Men's B-Ball Team

At present we have 8 Four-star players and 2 three-star players.

From a pure talent standpoint that is probably the most talented (on paper) team that we have fielded in basketball in well over a decade.

Howland was pretty successful at his two stops before MSU but while at UCLA (towards the end of his tenure there) there was a lot of smoke regarding lack of discipline on the team.

Are we seeing that continue here? Is that maybe why our team hasn't come together? I just don't know if I can believe that Howland has suddenly lost his ability to coach....unless he has lost control of his players.

Low basketball iq.

Supposedly talented players can't shoot. We are last in the league in 3 point percentage and free throw percentage. Pretty simple really.

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Originally Posted by confucius say

Low basketball iq.

Supposedly talented players can't shoot. We are last in the league in 3 point percentage and free throw percentage. Pretty simple really.

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Except according to most we could shoot last year but we can't this year.

Howland needs to make some lineup and rotation changes. It will lead to a couple of transfers but that's the nature of college basketball and we have 3 good recruits coming in.

Need to start:

G: Nick
G: Q
SF: X
PF: Holman
C: Ado

These 5 guys are our best 5 players. Barring foul trouble they need to play the majority of the minutes!! Bring in Datcher for frontcourt rest. Bring in Tyson Carter for backcourt rest. That's it. Don't play anyone else.

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Originally Posted by HoopsDawg

Howland needs to make some lineup and rotation changes. It will lead to a couple of transfers but that's the nature of college basketball and we have 3 good recruits coming in.

Need to start:

G: Nick
G: Q
SF: X
PF: Holman
C: Ado

These 5 guys are our best 5 players. Barring foul trouble they need to play the majority of the minutes!! Bring in Datcher for frontcourt rest. Bring in Tyson Carter for backcourt rest. That's it. Don't play anyone else.

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Done with peters, eh?

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Originally Posted by msstate7

Done with peters, eh?

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I'm afraid so.

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Originally Posted by HoopsDawg

I'm afraid so.

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Week off may be good for him. I do not want to be done completely though

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Originally Posted by msstate7

Week off may be good for him. I do not want to be done completely though

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Yeah, maybe some time off to get his head straight. 17% from 3. 30% from the field. 57% from the foul line. 44 assist, 33 turnovers. Plus he had the 3 game suspension. And I just don't like his body language.

Turn over the Point to Nick.

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Originally Posted by HoopsDawg

Turn over the Point to Nick.

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I want more nick at point. I cannot stand Q at the point.

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Originally Posted by msstate7

I want more nick at point. I cannot stand Q at the point.

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The fact we even have to run Q at the point is a problem

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Originally Posted by msstate7

I want more nick at point. I cannot stand Q at the point.

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We need someone to take this team by the balls and lead. Think Jamont Gordon or Craig Sword. Preferably it should be Q but his biggest weakness is leadership. He’s a talented kid but he is no leader. That’s what this team is missing is player leadership.

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Originally Posted by msstate7

I want more nick at point. I cannot stand Q at the point.

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Nick should be the PG now and in the future.

Q is an offguard in a 3 gaurd set. Carter is a 2, but he’s not strong enough. Nick is a 1.

We need a stud at 2 and one more big that can score inside out to rotate in a 3/4 man rotation with Ado, Holman, and Datch.

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Originally Posted by MarketingBully

We need someone to take this team by the balls and lead. Think Jamont Gordon or Craig Sword. Preferably it should be Q but his biggest weakness is leadership. He’s a talented kid but he is no leader. That’s what this team is missing is player leadership.

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Q can’t finish at the rim and is basically the same player he was as a freshman.

Best way to dramatically improve this team is to Show the door to Peters & Stapleton. See ya!!! Piss poor attitudes and “me first” type players kill locker rooms.

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Originally Posted by Political Hack

Q is an offguard in a 3 gaurd set. Carter is a 2, but he’s not strong enough. Nick is a 1.

We need a stud at 2 and one more big that can score inside out to rotate in a 3/4 man rotation with Ado, Holman, and Datch.

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As odd as it sounds, the kids we have coming in fit all of those needs. DJ Stewart is a 6’6” SG that has unlimited range. Woodard has great length and is a big 6’6” kid we could put at the SF and Reggie Perry is a 6’8” 240 Big that rebounds,passes, and can score at every level. We are addressing our needs but it would be great to get a grad transfer PG to help lead this team.

Also I would like to point out second straight game with Q with 5 turnovers and he had another WTF pass to no one like he did against Ole Miss last night as well. Long story short, Q is not a PG.

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Originally Posted by confucius say

Low basketball iq.

Supposedly talented players can't shoot. We are last in the league in 3 point percentage and free throw percentage. Pretty simple really.

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? I agree w the low bb. We had some pretty good 3 pt shooting against the early low quality teams. Why aren't they falling now?

