Sunday Morning Thoughts

[StarkVegasSteve]

Yesterday was bad and embarrassing. There?s no way around it. We were outplayed, outcoached, and outexecuted in every phase of the game. But I don?t think it is all doom and gloom now. I feel some clarity needs to be given to this, if you expected us to win yesterday or Tuesday then you were looking at things with maroon colored glasses. Both of those teams have legitimate shots to be in NOLA for the Final Four. However saying that:

1. After yesterday I?m tired of giving Howland excuses but right now we are not the best version of us. Tolu changes everything. He allows Garrison to roam in the mid post, he allows Iverson more opportunities of the pick and roll, and he?s a rebounding machine.

2. Now having said all that we have to be able to shoot the ball better. Garrison is going to have to start getting to his spot and getting the shot. If he is going to keep being timid then we need to let Javian start. I at least know he will be aggressive. We also need to get more action for Moore and Molinar to get open looks.

3. I thought if there was one bright spot yesterday it was Rocket attacking and getting to a spot and knocking it down. We need more of that.

4. We have to get Jeffries right. I have no clue what is going on with him but he is unplayable right now. Missed assignments, bad shots, costly TOs. I find it impossible to justify giving him minutes right now. Cam needs to be starting and we need to try and get Fountain going by getting him minutes that matter.

5. These next 7 games will decide our season. 4-3 or better and you give yourself a chance to get to The Dance. 3-4 or worse and Howland needs to be updating his resume.

[msstate7]

Net at #48.

We have to find a way to win 2 of the next 3.

South Carolina #95
At ark #45
Tenn #12

I've been very lenient with howland, but it's time now, no excuses... 2 of 3

ETA... and NET must absolutely figure in scoring difference even if they say they don't. We played Kentucky close, and moved up a spot. We got blew out by TT, and we dropped hard. Wonder if they said scoring margin doesn't factor in to keep teams from trying to run up the score.

[tcdog70]

2 and 13 are pitiful.they are killing us. Damn -Varnardo should have stayed..at least he defended and rebounded. DJ has a very low basketball IQ. Davis just isn’t very good.

[Quaoarsking]

ETA... and NET must absolutely figure in scoring difference even if they say they don't. We played Kentucky close, and moved up a spot. We got blew out by TT, and we dropped hard. Wonder if they said scoring margin doesn't factor in to keep teams from trying to run up the score.

It does include scoring margin, just not as an explicit variable. It's wrapped up in the offensive and defensive efficiency metrics.

(At least that's what I've understood from reading vague articles about the changes.)

[HoopsDawg]

2 and 13 are pitiful.they are killing us. Damn -Varnardo should have stayed..at least he defended and rebounded. DJ has a very low basketball IQ. Davis just isn’t very good.

Jarvis is 33 now. Even with the Covid year, prett sure his elgibilty is out.

[Dawgfan77]

Jarvis is 33 now. Even with the Covid year, prett sure his elgibilty is out.

Though that was funny as well

[msstate7]

Jarvis is 33 now. Even with the Covid year, prett sure his elgibilty is out.

I'm assuming tc was thinking of someone else. Ado?

[Coach34]

2 and 13 are pitiful.they are killing us. Damn -Varnardo should have stayed..at least he defended and rebounded. DJ has a very low basketball IQ. Davis just isn’t very good.

We sent Ado packing to open the lane up for Tolu. We knew we were bringing in Brooks to play the stretch 4 and give him a chance to show NBA scouts his ability to shoot from the perimeter.

It hasn’t worked out as Tolu has stayed hurt and Brooks can’t shoot consistently. But that was the plan

[R2Dawg]

Agree yesterday was a new low. One other thing besides Tolu not playing that affected us yesterday is the UK loss. That was a gut wrenching loss on the road in OT. We hit one FT we win that game.

Back on road at roughest home court advantage in college basketball is a tall order. We played like we were spent mentally.

Agree, time to put up or shut up now. Our season hangs in the balance.

