what do we think so far, heading in to tonight's game.....

[jakez4ut]

i'm not going to pretend to be an expert here......

but honestly, what do we think of this year's team?

Personally, i don't think we're as good as last year's team simply because we don't seem to have the outside shooting we had last year.

in the two games we've lost so far, there's been no reason for those teams to come out and guard us.

that's shut down anything we want to do inside and has made us take shots that i don't think we want to take.

translates in to poor fg% which takes away our def. pressure on the i/b pass and basically takes us out of our game. our half court D hasn't proven to be outstanding by any means.

does that make any sense? that's just what i see so far.

against lesser talented teams we will run you out of the gym, against the better teams we look like we will struggle creating offense.

thoughts? (and i do understand it's still early....just observation on what i've seen so far...)

[hohenfelsvol]

Lazy man question...

Is tonight's game televised.

[jakez4ut]

i believe so, isn't it on ESPN?

[hohenfelsvol]

9:30 espn

[TXA&M07]

I'd agree with your thoughts on the half court defense, and the point you made about creating offense against difficult opponents. Their transition offense is explosive against weaklings.

[jakez4ut]

Originally Posted by hohenfelsvol

9:30 espn

yep.....just checked directtv on line.......

[Headed For Home]

I think the word immaturity sums it up. I expect we'll see alot of improvement as the season goes along.

[jakez4ut]

i do too, but i can't help but think that this team is not built for a deep run in the aa's.

[KB5252]

They will need to make huge strides for this team to compete in the tournament.

[jakez4ut]

i don't want to discount not having JP Prince either.......he's a big part of what they want to do......

it's a little disheartening though to know you got Chism, Smith and Prince as veterans and some good young talent around them and see them struggle like they have in the losses.

tatum, tabb, wooldridge, hopson have all been pretty good as support players, but none of them have been consistent. that may have more to do with matruity than anything else.

i guess i just expected more......not that they still can't deliver.....and i'm not overly disappointed, so don't get me wrong.......but it's painfully obvious this team does in fact have a ways to go.

[TennNC]

Here's what I want from this team:

I want to see more of Negedu. And I want to see Mike Griffith spell his name correctly. And I want to see more of Cameron Tatum too.

I want to see Daniel West re-instated. We need his ball handling and ability to penetrate. That ain't gonna happen, so we may be SOL.

I want to see smarter defense. They talk about toughness, but it's more about knowing what to do and where to go and how to communicate, IMO.

I want to see Hopson be more aggressive on offense. He needs to at least attempt to beat his man off the dribble and pull up for a J. He should be taller and bouncier than most guys guarding him.

I want to see JP back in the lineup, and I want to see him foul more. At least that would indicate he's guarding people as opposed to playing matador.

I want to see Maze take it to the hole more.

I want to see Wayne and Brian throw their bodies around more down low. They're big for big men these days, and they (Wayne especially) need to act like it.

[jakez4ut]

Originally Posted by TennNC

Here's what I want from this team:

I want to see more of Negedu. And I want to see Mike Griffith spell his name correctly. And I want to see more of Cameron Tatum too.

I want to see Daniel West re-instated. We need his ball handling and ability to penetrate. That ain't gonna happen, so we may be SOL.

I want to see smarter defense. They talk about toughness, but it's more about knowing what to do and where to go and how to communicate, IMO.

I want to see Hopson be more aggressive on offense. He needs to at least attempt to beat his man off the dribble and pull up for a J. He should be taller and bouncier than most guys guarding him.

I want to see JP back in the lineup, and I want to see him foul more. At least that would indicate he's guarding people as opposed to playing matador.

I want to see Maze take it to the hole more.

I want to see Wayne and Brian throw their bodies around more down low. They're big for big men these days, and they (Wayne especially) need to act like it.

agreed on those two points whole heartidly.

and as for maze, he needs to be at least some sort of scoring threat going forward.

but in the end, we still have to have someone prove they can shoot from the midrange or 3 pt......the outside shooting has been pitiful, save Tatum in the G'town game.

[CardassianVol]

I have no opinion about how good this year's team will be. Yet. We are more talented than the last three teams under Peal. We just need to overcome youth and play better basketball. We play tough teams partly so our guys will have that experience come tournament time. I believe Bruce will get us on the right track. Hopefully we start that tonight.

[UTGRADnNC]

Is JPP going to back in the lineup tonight? If not, how much longer is he expected to be out?

[865vol]

It's just too early to tell how good we're gona be.

About 12 games in is usually when a team starts to show their identity.

If you go back to last year or even previous years, it's about 1/3 of the way in you start to work the kinks out.