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https://statsbywill.substack.com/p/ncaa-...medium=web

Double post sorry

Wow. I thoroughly enjoyed reading that. That was a fantastic write up.

Great find! That was a fun read.

It was a great, stats nerd article, which I love.

I will be interested to see where our defensive metrics end up. Surprising to see that we rank higher so far in the metrics he looked at vs last year's team.

Great read.

That was a really good article! Makes our fans on here eat some of the words on the defense. Statistically it seems like we are doing pretty well.

(12-09-2022 12:05 PM)The Answer UAB Wrote:  It was a great, stats nerd article, which I love.

I will be interested to see where our defensive metrics end up. Surprising to see that we rank higher so far in the metrics he looked at vs last year's team.

I tried telling you guys the metrics aren't that bad. It's still early, and I have some of the defensive concerns you guys do at times, but it hasn't been in 40 minutes spurts.

The metrics don’t matter. C’mon, you have watched the games. Our on ball defense vs the drive has been horrid. It hasn’t cost us but one game yet but it will cost us bigtime if we don’t get better there.

Funny that some of the same arguments were made defending football — “but we are doing pretty well,” yet anyone objectively looking at it could see the issues even when winning.

Our on-ball defense is disgusting. It would be disgusting if we were undefeated or winning every game by 20+. I don’t care about what it means in games were we have clear advantages, I don’t want that trash biting us in the ass in the 4-6 on the schedule that could keep us from reaching potential

Article on Tavin Lovan

(12-09-2022 03:32 PM)DuelingDragon Wrote:  Funny that some of the same arguments were made defending football — “but we are doing pretty well,” yet anyone objectively looking at it could see the issues even when winning.

Our on-ball defense is disgusting. It would be disgusting if we were undefeated or winning every game by 20+. I don’t care about what it means in games were we have clear advantages, I don’t want that trash biting us in the ass in the 4-6 on the schedule that could keep us from reaching potential

If we held onto the ball in football we were an 8 win team at minimum. As much as I didn’t love HCBV, a couple of those games were solely on the players.

Metrics matter, and the eye test matter. If it were that easy to drive on us teams would do it to us all game. The fact is it isn’t as simple as you guys are making it.

(12-09-2022 04:35 PM)blazers9911 Wrote:  

(12-09-2022 03:32 PM)DuelingDragon Wrote:  Funny that some of the same arguments were made defending football — “but we are doing pretty well,” yet anyone objectively looking at it could see the issues even when winning.

Our on-ball defense is disgusting. It would be disgusting if we were undefeated or winning every game by 20+. I don’t care about what it means in games were we have clear advantages, I don’t want that trash biting us in the ass in the 4-6 on the schedule that could keep us from reaching potential

If we held onto the ball in football we were an 8 win team at minimum. As much as I didn’t love HCBV, a couple of those games were solely on the players.

Metrics matter, and the eye test matter. If it were that easy to drive on us teams would do it to us all game. The fact is it isn’t as simple as you guys are making it.

It is that simple - we have played mostly mediocre teams. Even they break us down on the regular.

Our on ball perimeter defense is TERRIBLE. Any decent guard with some physical strength can take us to the rim or back us down anytime they want unless we adjust.

I don’t care that we are good enough to spurt past these teams, I want to win 30+ games and play in the 2nd weekend of March with a chance to try to the third, which this team legit could do if it improves the defense.

I don’t want to go to crappy places like Rice and have 3 WTF losses because we got sucked into 10 bad defensive possessions letting guards do whatever the hell they want and send Trey and Buffin to the bench with fouls on the help side because we wouldn’t at least knock the damn guard to the floor a couple of times and make him think about it

AK knows it is awful too, and I think he is purposely letting us get used there some because we need to get better at it or at least figure out who can get a stop when we really need one. In each of these instances he has eventually gone to the 1-3-1 or done some jump traps to force a pickup, but not until we have gotten smoked up a bit.

I don’t want to be “just ok.” I want to be GREAT. What we are doing on the defensive end is faaaaaaaar from good.

