SMU (2/11/24)

[Matt from A700]

9 hours ago, greenminer said:

I don't know about y'all, but I'm entering emotional cruise control until the tournament starts, when hopefully we are 100%.

I am trying to think that way, but leaving the arena after each loss is still suuuuch a bummer.

[Matt from A700]

2 minutes ago, Shark84 said:

We would probably have to win out to have a shot at the 4th seed. I don't see that happening. We just need to get healthy and try to get at least the 5th seed. That is possible. It would give us the highest seed left in the second round. Hopefully Rubin and CJ can play in the last couple of conference games in March to get back up to game speed. 

If we don't get Top 4, we should hope for 6 or 7. Those will give us the best chance to take advantage of a big home crowd. Those seeds would only play at 6 or 8 on Thursday and Friday, no midday games.

[Greendylan]

14 hours ago, GMG_Dallas said:

You do realize players aren't injured forever, right? You just have to get healthy at the right time. We've only won a single game against a top team but even with injuries, we haven't been blown out against anybody but Charlotte on the road. We've actually led most of the game in most of those losses while shorthanded. This UNT squad is a group that can go 4 wins in 4 days if Rubin and CJ get healthy which I think they will. Every team in the conference should be terrified of the Mean Green come March. Battling injury is not the same as not being a contender.

Again, terrible take.

Repeating the words "terrible take" doesn't actually change the substance of the discussion.  Again, seeding matters.  Getting guys back (who may not even be 100% when they get back) just in time for the conference tournament may be too late.  

Having key guys out at a bad time can take you out of contention.  If you want to say that hypothetically we would currently be contenders if we hadn't had these injuries, then I would agree with you.  But, this current team does not seem headed for a high enough seed to have a realistic shot in the AAC tournament.  Who knows? Maybe we'll get guys back way earlier than expected, and that could change everything.

[Big Z]

17 minutes ago, Matt from A700 said:

I am trying to think that way, but leaving the arena after each loss is still suuuuch a bummer.

Even getting out of the parking garage sucked

[Shark84]

14 minutes ago, Matt from A700 said:

I am trying to think that way, but leaving the arena after each loss is still suuuuch a bummer.

Close loses really hurt but I don't think I could take getting blown out by Smut like we do in football. This team is far from perfect, but they play hard and are in a position to win every game.  It seems like every opponent has bigger, stronger athletes, but we find a way to play with them. A lot of that is playing style, defense, coaching and guts. 

[MeanGreenTexan]

23 minutes ago, NT80 said:

Developing and playing more of the roster early in the season would totally help this.  Being out of gas or not having enough players to finish should never be a reason to lose in basketball when you can carry 15.

Huge difference between running out of 93 octane gas, and being able to drive to the finish on E85 when you're in a supercar... as we've seen while Rubin, and Buggs (now CJ) were out.   Stone, Walker, & Cotton played a combined 56 minutes, and finished with 7pts between the 3 of them (0 for Stone).

[cousin oliver]

3 minutes ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

Huge difference between running out of 93 octane gas, and being able to drive to the finish on E85 when you're in a supercar... as we've seen while Rubin, and Buggs (now CJ) were out.   Stone, Walker, & Cotton played a combined 56 minutes, and finished with 7pts between the 3 of them (0 for Stone).

I don't get the criticism of Stone from some.  Not you specifically but perhaps others.  He seems to give full effort and intensity when he is in the game.  Is that not all we should expect?

[MeanGreenTexan]

1 minute ago, cousin oliver said:

I don't get the criticism of Stone from some.  Not you specifically but perhaps others.  He seems to give full effort and intensity when he is in the game.  Is that not all we should expect?

If we're trying to win sportsmanship awards, sure!
If we're trying to win the AAC Championship and get into the NCAA Tournament, no!  We're going to need a little more.

[UNT78]

Stone is not a player! Why did we ever recruit this guy?

[golfingomez]

18 hours ago, Andrew said:

Yes and it worked but got lucky. Can’t just run guys into the ground night in night out. Also Edwards pushed the pace too much on the offensive end which puts unneeded wear and tear on guys. 

