Let's turn our attention to micromanging the basketball team

[Irondawg]

We've got a long ways to go if we want to make a run to the NIT.

Defensively we are beyond awful in just about every respect. I know the new rules make it harder to defend, but I've seen some teams defense pretty well this year. We have awful on the ball fundamentals and we are worse off the ball. As we know with Ray's group we just don't have a lot of basketball IQ or "feel" for the game which means our guys have no anticipation on defense.

If we play man against anybody with any offensive talent, especially inside we're are going to have to score 90 to even have a chance of winning. Howland is going to have to suck it up and play a lot more zone unless he can convince a few guys to change their effort on the defensive end. We'll get to that later.

Offensively we have more shooters than we've had in a while. Probably is if we're not shooting a layup we're shooting a 3 with a non-existent midrange game outside of Gavin. We're not pentrating and getting to the line at near the rate of our opponents and while better we're not full of sharpshooters.

Our fastbreak game is tons better but that's tied to defense and you don't get a lot of breaks with few steals and no stops on the defensive end. We've got to become a little more fluid on offense and work on getting to the basket more. Ball movement was a little better tonight but still a ways off where it needs to be.

[BeardoMSU]

We only had like 7 FT attempts, right? To their 20ish? That ain't gonna cut it. We really need to start driving and looking for contact.

[SDDawg]

Malik and Q need to start putting their bodies on the line, with their first steps there should be no excuse. They can get to the hole and score or take the foul.

[Todd4State]

I'm excited to see what the basketball team is doing and I do think we will get better as the year goes along.

I'm really excited about next year and maybe seeing Newman, Weatherspoon, Kegler, Holman, and Herard together as well- if Newman comes back.

[Irondawg]

The biggest thing on a basketball team is everyone knowing their role so from what I've seen this is how I see these role shaping up:

Starters: Newman, Weatherspoon, Sword, Daniels, Ware
Bench: Ready, Thomas, Zup/Holman, Ndoye (Staley a wildcard as no clue how he looks on a court these days)

Offense: Utah Jazz pick and and roll with Gavin/Malik primary.

Ware: needs to be our leading scorer. He's outstanding on the offensive end with a great mid-range game. I really think he could thrive in pick and roll. Defensively it's hard b/c he's a little slow footed and he's also the one guy offensively we can't afford to lose to foul trouble. He has to play 34 min a night. For the first 30 minutes we just need him to get in the way and not get abused for easy layups. Then block out and rebound.

Malik: has the high ceiling but he's much rawer than I was hoping he would be. However, you can see some of the elite athleticism it just needs to be channeled. Sometimes he goes to AAU mode still on both ends. Howland needs to convince Malik that if he doesn't at least start trying some on defense it's going to hurt his NBA stock. Heck, find a scout to say it to his face. On offense scouts want to their PG do more than pull up for NBA 3's. Show me you can run a pick and roll and get it to the big, get to the hole or pull up from 12 feet.

Sword: Overall maybe our most important player and here's why. Howland needs to make it his team and let him take the leadership mantle and ask him to show that on the court by being vocal and emotional. Convince Sword to be our Tony Allen. Really get him to buy into the fact that we're putting him on the other teams best guard and you want him to take pride in limiting that guy and being aggressive in passing lanes and generating steals. He is the only guy I think is athletic enough to do that now. If he could do that we could get away with a little bit of man defense in games. His offense needs to come from backside custs and getting to the basket when he catches the defense rotating. When Ware is out I'd also like to see us post him up some against smaller guards like Seattle used to do with Gary Payton.

Weatherspoon: Keep him developing like his is now. The spot up guy that can occasionally put it on the floor. I think he's going to eventually have an outstanding all court offensive game but it's still developing. I think with some more effort he can also be a solid defender. I want him to become a Timmy Bowers type for us

Ready: needs to be on the second unit to provide some scoring punch there b/c it's clear he's got a green light and plans on chunking it this season. It's more useful when Malik and Gavin aren't in though. Personally I think he needs to tone it down a touch and quit trying to be Chris Paul/Westbrook. Most night we need 8-10 out of him but need it to be efficient. He's a good foul shooter and has the ball handling to get in the lane so focus on breaking down the defense to set up the teammates while taking the occasional 3. On defense tell him to be aggressive. He's getting schooled there anyway so take more chances and try to genrates steals.

Daniels and Zup: Basically the same player except Daniels is a better passer. They are merely stretch 4 spot up guys we hope can knock down some 3's.

Holman/Staley: who knows. Both offer some upsides. Holman is supposed to be great passer and Staley was a big prospect in basketball as well. Hoping either can play a little defense.

Thomas: can still be a defensive specialist somewhat but to me he's always been basically an average defender. He's just looked above average b/c everyone around him was below average. He's our second best guy though. Anything we get out of him on offense is a bonus

Ndoye: can only be used in spot duty against bigger centers. He's just got to learn positioning and how to use those long arms to do something other than hack people.

[chef dixon]

Even though our results have been sketchy thus far, it's pretty evident from watching we are a better team right now than at any point during the Ray era.

We are still finding our rhythm but kinks are getting worked out. I wish out next game wasn't 10 days from now but it gives us some good practice and rest time.

