(01-17-2023 12:41 PM)memtigbb Wrote:  

(01-17-2023 12:20 AM)Stammers Wrote:  

(01-16-2023 10:44 PM)memtigbb Wrote:  ^ Notice who is the poster who is arguing with a different person in every single thread and has for a long time now? Notice who is always first to start calling names and acting like a child? Yes, the answer is msu35.

You may have fooled a few people with your rah rah rah homer shtick, but everyone sees you for what you are now. You can't help yourself, you have to argue argue argue, "I will give you the last word" then immediately responded to get the last word. You are a waste of time to try to discuss anything about because all you are here to do is argue. So have at it..

Let's do a fact check on this statement.

PERCENTAGE OF NEGATIVE REPS

Me
5.2% (40 out of 773)

msu35
5.2% (3 out of 58)

memtigbb aka Mr. "all you are here to do is argue, everyone has left the board because of you, etc"
14.6% (74 out of 508)

3X more likely to have hate showered on you than I am; you should be ashamed. It is so fun to mock you, to laugh at you; especially knowing how crazy with anger you get.

fact check? What you posted has absolutely nothing to do with anything.

You have chased off so many posters, you have done nothing but hurt this board... What kind of nonsense are you talking about?

And nice to see you admit that you are just trolling. Shows how mentally unstable you are and how you get off on doing this nonsense.

You are sick, you are twisted, and I have no idea why mods allow you to continue to do this crazy thing you do on this board.


and then... one person... Tigerderek.... gave me about 50 of those negatives, just going through every comment I made and negging it... I can do the exact same thing to do you, to fix it up some if you'd like?

Nobody enjoys your constant bashing of Lomax and Dandridge. You blast them even when they don't play. How you can accuse me of stuff and say the filth that you say about me is mind boggling.

You sabotaged THIS thread right in the beginning with posts #4 and #6 for no reason at all. Then you continue AGAIN for no reason in posts 80 and 82; you weren't provoked. In post #80 you accuse another poster of trolling when YOU started it in posts #4 and #6. Some posters don't like what I post, but a lot do. NOBODY likes what you post; trust me.

(01-18-2023 12:09 AM)DDrum1961 Wrote:  

(01-16-2023 09:46 AM)SeñorTiger Wrote:  

(01-16-2023 09:07 AM)memphis mania Wrote:  

(01-16-2023 08:23 AM)DDrum1961 Wrote:  

(01-15-2023 06:38 PM)msu35 Wrote:  Back to the topic at hand. Absolutely, we need him back in the worst way. Hopefully he recovers soon.

If he can just come back for 6-8 minutes a game to spell KD, that would be a win ..

6 - 8 minutes? Alo is the best available player to put at the 2 we have. He should be getting the second most playing time amongst guards outside of KD. Have you not watched any of the games?

Context... He was not saying Alo should only be playing 6-8 minutes if healthy but stating to get him back from just 6-8 minutes while healing would be a big help...

Unfortunately, with groin and hamstring type injuries you are basically limited to nothing while you wait for it to heal. They are incredibly easy to aggravate and create a major setback.

Apologize for being vague… thx for helping me out …

It is a tough injury to comeback from without total rest… was just hoping to get the 6-8 for February and March. .. if you’re hoping for 20; I would think he would be out until March … imo …

The injuries that seem to take the longest to heal are the groin, stomach, ribs, heels. If you've ever injured your groin, you know that it can be demoralizing. You feel no pain, you feel great, then you test it out and you realize it has barely started to heal. Then it finally heals and you can easily aggravate it.

(01-17-2023 09:36 AM)Tiger87 Wrote:  

(01-17-2023 09:15 AM)SeñorTiger Wrote:  

(01-16-2023 06:04 PM)msu35 Wrote:  

(01-16-2023 05:40 PM)SeñorTiger Wrote:  Made matters worse? If our defense during conference play was any worse it would be practically nonexistent...

I never made an absolute statement. It was merely speculation. Stop pretending that you know what has and hasn't been considered and rejected.

(01-16-2023 05:40 PM)SeñorTiger Wrote:  And I cannot help but think you are intentionally using inflammatory words on purpose to dramatize the situation. Nobody accused Penny of not wanting to win or intentionally sabotaging the team's success.

