Reality?

[dogpause]

I've read a lot about how our guys didn't play with heart, etc., but it looked to me that SMU was simply a much better, and more balanced team. We really lack muscle -- we've got no one at the 3 or 4 who really belongs at the position, IMO. Our 5's are either too small, or inexperienced. Any team that has the ability to hold us to one shot stands a good chance of winning.

I was very impressed with SMU, and Larry Brown is simply a great coach and teacher. I thought we played hard and never quit, but we've got a lot of holes and not enough muscle. Both Brimah and Nolan are improving, but we need some bulk at the 4. We're an easy team to game plan for, IMO.

 

[mauconnfan]

If playing hard means boxing out as well as not just stepping in on a free throw with the low block yours, instead of backing the guy up then they didn't play hard. I could care less about the rebounding advantage in the end they shot crappy enough to get some rebounds……should have had a huge advantage and can't let people get 2nd chances because you didn't do your job, especially on their front end of 1-1's…..thought they played pretty hard but this was not at all their best effort…….thought some people looked frustrated and defeated way too early.

I am having a real hard time believing that team is better, we know they're well coached but so are we. They were prepared and had a great game plan as you say, and it was obvious it is and can be say to prepare for our offense - get ready for a lot more of that now……..

 

[Silk City]

I've read a lot about how our guys didn't play with heart, etc., but it looked to me that SMU was simply a much better, and more balanced team. We really lack muscle -- we've got no one at the 3 or 4 who really belongs at the position, IMO. Our 5's are either too small, or inexperienced. Any team that has the ability to hold us to one shot stands a good chance of winning.

I was very impressed with SMU, and Larry Brown is simply a great coach and teacher. I thought we played hard and never quit, but we've got a lot of holes and not enough muscle. Both Brimah and Nolan are improving, but we need some bulk at the 4. We're an easy team to game plan for, IMO.

This.

SMU reminds me a lot of the Pitt teams we historically struggled against, but then outperformed in March. They clearly are the more balanced team, but in the tournament perimeter play becomes more important and we can easily get hot there. A lot of the non-calls we didn't get yesterday, especially Bazz driving, will be called in the tourney.

Give me a healthy Bazz and some nice matchups in the brackets, that's more important than what our seed is. People may be disappointed with a 6 seed for example but you avoid facing a 1 until the Elite 8 at earliest. I'm not reading too much into this one game because I don't think there's a ton of teams that play D like SMU did yesterday. And we couldn't hit a thing.

 

[mauconnfan]

This.

SMU reminds me a lot of the Pitt teams we historically struggled against, but then outperformed in March. They clearly are the more balanced team, but in the tournament perimeter play becomes more important and we can easily get hot there. A lot of the non-calls we didn't get yesterday, especially Bazz driving, will be called in the tourney.

Give me a healthy Bazz and some nice matchups in the brackets, that's more important than what our seed is. People may be disappointed with a 6 seed for example but you avoid facing a 1 until the Elite 8 at earliest. I'm not reading too much into this one game because I don't think there's a ton of teams that play D like SMU did yesterday. And we couldn't hit a thing.

I do think there are a lot of teams that play defense as well as SMU but they are not coached by Larry Brown…….you know when people get a hold of this tape there will be much more of teams running 2-3 players at Bazz and Boat coming off screens and forcing them to find open people…..it was well devised and he gets a lot of credit. Kennedy and the others may be somewhat like Pitt but by no means were they physically imposing their will, our guys just sucked!

 

[CTBasketball]

I agree on the "we're the easiest team to plan for." Literally you shut down Bazz and be physical and you have a 75% chance of winning.

 

[Huskyforlife]

The reality? The reality is we are a one man team, when bazz is down we lose. This team will not be winning a nat this year. That's the reality.

 

[freescooter]

The reality? The reality is we are a one man team, when bazz is down we lose. This team will not be winning a nat this year. That's the reality.

That's pretty much it. I've said since October that this team goes as far as Shabazz can carry it. The front line is average at best. The guys we have playing the 5 are either very limited or very inexperienced. Inexperienced players tend to have good games but lots of inconsistency, and I think that's particularly true of bigs more than anyone else. Giffey and Kromah are nice role players who on a really great team would be great to have, but aren't leading a team anywhere. Daniels is Stanley redux. Its a nice team, capable of winning against other nice teams, but they will struggle to get beyond the first weekend, I suspect. Of course a team with great guard play and Shabazz Napier always has a puncher's chance to do some damage. But if you shut him down, or he has an off game (or too many pre-game wings!) we'll struggle.