We havent shot the ball well all year

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Originally Posted by Coach34

We havent shot the ball well all year

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This has to be the Arc bullshit that Howland has talked about and we haven’t put in the time to really work with the machine in practice to really improve our shooting so it’s gone to halfassedness. I say this with all sincerity I have never seen in basketball where so many players on a team have regressed so much in shooting in one year. Several (Q, Carter) have dropped ten points, one (Peters) has dropped 20 points! This is freaking ridiculous. Heck, if we are just shooting from the perimeter at the clip we did last year, we are 15-1 and even win that game last night.

Those wanting Stapleton starting. What are his stats for the year? I just don’t get the love for him at all.

I dont get all the hate for X.

Yes hes taken some bad shots but the last thing I think he is is a ''me'' guy. He plays harder than anyone else on the team IMO

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Originally Posted by BuckyIsAB****

I dont get all the hate for X.

Yes hes taken some bad shots but the last thing I think he is is a ''me'' guy. He plays harder than anyone else on the team IMO

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He plays hard. I'm fine with him if he would accept the Michael gholar role and understand he's not Kobe freaking Bryant. He should never shoot a jumper unless he is both wide open and catching a pass and shooting in rhythm.

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Originally Posted by HoopsDawg

Howland needs to make some lineup and rotation changes. It will lead to a couple of transfers but that's the nature of college basketball and we have 3 good recruits coming in.

Need to start:

G: Nick
G: Q
SF: X
PF: Holman
C: Ado

These 5 guys are our best 5 players. Barring foul trouble they need to play the majority of the minutes!! Bring in Datcher for frontcourt rest. Bring in Tyson Carter for backcourt rest. That's it. Don't play anyone else.

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You want to play only 7 guys. GTFO of here with this. Nobody plays only 7 dudes all year long. Your obsession with a minuscule playing rotation is bordering on insane. Ado and Holman will be in foul trouble 90% of the time in your system. We won't develop any sort of bench whatsoever by banishing players 8-13 to Siberia during games. Playing in games is the best possible development for any player.

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Originally Posted by BuckyIsAB****

I dont get all the hate for X.

Yes hes taken some bad shots but the last thing I think he is is a ''me'' guy. He plays harder than anyone else on the team IMO

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I'm on the exact opposite side of the spectrum. I don't understand all the love for him, and I think he IS a "me" guy. Here are the team stats for the year -

http://i66.tinypic.com/4r2s6o.png

He's near the bottom in FG % as well as 3 point %.

If you look at the time he's played compared to how many shots he takes, he's near the top of the team in shots per minute played.

X has taken 109 shots in the 211 minutes he has played, that's an average of .51 shots per minute played.
Comparing that to a much higher percentage shooter, such as Q who has played 478 minutes with 219 attempted shots, you can see Q actually averages less shots per minute at .45. Why would a much worse shooter be attempting proportionally more shots?


Even looking at some other teammates with much higher shooting percentages, he still attempts more shots per minute.
Q - .45
Holman - .44
Nick - .37
Ado - .17
Datcher - .19

Carter shoots more per minute but has a higher shooting percentage (.52).

Only Peters and Wright have worse shooting percentages (this shows another problem we have in Peters with the high shot rate). I still believe in Peters as we know the talent is there, he's just a head case and COULD get it together. X doesn't pass the eye test for me. Sure he plays hard, but he's just not that talented comparatively.
Peters - .60
Wright - .35


What do people see in X? I just don't understand.

Edit: Made picture bigger, also I only included players with at least 100 minutes played.

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Originally Posted by Cloak

X has taken 109 shots in the 211 minutes he has played, that's an average of .51 shots per minute played.
Comparing that to a much higher percentage shooter, such as Q who has played 478 minutes with 219 attempted shots, you can see Q actually averages less shots per minute at .45. Why would a much worse shooter be attempting proportionally more shots?


Even looking at some other teammates with much higher shooting percentages, he still attempts more shots per minute.
Q - .45
Holman - .44
Nick - .37
Ado - .17
Datcher - .19

Carter shoots more per minute but has a higher shooting percentage (.52).

Only Peters and Wright have worse shooting percentages (this shows another problem we have in Peters with the high shot rate). I still believe in Peters as we know the talent is there, he's just a head case and COULD get it together. X doesn't pass the eye test for me. Sure he plays hard, but he's just not that talented comparatively.
Peters - .60
Wright - .35


What do people see in X? I just don't understand.

Edit: Made picture bigger, also I only included players with at least 100 minutes played.

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He has elite athleticism and he is 6-6. He plays hard. The question isn't is he All-SEC, but is he a better option than Carter, Wright, and Peters? I would have to say yes. He's 8th on the team in average minutes per game. This is wrong, imo. I agree that some of his stats are poor, but he also missed 3 games against some of the cupcakes. Also, he has dominated in practice at times. I just think if he got 30 minutes per game, we would see a lot more production and better quality play out of him.

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Originally Posted by HoopsDawg

Yeah, maybe some time off to get his head straight. 17% from 3. 30% from the field. 57% from the foul line. 44 assist, 33 turnovers. Plus he had the 3 game suspension. And I just don't like his body language.

Turn over the Point to Nick.

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Thanks for reading coach. We are moving Nick to PG and putting Q back to off guard.

