(12-28-2017 08:53 PM)elw4796 Wrote:  34-25 UTSA at the half. My thoughts:

Positives:
-Rob showed up. Corner 3 + effort play in the final 3 minutes of the half.
-OK defense to hold a good offensive team to 34 points

Negatives:
-We're making a sub-250th ranked defense look like Virginia
-13 TOs is unacceptable
-5-11 FTs is unacceptable
-We've sagged off of/not closed out on/left open multiple UTSA players who are known shooters, which you just can't do against a good shooting team
-We were unprepared for their press which shouldn't happen

The defense was actually quite solid for the first 10 minutes, before Mency went to the bench with his 2nd personal. It was 11-11 at that point. UTSA outscored us 23 - 14 the final 10 minutes of the half.

(12-28-2017 08:53 PM)Tiki Owl Wrote:  20-8 points off turnovers many of which were unforced. Quite frankly I see nothing from the Soph class that makes me think they will contribute much in the next two years. Hopefully the incoming classes can play significant minutes from the start.

Agreed, with the exception of Martin. Adams and Meyers have regressed, and Harrison continues to look lost out there.

(12-28-2017 08:55 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(12-28-2017 08:53 PM)elw4796 Wrote:  34-25 UTSA at the half. My thoughts:

Positives:
-Rob showed up. Corner 3 + effort play in the final 3 minutes of the half.
-OK defense to hold a good offensive team to 34 points

Negatives:
-We're making a sub-250th ranked defense look like Virginia
-13 TOs is unacceptable
-5-11 FTs is unacceptable
-We've sagged off of/not closed out on/left open multiple UTSA players who are known shooters, which you just can't do against a good shooting team
-We were unprepared for their press which shouldn't happen

The defense was actually quite solid for the first 10 minutes, before Mency went to the bench with his 2nd personal. It was 11-11 at that point. UTSA outscored us 23 - 14 the final 10 minutes of the half.

It was actually the 5 minutes in the middle of the half, from about the 12 mark to about the 7 minute mark, during which the Owls went from tied to down nine. Game was even the other 15 minutes.

Lapray just watching the layup drill. Can’t believe he’ll play.

(12-28-2017 08:53 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(12-28-2017 08:49 PM)S.A. Owl Wrote:  Somehow within 9 at the half. 34-25 Runners.

Agreed. That was one of the worst halves of basketball i have witnessed in several years. Unforced error after unforced error....getting dominated on the boards...and not only can't hit an open jumper, but we're under 50% from the charity stripe. Ugh.

UTSA only 20-18 in rebounds right now.

30-40 with 17:01 remaining.

Another borrid stretch in the middle of the 2H. Owls go from being down 7 to down 21 and counting.

At least FT shooting seems better.

(12-28-2017 09:26 PM)Tomball Owl Wrote:  Another borrid stretch in the middle of the 2H. Owls go from being down 7 to down 21 and counting.

More than half (34) of UTSA’s 61 points are off turnovers....that is amazing.

(12-28-2017 09:26 PM)Tomball Owl Wrote:  Another borrid stretch in the middle of the 2H. Owls go from being down 7 to down 21 and counting.

Wow

UTSA color commentator: "I'm amazed that a team can be behind by as much as Rice has been and never try to press ... or change their defense."

79-66 Final.

Given that we are nearing the halfway point of the season, what was the worst season is Rice MBB history? And are we on track to beat that? I'm not sure that we win another game.

(12-28-2017 09:59 PM)Antarius Wrote:  79-66 Final.

Given that we are nearing the halfway point of the season, what was the worst season is Rice MBB history? And are we on track to beat that? I'm not sure that we win another game.

Any of the Bob Polk seasons and a few of the latter Tommy Suitts seasons.

(12-28-2017 10:04 PM)Tiki Owl Wrote:  

(12-28-2017 09:59 PM)Antarius Wrote:  79-66 Final.

Given that we are nearing the halfway point of the season, what was the worst season is Rice MBB history? And are we on track to beat that? I'm not sure that we win another game.

Any of the Bob Polk seasons and a few of the latter Tommy Suitts seasons.

We had back-to-back 2-22 and 1-23 season in 1964-65 and 1965-66. We've been worse.

