(02-02-2019 11:48 PM)Robert C Wrote:  

(02-02-2019 10:59 PM)mjs Wrote:  

(02-02-2019 06:32 PM)Robert C Wrote:  

(01-30-2019 04:18 PM)mjs Wrote:  

(01-30-2019 02:52 PM)Robert C Wrote:  I am stunned how a team that has this much talent and poise on the highlight reel can do just enough screw-ups to end up with such a piss poor record. How many games did they have a chance to win just to blow it? Too many and it's not improving. I'm starting to get fed up. I can understand the young team getting knocked back down in Tulsa. But to tank against App State at home is not acceptable.
If DW can't coach these guys to beat a mediocre ASU at home he needs to clean out his office and move on. Enough already.

Darrell is not going anywhere anytime soon. I don't see anyway he doesn't get 3 years, even though Wes only got 2. Darrell has more high profile folks behind him than Wes did. The Beard miracle was a once-in-a-life time occurrence. We'll never see a below average team go to 30 wins, in one season again. Hopefully, Darrell can build this thing from the ground up. I honestly believed we could double our wins from last season. Sure doesn't look likely at this moment. At this point, I'm hoping for improvement and a few more wins. I don't believe in judging a coach after one season. My wife noted that Darrell is not Chris Beard. I am more than willing to acknowledge that- but I am not ready to say he can't be successful here.

The "high profile folks" you speak of don't care if we have a winning program or not. They probably pay Darrell to throttle his coaching and recruiting to keep LR a step behind that other program they really care about. That would easily explain our record and inexplicable dropoff lately.

I'm not ready to buy into a conspiracy theory. Yes, apparently some folks with money wanted Darrell. Yes, they are probably hog fans. Yes, they probably don't care about LR basketball. So I see why a conspiracy theory seems, at least, plausible. But, I think those people truly like Darrell and don't want him to fail miserably. I think they would be more than fine with him having a moderately successful mid-major program that doesn't make a lot of waves. Too be honest, I would be thrilled with that right now.

For the last 40 years in D1 the program has always--ALWAYS and ONLY--achieved greatness with a hungry young coach at the helm for whom failure is not an option. We had that in Beard and he went for the moonshot. Same can be said of Newell and Moser. All three met opposition, until they started winning. Newell still caught crap when he was kicking ass because he had the gumption to speak his mind! DW is making us look bad while his rich pals pat him on the back telling him "good job!". Only in Arkansas would anyone think this is acceptable or normal. That's no consipracy theory, it is a cultural fact. They don't have to say a word or slip him a buck. It is just understood among anyone connected to the Hogs. NO MORE EX HOGS or retreads!

I'd be fine with no more hogs. I always have liked the idea of a retread, who did well on the midmajor level, but things didn't work out at a big time job. But, Darrell is our coach, for better or for worse, for at least a couple of more seasons. I will support him. He took a DII team to 2 straight NCAA tourneys in his 2 seasons there. Seems like that is pretty good evidence that he can coach. We have half our conference season left. Do I expect a miracle turn-around? definitely not. But, maybe we can see some improvement that will give us some hope for the future. Getting to New Orleans seems like a pipe dream, at this point, but stranger things have happened.

I hope he gets their attention and they start playing defense. I also hope he proves my previous statement wrong. I like the guy and he knows the game well. But he should be able to significantly surpass Wes in 2 seasons or else. He needs to adjust. I will admit I am being impatient.

(02-03-2019 12:15 AM)Robert C Wrote:  I hope he gets their attention and they start playing defense. I also hope he proves my previous statement wrong. I like the guy and he knows the game well. But he should be able to significantly surpass Wes in 2 seasons or else. He needs to adjust. I will admit I am being impatient.

Maybe that is not unreasonable in this day and age. While the first 2 years wouldn't be Darrell's fault, 4 years of this may be more than even I can take.

Correction. They do play defense, just in 5 minute bursts to save their butts. They need to play a full game with at least half that intensity on defense and that would be an improvement.

Part of Walker's problem right now is that the roster has gotten so short that even if he wanted to enforce the "play D or you don't play" mandate, he doesn't have the players to make it stick.

(02-03-2019 12:15 AM)Robert C Wrote:  I hope he gets their attention and they start playing defense.

I started following the Trojans during the (shudder) Moncrief season.