First off, Grant did that for years... and brought home multiple championships... i would hardly call that lucky

Regarding this team, we played 8 on Sunday, with the 8th man providing that 'breather' for the starters that you were asking for. This is with Rubin and CJ being out... so if they had them in, Hodges would have had a 10 man rotation... 

While i understand that injuries happen, Hodge is running a pretty deep roster compared to most teams 

[Big Z]

37 minutes ago, cousin oliver said:

I don't get the criticism of Stone from some.  Not you specifically but perhaps others.  He seems to give full effort and intensity when he is in the game.  Is that not all we should expect?

Players on the other team hardly ever guard him. I think Stone would do well in D2 and D3 and it would boost his confidence. But he hasn't gotten any better..

Edited February 12 by Big Z

[TIgreen01]

18 hours ago, HoosMeanGreen said:

You must have missed the end of the game. Edwards created his own 3 pt shot at the end of the game and missed it. It literally went in & out. Now if you want to discuss how we go from the 9:00 minute mark to 2:49 before he gets going, then I’m all ears.  Too many close games lost to not look over at the bench and ask questions. 

Nope, I saw it.  He “created” an out of control shot from beyond nba range.  That’s not what we’re looking for.  

[CMJ]

Stone doesn't need to score much.  If he consistently got about 4-5 points a game, that's all I want.  His defense is decent and he does a lot of the little things like diving for loose balls and such.

 

We had seemed to be finding our groove before this 5 of 7 losing stretch (or whatever it is now).  Some of the losses are because we are playing the top of the league and I have no doubt we'd have lost more than one of these.  But I doubt we'd have lost all five with a healthy roster.  We're not that far from the top, but we're far enough.

Edited February 12 by CMJ

[Green Otaku]

1 hour ago, cousin oliver said:

I don't get the criticism of Stone from some.  Not you specifically but perhaps others.  He seems to give full effort and intensity when he is in the game.  Is that not all we should expect?

His role works when we have our other scorers and we need someone to play hard defense, but when we have 2 starters out we need someone to step up and contribute on offense. The strange thing is when we played Tulsa he looked confident and aggressive out there, I assume he was playing in front of his family, but he needs to realize he needs to play that way all the time. He and Sissoko have been getting a lot of flak, and I feel for them, but you need to step up to the challenge when you are needed.

 

[HoosMeanGreen]

11 minutes ago, TIgreen01 said:

Nope, I saw it.  He “created” an out of control shot from beyond nba range.  That’s not what we’re looking for.  

I’ll bite - Your view of him has clouded your vision. First, he has NBA range and has hit many from NBA range in a North Texas uniform. Secondly, he not only created the space required to pull off the shot attempt, but it nearly went in. He was successful on an attempt from NBA range earlier in the contest. 
 

We see the game differently, I get that. But to say that shot was out of control is not accurate. 
 

As for what you are looking for, you will not get it unless you head back to Conference USA. The truth is that he is your best player - period - end of discussion. Without him, the close losses are blowout losses. You may want to go lurk around on your opponent’s message boards and garner an understanding of what they think. I’ll tell you and save you the trip “North Texas is a one man gang offensively. Awesome team defense and only one guy to worry about offensively.” That’s it. I sure hope CRH and Co. bring in some offensive weapons for next season, because right now we have one & a half. 

Watching this message board eat it’s young gives validation to the transfer portal.  Now it makes sense why they left.  

 

[Big Z]

17 minutes ago, CMJ said:

Stone doesn't need to score much.  If he consistently got about 4-5 points a game, that's all I want.  His defense is decent and he does a lot of the little things like diving for loose balls and such.

 

We had seemed to be finding our groove before this 5 of 7 losing stretch (or whatever it is now).  Some of the losses are because we are playing the top of the league and I have no doubt we'd have lost more than one of these.  But I doubt we'd have lost all five with a healthy roster.  We're not that far from the top, but we're far enough.

I would be ok with him getting 4 to 6 points., but it doesn't happen consistently! The guy only has 3 free throw attempts the who whole season! 

How can you play 26 mins and not even score any points? We can't contend having guys out there afraid to shoot or drive to the basket...period! 

Edited February 12 by Big Z

[BigWillie]

18 minutes ago, CMJ said:

Stone doesn't need to score much.  If he consistently got about 4-5 points a game, that's all I want.  His defense is decent and he does a lot of the little things like diving for loose balls and such.