(12-28-2017 10:40 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(12-28-2017 10:04 PM)Tiki Owl Wrote:  

(12-28-2017 09:59 PM)Antarius Wrote:  79-66 Final.

Given that we are nearing the halfway point of the season, what was the worst season is Rice MBB history? And are we on track to beat that? I'm not sure that we win another game.

Any of the Bob Polk seasons and a few of the latter Tommy Suitts seasons.

We had back-to-back 2-22 and 1-23 season in 1964-65 and 1965-66. We've been worse.

Wasn’t that when George Carlisle took over as head coach after Johnnie Frankie died suddenly in his mid 40s? Wasn’t George Johnnie’s assistant? If I recall, that was the case and George previously had coached great teams at Clear Creek. Bennie Lennox et al. But George was a complete bust as a college coach. Is there an analogy to be drawn here?

(12-28-2017 11:09 PM)Ricefootballnet Wrote:  

(12-28-2017 10:40 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(12-28-2017 10:04 PM)Tiki Owl Wrote:  

(12-28-2017 09:59 PM)Antarius Wrote:  79-66 Final.
Given that we are nearing the halfway point of the season, what was the worst season is Rice MBB history? And are we on track to beat that? I'm not sure that we win another game.

Any of the Bob Polk seasons and a few of the latter Tommy Suitts seasons.

We had back-to-back 2-22 and 1-23 season in 1964-65 and 1965-66. We've been worse.

Wasn’t that when George Carlisle took over as head coach after Johnnie Frankie died suddenly in his mid 40s? Wasn’t George Johnnie’s assistant? If I recall, that was the case and George previously had coached great teams at Clear Creek. Bennie Lennox et al. But George was a complete bust as a college coach. Is there an analogy to be drawn here?

George was a good HS coach because Clear Creek was one of the few areas in Texas that really emphasized basketball, so he had a pretty good talent pipeline and could just out-athlete his opponents. At Rice he didn't have that, and he could not coach up marginal talent. I see a couple of possible analogies.

We shall see if combined records for FB/MBB in 2017 is better/worse than 1965 which seems to be the low point as football went 2-8 that year but at least had a W over Texas and a one-point loss to A&M. So clearly more competitive than 2017 FB.

My gripe w/ this 2017 MBB team is that I've yet to see any hope that it can punch above its weight regardless of guy x or guy y being hurt. That may impact results but the unforced turnovers, shooting free throws, and other things that should be the basics of a D-1 basketball team are not present on this team to date.

My primary hope (and probably the team’s goals) have been to just improve and grow as the season progresses. If we can do that, then we set up nicely for next year and beyond. I’d just like to see us make the 12-Team conference tournament. It will take at least 5, and maybe 6 wins to do that. And it will require that we’ll have to improve from our current 14th place ranking (KenPom).

(12-29-2017 08:11 AM)owl at the moon Wrote:  My primary hope (and probably the team’s goals) have been to just improve and grow as the season progresses. If we can do that, then we set up nicely for next year and beyond. I’d just like to see us make the 12-Team conference tournament. It will take at least 5, and maybe 6 wins to do that. And it will require that we’ll have to improve from our current 14th place ranking (KenPom).

...but the season is almost half way through and we have shown absolutely no improvement. Yes, getting AJ back will certainly help the offense, but I doubt it does anything to our unforced turnover rate or unacceptably poor FT shooting.

(12-29-2017 08:16 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(12-29-2017 08:11 AM)owl at the moon Wrote:  My primary hope (and probably the team’s goals) have been to just improve and grow as the season progresses. If we can do that, then we set up nicely for next year and beyond. I’d just like to see us make the 12-Team conference tournament. It will take at least 5, and maybe 6 wins to do that. And it will require that we’ll have to improve from our current 14th place ranking (KenPom).

...but the season is almost half way through and we have shown absolutely no improvement. Yes, getting AJ back will certainly help the offense, but I doubt it does anything to our unforced turnover rate or unacceptably poor FT shooting.

I agree that we have no forward progress to show, yet. We are solid in some phases but we have yet to put together a “complete” game.
We have got to figure out how to shoot the ball again, and that has to start with the free throws.