I'll try not to get "too high" off a 6 point home loss, but it was a close loss to a Top 10 team and it was closer than the final score suggests. If there is one thing I've learned during CJPs time here, it's ya never know what to expect. I've seen Pastner teams beat LVille twice in one year, hang with #1 Florida...just to turn around and lose to a horrible Houston team and get blown out at home by UConn in the AAC tourney.

I say all that to say this...temper expectations. I was darn proud with how we played, but would it shock anyone if we lay an egg in the coming weeks? Im not bashing CJP here, lots of coaches have some explaining to do today (Gregg Marshall, Tony Bennett, Bruce Pearl, etc.) It happens...

I'm simply saying let's wait and see before we go off the deep end...

I think this team plays hard and likes one another. I think we have an identity for the first time in a long time (fast paced/scrappy). Our first 7 players are good enough to put us in the NCAA tourney conversation if we continue to play well. Add in Marshall and Martin for spot minutes and we have enough...the question is, will it all come to fruition?

D. Lawson looked amazing, but hes a freshman...that proverbial "wall" is lurking. Cant expect that kind of performance every night. Also...quick shoutout to Woodson. Hes a HUGE X-factor if he can shoot like that. Tarrant and Shaq had off games, IMO...theyre the keys to the entire season. IF they play well more nights than not, while the role players do their job, we are a real sleeper IMO!

But like I said, we will just have to wait and see...

GTG

Good points.

I have been noting for some time that despite the dire results of the "predict the season" thread, Memphis will likely field a roster with more talent than all but two or three teams this entire season.

Dedric was amazing in that he never really looked like he was pressing the action. He put up a couple threes too quickly, but they were in the flow of the offense. He has a great nose for the ball on the boards...he has that instinct that can't be taught.

KJ will be fine. He played out of control a lot. It was interesting to see how much leeway he got. I'm sure it's tough for Josh, because KJ played about the same as Kuran played (in terms of being wild) and we know how quick of a leash Josh had with KI.

I do think the game will "slow down" for KJ and actually getting to play minutes and get real game action will speed up the learning curve tremendously.

Burrell needs to play more. Period.

Memphis needs to find a way to make Woodson one of those nba-types who sits on a spot on the court and gets catch and shoot opportunities. He isn't much of a driver, but when he shoots with his feet under him he is money.

Shaq--I dunno. A Senior should not be waving the crowd to boo a ref after a tic-tac third foul. Anyone with half a brain knew what was going to happen next. He is one of the most enigmatic players Memphis has ever had.

Markel looks great from a physical standpoint. I liked the way he was working inside some.

Tarrant-After the L-O game, people were raving about him but I am still waiting after seeing him vs. USM and OU.

Josh--did a nice job yesterday. My only real beef was leaving a Dedric (a frosh) in the game after he picked up #3 with a lot of time left in the 2nd half. Of course, Dedric quickly picked up #4 and had to spend a good chunk of time on the bench.

The move to zone was smart, but it wasn't some genius move, I think most armchair observers knew that once Shaq and Dedric had four fouls that the zone was the only way to go. His best "strategic" move was one that was implemented by sheer necessity.

This team should be able to win every OOC game. The game vs. tOSU will be a toss-up and the game @USCe may see the Tigers as a slight dog, but they will be heavy favorites in all other OOC games.

Woodson showed (finally) why he gets minutes last night. I still don't think he's ideal as a starter. But he played harder last night, maybe due to his being in far better shape this year. He really hustled.

I don't think I remembered Tarrant being that quick. Nice player.

I like Markel's minutes at the 3. It allows him to use his athleticism.

Burrell either looks like Michael Jordan or Mr. Ed. Seems to be very little "in between" for him.

I keep thinking it's all going to come together for Shaq. Hasn't yet. That million dollar smile will only carry us so far.

D Lawson can be a monster in our league. Nuff said.

Martin needs to settle down, but I think we'll get good spot minutes from him eventually.

Marshall looked lost. We need that to change, and soon. How I wish we had one more big man and one less left-handed combo guard on the bench!

KJ looked out of synch. Really glad we've got enough depth to let him gradually work into things. I think he might also be able to provide help at the 4.

The team looked motivated, and looked like they were having fun. Maybe it's me, but I don't think I really saw that last season. Josh APPEARS to have matured as a coach. As in, maybe he's listening to his assistants more. I could be wrong about that.

I thought our team looked more talented than OU. We have a lot of length.

Fair assessments above. I am also taking the wait and see approach, but I actually have some hope after last night's game. Good job by our staff and players. Plenty of things to correct, but it appears that we at least have a solid foundation on which to build something.

The amazing thing about Dedric is that he just turned 18 in October. If he wouldn't have reclassified he could have possibly been a top 10 player.

Work out some of the kinks in the next 2 games and then beat Ohio State and we should be able to roll through the schedule until @UConn in January.

Shooting is going to likely be our nemesis this year.

I agree that the shooting looks suspect right now. Hopefully, that will improve. When outside shots aren't falling, I'd like to see us drive it to the rim more and post up some of our guards like we did on a few occasions last night instead of continuing to jack 3's.

Last night was fun...

But they played our style...Need to see how well we play against a team that knows they cannot run with us and lets the air out of the ball.

We looked much better than last year. I don't think OU is a top 10 team, though.

Free throws killed us

If the team struggles with shooting in a particular game then the focus all the more should be emphasized on the defensive pressure in getting the 50-50 balls and using the players length to create turnovers...ie steals. When they are on the fast break I doubt there is hardly any team that can stop them from dunking or layups. All the players immediately turn and run down the court whenever there is an steal, I like that instinct.

