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Which five do you think gives us the best chance to win?

Here's my picks:

PG - Isiah Jones
Has displayed some poor decision-making, but who hasn't this year at the point? I think he possesses the most playmaking ability at the point. He can finish at the basket, and at the beginning of the year, he was unconscious from behind the arc. Once he knocks off the rust of sitting out for a year, Hoopy should turn into a solid guard.

G - Jekore Tyler
He plays 100% out of control, loses his man on defense, is perpetually seconds away from a dumb turnover, and has a penchant for taking shots with a high degree of difficulty. He is chaos personified. On the flip side, Tyler annoys his man on defense to no end, somehow ends up with steals, and will make a circus shot or two. More importantly, he scores points in bunches. Tyler has the best points per minute ratio on the team and has the second highest player efficiency ratio. Also, Tyler is our best guard driving to the basket, which will cause defenses to sag more, creating opportunities for other guys. He can help and hurt the team on any given night (often both), but with our current record sitting at under .500, I'll roll the dice and take my chances with Tyler.

SF - Jordan Swing
Swing is our best all-around basketball player. We need to create more catch-and-shoot opportunities for him, and he needs to increase his shots taken overall, especially behind the three-point line. I wouldn't mind seeing him start launching threes from NBA range. If he could start hitting those consistently, it would open up some space for the other guys to operate.

PF - Rod Rucker
If he was about five inches taller, Rucker would be an easy first round pick. As he currently stands, guys are simply shooting over him. The guy fights though, and he's our best low-post scorer. He needs to borrow Blake Griffin's time machine and tell Young Rucker to practice the free throws.

C - Fahro Alihodzic
He isn't great with his back to the basket and should never hold the ball longer than one second while on the block. Fahro is a competent scorer when he is able to seal his man in the paint, and all he has to do is catch and lay the ball in off the glass. He has a decent mid-range jumper and surprisingly is our best free throw shooter. Also, Fahro is our only true big, so there's that.

I agree with your assessment.

If Rucker was five inches taller, he wouldn't be at UAB.

I'm ready to roll the dice with Tyler as well.

Losing Soko has been very costly.

I think our best five is who are starting five is. Terence Jones and Rob Williams are the leaders on the team. You can't lead from the bench. Williams has surprised me this year by turning into an offensive weapon.

I jones has not impressed me yet. He had a great game at Creighton, but has not done much since.

Tyler is the definition of that spurt off the bench. He can be great for you in short doses and lift the team when he comes in, but he is too erratic to play long stretches.

Fahro is strange. He misses easy shots underneath but is almost perfect at the free throw line. We need to feed the ball to him a lot and let him get to the line about 10 times a game. His free throw percentage could be the difference in a lot of games.

The thing that bothers me a out Rucker is he will score a bunch in a hurry and then disappear for a game. I don't know if we stop getting the ball to him, or if we don't react to adjustments made by the other team. He needs to be able to stay open throughout the game.

Purifoy needs to learn his new role and be a double digit guy off the bench.

Fahro is the anti-Hack-A-Shaq

Based on games I've watched:

- Team is built to run but can't
- Players are "thinking too much" which prevents flow on offense and missed assignments of defense
- They play with a lot of fight and effort
- Will rely on defense and transition points to generate offense
- Our schedule would have been challenging for a veteran team, let alone a new team, new staff, new personalities, new system which is a lot more complicated than it seems (both ends).
- By conference play they will start to gel, as the season progress, they will improve
- Could be very dangerous in C-USA tournament

(12-06-2012 08:04 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  I think our best five is who are starting five is. Terence Jones and Rob Williams are the leaders on the team. You can't lead from the bench. Williams has surprised me this year by turning into an offensive weapon.

I jones has not impressed me yet. He had a great game at Creighton, but has not done much since.

Tyler is the definition of that spurt off the bench. He can be great for you in short doses and lift the team when he comes in, but he is too erratic to play long stretches.

Fahro is strange. He misses easy shots underneath but is almost perfect at the free throw line. We need to feed the ball to him a lot and let him get to the line about 10 times a game. His free throw percentage could be the difference in a lot of games.

The thing that bothers me a out Rucker is he will score a bunch in a hurry and then disappear for a game. I don't know if we stop getting the ball to him, or if we don't react to adjustments made by the other team. He needs to be able to stay open throughout the game.

Purifoy needs to learn his new role and be a double digit guy off the bench.

Agree

How many preconference games do we have left to play?

(12-07-2012 12:37 AM)BAMANBLAZERFAN Wrote:  How many preconference games do we have left to play?

http://www.uabsports.com/sports/m-baskbl...sched.html

Hoopy has the best assist to turnover ratio on the team. His shooting percentage is abysmal though. Of his 43 shots, 32 are 3 pointers. I think he will improve as the year unfolds. I'm not sure if I would ever put Quincy back on the floor. His minutes could go to Hoopy.

(12-06-2012 08:18 PM)UAB?IAB Wrote:  Based on games I've watched:

- Team is built to run but can't
- Players are "thinking too much" which prevents flow on offense and missed assignments of defense
- They play with a lot of fight and effort
- Will rely on defense and transition points to generate offense
- Our schedule would have been challenging for a veteran team, let alone a new team, new staff, new personalities, new system which is a lot more complicated than it seems (both ends).
- By conference play they will start to gel, as the season progress, they will improve
- Could be very dangerous in C-USA tournament

+1

I've been thinking a lot about Faz these past couple of games. Besides his FT%, he's a terrible option on offense. It seems we lose a ton of possessions early in the game trying to go to him in the post. Maybe I'm being too hard on him and not considering the level of competition...

(12-06-2012 08:18 PM)UAB?IAB Wrote:  Based on games I've watched:

- Team is built to run but can't
- Players are "thinking too much" which prevents flow on offense and missed assignments of defense
- They play with a lot of fight and effort
- Will rely on defense and transition points to generate offense
- Our schedule would have been challenging for a veteran team, let alone a new team, new staff, new personalities, new system which is a lot more complicated than it seems (both ends).
- By conference play they will start to gel, as the season progress, they will improve
- Could be very dangerous in C-USA tournament

Spot on!

Isiah
Jordan
The "Silent One" (Rucker)
Terrance
"Pharoah"

...First man off the bench: "Sgt. Preston"...

The 5 guys that Haase wants on the court at the time.

I agree that minutes that QT is played are probably wasted minutes. He had a goo game last game, but overall he's continued his poor play from last year and he doesn't fit our system. I'd go with more high reward, but admittedly high risk, players like JKT or HJ.

I didn't think faz would be a world beater, and given his unproven history, I think he's doing pretty well. I agree with going into the post with him, if for nothing more than to draw fouls and put him on the FT line.

I think our starting lineup as is is probably best, but we need more minutes for JKT and HJ