[BeardoMSU]

We sent Ado packing to open the lane up for Tolu. We knew we were bringing in Brooks to play the stretch 4 and give him a chance to show NBA scouts his ability to shoot from the perimeter.

It hasn’t worked out as Tolu has stayed hurt and Brooks can’t shoot consistently. But that was the plan

Correct

[Commercecomet24]

We sent Ado packing to open the lane up for Tolu. We knew we were bringing in Brooks to play the stretch 4 and give him a chance to show NBA scouts his ability to shoot from the perimeter.

It hasn’t worked out as Tolu has stayed hurt and Brooks can’t shoot consistently. But that was the plan

This. If Tolu had been healthy all year we have a much better record. Brooks is boom or bust, he's gotta get better.

[klong-dog]

Having Ado would have been nice to anchor down the middle while all this time that Tolu has missed. 4-6pts/8-9rb/2-3b would be nice for this team.

[Leeshouldveflanked]

Having Ado would have been nice to anchor down the middle while all this time that Tolu has missed. 4-6pts/8-9rb/2-3b would be nice for this team.
Ado is averaging less than 3 pts 5 rebounds and 1.4 blocks a game at Cincinnati.

[msstate7]

Ado is averaging less than 3 pts 5 rebounds and 1.4 blocks a game at Cincinnati.

Hindsight and all, ado would help some, but we didn't plan on tolu being out most of the games. Also, it woulda been tough having to bench ado in his 8th season here

[maroonmania]

I don't post much about basketball because I have become quite apathetic to the sport. However, one thing that has been consistent under Howland is that whatever I think the team will do prior to the season record wise, we usually end up 4 to 5 games worse than that when the regular season plays out. I personally would rate Howland on a 10 scale as about a 7 as a recruiter (and that is bolstered by a slew of legacies that have been available during his tenure), and he and his staff at about a 3 as far as coaching and team preparation goes. Howland does what he does and never really adjusts to anything. Yes, I hope we make the NCAA tournament, but even if we do I would put our chances at no greater than about 5% that we would make it out of the first weekend. IMO we are a poorly coached basketball team and that has been the case for most of Howland's tenure. For a guy that has had the success he's had in his career, I was frankly very surprised to see how bad a game prep and floor coach he is at least at this stage. Regardless, we just play a very boring brand of vanilla basketball. Anyway, that's how I see it.

[msstate7]

I don't post much about basketball because I have become quite apathetic to the sport. However, one thing that has been consistent under Howland is that whatever I think the team will do prior to the season record wise, we usually end up 4 to 5 games worse than that when the regular season plays out. I personally would rate Howland on a 10 scale as about a 7 as a recruiter (and that is bolstered by a slew of legacies that have been available during his tenure), and he and his staff at about a 3 as far as coaching and team preparation goes. Howland does what he does and never really adjusts to anything. Yes, I hope we make the NCAA tournament, but even if we do I would put our chances at no greater than about 5% that we would make it out of the first weekend. IMO we are a poorly coached basketball team and that has been the case for most of Howland's tenure. For a guy that has had the success he's had in his career, I was frankly very surprised to see how bad a game prep and floor coach he is at least at this stage. Regardless, we just play a very boring brand of vanilla basketball. Anyway, that's how I see it.

We've only made it past the first weekend 3 times in our history, 2 since integration. 25 years ago was the last time.

[Leeshouldveflanked]

Dr. Ado

[maroonmania]

We've only made it past the first weekend 3 times in our history, 2 since integration. 25 years ago was the last time.

True, but many of the times we have made the tourney in the past 25 years I would have given us a much higher percentage chance of making the Sweet Sixteen, even though we didn't, than this year including Howland's previous NCAA trip. Just one of those deals where I feel like we would be better off with Howland recruiting but someone else actually coaching the team.

[msstate7]

True, but many of the times we have made the tourney in the past 25 years I would have given us a much higher percentage chance of making the Sweet Sixteen, even though we didn't, than this year including Howland's previous NCAA trip. Just one of those deals where I feel like we would be better off with Howland recruiting but someone else actually coaching the team.

Fair enough