After watching DLawson last night, I get a better idea of why Nichols packed his bags and headed for Virginia. He was going to be relegated to second chair big man, and his NBA stock was going to suffer. Daddy did not want that to happen.

(11-18-2015 12:34 PM)mapdude Wrote:  After watching DLawson last night, I get a better idea of why Nichols packed his bags and headed for Virginia. He was going to be relegated to second chair big man, and his NBA stock was going to suffer. Daddy did not want that to happen.

I think you more probably closer to the truth than what others said were the 'real' reasons he left during the summer.

(11-18-2015 10:50 AM)holyterror Wrote:  Woodson showed (finally) why he gets minutes last night. I still don't think he's ideal as a starter. But he played harder last night, maybe due to his being in far better shape this year. He really hustled.

I don't think I remembered Tarrant being that quick. Nice player.

I like Markel's minutes at the 3. It allows him to use his athleticism.

Burrell either looks like Michael Jordan or Mr. Ed. Seems to be very little "in between" for him.

I keep thinking it's all going to come together for Shaq. Hasn't yet. That million dollar smile will only carry us so far.

D Lawson can be a monster in our league. Nuff said.

Martin needs to settle down, but I think we'll get good spot minutes from him eventually.

Marshall looked lost. We need that to change, and soon. How I wish we had one more big man and one less left-handed combo guard on the bench!

KJ looked out of synch. Really glad we've got enough depth to let him gradually work into things. I think he might also be able to provide help at the 4.

The team looked motivated, and looked like they were having fun. Maybe it's me, but I don't think I really saw that last season. Josh APPEARS to have matured as a coach. As in, maybe he's listening to his assistants more. I could be wrong about that.

For me, that was they key takeaway. I'm with you that last year I don't think I saw that once, everything looked forced, like they were just going through the motions.

(11-18-2015 12:34 PM)mapdude Wrote:  After watching DLawson last night, I get a better idea of why Nichols packed his bags and headed for Virginia. He was going to be relegated to second chair big man, and his NBA stock was going to suffer. Daddy did not want that to happen.

LMAO

We don't have a ton of size. But we're long and athletic enough to cause problems on defense and get out in transition. We're also young enough where we make a lot of mistakes in the half court.

On offense, I don't know any other way to put it, but we've looked more cohesive than in past years. We also have too many guys that don't shoot well from three who like to take three point shots. I'm not sure anyone but Woodson should be taking one with more than 10 seconds on the clock. A couple of early three point shots killed us end of game (though one of those was Woodson) down one with a chance to take the lead. Dedric should have got the ball to drive for a basket/foul/and-1 there.

I think if teams can keep from turning the ball over against us that we may start to have a lot of trouble if we can't find more outside shooting.

It's a bit early to start chalking us into the tournament. We've got a couple of tune up games against Grambling and UT-Austin before we get Ohio State (who've already taken care of Grambling 82-55 themselves) next Friday. They're outside of the top 25. We'll see what happens in that game.

(11-18-2015 01:29 PM)Briskbas Wrote:  We don't have a ton of size. But we're long and athletic enough to cause problems on defense and get out in transition. We're also young enough where we make a lot of mistakes in the half court.

On offense, I don't know any other way to put it, but we've looked more cohesive than in past years. We also have too many guys that don't shoot well from three who like to take three point shots. I'm not sure anyone but Woodson should be taking one with more than 10 seconds on the clock. A couple of early three point shots killed us end of game (though one of those was Woodson) down one with a chance to take the lead. Dedric should have got the ball to drive for a basket/foul/and-1 there.

I think if teams can keep from turning the ball over against us that we may start to have a lot of trouble if we can't find more outside shooting.

It's a bit early to start chalking us into the tournament. We've got a couple of tune up games against Grambling and UT-Austin before we get Ohio State (who've already taken care of Grambling 82-55 themselves) next Friday. They're outside of the top 25. We'll see what happens in that game.

(11-18-2015 12:34 PM)mapdude Wrote:  After watching DLawson last night, I get a better idea of why Nichols packed his bags and headed for Virginia. He was going to be relegated to second chair big man, and his NBA stock was going to suffer. Daddy did not want that to happen.

Shaq would've been the one relegated to second chair. Nichols and Lawson would be in the front court together and would be a load to handle.

(11-18-2015 02:29 PM)MemphisCanes Wrote:  

(11-18-2015 12:34 PM)mapdude Wrote:  After watching DLawson last night, I get a better idea of why Nichols packed his bags and headed for Virginia. He was going to be relegated to second chair big man, and his NBA stock was going to suffer. Daddy did not want that to happen.

Shaq would've been the one relegated to second chair. Nichols and Lawson would be in the front court together and would be a load to handle.

I think you are right. All 3 are roughly the same size/build, but Shaq's skill set is not as good.

(11-18-2015 02:29 PM)MemphisCanes Wrote:  

(11-18-2015 12:34 PM)mapdude Wrote:  After watching DLawson last night, I get a better idea of why Nichols packed his bags and headed for Virginia. He was going to be relegated to second chair big man, and his NBA stock was going to suffer. Daddy did not want that to happen.

Shaq would've been the one relegated to second chair. Nichols and Lawson would be in the front court together and would be a load to handle.

Yeah. Nichols and Lawson with Shaq coming off the bench sounds like one of them good problems to have.