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(11-21-2022 08:28 PM)ICB Wrote:  Very obvious that this team is getting better. This game could have very well gone the other way. Especially when they cut it to 5/6. However, UAB remained composed and pulled away. Not as good as we can be, but getting better.

Based on beating Presbyterian and a winless team that also lost to Stetson? Don't get carried away. Let's beat someone with a pulse before we declare marked improvement. I like our players but so far we've just looked like an average team.

Hoping we get UGA tomorrow. A better challenge but still a very winnable game. We will be favored.

No one overreacted. This team is still extremely inconsistent. We look both very good and very bad and the same game far too often. I think that we will lose tomorrow, because we are still just too inconsistent.

We got beat by 15 points in a half by a team that just lost to a bottom dweller, and gave up multiple double digit leads tonight.

I see a ton of potential with this team, but we still have a ton to work on.

To be fair, I think that we looked the best we have all season for a couple of stretches in this game tonight.

They basically took jelly and gains out of the game, and we still won by 15. I take that as a positive.

I was worried USF might muck this game up and keep us down in the 60s, so happy to advance with a little breathing room.

A few observations:
— Davis is really earning minutes. He is active and pretty darn quick to be so big. If he can consistently give us 10 and 7, look out.
— Buffen played a terrific 2nd half. Always around the ball and making things happen.
— loved what both of these big men did on the defensive end, especially in the 2nd half. When they are moving like that and being disciplined on the help and recovers, we will get a lot better on that end.
— with that said, they needed to because our guards and wings are giving up waaaaaay to much penetration off the bounce. Being kind, south Florida is a bad offensive team. A good one would have carved us up in this game.


Lastly I am really proud of Jelly and Gaines tonight. Jelly went a long stretch without scoring in the 2nd half. A less mature player would have jacked up some bad shots. He played within the offense. Gaines too could have gotten selfish. He wasn’t doing much either. He also played unselfishly. That to me is a big statement that won’t get talked about from the box score.

(11-21-2022 08:45 PM)DuelingDragon Wrote:  I was worried USF might muck this game up and keep us down in the 60s, so happy to advance with a little breathing room.

A few observations:
— Davis is really earning minutes. He is active and pretty darn quick to be so big. If he can consistently give us 10 and 7, look out.
— Buffen played a terrific 2nd half. Always around the ball and making things happen.
— loved what both of these big men did on the defensive end, especially in the 2nd half. When they are moving like that and being disciplined on the help and recovers, we will get a lot better on that end.
— with that said, they needed to because our guards and wings are giving up waaaaaay to much penetration off the bounce. Being kind, south Florida is a bad offensive team. A good one would have carved us up in this game.


Lastly I am really proud of Jelly and Gaines tonight. Jelly went a long stretch without scoring in the 2nd half. A less mature player would have jacked up some bad shots. He played within the offense. Gaines too could have gotten selfish. He wasn’t doing much either. He also played unselfishly. That to me is a big statement that won’t get talked about from the box score.

Good points.

(11-21-2022 08:45 PM)DuelingDragon Wrote:  I was worried USF might muck this game up and keep us down in the 60s, so happy to advance with a little breathing room.

A few observations:
— Davis is really earning minutes. He is active and pretty darn quick to be so big. If he can consistently give us 10 and 7, look out.
— Buffen played a terrific 2nd half. Always around the ball and making things happen.
— loved what both of these big men did on the defensive end, especially in the 2nd half. When they are moving like that and being disciplined on the help and recovers, we will get a lot better on that end.
— with that said, they needed to because our guards and wings are giving up waaaaaay to much penetration off the bounce. Being kind, south Florida is a bad offensive team. A good one would have carved us up in this game.


Lastly I am really proud of Jelly and Gaines tonight. Jelly went a long stretch without scoring in the 2nd half. A less mature player would have jacked up some bad shots. He played within the offense. Gaines too could have gotten selfish. He wasn’t doing much either. He also played unselfishly. That to me is a big statement that won’t get talked about from the box score.

Agree about Buffen and Davis but particularly about our "defense". We let the opposition drive the ball from the 3pt line to the rim over and over and almost never draw a charge. Good teams don't let that happen. We also don't rotate out on shooters nearly well enough. Luckily for us tonight, USF isn't a good team.

Competition matters. I'll feel like we're on the right track when we actually beat a good team, not just collect wins over bad ones. The supposed "good" Toledo team that kicked our ass in the 2nd half lost by double digits to a woeful UMKC team today.

Georgia is thrashing St. Joe's. Assuming they hold on, I think tomorrow presents a good opportunity for us. Let's see what we make of it.

Good points by all

AB is right. This team will get better. Thinking back to the team that played New Mexico and SF last year versus the team we had in March? Two different things. To me, defense as a whole is the biggest room for improvement. Is this the deepest UAB team in history? Certainly one of the deepest I’ve seen. Hopefully competition begets improvement all around in practice.

And as stated above, what’s obvious to us is hella-obvious to Andy. He looked like he was gonna kill em after a 15 point win.

We are very lucky that our biggest OOC game of the season, @WVU, comes in December. It gives this team time to gel and get in the groove.

USF has a lot of player talent but they are not a good team at all.

Their Center, Harris and some of their wings impressed.

UGA is gonna be a war.

I think it is going to be a much tougher game than we thought prior to the season. We need to find a way to win this game, I don’t care how we do it. For what it’s worth, we are showing up as 6.5 to 8.5 favorites at the moment.

(11-21-2022 08:34 PM)BlazerGreen Wrote:  

(11-21-2022 08:28 PM)ICB Wrote:  Very obvious that this team is getting better. This game could have very well gone the other way. Especially when they cut it to 5/6. However, UAB remained composed and pulled away. Not as good as we can be, but getting better.

