Men?s basketball against Lamar

[Lord McBuckethead]

No energy.

[MetEdDawg]

Howland is a horrible offensive coach. Absolutely awful. We have 31 points with 4 minutes left in the half at home against a team thats 1-6.

Absolutely ridiculous.

[RougeDawg]

No energy.

Was about to post the same thing. I?ve seen more exciting episodes of paint drying. We have tons of fast break opportunities and proceed to take a 1930?s, no jump shot, offensive approach.

I will say it still looks like the chemistry just isn?t there right now, with so many new players and guys coming back from injury. They still haven?t learned each other and the tendencies. Hopefully they start gelling soon. Don?t have many more games before the Sam Waltons come to town.

[Lord McBuckethead]

Hell, just go fast and make a cut to the basketball every so often. The damn weave at the top of the key is going to shut down in 80% of our conference games as always.

Can we just have one team that runs and is exciting?

[ZedFedder]

The talent on this team is evident. On offense, though, there is no flow and no rhythm. So many dumb errors. Howland's teams usually get better as the season goes on, so I hope that is the case, but he can coach offense about like I can stay on a diet.

Another thing that terribly bothers me about Howland is this: We came out of this game rolling. Offense looked great. What does he do at the first media timeout? He subs everyone but Molinar. Totally kills the rhythm. A good coach has a feel of what's going on. He is going to sub no matter what EVERY time there, and it kills me.

[preachermatt83]

Great recruiter. Awful in game coach.

[Lord McBuckethead]

A lot of people fire back real quick when you criticize Howland on our offensive approach this early in the season.

I don?t have any issue with the criticism, because we are seeing the same exact offensive failures year after year and it is manifesting itself like a bad rash this year yet again. We work a high ball screen, but never work the roll off the pick. When we drive to the basket we rarely get the open pass under the basket with our other post guy. Our transition offense is non-existent due to us playing slow slow slow.

I watch team after team that converts these points by moving without the ball and running set plays and picking defenders and meshing at the basket.

[maroonmania]

We play a very boring style of basketball. Only ever play man to man defense. Never press unless its in desperation. And we have no clue how to attack a zone defense. We have to be a very simple team to prepare for. We just do what we do and if it works it works, if not, oh well.

[KentuckyDawg13]

After reading this thread, most would think we lost.

Rocket coming back is good news despite the debbie downers here.

[msstate7]

Delete

[Johnson85]

We play a very boring style of basketball. Only ever play man to man defense. Never press unless its in desperation. And we have no clue how to attack a zone defense. We have to be a very simple team to prepare for. We just do what we do and if it works it works, if not, oh well.

I know not many coaches can change styles, but we have so much depth, I would love to see us press a good bit. At least work on it enough that it's an option when we play SEC teams that are short on ball handling, and tire them out some.

[sleepy dawg]

After reading this thread, most would think we lost.

Rocket coming back is good news despite the debbie downers here.

If the tournament started today, we'd be left out. Sure, there's plenty of time to get it together, but this is year 7 for Howland. This is the most talented team we've had in a long long time, but so far it looks like any other team we've had under Howland to this point, which is total mediocrity. There is plenty of reason to be frustrated right now. That doesn't mean we have no chance of being good, it just means so far we haven't been as good as we should've to this point, and that's disappointing.

[msstate7]

If the tournament started today, we'd be left out. Sure, there's plenty of time to get it together, but this is year 7 for Howland. This is the most talented team we've had in a long long time, but so far it looks like any other team we've had under Howland to this point, which is total mediocrity. There is plenty of reason to be frustrated right now. That doesn't mean we have no chance of being good, it just means so far we haven't been as good as we should've to this point, and that's disappointing.

We've literally just had 1 practice with all the team together. I'd give it a little time. We're 38th nationally in offensive efficiency, so hardly horrible. I'm sure the schedule has helped, but the last time howland had a team this level (2018-9), we were 24th.

Here's seasons in between this one and 2018 in offensive efficiency...

2019: 34th
2020: 167th

So yeah, last year was really bad, but the previous 2 were good, and this year seems to be on par with the good years.

https://www2.teamrankings.com/ncaa-basketball/stat/offensive-efficiency?date=2021-12-03

[smootness]

Howland's style will always be to slow it down, make it a little ugly, and play defense, at least when his teams are at their best. It's not ever all that fun to watch, but it is pretty successful.

We'll just have to see how this year plays out. If we barely make the Tournament or miss it, it's time to move on. But if we're as good as we can be, even if it's playing that style, then you just have to live with ugly games in which we come out on top most of the time.

[R2Dawg]

Great recruiter. Awful in game coach.

That is what he is, hard to get both I suppose.

[NCMSTFAN]

You guys do know we won right? We are 6-1, the team is finally fully healthy, we have 2 undefeated teams coming up in Minnesota and Colorado State which gives us a chance to build the resume. Yes Howland will be Howland but lets let the season progress a little further