Cheer up

[BillySee58]

And watch this old clip.

http://blip.tv/ballislife/6-7-greg-wesley-is-one-of-the-most-explosive-athletes-of-2013-6206868

Wesley is going to be a stud. I don't expect him to ever average 15 a game, but I think he'll be a box-score stuffer and a guy who just helps you win in different ways. Can play the 3 or the 4. Hopefully he's worked a little on dribbling with his left hand, but man he has a quick trigger and has some 3-point ability even if it isn't his forte.

Adding him and Combs to the forwards we already have should be fun to watch. Hope Wesley's getting the classroom stuff figured out and will be ready to play.

[Andrew]

He and combs give me some hope for the future however we need a stud of a point guard and a solid big man moving forward.

[NT03]

I'm hoping he's been able to hit the weight room hard since he's been out. Kid is talented

[drex]

And coaching?

[Green P1]

[emmitt01]

Careful, last time we got all excited over ballislife.com videos we hired Benford.

[BillySee58]

Careful, last time we got all excited over ballislife.com videos we hired Benford.

Someone pointed out when he was ruled ineligible that it was the ballislife curse. If he doesn't end up making it to the court then we know who to blame.

Same with Carrington Ward. If he doesn't end up playing here we can blame retroaction sports.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1sOywt-Arb4

[Cooley]

Every kid on this team had impressive video's. Wesley adds nothing to this team unless we push the ball up the court; where his skills are more evident. He runs and jumps with the best of them. He is not very good in half court and is not a good shooter Obviously coaching has a part to do with it (style) but I've come to the conclusion that this team is slow overall and it starts with the point guards.

I liked Chris Jones out of HS but he has not shown the quickness needed to run the offense. He, and the offense, would be better if he could consistently hit open shots. Alzee is even slower. Don't know anything about the last signee but we will not get appreciably better without a quick point guard. (which makes everyone look and play better, including Wesley) Josh White was not cat quick but quick enough to open the offense and he hit his outside shot. (at 5-10)

Don't know if you guys have seen Nic Moore of SMU. Quickness at the point makes everyone better. Larry Brown has made a huge difference but this guard in particular. Our best team(s) were lead by Weasel Johnson, Little Joe Hamilton and Josh.

[MeanMag]

Every kid on this team had impressive video's. Wesley adds nothing to this team unless we push the ball up the court; where his skills are more evident. He runs and jumps with the best of them. He is not very good in half court and is not a good shooter Obviously coaching has a part to do with it (style) but I've come to the conclusion that this team is slow overall and it starts with the point guards.

I liked Chris Jones out of HS but he has not shown the quickness needed to run the offense. He, and the offense, would be better if he could consistently hit open shots. Alzee is even slower. Don't know anything about the last signee but we will not get appreciably better without a quick point guard. (which makes everyone look and play better, including Wesley) Josh White was not cat quick but quick enough to open the offense and he hit his outside shot. (at 5-10)

Don't know if you guys have seen Nic Moore of SMU. Quickness at the point makes everyone better. Larry Brown has made a huge difference but this guard in particular. Our best team(s) were lead by Weasel Johnson, Little Joe Hamilton and Josh.

We are an extremely poor rebounding team. It's tough to get out and run without the ball.

I thought we looked slow too, but I don't know how much having to play zone because we aren't good man defenders (and lack an inside presence) is hurting our fast break opportunities.

Edited February 2, 2014 by MeanMag

[GrandGreen]

Slowness is not NT's problem, it is no inside game. NT has better than average speed. Jones is a different player than his freshman year and I don't think it is because he is slower. He IMO has been coached to become primarily a ball distributor and it is not his best game. Jones was a scorer and one of the teams top rebounders as well as being a good assist man. Now, he appears much more hesitant because he is trying to play Benford ball and he knows one turnover and it is likely the bench.

A run and gun pg like Hamilton, Deon Hunter or Johnson does not fit what Benford wants to do.