I never accused you. If anything, you're being inflammatory. Haven't you noticed? There very much is a vocal segment on this board that does. Perhaps those comments hit closer to home than you want to admit?

(01-16-2023 05:40 PM)SeñorTiger Wrote:  However, it is not uncommon at all for people to dig in their heals and refuse to change despite it causing some form of harm or detriment to themselves. It is not sabotage as much as it is arrogance.

Of course. Are you accusing Penny of this?

(01-16-2023 05:40 PM)SeñorTiger Wrote:  I fully believe Penny 100% believes in his system and that he can make it work. Right now, it just looks like someone forcing a square peg into a round hole...

Sure, you're entitled to your opinion. Do you have the big picture? Do you know what has and hasn't been attempted in practice to evaluate feasibility within a game?

It is a message board where fans give their opinion... Big picture? Feasibility within a game? I am reacting and opining on what I see in games, which again, is kind of the point of this board...

Do I think Penny is a good coach and can get win at a very high level? Very possible. Do I think Penny is perfect? Definitely not. Am I concerned that after 5 years of basically the same season being played out that Penny has dug his heels in on a system that is not proving to be consistently successful at the college level? Absolutely.

But back to our earlier discussion - this is not the same season. Quite the opposite in fact.

By almost all accounts, we had a very successful non-conf part of the season this year. The shaky play has happened lately (and coincides with the injury bug). That is the opposite of prior years.

Our O efficiency has been more solid this year than any prior season. That's different.

Our D efficiency is struggling - one of the lowest in Penny's career. (Penny's first year was the lowest, and this is second.) That is different.

And this is a terrible rebounding team. That is different.

This season is a totally unique look. I just don't see how you say this is the same thing playing out.

Kennedy, Frankin and McCadden would be incredible role players on a complete team; playing to their strengths. The problem is that aren't reliable shooters or ball handlers, and they are being depended on to do too much of both. They are all 3's as far as I'm concerned. The worst thing IMO, is that none of them are capable of playing the point for even 5 minutes. When Lomax is out, KD has to play every minute.

(01-16-2023 02:32 PM)SeñorTiger Wrote:  

(01-16-2023 01:08 PM)msu35 Wrote:  

(01-16-2023 12:55 PM)SeñorTiger Wrote:  That is exactly my point. Getting the "horses" necessary at the college level to run the system is not afforded to many college rosters...

That's a fair point, but I have a question. Has Penny shown that without external factors impacting our program (e.g. the NCAA), that he is among the best recruiters currently in college basketball?

Yes, he is an elite recruiter. But this is not just recruiting a bunch of top 15 kids. Emoni, could not play in this defensive scheme and he a top level recruit. You have to have 5 guys on the court that can guard practically all 5 positions or have an elite rim protector. This roster has neither of those components much less both.

My assumption is that McCadden and KK where supposed to be elite level defensive players that could guard multiple positions but they completely lost on the switching defense and alternatively are very limited offensively.

The last two years, there were countless commentators who showed clips of all 5 players moving as a unit on defense, marveling about how everyone intuitively knew where everyone else was and where they had to be.

With Lomax, Dandridge and Jayden hurt, the only players from last year's roster are DW and Lawson, and Lawson barely played. It is an entirely brand new roster. Defensively, I am sure we will improve. Hopefully, Sunday was the start.

(01-18-2023 01:47 AM)Stammers Wrote:  

(01-16-2023 02:32 PM)SeñorTiger Wrote:  

(01-16-2023 01:08 PM)msu35 Wrote:  

(01-16-2023 12:55 PM)SeñorTiger Wrote:  That is exactly my point. Getting the "horses" necessary at the college level to run the system is not afforded to many college rosters...

That's a fair point, but I have a question. Has Penny shown that without external factors impacting our program (e.g. the NCAA), that he is among the best recruiters currently in college basketball?

Yes, he is an elite recruiter. But this is not just recruiting a bunch of top 15 kids. Emoni, could not play in this defensive scheme and he a top level recruit. You have to have 5 guys on the court that can guard practically all 5 positions or have an elite rim protector. This roster has neither of those components much less both.

My assumption is that McCadden and KK where supposed to be elite level defensive players that could guard multiple positions but they completely lost on the switching defense and alternatively are very limited offensively.