 

[Mots010]

They certainly looked like the better team yesterday, but basketball is a funny thing. Do you think Temple and USF are better than SMU? Did Stan Heath out coach Larry Brown? Those are two pretty bad teams, and they beat SMU. For whatever reason, SMU just came out and pushed us around. Ollie should take the blame for our players who seemed unmotivated and flat, but yesterday just seemed like one of those days where you just dont have 'it'. Nothing was going right. Had we won, this board would have been flying high. With a loss, we're now a garbage team that will be lucky to get out of the first round. The answer is somewhere in between, but I'm still confident going into March with this squad. Let's take care of business with USF and Rutgers, pull out a win at home against Cincy, then this loss will be long forgotten.

 

[mauconnfan]

That's pretty much it. I've said since October that this team goes as far as Shabazz can carry it. The front line is average at best. The guys we have playing the 5 are either very limited or very inexperienced. Inexperienced players tend to have good games but lots of inconsistency, and I think that's particularly true of bigs more than anyone else. Giffey and Kromah are nice role players who on a really great team would be great to have, but aren't leading a team anywhere. Daniels is Stanley redux. Its a nice team, capable of winning against other nice teams, but they will struggle to get beyond the first weekend, I suspect. Of course a team with great guard play and Shabazz Napier always has a puncher's chance to do some damage. But if you shut him down, or he has an off game (or too many pre-game wings!) we'll struggle.

Sounds like the coach of this team must be doing a pretty damn good job then to be 21-6 huh?

 

[mauconnfan]

They certainly looked like the better team yesterday, but basketball is a funny thing. Do you think Temple and USF are better than SMU? Did Stan Heath out coach Larry Brown? Those are two pretty bad teams, and they beat SMU. For whatever reason, SMU just came out and pushed us around. Ollie should take the blame for our players who seemed unmotivated and flat, but yesterday just seemed like one of those days where you just dont have 'it'. Nothing was going right. Had we won, this board would have been flying high. With a loss, we're now a garbage team that will be lucky to get out of the first round. The answer is somewhere in between, but I'm still confident going into March with this squad. Let's take care of business with USF and Rutgers, pull out a win at home against Cincy, then this loss will be long forgotten.

Well stated………I am so disappointed in yesterday's effort but think this team has the sack to win 3 of 4 because of this lackluster effort and game………we'll see

 

[Jerry1714]

The reality? The reality is we are a one man team, when bazz is down we lose. This team will not be winning a nat this year. That's the reality.

Bazz did not play particularity well at Memphis and we won cause others stepped up.

We did not lose because Bazz played poorly, we lost because our three other options, Kormah, Boat and DD went 6-27 from the field

 

[SubbaBub]

To date we are 0-4 against the top three teams in this conference. Need to show something against UL and UC, not to mention not beat everyone else.

If the team isn't careful this could get ugly.

 

[mauconnfan]

Bazz did not play particularity well at Memphis and we won cause others stepped up.

We did not lose because Bazz played poorly, we lost because our three other options, Kormah, Boat and DD went 6-27 from the field

Yep while Bazz made a ton of FT's down the stretch which is important and threw some real nice passes, his numbers were skewed in comparison to the actual game he had……he was good vs Memphis but not Bazz good i agree!

 

[patrick]

The reality? The reality is we are a one man team, when bazz is down we lose. This team will not be winning a nat this year. That's the reality.

I hate your reality!

 

[mauconnfan]

I hate your reality!

Thought you should have said "F%&* Y*^"!

 

[freescooter]

Sounds like the coach of this team must be doing a pretty damn good job then to be 21-6 huh?

Touche!

