(11-16-2016 10:15 PM)Rice93 Wrote:  

(11-16-2016 10:01 PM)WRCisforgotten79 Wrote:  This is exactly why I've urged people to "slow their roll" on this coaching staff. Frankly, a grade of "Incomplete" looks to be overly generous. But, I'm sure that the apologists are going to use the same excuses that, for them, are unforgivable when used by Bailiff (young team, we need to play more disciplined, this one's on me).

How about the level of talent on the team today compared to three years ago? It's pretty clear that the MBB level is heads and tails above 2013. How would you rate the football team?

This week, I have football at #123.

"Head and tails" is an apt description of the basketball program. It's a coin flip as to whether the team will play a horrible game.

unforced turnovers was the situation. Can't throw the ball away or make horrific dribble drives. Still believe and this will a game to learn from. Still very young, But Douglas and Quez probably best two big men since Yamar and Michael 14 years ago.

Tough loss as we up our aspirations in hoops. No doubt we were outplayed, outcoached and outlasted in that close contest. It was still much more fun to watch than anything I've seen since Mike Harris laced up.

I would say having played many seasons at different levels new teams don't gel in hoops until after 10-15 games, unlike football I think there really is an allowed (pre-season) break in phase fair or unfair, especially in a conference where only the tourney champ may go dancing.

To compare our leash with DB after a decade (1st year had a bowl team) and MR 2 games into season 3 with nothing in the pantry is unfair to me. The difference being that MR has 1) a strategy and purpose on both ends of the court, 2) has laid out how we get there and 3) has his troops and will now make it happen or won't...let's give him one single stanza.

And just to not flame the DB thing, love the man but in coaching as well as academia (ahem Dr. L) things get stale and go rotten.

I can't wait until DB is fired. Mainly because we can stop dragging him into threads that he doesn't belong in and hopefully some of the unnecessary negativity will stop.

(11-16-2016 10:59 PM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  I can't wait until DB is fired. Mainly because we can stop dragging him into threads that he doesn't belong in and hopefully some of the unnecessary negativity will stop.

Of course, as has usually been the case, it was WRC and NOT a DB hater who brought up the comparison to DB and the football program. IMO, it's a ridiculous comparison.

(11-16-2016 10:59 PM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  I can't wait until DB is fired. Mainly because we can stop dragging him into threads that he doesn't belong in and hopefully some of the unnecessary negativity will stop.

I didn't want to man, I've stayed out in all the FB threads despite attending every home game for 22 years, but the fact that that was even introduced her/now killed me. Let this coach stand alone...

(11-16-2016 10:59 PM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  I can't wait until DB is fired. Mainly because we can stop dragging him into threads that he doesn't belong in and hopefully some of the unnecessary negativity will stop.

Well said, bravo.

(11-16-2016 11:05 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(11-16-2016 10:59 PM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  I can't wait until DB is fired. Mainly because we can stop dragging him into threads that he doesn't belong in and hopefully some of the unnecessary negativity will stop.

Of course, as has usually been the case, it was WRC and NOT a DB hater who brought up the comparison to DB and the football program. IMO, it's a ridiculous comparison.

I could care less. Wait, I couldn't care at all who brought him up - be it a DB fanatic or a DB hater. I just wish this could end.

Well, I did like the clapping photo. I won't complain about those.

Very sloppy effort (especially on offense). But I hope people aren't ready to climb off the bandwagon quite yet. We just can't afford efforts like this in conference play. Koulechov had a terrible game. Jackson had a terrible game (although I think part of the deal with him is he's still trying to get back into the groove he was in two years ago. Evans forced the action a bit at times and also had some bad turnovers. I did think Douglas was impressive - not sure if MLE is rusty like Jackson but he too had a bad game.

Tonight Cashaw was our 2nd best player. Don't expect the two freshman guards to have Marcus Evans-type numbers quite yet. And while I don't know for sure, I think Drone is dealing with a leg injury. He didn't start and instead of doing the lay-up drills before the game and the 2nd half, he was on the exercise bike warming up his legs.

(11-16-2016 10:29 PM)texowl2 Wrote:  unforced turnovers was the situation. Can't throw the ball away or make horrific dribble drives. Still believe and this will a game to learn from. Still very young, But Douglas and Quez probably best two big men since Yamar and Michael 14 years ago.

Right on cue:

1. Lack of discipline by the players
2. Young team

bc

cr11owl Wrote:  Are you kidding? We did lose to a team that's probably going to make the NCAA tournament. So there's that first

Perhaps, but making the NCAAs by winning the tournament of probably the worst conference in D1 does not make them a good team. I think most years the SWAC regular season and/or conference champ is far from even the NIT at-large bubble area with a ranking 200+.

(11-16-2016 11:54 PM)DFW Owl Wrote:  bc

cr11owl Wrote:  Are you kidding? We did lose to a team that's probably going to make the NCAA tournament. So there's that first

Perhaps, but making the NCAAs by winning the tournament of probably the worst conference in D1 does not make them a good team. I think most years the SWAC regular season and/or conference champ is far from even the NIT at-large bubble area with a ranking 200+.

TSU played a more restrained, smarter, more physical game than we did. Hopefully, our guys will learn from this.

(11-16-2016 10:29 PM)texowl2 Wrote:  unforced turnovers was the situation. Can't throw the ball away or make horrific dribble drives. Still believe and this will a game to learn from. Still very young, But Douglas and Quez probably best two big men since Yamar and Michael 14 years ago.

That's not true. Kazemi is/was better than both. Give them some time before you bestow too much praise on them. Sometimes it's better to not go for a block on every inside shot but instead make sure you're going to get the defensive rebound off a miss.

