UAB (3/5/21)

CMJ · March 6, 2021

UAB 65 -------- NT 51

Final

UNTLifer · March 6, 2021

Well, that sucked.

scratch1976 · March 6, 2021

Wow! With so much on the line and playing at home what a embarrassment!!! 😡

GrandGreen · March 6, 2021

Bad loss, NT was not competitive for most of the game.

One of the problems is that McCasland, who I thought was going to be an excellent juco recruiter, just failed on that effort last year.

I hope they get a lot better, but McBride and Lewis have to be big disappointments.

I opined early in the season about how deep this team was going to be. It is just the opposite. They have four players who are good enough to start and little else. Murray playing at all is proof of this.

Jones and Osmane are going to turn into good players.

Next year is going to be a disaster unless McCasland does much better recruiting juco and transfer players.

Edited March 6, 2021 by GrandGreen

greenminer · March 6, 2021

1 minute ago, GrandGreen said:

Next year is going to be a disaster unless McCasland does much better recruiting juco and transfer players.

Define disaster? I see us staying at/near top of West. Not saying that's what I want, but just suggesting that I think Grant is good enough to keep us on par.

BillySee58 · March 6, 2021

12 minutes ago, GrandGreen said:

I hope they get a lot better, but McBride and Lewis have to be big disappointments.

In conference play McBride is shooting 37.5% from the field and 28.3% from three. He hasn’t been the ball handler or secondary creator we had hoped for, and he hasn’t been the off-ball shooter either. Very disappointing.

Lewis is giving us just 3 points and 2 rebounds a game in conference play. We just are not a deep team, in large part because they have fallen very short of the guys they were replacing in the rotation.

12 minutes ago, GrandGreen said:

I opined early in the season about how deep this team was going to be. It is just the opposite. They have four players who are good enough to start and little else. Murray playing at all is proof of this.

Yes, unfortunately. Murray hasn’t even been that big an asset defensively lately, and we expect him to be a liability on offense at 5’11” and not much of a shooter or ball handler. Mccasland has to do better in recruiting.

GrandGreen · March 6, 2021

5 minutes ago, greenminer said:

Define disaster? I see us staying at/near top of West. Not saying that's what I want, but just suggesting that I think Grant is good enough to keep us on par.

Assuming no seniors returns, which should be understood for all sports for all teams next year, when making projections.

I define disaster has being a second half of CUSA basketball team.

Obviously, Grant is a very good coach, but did you read the quote? He is going to have to reload with good experienced players.

If you think NT can run out a starting lineup based on the current roster plus freshmen next year and be competitive, I strongly disagree.

Obviously that is not going to happen, because he has 3-5 scholarships to fill. He just can't miss like he did on last years juco class.

emmitt01 · March 6, 2021

16 minutes ago, greenminer said:

Define disaster? I see us staying at/near top of West. Not saying that's what I want, but just suggesting that I think Grant is good enough to keep us on par.

How do we stay at/near the top of the west? Who is your point guard? Who gives you scoring punch when Reece is gone? Ousman will be improved, but where is ANY size when he goes to the bench unless you are counting on a freshman.

This was the year to capitalize on having this squad together and they have failed to put it together.

greenminer · March 6, 2021

1 minute ago, emmitt01 said:

How do we stay at/near the top of the west? Who is your point guard? Who gives you scoring punch when Reece is gone?

This was the year to capitalize on having this squad together and they have failed to put it together.

Just assume everyone comes back, the next step would be to watch our peers and see if they retain everyone.

bstnsportsfan3 · March 6, 2021

I think some if not all the seniors will come back.

BigWillie · March 6, 2021

2 hours ago, emmitt01 said:

It’s not rocket science why we are losing. We are used to passing around the perimeter aimlessly and eventually finding an open look. They have a defense...so we get bad looks and no rebounds.

I wish I could upvote this twice. This really is the problem. They are #1 in defense in CUSA and I watched on several plays where Hamlet and Jones passed it back and forth at least 3 times.

I get if you have defense the offense will come, but tonight you had neither.

UNTLifer · March 6, 2021

I like McCasland, but, this is my one but, guys get in his doghouse and he doesn't appear to let them out. Lewis, as mentioned earlier, isn't giving us much in conference, but why is he not getting time? Run him out there with Simmons and put Hamlet, Reese and Jones on the perimeter. I would also like to see more from Robinson. In the very few minutes he has come off the bench, he has flashed jumping ability and athleticism around the basket, but it has only been flashes because McCasland won't put him in for any minutes at all. I fear he takes the same path as Larry Wise before we get to see him develop.

I like Murray's hustle and defense, but he won't shoot and doesn't pose any sort of threat on the offensive end creating a situation where the other team basically ignores him. When he does decide to shoot, he is either too slow pulling the trigger or doesn't have the leaping ability to create his shot and ends up getting blocked.

Now, I expect us to play much better tomorrow and end up with a split, because that was the worst game we have played all year. What has happened to McBride and Jones' shooting? We basically have four scorers on this team in Reese, Hamlet, Bell and Simmons.

BillySee58 · March 6, 2021

9 hours ago, UNTLifer said:

I like McCasland, but, this is my one but, guys get in his doghouse and he doesn't appear to let them out. Lewis, as mentioned earlier, isn't giving us much in conference, but why is he not getting time? Run him out there with Simmons and put Hamlet, Reese and Jones on the perimeter. I would also like to see more from Robinson. In the very few minutes he has come off the bench, he has flashed jumping ability and athleticism around the basket, but it has only been flashes because McCasland won't put him in for any minutes at all. I fear he takes the same path as Larry Wise before we get to see him develop.

I like Murray's hustle and defense, but he won't shoot and doesn't pose any sort of threat on the offensive end creating a situation where the other team basically ignores him. When he does decide to shoot, he is either too slow pulling the trigger or doesn't have the leaping ability to create his shot and ends up getting blocked.

Now, I expect us to play much better tomorrow and end up with a split, because that was the worst game we have played all year. What has happened to McBride and Jones' shooting? We basically have four scorers on this team in Reese, Hamlet, Bell and Simmons.

Yeah I don’t think it has anything to do with being in a “doghouse” as much as it does just earning trust. Lewis plays, just not all that much because Simmons and Bell play a lot and we actually have a backup 5 too in Ousmane. Last year we only had 3 rotation bigs, so Bell was in off the bench anytime either one of our starting bigs was sitting. This year with Ousmane backing up Simmons, Lewis’ only opportunity to play is when Bell sits, and Bell has been better so that’s only when he needs rest.

Definitley agree on Robinson. He has great size and athleticism and he has some skill to go with it. He is a capable shooter too. Would hate to see a guy like that leave because we wouldn’t play him over a player who was less athletic, less of a shooter, and 8 inches shorter.

GrandGreen · March 6, 2021

I don't get all this worrying about players leaving? There is absolutely nothing we can do about it and it is something every team has to deal with.

I hate that option is available because it favors the P5's. They have the option of getting higher ranked high school players and stealing G5's best players.

I have mentioned that I think McCasland whiffed on his juco recruiting last year based on this year's performance. Comparing earlier juco reporting of Bell, Reese and Hamlet with Lewis and McBride is disconcerting.

Still, I think McCasland will do much better recruiting this year.