Based on beating Presbyterian and a winless team that also lost to Stetson? Don't get carried away. Let's beat someone with a pulse before we declare marked improvement. I like our players but so far we've just looked like an average team.

I don't look at who we are playing, I look at how we are playing. I am not sure you noticed the energy that you saw coming from the bench while the game was going on last night. What we lacked vs Toledo. This South Florida my not be as bad as their record indicates.

(11-22-2022 11:44 AM)ICB Wrote:  

(11-21-2022 08:34 PM)BlazerGreen Wrote:  

(11-21-2022 08:28 PM)ICB Wrote:  Very obvious that this team is getting better. This game could have very well gone the other way. Especially when they cut it to 5/6. However, UAB remained composed and pulled away. Not as good as we can be, but getting better.

Based on beating Presbyterian and a winless team that also lost to Stetson? Don't get carried away. Let's beat someone with a pulse before we declare marked improvement. I like our players but so far we've just looked like an average team.

I don't look at who we are playing, I look at how we are playing. I am not sure you noticed the energy that you saw coming from the bench while the game was going on last night. What we lacked vs Toledo. This South Florida my not be as bad as their record indicates.

No offense ICB, but that's a rec sports mentality. Competition is crucial. Getting excited about improvement against weak opponents is fools gold. A lot of fans were saying the same "improved" comments after we beat MT and CLT in football and then we lost 3 in a row. That's why certain games are called measuring sticks. Toledo was the first and we failed pretty badly. Today will be another so hopefully we'll see some actual improvement. You don't use games like Presbyterian and South Florida (Stetson!?) as any gauge of performance. That's why AK looked like we were losing during the entire game last night. I doubt he handed out any attaboys or pats on the back in the locker room post game. Hopefully he'll be able to after a good win over UGA.

(11-22-2022 12:10 PM)BlazerGreen Wrote:  

(11-22-2022 11:44 AM)ICB Wrote:  

(11-21-2022 08:34 PM)BlazerGreen Wrote:  

(11-21-2022 08:28 PM)ICB Wrote:  Very obvious that this team is getting better. This game could have very well gone the other way. Especially when they cut it to 5/6. However, UAB remained composed and pulled away. Not as good as we can be, but getting better.

Based on beating Presbyterian and a winless team that also lost to Stetson? Don't get carried away. Let's beat someone with a pulse before we declare marked improvement. I like our players but so far we've just looked like an average team.

I don't look at who we are playing, I look at how we are playing. I am not sure you noticed the energy that you saw coming from the bench while the game was going on last night. What we lacked vs Toledo. This South Florida my not be as bad as their record indicates.

No offense ICB, but that's a rec sports mentality. Competition is crucial. Getting excited about improvement against weak opponents is fools gold. A lot of fans were saying the same "improved" comments after we beat MT and CLT in football and then we lost 3 in a row. That's why certain games are called measuring sticks. Toledo was the first and we failed pretty badly. Today will be another so hopefully we'll see some actual improvement. You don't use games like Presbyterian and South Florida (Stetson!?) as any gauge of performance. That's why AK looked like we were losing during the entire game last night. I doubt he handed out any attaboys or pats on the back in the locker room post game. Hopefully he'll be able to after a good win over UGA.

No offense taken, but I think you are misunderstanding me. When I say I don't look at who but look at how, I am talking about energy, shot selection, concentration (unforced turnovers), maintaining defensive assignments, etc. Those can be graded regardless of the opponent. You can use games like Presbyterian and South Florida to gauge performance if you know what you are looking for. & btw, I may know a little more about basketball than you think.

Bingo ICB.

(11-22-2022 07:40 PM)ICB Wrote:  

(11-22-2022 12:10 PM)BlazerGreen Wrote:  

(11-22-2022 11:44 AM)ICB Wrote:  

(11-21-2022 08:34 PM)BlazerGreen Wrote:  

(11-21-2022 08:28 PM)ICB Wrote:  Very obvious that this team is getting better. This game could have very well gone the other way. Especially when they cut it to 5/6. However, UAB remained composed and pulled away. Not as good as we can be, but getting better.

Based on beating Presbyterian and a winless team that also lost to Stetson? Don't get carried away. Let's beat someone with a pulse before we declare marked improvement. I like our players but so far we've just looked like an average team.

I don't look at who we are playing, I look at how we are playing. I am not sure you noticed the energy that you saw coming from the bench while the game was going on last night. What we lacked vs Toledo. This South Florida my not be as bad as their record indicates.

No offense ICB, but that's a rec sports mentality. Competition is crucial. Getting excited about improvement against weak opponents is fools gold. A lot of fans were saying the same "improved" comments after we beat MT and CLT in football and then we lost 3 in a row. That's why certain games are called measuring sticks. Toledo was the first and we failed pretty badly. Today will be another so hopefully we'll see some actual improvement. You don't use games like Presbyterian and South Florida (Stetson!?) as any gauge of performance. That's why AK looked like we were losing during the entire game last night. I doubt he handed out any attaboys or pats on the back in the locker room post game. Hopefully he'll be able to after a good win over UGA.

No offense taken, but I think you are misunderstanding me. When I say I don't look at who but look at how, I am talking about energy, shot selection, concentration (unforced turnovers), maintaining defensive assignments, etc. Those can be graded regardless of the opponent. You can use games like Presbyterian and South Florida to gauge performance if you know what you are looking for. & btw, I may know a little more about basketball than you think.

Lol, sure dude. Achieving in the areas you listed are easy against a ****** team. Until you do it against someone with a pulse, it means nothing. Just like those football wins against MT and CLT meant NOTHING. NOW we can see improvement but not until the 2nd half of today's game because that's when our team showed it. I'll stick with the demeanor of our coach during and after the USF win. Thankfully he's more demanding than some of our fans.