Frustrating loss?? Let?s Talk

[Dawgcap]

We are what we are. Talented team who straight got out worked by Kentucky. The thing is I see an upcoming attitude change kind of like what I saw from UK after Auburn loss.
Tonight was honestly a hope and pray win! Some didn?t pray enough!! Haha But bottom line we aren?t hurt by this. The problem to me is how this team regroups. We are talented but the immaturity is showing. Talented players expecting instead of demanding. We looked like Kentucky against Auburn, expecting instead of demanding a win.
Bottom line we have so much talent and I think now we got brought back to earth after 5 straight in the SEC. And on national tv. Attitudes have to change, pouting over a bad night has to go, these guys have to do the simplest thing and trust each other and give effort from here on out.
It?s game time. I?m actually excited because we never shot well enough to win against UK but I bet we do to finish. 7-2 to finish

[Cooterpoot]

I saw the same Ben Howland coaching. The same inadequate offense that's his trademark. Plus, we got out hustled.
Throw in the usual SEC home court advantage and normal UK non-calls and you get what we see every year for the most part.

[Cowbell]

I saw the same Ben Howland coaching. The same inadequate offense that's his trademark. Plus, we got out hustled.
Throw in the usual SEC home court advantage and normal UK non-calls and you get what we see every year for the most part.

This is my take as well.

Thank you to whoever shut down the Player bashing thread started last night - my guess is Ari - that was completely uncalled for.

[chef dixon]

What's frustrating is we have one of the biggest, athletic and most physical rosters we will ever have and they absolutely dominated us near the rim and on 50/50 balls.

[Dawsonmsu]

Ben Howland has no clue when it comes to offense. It will be a long time before we have this much talent again. What a waste.

[KentuckyDawg13]

Really stupid post. Congrats.

[msstate7]

What's frustrating is we have one of the biggest, athletic and most physical rosters we will ever have and they absolutely dominated us near the rim and on 50/50 balls.

They're just as big and more athletic

[chef dixon]

They're just as big and more athletic

I never said they weren't. The whole point is this is about as good as we can expect to have here and we still got dominated.

[Joebob]

They're just as big and more athletic

Exactly. In fact, Richards looked bigger than Perry to me, though their stats list them the same.

Every time we play Kentucky, I realize we're not quite as big and athletic as we think we are, though we're comparing ourselves to one of the top blue bloods in the country.

[msudawglb]

If Weatherspoon and Perry hit 2 more shots apiece (they had a terrible percentage), then we are tied. And when Tyson has to play against a physical team, he gets tired and that affects his shot. He's just not strong enough.

[Ari Gold]

Ben Howland has no clue when it comes to offense. It will be a long time before we have this much talent again. What a waste.

There is the Basketball IQ ... ignorance

[Political Hack]

We shot awful in the first half and missed some free throws down the stretch and had difficulty guarding the best player in the SEC. on the road... against the best team in the SEC...

I had no problems losing this game. It's the earlier losses to crap schools that haunt me and will possibly cost us a tournament birth. Our last 10 better be 9-1 or 8-2 or else we're NIT bound.

[Commercecomet24]

We shot awful in the first half and missed some free throws down the stretch and had difficulty guarding the best player in the SEC. on the road... against the best team in the SEC...

I had no problems losing this game. It's the earlier losses to crap schools that haunt me and will possibly cost us a tournament birth. Our last 10 better be 9-1 or 8-2 or else we're NIT bound.

This. No excuse for those earlier losses, none. Nut cuttin time now.

[Prediction? Pain.]

I saw the same Ben Howland coaching. The same inadequate offense that's his trademark. Plus, we got out hustled.
Throw in the usual SEC home court advantage and normal UK non-calls and you get what we see every year for the most part.

No qualms on the hustling issue. That's no good at all. But over the course of the season, I feel like that's been an issue on defense more often than offense. Oddly, it seems like the big problem with this team -- other than its slow-start syndrome and playing down to a couple of teams in the non-conference -- is not that its offense is miserable but rather that it's lacking the defensive consistency of Howland's best teams back in the day. Last season, we finished 24th nationally in offensive efficiency (points per possession) and right now we're 18th. And the story's the same when the numbers are adjusted for strength of schedule. We finished the season at 13th nationally in Ken Pomeroy's opponent-adjusted offensive efficiency rankings and right now we're 14th. Those rankings -- assuming this year's holds -- are better than the best offense that Stansbury fielded in his last decade at State. (We were 18th nationally in Pomeroy's adjusted offensive efficiency in '04. A few other seasons we finished around ~40th under Stansbury. And then in all his others we were lower.) And you know how bad off we were when Howland got here? Rick Ray's three offenses per Ken Pom: 322nd, 262nd, and 245th. Woo hoo!

