Arkansas State (1/16/10)

Green Lantern · January 17, 2010

what makes them so good? serious question....not trash. we only play them once this year.
what style has brady installed? do they press? if they do it will give us trouble. we had problems with fiu's press last night. are they a good 3 point shooting team or do they try to pound it?
thanks in advance.

Last night, it was all about timely shooting, out rebounding and shot blocking. It seemed like everytime our guys missed an easy layup to bring the game within a managable distance, they would get a rebound, catch our guys in a 3-2 or 4-2 break, kick to an open shooter outside who would drain a dagger 3. They always had an answer to our runs during the game.

In the 2nd half once they had established a decent lead, they switched to a 2-3 zone for a while since we had shown that we had no consistent shooters last night.

They also seemed to out muscle us for offensive rebounds. They play a pretty physical game.

I came away with the impression that they are talented, athletic and well coached...but not unbeatable. Formitable for sure.

We, on the other hand, played very poorly. I fear that without Dom available at point, that this may just be a mediocre team. We've split our conference games so far...I fear that this is indicitave of what we really are.

BleedGreen · January 17, 2010

Last night, it was all about timely shooting, out rebounding and shot blocking. It seemed like everytime our guys missed an easy layup to bring the game within a managable distance, they would get a rebound, catch our guys in a 3-2 or 4-2 break, kick to an open shooter outside who would drain a dagger 3. They always had an answer to our runs during the game.
In the 2nd half once they had established a decent lead, they switched to a 2-3 zone for a while since we had shown that we had no consistent shooters last night.
They also seemed to out muscle us for offensive rebounds. They play a pretty physical game.
I came away with the impression that they are talented, athletic and well coached...but not unbeatable. Formitable for sure.
We, on the other hand, played very poorly. I fear that without Dom available at point, that this may just be a mediocre team. We've split our conference games so far...I fear that this is indicitave of what we really are.

As big and athletic as Adams was, it was their guards that killed us. Thomas did not show up for the game. Mangrum playing may have halped a little but not enough. We need a 6'2 to 6'4 scorer at the 2 guard who is consistent I love Tristan out there but we need another good scorer to open things up for Josh.

GrandGreen · January 18, 2010

This was the most discouraging loss of the season. Not because NT didn't try hard, they did despite some comments in this thread. The problem is that they were totally outplayed by a much younger, better coached and apparently more talented ball club. NT with a veteran ball club was really never in a game against a team that started a junior, sophomore and three freshmen. On top of their starters, they had two come off the bench with double points; Bryant a sophomore with 13 and Thomas a junior with 16 plus 5 rebounds. Based on their performance against NT, ASU looked at least as good as A & M and OSU. Obviously, based on ASU record they are not unbeatable but based on NT's two games with them, odds are that NT is not going to seriously challenge this club.

In what looked like a down year in the conference, I had hope NT could jell late and make a run in the tournament. It could still happen, but NT is going to have to get much better. NT was beat at almost every position last night. Tremial is still not near 100% and that gives some upside hope. Teams are playing to stop White and Thompson and it is obviously working. Odufuwa was the only NT player to have a good game. I thought it was a rare game that White was just not a positive factor. Holman played 20 minutes and only got one rebound, Shorter played very hard but seemed to miss almost every layup. Thomas had a poor game, hopefully he can be more help later in the season.

NT has somewhat mortgaged their future for this year and the next and it may prove to be a very bad strategy. Unless North Texas can really have an amazing turnaround, ASU looks like the team to beat not only this year but years to come.

calvin · January 18, 2010

I completely agree. ASU looked better at every position and they are definitely scary. I thought based on Saturday that they are the best team we have played. Extremely talented and young. Good inside and outside game and they play very tough man to man defense. They are going to be good for a while. On the other hand Josh and Tristan are going to have to be more aggressive. with 2 minutes left they only had 11 combined points and we arent going to win any games if that's the case. I think its obvious that we need to be bigger on the front line, and we need a wing player that is a great shooter and who can make a dribble or 2 and pull up and knock shots down. A Chris Davis or Kendrick Davis type.

Green Crazy · January 19, 2010

I just think they were a better team, their players were quicker and more athaletic than ours. Most of our turnovers came as a result of their quick hands knocking the ball out of our big men's hands. There were too many hands around for our big men to take advantage of their post up game. Hope we don't play them in the tourney.