(12-09-2022 04:42 PM)DuelingDragon Wrote:  

(12-09-2022 04:35 PM)blazers9911 Wrote:  

(12-09-2022 03:32 PM)DuelingDragon Wrote:  Funny that some of the same arguments were made defending football — “but we are doing pretty well,” yet anyone objectively looking at it could see the issues even when winning.

Our on-ball defense is disgusting. It would be disgusting if we were undefeated or winning every game by 20+. I don’t care about what it means in games were we have clear advantages, I don’t want that trash biting us in the ass in the 4-6 on the schedule that could keep us from reaching potential

If we held onto the ball in football we were an 8 win team at minimum. As much as I didn’t love HCBV, a couple of those games were solely on the players.

Metrics matter, and the eye test matter. If it were that easy to drive on us teams would do it to us all game. The fact is it isn’t as simple as you guys are making it.

It is that simple - we have played mostly mediocre teams. Even they break us down on the regular.

Our on ball perimeter defense is TERRIBLE. Any decent guard with some physical strength can take us to the rim or back us down anytime they want unless we adjust.

I don’t care that we are good enough to spurt past these teams, I want to win 30+ games and play in the 2nd weekend of March with a chance to try to the third, which this team legit could do if it improves the defense.

I don’t want to go to crappy places like Rice and have 3 WTF losses because we got sucked into 10 bad defensive possessions letting guards do whatever the hell they want and send Trey and Buffin to the bench with fouls on the help side because we wouldn’t at least knock the damn guard to the floor a couple of times and make him think about it

AK knows it is awful too, and I think he is purposely letting us get used there some because we need to get better at it or at least figure out who can get a stop when we really need one. In each of these instances he has eventually gone to the 1-3-1 or done some jump traps to force a pickup, but not until we have gotten smoked up a bit.

I don’t want to be “just ok.” I want to be GREAT. What we are doing on the defensive end is faaaaaaaar from good.

I think someone has stolen your log in credentials recently. You are way more willing to criticize our teams now. I don't really disagree with anything you're saying though.

Before the last couple of weeks it was nothing but rah rah sis boom bah and getting butthurt if anybody called out our teams, like the other old heads on here.

It's refreshing. Welcome to the dark side.

You are insufferable when you are “right”. I hope we beat WVU tomorrow just to shut this down a little. We are so incredibly hard on our teams no matter what they do. How many basketball teams win 30 games a year? It’s not something even the best of the best regularly pull off.

(12-09-2022 04:47 PM)blazers9911 Wrote:  You are insufferable when you are “right”. I hope we beat WVU tomorrow just to shut this down a little. We are so incredibly hard on our teams no matter what they do. How many basketball teams win 30 games a year? It’s not something even the best of the best regularly pull off.

It's definitely not, but this team should be shooting for that. We have that potential, I truly believe that. UAB has not lived up to potential or fair expectations far too often. Maybe that's why I am so "negative." I am tired of being burned. But anyways, let's see what happens tomorrow. It's a winnable game. I expect us to keep it close and look respectable at a minimum. That will keep an at large alive. The only thing that could really hurt us in that regard is just getting absolutely smashed.

I am right. Our defense on the perimeter is bad and it has to get better to reach our potential. How in the hell is that criticizing? It is a fact that it is, being kind, not good. Anyone scouting us sees it — not all have the team or personnel to exploit it enough to beat us. Our staff sees it. Anyone watching sees it.

We are a good team. Can be a great one. Maybe the best one at this school. Will be real hard to get close to that giving up 10-15 bad possessions per game just letting guards go unimpeded. Btw a possession can be horrible and add up to to a L even if it doesn’t result in points allowed.

(12-09-2022 05:00 PM)DuelingDragon Wrote:  I am right. Our defense on the perimeter is bad and it has to get better to reach our potential. How in the hell is that criticizing? It is a fact that it is, being kind, not good. Anyone scouting us sees it — not all have the team or personnel to exploit it enough to beat us. Our staff sees it. Anyone watching sees it.

