Only Reason We Lost......

[newmexicuse]

TO Margin - 12 to 3. Many of our TOs on telegraphed or terrible passes. Gotta play with more care.

A few other comments:

Bell was having a solid game, but man, he missed that wide open trey at the 1 1/2 minute mark that would have brought us to within two. Unfortunately, if you have to point to one game costing play - that was it IMHO.

Lampkin - he tried hard, but looked like he was hurting. A couple of times he had the ball within a few feet of the hoop and instead of going up strong and at least drawing a foul - he got blocked or swiped. It is not bullyball when our big guy cant get himself to the line.

Donnie - a freshman game - too many fouls and TOs - rushed some of his shots, but he was great off the glass with 13 boards. I know the NBA drafts on potential, but really, this kid will not be ready to go pro by spring. Hope he stays & we get two years from him.

Carlos - when he plays it is playing not to lose. His big strength is zero TOs. He brings few positives in terms of making winning plays.

JJ - solid and he is our star. He was 60% - 40% - 70% on his shooting.

Moore - I think he is the guy that can really help this team improve. He has a lot of upside. He is a natural scorer, but he did have too many TOs. I think he needs to be on the floor for 25 minutes and if given that role that he would produce double digits consistently. I see him as the biggest wildcard for the team to improve.

Davis - he is the matchup guy. When the matchup favors him he produces big, when it doesnt he is ineffective. However, he is our muscle when Eddie sits.

Maj - I liked his energy and quickness for a big. Nice 6 boards in 11 minutes. He deserves a role.

Taylor - you cant get minutes from the 2G spot if you cant score. His D isnt that good. Absolutely cant have him and Carlos out there together.

Red - he has turned into the anti-Boeheim. In general I dont like the Zone, but it needs to be deployed for a few minutes now and then just to mix things up and change the look. Was there any reason that MacLeod got zero minutes ? Is he hurt ? All game long they surged than we surged, but they always stayed ahead, We needed something to shake things up and Red did not find that answer.

 

[kuethstheman]

Good post.

BTW, I don't have a problem with 12 turnovers. It's the '3' that bothers me!

 

[Zelda Zonk]

We get no steals. No deflections. Remember when Judah used to take risks and miss, but he also used to intercept or deflect a few. We don’t have that. And Malik was Señor Pokenstein. We don’t have that. We just don’t put pressure on the other team. So many instances where our guys lunge and the other player just dribbles around him to the rim. Soooo many times. It was like a goalie in a penalty kick situation—we are out there just guessing.

 

[two3zone]

We get no steals. No deflections. Remember when Judah used to take risks and miss, but he also used to intercept or deflect a few. We don’t have that. And Malik was Señor Pokenstein. We don’t have that. We just don’t put pressure on the other team. So many instances where our guys lunge and the other player just dribbles around him to the rim. Soooo many times. It was like a goalie in a penalty kick situation—we are out there just guessing.

I have nothing to rant about that you missed. Nailed it. This is why I don't think it's an attitude or or mental, I'm not sure they're capable defenders.

 

[Niastri]

TO Margin - 12 to 3. Many of our TOs on telegraphed or terrible passes. Gotta play with more care.

A few other comments:

Bell was having a solid game, but man, he missed that wide open trey at the 1 1/2 minute mark that would have brought us to within two. Unfortunately, if you have to point to one game costing play - that was it IMHO.

Lampkin - he tried hard, but looked like he was hurting. A couple of times he had the ball within a few feet of the hoop and instead of going up strong and at least drawing a foul - he got blocked or swiped. It is not bullyball when our big guy cant get himself to the line.

Donnie - a freshman game - too many fouls and TOs - rushed some of his shots, but he was great off the glass with 13 boards. I know the NBA drafts on potential, but really, this kid will not be ready to go pro by spring. Hope he stays & we get two years from him.

Carlos - when he plays it is playing not to lose. His big strength is zero TOs. He brings few positives in terms of making winning plays.

JJ - solid and he is our star. He was 60% - 40% - 70% on his shooting.

Moore - I think he is the guy that can really help this team improve. He has a lot of upside. He is a natural scorer, but he did have too many TOs. I think he needs to be on the floor for 25 minutes and if given that role that he would produce double digits consistently. I see him as the biggest wildcard for the team to improve.

Davis - he is the matchup guy. When the matchup favors him he produces big, when it doesnt he is ineffective. However, he is our muscle when Eddie sits.

Maj - I liked his energy and quickness for a big. Nice 6 boards in 11 minutes. He deserves a role.

Taylor - you cant get minutes from the 2G spot if you cant score. His D isnt that good. Absolutely cant have him and Carlos out there together.

Red - he has turned into the anti-Boeheim. In general I dont like the Zone, but it needs to be deployed for a few minutes now and then just to mix things up and change the look. Was there any reason that MacLeod got zero minutes ? Is he hurt ? All game long they surged than we surged, but they always stayed ahead, We needed something to shake things up and Red did not find that answer.

Yeah, several unforced turnovers in both games.