The last two years, there were countless commentators who showed clips of all 5 players moving as a unit on defense, marveling about how everyone intuitively knew where everyone else was and where they had to be.

With Lomax, Dandridge and Jayden hurt, the only players from last year's roster are DW and Lawson, and Lawson barely played. It is an entirely brand new roster. Defensively, I am sure we will improve. Hopefully, Sunday was the start.

I completely agree that we will improve. Improvement throughout the season, especially late in the season, has been very consistent with Penny.

But again, that is my concern. If it takes so long every year to get in a rhythm or to effectively teach the system then how reliable is the system. At the end of the day the goal is winning a title, not just improving and making the tournament. But his system is continually putting them in the 8-9 seed range which makes it incredibly tough to even make the Sweet 16, let alone advance beyond that.

And perhaps I should make a clearer distinction. I do believe that Penny is a very good coach. He has proven year after year that he can effectively improve his team and players. I think he is a good enough coach to bring a title to Memphis. The caveat is the current system he is using. I am not sure that the system (as it stands today) is capable of the same due to the limits of most college athletes and the extremely high roster turnover that is now a part of college basketball at large.

If you took Penny back to when you knew you were going to have your core roster for 3-4 years then and just adding a few high end players to supplement the veteran core then I would be 100% on board but that is just not the modern landscape of college basketball. Even your core guys like Lester, who should be 4 year players without doubt, are leaving early or transferring most of the time...

(01-18-2023 08:47 AM)SeñorTiger Wrote:  But again, that is my concern. If it takes so long every year to get in a rhythm or to effectively teach the system then how reliable is the system. At the end of the day the goal is winning a title, not just improving and making the tournament. But his system is continually putting them in the 8-9 seed range which makes it incredibly tough to even make the Sweet 16, let alone advance beyond that.

We were easily a Sweet 16 team last year. The Gonzaga game was a farce. The refs took over in the second half and handed us the loss by shutting down our bigs and letting Timme and Holmgren get away with everything. All Penny needs for his system to work are talented players with good basketball IQ.

I'm not sure if you noticed, but an under reported factor in our challenges last season was losing Dre to injury. Once we got him back, we went 12-2. If the system is that untenable, how is it that we started so strong this season with significantly less talent than last year's roster? Have you considered that part of the difficulty we face today is due to losing our best big, leaving us with limited options?

(01-18-2023 09:20 AM)msu35 Wrote:  

(01-18-2023 08:47 AM)SeñorTiger Wrote:  But again, that is my concern. If it takes so long every year to get in a rhythm or to effectively teach the system then how reliable is the system. At the end of the day the goal is winning a title, not just improving and making the tournament. But his system is continually putting them in the 8-9 seed range which makes it incredibly tough to even make the Sweet 16, let alone advance beyond that.

We were easily a Sweet 16 team last year. The Gonzaga game was a farce. The refs took over in the second half and handed us the loss by shutting down our bigs and letting Timme and Holmgren get away with everything. All Penny needs for his system to work are talented players with good basketball IQ.

I'm not sure if you noticed, but an under reported factor in our challenges last season was losing Dre to injury. Once we got him back, we went 12-2. If the system is that untenable, how is it that we started so strong this season with significantly less talent than last year's roster? Have you considered that part of the difficulty we face today is due to losing our best big, leaving us with limited options?

I think part of the problem, though, is that we put all of our eggs in the Dandridge basket. Sure, we can blame him being out for our struggles. But, given his history (and honestly, the history of DeAndre) we should've anticipated one of them would be injured. The 4/5 slot was glaringly thin before the season even began.

I guess my issues aren't necessarily with the system but with roster management/composition. We also knew we were lacking a shooter before the season (arguably 1000x easier to obtain than a big). All prior stats indicated that we weren't going to be a very good 3 point shooting team. For the life of me, I can't fathom why we didn't go out and get a shooter (as good as the stats are for Davis and DeAndre-- could you imagine how good they would be if the inside was less clogged due to having a shooter?).

(01-18-2023 09:57 AM)MtownTigers916 Wrote:  I think part of the problem, though, is that we put all of our eggs in the Dandridge basket. Sure, we can blame him being out for our struggles. But, given his history (and honestly, the history of DeAndre) we should've anticipated one of them would be injured. The 4/5 slot was glaringly thin before the season even began.

