Our MBB Team is SOFT.

[GoToHellOleMiss.sixpack]

This team is soft. We made USC and Ole Miss look real good. We only play tough defense in spurts and we are way too reliant on jump shots on offense.

Tennessee is gonna destroy us. It will be ugly if our bunch doesn't toughen up.

 

[Shmuley]

I still think we get in. And then get bounced quickly. Mental midgets.

 

[MSUDC11]

I just don’t know about the leadership on this team. Q and Holman don’t seem to be very outspoken guys. Peters is but sometimes not in a good way. Somebody has to step up and take charge.

We can’t seem to figure out how to find the appropriate level of aggressiveness. We are either out of control (see our shot selection in the final minute) or we are extremely passive and looking around for other people to make plays.

 

[patdog]

I agree. Too much talent and too many wins in the pre-conference part of the schedule to miss the tournament. But this team doesn't have the toughness, heart, or brains to make a run. First weekend only. Which is still a heck of a lot better than the last 8 or so years have been. But could be so much more if this team would ever get their **** together.

 

[Seinfeld]

Spitting image of the Grizzlies. Talent all over the court, but no Tony Allens or ZBos to lead it

 

[msstate7]

I think we're gonna start seeing more and more of perry and Woodard going forward. We were much tougher with them on the court Saturday.

 

[MSUDC11]

I agree. Too much talent and too many wins in the pre-conference part of the schedule to miss the tournament. But this team doesn't have the toughness, heart, or brains to make a run. First weekend only. Which is still a heck of a lot better than the last 8 or so years have been. But could be so much more if this team would ever get their **** together.

I agree. I’ve seen a lot of people saying they’ll be fine and they’ll still make the tournament. This team should be a lot better than “just make the tournament” being the goal.

To me it’s a big disappointment if the most talented and experienced roster we’ve had in at least seven years and the culmination of four years of program building by Howland ends up being a 9 or 10 seed who might win their first round game but will definitely get crushed by somebody like Duke or Michigan State in round two.

We are probably going to take a step back next year with Q, Holman, and probably Peters gone. This feels like a rare opportunity to have a really good team and so far we’re looking like we might just be an OK team. And I expected better than OK this year.

 

[GoToHellOleMiss.sixpack]

I think we're gonna start seeing more and more of perry and Woodard going forward. We were much tougher with them on the court Saturday.

Could not agree more. In the first half when they were on the floor we looked like a complete team. They have to get more minutes.

 

[Trojanbulldog19]

It's kind of weird. Bounds was talking about the players we have this morning being "bangers" a weird term, but we do have a team built to be strong, but they don't play that way. i will say it's the first time in a long time i can remember having players that can go strong to the rim. instead of just being fouled. He was saying you have to shoot to win and be built like ole miss. That's BS. If you are built to be a strong paint team like we are. you have to be smart and pass the ball and set up to get the ball inside and then look for the open man. We don't do that. It's a lot of selfish iso basketball. Perry and Woodard and Holman should all be staying around the goal and being fed the ball with the occasional kick out to an open shooter. They are right because we don't have many shooters, but when you don't have shooters and have guys that can go strong to the rim, you have to stop shooting the deep ball and shooting up prayers all of the time. Q throwing up a wild shot was garbage. That is garbage play from a Senior who should know better by now. We have the tough talent they just don't play like and aren't coached like it. The style of play we should be playing with this team should be tough hard nose defense and getting the ball down low. We would be a lot better with that if Ado didn't have such an issue with awareness underneath the goal and putting the ball on the floor. stop dribbling and go up with it! We play like we are some hot shot finesse shooting team. just frankly don't have the shooters to do that. Peters is a good three shooter but way too streaky. Holman and Nick are probably two of the better mid range shooters that can shoot from everywhere, but Nick is streaky outside too. Just been a problem we have in the last several years of find good quality shooters. Sometimes the stars that we have recruited haven't been very good perimeter shooters. Best for to play the freshmen because Saturday they did the most with their minutes.

 

[Clarence Boddicker]

Why does everyone say we are have all this talent? The only talent I see is the young guys. Perry and Woodard need to be starting.

 

[StarkVegas Steve]

It's kind of weird. Bounds was talking about the players we have this morning being "bangers" a weird term, but we do have a team built to strong, but they don't play that way. i will say it's the first time in a long time i can remember having players that can go strong to the rim. instead of just being fouled. He was saying you have to shoot to win and be built like ole miss. That's BS. If you are built to be a strong paint team like we are. you have to be smart and pass the ball and set up to get the ball inside and then look for the open man. We don't do that. It's a lot of selfish iso basketball. Perry and Woodard and Holman should all be staying around the goal and being fed the ball with the occasional kick out to an open shooter. They are right because we don't have many shooters, but we you don't have shooters and have guys that can go strong to the rim, you have to stop shooting the deep ball and shooting up prayers all of the time. Q throwing up a wild shot was garbage. That is garbage play from a Senior who should know better by now. We have the tough talent they just don't play like and aren't coached like it. The style of play we should be playing with this team should be tough hard nose defense and getting the ball down low. We would be a lot better with that if Ado didn't have such an issue with awareness underneath the goal and putting the ball on the floor. stop dribbling and go up with it! We play like we are some hot shot finesse shooting team. just frankly don't have the shooters to. Peters is a good three shooter but way to streaky. Holman and Nick are probably two of the better mid range shooters that can shoot from everywhere, but Nick is streaky outside too. Just been a problem we have in the last several years of find good quality shooters. Sometimes the stars that we have recruited haven't been very good perimeter shooters.

