MeanMag

I would be quite surprised if we've beat any spread this year.

I'm not a basketball expert, and the most emotional posts I have seen have been from defenders trying to keep the faith when everyone else is calling it like they see it. I've been posting less and less because I find that I don't have a whole lot of positive comments this season. Let me save you the tired "opinion" sentence at the end of all of your posts, and tell you now, "This is my opinion". For Mitchell to showcase his skills, the offense must change. The touches Tony is getting at the top of the arc just aren't cutting it. That's not running the offense through Tony. It's making sure Tony just touches a ball. It's contrived, and it's obvious, and it isn't working. Most elite players add something to their game every off season. If Tony is serious about the NBA, he will add something to his game every year. I haven't seen one thing from Tony that I didn't see last year, but I'd love to hear from others as well. The rest of the team: Passing isn't just something Tony hasn't mastered. I counted at least 4 times against WKU where one extra pass would have led to a high percentage shot, but instead the ball was taken into a 2v1 disadvantage. I haven't seen anyone that can make an inlet pass to Tony. The author is correct in saying that they front Tony and usually have a weak side defender sagging over the back, but sometimes there isn't, and if there is, it could be that the offensive player is either open, or needs to float out more (spacing). The most critical person we lost from last year's team was Tyler Hall. He was a master at the inlet pass. It's not an indictment of the other guys on the team because I haven't seen a whole lot of college guards that are good at it. Even on elite teams, it's rare to see more than a couple guys capable of getting the ball to a big man where he is most lethal in a half court set. What I'd like to see is an attempt to overload one side of the floor on offense, clear out one whole side for Tony alone with his one or 2 defenders and let the man work. He should be able to take one defender in our league and pass out of 2. This usually only works against man to man defense, but can cause a teams zone to rubber band. The problem: we need someone who can make passes, not the guard to guard kind on the perimeter, because that does us no good without shooters. We need to get better passing inside the arc. The hardest thing for me as a fan to gather, is whether it's coaching or players. I don't watch practice. But right now, it looks as if we aren't adapting our offense well to what is happening in games. Edit: One other thing: Coleman must play more minutes.

LOL, no wonder your own fan base hates you. Use your own logic and don't comment on any teams outside of TCU, because you don't have a RIGHT to. I would ban fools like that too. There's a reason TCU fans have their own message board, and it isn't gomeangreen.com. Wish college educated fans could all act like the UTA fans that post here.

Cheers for the mods who took away most of that guys posting privileges here so we don't have to sift through that crap anymore. Same for Cougar Queen. Good riddance.

In case no one told you, your shorts were a topic of conversation for George and hank at the selu game. And, I saw the refs had noticed them as well. Now if only they could give up their black and white zebra stripes and get some like yours, maybe we can squeak out a couple more wins. Merry Xmas to you too.

I know this season is a major disappointment, but this guy has size, wheels, handles, leaping ability, and ability to shoot an finish. It might look real good because of editing, but there are highlight reels of guys that can't accomplish much of what's in that video. He is a good player and a real good piece to have in our quest to turn things around from the beginning of this year and to keep things going from the past few years. The future looks good if we can keep landing his caliber.

Great visual, good post.

Maybe not for the large monied high schools in this area, but there are still many many high schools in this state that could use something like that at a convenient price point.