I can't disagree. It's my belief that the IARP and potential NCAA punitive action greatly hampered recruiting, most especially this season. I'm sure Penny sees the holes better than we do, and is doing what he can to fix them. It's not like he didn't bring players in this season to address those challenges. They just haven't panned out as expected like with Kao, or they couldn't get eligible like Jahmar Young Jr. Did you notice that last season, he added Duren at the eleventh hour, specifically to address that problem?

(01-18-2023 09:57 AM)MtownTigers916 Wrote:  I guess my issues aren't necessarily with the system but with roster management/composition. We also knew we were lacking a shooter before the season (arguably 1000x easier to obtain than a big). All prior stats indicated that we weren't going to be a very good 3 point shooting team. For the life of me, I can't fathom why we didn't go out and get a shooter (as good as the stats are for Davis and DeAndre-- could you imagine how good they would be if the inside was less clogged due to having a shooter?).

Again, it's tough to recruit when opposing coaches are telling prospects that the NCAA is about to drop the hammer on Memphis. That Penny was able to get the players that he did during that time frame is a testament to his recruiting abilities, and next season's class is shaping up to be a good one. I'm confident he'll get the right players and have the team firing on all cylinders with his system soon enough.

(01-18-2023 10:09 AM)msu35 Wrote:  

(01-18-2023 09:57 AM)MtownTigers916 Wrote:  I think part of the problem, though, is that we put all of our eggs in the Dandridge basket. Sure, we can blame him being out for our struggles. But, given his history (and honestly, the history of DeAndre) we should've anticipated one of them would be injured. The 4/5 slot was glaringly thin before the season even began.

I can't disagree. It's my belief that the IARP and potential NCAA punitive action greatly hampered recruiting, most especially this season. I'm sure Penny sees the holes better than we do, and is doing what he can to fix them. It's not like he didn't bring players in this season to address those challenges. They just haven't panned out as expected like with Kao, or they couldn't get eligible like Jahmar Young Jr. Did you notice that last season, he added Duren at the eleventh hour, specifically to address that problem?

(01-18-2023 09:57 AM)MtownTigers916 Wrote:  I guess my issues aren't necessarily with the system but with roster management/composition. We also knew we were lacking a shooter before the season (arguably 1000x easier to obtain than a big). All prior stats indicated that we weren't going to be a very good 3 point shooting team. For the life of me, I can't fathom why we didn't go out and get a shooter (as good as the stats are for Davis and DeAndre-- could you imagine how good they would be if the inside was less clogged due to having a shooter?).

Again, it's tough to recruit when opposing coaches are telling prospects that the NCAA is about to drop the hammer on Memphis. That Penny was able to get the players that he did during that time frame is a testament to his recruiting abilities, and next season's class is shaping up to be a good one. I'm confident he'll get the right players and have the team firing on all cylinders with his system soon enough.

THIS

(01-18-2023 08:47 AM)SeñorTiger Wrote:  

(01-18-2023 01:47 AM)Stammers Wrote:  

(01-16-2023 02:32 PM)SeñorTiger Wrote:  

(01-16-2023 01:08 PM)msu35 Wrote:  

(01-16-2023 12:55 PM)SeñorTiger Wrote:  That is exactly my point. Getting the "horses" necessary at the college level to run the system is not afforded to many college rosters...

That's a fair point, but I have a question. Has Penny shown that without external factors impacting our program (e.g. the NCAA), that he is among the best recruiters currently in college basketball?

Yes, he is an elite recruiter. But this is not just recruiting a bunch of top 15 kids. Emoni, could not play in this defensive scheme and he a top level recruit. You have to have 5 guys on the court that can guard practically all 5 positions or have an elite rim protector. This roster has neither of those components much less both.

My assumption is that McCadden and KK where supposed to be elite level defensive players that could guard multiple positions but they completely lost on the switching defense and alternatively are very limited offensively.

The last two years, there were countless commentators who showed clips of all 5 players moving as a unit on defense, marveling about how everyone intuitively knew where everyone else was and where they had to be.

With Lomax, Dandridge and Jayden hurt, the only players from last year's roster are DW and Lawson, and Lawson barely played. It is an entirely brand new roster. Defensively, I am sure we will improve. Hopefully, Sunday was the start.

