Texas Tech (11/16/11)

[Green P1]

Not having Patton is really going to haunt this team. Ked and Zo are both nothing more than complimentary Sunbelt bigs. Bunnies and putbacks are going to kill this team as neither of them have anything resembling legitimate post moves.

[MDH]

Chris Jones is a ball hog now? He dished out 8 assists in the first game. They needed him to score this game because nobody else on the team could make a shot, so he scored 31. He only had 3 assists, but again, your teammate has to make a shot for you to get credited with an assist. There are gonna be a few bumps along the way, but we will be fine. And stop comparing him to Josh White. They have very little in common. Chris Jones can get to the rim whenever he wants to.

Thank you. At least Chris Jones was attacking last night. Can't say many others were making successful cuts or drives to the lane.

[Army of Dad]

Chris Jones is a ball hog now? He dished out 8 assists in the first game. They needed him to score this game because nobody else on the team could make a shot, so he scored 31. He only had 3 assists, but again, your teammate has to make a shot for you to get credited with an assist. There are gonna be a few bumps along the way, but we will be fine. And stop comparing him to Josh White. They have very little in common. Chris Jones can get to the rim whenever he wants to.

Actually I see lots of similarities. Both pass well and can score at will, both play the same position and show amazing athletic ability and are doing similar things in their freshman seasons (so far). Chris can get to the rim better than Josh, but that isn't exactly much of a stretch since he is probably a good 5-6 inches taller than Josh. So are you also going to say that Jordan Williams is better at getting to the rim than Chris Jones? He is, and for the same reason!

[greenminer]

How do CJ and Josh compare defensively? I would think CJ has a lot more going for him with his size.

[CMJ]

I had to cut out with ten minutes to go because of another commitment, so I just had to read game synopses and box scores to try and piece together the rest of the game.

That said, considering how poorly we shot from the outside (which can happen to anybody) I thought we played well. Forcing 20 turnovers...we outscored Tech by 15 on fast break points. That is a seriously good stat against anybody, ESPECIALLY on the road.

A lot of good effort by the guys. We were down double figures, on the road, playing mostly newcomers and still found a way to be down one with less than 90 seconds to go.

I have some big issues with minute distribution (mostly Alzee related, who is probably our best defender on the perimeter), but JJ is probably gonna be messing with combinations of players till late January. Nonetheless, this team showed last night a ton considering our youth.

Looking forward to UTA and their continued growth.

Edited November 17, 2011 by CMJ

[FirefightnRick]

Don't agree with you here.

Thank your for at least being an adult and simply saying you disagree with me. I know I need to do the same and will try harder.

Rick

[FirefightnRick]

Some really basketball stupid and overreactive comments on here tonight (not to mention people wanting to win an argument that started last year and has nothing to do with this team).

Can't speak for everyone else, but the arguements from last year that I have been a part of that stem from the instances that we don't play disciplined basketball go much farther back than just last year. And the others stemming from the fact that we play weak non conference schedules do too, and is why the SBC has tried to implement that it's teams start to schedule tougher.

Rick

Edited November 17, 2011 by FirefightnRick

[UNT Five&Dime]

I think this game is very telling of how the season is going to go. FFR does have one thing right - St. Gregory's did nothing to help this team figure out how to win a ball game. Tech tried to give us this game by playing as bad if not worse than NT. Yet, we couldn't take it from them. Hell, we couldn't even get the game tied up. Chalking this up to home court is a bit simplistic. I'm sure it helped Tech to play at home, but we didn't exactly do much to take control of the game (offensively) when we needed to. The crowd appeared quiet and disinterested and had little impact IMHO. This group just doesn't know how to win close games.

NT could be coming home at 3-6, or worse. J Jones is obviously still trying to figure out what works, and I haven't seen a leader step up. UTA doesn't care that we have more talent, even if it is "raw". The game is going to be close, and last night showed us that close games are going to be a problem for a while, home or away. Count me as not confident in the outcome for both UTA and SHS.

Hopefully they mature quickly, but it's going to be a long couple of months I fear.

And, too much emphasis is being put on gelling, when I don't think these players have figured out what they are individually as a college player. Gelling isn't going to happen before February, and I'm not as confident as some that Mitchell will put this team over the top.

Quick Hits:

I agree C Jones will be a beast, when he figures out what works in college and what doesn't.

Shots were rushed by most, but if you haven't gotten used to that you haven't been watching NT long.

J Jones, give me more Niko. His defensive effort was impressive and I felt the game tightened up when he was in.

Love the active hands on defense, keep it up.

Tech defended the outside well. It seemed like we didn't have many clean looks. This may have led to the rushed shots. They also broke with us well, which probably didn't allow us to play our game.

