(11-16-2011 01:05 PM)Buccaneerlover Wrote:  The only way for your bench to improve is for those guys to play against superior competition. You guys are flustered over the kid playing and guess what? He'll dump 35-40 on us and set career days in steals and rebounds. It's what you do.
Duke and Memphis are those games you're "supposed" to lose, so Coach Byrd is using to develop players for conference play.
In short, stop complaining when you've got the best team in the conference with the best coach! You could be in Kennesaw State's position.

I agree and disagree. Byrd develops players, and he's damn good at it. However, I think we should be of the mindset that there aren't games we're "supposed" to lose. We should be in it to win any and every game, because I think we really can. We're not "supposed" to lose to anyone by one point.

(11-16-2011 05:02 PM)SNIURB06 Wrote:  

(11-16-2011 01:05 PM)Buccaneerlover Wrote:  The only way for your bench to improve is for those guys to play against superior competition. You guys are flustered over the kid playing and guess what? He'll dump 35-40 on us and set career days in steals and rebounds. It's what you do.
Duke and Memphis are those games you're "supposed" to lose, so Coach Byrd is using to develop players for conference play.
In short, stop complaining when you've got the best team in the conference with the best coach! You could be in Kennesaw State's position.

I agree and disagree. Byrd develops players, and he's damn good at it. However, I think we should be of the mindset that there aren't games we're "supposed" to lose. We should be in it to win any and every game, because I think we really can. We're not "supposed" to lose to anyone by one point.

This is an interesting exchange that highlights the difference in coaching styles - short rotation for Murry, long one for Byrd. Quick hook for Murry, patience for Byrd.

Byrd's style is to give steady regular minutes, initially in small doses, to most of his players. He seems to continue this even if they make mistakes, allowing them to work their way through things. But their mistakes can cost you against good teams.

Murry goes with the hot hand. If a young guy does see the floor, he gets yanked quickly for freshman mistakes. If a young Jarvis Jones or Micah Williams missed that first 3, they usually got yanked. Same for a young Walton if he fouls. Sink the 3 and you get to stay. Look at Micah or Jarvis early years and you see a couple games where they got hot, and a lot of games where they mostly sat. Belmont's young guards tend to get regular doses of limited minutes. Or look at Adam Sollazzo's freshman year versus Drew Hanlen. Adam got streaks where he was handed the keys to the car, and streaks where he got nothing - Drew's time was pretty regular.

Murry's got several highly touted recruits (Wilson, Rembert, Walton) who rarely see the floor. We Buc fans would like to see more of them. But the young guys will make mistakes if they play.

It's interesting that Byrd's style can also cause some fan frustration.

It's very frustrating, but Coach Byrd also understands that even if Belmont had beaten Memphis and Duke, the only shot Belmont's got at the NCAA Tournament is to win the A-Sun Tournament. He's doing what Pat Summitt has done at Tennessee for 30 years. Plays a tough OOC schedule and works as many players through the rotation that he thinks can help him come conference play. And it does get frustrating, especially knowing you guys should've beat Duke but magically you'll see marked improvement out of these bench players in conference play. Belmont will win more games this season with that style than they lose. Also keep in mind you guys will most likely boatrace Stetson, KSU, Upstate and Gulf Coast, so there's eight games where Byrd will play probably a 10-12 players. In the grand scheme of saving minutes on your main guys legs, that's huge.
His system will drive you nuts, but he keeps winning 20 plus and getting into postseason tournaments. Next year will be even more fun, there will be some all out wars with Belmont, Murray State and Austin Peay. Bastards.

Overall I'm fine with how Byrd handles his rotation. But don't think he's going to work on getting Baker some extra minutes to save some legs later in the year at the expense of having a shot of getting a win over a top ten team. He's all about winning and if he can do both, he will. Look at the minutes in the Duke game. 8 players had double digit minutes and several had over 30.

