Watching our MBB team is like watching Groundhog Day...

[maroonmania]

you basically relive the same game over and over. :(

[Dawg61]

Our defense sucks. We are fine offensively but yea we give up baskets over and over like it's groundhog day. Especially in the paint. One pick and a cut and dude is always wide open down low. Every. Single. Time.

[WSOPdawg]

you basically relive the same game over and over. :(

Truer words have never be spoken. You must spread some rep around before giving it to maroonmania again.

[MarketingBully]

Our defense sucks. We are fine offensively but yea we give up baskets over and over like it's groundhog day. Especially in the paint. One pick and a cut and dude is always wide open down low. Every. Single. Time.

We played like we were capable of in the second half against UK. We outscored them 42-31 in the second half. We just dug ourselves too big a hole to climb out of. This season all depends on Howland though IMO. Will he finally understand that an Ado Holman front court is not the answer. Will he start playing our best five down the stretch? Will Woodard’s minutes really increase? If Howland decreases Holman’s minutes down to 5-10, we can reach our potential as a team. I do agree with the Perry 30+ Woodard 20+ Holman 5-10 rule. I think that is a combination we can win with especially the next 5 games. Holman is such a liability on defense it’s not even debatable.

[BB30]

Agreed, if we play our best 5-6 including more minutes for Carter this team has a chance to make a run. There is a different energy when those guys are in there. That group can play with anyone in the country.

My opinion on Howland is this. The guy has dug us out of a huge hole. We are just about back to where stansbury had us. Let’s get in the tourney and see how we do. He has earned a couple more seasons in my book just for how far we have come in 4 years. It seems like some of you don’t remember how bad we really were in the Rick Ray era. I do, it was absolutely atrocious.

The hump is finally starting to get the energy back and we seem to be on the right track in my opinion. Perry is the best recruit he has landed by far. If we can continue to add pieces like him and Woodard to the puzzle we will be extremely tough.

Some of y’all are looking for the instant gratification that you complain about millennials always wanting. Sit back and let him build the program back. We are in good hands with him and I think some of y’all will be surprised how this team finishes the season.

[MarketingBully]

Anyone close to the program know what’s up with Holman? Seriously he’s a much worse player then he was pre-Christmas break. Hope the kid is okay. He’s throwing any sort of possible career he could have had in basketball away imo. I think a lot of our issues in the SEC could be traced back to his lack of defense and Howland continuing to play him. Yesterday was another example. His minutes he was in against Kentucky is when we played like shit the first half and when he played with little effort to start the second half Howland sat him the rest of the game. What happened then? We went on a 19-2 run and got back in the game.

[Dawg61]

I think Howland is attempting to save Holman's slim NBA chances by not totally dropping all his minutes.

[MarketingBully]

I think Howland is attempting to save Holman's slim NBA chances by not totally dropping all his minutes.

It’s making him look like an idiot. I’d rather not play Holman if it’s costing me wins. The South Carolina, Ole Miss, and LSU losses all were impacted by Holman’s lack of defensive effort. We’d have 2-3 more wins easy in the SEC if Holman just hadn’t played.

[tcdog70]

I think Howland is attempting to save Holman's slim NBA chances by not totally dropping all his minutes.

Best option for Arich, is when he is on court play a zone--his Man skills and effort suck.

[MarketingBully]

Best option for Arich, is when he is on court play a zone--his Man skills and effort suck.

Our length screams zone if you play Ado and Holman together but Howland is a strict man to man guy. He hasn’t played much zone in his career. I think the only time he considered zone was his first year here when our man to man was so bad he had to think about zone.

[MarketingBully]

Anyone close to the program know what’s up with Holman? Seriously he’s a much worse player then he was pre-Christmas break. Hope the kid is okay. He’s throwing any sort of possible career he could have had in basketball away imo. I think a lot of our issues in the SEC could be traced back to his lack of defense and Howland continuing to play him. Yesterday was another example. His minutes he was in against Kentucky is when we played like shit the first half and when he played with little effort to start the second half Howland sat him the rest of the game. What happened then? We went on a 19-2 run and got back in the game.

