Itās not even December yet we largely know nothing about what these teams will look like in 2 months. Is this your first time watching college basketball?
2 Likes
Yeah am starting to have second thoughts about it. I LOVE the philosophy of picking up full court in todayās game, it just makes sense with how things have evolved. But it doesnāt seem like itās really benefiting us much right now outside of the occasional Mallory steal.
Weāve got a high foul rate but a low turnovers forced rate, which is the opposite combo you want. VCUās squad last year had a high foul rate as a tradeoff for forcing a bunch of steals and bad passes, but if weāre not doing the same might be best to back off a bit and force teams into some more jumpshots. But idk, maybe itāll pay off later in the year if we keep doing it.
And losing to a team of that caliber in November says nothing about what type of team weāll be. Itās Novemberā¦.
2 Likes
none of those teams are a first year coach with an entirely new team. i do think we have a lot of room for improvement that we are capable of (just one of many examples)
6 Likes
Again if people wanna reset their expectations or whatever, thatās fine. If you thought this was gonna be a top 15 team right off the rip Iām not 100% sure why, I know we spent a bunch of money on this roster but itās also been repeated ad nauseum it was gonna take time for them to gel and to be patient. But again, entitled to your opinion.
I do think itās an overreaction to definitively say this is a ābadā loss on our resume. Butler didnāt strike me as an awful team, they probably wonāt set the world on fire but Iām sure theyāll at least be ok and somewhere in the quad 2 range. I think this is one we might wanna have back because it would have been a decent win for us, but our non conference is shaping up to actually be fairly tough over the next couple of weeks so itās not like we donāt have other opportunities to earn some quality wins.
7 Likes
Everybody needs to understand that the team is all new guys, the sample size is too small, and itās only November. Everything is going to be ok in a week when none of those things are true anymore.
8 Likes
Likely Q2 loss IMO
Last thing from me for now - Iām wearing one of those glucose monitors and uva hoops makes my glucose go up. I wasnāt sneaking candy bars so I assume itās the stress. 
3 Likes
Youāre kind of proving my point here. Outside of the top 6-8 teams in the country, we really donāt know how good anyone is yet. Weāve been playing for less than three weeks. Itās why I get so irritated by the fact that every conferenceās perceived strength is decided by the media by mid-December. We know how good VERY few teams will be in March on November 23rd.
1 Like
A lot of the struggles today feel fixable but the fundamentals feel good. Not super worried
5 Likes
I mean conferences strength against each other are pretty much all decided by mid December. A conferenceās strength is based on the non con. Otherwise itās all teams playing each other.
Nice bounce back game by Jacari
8 blocks for Ugo. Great stat, but I will be happy if I never see either of our 7-fters shoot another 3 unless it is to beat the shot clock.
6 Likes
I donāt think āgellingā is the issue. I think Odom may play around with rotations a bit more as the season progresses, and I think Chance especially will get better as he adjust to the college game, but this team is basically what we saw this weekend: A team that plays hard and can be competitive, has a chance to win when we make our shots and will likely lose when we donāt. And I donāt think thatās a bad thing.
3 Likes
Holy fuck, what a miserable group some of you are - a completely restructured program top to bottom, in every way new, and weāre 5-1 to start with a relatively close loss to a top 50 program. In no way shape or form is the doom and gloom reaction of at least half of you appropriate. Get a grip, and go touch grass.
5 Likes
True, but it doesnāt really take improvement into account. Itās almost as if when you beat a conference opponent in February, the media perceives it as you beating the late November version of that team. Thatās why I like the fact that we scheduled Ohio St for that February game. I think more Power teams should do that.
I would like him to dunk the ball when he is under the rim. Gave me Shedrick flashbacks.
Iām still optimistic on this team as we continue to gel ā and the Europeans get used to the game stateside. It was clear De Ridder and GrĆ¼nloh got rattled by the physicality and pace of the game here this weekend (not just today).
But (and I donāt say this after every loss) this was a game where we got outcoached. Hopefully, itās not a trend. Matta is an incredible coach, so we wonāt see a lot like him the rest of the year.
- Matta game planned to exploit our screen defense ā both on ball and off. And it killed us. Even setting a screen in our press defense to get their quick guards 1x1 against our bigs resulted in baskets multiple times.
- Our offense fell back WAY TOO MUCH on iso 1x1 play. It was ugly offensive coaching, to say the least. We need a higher assist rate than 6 assists on 29 made baskets. Thatās #badbasketball
- No reason to take a Tech there. Odom cost us a critical 2 points as we were going into the last quarter of the game.
- Inbounds plays are on coaching, and there was nothing coherent until the last 5 minutes there.
15 Likes
Suspect hands was a common remark about him from Kentucky and K State fans when he committed here. I thought he was solid catching passes on the interior through the first five games but he fumbled a couple today that he probably should have had.
1 Like
Good points. Our ISO offense is ugly - especially when we are bricking wide open 3s when we kick it out.
Yep. I think today was a coaching L for Odom. Didnāt adjust to how they exploited the drop coverage and far far to much iso ball. Also some really weird line ups out there. Maybe on purpose but think that played a part.
3 Likes
I mean I see it both ways. The season isnāt over and we largely expected to take some ālumpsā in the first half but we paid for a top 10 roster. Doesnāt necessarily mean we should be a top 10 team, but Butlerās budget is easily half of ours, if that. And thereās plenty of holes to poke as it relates to our strategy/coaching. Canāt just chalk it up to a new roster learning to play together. Some just fundamentally bad decisions.
Weāll probably be fine but Iām a bit annoyed by this weekend.
8 Likes