Memphis v. Ok State | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Memphis v. Ok State

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There aren't many coaches who can make Gottfried look competent, but Pastner is on that short list.
 
Jay Bilas - "Memphis has four senior guards, UConn has some seniors as well. Shabazz Napier is as good a guard as any, if you need a guy to take a last shot, you want him taking it."
 
aceboon said:
Smart has everyone going gaga and deservedly so, he's killing. Goodman, Fraschilla, Rothstein, Dauster are just a few of the people in the house for the 2k Classic, Bazz needs to ball out and make his statement now.
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Maybe, but the statement needs to be keeping on doing what he's been doing, not scoring 40 like Smart. As Breezy just posted, Bazz has a base with Bilas and that goes a long way. Best thing for him is to keep being Mr. Everything legit point guard and for the team to keep winning. He has enough love already to get where he wants to be by the end of the year if we keep winning and emerge as a major factor in the national scene. As Calhoun famously said, the team's success is what lets the individual players achieve their personal goals. Just win, baby.
 
I really don't care who is "balling out" whether it's Deandre or Omar or Niels or Boatright or Shabazz. None of our players should feel the need to "ball out" to impress talking heads or make a statement. Shabazz has done a great job this year of controlling the game without forcing anything and I hope that most of all is what he does Thursday and Friday.
 
Really bad showing. Like the high school team that's not ready for prime time.
 
selles said:
Maybe, but the statement needs to be keeping on doing what he's been doing, not scoring 40 like Smart. As Breezy just posted, Bazz has a base with Bilas and that goes a long way. Best thing for him is to keep being Mr. Everything legit point guard and for the team to keep winning. He has enough love already to get where he wants to be by the end of the year if we keep winning and emerge as a major factor in the national scene. As Calhoun famously said, the team's success is what lets the individual players achieve their personal goals. Just win, baby.
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I didn't say anything about scoring 40, just continue on his with overall excellence like he's been doing.
 
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ASweet3781 said:
I really don't care who is "balling out" whether it's Deandre or Omar or Niels or Boatright or Shabazz. None of our players should feel the need to "ball out" to impress talking heads or make a statement. Shabazz has done a great job this year of controlling the game without forcing anything and I hope that most of all is what he does Thursday and Friday.
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You guys read way too much into stuff, good Lord, loosen up.
 
aceboon said:
I didn't say anything about scoring 40, just continue on his with overall excellence like he's been doing.
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I hear you, not trying to criticize. Just saying the hype he needs is already in place so long as the team keeps winning.
 
Oklahoma State looked really good. The four teams that played in the Champions Classic last Tuesday looked like the four best in the country to me, but Oklahoma State placed themselves in that discussion with their performance tonight IMO.

As for Memphis, yikes. Even in a humiliating loss, you can see the incredible athleticism on display, and if they ever get it together, they could be a top ten team. Pastner has a lot of work to do - tonight he looked overwhelmed on the sidelines.
 
OK St is a legit team. That being said, I still think we have the best guard in the Country. What Shabazz has been doing is spectacular. He is shooting at a high percentage and instead of showing how he can dominate lesser competition, he's showing how he makes his team better. Fills the holes by rebounding and distributing. He is showing himself to not just be a top point guard, but a leader. This team will follow him wherever he wants to take them. His play may even be better than Kemba's in '11. He's scoring intelligently and the rebounding, this team's biggest weakness, has been spectacular every game. I don't understand how a 6'1" guard can do what he's doing night in and night out.

When OK St gets to the Tourney, can they go the distance? Maybe, but I'd bet on a Shabazz led team over a Smart led team any day. Shabazz already has the ring and the know-how to cope with the hype. I think Kemba's Final Four run as a Freshman gave him the poise to lead his team to the promised land. The other teams will have to out-will Shabazz to win - not easy. JC could simply will his team to win and Shabazz has that same mental toughness, as did Kemba and KO.

I think we can take anybody with Shabazz healthy and I'd take his leadership over Smart's athleticism anyday.
 
No need to justify Bazz. Bazz is not M-Smart and M-Smart is not Bazz. Right now Smart is one of the best point guards in the nation, proven against top Memphis guards. Bazz will get his chance as the season is still young.

By the way from what I saw Smart looks like Bazz/Boat combined.
 
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I was with one of my national account sales guys last year and he is a huge Memphis fan/grad.......there's a sense already that Pastner can recruit, can't coach a lick and may never win a big game while there. I know Smart is good but you have to be dumb to allow him to get 24 that quickly! And he recruits kids who love to pay street ball on offense and there is no chemistry it would seem. Definitely a talented crew who will be a handful on given nights so let's not sell the talent short, it's there.
 
UConn needs to really upgrade its OOC schedule if Memphis is the best in-conference opponent we have. When there are only 3 credible conference opponents, and one of them has a down year like Temple is having, the SOS is going to be gruesome. Luckily we still have one more year of Louisville. South Florida will go from 3-15 in the OBE last year to probably around .500 in conference.

We are going to be sitting there on Selection Sundays in the future with a 26-5 record and hoping to avoid a 6 seed because UConn will only have 6 games against Top 50 opponents.
 
nelsonmuntz said:
UConn needs to really upgrade its OOC schedule if Memphis is the best in-conference opponent we have. When there are only 3 credible conference opponents, and one of them has a down year like Temple is having, the SOS is going to be gruesome. Luckily we still have one more year of Louisville. South Florida will go from 3-15 in the OBE last year to probably around .500 in conference.

We are going to be sitting there on Selection Sundays in the future with a 26-5 record and hoping to avoid a 6 seed because UConn will only have 6 games against Top 50 opponents.
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While Pastner isn't great I think we need to temper our sudden thoughts of how bad Memphis will be. If you don't think our Huskies will throw a stinker like that somewhere this year I think we're all sadly mistaken.......it happens and let's see a little more of the Tigers. They are certainly a talented crew and I doubt we'll think of them as the eventual reason to upgrade our OOC schedule......Ok St/Home and they were pumped up - happens!
 
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Say what you want about Memphis now, but when we play them they will look like the Lakers.
 
It was the perfect storm for OKS. Smart was unconscious for a 3 minute period, the crowd was outstanding and Memphis lacked the poise to play under control - they imploded. Perhaps it wasn't the perfect storm for Ok St because their leading scorer was sick.

It's hard to know everything based on one game. Kansas looked like an NBA team against Duke and then looked normal against Iona. Duke looked great against Kansas and struggled against ECU. UConn looked great for 30 minutes in three games and then looked like deer frozen in the headlights.

The rotten thing is Memphis is considered the second or third best team in the AAC and they picked a bad time to have a stinker of a performance. They actually looked good against OK ST the first 10 or so minutes until Smart became unconscious. And that was it.

It's why I like teams making runs on UConn. The team gets the opportunity to see if they can withstand them. And the more they withstand them, the more they have confidence in themselves when opposing teams go on runs. This game is as much about mental poise as it is about talent. Duke found that out in the 99 season.
 
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I took a shot a went to bed...looks like I made the correct call...the trolls will be out in force on our board today...if you want a laugh, go to: www.memphistigers.org
 
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