We are a good team. Can be a great one. Maybe the best one at this school. Will be real hard to get close to that giving up 10-15 bad possessions per game just letting guards go unimpeded. Btw a possession can be horrible and add up to to a L even if it doesn’t result in points allowed.

I do agree with your last statement. We have played bad defense on a lot of possessions, and the other team simply couldn't convert. That's a process over results thing. You do not want to keep playing like that and simply hoping the other team misses. That may be why we look better under the "metrics." We haven't played very good teams and most of them just simply weren't good enough to convert at a high enough rate to really hurt the metrics? But on paper it looks like we "got a stop" and it helps our defensive metrics..

(12-09-2022 04:46 PM)The Answer UAB Wrote:  

(12-09-2022 04:42 PM)DuelingDragon Wrote:  

(12-09-2022 04:35 PM)blazers9911 Wrote:  

(12-09-2022 03:32 PM)DuelingDragon Wrote:  Funny that some of the same arguments were made defending football — “but we are doing pretty well,” yet anyone objectively looking at it could see the issues even when winning.

Our on-ball defense is disgusting. It would be disgusting if we were undefeated or winning every game by 20+. I don’t care about what it means in games were we have clear advantages, I don’t want that trash biting us in the ass in the 4-6 on the schedule that could keep us from reaching potential

If we held onto the ball in football we were an 8 win team at minimum. As much as I didn’t love HCBV, a couple of those games were solely on the players.

Metrics matter, and the eye test matter. If it were that easy to drive on us teams would do it to us all game. The fact is it isn’t as simple as you guys are making it.

It is that simple - we have played mostly mediocre teams. Even they break us down on the regular.

Our on ball perimeter defense is TERRIBLE. Any decent guard with some physical strength can take us to the rim or back us down anytime they want unless we adjust.

I don’t care that we are good enough to spurt past these teams, I want to win 30+ games and play in the 2nd weekend of March with a chance to try to the third, which this team legit could do if it improves the defense.

I don’t want to go to crappy places like Rice and have 3 WTF losses because we got sucked into 10 bad defensive possessions letting guards do whatever the hell they want and send Trey and Buffin to the bench with fouls on the help side because we wouldn’t at least knock the damn guard to the floor a couple of times and make him think about it

AK knows it is awful too, and I think he is purposely letting us get used there some because we need to get better at it or at least figure out who can get a stop when we really need one. In each of these instances he has eventually gone to the 1-3-1 or done some jump traps to force a pickup, but not until we have gotten smoked up a bit.

I don’t want to be “just ok.” I want to be GREAT. What we are doing on the defensive end is faaaaaaaar from good.

I think someone has stolen your log in credentials recently. You are way more willing to criticize our teams now. I don't really disagree with anything you're saying though.

Before the last couple of weeks it was nothing but rah rah sis boom bah and getting butthurt if anybody called out our teams, like the other old heads on here.

It's refreshing. Welcome to the dark side.

I am more critical of basketball because I am the son of a coach and spent most of my life on or near a bench. I am more critical of basketball because I look at it like a coach, not a fan, and because this team’s ceiling is higher than our football team’s was this year. This team can potentially go deep in March with the right bracket and playing its best. I don’t want to see it blow that by losing 3 seed lines because we drop three WTF games because we wouldn’t put a body on a guard in the clutch and screwed up the rotations because of it. The better teams in our conference and definitely the kind you see in March would light us up where we sit right now. Gotta get better!

(12-09-2022 04:47 PM)blazers9911 Wrote:  How many basketball teams win 30 games a year? It’s not something even the best of the best regularly pull off.

How often does a program have a chance to be that team?

This one does. It's reasonable to seek and expect excellence.

I have great hopes for Eric Gaines. He does the things off the court that speak to character, and that speaks to the ability to unlock his amazing athletic side. Ty Brewer was a real find. Javian Davis is a force with the new hair, with a chance to become the truly playable second center we needed.

This can be a special team. There's nothing wrong with wanting more for them. With wanting it all. Yes, I typed "all."

I was there for the Virginia game. Nothing compares to that feeling, that atmosphere. Y'all children deserve a chance to know that, and still more.