Southern Mississippi (1/9/14)

[filmerj]

If a win is a win, then a loss is a loss.

[meangreener]

Did anyone see Rick yell at the refs towards the end, evil eye him and chase him down the tunnel? Was amusing. Feel like the Pit Crew did well tonight. Oh well. I'm coming back.

[BillySee58]

Is this a moral victory?

As of right now I'd say yes. USM has been one of the more impressive CUSA teams in non-conference.

It'll be easier to tell if this was an impressive showing once we see how USM does against CUSA teams, but we'll know more about us by then so we'll see if it was a sign of good things or not. I know, I'm really going out on a limb saying wait and find out.

[Quoner]

Did anyone see Rick yell at the refs towards the end, evil eye him and chase him down the tunnel? Was amusing. Feel like the Pit Crew did well tonight. Oh well. I'm coming back.

Glad to see he's focused on what he *can* change /recites serenity prayer

[Harry]

This team has potential but they turn the ball over WAY too much, they lack an inside presence and they commit too many unnecessary fouls. Every once in awhile you will see flashes of brilliance by an individual player but rarely two or more. Tonight Gaines had like 3 blocks in a minute and then committed some bad fouls and disappeared. Anfieok hit some big three and then USM put a lot of attention on him. TJ hit some big threes early and then disappeared. Jordan came up pretty big late in the game but was invisible early. You just rarely see multiple players hitting on all cylinders at the same time. And the free throw shooting is miserable and that is Benford's fault in my opinion. He needs to have them work on that more.

I honestly don't think USM had more talent on the floor and I guess that's what frustrates me.

[meangreener]

This team has potential but they turn the ball over WAY too much, they lack an inside presence and they commit too many unnecessary fouls. Every once in awhile you will see flashes of brilliance by an individual player but rarely two or more. Tonight Gaines had like 3 blocks in a minute and then committed some bad fouls and disappeared. Anfieok hit some big three and then USM put a lot of attention on him. TJ hit some big threes early and then disappeared. Jordan came up pretty big late in the game but was invisible early. You just rarely see multiple players hitting on all cylinders at the same time. And the free throw shooting is miserable and that is Benford's fault in my opinion. He needs to have them work on that more.

I honestly don't think USM had more talent on the floor and I guess that's what frustrates me.

It's really frustrating. This is the first game of this season I've attended...and we had more talent. Too many missed free throws, way too many turnovers, lack of blocking inside and the fouls (even though the fouls were incredibly questionable.) Lot of talent, but just doesn't gel. That's coaching. Oh well.

[Andrew]

It's really frustrating. This is the first game of this season I've attended...and we had more talent. Too many missed free throws, way too many turnovers, lack of blocking inside and the fouls (even though the fouls were incredibly questionable.) Lot of talent, but just doesn't gel. That's coaching. Oh well.

That is coaching? Oh yea darn Benford for swatting Alzees free throws and darn Benford for making CJ turn over the ball. No offense but the players were prepared for the game! And that is coaching! We broke their 3/4 court press early and forced them out of it which only a few teams (like Louisville were able to do). Defensively we matched up well and had a lot of poor fouls called on us. We stayed in front of the ball for the most part and forced some tough shots. The terrible refs, missed free throws and lack of shooting is what cost us the game. The Players just swing the ball while the coaching staff is yelling at them to shoot! If this team shows up like this every game and makes their free throws we will push 16-20 wins before the conference tourney for sure.

Edited January 10, 2014 by Andrew

[Andrew]

And what was with the intentional foul on Vaughs? Can someone explain to me how that is two free throws and then the ball? It was not an open lane foul. Alzee was ahead of everyone on the play so why would he get free throws? I thought you only got free throws if they had an open lane and no defenders in front of them? Is that not correct? That is how it works in the NBA. Alzee was ahead of everyone on that play so it made no sense. Not to mention Colmans moving screen which was called a flagrant foul..... Yea. Awful refs tonight. Just awful.

[meangreener]

That is coaching? Oh yea darn Benford for swatting a,sees free throws and darn Benford for making CJ turn over the ball. No offense but the players were prepared for the game! And that is coaching! We broke their 3/4 court press early and forced them out of it which only a few teams (like Louisville were able to do). Defensively we matched up well and had a lot of poor fouls on us. We stayed in front of the ball for the most part and forced some tough shots. The terrible refs, missed free throws and lack of shooting is what cost us the game, the Players just swing the ball while the coaching staff is yelling at them to shoot! If this team shows up like this every game and makes their free throws we will push 16-20 wins before the conference tourney for sure.

