What’s wrong with our basketball team?

patdog

Heisman
May 28, 2007
56,843
26,242
113
I think the biggest thing is some of our early wins weren’t really as good as they maybe looked at the time & we’ve played a killer schedule the first 11 SEC games. I think we’re just a team that beats most non top 20 teams, but is rarely going to beat a top 20 teams
 

Lettuce

All-Conference
Jun 24, 2024
917
1,060
93
What’s wrong, several things. The most noticeable tho, we have played basically the top 10 teams in the country at this point. And we are not deep as we thought, no true point and only two guys that get consistent numbers….and both of those guys can be stopped….especially by the teams we have faced. But yes. We look gutted on offense
 

onewoof

Heisman
Mar 4, 2008
14,980
13,083
113
In a word, momentum. We struggle to sustain momentum against highly talented teams. We can do it against mid teams.

We need to find ways to spark momentum and run with it as long as we can. And find ways to kill the momentum repeatedly of our top 20 opponents.

I think we also need a little more fight in us. The Hump is a visiting shooters dream. Missouri and Florida LIT IT UP while we threw up bricks.

Much easier said than done.
 
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IBleedMaroonDawg

All-American
Nov 12, 2007
25,550
9,757
113
Tough League. They knew it was a tough league, but we didn't prepare properly.

It's just a swing-and-miss on shooters. They're good but not good enough to compete with the top of our league. Auburn, Alabama, Florida, and Texas A&M are at the top.
 

Lettuce

All-Conference
Jun 24, 2024
917
1,060
93
In a word, momentum. We struggle to sustain momentum against highly talented teams. We can do it against mid teams.

We need to find ways to spark momentum and run with it as long as we can. And find ways to kill the momentum repeatedly of our top 20 opponents.

I think we also need a little more fight in us. The Hump is a visiting shooters dream. Missouri and Florida LIT IT UP while we threw up bricks.

Much easier said than done.

IMO, slow the game down. And hit big shots. We hit on the run and gun but it doesn’t make sense to play fast when we can’t cover with the reciprocal big open shots from better teams. Simply, we can not outscore the top half, why keep trying? Slow it. Last I’ll say about that
 

17itdawg

All-Conference
Sep 30, 2022
850
1,384
93
I think they're beat up and legs are gone right now. Some of the early wins weren't as good as we thought. SEC Schedule is brutal, but so is everyone else's. Going to have find some decent wins coming up to get a decent seed.
 

Maroon13

All-Conference
Sep 29, 2022
3,612
3,697
113
Too Short
Friday Night Smackdown Lol GIF by WWE
 

HRMSU

All-Conference
Apr 26, 2022
1,416
1,275
113
Can’t make the three. Can’t stop the three.
Yep. Similar to football you have to be able to run and stop the run know matter how pass happy a team is.

Analytics says shoot a three or a layup and we couldn't hit either. Maybe we should take more intentional midrange shots. I know it sounds counterintuitive but I'll take any points to stop a 17 point run.
 

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o_HuntDawg

All-Conference
Oct 25, 2018
3,220
1,583
113
1. Cant play man to man defense b/c Hubbard is awful and short and Cam cant match up with opposing teams 4 players. Thus forcing double teams and wide open 3s. If we didnt double, they'd attack hubbard or Cam on the block and the results would like be worse.

2. Cant play zone because other teams have shooters

3. Cant run an offense b/c our point guard or ball handler isnt really a point guard, but you cant play a 5-9 guy at 2 guard in this league and be successful either. Combine that with the fact that he's looking to shoot a bad shot 3x's before passing to someone for a good shot... and you have an issue... plus this behavior is being allowed by the coaching staff

4. We have at least 2 players on the floor at all times that arent offensively threats. Allow teams to focus on the offensive threats we have on the floor.

5. We arent as talented as the top tier teams... and those teams have different ways to win.. and can tailor a game plan to give us trouble regardless of what we do.
 

o_HuntDawg

All-Conference
Oct 25, 2018
3,220
1,583
113
I just have a hard time buying this. Harris is 6'4", Melendez is 6'7", Jones and Kugel are 6'5". That's plenty of length to be able to defend the perimeter. Maybe they're just not good at it. The Ole Miss starting backcourt is 5'11" and 6'1" and they defend pretty well as a team.
Defense takes 5 people. We have no rim protector. Hubbard is one of the worst defensive guards in the league.. if not the worst. And we are undersized at the 4 position.

This isnt man to man coverage on the football field where everyone is on their own island. It takes all 5 helping, recovering, filling gaps, effecting shots.... And there are some really obvious weaknesses that we have that are just impossible to cover with the current rotation.
 

msugolf

Junior
Dec 29, 2008
823
385
63
Simplified answer….we have a defensive minded coach who has always struggled with offense and he has a roster full of role players and missed in the transfer portal either by evaluating poorly or not being able to pull the better players
 

Wesson Bulldog

All-Conference
Nov 3, 2015
1,588
1,895
113
We need to press and play man all game to create more turnovers and easy layups. Lord knows we don't need to take more than 5 threes a game right now.
 

POTUS

Heisman
Sep 29, 2022
3,905
10,327
113
The trap is leading to wide open 3’s for opposition. Everyone we play, even bad teams, are better at wide open 3’s than contested ones. It’s just the good teams we play are more adept at finding that open shot out of the trap. This is why it seems like every team we play “just happens” to shoot the lights out against us. It’s the trap. We should stop it.
 
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Podgy

All-Conference
Oct 1, 2022
3,583
4,092
113
We're not as good as the top SEC teams, our best player is undersized and unless others are hitting 3's or scoring it's easier to guard Hubbard. We don't guard the 3 all that well which allows marginal 3 point guys to look great.
 