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Originally Posted by HoopsDawg

Thanks for reading coach. We are moving Nick to PG and putting Q back to off guard.

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I like this move. Nick is a much more natural point, and I think it'll up Q's production.

I still don't like the idea of X getting more playing time though. I don't think he has elite talent, he takes terrible shots at an alarming rate, and has a "me first" (from what I've seen and from what the stats say) mentality.

O that?s not what we are seeing. What we are seeing is a lack of playing time together and immaturity from a young team. We are also seeing impatience and lack of support from our fans because people want to label something immediately as a failure if it takes a while to build.

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Originally Posted by Cloak

I like this move. Nick is a much more natural point, and I think it'll up Q's production.

I still don't like the idea of X getting more playing time though. I don't think he has elite talent, he takes terrible shots at an alarming rate, and has a "me first" (from what I've seen and from what the stats say) mentality.

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I don’t know what you view as elite talent but Stapleton’s athleticism is elite. His dunking ability alone would rival Dr. J’s in his prime.

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Originally Posted by MarketingBully

I don?t know what you view as elite talent but Stapleton?s athleticism is elite. His dunking ability alone would rival Dr. J?s in his prime.

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He can definitely dunk, I'll give you that. No one comes close during Maroon Madness. I just don't think he is a good team basketball player.

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Originally Posted by Cloak

He can definitely dunk, I'll give you that. No one comes close during Maroon Madness. I just don't think he is a good team basketball player.

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Needs more minutes

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Originally Posted by HoopsDawg

Thanks for reading coach. We are moving Nick to PG and putting Q back to off guard.

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What all was said? Nick to pt, q to 2? Peters getting mins cut?

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Originally Posted by Dawgology

At present we have 8 Four-star players and 2 three-star players.

From a pure talent standpoint that is probably the most talented (on paper) team that we have fielded in basketball in well over a decade.

Howland was pretty successful at his two stops before MSU but while at UCLA (towards the end of his tenure there) there was a lot of smoke regarding lack of discipline on the team.

Are we seeing that continue here? Is that maybe why our team hasn't come together? I just don't know if I can believe that Howland has suddenly lost his ability to coach....unless he has lost control of his players.

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Stars mean nothing, and never have. Heck I could assign stars like the "gurus" do. If you are investing faith in "stars" your faith is misplaced. I'd say that is especially pronounced in basketball. "Stars" are based on evaluations by internet guys of players in HIGH SCHOOL. I never put my faith in them till after see them in NCAA competition. The perfect example is Renardo Sydney. He was a star in high school, he sucked in college. I don't see a whole lot of talent on our current team, outside of NICK Weatherspoon and Abdul Adu. They are both raw, but have tremendous potential. The rest are bit players at best. Now a team with two guys with tremendous potential and a bunch of bit players can do a LOT in the NCAA. We had a team like that that went to the Final Four. This one ain't getting there, based on current performance. At this stage I'd have said the same in 96.

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Originally Posted by msstate7

What all was said? Nick to pt, q to 2? Peters getting mins cut?

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Will Sammon, CL report. Nick is going to start handing the ball more. Q can focus more on scoring. Sorry I don't have a link.

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Originally Posted by HoopsDawg

He has elite athleticism and he is 6-6. He plays hard. The question isn't is he All-SEC, but is he a better option than Carter, Wright, and Peters? I would have to say yes. He's 8th on the team in average minutes per game. This is wrong, imo. I agree that some of his stats are poor, but he also missed 3 games against some of the cupcakes. Also, he has dominated in practice at times. I just think if he got 30 minutes per game, we would see a lot more production and better quality play out of him.

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The reason he is 8th in minutes played is because of several factors. One he fouls to damn much. Stupid ass not picky fouls that shouldn’t ever happen and that puts him on the bench. Second, he throws up some 3 that has no chance to go in or blows a wind mill 360 dunk in a game that 2 pts is more important than him show boating. Third, he blows a defensive assignment that costs us pts. And every time he fouls somebody, he didn’t do it! And when he goes to the bench damn near every time he’s gonna act like a teenager that doesn’t get his way.

All I know is that we suck.

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Originally Posted by Liverpooldawg

Stars mean nothing, and never have. Heck I could assign stars like the "gurus" do. If you are investing faith in "stars" your faith is misplaced. I'd say that is especially pronounced in basketball. "Stars" are based on evaluations by internet guys of players in HIGH SCHOOL. I never put my faith in them till after see them in NCAA competition. The perfect example is Renardo Sydney. He was a star in high school, he sucked in college. I don't see a whole lot of talent on our current team, outside of NICK Weatherspoon and Abdul Adu. They are both raw, but have tremendous potential. The rest are bit players at best. Now a team with two guys with tremendous potential and a bunch of bit players can do a LOT in the NCAA. We had a team like that that went to the Final Four. This one ain't getting there, based on current performance. At this stage I'd have said the same in 96.

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This is one of your dumber posts Liverpool. This team is definitely talented.

Stapleton has been bordering on dismissal for awhile. Bad chemistry and many off the court issues. Addition by subtraction.

He is momentum killer in games. Basketball IQ is nonexistent