The funny thing is if we hit our threes at about career averages, we go 2-0 in New York.

It's the reason I have hope. The defense this weekend and the defense against Colgate looks like entirely different teams. If we can get stops, the offense is going to sort itself out, as Freeman and Moore gain experience, and the rest of the team stops their shooting slump.

 

[djcon57]

We get no steals. No deflections. Remember when Judah used to take risks and miss, but he also used to intercept or deflect a few. We don’t have that. And Malik was Señor Pokenstein. We don’t have that. We just don’t put pressure on the other team. So many instances where our guys lunge and the other player just dribbles around him to the rim. Soooo many times. It was like a goalie in a penalty kick situation—we are out there just guessing.

And no blocks to that.

On the positive, our defensive rebounding hasn’t been this good in awhile.

 

[newmexicuse]

Good post.

BTW, I don't have a problem with 12 turnovers. It's the '3' that bothers me!

Great point !!! And if I remember correctly two of their three TOs came in the first minute or two, so we basically got one TO in the last 38 minutes.

 

[Madbiker]

TO Margin - 12 to 3. Many of our TOs on telegraphed or terrible passes. Gotta play with more care.

A few other comments:

Bell was having a solid game, but man, he missed that wide open trey at the 1 1/2 minute mark that would have brought us to within two. Unfortunately, if you have to point to one game costing play - that was it IMHO.

Lampkin - he tried hard, but looked like he was hurting. A couple of times he had the ball within a few feet of the hoop and instead of going up strong and at least drawing a foul - he got blocked or swiped. It is not bullyball when our big guy cant get himself to the line.

Donnie - a freshman game - too many fouls and TOs - rushed some of his shots, but he was great off the glass with 13 boards. I know the NBA drafts on potential, but really, this kid will not be ready to go pro by spring. Hope he stays & we get two years from him.

Carlos - when he plays it is playing not to lose. His big strength is zero TOs. He brings few positives in terms of making winning plays.

JJ - solid and he is our star. He was 60% - 40% - 70% on his shooting.

Moore - I think he is the guy that can really help this team improve. He has a lot of upside. He is a natural scorer, but he did have too many TOs. I think he needs to be on the floor for 25 minutes and if given that role that he would produce double digits consistently. I see him as the biggest wildcard for the team to improve.

Davis - he is the matchup guy. When the matchup favors him he produces big, when it doesnt he is ineffective. However, he is our muscle when Eddie sits.

Maj - I liked his energy and quickness for a big. Nice 6 boards in 11 minutes. He deserves a role.

Taylor - you cant get minutes from the 2G spot if you cant score. His D isnt that good. Absolutely cant have him and Carlos out there together.

Red - he has turned into the anti-Boeheim. In general I dont like the Zone, but it needs to be deployed for a few minutes now and then just to mix things up and change the look. Was there any reason that MacLeod got zero minutes ? Is he hurt ? All game long they surged than we surged, but they always stayed ahead, We needed something to shake things up and Red did not find that answer.

McLeod should play 5 minutes each half and when he comes in to give Lampkin a rest we should go zone. The guy could be a great rim protecting shot block zone center. How this isn't obvious to Red I don't know. He's too slow to play m2m but zone, yes.

 

[Tony DeFranco]

I have nothing to rant about that you missed. Nailed it. This is why I don't think it's an attitude or or mental, I'm not sure they're capable defenders.

the defense looks a lot better the last two games - JJ was playing d - Freeman needs to play a little tougher defensively - he boards tough but sometimes he gets muscled when someone is driving on him - Bell just gets worked by anyone with any size though he did finally get some weak side blocks - we beat Texas if we make any FTs - and the TT game was neck and neck - with that said we lost both games which were all but home games for us

 

[two3zone]

the defense looks a lot better the last two games - JJ was playing d - Freeman needs to play a little tougher defensively - he boards tough but sometimes he gets muscled when someone is driving on him - Bell just gets worked by anyone with any size though he did finally get some weak side blocks - we beat Texas if we make any FTs - and the TT game was neck and neck - with that said we lost both games which were all but home games for us

Everyone keeps saying it looked a lot better, maybe I watched something different but I just saw two teams never once really have to worry about getting a bucket when they needed to kill any sort of momentum we tried to make. Starling looked better but who else did? Eddie looked way worse, Bell looked like Bell and Carlos is still 5'7". Maybe by game 25 we'll figure it out...

 

[kuethstheman]

Everyone keeps saying it looked a lot better, maybe I watched something different but I just saw two teams never once really have to worry about getting a bucket when they needed to kill any sort of momentum we tried to make. Starling looked better but who else did? Eddie looked way worse, Bell looked like Bell and Carlos is still 5'7". Maybe by game 25 we'll figure it out...

Lots more help in the last two games. Didn't even see an attempt at that in the first three games. They also occasionally handled the pick and roll reasonably well.

The results against the two much better teams speaks for itself.

Long way to go, though.

 

[two3zone]

Lots more help in the last two games. Didn't even see an attempt at that in the first three games. They also occasionally handled the pick and roll reasonably well.