I went back and looked at the stats before Christmas break and after. There is definitely something going on. You don’t have that kind of dropoff unless a severe injury happened or something happened. He’s definitely not the same player and it’s his senior year. It makes absolutely no sense. I really think something is going on with Holman. It just makes no sense otherwise.

[Dawg61]

I went back and looked at the stats before Christmas break and after. There is definitely something going on. You don’t have that kind of dropoff unless a severe injury happened or something happened. He’s definitely not the same player and it’s his senior year. It makes absolutely no sense. I really think something is going on with Holman. It just makes no sense otherwise.

Someone posted a pic of him with a nice looking lady the other day. Looked like it's his GF. Maybe Holman is in love and just doesn't wanna 17 with basketball anymore. He wouldn't be the first not to pursue a career in it.

[maroonmania]

Someone posted a pic of him with a nice looking lady the other day. Looked like it's his GF. Maybe Holman is in love and just doesn't wanna 17 with basketball anymore. He wouldn't be the first not to pursue a career in it.

Holman is in a relationship with former WBB player Katara Chapel and has been for well over a year.

[maroonmania]

Just feels like with our men's team, when we play a really good team, that no matter what happens in the first 37 minutes of play it just comes back again and again to last few minutes where we can't do the things needed to win a close game and we lose by ~4 points. Either we can't make a basket, can't make a stop, can't make a free throw, turn the ball over, etc. Basically whatever it takes for us to come up a little short.

[MCsMGs]

It’s making him look like an idiot. I’d rather not play Holman if it’s costing me wins. The South Carolina, Ole Miss, and LSU losses all were impacted by Holman’s lack of defensive effort. We’d have 2-3 more wins easy in the SEC if Holman just hadn’t played.

The South Carolina, Ole Miss and LSU losses also had another thing in common...Peters missed a layup at the end of regulation in each of those games which would had ended them.

[msstate7]

The South Carolina, Ole Miss and LSU losses also had another thing in common...Peters missed a layup at the end of regulation in each of those games which would had ended them.

This is perhaps the only thing you've ever posted I even construe as negative. Don't let us rub off on you haha

[MarketingBully]

The South Carolina, Ole Miss and LSU losses also had another thing in common...Peters missed a layup at the end of regulation in each of those games which would had ended them.

Agreed but Peters is Peters. Where we have been screwed hard is that Holman’s play has gone to shit. He’s gone from an average defender to a rancid defender and his offensive game has slowly followed suit as well. Holman allowed Kotzar 25 points on at least 5-6 wide open 8 foot shots in the South Carolina game. He also allowed Hinson to go off for 26 points in the Ole Miss game. He allowed a bevy of offensive put backs in both the Alabama and LSU games and was subsequently benched once UK went up 18 in the second half and never came back in the game. After that, we made a furious comeback only to come up short. He was benched like that against Ole Miss in Oxford and we came back and won. I imagine Howland is going to get his head out of his ass at some point and do the same thing Tuesday if Holman doesn’t play defense. Howland said Tuesday is must win. Let’s see if he coaches like it and puts the best players out there down the stretch.

[HoopsDawg]

Agreed but Peters is Peters. Where we have been screwed hard is that Holman’s play has gone to shit. He’s gone from an average defender to a rancid defender and his offensive game has slowly followed suit as well. Holman allowed Kotzar 25 points on at least 5-6 wide open 8 foot shots in the South Carolina game. He also allowed Hinson to go off for 26 points in the Ole Miss game. He allowed a bevy of offensive put backs in both the Alabama and LSU games and was subsequently benched once UK went up 18 in the second half and never came back in the game. After that, we made a furious comeback only to come up short. He was benched like that against Ole Miss in Oxford and we came back and won. I imagine Howland is going to get his head out of his ass at some point and do the same thing Tuesday if Holman doesn’t play defense. Howland said Tuesday is must win. Let’s see if he coaches like it and puts the best players out there down the stretch.

Villanova in the national championship game played 7 guys. And their number 7 guy only played 16 minutes. Can someone pass this on to Howland? I would consider Ado to be our guy to get the 16 minutes.