Tennessee might disagree with him on that

 

[Trojanbulldog19]

Why does everyone say we are have all this talent? The only talent I see is the young guys. Perry and Woodard need to be starting.

it's relative to what we have had in talent since probably 09. Perry and Woodard are the best to step foot on campus in a long time. Nick and Peters have flashes of talent. Holman and Q were just hold overs from the best we have had in the past 9 year probably. everyone expects them to be better because of their experience.

 

[Trojanbulldog19]

i disagreed also. you can play differently you just have to stick with what you do best. If that is playing in the paint, then do it. We try to be a 3 point shooting team when we aren't.

 

[IBleedMaroonDawg]

This team is soft. We made USC and Ole Miss look real good. We only play tough defense in spurts and we are way too reliant on jump shots on offense.

Tennessee is gonna destroy us. It will be ugly if our bunch doesn't toughen up.

Defense is a big problem. We don't have a defensively strong team or one/two enforcers in the paint (a Vanardo).

I thought you guys remembered this before the season?

Just think about our team player by player and rank them defensively. Also, Basketball has put way too much emphasis on scoring and 3 pointers and even I was a bit guilty of seeing only our increased scoring this season prior to conference play.

We can turn it around or let one of our new guys step forward to try to take on a bigger role in defense, but guys like Holeman can't seem to do both at the same time.

 

[Joe Schmedlap]

Lamar Peters is extremely talented. He's the most dynamic guard the The Dogs have had in quite some time.

it's relative to what we have had in talent since probably 09. Perry and Woodard are the best to step foot on campus in a long time. Nick and Peters have flashes of talent..

 

[johnson86-1]

Why does everyone say we are have all this talent? The only talent I see is the young guys. Perry and Woodard need to be starting.

We have a lot of talent but our talent and leadership unfortunately aren't in the same places, and our talent also doesn't necessarily complement each other.

Our roster generally gets more talented as it gets younger, but they aren't the type of players to take leadership roles as underclassmen. To me, Nick has had the most complete game and effort since he's gotten on campus, and he's the guy I'd want people to follow, but it does not appear to me that he has snagged a leadership role. Not sure if that's just his personality, or if he can't take alpha status b/c some of the older guys' egos are too big to play second/third banana to him.

Also, our players aren't complementary to an extent. Lamar and Nick play ok together, but they both are probably most valuable at the one. Lamar and Nick have the quickness to play intense defense on the perimeter, but as long as Q doesn't, there's a limit to how effective that can be. Holman is dangerous as a stretch 4, but Ado isn't polished enough offensively to take advantage of the fact that Holman's man has to guard him outside.

 

[StarkVegas Steve]

Lamar has all the TALENT in the world. His quickness and court vision are next level. He's just got to get out of his own head. I thought he'd moved past it after last year, but it reared its ugly head again on Saturday.

 

[MSUDC11]

Why does everyone say we are have all this talent? The only talent I see is the young guys. Perry and Woodard need to be starting.

Of the eight guys who average 10 minutes a game for us, six of them are four stars and two are five stars. The lowest ranked player coming out of high school was Ado, and he was a 4 star ranked 119th in the country in his class.

I’m not sure what more you could ask for from a talent perspective. We’ve got plenty of it.

 

[Seinfeld]

Like many things, talent can have a lot of different definitions, but it’s likely because we have 7 Top 100 players on the roster even after the various transfers.

I’d have to spend some time looking through the records to verify this, but I feel pretty safe in saying that we’ve only had that level of recruiting talent on the same roster in one or two prior seasons. Granted, recruiting rankings aren’t everything, but I’m pretty sure that’s where the comments are coming from

 

[Hanmudog]

If we lose to Florida and go to 0-3 then I think 0-6 becomes almost a certainty which would be a mind boggling level of underachievement. It will be interesting to see if at some point Howland just says screw it and builds for next year.

 

[jwells]

If we lose to Florida and go to 0-3 then I think 0-6 becomes almost a certainty which would be a mind boggling level of underachievement. It will be interesting to see if at some point Howland just says screw it and builds for next year.

I don't think he has the ability to play for next year. No NCAA tournament and he will be gone. He needs to do everything he can at whatever record to get the most from this season.

 

[Trojanbulldog19]

yep. there aren't many excuses as far as talent goes on this team. I know basketball recruiting doesn't pan out probably as much as football recruiting does, but we have the stars. Now, we might not have the correct talents that we need fitting together. That may be the real issue, we have a lot of slasher guards that can drive to the basket and play one one but not many that are pure shooters. both types of talents can be highly ranked but not necessarily what you need. We just don't have enough big's. We have more than we have had in a while. Plenty of talent to go around. Coach just has to coach them up and get them to gel in the correct rhythm. Put that salary to work. It's his job to get the talents he recruited in the right place to be successful.

 

[Seinfeld]

The one big miss that is absolutely killing us right now is Herard. It’s crazy that he was actually the highest rated recruit out of the entire class, yet the biggest bust with virtually no role on our team.

We badly needed him to pan out in order to have some sort of post presence aside from Ado, and unfortunately, it just didn’t work out

 

[Trojanbulldog19]

that and not getting Garrison Brooks