Thoughts

[mauconnfan]

I read 2 posts and I need to get away already and post my own thoughts. They may be wrong or you may disagree but it's obvious if I read any more I will stop posting.

I love our half court defense, it's already come a long way. DHam has stepped it up as freshman and looks really good on that end while others were much better too. Held their own the whole game and made Texas work - obvious they can step it up as needed so that's a good thing.

Transition defense is horrible. People running half ass and not breaking their balls to get back and beat Texas back and they paid for it - the game was lost there and there only. Lay up city, mostly because people make sure they guard their own guy instead of helping and also because people are always running with their backs to the ball? Really? Know where the GD ball is - D-101 - a lot of work to do there and most are not very bright on that part of the game.

Rebounding - they worked hard, besides Facey too many one and outs - Brimah is clueless on the O Boards and not much better on the D boards.. Needs to improve and they can make a difference there - they did fight though against a big team.

1st half offense - how many times can we go to the hole without pulling up for a mid range shot? Samuel 3 X went too far with no plan and on another got away with a charge. Boat did a couple too - stop and shoot the ball so they can't contest it. Too much shot clock running down with Bazz on the team - not good! Need people to make shots period and besides Boat and Daniel we're in huge trouble. (recruit shooters to hell with the athletes)

I could go on and on but in the end 2 guys wide open ca't happen. The actual right play for Holmes was a wide open dunk on a pass to Myles although it turned out better obviously. We called TO why?

Bad loss, had the game in our hands. Have to see it again but as usual I will say transition D and shooting from 3 are the main reasons. Because we don't seem like we shoot it all that good anyway I will stick to stopping the ball on the break inn practice and making guys run back to the block and not worry about their own man, instead being sure there's not a lay up linE!

This one hurts in so many ways!

 

[Mots010]

Weird game. We really made them work on O, and with 2 minutes left, I thought we were the better team. We just needed one more play from someone to put it away. However, of the 55 points they scored, it seemed like 90% of them were very easy buckets. The killer bucket to me, besides the 3, was the runner given up with 20 seconds left. Have to make them earn it there.

 

[FluxTZ]

Weird game. We really made them work on O, and with 2 minutes left, I thought we were the better team. We just needed one more play from someone to put it away. However, of the 55 points they scored, it seemed like 90% of them were very easy buckets. The killer bucket to me, besides the 3, was the runner given up with 20 seconds left. Have to make them earn it there.

Or the 2x back to back loose ball/rebounding fouls that sent Texas to the line for 4x free points.

 

[OkaForPrez]

Sanctuary. Agree we gave up too many easy points in transition in the first half but we really cleaned that up in the 2nd. The most frustrating part of this loss for me was we really put the clamps on them in the 2nd half but they got some critical points off of off ball rebound action whistles when they couldn't buy a basket, that was big for them to hang around.

In terms of the mid range pull up, don't discount Texas' front court size, that's a pretty good defensive team we were looking at and without Sam II Am knocking down shots we were not a balanced attack. Those open looks were not an accident, we just couldn't make them pay on their overplay of boat and d ham.

We really missed purvis today, but they really missed their point guard.

One final thought, that 5 point swing on the picked off facey outlet pass really hurt in retrospect. That pass goes through its a layup, lead to a back breaking open 3.

 

[Chief00]

Quite frankly, a tough loss but this is not our final product. Tough thing is that inter conference games are early - so not much time to work through injuries and process.

 

[Danzz]

We actually outrebounded Texas 36-35.

 

[huskyharry]

Quite frankly, a tough loss but this is not our final product. Tough thing is that inter conference games are early - so not much time to work through injuries and process.

Agree. This team will come together and they just have to take care of business in conference play. SMU will undoubtably be much better when Kennedy comes back, I am sure that Memphis will improve, Tulsa will be tough and Cincy will be a grinder...we just need to be ready to kick their collective butts!

 

[Rico444]

Thought the difference in the 2nd half was putting Terrence Samuel on their point guard. Made it really tough for them to get into what they wanted to do. Terrence is having some growing pains on offense, particularly in figuring out when to drive into the paint, and what to do once he gets there, but I think he's well on his way to being a great leader for this team, maybe just not this year.

 

[mauconnfan]

Thought the difference in the 2nd half was putting Terrence Samuel on their point guard. Made it really tough for them to get into what they wanted to do. Terrence is having some growing pains on offense, particularly in figuring out when to drive into the paint, and what to do once he gets there, but I think he's well on his way to being a great leader for this team, maybe just not this year.

Terrence plays hard no doubt. He works on defense much like Taliek, physical and works through picks. He just needs to be the guy he was late last year and realize he's nothing more than that on offense. Good things happened last year because he picked his spots, this year he's trying too hard. He's not gifted offensively and his handle is only good not great. he's the perfect back up PG and I believe that's his career but he needs to know that. That's not a knock as we will always have great guards and need the guys who fit the puzzle. He is Donnell Beverly with more impact on defense.

 

[chapwilvaug72]

dont kid yourselves

sled team must win tourney in hrtfd to make dance; anything short of this and sleddog ride pine til 2016

 

[Danzz]

We lost a game we could have won to the #7 team in the country. The good news is they weren't better than us and we played hard the entire game. Hamilton is better than advertised and Facey has improved a lot.
Our problem seems to be on offense when we start Brimah, Facey and TSam we only have 2 players that can score consistently. Our transition D sucks but that is fixable.
If KO can keep them playing hard eventually somebody will emerge as a third scorer. Omar may be that guy.

 

[Mike Honcho]

dont kid yourselves

Shut up

 

[jibsey]

dont kid yourselves

sled team must win tourney in hrtfd to make dance; anything short of this and sleddog ride pine til 2016

sled teem spozed beet top teners just make turney? chapridepine.

 

[pnow15]

Depending what Texas does, this loss could be beneficial because we lost by one point in the last second. Texas wins conference and stays in top ten. Quality losses actually count for tourney.

 

[Rico444]

Terrence plays hard no doubt. He works on defense much like Taliek, physical and works through picks. He just needs to be the guy he was late last year and realize he's nothing more than that on offense. Good things happened last year because he picked his spots, this year he's trying too hard. He's not gifted offensively and his handle is only good not great. he's the perfect back up PG and I believe that's his career but he needs to know that. That's not a knock as we will always have great guards and need the guys who fit the puzzle. He is Donnell Beverly with more impact on defense.

We disagree a bit on his ceiling but your assessment of his skills right now is fair.

 

[UConNation]

Terrence plays hard no doubt. He works on defense much like Taliek, physical and works through picks. He just needs to be the guy he was late last year and realize he's nothing more than that on offense. Good things happened last year because he picked his spots, this year he's trying too hard. He's not gifted offensively and his handle is only good not great. he's the perfect back up PG and I believe that's his career but he needs to know that. That's not a knock as we will always have great guards and need the guys who fit the puzzle. He is Donnell Beverly with more impact on defense.

Mau, i can't agree more that TS reminds me of Donnell. Every time he steps on the court I say it. I also agree that he plays pretty decent defense. But for me, it really stops there. Please don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying this just because of the TX game. I said it last year, and through 5 games this year, I'm still going to say it. He is a liability on offense. He dribbles the ball like he's trying to break the hardwood, he's a decent passer at best, and while he gets to the rim pretty well, I've never seen someone miss so many layups this early in the year. Now I'm a UConn fan through and through, so I really hope that he proves me wrong (like he did for a few games in the tourney last year), but if he's truly going to be the back up PG to RB, I think we're in for a lot of headscratchers.