[Dawg61]

Villanova in the national championship game played 7 guys. And their number 7 guy only played 16 minutes. Can someone pass this on to Howland? I would consider Ado to be our guy to get the 16 minutes.

No that'd be Holman cause Woodard is definitely top 7.

Peters
Q
Nick
Perry
Ado
Carter
Woodard

I'm fine with your 7 guy strategy this year

[HoopsDawg]

No that'd be Holman cause Woodard is definitely top 7.

Peters
Q
Nick
Perry
Ado
Carter
Woodard

I'm fine with your 7 guy strategy this year

I think you mis-interpreted. Holman is my number 8.

[MCsMGs]

This is perhaps the only thing you've ever posted I even construe as negative. Don't let us rub off on you haha

How is that negative? It is a fact...Howland has been taken to task and questioned a lot here and while the buck stops with him, I don't agree with most of the criticism of him. Holman's woes are well documented and have been discussed extensively and correctly for the most part. Often a coach has to make a judgement call on balancing letting a player "play through" a slump and the immediate negative consequences of playing him. This could be viewed as an investment in the balance of the season verses the immediate damage done by playing him. Many here were complaining earlier this year when Perry and Woodard were getting minutes and stinking up the court...I made the comment then that those minutes were an investment for SEC play. Looks like that was a good call by Howland to me. Peters is by far the most inconsistent player on this team and he is at the one position(no pun intended) where no team can afford inconsistent play and be successful at a high level. We have players that can take up Holman's slack...we don't have anyone who has Peter's skill sets to replace him with.

[HoopsDawg]

How is that negative? It is a fact...Howland has been taken to task and questioned a lot here and while the buck stops with him, I don't agree with most of the criticism of him. Holman's woes are well documented and have been discussed extensively and correctly for the most part. Often a coach has to make a judgement call on balancing letting a player "play through" a slump and the immediate negative consequences of playing him. This could be viewed as an investment in the balance of the season verses the immediate damage done by playing him. Many here were complaining earlier this year when Perry and Woodard were getting minutes and stinking up the court...I made the comment then that those minutes were an investment for SEC play. Looks like that was a good call by Howland to me. Peters is by far the most inconsistent player on this team and he is at the one position(no pun intended) where no team can afford inconsistent play and be successful at a high level. We have players that can take up Holman's slack...we don't have anyone who has Peter's skill sets to replace him with.

pretty good post, but Nick and Carter can hold down the backcourt.

[MCsMGs]

Agreed but Peters is Peters.

So...he gets a pass?

I don't disagree with you on Holman, but he isn't the only reason we lost those games. Free throws for one, were as ugly as Holman's defense and a 70% effort at the line would have won those games too.

[MarketingBully]

So...he gets a pass?

I don't disagree with you on Holman, but he isn't the only reason we lost those games. Free throws for one, were as ugly as Holman's defense and a 70% effort at the line would have won those games too.

My point is Peters hasn’t shown any type of consistency throughout his career at State so why should we think he starts now? Holman has now also become inconsistent. We have more replacements for him then we do Peters and there’s more upside if Peters finally gets it going vs Holman. We absolutely can’t however play both of them through this slump and my choice would be to severely limit Holman’s minutes then Peters. Just my opinion though.

[Dawg61]

I think you mis-interpreted. Holman is my number 8.

Yup I did. Thx for correcting me. Problem is we have guys that get into foul trouble all the time and Villanova didn't. Plus the refs call NCAA tourney games way different than regular season which allows a team like Villanova for only play 7 guys. Refs allow a lot more contact in postseason before calling fouls. I wish they called games like that all the time. It's so much more enjoyable to watch.

[KentuckyDawg13]

I made a comment earlier in the season that it looks like Holman is injured based on the way he runs. Obviously, if it is something he can still somewhat perform, but with the NBA draft approaching, I can see why Howland would want to keep it under wraps and try to play through it. Holman's gait is just not what it used to be.

[MCsMGs]

pretty good post, but Nick and Carter can hold down the backcourt.

Yeah...they can "hold down" the back court, but they don't have the skill set Lamar has. They don't have the same ability to penetrate off the dribble and break down a defense. Nick and Tyson are the type of players that benefit from Lamar's skills.