[mparkerfd20]

Any way you slice it Malik has been a bust so far as a one and done. I'm not gonna make excuses for him. He hasn't looked like a 2 and done player even yet. He can... I think, but he hasn't. At this point I'm more excited about Q.

[Irondawg]

We are better offensively but worse defensively so hard to say right now how much btter overall we are. If we can make a jump in defense then we're a lot better than last year.

[bulldawg28]

Malik appears he'd rather shoot an open 3 than drive to the basket.

[KentuckyDawg13]

Malik is still obviously not 100%. Watch any of his AAU highlights, once he gets going it will transfer well to college ball.

Gavin has really surprised me in terms of his skillset and new/improved hops. Wow.

Q is the big surprise so far...he is our best freshman currently.

Sword needs to step up and just do it. He is trying to give up some of his leadership to others, just do it.

Daniels is finally playing like I thought he would last season.

Fred is still being a fred. WTH. His shot still looks like crap.

I.J. has improved. Some of his crossovers/layups are sweet. Makes dumb moves though when he goes into Jordan-mode.

Johnny Z, haven't been impressed.

Ndoye, sigh.

[Dawg-gone-dawgs]

they will in SEC play

[cheat2win]

Malik is looking more comfortable by the game, excited to see where he is by SEC play.

[CarolinaDawgs]

Any way you slice it Malik has been a bust so far as a one and done. I'm not gonna make excuses for him. He hasn't looked like a 2 and done player even yet. He can... I think, but he hasn't. At this point I'm more excited about Q.

NaCl

Its the chemical formula for Salt... Looks like you are producing it through a keyboard.

[Liverpooldawg]

From what I have seen this team is just a slightly better version of what we had last year. I think it will get some better when the freshmen find their feet in the college game but you don't go from what we were to a tourney team in one year, even if you do sign a one and done and a couple of other good ones.

[Political Hack]

We're getting better. Need more focus on defense and rebounding. Right now, Howland needs to "buy minutes" with some outside the box thinking on defense. If he could steal a few minutes in each half with an exotic zone, it would disrupt team's offensive flow. They go on a run, exchange defenses. We can play anything well, but we can at least make the other team re-set once they get rolling. E.g., throw a box and one on them with Fred covering their best shooter. It'll take them two times down the court to even realize what's going on. That's 2-3 minutes of "stolen defense" right there.

Offensively, we look really good. Ware is lights out. Shooting 79%+ from the floor is unreal. Q, Chicken, Makik, and IJ are going to get buckets. Daniels and Zupp can clean up some too.

I think we're going to get progressively better as the year goes on and we'll end up upsetting a decent team or two late in the season. Would be nice to hit a good run in the SEC Tournament, but we have no chance at that realistically. NIT would be a great start for this team, get the younger guys some more tournament experience, extra practice reps, and get them ready to make a push next year.

[djaymsu5]

A way to fix this teams attitude and change the perception of the Ray years players is to get rid of them. The seniors need to hurry up and graduate and Ready and Ndoye or however you spell his name needs to be gone. Simple as that! I mean let them go after the season of course. The only one I would keep would be Ready. All of Rays players just suck there is no easy way to put it. We need all new players with better IQ's and awareness for the game. All of these new guys will have that and you'll be surprised at how far ahead all of Howlands recruits are as far as awareness. The speed of the game will slow down much faster with them and once those freshman next year buy in we are gonna be a very good team. I say by 2017 season this team will be making some noise. Possibility next year but not banking on it. 2017 will be a fun year! Gonna take some time boys. It took a few years for Schaefer to instill his ways and recruit but look how good the women's team is now.

[Dawg61]

From what I have seen this team is just a slightly better version of what we had last year. I think it will get some better when the freshmen find their feet in the college game but you don't go from what we were to a tourney team in one year, even if you do sign a one and done and a couple of other good ones.

We are way better offensively. Watch how we space it and pass. Our passing has improved drastically.

[PSYCHO(thesis)DEFENSE]

If I could force one skill onto this team it would be blocking out. The second-chance points have been the most frustrating thing for me. If we're not going to play great defense at least don't let them get it back every other time they miss!

Daniels showing some toughness & willingness to crash the boards this season has been the most pleasant surprise for me. Averaging 5.4 reb so he still needs to get that up around 7-8 but this year he seems a lot more willing to do the dirty work down low. Has shown a good shot selection & he's sitting at .500 on his 3 pt shot - so if we can keep getting efficient shots & rebounds, I'm happy w/ Daniels. Despite his lapses in basketball awareness.

Zupp is shooting .500 too & is usually pretty discerning with his shot, but if he continues to be the biggest defensive liability on the team we gotta get more out of him than 3.4 rebounds to justify playing him more than 10 minutes. I really hope he never meets Ben Simmons 1 on 1.

Main thing that's stood out watching Malik is that he hasn't tried his mid-range game hardly at all. The only times I watched him play was for the 17U Team USA, & I thought his go-to move was drive to the top of the key, create space, and hit the pull up jumper. IDK how much is him & how much is Howland, but I haven't seen him do it once this year.

[tcdog70]

Ok here it is, Newman is hurt, he has a steal plate in his shoe. When he gets well , then we can get on His ass. Till then how about let's give Him the benefit of the doubt. I think by January Him, Ware and the Chicken will be. Three headed Monster.