(02-03-2021 08:35 AM)JCRocket Wrote:  If Berl is a student studying broadcasting, the best TK or any other interview subject could do for her is to treat her like any other member of the media. The sooner she learns the importance of having a thick skin, and how to deal with reluctant or distracted interviewees, the better it will be for her career.

lol

(02-02-2021 09:23 PM)eastisbest Wrote:  

(02-02-2021 07:09 PM)Rocket_Fanatic Wrote:  Normandie Berl is the worst sideline reporter ever and I don’t care if people get offended...

Of course she pales next to Rogers but Berl is still a student, learning the trade.

Agreed, TK is the worst person to interview, he feels he is superior to you when you ask him a question. He is always right on anything, I know, because him and I have had some heated discussions.

Didn't read through this entire thread, but I get the feeling there is a consensus on how bad the refs were last night. I waited until the game was over to watch it on the replay. That way I can stop it, reverse it, and watch questionable plays a couple of times. The refs were pretty bad - but at least their incompetence went both ways. Bad calls for Akron throughout the first half, then it looked like they were determined for UT to get their share of assinine calls in the second half.

I also got the feeling Groce was purposely having his team hacking away with the belief that the refs would have a lot of "make-up" calls in the second half. He knew he had a deeper roster to work with. Just an opinion from what I was seeing on the TV. I think I was screaming at the refs from my family room more than coach K was from courtside.

Seemed like Milner and Rollins were intimidated early - Akron has a lot of physically strong, athletic players. They both looked tentative - but at least Milner turned it around in the second half. Rollins looked like he was just trying to not screw up. He needs to get his swagger back - he's too good not to have confidence in his game.

Milner and intimadated I can't imagine in the same sentence.

Rollins only because he's a Freshman but not once have I gotten that impression this season. I mentioned the last few games, he did seem to react to foul calls against. I'd definitely like to see him remain solidy in the "on to the next play" way of thinking on court. With friends, family and all that goes with being young, I imagine college success can bring pressure not seen before.

Probably just a one-off game. Fortunately he turned his misfortune on the offensive end into defensive energy.

(02-02-2021 09:27 PM)H2Oville Rocket Wrote:  We play five of our remaining eight games against teams we’ve beaten. Two against a suddenly depleted and sinking Ball State team and one on the road against what looks like a mediocre Buffalo team, but they always scare me. Miami, the best of the teams remaining, we get at home. No reason we CAN’T win out. The old west teams are awful and that’s five games. Win those and we’re at 16 wins. Then home wins against two teams we beat on the road. And Buffalo.

The difference between this team and past good Coach K teams is the way we keep the pedal down. If a team gets a run we don’t collapse. Someone always steps up. Tonight it was Milner and to an extent Saunders who is playing consistently well. We had just enough guard foulss to keep pressure on Jackson.

Yes, it used to drive me crazy when they would build up a lead, then go conservative to try to preserve it, then lose the lead and the game. Plus, finally coach seems to have enough talent to where, if someone has an off night or is being shut down, there is someone else--actually any number of guys--who can step up big. I was disappointed (though not surprised...) when they lost the 14 pt lead, but they sure made a statement roaring back like they did. Very glad for coach K to finally have a team with this amount of talent.

The only question I have about this team is why the 3 Bigs are seldom on the floor together. Most teams have 2 guards, a center, and 2 forwards. We play 3 guards and 2 forwards. (Coach K may say we have no positions- just 5 guys out there and he may be correct).

Obviously what we do has been working fine with MAC teams but it would be interesting to see how we would play against a Michigan type team now that we have Shumate. Also, Acunzo has a lot more game experience and Milner knows his role. I have to believe we would play them much tougher now.

I saw one tournament projection whereby we get a 12 seed and play UCLA in the opening game. Now that would be a fun game to watch.

12 seed if UT continues to win out

(02-03-2021 12:06 PM)Rocket75 Wrote:  The only question I have about this team is why the 3 Bigs are seldom on the floor together. Most teams have 2 guards, a center, and 2 forwards. We play 3 guards and 2 forwards. (Coach K may say we have no positions- just 5 guys out there and he may be correct).

Obviously what we do has been working fine with MAC teams but it would be interesting to see how we would play against a Michigan type team now that we have Shumate. Also, Acunzo has a lot more game experience and Milner knows his role. I have to believe we would play them much tougher now.

I saw one tournament projection whereby we get a 12 seed and play UCLA in the opening game. Now that would be a fun game to watch.

I think what makes the current Rockets so tough to defend is they spread the court so well with their motion offense. With the way the rotation has developed over the course of the season, they basically have 4 interchangeable guards (Jackson, Rollins, Littleson and Saunders) and 3 interchangeable interior type players (Milner, Shumate and Acunzo)who are all capable 3-point shooters. Their true post players Komagum and Maranka have not developed enough to this point to contribute much so that is why TK is playing the lineup and style he is. And you cannot complain much about the results! While I somewhat agree that this type of line up might have rebounding issues against teams that play two or three bigs at a time, we can also take advantage of that size by spreading the court and running our motion offense which has been pretty much impossible to slow down.

(02-03-2021 01:58 PM)Basketball Jones Wrote:  

(02-03-2021 12:06 PM)Rocket75 Wrote:  The only question I have about this team is why the 3 Bigs are seldom on the floor together. Most teams have 2 guards, a center, and 2 forwards. We play 3 guards and 2 forwards. (Coach K may say we have no positions- just 5 guys out there and he may be correct).