I don't think Benford should be fired at this point. He's figuring his shit out like the rest of the team. The problem I have is if a NBA scout can watch a game for 10 minutes and say, "Benford doesn't know how to use Mitchell.", It makes me wonder who else Benford doesn't know how to use. Getting Tony "touches" is not the same as getting him touches in his spot. I've seen him get "touches" at the top of the arch, and I'm going to bet that's not exactly where we'd want him to touch it on a possession. Does anyone on the team have a "spot" for that matter? Does anyone have an area where they are 50-80% effective that isn't at the free-throw line? Well, I haven't seen it. Is it because no one has their "spot"? (most players have at least a couple) They aren't getting to it (their spot) in the game? Or is it that Benford hasn't figured out where people are best and where to get them touches? Or is it that he pulls them before they get it going from one of their spots? The closest I've seen is Roger on his fade-away that has been fairly consistent. Alzee on his dribble drive that usually falls or draws a foul. How about some more dribble penetration from some guards to get Tony some space, or someone else to a spot. Hell if I know, I just would have thought that someone would have figured out something that works by now, especially a coach. You know, like Odufuwa/Trameil down low? Or Tristan on the top of the arc. Walton or Tyler Hall from deep. Josh white dribbling into the trees, or his floater at the top of the key that seemingly showed up every game. I hope they figure it out real soon, because I'll still make it to games, but it'd be a hell of a lot more fun to watch a competitive one than a boring one. Like most people here, I don't mind watching a loss in basketball, but it really bugs me when we aren't even in the game.

It's not outrageous if you know what emmitt does for a living. It's just a poor analogy. Isn't the first on this board, won't be the last.

Plus Walton. We already got rid of one at the beginning of the season. Not saying trey would make a difference, but bringing in an ineligible taylor has done no favors this year. I hope it pays off next year. It's not necessarily depth, it's quality we lack.

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We are starving for good guard play right now. Lots of 3-4s on this team right now

I only know that I was planning on purchasing another season ticket prior to UAH. Post - UAH, I pocketed the money. It's one seat, and I'm only one fan, but it's tough to get anyone else to come up here for a game the rest of the season now. In fact, It might be tough to get myself to go to the rest if we don't at least start looking better. Is the outlook better next year? To me, it kinda looks to be about the same, but we might have Taylor and Walton back.

True, and PJ Edit: Austin too.

I feel like we have no role players, because no one knows their roles, or they haven't been given to them.

We are not a good team. In fact, we have a couple of good players, but too many with giant holes in their game that their teammates (or coach) can't account for. I think maybe Alzee is the most complete player on this team.

Johnny might not have had a system that you knew about like you know about your boy, Benford's. Alzee has mentioned that Benford's has less of a system and allows for more open play in interviews. I do see a big difference in the way we are playing offense with movement, but I see a lot more opportunity for turnover and a system for which we don't have the players (3 point shooters and players that can make a good inlet pass) to play. Or othat we don't have players that are good at what system we are running. As for coaching, It doesn't appear to be a shining point right now. For it to be, we'd be able to at least not get killed by 4 white guys in transition. I know for a fact, that should not happen. We aren't doing much well right now, and the coach can take as much blame as the players. If coaching isn't getting through, perhaps it's time to take a different tactic? Starting Niko is an indication that he is tinkering. That's good, but the sub patterns are inexplicable. I have no problem with any fan being incredibly upset with what's going on here in any capacity. Holding all players, coaches, athletic directors accountable is what needs to be done and is a welcome change. No one should be excused from blame for what is happening now. Not one fan here embarrasses me more than what's happened with our schools basketball team this year. Edit: The pretending that things are okay around here is getting very annoying.

Have all season

If things get out of hand, I may be leaving around that time.

All of your other points are valid. This one is not.

Yes, I understand. My point is, if there are concerns about coaching ability, or the way you are trying to mitigate risk in a contract is by cutting years, then there should have been another candidate chosen. I don't question the mechanics of the contract we gave. That contract is / was where we are/were in our bball programs development. I think that contract was written for the person we wanted, which might/might not be what we got. At the very least, no one can say that we aren't committed to our coaches. We give them every opportunity to succeed.

pre shot clock?

Can we stop with the length of the contract talk? I think we can agree If he doesn't deserve 5 years, find a new guy to offer the job to. At this point a one year contract was a mistake.

I could potentially see a situation if those Big East left overs organized and found good representation that they could make a push similar to merge into something like the MWC/CUSA merger discussed earlier this year. It's the same teams that were in the discussion, except now, those teams have a potential to bring the Big East's autobid. The basketball schools accounted for apx. 2/3 of the Big East revenue with NCAA Tourney Shares. The new TV contract was not likely to change that.