He certainly tries to develop depth at the lower end of the roster, but as it relates to Baker, he's an experienced JR and has started a fair number of games. The frustration for most of us I think is the fact that he hasn't improved any. If he could make three's even semi consistently he would be significant threat because clearly teams are leaving him open. He brings energy, but not much quickness. That is our weakness this year. The 4 spot with Baker, Noack, and Jenkins not having shown much improvement between any of them and none of them can handle other 4's who have some quickness.

As for next year.....with no post player signed, things are going to look a whole lot different and we may be a run of the mill OVC team. But I do agree, there should be some good rivalries develop. I did hear recently that Northern KY is going to be joining the OVC soon.

I agree with BluBare. I'm fine with Byrd's system. However, I have not ever really liked Brandon Baker as a basketball player. While Byrd has tried to develop 100% of our roster, he has not had a problem having some people ride the bench when they don't reach their potential. Some examples are Jonny Rice, Big Mike, and to a lesser extent, Henry Harris in his senior year. For some reason, Byrd has always taken a liking to Brandon Baker. He has impressive size and he hustles harder than just about any other player we have. However, he often makes dumb decisions on the offensive end and immediately follows it up by fouling on the other end in an attempt to make up for his mistake. Unfortunately, size and hustle are no substitute for talent and I personally believe that Baker lacks the talent to make a positive impact against better teams.

The OVC isn't interested in expanding right now, apparently. I can't believe they wouldn't take North Alabama and Lipscomb, but I guess for the OVC to do what they really need it will require someone leaving (Jacksonville St/TSU).
TSU homecoming is the one time of the year I simply won't go anywhere near downtown.
Belmont will not be an average OVC team by the way, the OVC in the bottom half is REALLY BAD.

(11-17-2011 03:56 PM)Buccaneerlover Wrote:  The OVC isn't interested in expanding right now, apparently. I can't believe they wouldn't take North Alabama and Lipscomb, but I guess for the OVC to do what they really need it will require someone leaving (Jacksonville St/TSU).
TSU homecoming is the one time of the year I simply won't go anywhere near downtown.
Belmont will not be an average OVC team by the way, the OVC in the bottom half is REALLY BAD.

TSU's homecoming was last weekend, so you're safe. Until next year...

I saw in the paper. Two shootings this year and I forget how many arrests. I used to have to go in that area to service an account that had bars on the windows, and another where the person/product were both behind bulletproof glass.
I would hate it for ETSU because we'd be screwed, but I would like to see Lipscomb in the OVC with you guys. It would make for some damn good mid level wars in this area.
BTW, how long before you guys are hosting the OVC Tournament every year?

(11-17-2011 05:56 PM)Buccaneerlover Wrote:  I saw in the paper. Two shootings this year and I forget how many arrests. I used to have to go in that area to service an account that had bars on the windows, and another where the person/product were both behind bulletproof glass.
I would hate it for ETSU because we'd be screwed, but I would like to see Lipscomb in the OVC with you guys. It would make for some damn good mid level wars in this area.
BTW, how long before you guys are hosting the OVC Tournament every year?

Isn't the OVC tournament in the Miserable Auditorium every year?

(11-15-2011 08:38 PM)Bruin2002 Wrote:  

(11-15-2011 01:25 PM)BIGGESTTIGERJLB Wrote:  Great first half. Just about what I thought. Your boys will fight till the end and will come at us strong in the 2nd.

Btw, my son has an assistant coach at his school that played at Belmont and we really like Belmont as a destination for him to continue his basketball career. Hope to be a Bruin dad in three years.

With that said, today I'm a TIGER fanatic. GO TIGERS GO!!!

Big, who's the former player? We would love to see your son play. I graduated from there and my daughter is a student now. We love the school.

Andre Montgomery. If ya'll have any connections, let them know about him. He's a sophmore at Millington Central in 14AAA (where the state champion plays their district ball, Craigmont). Started some as a freshman last year. Had two 15pt games last year, in limited minutes. He'll start the rest of the way in his HS career. They had their first game Tuesday. He had 16pts, 3ast, 2rb. Should have had 3-4 more assists(players couldn't finish). His name, Jordan Browning (6ft, 175lbs)