Obviously what we do has been working fine with MAC teams but it would be interesting to see how we would play against a Michigan type team now that we have Shumate. Also, Acunzo has a lot more game experience and Milner knows his role. I have to believe we would play them much tougher now.

I saw one tournament projection whereby we get a 12 seed and play UCLA in the opening game. Now that would be a fun game to watch.

I think what makes the current Rockets so tough to defend is they spread the court so well with their motion offense. With the way the rotation has developed over the course of the season, they basically have 4 interchangeable guards (Jackson, Rollins, Littleson and Saunders) and 3 interchangeable interior type players (Milner, Shumate and Acunzo)who are all capable 3-point shooters. Their true post players Komagum and Maranka have not developed enough to this point to contribute much so that is why TK is playing the lineup and style he is. And you cannot complain much about the results! While I somewhat agree that this type of line up might have rebounding issues against teams that play two or three bigs at a time, we can also take advantage of that size by spreading the court and running our motion offense which has been pretty much impossible to slow down.

You’re seeing the guards do a much better job of rebounding past couple of games. MJ has stood out on the glass and Rollins had 8 last night.

(02-03-2021 01:58 PM)Basketball Jones Wrote:  

(02-03-2021 12:06 PM)Rocket75 Wrote:  The only question I have about this team is why the 3 Bigs are seldom on the floor together. Most teams have 2 guards, a center, and 2 forwards. We play 3 guards and 2 forwards. (Coach K may say we have no positions- just 5 guys out there and he may be correct).

Obviously what we do has been working fine with MAC teams but it would be interesting to see how we would play against a Michigan type team now that we have Shumate. Also, Acunzo has a lot more game experience and Milner knows his role. I have to believe we would play them much tougher now.

I saw one tournament projection whereby we get a 12 seed and play UCLA in the opening game. Now that would be a fun game to watch.

I think what makes the current Rockets so tough to defend is they spread the court so well with their motion offense. With the way the rotation has developed over the course of the season, they basically have 4 interchangeable guards (Jackson, Rollins, Littleson and Saunders) and 3 interchangeable interior type players (Milner, Shumate and Acunzo)who are all capable 3-point shooters. Their true post players Komagum and Maranka have not developed enough to this point to contribute much so that is why TK is playing the lineup and style he is. And you cannot complain much about the results! While I somewhat agree that this type of line up might have rebounding issues against teams that play two or three bigs at a time, we can also take advantage of that size by spreading the court and running our motion offense which has been pretty much impossible to slow down.

Maranka and Komagum are really liabilities offensively and defensively. Komagum can rebound and block some shots, but has poor footwork and lacks strength to post up on offensive or defensive ends. Neither handles the ball well enough to be a part of the motion offense. I truly believe that Maranka's development was slowed down by the season ending the way it did last year and really impacting his interactions with strength and condition coaches face to face along with his ability to compete in open gyms on campus during the spring and summer. Komagum is a junior and although he will benefit from a full year at the D1 level will really need to get stronger and work on his footwork this off season. Acunzo himself has low post footwork issues and is a much better player facing the basket. Shumate has little low post experience but is so much better an athlete than anyone would suspect by looking at him. Shumate is an old time 70/80's type player who I'm sure coach Nichols would have loved. The leadership on the floor this year is the best I've seen in a while and the main reason the team doesn't fold when teams make runs at them.

This UT MBB season begs the question:

"If a team wins the MACC, and there’s no one around to see it, does it really happen?

(02-03-2021 03:00 PM)utrocks84 Wrote:  Shumate is an old time 70/80's type player who I'm sure coach Nichols would have loved. The leadership on the floor this year is the best I've seen in a while and the main reason the team doesn't fold when teams make runs at them.

Is there anyone on this team Nichols would not have loved? They're all a little old school and Nichols had some shaggy headed players, even Littleson would make the cut.

Coach TK deserves some credit too. Midway through the second half when Akron caught up, TK called a TO. I have no idea what he said or did, but from that point on UT played excellent basketball , and pulled away for the win.

(02-03-2021 03:17 PM)eastisbest Wrote:  

(02-03-2021 03:00 PM)utrocks84 Wrote:  Shumate is an old time 70/80's type player who I'm sure coach Nichols would have loved. The leadership on the floor this year is the best I've seen in a while and the main reason the team doesn't fold when teams make runs at them.

Is there anyone on this team Nichols would not have loved? They're all a little old school and Nichols had some shaggy headed players, even Littleson would make the cut.

The tats might not make the cut with Nichols. I recall Nichols having some words with Kindle on the hair but it didn’t get cut so. . .

(02-03-2021 03:21 PM)rockytop Wrote:  Coach TK deserves some credit too. Midway through the second half when Akron caught up, TK called a TO. I have no idea what he said or did, but from that point on UT played excellent basketball , and pulled away for the win.

Good call on the timeout comment Rockytop. And a great call by TK. I was getting super nervous at 61-61. I thought it was slipping away. It was 51-35 and I knew it was too easy and with the foul trouble MJ was in it seemed inevitable that they would claw back. They did but we held tough. I was VERY IMPRESSED!

I love JT's rainbow jumper. It's a thing of beauty. His left wrist orientation is a little strange. Anyone else notice this? He has great arc, rotation, and the fish hook finish but his left guide hand set-up is a little awkward. But hey - he's an awesome shooter!!!!!!!!! We have a team of very good shooters. Acunzo has the making of a great shot. The name of the game is putting the ball in the hole. This UT team validates that old saying.

Go Rockets!