I completely agree that we will improve. Improvement throughout the season, especially late in the season, has been very consistent with Penny.

But again, that is my concern. If it takes so long every year to get in a rhythm or to effectively teach the system then how reliable is the system. At the end of the day the goal is winning a title, not just improving and making the tournament. But his system is continually putting them in the 8-9 seed range which makes it incredibly tough to even make the Sweet 16, let alone advance beyond that.

And perhaps I should make a clearer distinction. I do believe that Penny is a very good coach. He has proven year after year that he can effectively improve his team and players. I think he is a good enough coach to bring a title to Memphis. The caveat is the current system he is using. I am not sure that the system (as it stands today) is capable of the same due to the limits of most college athletes and the extremely high roster turnover that is now a part of college basketball at large.

If you took Penny back to when you knew you were going to have your core roster for 3-4 years then and just adding a few high end players to supplement the veteran core then I would be 100% on board but that is just not the modern landscape of college basketball. Even your core guys like Lester, who should be 4 year players without doubt, are leaving early or transferring most of the time...

This year is different from the two prior years, because we have had Williams the entire season. We are night and day with and without him. With him including this year, we are 45-17. Without him we are 10-7.

IMO, the bottom line is that it wasn't a question of taking time to gel, it was one player making a difference, and we had a much higher ceiling.

It should be clear to everyone that Penny will have to recruit a true PG for next season, right? It should be equally clear that Penny has to recruit ready to play shooters & a big man. And I'm betting he will be successful. But let's not make excuses next season that our roster is young, takes time to jell, etc. Penny is fully in control of his roster, it's make up & he knows how long it takes to build a cohesive team, right?

(01-18-2023 11:25 AM)Atlanta Wrote:  It should be clear to everyone that Penny will have to recruit a true PG for next season, right? It should be equally clear that Penny has to recruit ready to play shooters & a big man. And I'm betting he will be successful. But let's not make excuses next season that our roster is young, takes time to jell, etc. Penny is fully in control of his roster, it's make up & he knows how long it takes to build a cohesive team, right?

Agree 100%.

(01-18-2023 11:25 AM)Atlanta Wrote:  It should be clear to everyone that Penny will have to recruit a true PG for next season, right? It should be equally clear that Penny has to recruit ready to play shooters & a big man. And I'm betting he will be successful. But let's not make excuses next season that our roster is young, takes time to jell, etc. Penny is fully in control of his roster, it's make up & he knows how long it takes to build a cohesive team, right?

Penny needs players that can score on their own.

(01-18-2023 01:30 AM)Stammers Wrote:  

(01-18-2023 12:09 AM)DDrum1961 Wrote:  

(01-16-2023 09:46 AM)SeñorTiger Wrote:  

(01-16-2023 09:07 AM)memphis mania Wrote:  

(01-16-2023 08:23 AM)DDrum1961 Wrote:  If he can just come back for 6-8 minutes a game to spell KD, that would be a win ..

6 - 8 minutes? Alo is the best available player to put at the 2 we have. He should be getting the second most playing time amongst guards outside of KD. Have you not watched any of the games?

Context... He was not saying Alo should only be playing 6-8 minutes if healthy but stating to get him back from just 6-8 minutes while healing would be a big help...

Unfortunately, with groin and hamstring type injuries you are basically limited to nothing while you wait for it to heal. They are incredibly easy to aggravate and create a major setback.

Apologize for being vague… thx for helping me out …

It is a tough injury to comeback from without total rest… was just hoping to get the 6-8 for February and March. .. if you’re hoping for 20; I would think he would be out until March … imo …

The injuries that seem to take the longest to heal are the groin, stomach, ribs, heels. If you've ever injured your groin, you know that it can be demoralizing. You feel no pain, you feel great, then you test it out and you realize it has barely started to heal. Then it finally heals and you can easily aggravate it.

I pulled my groin, felt like I had been kicked right there in the testes...HARD. So yeah, it was painful.

(01-18-2023 01:34 AM)Stammers Wrote:  Kennedy, Frankin and McCadden would be incredible role players on a complete team; playing to their strengths. The problem is that aren't reliable shooters or ball handlers, and they are being depended on to do too much of both. They are all 3's as far as I'm concerned. The worst thing IMO, is that none of them are capable of playing the point for even 5 minutes. When Lomax is out, KD has to play every minute.

