(11-16-2023 09:21 AM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  Guys like Selden and Alijiki (sp?) are showing that we may be doing something wrong with our approach to strength and conditioning. They appear to be the strongest two guys on the teams and our upper class guys just don’t look any stronger than they did as freshmen. I think the S&C folks do a good job on the latter front but perhaps at the expense of the first half of their job description?

S&C guys tend to emphasize what the head coach tells them to emphasize for each sport. Given the style that Pera's teams have played, I can see emphasizing C over S.

I always thought Bailiff's S&C guys emphasized bulk over speed, and players seemed to get bigger but slower during his time.

I think it's also just body type. I remember Evee as an 8th grader (when I was a senior in HS) as we went to the same high school... He was small even by middle school standards at the time. At the same time, I remember playing AAU basketball against Selden's brother, Wayne. Wayne was a man amongst boys both in stature and skill, but I think his stature at the very least was passed to his younger brother.

Bruce Bowen was extremely annoying to me last night and certainly nowhere near objective about what was happening on the Court.

Notably, Tre Johnson (who apparently signed yesterday), was apparently influenced in part by his discussions of playing at UT with Kevin Durant...that is an obvious NCAA violation as you can't have alumni participate in the recruiting process unless Kevin Durant is an assistant coach, etc. (unless the rules have changed).

Bowen talked about playing with the UT players and giving them tips about the game. While I'm sure he is very knowledgeable about the current game, I doubt he is an assistant coach that can participate in coaching the players on the Court.

Just part of the annoyance last night.

(11-16-2023 12:01 PM)Houston Owl 2 Wrote:  Bruce Bowen was extremely annoying to me last night and certainly nowhere near objective about what was happening on the Court.

Notably, Tre Johnson (who apparently signed yesterday), was apparently influenced in part by his discussions of playing at UT with Kevin Durant...that is an obvious NCAA violation as you can't have alumni participate in the recruiting process unless Kevin Durant is an assistant coach, etc. (unless the rules have changed).

Bowen talked about playing with the UT players and giving them tips about the game. While I'm sure he is very knowledgeable about the current game, I doubt he is an assistant coach that can participate in coaching the players on the Court.

Just part of the annoyance last night.

We've had James Harden and other teammates practice with our guys before (and lots of our players put it on Instagram) so I'm not sure we're guiltless on this front either.

Pretty amazing how the defense is atrocious yet again. Ranked #319 in defensive efficiency last year and #324 so far this year. When you pair that with sloppy offense and poor shooting, it’s not a winning combo. Unless the defense improves this is a .500 team at best. I think the offense will come around and be able to outscore some teams but if you want to beat good teams you gotta play decent defense.

(11-16-2023 12:03 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  

(11-16-2023 12:01 PM)Houston Owl 2 Wrote:  Bruce Bowen was extremely annoying to me last night and certainly nowhere near objective about what was happening on the Court.

Notably, Tre Johnson (who apparently signed yesterday), was apparently influenced in part by his discussions of playing at UT with Kevin Durant...that is an obvious NCAA violation as you can't have alumni participate in the recruiting process unless Kevin Durant is an assistant coach, etc. (unless the rules have changed).

Bowen talked about playing with the UT players and giving them tips about the game. While I'm sure he is very knowledgeable about the current game, I doubt he is an assistant coach that can participate in coaching the players on the Court.

Just part of the annoyance last night.

We've had James Harden and other teammates practice with our guys before (and lots of our players put it on Instagram) so I'm not sure we're guiltless on this front either.

I think the distinction is whether Durant (or Harden) have participated in recruiting, or were used as part of the recruiting pitch.

As in, did the coach say "Come here and you'll get a chance to meet Durant/Harden and learn from them." Or did Durant/Harden say to the recruit "Come here and I'll be coaching you every once in a while."

(11-16-2023 08:36 AM)elw4796 Wrote:  Evee is a very talented player who should not be the ball-dominant guard on a team attempting to take the next step. That seemed obvious at times last year but it's being reinforced this year. And again, this isn't a criticism of Evee as a player. He should be playing 25+ minutes for us every night...he's an elite shooter when on, he can beat guys off the dribble, etc. He's just being forced into a role that doesn't suit him. That ends up hurting the team and making him look worse. And in defense of Evee, Mason also struggled against Texas's size last night.

If you're an optimist, there were positive signs in that game. Selden looked very good, as did Alajiki at times. The defense wasn't good but I've seen worse from Pera teams. Need to find a way to put things together and fast.

A "very talented player" does not shoot 27% from the floor, while repeatedly and recklessly driving into the middle of the lane without any plan.

(11-17-2023 02:35 AM)WRCisforgotten79 Wrote:  

(11-16-2023 08:36 AM)elw4796 Wrote:  Evee is a very talented player who should not be the ball-dominant guard on a team attempting to take the next step. That seemed obvious at times last year but it's being reinforced this year. And again, this isn't a criticism of Evee as a player. He should be playing 25+ minutes for us every night...he's an elite shooter when on, he can beat guys off the dribble, etc. He's just being forced into a role that doesn't suit him. That ends up hurting the team and making him look worse. And in defense of Evee, Mason also struggled against Texas's size last night.

If you're an optimist, there were positive signs in that game. Selden looked very good, as did Alajiki at times. The defense wasn't good but I've seen worse from Pera teams. Need to find a way to put things together and fast.

A "very talented player" does not shoot 27% from the floor, while repeatedly and recklessly driving into the middle of the lane without any plan.

See this is the point. Evee should be a shooter who occasionally has the ball in his hands. That's his best role. Moving without the ball, coming off screens, dribbling off screens, spotting up, etc.. Unfortunately, he's being forced to be one of the primary handlers in a scheme that pushes defenses to shut down the 3PT line, thereby forcing the team as a whole to try to score in other ways. It's a bad combination.

Good players can look bad in a scheme that doesn't fit them. Bad players can look good in a well-designed system.

I am reminded about how down people were on the team last year after the horrible 67-106 loss to Pepperdine and 46-81 loss to MTSU early in the season.

I counseled a bit of patience, just as a general principle, and the team went 14-3 in their next 17 games and was in all 3 of the losses until the end (2 OT losses and a 3-pt loss). Of course they crapped the bed down the stretch and had a pretty meh season overall. The defense continued to be too porous. But the team also wasn't nearly as bad as they looked during that early stretch.

I'll say again what I said last year:

(11-09-2022 11:18 AM)mrbig Wrote:  It must be basketball season when Rice fans are overreacting to a single bad loss. Sounds like the 2nd half was an embarrassment. I doubt every game the rest of the season goes like that. Pera might not be the guy to take Rice to the men's basketball promise land. But his teams are generally better than this and I would be willing to bet the same will be true this season.

(11-09-2022 12:00 PM)mrbig Wrote:  I think it is fine to say that, based on the result of this game, it doesn't look like Pera has made any progress in improving or overcoming the areas that you feel his teams have been historically weak in. But the general tone makes it sound like this team might be terrible. The more likely result, based exclusively on this one terrible game, is that this team isn't going to make a big jump forward because of the flaws you have discussed, but that they will typically play better to last night and end up in a similar spot to last year, maybe with a modest improvement depending on player development and health.

I think Evee will shoot closer to his career norms, the transfers will continue to mesh better, and the freshman will show some developments and adjustments. I remain pretty skeptical and nervous about the defense because we have never seen Rice string together more then a couple good defensive games in a row under Pera.