[edcollopy]

Go back and watch Jones in his freshman year. He looked much quicker than he does now. He has very difficult time getting enough separation to even get off a floater.

[Andrew]

They are all slow except for Vaughn's. Even josh white was not quick. We have need a quick guard who can penetrate and give us more options. We are also lacking in the post. Coleman's stock went up but now it's near the bottom again.

Also Benford has not benched players this year for mistakes like he did last year. Last year yes he was awful at doing that. At least he is growing in that and other regards. We still need to win however.

[MeanMag]

They are all slow except for Vaughn's. Even josh white was not quick. We have need a quick guard who can penetrate and give us more options. We are also lacking in the post. Coleman's stock went up but now it's near the bottom again.

Also Benford has not benched players this year for mistakes like he did last year. Last year yes he was awful at doing that. At least he is growing in that and other regards. We still need to win however.

Josh white was very quick, just did not have blazing speed. He had Tristan for that. There's a difference between being quick and being fast. Don't have to be fast, but being a quick defender makes up for a lot of what lacked in the speed department.

Another guy who was very quick and fundamentally sound on defense was Shannon Shorter. Those guys had an easier time getting into transition because they were quick defenders and it led to easy buckets.

Our zone has been a welcome addition but it's born more out of necessity, and even benford knows that. If you don't have at least one guy who can stop their man in man defense, u are in trouble and we are already in trouble. Our tourney teams had multiple guys that could defend and rebound (Tristan was not one, but brought too much offensively). Currently, we are a one dimensional one trick pony. Above average offensive guard play with gaping holes under the basket and just about everyone is a liability on defense.

We have plenty of guys who can dribble penetrate, but no second option available for the underneath when te shot is contested. We have had absolutely no one since Tyler Hall that could make an entry pass except for Niko on occasion. We need a lot of pieces and some different players. We have people tripping over each other trying to bring the same thing to the court as other guys on this team.

[foutsrouts]

We are an extremely poor rebounding team. It's tough to get out and run without the ball.

I thought we looked slow too, but I don't know how much having to play zone because we aren't good man defenders (and lack an inside presence) is hurting our fast break opportunities.

Rebounds are the only major area where we're ranked Top 50 nationally, but yeah, a Benford OOC schedule is likely going to get you some rebounds.

[BillySee58]

Rebounds are the only major area where we're ranked Top 50 nationally, but yeah, a Benford OOC schedule is likely going to get you some rebounds.

I think we have the second to worst rebounding margin in the conference. Or something like that. We've been bullied on the boards and been outrebounded in almost all of our conference games. Not to mention BYU outrebounded us 60-38.

As has been said on here, rebounding may not be one of our top problems, but it has been an exposable weakness. Our total rebounding rank is very misleading.

[foutsrouts]

I think we have the second to worst rebounding margin in the conference. Or something like that. We've been bullied on the boards and been outrebounded in almost all of our conference games. Not to mention BYU outrebounded us 60-38.

As has been said on here, rebounding may not be one of our top problems, but it has been an exposable weakness. Our total rebounding rank is very misleading.

Maybe so, but 49th in rebounding sure looks a lot better than 332nd in assists and 250th in FG %. Not that any of that really matters, since we are obviously doing very few positive things consistently on a team basis, while the individual performances deserving of accolades are pretty few and far between themselves. I guess I'll just have to grab hold of any ray of sunshine I can dig up this season.

[BillySee58]

Maybe so, but 49th in rebounding sure looks a lot better than 332nd in assists and 250th in FG %. Not that any of that really matters, since we are obviously doing very few positive things consistently on a team basis, while the individual performances deserving of accolades are pretty few and far between themselves. I guess I'll just have to grab hold of any ray of sunshine I can dig up this season.

Yes, but does 224th in the country in rebounding margin look a lot better? Because that's what we are.

[forevereagle]

Maybe so, but 49th in rebounding sure looks a lot better than 332nd in assists and 250th in FG %.

Methinks that the opportunity for rebounds is directly related to the poor FG %.