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Going into this season I thought we'd be great because we were so deep with the transfers. Picking up Jamal Johnson at 9.4 points in 25.6 SEC minutes per game, Justin Brown at 9.1 and 8.1 points per game as a 2 year starter at South Florida and Tyreke Locure with 25 starts and 13.5 points per game last year were going to be gravy. Have to say I'm disappointed in their playing time this year. I thought we would be killing teams in second halves with so many interchangeable parts. Instead we have faltered twice on conference road trip second game in 3 days scenarios vs lesser opponents and hardly tapped into the three players mentioned above.

We had a fleeting hope for an at large bid until the Marshall loss. With that hope gone, its all practice for the tournament now. I'd like to see us dip into our depth for the remaining schedule to prepare to win day after day after day in the CUSA tournament to get that NCAA bid that we have the talent to capture.

Getting a bunch of transfers doesn't automatically give you quality depth. This is a scrappy team with a bunch of shortcomings that has been masked by the level of defense they play. One consistent good outside shooter and no consistent low post scoring presence (Buffen has failed us in that regard). I think this team will actually be better next season if they can find another good outside shooter and Buffen can get his head on straight and be a reliable low post scoring presence I believe he is capable of becoming.

this team can win cusa tournament and it is a big plus compare to previous year , we lost our chance of at large bid many time this year , SF, WV, RICE AND now Marshall . we need to score more inside close to the basket ,,,

Our bench players are playing little more and it will help for the tournament ,,,,UAB will NOT make it a large bid until our computer number are below 30 ...and it wont happen this year

It's not AKs philosophy to play more than 7 or 8 at the very most. Against WKU we played JJ and Brown less than 2 minutes total. We played Toney maybe 5 minutes at most. Other than that we played 7 guys only. That's what he wants to do, even though this team IMO would thrive with more pressing, faster pace, and deeper rotation...

Gotta play Toney, Johnson, and Brown more in 2nd game(Sat) of series in place of Ertle. HCAK said lst year that Ertle gets worn down because of his size in Thurs game and has little left for Sat game. Yesterday he went 0-7, including 0-5 from 3pt range, while Brown and Johnson combined for 13 points, so, maybe, that thought took hold - albeit too late.

(01-30-2022 11:50 AM)WesternBlazer Wrote:  Gotta play Toney, Johnson, and Brown more in 2nd game(Sat) of series in place of Ertle. HCAK said lst year that Ertle gets worn down because of his size in Thurs game and has little left for Sat game. Yesterday he went 0-7, including 0-5 from 3pt range, while Brown and Johnson combined for 13 points, so, maybe, that thought took hold - albeit too late.

This.

Ertel has to work hard for everything. He has a fine line between being a good shooter and a poor one, based almost entirely on his footwork and bounce, which means there is a noticeable difference when he is fresh. He struggles in these 2nd games. Easy to see. We should not be burning him out. I was practically throwing things at the screen watching him and Quan in the game with 5 minutes to go up 30 on FIU. Those minutes would have been going to others and they come with a price in March.

There is also a huge difference between cardio tired in game action and leg-tired in game action. These are not the same things. Leg tired means you get your ass beat on the boards (like last night), shoot 0-7 (like last night) and are a half step off on deflections and passing lanes. This is a big part of road basketball. Yeah, you have to be mentally tough. But you also have to manage minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(01-30-2022 10:08 AM)BlazinBham Wrote:  At least Buffen gives us points here and there. What does Jemison give us?

Jemison gives us a defensive low post presence. He was never going to be a scoring threat and any points he gives us is a bonus.

Jemison is the best center in the league. He’s a crucial part of being able to do anything in March against better competition. We need him to retire the hook shot and use his feet more. The hook is settling and low percentage.

The only things I will fault Kennedy for this year our rotation and minutes management and clearly not having the team ready to play on the second game of these two in three night sets. I agree with everything that’s been said about Johnson and brown, and locure to a lesser extent.

Agree Answer. Rotation and minutes management more with me. Agree with DD on his observations there.

And Rongie. We can't play aggressive defense with three bigs, and Justin Brown is not the answer as the fourth. Rongie's probably way tougher now with the clean look, too.

AK knows how to analyze, and I understand the broader strategy at work: your NET can survive against bad teams if you blow them out, so the starters still play to the end of games against the garbage teams like UTSA and the F-U's. A three-point win over Southern Miss is as bad as a loss to North Texas.

That's no help if you lose games to middling teams. This roster is built to go 12 deep, and it's a wasted asset right now.

I am ready to see #0 on the floor.