Yes Koulechov had a terrible game. How many turn overs did he have. Douglas will be a great player. Fantastic atmosphere for the first time for a long time. The student section was packed. Where the hell were the alums? Attendance was okay but must improve. TSU has a good team with six seniors.

(11-16-2016 11:45 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  Very sloppy effort (especially on offense). But I hope people aren't ready to climb off the bandwagon quite yet. We just can't afford efforts like this in conference play. Koulechov had a terrible game. Jackson had a terrible game (although I think part of the deal with him is he's still trying to get back into the groove he was in two years ago. Evans forced the action a bit at times and also had some bad turnovers. I did think Douglas was impressive - not sure if MLE is rusty like Jackson but he too had a bad game.

Tonight Cashaw was our 2nd best player. Don't expect the two freshman guards to have Marcus Evans-type numbers quite yet. And while I don't know for sure, I think Drone is dealing with a leg injury. He didn't start and instead of doing the lay-up drills before the game and the 2nd half, he was on the exercise bike warming up his legs.

Yes Koulechov had a terrible game. How many turn overs did he have. Douglas will be a great player. Drone did okay when he played but it will be hard for him to beat out Douglas unless he is more aggressive. Fantastic atmosphere for the first time for a long time. The student section was packed. Where the hell were the alums? Attendance was okay but must improve. TSU has a good team with six seniors.

(11-16-2016 11:45 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  Very sloppy effort (especially on offense). But I hope people aren't ready to climb off the bandwagon quite yet. We just can't afford efforts like this in conference play. Koulechov had a terrible game. Jackson had a terrible game (although I think part of the deal with him is he's still trying to get back into the groove he was in two years ago. Evans forced the action a bit at times and also had some bad turnovers. I did think Douglas was impressive - not sure if MLE is rusty like Jackson but he too had a bad game.

Tonight Cashaw was our 2nd best player. Don't expect the two freshman guards to have Marcus Evans-type numbers quite yet. And while I don't know for sure, I think Drone is dealing with a leg injury. He didn't start and instead of doing the lay-up drills before the game and the 2nd half, he was on the exercise bike warming up his legs.

(11-17-2016 12:01 AM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  

(11-16-2016 10:29 PM)texowl2 Wrote:  unforced turnovers was the situation. Can't throw the ball away or make horrific dribble drives. Still believe and this will a game to learn from. Still very young, But Douglas and Quez probably best two big men since Yamar and Michael 14 years ago.

That's not true. Kazemi is/was better than both. Give them some time before you bestow too much praise on them. Sometimes it's better to not go for a block on every inside shot but instead make sure you're going to get the defensive rebound off a miss.

At first I thought you were implying that Kazemi was better than Harris, but then I figured out what you meant. The indefinite pronoun (both) strikes again.

(11-17-2016 12:21 AM)Rick Gerlach Wrote:  

(11-17-2016 12:01 AM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  

(11-16-2016 10:29 PM)texowl2 Wrote:  unforced turnovers was the situation. Can't throw the ball away or make horrific dribble drives. Still believe and this will a game to learn from. Still very young, But Douglas and Quez probably best two big men since Yamar and Michael 14 years ago.

That's not true. Kazemi is/was better than both. Give them some time before you bestow too much praise on them. Sometimes it's better to not go for a block on every inside shot but instead make sure you're going to get the defensive rebound off a miss.

At first I thought you were implying that Kazemi was better than Harris, but then I figured out what you meant. The indefinite pronoun (both) strikes again.

Arsalan was terrific, the point I was trying to make was those two are the best pair of big men.

Clearly this is a young team and tsu's seniors showed their greater experience.

No surprise WRC is happy this morning.

TSU is a decent team. Last year they made the NIT and with Lofton they are even better. They lost at UT Arlington (Kenpom =82) by 7 in their opener. Davis did an excellent job scouting us. After several easy baskets on backdoor cuts in the 1st H they pretty much took that away from us. They were a lot tougher than us on the boards particularly in the 2nd H. In the 1st H I believe we had 9 offensive boards to their 7 but in the 2nd H they grabbed 10 offensive boards to our 2 which was a huge difference as were the TO's and FT's. Once they got the lead in the 2nd H Davis had them take the air out of the ball during their half court possessions with TSU using the majority of the shot clock before shooting.

I didn't think Egor had a particularly bad game. He was strong to the basket (more so than anyone else) and had 7 boards. He also was guarding Lofton a good bit of the time. As pointed out Cashaw was good and thought the offense needed to go to him for his 10-12 foot shot more once they cut off the drive to the basket. Biggest plus was the play of Douglas. He was tough underneath and handled the ball quite a bit better than Quez. I thought we settled for too many 3's especially early in the 2nd H.

As for the negatives too many of our turnovers were self inflicted. We got burned by soft passes that TSU was able to jump the passing lane. Also once their big man settled in we turned the ball over trying to go deep to the basket. It did seem that TSU benefited from more calls under the baskets and were able to bump us off the ball repeatedly. Despite all the negatives especially in the 2nd H we still had a chance to win. I'm with the others who would have preferred Evans to take the ball towards the hole at the end. However for me the big play was with a minute to play. Down two and coming out of a timeout we had the chance to get 2 possessions to 1 at the end but we turned the ball over when on a set play Egor just ran the play instead of making sure the play was there. He had his back to the basket after getting the inbound pass and tried to pass it to the left of the basket but threw it right into the defender's hands who had completely blocked out the Rice player. We wound up having to foul and TSU converted both to go up 4...a really bad 4 point swing. Make the basket and we are tied with about 50 seconds to go and still have a possession left.

Good atmosphere and the students were great. SRO in the student section. Perhaps we can draw the outline of the ticket holders on the seats of season ticket holders who don't show up. In spite of Sec 103 being sold out it was only half filled.