 

We had seemed to be finding our groove before this 5 of 7 losing stretch (or whatever it is now).  Some of the losses are because we are playing the top of the league and I have no doubt we'd have lost more than one of these.  But I doubt we'd have lost all five with a healthy roster.  We're not that far from the top, but we're far enough.

Speaking of this, if you look at our schedule to close out regular season versus SMU, they now have a gauntlet to contend with while we have some easier games. Will make it very interesting for seeding.

[CMJ]

8 minutes ago, Big Z said:

I would be ok with him getting 4 to 6 points., but it doesn't happen consistently! The guy only has 3 free throw attempts the who whole season! 

How can you play 26 mins and not even score any points? We can't contend having guys out there afraid to shoot or drive to the basket...period! 

I'm not saying it happens consistently...just that's all he needs to produce IMHO.

[Big Z]

Coach Lainer saying really good things about Coach Hodge and our program. 

 

[NT80]

46 minutes ago, CMJ said:

Stone doesn't need to score much.  If he consistently got about 4-5 points a game, that's all I want.  His defense is decent and he does a lot of the little things like diving for loose balls and such.

 

We had seemed to be finding our groove before this 5 of 7 losing stretch (or whatever it is now).  Some of the losses are because we are playing the top of the league and I have no doubt we'd have lost more than one of these.  But I doubt we'd have lost all five with a healthy roster.  We're not that far from the top, but we're far enough.

Stone does great on defense but has no confidence on offense so he usually declines to shoot, even if open.  Our opponents know this, so they flex off guarding him and focus on guarding our real shooters which hurts us even more.  

[CMJ]

8 minutes ago, NT80 said:

Stone does great on defense but has no confidence on offense so he usually declines to shoot, even if open.  Our opponents know this, so they flex off guarding him and focus on guarding our real shooters which hurts us even more.  

Not sure I ever implied otherwise?

[TIgreen01]

42 minutes ago, HoosMeanGreen said:

I’ll bite - Your view of him has clouded your vision. First, he has NBA range and has hit many from NBA range in a North Texas uniform. Secondly, he not only created the space required to pull off the shot attempt, but it nearly went in. He was successful on an attempt from NBA range earlier in the contest. 
 

We see the game differently, I get that. But to say that shot was out of control is not accurate. 
 

As for what you are looking for, you will not get it unless you head back to Conference USA. The truth is that he is your best player - period - end of discussion. Without him, the close losses are blowout losses. You may want to go lurk around on your opponent’s message boards and garner an understanding of what they think. I’ll tell you and save you the trip “North Texas is a one man gang offensively. Awesome team defense and only one guy to worry about offensively.” That’s it. I sure hope CRH and Co. bring in some offensive weapons for next season, because right now we have one & a half. 

Watching this message board eat it’s young gives validation to the transfer portal.  Now it makes sense why they left.  

 

Reading a bit too much into my post.  Saying he’s not TP or Hamlet can be true while him still being a very good player for us.  Nowhere did I say didn’t like him or didn’t want him on the team. Just said that coaches need to help him and the team more than just turning our best scorer loose to “create”.  Your point that he’s a one man offense really only adds to what I’m saying.

[drex]

I would really enjoy whipping SMU in the tournament and hoisting a sign that reads--SMU Send Us a Postcard From The Big Time.

[greenminer]

3 hours ago, cousin oliver said:

I don't get the criticism of Stone from some.  Not you specifically but perhaps others.  He seems to give full effort and intensity when he is in the game.  Is that not all we should expect?

Really good example of how effort and production are related, but separate things.

We have advanced metrics available that can reveal how much he is helping on defense and offense. It’s not good.

[Shark84]

People need to quit bashing Stone. He plays hard and does what the coaches ask of him. He's seems to be a great teammate. IMO he is playing more than he should because of injuries. He isn't the offensive threat we would like him to be for this team but is a good defender and rebounder for his size, when not overused. With a healthy Jones and Noland, he probably plays 5-8 minutes a game giving Scott and Walker a short rest. He's a good 9th guy off the bench. If he was hurting the team, Hodge wouldn't play him. I trust the coaching staff, we aren't at practice and don't know what goes on behind the scenes.