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Take aways from last night, and the season as a whole

absinthe

absinthe

Ambitious but rubbish.
Club Member
Junta Member
A lot of these are things I think most of us have seen over the season but as Goose JG and I chatted last night and as the game progressed it became pretty clear that:

1.) We are not as good as we think we we are./ That goes for both the players and the fans.
2.) Boyle mentioned it this week, but we have questionable fight. How many HUGE leads are we going to blow this year.
3.) Simba regresses every off season. He gets a little better as the year goes on and then bang back to square 1.
4.) We dont get Josh Scott the ball enough.
5.) Dre needs to start trying to earn it again something is off in his game.
6.) Booker is not a starter.
 
I think they just you Scott wrong. He either gets the ball outside the 3 point line or they try to force the ball to him when he has two guys draped all over him, which usually results in a turnover.
 
tante said:
I think they just you Scott wrong. He either gets the ball outside the 3 point line or they try to force the ball to him when he has two guys draped all over him, which usually results in a turnover.
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I wont argue that he gets the ball too far away from the bucket too often, but when he gets in a decent position he is one of our top 2 offensive options.

Scott has 2 total turnovers in Pac-12 play, and turns the ball over considerably less than any of the other top-6 minute getters on this team. He also gets to the FT line more effectively and shoots Ft's more effectively than any one on the team except Dinwiddie.
 
absinthe said:
I wont argue that he gets the ball too far away from the bucket too often, but when he gets in a decent position he is one of our top 2 offensive options.

Scott has 2 total turnovers in Pac-12 play, and turns the ball over considerably less than any of the other top-6 minute getters on this team. He also gets to the FT line more effectively and shoots Ft's more effectively than any one on the team except Dinwiddie.
Click to expand...

Were those two both in the last two minutes of the game last night when he had the ball near mid court?
 
I think this is an NIT team this year. They show flashes but have no heart or killer instinct. A couple of other things.

  • Chen is the guy on the team who wants it the most and gives it everything he has. The others on the team could benefit from putting out the hustle this kid does.
  • They will get beat by UCLA Saturday without something changing in the chemistry. It is just off right now
  • Ski makes such bad decision in both shots and passing. He needs to come off of the bench like last year
  • Scott, Dre, XJ, Mayor and Chen may be the best starting rotation
  • Unfortunately, as mentioned by Abs above, Simba is just not getting better
  • When they get the D going the transition game is pretty good but,
  • The half court offense is horrible
  • Tad is in a tough spot right now. If he brings in multiple bench players at once, the game stalls or slips. We need the bench to be able to give solid minutes and right now they are not doing it.
 
tante said:
Were those two both in the last two minutes of the game last night when he had the ball near mid court?
Click to expand...

Yes they were with 2.08 and 1.39 left in the game.

That brings up an interesting point, and perhaps it is my answer, but what is the deal with the Scott/XJ subs late in the game when we'd expect the other team to be fouling us? Scott shoots roughly 75% from the line and XJ shoots about 50%
 
Dinwiddie looked hesitant last night. Simba is mostly bad. I wouldn't mind seeing Booker come off the bench. I like Xavier Johnson starting, maybe that will force him to be more like Dinwiddie and Booker last year where they developed well as the season progressed. Chen is good. I think we should try to get him more touches/drives, etc on offense. He seems to be a good finisher. It's great to have Scott in the low post. He needs more touches. If he can consistently knock down that free throw line jumper that would be a great weapon for him. This team really needs a leader. They don't seem to have that vocal leader-type or that person that you just know will "will" the team to victory at the end. Dinwiddie seems like he could be that "will to victory" person at times but then kind of falls in line with the rest of the team. Maybe Stalzer can be our consistent 3 point shooter off the bench? I wonder what would happen if they got him a few three point attempts every game.
 
absinthe said:
A lot of these are things I think most of us have seen over the season but as Goose JG and I chatted last night and as the game progressed it became pretty clear that:

1.) We are not as good as we think we we are./ That goes for both the players and the fans.
2.) Boyle mentioned it this week, but we have questionable fight. How many HUGE leads are we going to blow this year.
3.) Simba regresses every off season. He gets a little better as the year goes on and then bang back to square 1.
4.) We dont get Josh Scott the ball enough.
5.) Dre needs to start trying to earn it again something is off in his game.
6.) Booker is not a starter.
Click to expand...

1) sure/students are still technically on break
2) We don't like it, but youth is a primary cause here. All our ball handlers are young.
3) Simba is pure, 100%, distilled terrible. Boyle has to be regretting redshirting Gordon. Simba needs to be left at the airport on the next road trip.
4) ... but we're improving on getting the ball to him more. Early in the game he got a touch on every possession. He got tired in the second half, which is why the coming offseason is so important for him. Work in the weight room will make him a consistent threat over 40 min.
5) agree.
6) Nate's gone, so I guess Ski's next up on the "irrational hatred" mantle.
 