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onewoof

Heisman
Mar 4, 2008
14,980
13,083
113
what starters on our team would even play at the following schools:

1) Bama
2) Auburn
3) Florida
4) Kentucky

The answer: 1 guy would be a 6th man 2 guard. Others would rotate in at times, maybe. Some would never see the floor at all.
 
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civildawg88

All-Conference
Aug 22, 2012
2,690
1,311
102
The trap is leading to wide open 3’s for opposition. Everyone we play, even bad teams, are better at wide open 3’s than contested ones. It’s just the good teams we play are more adept at finding that open shot out of the trap. This is why it seems like every team we play “just happens” to shoot the lights out against us. It’s the trap. We should stop it.
How Jans hasn't seen this at this point in the season makes me think he's a stubborn person. EVERY time we doubled the post they knew it was coming and kicked it out for a WIDE open 3
 

o_HuntDawg

All-Conference
Oct 25, 2018
3,220
1,583
113
what starters on our team would even play at the following schools:

1) Bama
2) Auburn
3) Florida
4) Kentucky

The answer: 1 guy would be a 6th man 2 guard. Others would rotate in at times, maybe. Some would never see the floor at all.
nah come on man... everyone on this board thought/thinks hubbard is the best guard in MSU history?

But you're right... and you can probably add another team or two to that list.
 
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onewoof

Heisman
Mar 4, 2008
14,980
13,083
113
or free throws........
we actually won the battle the charity stripe last night.

We led in:
  • Free throw %
  • Rebounds
  • Offensive Rebounds
  • Blocks
  • Points in the paint
  • Second chance points
  • Fast break points

We got killed on:
  • turnovers
  • points off turnovers
  • 3 point %
 
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onewoof

Heisman
Mar 4, 2008
14,980
13,083
113
nah come on man... everyone on this board thought/thinks hubbard is the best guard in MSU history?

But you're right... and you can probably add another team or two to that list.
After seeing the Florida roster, I can see why Melendez had to go
 
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Faustdog

All-Conference
Jun 4, 2007
3,979
2,231
113
I'll take a stab. Early in the season, other than Hub, we had a few others that could consistently shoot open 3s (Harris, Kugel, Melendez) and that has changed.
Kugel leads the team in three point shooting in SEC games by a wide margin over Hubbard and everyone else. Yes, Melendez has been atrocious at 19%.
 
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POTUS

Heisman
Sep 29, 2022
3,905
10,327
113
Another thing that lots of state fans don’t want to admit is that Cam Matthews is extremely limited. It’s a jump shooting game now, plain and simple. If you can’t shoot a consistent jumper you can’t be a big part of an offense. I love Cam’s grit but defenses can completely ignore him when he gets the ball at the top of the key. Kills us.
 

onewoof

Heisman
Mar 4, 2008
14,980
13,083
113
Kugel leads the team in three point shooting in SEC games by a wide margin over Hubbard and everyone else. Yes, Melendez has been atrocious at 19%.

3 PT %
  • Russell 50%
  • Hubbard 36%
  • Kugel 35%
  • Harris 34%
  • Melendez 27%
  • Jones 25%
  • Matthews 21%
  • Murphy 18%
 

The Peeper

Heisman
Feb 26, 2008
15,452
10,594
113
I think the biggest thing is some of our early wins weren’t really as good as they maybe looked at the time & we’ve played a killer schedule the first 11 SEC games. I think we’re just a team that beats most non top 20 teams, but is rarely going to beat a top 20 teams

We've got too many fans that read and believe the pre season hype from writers that get paid for number of reads and clicks. Then the team wins a few games early that fans think are quality wins (Butler who's now 11-13) (Utah 13-11) (Pitt 14-10) and then those fans start making statements like "if we beat KY we are a Top 5 team" or "Lunardi says we are a 2 seed (you know who you are) and they expect greatness the rest of the season. It's the same thing every year............
 

johnson86-1

All-Conference
Aug 22, 2012
14,334
4,839
113
What’s wrong, several things. The most noticeable tho, we have played basically the top 10 teams in the country at this point. And we are not deep as we thought, no true point and only two guys that get consistent numbers….and both of those guys can be stopped….especially by the teams we have faced. But yes. We look gutted on offense
I think it's as simple as this. We are a good or pretty good team depending on how you want to slice that. We have some personnel limitations that top say 20 teams can take advantage of and that mean we're not likely to beat a top 10 team (who is?) unless we really play lights out.

We aren't playing well, but we're not playing that terribly. We just need to play well to beat most of the teams we are coming up against.

We were getting pushed around down low last night and we missed a lot of close shots, and then it got in our head because we were anticipating the fouls. If we had built up the lead like we should have in the first half, we still probably lose, but it looks competitive in the second half. Against UGA the FT's were killer, but we had enough of a talent advantage to pull it out.

We just need to make the tournament and hope we get hot there, just like most teams that are in the 20th to 40th best teams in the country range, which I think the vast majority of people would put us somewhere in that range.
 
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L4Dawg

All-American
Oct 27, 2016
10,285
7,135
113
I think the biggest thing is some of our early wins weren’t really as good as they maybe looked at the time & we’ve played a killer schedule the first 11 SEC games. I think we’re just a team that beats most non top 20 teams, but is rarely going to beat a top 20 teams
The biggest thing is who we are playing. Most of the pundits agree that the SEC this year is THE toughest league in history. The games we have lost are to very highly ranked teams. We have a really good basketball team. The thing is, the SEC has several really GREAT basketball teams.
 
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