 

[James]

the boneyard is a bizzare place. basketball isn't very complicated, if you don't bring it you'll get beat. to suggest KO needs to change his coaching philosophy is absurd; look at our season numbers. Can't make conclusions off one game won or loss

 

[James]

The one thing I'm curious about is why Samuel is in Ollie's doghouse. Boat was getting destroyed off the dribble by Moore, tsam couldn't have done worst . Our backcourt was running on fumes

 

[freescooter]

the boneyard is a bizzare place. basketball isn't very complicated, if you don't bring it you'll get beat. to suggest KO needs to change his coaching philosophy is absurd; look at our season numbers. Can't make conclusions off one game won or loss

The boneyard is indeed a stange place. No debate there. On the other hand, I don't think anyone is making conclusions on one game. This is a team that really struggles against the top of the conference. 0-2 to SMU, 0-1 Cincinnati and 0-1 to Louisville. And let's be honest. is anyone picking any of those 3 to win it all? This is a borderline top 25 type team. its capable when everything goes right of giving really good(say top 10) teams good games, even beating one along the way. But there are a bunch of teams like that. And as I said, with great guard play and 3-point shooting in college you often have a punchers chance. But that's pretty much what it is.

 

[patrick]

Thought you should have said "F%& Y*^"!

I got that out of my system last night, I'm trying to be nice today. ;-)

 

[Marty Jackson]

This game put me in such a bad mood yesterday.
Nothing went Uconn's way.

When they cut it to 5 points with about 5 minutes left, I thought they would pull it out. Give SMU credit for hanging tough.

Was it me or did Shabazz and co give up on the 3 until it was too late (around the 5 minute mark)? When SMU put it back up to 9, I was thinking Shabazz would start hitting some 3's or at least someone else would make an attempt like NG, DD or RB. I don't think he ever took a 3 pt shot after that. Just some all out drives to the hoop.

 

[Inyatkin]

Was it me or did Shabazz and co give up on the 3 until it was too late (around the 5 minute mark)? When SMU put it back up to 9, I was thinking Shabazz would start hitting some 3's or at least someone else would make an attempt like NG, DD or RB. I don't think he ever took a 3 pt shot after that. Just some all out drives to the hoop.

You could take that as an acknowledgement that no one was hitting anything from outside that day and they knew it. Trying to get to the line was probably their best bet.

 

[James]

You could take that as an acknowledgement that no one was hitting anything from outside that day and they knew it. Trying to get to the line was probably their best bet.

He switched gears, but we needed that much in earlier in the game when both sides struggled. he defintely should be run off screens more and given the green light, as well as maybe some iso action on the wing. they are now trapping his pnr's; without a healthy daniels that renders our offense ineffective. Kromah is the guy who needs to create shots for players like napier (how many times has someone assisted a made napier fg?) and boat.

 

[Edward Sargent]

I do think there are a lot of teams that play defense as well as SMU but they are not coached by Larry Brown…….you know when people get a hold of this tape there will be much more of teams running 2-3 players at Bazz and Boat coming off screens and forcing them to find open people…..it was well devised and he gets a lot of credit. Kennedy and the others may be somewhat like Pitt but by no means were they physically imposing their will, our guys just sucked!

Don't drink the full glass of Larry Brown's coolade. Take a sip if you must. He's a good coach but if you notice he doesn't last too long in any one place. There are reasons he is a gypsy.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Don't drink the full glass of Larry Brown's coolade. Take a sip if you must. He's a good coach but if you notice he doesn't last too long in any one place. There are reasons he is a gypsy.

Go ahead, elaborate. Everyone knows Brown is a vagabond, and he's always on the verge of taking on the next challenge. Does not mean he isn't an all-time great. I'd like to hear someone credible say otherwise.

 

[Huskyforlife]

I hate your reality!

Me too

 

[Gurleyman]

Reality is that Miami was better than us on Senior Day, 1999. We were lucky to win in overtime at their place, and they beat us at ours, as we had to rally back from 10 down late to tie it. Pitt probably looked better than us at this time in 2004. And almost everyone looked better than us right about now in 2011.

Kentucky's two most dominant national championship teams in my lifetime looked terrible in the SEC title game - Mississippi State in 1996 and Vandy a couple years ago.

I wouldn't bet on banner four happening, championships are hard, but you can't take one loss in one sliver of time to one specific team and throw in the towel.

 

[Edward Sargent]

Go ahead, elaborate. Everyone knows Brown is a vagabond, and he's always on the verge of taking on the next challenge. Does not mean he isn't an all-time great. I'd like to hear someone credible say otherwise.

He's 73 and yes he is a great teacher as we have heard many times, but really how many years do you think he will want to stay at SMU, recruiting and teaching? I give him 2 years.