The results against the two much better teams speaks for itself.

Long way to go, though.

We did do a lot of things better all over the court but at the end of the day we still lost two games that used to be gimmies in our city. Melo Courtside, the crowd chanting our centers name, like everything was there and they couldn't even give us hope for a win down the stretch.

I wish it wasn't a long road and I'm not sure a long road type of team works in college basketball anymore, the short game is what wins, portal wins.

 

[CuseFan]

Lampkin looked gassed a lot of the second game. not sure why McLeod couldn't spell him even for a few minutes. Sit in the zone for a while and force some outside shots

 

[Cuse99&01]

Great point !!! And if I remember correctly two of their three TOs came in the first minute or two, so we basically got one TO in the last 38 minutes.

Yes TT went the final 31 minutes of the game without a turnover.

 

[Niastri]

Lampkin looked gassed a lot of the second game. not sure why McLeod couldn't spell him even for a few minutes. Sit in the zone for a while and force some outside shots

Red has stated in post game press conferences that he wants to force teams to shoot twos instead of threes.

Both games in Brooklyn, our opponents shot a lower number of threes and a lower percentage than their season averages. Texas, in particular, took a lot of low quality long range twos, that didn't go in at a good percentage.

I think the defensive strategy Red is trying to implement is starting to work. The perimeter hedging was way better, and the rotations to protect the rim were mostly there.

We didn't see a Colgate style layup parade in Brooklyn, which to me is progress.

EDIT: We'll know for sure how the progress is coming if we hold Cornell to 50 points and win very comfortably.

 

[AlaskaSU]

We will be lucky if Lampkin completes the season.

 

[Sbucketball]

Red has stated in post game press conferences that he wants to force teams to shoot twos instead of threes.

Both games in Brooklyn, our opponents shot a lower number of threes and a lower percentage than their season averages. Texas, in particular, took a lot of low quality long range twos, that didn't go in at a good percentage.

I think the defensive strategy Red is trying to implement is starting to work. The perimeter hedging was way better, and the rotations to protect the rim were mostly there.

We didn't see a Colgate style layup parade in Brooklyn, which to me is progress.

EDIT: We'll know for sure how the progress is coming if we hold Cornell to 50 points and win very comfortably.

I honestly think Red didn't expect to be so bad defensively, and you could tell realization set in during the Colgate game. That's on him, but if he can turn them around over the course of a month we'll at least know he can coach them up. I feel like this team is giving us a direct lens into Red's ability, which is good because it's better to know in year 2 instead of year 5.

 

[two3zone]

Red has stated in post game press conferences that he wants to force teams to shoot twos instead of threes.

He's got the right players to make this happen. Why shoot a three when you can take an uncontested layup.

Reminds me a lot of our teams that we thought we could out shoot every game. By the sounds of it with Red talking about our shooting, he wants to trade 2s for 3s. I hope this isn't the case.

 

[two3zone]

I honestly think Red didn't expect to be so bad defensively, and you could tell realization set in during the Colgate game. That's on him, but if he can turn them around over the course of a month we'll at least know he can coach them up. I feel like this team is giving us a direct lens into Red's ability, which is good because it's better to know in year 2 instead of year 5.

He shouldn't have a job then. A bunch of old dorks, potheads and people who don't get paid for a living doing anything with basketball saw this defense a mile away.

 

[Sbucketball]

He shouldn't have a job then. A bunch of old dorks, potheads and people who don't get paid for a living doing anything with basketball saw this defense a mile away.

I agree it's not a great look for him. And it might cost him his job, eventually.

 

[two3zone]

I agree it's not a great look for him. And it might cost him his job, eventually.

A bigger issue might be the people giving money don't believe in the return they get for their dollar and may be better spent on football.

Could you fault a donor?

 

[Sbucketball]

A bigger issue might be the people giving money don't believe in the return they get for their dollar and may be better spent on football.

Could you fault a donor?

100%. Prob already happening. Can't fault them either. I'm trying to be patient but this basketball program has been infuriating.

 

[Bayside44]

100%. Prob already happening. Can't fault them either. I'm trying to be patient but this basketball program has been infuriating.

Where do you guys get this from? If anything someone's 50K goes waaaaaay further in hoops than football.

 

[Sbucketball]

Where do you guys get this from? If anything someone's 50K goes waaaaaay further in hoops than football.

It does go further for hoops, but that's not what we're referring to -- we're referring to donating for basketball just to continually miss the tournament, especially if donors think it's a coaching problem. Why pay for talent just to go 2 games over .500 and miss the tournament? Donations will dry up if the program doesn't win.

 

[two3zone]

It does go further for hoops, but that's not what we're referring to -- we're referring to donating for basketball just to continually miss the tournament, especially if donors think it's a coaching problem. Why pay for talent just to go 2 games over .500 and miss the tournament? Donations will dry up if the program doesn't win.

Especially when you had a squeeze the donors for more money and a car for a guy who is as good as he is on offense, bad on defense. That doesn't even bring up his fitness.