Which is one of the great values of Lomax to this team - as I pointed out early in the season when everyone was saying Lomax should be buried on the bench for one of the transfers. He takes a lot of pressure off of KD with ballhandling, and allows KD to ditch the double teams by running off-ball cuts.

(01-18-2023 03:22 PM)Tiger87 Wrote:  

(01-18-2023 01:34 AM)Stammers Wrote:  Kennedy, Frankin and McCadden would be incredible role players on a complete team; playing to their strengths. The problem is that aren't reliable shooters or ball handlers, and they are being depended on to do too much of both. They are all 3's as far as I'm concerned. The worst thing IMO, is that none of them are capable of playing the point for even 5 minutes. When Lomax is out, KD has to play every minute.

Which is one of the great values of Lomax to this team - as I pointed out early in the season when everyone was saying Lomax should be buried on the bench for one of the transfers. He takes a lot of pressure off of KD with ballhandling, and allows KD to ditch the double teams by running off-ball cuts.

The Lomax nonsense is rooted in emotion, not facts or logic. Makes the fools such easy targets to debunk. Fish in a barrel comes to mind, not unlike the incessant OCS debate some people won't let go of.

(01-18-2023 08:47 AM)SeñorTiger Wrote:  

(01-18-2023 01:47 AM)Stammers Wrote:  

(01-16-2023 02:32 PM)SeñorTiger Wrote:  

(01-16-2023 01:08 PM)msu35 Wrote:  

(01-16-2023 12:55 PM)SeñorTiger Wrote:  That is exactly my point. Getting the "horses" necessary at the college level to run the system is not afforded to many college rosters...

That's a fair point, but I have a question. Has Penny shown that without external factors impacting our program (e.g. the NCAA), that he is among the best recruiters currently in college basketball?

Yes, he is an elite recruiter. But this is not just recruiting a bunch of top 15 kids. Emoni, could not play in this defensive scheme and he a top level recruit. You have to have 5 guys on the court that can guard practically all 5 positions or have an elite rim protector. This roster has neither of those components much less both.

My assumption is that McCadden and KK where supposed to be elite level defensive players that could guard multiple positions but they completely lost on the switching defense and alternatively are very limited offensively.

The last two years, there were countless commentators who showed clips of all 5 players moving as a unit on defense, marveling about how everyone intuitively knew where everyone else was and where they had to be.

With Lomax, Dandridge and Jayden hurt, the only players from last year's roster are DW and Lawson, and Lawson barely played. It is an entirely brand new roster. Defensively, I am sure we will improve. Hopefully, Sunday was the start.

I completely agree that we will improve. Improvement throughout the season, especially late in the season, has been very consistent with Penny.

But again, that is my concern. If it takes so long every year to get in a rhythm or to effectively teach the system then how reliable is the system. At the end of the day the goal is winning a title, not just improving and making the tournament. But his system is continually putting them in the 8-9 seed range which makes it incredibly tough to even make the Sweet 16, let alone advance beyond that.

And perhaps I should make a clearer distinction. I do believe that Penny is a very good coach. He has proven year after year that he can effectively improve his team and players. I think he is a good enough coach to bring a title to Memphis. The caveat is the current system he is using. I am not sure that the system (as it stands today) is capable of the same due to the limits of most college athletes and the extremely high roster turnover that is now a part of college basketball at large.

If you took Penny back to when you knew you were going to have your core roster for 3-4 years then and just adding a few high end players to supplement the veteran core then I would be 100% on board but that is just not the modern landscape of college basketball. Even your core guys like Lester, who should be 4 year players without doubt, are leaving early or transferring most of the time...

Exactly what system are you concerned about? Because I cannot figure out your line of concern since this season is so different from past years.

We didn't have early season struggles this year, unlike years past. We are having mid-season struggles coinciding with injuries.

If we see the improvement in this team, that we have in the typical Penny team, we won't be a bubble team by end of year. We will be a 6-ish seed - which is what most people considered the preseason best case for this "low ceiling" team.