Porter, Shields and Beard all won at LR (Shields not as much as we would have liked), and they all emphasized defense. (Who knows what Flanigan emphasized.) Most seasons they would have at least one man-on-man shutdown defender. That has been the rock upon which the Rock has been built, at least in recent years. It has worked here. Sometimes when a program has had a persona for several years through several coaches, for some reason it is difficult to change.

Coaches can send subliminal signals, no matter what they may say. But each coach will have an "or else" for his program which the players will do if they don't do anything else. It has not appeared so far that defense has been an "or else" with Walker. More like a "when we get around to it."

The DW team is fun to watch on the offensive end of the ball. They are all sizzle and no steak though. It is irritating to see a highlight reel of great offense from a game they they blew by not playing good D.

Yeah. You rarely see highlights of Virginia's defense. Not spectacular. They just win.

I would really like to see dw mix up the defense. Full court press with traps, half court press, man, full court press, zone. Would we have beaten ASU if we started the press 2 minutes earlier?

(02-03-2019 04:19 PM)ez272 Wrote:  I would really like to see dw mix up the defense. Full court press with traps, half court press, man, full court press, zone. Would we have beaten ASU if we started the press 2 minutes earlier?

They start doing that now, plus their offense we will see more W's down the stretch.

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(02-03-2019 04:19 PM)ez272 Wrote:  I would really like to see dw mix up the defense. Full court press with traps, half court press, man, full court press, zone. Would we have beaten ASU if we started the press 2 minutes earlier?

Great idea, except we would have no one left on the court at the end of the game. Kamani fouled out and 3 key players had 4 fouls. Rayjon actually came out for 30 seconds, but Markquis played all 40 minutes and Jaczek 36. Rayjon may look like Superman, but he's not. Markquis may look the Energizer bunny, but he's not. There's only so much you can ask from those 2, and fouls have been a constant problem even when we haven't pressed. We obviously need more depth, but I think just Ryan would have made the difference last night.

I’m curious to tear what his recruiting is like next year to make a decision on walker yet

I know we have signed 2 big men. I think they looked good on paper, but I'll have to see them before I decide what impact they'll have in their first year.

(02-04-2019 09:57 AM)mjs Wrote:  I know we have signed 2 big men. I think they looked good on paper, but I'll have to see them before I decide what impact they'll have in their first year.

I really don't think the incoming big men will have to have a huge impact right away. They would have to be pretty good to knock out Maric and Bankston, although it could happen. They will just provide depth so that we are not forced to replace a 6-10 guy with a 6-7 guy.

(02-04-2019 12:16 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  

(02-04-2019 09:57 AM)mjs Wrote:  I know we have signed 2 big men. I think they looked good on paper, but I'll have to see them before I decide what impact they'll have in their first year.

I really don't think the incoming big men will have to have a huge impact right away. They would have to be pretty good to knock out Maric and Bankston, although it could happen. They will just provide depth so that we are not forced to replace a 6-10 guy with a 6-7 guy.

So your assessment, which usually is on the money, is that they are not program changers, at least, for next season. So we better hope our freshman "grow up" quick or Darrell adds a couple of jucos before next season.

Verbal commits shows they are both jucos.
6-11 monyyong ESPN 3 star Shelton state cc
Besivic 7-0 at Santa fe college, 2 star

(02-04-2019 12:54 PM)mjs Wrote:  So your assessment, which usually is on the money, is that they are not program changers, at least, for next season. So we better hope our freshman "grow up" quick or Darrell adds a couple of jucos before next season.

Monyyong might give us some immediate help, but I doubt he is going to be a program changer. Maric is playing well this year, and I don't see him being bumped, and I sure don't see Kris getting bumped out of the 4.

Last year we were beaten bad at home and on the road.
Last year out opponents outscored us by 6.37 ppg.
This year we are being outscored by .5 ppg
We average 76.95 ppg this year. Last year, 63.69 ppg. I see improvement.

(02-05-2019 01:55 PM)ez272 Wrote:  Last year we were beaten bad at home and on the road.
Last year out opponents outscored us by 6.37 ppg.
This year we are being outscored by .5 ppg
We average 76.95 ppg this year. Last year, 63.69 ppg. I see improvement.

And we should end up with more wins. Maybe my expectation of 14 or so wins (close to .500 overall) was not altogether realistic. Most thought last year was due to "coaching". This year we clearly have more talent, so we should be better regardless of coaching. Obviously, this is more than a one year fix.