You are just terrible at analyzing basketball. Coaches job is to get everyone on the same page and settle them down when they kept giving up those rebounds off the free throws. One example of Benford'd. Although he is improving...at the cost of the fanbase.

[Army of Dad]

That is coaching? Oh yea darn Benford for swatting Alzees free throws and darn Benford for making CJ turn over the ball. No offense but the players were prepared for the game! And that is coaching! We broke their 3/4 court press early and forced them out of it which only a few teams (like Louisville were able to do). Defensively we matched up well and had a lot of poor fouls called on us. We stayed in front of the ball for the most part and forced some tough shots. The terrible refs, missed free throws and lack of shooting is what cost us the game. The Players just swing the ball while the coaching staff is yelling at them to shoot! If this team shows up like this every game and makes their free throws we will push 16-20 wins before the conference tourney for sure.

I believe he was referring to the individual talents not gelling.

Oh and they got out of the press to stave off getting into deeper foul trouble and playing zone against us was working just fine. Especially late after they absorbed our run.

Edited January 10, 2014 by Army of Dad

[Andrew]

Not to mention the charging foul on TJ which was awful. It was a travel. That was a free two points for southern miss right there when it should have been a travel and a chance for UNT to get a defensive stop. This like the Columbia game goes down as a win in my book so we are what 11-4 now. That's pretty good. Any other circumstances and this would have been a win. A different set of officials and this would have been a win.

[flyonthewall]

I agree with Andrew. It's not just the questionable calls, they stopped the game twice and killed any momentum that we had. If southern miss is the best team in cusa, then we have a chance. Tj Taylor is the real deal, and he will just keep getting better.

[Army of Dad]

Not to mention the charging foul on TJ which was awful. It was a travel. That was a free two points for southern miss right there when it should have been a travel and a chance for UNT to get a defensive stop. This like the Columbia game goes down as a win in my book so we are what 11-4 now. That's pretty good. Any other circumstances and this would have been a win. A different set of officials and this would have been a win.

If this goes as a win then wayland baptist, incarnate word and UCR should go down as losses.

[An Aquarian]

A couple thoughts:

1. Man that free throw review stuff pissed me off. If you make a mistake, it shouldn't benefit somebody if they already mess up. I don't get the rule that you can let two shots go by and then go back. I would understand if it was before the free throws.

2. How in the world was that a flagrant on Keith? Did I miss something? I was near the top in the wheelchair seats so I'm seriously asking.

3. Gah free-throw shooting. I seem to remember us being bad last year too but maybe it's my frustration. To me that's coaching a little bit but I don't watch practice I guess so I don't know how much they work on it.

4. Our offense seems to be "Let me go 1 on 1 at this guy and hope it works." I'm not a basketball expert so I could be missing stuff but really frustrating.

5. Why were we running time down at the end? I realize it was a loooong shot for us to win but it's no shot if you run down 20 seconds every possession.

[Andrew]

You are just terrible at analyzing basketball. Coaches job is to get everyone on the same page and settle them down when they kept giving up those rebounds off the free throws. One example of Benford'd. Although he is improving...at the cost of the fanbase.

So Benfords job is to teach a 20 year old man how to box out on free throws? A lot of high schools do not even focus on that. It is common sense and something a scholarship player should be able to do. It's not the damn coaches fault if a player does not box out. That is like blaming the football coach every time the QB gets sacked because he didn't coach the o-line well enough. Or blaming him for a fumble, or a interception. Give it up you cannot blame everything on Benford. And if you claim he needs to settle them down then I would assume he did when he subbed out the players who did not block out and had the assistant coaches talk to them.

[An Aquarian]

If this goes as a win then wayland baptist, incarnate word and UCR should go down as losses.

This. Getting beat by double digits at home is not, and should never be, considered a win.

Also, I miss it when JJ would take off his jacket when he got mad at the refs. Nothing against Benford, just an observation.

[Andrew]

If this goes as a win then wayland baptist, incarnate word and UCR should go down as losses.

Potentially yes but these both of these two games really did have a lot of outside interference. They really did. Were you not there? Our players came out fired up and ready to go and got placed in check really fast. Southern Miss was in the 1-1 at the 12 or 13 minute mark of the half. We did not get into the 1 and 1 until 2:58 left in the game. That is very abnormal.