(01-18-2023 03:28 PM)Tiger87 Wrote:  

(01-18-2023 08:47 AM)SeñorTiger Wrote:  

(01-18-2023 01:47 AM)Stammers Wrote:  

(01-16-2023 02:32 PM)SeñorTiger Wrote:  

(01-16-2023 01:08 PM)msu35 Wrote:  That's a fair point, but I have a question. Has Penny shown that without external factors impacting our program (e.g. the NCAA), that he is among the best recruiters currently in college basketball?

Yes, he is an elite recruiter. But this is not just recruiting a bunch of top 15 kids. Emoni, could not play in this defensive scheme and he a top level recruit. You have to have 5 guys on the court that can guard practically all 5 positions or have an elite rim protector. This roster has neither of those components much less both.

My assumption is that McCadden and KK where supposed to be elite level defensive players that could guard multiple positions but they completely lost on the switching defense and alternatively are very limited offensively.

The last two years, there were countless commentators who showed clips of all 5 players moving as a unit on defense, marveling about how everyone intuitively knew where everyone else was and where they had to be.

With Lomax, Dandridge and Jayden hurt, the only players from last year's roster are DW and Lawson, and Lawson barely played. It is an entirely brand new roster. Defensively, I am sure we will improve. Hopefully, Sunday was the start.

I completely agree that we will improve. Improvement throughout the season, especially late in the season, has been very consistent with Penny.

But again, that is my concern. If it takes so long every year to get in a rhythm or to effectively teach the system then how reliable is the system. At the end of the day the goal is winning a title, not just improving and making the tournament. But his system is continually putting them in the 8-9 seed range which makes it incredibly tough to even make the Sweet 16, let alone advance beyond that.

And perhaps I should make a clearer distinction. I do believe that Penny is a very good coach. He has proven year after year that he can effectively improve his team and players. I think he is a good enough coach to bring a title to Memphis. The caveat is the current system he is using. I am not sure that the system (as it stands today) is capable of the same due to the limits of most college athletes and the extremely high roster turnover that is now a part of college basketball at large.

If you took Penny back to when you knew you were going to have your core roster for 3-4 years then and just adding a few high end players to supplement the veteran core then I would be 100% on board but that is just not the modern landscape of college basketball. Even your core guys like Lester, who should be 4 year players without doubt, are leaving early or transferring most of the time...

Exactly what system are you concerned about? Because I cannot figure out your line of concern since this season is so different from past years.

We didn't have early season struggles this year, unlike years past. We are having mid-season struggles coinciding with injuries.

If we see the improvement in this team, that we have in the typical Penny team, we won't be a bubble team by end of year. We will be a 6-ish seed - which is what most people considered the preseason best case for this "low ceiling" team.

I get it. Every year there is an excuse or reason why we are not where we expected come mid to late January. It is COVID, not having a true PG, the NCAA, injuries, etc. Whether we started off slow and progressed or started off well and then regressed we are still in the exact same position. Once again, we are squarely in that last 4 in to first 4 out group. If that is not concerning for you all after 5 years because you can reason it away that is fine. I personally find it concerning that we perpetually find ourselves in the same situation year after year.

We are 5 years in. Call my concerns the system, the roster makeup, consistency or whatever you want but at the end of the day it is rooted in consistently in the same position year after year.

Penny is a great recruiter. I believe Penny can be a great coach. I am in no way advocating for him to be fired now or at the end of the season. I simply stating that something has to change for him to break that cycle and reach the next level.

(01-18-2023 05:50 PM)SeñorTiger Wrote:  I get it. Every year there is an excuse or reason why we are not where we expected come mid to late January. It is COVID, not having a true PG, the NCAA, injuries, etc.

So NCAA complications don't hurt recruiting? Says who? Injuries are not real and just an excuse? Yawn.

(01-18-2023 05:54 PM)msu35 Wrote:  

(01-18-2023 05:50 PM)SeñorTiger Wrote:  I get it. Every year there is an excuse or reason why we are not where we expected come mid to late January. It is COVID, not having a true PG, the NCAA, injuries, etc.

So NCAA complications don't hurt recruiting? Says who? Injuries are not real and just an excuse? Yawn.

All teams deal with setbacks. Injuries, players leaving, COVID - these are not unique to Memphis. And again, we are not discussing a one off year, we are discussing 5 straight years. There is a significant difference.