RumblinBuff said:
1) sure/students are still technically on break
2) We don't like it, but youth is a primary cause here. All our ball handlers are young.
3) Simba is pure, 100%, distilled terrible. Boyle has to be regretting redshirting Gordon. Simba needs to be left at the airport on the next road trip.
4) ... but we're improving on getting the ball to him more. Early in the game he got a touch on every possession. He got tired in the second half, which is why the coming offseason is so important for him. Work in the weight room will make him a consistent threat over 40 min.
5) agree.
6) Nate's gone, so I guess Ski's next up on the "irrational hatred" mantle.
Click to expand...

Dont get me wrong I like Booker, and I like him playing what are basically starter minutes(28+), but I think his energy and offensive spark are more important to the team coming off the bench. I also think being on the floor with guys who its less important for him to include offensively particularly Scott would help this team.
 
I have said it before and I will say it again. Every possession Scott doesn't touch the ball is a wasted possession.


In regards to Booker - he is the classic high usage high volume shooter. Which isn't a good thing, he is 70th overall in the country in % of shots taken when he is on the floor. He is taking 30% of the shots when he is out there, that isn't what you want from the guy with the 5th best offensive rating on the team.


Everybody is overreacting about last night. They were clearly sick, they played hard in the mid-first half and opened up a huge lead. This team can be as good as we think they are. They have struggled to play hard for the full 40 minutes and to close out games. This doesn't mean they are a bad team and this doesn't mean they can't do it. They are light years ahead of where they were at this point last year. Tad's teams consistently have shown us they get better as the year goes on, this year is proving to be the same.
 
Bone Buff said:
Christ, you'd have thought we lost last night.
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it's all relative, man. We won. But we know we can be good. It's frustrating to be good, but not play good.

That said, Tad needs to teach these guys some goddamn half court offense - it's horrible right now, and it shouldn't be this bad.
 
Well next year Booker might be coming off the bench. It will be hard to keep Jenkins, Hopkins and Fletcher off the court. We basically have one starting spot opening up next year and it looks like it XJ has a great shot to take it. A starting lineup with everyone over 6'5" is very enticing.
 
I heard rumors that the Flu was going around the team, is that true?

I think that would account for a lot of the focus at the end of the games, they are just whiped out, which would explain what we saw the past week or so.

As far as Ski. I think it will come with time, he will figure out his roll, lets remember he is still a sophmore, and likely not a NBA type talent, so he will be here all 4 years. I will agree that I like him as a spark guy, he seemed to do well, when he is the primary scoring threat on the court last year. We will see, I just think he needs time to play more in control. If you remember last year, the progress he made, mostly on the defensive end, I have faith that he is a gym rat and will focus on whatever it takes to make him better
 
Darth Snow said:
That said, Tad needs to teach these guys some goddamn half court offense - it's horrible right now, and it shouldn't be this bad.
Click to expand...

Has the offense really been good under Tad? Last year it wasn't any better and the year before it was pretty much the Alec and Cory 1 on 1 show with the kick out to Levi for the open 3 when they got trapped.

I have asked this over and over and have never got anybody to give me a decent answer. What is this offense they run? It isn't an motion offense, it isn't a pick and roll offense, it is a run a guy off screens for jumpers offense, it isn't a clear everybody out isolation 1-on-1 offense. I can tell you a lot of what it isn't, but I can't nor can anybody else seem to tell me what "it" is.
 
GoBuffs!! said:
I heard rumors that the Flu was going around the team, is that true?

I think that would account for a lot of the focus at the end of the games, they are just whiped out, which would explain what we saw the past week or so.
Click to expand...

Yes, that is the word. Which shouldn't surprise anybody who has been in Colorado the last week. Everybody I know is sick. I also heard that nearly every hospital in the metro area is at near capacity with the flu that is going around. It shouldn't shock us that the hoops team is affected by it as well.
 
jgisland said:
Has the offense really been good under Tad? Last year it wasn't any better and the year before it was pretty much the Alec and Cory 1 on 1 show with the kick out to Levi for the open 3 when they got trapped.

I have asked this over and over and have never got anybody to give me a decent answer. What is this offense they run? It isn't an motion offense, it isn't a pick and roll offense, it is a run a guy off screens for jumpers offense, it isn't a clear everybody out isolation 1-on-1 offense. I can tell you a lot of what it isn't, but I can't nor can anybody else seem to tell me what "it" is.
Click to expand...

