="right" width="51">2.83</td> <td class="xl65" style="width: 48pt;" align="right" width="64">52.3</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 15.75pt;"> <td class="xl65" style="height: 15.75pt;" height="21">Barry Stewart</td> <td class="xl65" align="right">3.29</td> <td class="xl65" align="right">39.7</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 15.75pt;"> <td class="xl65" style="height: 15.75pt;" height="21">Kodi Augustus</td> <td class="xl65" align="right">3.56</td> <td class="xl65" align="right">43.9</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 15.75pt;"> <td class="xl65" style="height: 15.75pt;" height="21">Jarvis Varnado</td> <td class="xl65" align="right">3.61</td> <td class="xl65" align="right">64.7</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 15.75pt;"> <td class="xl65" style="height: 15.75pt;" height="21">Romero Osby</td> <td class="xl65" align="right">3.73</td> <td class="xl65" align="right">54.5</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 15.75pt;"> <td class="xl65" style="height: 15.75pt;" height="21">Phil Turner</td> <td class="xl65" align="right">3.77</td> <td class="xl65" align="right">34.9</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 15.75pt;"> <td class="xl65" style="height: 15.75pt;" height="21">Dee Bost</td> <td class="xl65" align="right">3.88</td> <td class="xl65" align="right">35.9</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 15.75pt;"> <td class="xl65" style="height: 15.75pt;" height="21">Riley Benock</td> <td class="xl65" align="right">6.64</td> <td class="xl65" align="right">42.9</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 15.75pt;"> <td class="xl65" style="height: 15.75pt;" height="21">Wendell Lewis</td> <td class="xl65" align="right">7.89</td> <td class="xl65" align="right">60</td> </tr> </tbody> </col></col></col></table> </td> <td class="xl63" style="width: 48pt;" align="right" width="64">
</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 15.75pt;"> <td class="xl63" style="height: 15.75pt;" height="21">
</td> <td class="xl63" align="right">
</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 15.75pt;"> <td class="xl63" style="height: 15.75pt;" height="21">
</td> <td class="xl63" align="right">
</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 15.75pt;"> <td class="xl63" style="height: 15.75pt;" height="21">
</td> <td class="xl63" align="right">
</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 15.75pt;"> <td class="xl63" style="height: 15.75pt;" height="21">
</td> <td class="xl63" align="right">
</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 15.75pt;"> <td class="xl63" style="height: 15.75pt;" height="21">
</td> <td class="xl63" align="right">
</td> </tr> </tbody> </col></col></table>

And Osby doesn't sniff 15 minutes a night. That's hard to do when you play four guys 28+ minutes and have two other guys splitting 40 minutes (Kodi and Phil). Benock gets about 12.5 minutes per game and Osby gets less than 12. Lewis is a shade under 8 mpg.

 

[futaba.79]

now he comes in for the vastly overrated Augustus. It seems that he never gets in sync as a 6th man type.

After last year's SEC tournament, I was all about Kodi Augustus being a force in a starting role. Now, it is very clear to me why Stansbury kept him on the bench most of the year.

 

[SallyStansbury]

That is where we get killed. When both of these guys have "off nights" shooting the ball or some defender gets into their face and Ravern disappears or Barry has yet another difficult night shooting. Barry had 5 turnovers last night too.

Horrible shooting + 5 turnover to 1 assist > good defense on WKU's scorer

I will take Osby's and Kodi's shooting %'s over the others. Those guys are on average more consistent with their scoring productivity. Do we run plays to get these guys the ball, nope. Is Coach Stans asking Barry to shoot fade away 18 footers? I hope not......but he isn't telling him to stop doing it either? I don't see how Barry's 5 turnovers, multiple missed free throws and 4-13 shooting doesn't outweigh his good defensive contribution? It does, but Kodi or Osby takes a bad shot, and see ya later, there they go?
An example of this was last year when we played Olemiss in Starkville. Kodi went off in the first half with his midrange game, 3's, etc....then he makes one dumbassed fade away (Randy Style) and he is pulled not to be seen again the entire game. We lost a close one and Ravern and Barry each shot like ****. I recall that game and it is a good bit like last night's game. I was scratching my head wondering why Kodi didn't play more in the second half. Olemiss didn't have an answer for his offensive game.

As a fan who doesn't know **** about basketball really, I see the potential of Kodi's and Osby's offensive games. We can beat some good teams with them being productive consistently (see the SEC tournament last year). How well they play offensively is pretty well up to them. Rick who is a coach and is supposed to know what he is doing seems to concentrate more on the defensive side of the ball. Do Kodi and Osby get lost sometimes, yes. What do you do....coach them up and make them play defense or pull them? So far they get pulled. Rick is once again in control of the situation. The bad part is that we then have to rely upon streaky offensive production of Barry and Ravern or forcing it in to a 200 lb Varnado. Ouch.

 

[mstateglfr]

It has sucked to watch Turner play so much differently than last season.

He used to shoot lights out from deep last season, and some of them were from really deep! He was clutch, the shots went down at key times.

This season, he has airballed just as many 3pt attempts as he has made...no joke, id say that is pretty accurate.

Dont know if its something personal, something about how he is being utilized, or what.

His defense is still great though, and i will say that for all the love Stewart gets for his amazing defense, Phil could take over that task.

 

[Rezpup]

playing in an offense in which there is no apparent direction. I don't even know if there is a name for the offense these guys are being asked to execute.