Utah State (11/29/24)

[Green Lantern]

16 minutes ago, Censored by Laurie said:

I'll add too...more under GM than RH, but there were some seasons we were pretty slow out of the gate in the non-conference trying to find the right fit building into conference play. would you trade, say, the win against Minnesota or Oregon State for a conference win later in the season or finding out that Mason is a 15 minute/game contributor? 

We just need to be battle hardened for the likes of Memphis. Just like WKU back in the  SBC days, that’s the standard bearer program in the American we should be leveling up to match. These tough non-conference games will serve us well again when we get to AAC play.

[GMG_Dallas]

1 hour ago, Censored by Laurie said:

I hear you...and don't fully disagree with anything here...I just knew it was going to be those 8 dudes baring something crazy and it felt like a pointless addition to a conversation surrounding a good game by a good team last night. let's also keep in mind of our 8-man rotation, 2 players were here last year so they need as much court time together as possible. and despite all that, no one is averaging more than 30 min/game. I don't love the sub pattern, but it is clearly keeping minutes down

I would expect the same thing against High Point. now...if we do what we should in the home-stand and none of these three players get any run...well, it's cause for complaint in one of two directions: 1. Hodge doesn't trust freshmen 2. our freshmen aren't good enough. 

That's a good point that 6 of these 8 guys are new and do need as much time together as possible. Hopefully that serves us well come conference play. I do think our freshmen will see some more PT come in December. With that, I think the issue is more that Hodge doesn’t trust freshmen.

1 hour ago, Censored by Laurie said:

I'll add too...more under GM than RH, but there were some seasons we were pretty slow out of the gate in the non-conference trying to find the right fit building into conference play. would you trade, say, the win against Minnesota or Oregon State for a conference win later in the season or finding out that Mason is a 15 minute/game contributor? 

Regarding this, that's a good question. Would I trade one of those wins for Mason? No. Would I trade it for Vice being a 15 minute/game contributor? Yes. The post is my biggest area of concern with Sissoko being so inconsistent. Per ESPN, we are ranked 321 out of 362 in blocks per game and for as good as we are on defense, we are 1 of 4 teams in the top 20 of scoring defense who allow a shooting percentage above 40%. I think that's a direct result of our weakness in post defense. We allowed 26 points in the paint yesterday and who knows how many more from three throws generated by committing fouls around the rim.

May be odd to talk about Vice when the focus has been Cotton and Mason but again, we are struggling on the interior. To clarify, I don't think we can make a deep conference tourney run without figuring out our interior dilemma.

 

Edited 4 hours ago by GMG_Dallas

[greenminer]

16 hours ago, NT80 said:

They should keep it consistent. 

Hi.  Devil's advocating here:

They should keep it consistently accurate.

If coaches can make halftime adjustments that impact the flow and physicality of the 2H, refs can account for that and the foul numbers can be legitimately, dramatically different from one half to the next.

[BigWillie]

2 hours ago, GMG_Dallas said:

That's a good point that 6 of these 8 guys are new and do need as much time together as possible. Hopefully that serves us well come conference play. I do think our freshmen will see some more PT come in December. With that, I think the issue is more that Hodge doesn’t trust freshmen.

Regarding this, that's a good question. Would I trade one of those wins for Mason? No. Would I trade it for Vice being a 15 minute/game contributor? Yes. The post is my biggest area of concern with Sissoko being so inconsistent. Per ESPN, we are ranked 321 out of 362 in blocks per game and for as good as we are on defense, we are 1 of 4 teams in the top 20 of scoring defense who allow a shooting percentage above 40%. I think that's a direct result of our weakness in post defense. We allowed 26 points in the paint yesterday and who knows how many more from three throws generated by committing fouls around the rim.

May be odd to talk about Vice when the focus has been Cotton and Mason but again, we are struggling on the interior. To clarify, I don't think we can make a deep conference tourney run without figuring out our interior dilemma.

 

The simplest answer to this is having a big man. We have never really had a true big. One of the reasons is there are so few of them. Look around college basketball. There are fewer true bigs than college teams, even in P4.

[GMG_Dallas]

29 minutes ago, BigWillie said:

The simplest answer to this is having a big man. We have never really had a true big. One of the reasons is there are so few of them. Look around college basketball. There are fewer true bigs than college teams, even in P4.

If only we had a highly touted center who transfered in from a Sweet 16 team that we could give a shot...

The No. 3 ranked prep prospect from Tennessee and No. 32 ranked center in the country per 247Sports...

Vice led his Houston High School team to the 2021 3A Tennessee state championship where they defeated future NBA Draft Lottery pick Brandon Miller in the finals...Vice averaged 17.5 points, 14.0 rebounds per game as a senior...

https://meangreensports.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/brock-vice/6688