Tad definitely keeps the offense simple. And the team generally turns in a high shooting percentage while also getting to the line a lot. We haven't had a great shooter since Levi. Frankly, we didn't had great offensive talent last year. It wasn't even good. But we won. This year, it's good but it's still developing. I'm looking to next year for the offense and a team that will be talented enough to outscore teams on some nights when they don't have everything else going (see this year's UCLA team).

I really think everyone needs to step back and consider his expectations in light of what we have. Last season was a transition year -- senior leadership and middling talent. This season -- almost no upperclass leadership and much more talent. If Tad gets us to the tourney during these 2 seasons then it's an amazing job. We have no business being as good as we've been. I don't know that any other Pac-12 coach would have had this type of success with our roster. Being picked to finish 11th in the conference last year was appropriate based on a roster analysis. Being picked to finish 6th this year was a sign of respect for the program that trumped the roster analysis. The sum has been much greater than the parts. In 2013-14, we have much better parts.
 
Looks like a transition bball team to me. Have some good athletes that are long and can run. Half court, run it through Scott. Ski can score pretty well when he doesn't have to find his shot and make decisions. In transition, he's good too. Mayor really needs to take over and be the guy in all phases. If he can do that, Dre can just do what he does. Be selfish and run the squad at the same time, he has the ability to do it.
 
absinthe said:
Yes they were with 2.08 and 1.39 left in the game.

That brings up an interesting point, and perhaps it is my answer, but what is the deal with the Scott/XJ subs late in the game when we'd expect the other team to be fouling us? Scott shoots roughly 75% from the line and XJ shoots about 50%
Click to expand...

I asked the same thing last night. I don't get that.

This team is obviously a hell of a lot better in transition. 41 points in the first half, they were cruising. We ended at 66. USC took the air out of the ball in the 2nd half, made it a struggle. I sit right behind the visitor's bench, in the first half O'Neill had a stroke every time they failed to get back in transition defensively, it is obviously something they talked about at halftime, I could tell the difference.

Something else I noticed, one possession Ski went zero passes in the half court and jacked up a jumper... he was on the bench the next whistle. A little bit later, Spencer did the same thing, same result. Pretty sure Tad is sending a message that we can't live that way in the half court.
 
sXbDY.jpg
 
One thing I forgot is we have a lot of guys that don't know how to move without the ball. Not surprising really, I see plenty of it in the NBA. It's a lost part of basketball. It's all iso, pick and roll, or ball screens. Players watch too much anymore and make themselves easier to guard. Mid range game is almost gone unless your post is shooting it.
 
Boyle needs to tighten things up at the end of games. The in bounds plays and carelessness with which they handle the ball and makes passes is awful! So many lazy careless turnovers are killing us! Dinwiddie is chief among the guys that throws lazy passes. It is like in the final few minutes they forget everything! And the most troubling part is usually it happens off a timeout. Boyle needs to fix that and quick! We are a good team, not great but we can't give away points and expect to go very far. Must make teams earn it. Too many bad turnovers. Killing us and totally frustrating to watch!
 
RumblinBuff said:
That performance in Tucson seems to have awaken him. He's no longer purely deferential, and feels confident taking shots. Complete turnaround from non-con play.
Click to expand...

That steal where he fell down, maintained his dribble and got the layup was awesome.
 
The one play where he got the lose ball from pure hustle from two USC players and then made the layup between them might have been the best CU basketball play this year.
 
People are forgetting how young this team is right now. We are relying on two frosh (Scott/XJ), two sophmores (Booker, Dinwiddie), one junior (Roberson), and one senior (Chen). Chen is really just a energy guy that is limited offensively. Roberson is a quiet lead by example type that should NEVER try and create his shot outside the paint. That's not his game. We have six guys that we can count on. If one or two are off, our team suffers. When everyone plays well, we are tough to beat. Finishing off teams is something a young team learns. We don't know how to keep our foot on the gas pedal. Our FT woes are again lack of concentration, which is a symptom of a younger team. I wish we weren't reshirting Jenkins because he could have been the shooter we needed off the bench. Talton/Stalzer are too inconsistent right now. Scott went from 4A Colorado bball to D1. That's a HUGE change, and he is perfomring above expectations.

Our two most vocal players are Dinwiddie/Booker, and both of them are just sophomores. That's a lot to ask for two guys to demand the respect in the locker room when they are just babies.

I expect our team to rebound against UCLA if everyone is over the flu. Our team has shown flashes of dominance (first half Zona, first half CSU, Baylor, Murray State, second half Dayton), but also lots of bad performances (Texas Southern, at KU, at ASU, at Wyoming).

We can beat anyone at home, no doubt about that ,but on the flip side, we can lose to anyone on the road until proven otherwise.

I hope our team comes out fired up against UCLA and puts them away till the very end.
 
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