[Andrew]

Not sure I would call our offense a going one on one plan. I would actually much prefer that. We really seem to pass it around and then suddenly drive it into the paint out of control in hopes of a foul being called. I missed the days when you would ISO take a step and knock the jumper over the defender. I swear I have not played in a couple years and I could still but my shoulder into some of these guys and drop the fader over them for three. It's something these guys are capable of doing and idk why they do not. They pass on some really easy scoring opportunities.

[CMJ]

Potentially yes but these both of these two games really did have a lot of outside interference. They really did. Were you not there? Our players came out fired up and ready to go and got placed in check really fast. Southern Miss was in the 1-1 at the 12 or 13 minute mark of the half. We did not get into the 1 and 1 until 2:58 left in the game. That is very abnormal.

We got into the double bonus about the midway mark of the 1st half but couldn't take advantage.

[Army of Dad]

So Benfords job is to teach a 20 year old man how to box out on free throws? A lot of high schools do not even focus on that. It is common sense and something a scholarship player should be able to do. It's not the damn coaches fault if a player does not box out. That is like blaming the football coach every time the QB gets sacked because he didn't coach the o-line well enough. Or blaming him for a fumble, or a interception. Give it up you cannot blame everything on Benford. And if you claim he needs to settle them down then I would assume he did when he subbed out the players who did not block out and had the assistant coaches talk to them.

Then that means the coach offered scholarships to the wrong players. I mean if blocking out is something they should know, but don't then how did Benford miss that in recruiting...

[Harry]

A couple thoughts:

1. Man that free throw review stuff pissed me off. If you make a mistake, it shouldn't benefit somebody if they already mess up. I don't get the rule that you can let two shots go by and then go back. I would understand if it was before the free throws.

2. How in the world was that a flagrant on Keith? Did I miss something? I was near the top in the wheelchair seats so I'm seriously asking.

1. I agree but I think that the refs pulled the wrong player to the free throw line...but I agree with you they shouldn't allow their mistake to hurt the other team

2. Keith lifted his elbow up fairly high -- that's a no no. I don't think it was the worst flagrant I have ever seen but it was a foul.

Someone mentioned that the head of the refs was watching the game and it made them call things really close. Did Benford know that? Because the team seemed to be completely unaware of how tight it was being called...

[Quoner]

So Benfords job is to teach a 20 year old man how to box out on free throws? A lot of high schools do not even focus on that. It is common sense and something a scholarship player should be able to do. It's not the damn coaches fault if a player does not box out. That is like blaming the football coach every time the QB gets sacked because he didn't coach the o-line well enough. Or blaming him for a fumble, or a interception. Give it up you cannot blame everything on Benford. And if you claim he needs to settle them down then I would assume he did when he subbed out the players who did not block out and had the assistant coaches talk to them.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. It is not the coach's job to teach fundamentals is my new favorite. Also, better call Hudson Houck and let him know he wasted his life on middle school BS.

[Andrew]

1. I agree but I think that the refs pulled the wrong player to the free throw line...but I agree with you they shouldn't allow their mistake to hurt the other team

2. Keith lifted his elbow up fairly high -- that's a no no. I don't think it was the worst flagrant I have ever seen but it was a foul.

Someone mentioned that the head of the refs was watching the game and it made them call things really close. Did Benford know that? Because the team seemed to be completely unaware of how tight it was being called...

If the head of the refs watched he should have picked up on what not to do. The refs should never dictate the pass of the game. It becomes bogged down and super boring when they call a travel or a foul every minute. It never seems to be like that on TV. You could watch ACC teams play and goes 4 or 5 minutes without a whistle. But of course in the super pit we cannot go a minute without a whistle...

[Andrew]

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. It is not the coach's job to teach fundamentals is my new favorite. Also, better call Hudson Houck and let him know he wasted his life on middle school BS.

Really... If you cannot block out then you do not deserve a college scholarship. There are things that they let them know but if they have to stop practice to practice blocking out on a free throw or other very simple fundamentals then there is no way we will ever win a game. The game plan is what is focused in, offense and defense. Not things a middle school player knows how to do by the 8th grade.

Because the heat are over there every day practicing for hours with lebron on boxing out his man.

I am not saying it is something they do not tell them but it's something that does not need to be practiced. If it does remove that player from the team.

[Andrew]

Maybe Benford should just hold their hands and bring them juice boxes every game. Then he could back their backs when their feelings get hurt.

Edited January 10, 2014 by Andrew