Edited November 17, 2011 by UNT Five&Dime

[MeanGreenTexan]

Chris Jones is a ball hog now? He dished out 8 assists in the first game. They needed him to score this game because nobody else on the team could make a shot, so he scored 31. He only had 3 assists, but again, your teammate has to make a shot for you to get credited with an assist. There are gonna be a few bumps along the way, but we will be fine. And stop comparing him to Josh White. They have very little in common. Chris Jones can get to the rim whenever he wants to.

Precisely. Hence the comparison...

Jones scored a bunch. Also, I made a point that the rest of the team appeared to be standing around watching him with the ball quite often... if this is what he's stuck with, then he needs to score. He definitely took what Tech gave him. I haven't seen enough of him to say: "He's a ball hog".

[GrandGreen]

Jones is not a ball hog, look at his HS statistics; he had the talent to score a lot more but was content to be a great assist man. I guess he would have been better last night if he had not shoot as much, and NT got beat by 20. NT just did not have any other offense last night.

Comparing him and Josh is easy, there is a lot of difference. Jones is 6'2 with a 42 inch vertical and White was maybe 5'8. White was quick, but Jones is quick and fast. Jones is a point guard guard, White made himself an adequate point but he was never real comfortable with the position. Josh was a warrior and took responsible for the game and refused to lose, I saw a lot of that out of Mr. Jones last night. White had a great rookie season, I think Jones could match that and unlike White gets significantly better ever year.

[Harry]

Thank your for at least being an adult and simply saying you disagree with me. I know I need to do the same and will try harder.

Rick

Rick --well stated. I think all of us could improve in this particular regard (including myself) but it takes some stones to come out and say it like you did. We are all going to disagree at times but let's try to do it in a civil way. GMG!

[UNT90]

Chris Jones is a ball hog now? He dished out 8 assists in the first game. They needed him to score this game because nobody else on the team could make a shot, so he scored 31. He only had 3 assists, but again, your teammate has to make a shot for you to get credited with an assist. There are gonna be a few bumps along the way, but we will be fine. And stop comparing him to Josh White. They have very little in common. Chris Jones can get to the rim whenever he wants to.

A good PG takes what the defense gives them. They were manned up against Jones and very rarely brought help. When they did, it's not like guys were filling the lane for open passes. Jones took what they gave him, and took a lot.

Calling Jones a ball hog is shows a really low basketball IQ. Watch the damn game! This is the same guy that scored 4 points against a NAIA school and had 8 assists. Seriously, if he were a ball hog, he would have put up 30 shots against that 1st grader from St. Gregory's that was guarding him.

Basketball ignorance level at an all time high on here today.

Edited November 17, 2011 by UNT90

[UNT90]

We've come a long way from arguing about Gonzaga and at-large bids. Group hug?

Speaking of continuing an argument from years past: I don't know. We may have to revisit that Gonzaga conversation beginning with the 2013 season and NCAA tournament.

Screw it. I'm skipping the whole Gonzaga level and going straight to Butler (trying to match the level of basketball ignorance in this thread).

[Censored by Laurie]

Basketball ignorance level at an all time high on here today.

You know the wheels have fallen off when I'm giving you +1's.

[greenfan]

They'll be ok. Big arena. Big 12 team. Freshmen and Jr college transfers. Those were big 12 players they played against. Think about what the rest of the Sunbelt freshmen will be like. Gonna be some rough patches even when TMitch comes in. Remember, he hasn't ever played at the NCAA 1 level and he hasn't practiced a day with these players or coaching staff. Just give them time. By the end of the season you'll be thrilled with the progress.

[Andrew]

They'll be ok. Big arena. Big 12 team. Freshmen and Jr college transfers. Those were big 12 players they played against. Think about what the rest of the Sunbelt freshmen will be like. Gonna be some rough patches even when TMitch comes in. Remember, he hasn't ever played at the NCAA 1 level and he hasn't practiced a day with these players or coaching staff. Just give them time. By the end of the season you'll be thrilled with the progress.

He has played plenty in the UNT rec with them...

[MeanMag]

Can't speak for everyone else, but the arguements from last year that I have been a part of that stem from the instances that we don't play disciplined basketball go much farther back than just last year. And the others stemming from the fact that we play weak non conference schedules do too, and is why the SBC has tried to implement that it's teams start to schedule tougher.

Rick

Don't know if you've checked out schedule against the rules, but I'm quite certain that we are in compliance and that we weren't the reason those rules were put in place...

[greenfan]

He has played plenty in the UNT rec with them...

That he has. However, other than chemistry, he might as well have been playing there with me. None of Johnny's offense/defense, no crowd, no one playing game level team defense on him...... It'll take a little time.