Now contrast Howland's offenses with his defenses. Here are our defensive efficiency ranks (opponents' points per possession) last year and this year: 149th and 137th in raw defensive efficiency, 61st and 102nd per Pomeroy's adjusted numbers. In his last two years at Pitt, Howland's teams were 14th and 2nd nationally in opponent-adjusted defensive efficiency. And in his decade at UCLA, he only had two teams that were lower than 100th in that category (his first team there and then the one in the '09-'10 season.)

The weird thing is, our defense was on track in his first three years here. From 93rd to 71st to 40th nationally. Hopefully he can get some more consistent defensive play out of the guys going forward this season. Because if we can pair a top 20 offense with even a a top 50 defense, we should be good to to.

[tcdog70]

I looked very closely--and I didn't see Ben miss any Lay-ups-dunks-wideass-open 3s or free throws. I didn't see Ben not block out on a crucial missed free throw. Sometimes you must blame the players. They acted shocked when the Refs didn't call fouls when they were pushed. Hell-you are at Rupp--that is what happens there. Only extremely tough minded players win at Rupp. So -going forward toughen up and make shots.

[WPDawg]

Frustrating to not get a big win but great experience for our team. The Richards kid was the obvious difference. Not just the points he scored , but his play on both ends with the confidence and demeanor is what our guys can learn from. KY man to man defense was probably as good as we have seen. They were physical and we did not do enough to create fouls. We need to work on our acting skills. KY gained some foul calls with some mini body flails or yells that I think the refs fall for.

Stewart showing again that he can be a scorer. Really need Carter to relax and just hit his open shots. If we have those two guys hitting from outside, we will be a tough draw. Again, a good experience to go through on the road. We played tough but lost some mental focus and got frustrated. This experience can allow for growth.

[BB30]

I never said they weren't. The whole point is this is about as good as we can expect to have here and we still got dominated.

Teams have bad games. We were playing at a place that we have only won at 5 times in the history of the sport. If you were expecting us to go in there and win by double digits against a team that is just as talented if not more on their home floor then your expectations are a little off base.

KY was coming off an embarrassing loss where they got out hustled and out physicalled(if thats a word). There was no doubt they were going to come out ready to roll. Just a tough night, it is going to happen in basketball. The team will bounce back fine.

[Ari Gold]

I looked very closely--and I didn't see Ben miss any Lay-ups-dunks-wideass-open 3s or free throws. I didn't see Ben not block out on a crucial missed free throw. Sometimes you must blame the players. They acted shocked when the Refs didn't call fouls when they were pushed. Hell-you are at Rupp--that is what happens there. Only extremely tough minded players win at Rupp. So -going forward toughen up and make shots.

Bingo...

[Ari Gold]

We shot awful in the first half and missed some free throws down the stretch and had difficulty guarding the best player in the SEC. on the road... against the best team in the SEC...

I had no problems losing this game. It's the earlier losses to crap schools that haunt me and will possibly cost us a tournament birth. Our last 10 better be 9-1 or 8-2 or else we're NIT bound.

12-6 is a lock and will prob be a 2 day bye
11-7 prob still gets you in and should
10-8 is trouble ( and even without loss to la tech or NM state it would be trouble ) will need a win , probably 2 in sec

[WPDawg]

12-6 is a lock and will prob be a 2 day bye
11-7 prob still gets you in and should
10-8 is trouble ( and even without loss to la tech or NM state it would be trouble ) will need a win , probably 2 in sec

Seems like early part of schedules for teams should not be "weighted" as heavily as latter part of schedule. Dont know if that is how it works in the formulas they have set for such a thing but if I am a coach, the pre-conference games are opportunities to develop a chemistry with a new team. Who plays better with who. What defenses or offenses work for some 5 man groups and not for others.

If I was selecting the best 64 teams, I would set a minimum win total to be eligible for the NCAA tournament. 18-20 + wins? Then take breakdown of the 18 best wins a team has and who you beat and weight that against everyone else's top 18 wins.

Don't think we would lose to either La tech or NM State if we played them this Saturday because we have evolved to a better team since December.