You can't win them all

thekimmer

All-Conference
Aug 30, 2012
8,853
2,988
113
You gotta be kidding....

No you can't win them all but you MUST win games like that at home. I do appreciate the effort but we did not play a good game we played a terrible game. TAM played us like a cheap fiddle. They ran that half-court press all night to slow us down and we routinely lollipoped the ball down the court crossing center line with only 21-22 seconds on the shot clock. We never attacked the press or otherwise attempt to punish TAM for running it by trying to draw fouls or getting easy baskets. Then at the end of BOTH HALVES we sh** the bed on a last shot after a time out resulting in either not getting off a shot or one from half court.

Terrible loss at home blowing a 13 point second half lead, a 6 point lead with 2 minutes, and finally down 2 blowing a flagrant foul down that gave us two foul shots and the ball. Awful.
 
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o_HuntDawg

All-Conference
Oct 25, 2018
3,220
1,583
113
Not to mention the second time in a week and a half where we have the ball, last possession, to win the game and don't even get a SHOT off.

Nothing good about that at all
 

Hanmudog

Redshirt
Apr 30, 2006
5,853
0
0
We don't have to win them all, just winning the ones where we have a double digit lead in the second half at home while playing bad teams would be a good start.

I have never in my life seen a coach let the other team dictate the tempo as much as Howland does and don't get me started on our complete inability to get a shot off at the end of halves or late in the shotclock after a timeout. That is next level inept coaching.
 

thekimmer

All-Conference
Aug 30, 2012
8,853
2,988
113
We don't have to win them all, just winning the ones where we have a double digit lead in the second half at home while playing bad teams would be a good start.

I have never in my life seen a coach let the other team dictate the tempo as much as Howland does and don't get me started on our complete inability to get a shot off at the end of halves or late in the shotclock after a timeout. That is next level inept coaching.

You know, I really, really want this to work with Howland and hate to think of starting over again but at some point its not enough that he admits responsibility, there must be some accountability.
 

msstate7

Redshirt
Nov 27, 2008
10,388
10
38
We don't have to win them all, just winning the ones where we have a double digit lead in the second half at home while playing bad teams would be a good start.

I have never in my life seen a coach let the other team dictate the tempo as much as Howland does and don't get me started on our complete inability to get a shot off at the end of halves or late in the shotclock after a timeout. That is next level inept coaching.

Well, we did win one where we were down double digits in 2nd half (mizzou), so guess things balance out
 

8dog

All-American
Feb 23, 2008
15,095
7,322
113
Tamu really did a good job with the 1-2-2 3/4 press. Not a lot of turnovers but slowed us down to where we didnt get anything in the half court started until 15 left on the shot clock. They made it tough to attack bc they retreated so quickly. They also are athletic enough to switch all screens. Remember when everyone thought stans was some great defensive coach? In reality he just had athletic enough players to switch everything so ball screens have minimal impact.

Having said that we have to hold 13 pt leads against bad teams. We cant ask a 3 guard to go 3/4 of the floor with 6 seconds left. I dont see a realistic path to the tourney
 

Junction John

Redshirt
Oct 22, 2014
3,249
0
0
I feel the same way about Howland - he can sometimes disguise bad coaching decisions by out-athleting the other team. I think he has signed like 8 top-100 players. We should win more games than we do.
 

msstate7

Redshirt
Nov 27, 2008
10,388
10
38
I feel the same way about Howland - he can sometimes disguise bad coaching decisions by out-athleting the other team. I think he has signed like 8 top-100 players. We should win more games than we do.

If top 100 is the measure for winning/losing, we were supposed to lose last night. Here's each team's top 100 composite and their ranking:

State - d. Smith #63
aTm - Flagg #56, Robinson #66, diarra #80
 

johnson86-1

All-American
Aug 22, 2012
15,178
5,721
113
You know, I really, really want this to work with Howland and hate to think of starting over again but at some point its not enough that he admits responsibility, there must be some accountability.

Howland is squarely in the good enough camp, so I am not worried about starting over right now. I am shocked at how poorly coached we look at times. I'll admit I didn't pay attention to his Pitt or UCLA teams, but based on his past success, and his ability to change styles at UCLA, I really thought we would look like a better coached team than we have.
 

thekimmer

All-Conference
Aug 30, 2012
8,853
2,988
113
Tamu really did a good job with the 1-2-2 3/4 press. Not a lot of turnovers but slowed us down to where we didnt get anything in the half court started until 15 left on the shot clock. They made it tough to attack bc they retreated so quickly. They also are athletic enough to switch all screens. Remember when everyone thought stans was some great defensive coach? In reality he just had athletic enough players to switch everything so ball screens have minimal impact.

Having said that we have to hold 13 pt leads against bad teams. We cant ask a 3 guard to go 3/4 of the floor with 6 seconds left. I dont see a realistic path to the tourney

They did and it appeared we either had no desire or no clue how to attack it. We just bent over and took it.
 

thekimmer

All-Conference
Aug 30, 2012
8,853
2,988
113
Howland is squarely in the good enough camp, so I am not worried about starting over right now. I am shocked at how poorly coached we look at times. I'll admit I didn't pay attention to his Pitt or UCLA teams, but based on his past success, and his ability to change styles at UCLA, I really thought we would look like a better coached team than we have.

And this is the source of the purgatory we now suffer. A coach who does just enough to make it hard to fire him but not enough to keep fans from wanting to gouge their eyeballs out at times.
 

johnson86-1

All-American
Aug 22, 2012
15,178
5,721
113
And this is the source of the purgatory we now suffer. A coach who does just enough to make it hard to fire him but not enough to keep fans from wanting to gouge their eyeballs out at times.

The frustrating thing is that guard play like gives you the potential to make a run in the tournament past where your talent actually belongs. But we're not going to make it this year. Next year we should if players stick around, but if you want success, you really need to give yourself opportunities. If we could sneak into the tournament this year, we probably wouldn't go very far, but as I said, we have the potential to play above our heads because guard play is so important in the tournament. But if you give this team two shots, they'll be much more likely to make some noise, both because you're doubling the chances to get hot and because you have some experience for your second shot.
 
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