What positives / negatives are you seeing with the basketball team?

[Buffnik]

Major shift in team dynamics after Spencer went down.

Who and what has surprised you, encouraged you, disappointed you, etc. in the past few games without Spencer?

 

[Darth Snow]

Encouraged by:

Ski - dude is doing everything he can, and mostly staying within himself. The mantle of leadership has really improved his game. Very impressive.

Scott - Wish he finished more around the rim, but he's still doing what he has been doing despite being in conference play. Was up to the task against Zona. he needs more help from his running buddy Wes.

Ambivalent:

XJ - shot well, but mostly had issues against Zona getting to the rim. Lots of frantic, out of control movement. Hope he learns to (a) bring that energy every game, and (b) channel it. He reminds me of sophomore ski a lot sometimes. (obviously very different player, but emotionally). And Gordon abused him on defense. Which is excusable, but sometimes it seemed like the effort was lacking.

Jaron - I may have been down on the guard recruiting the last two years, but he obviously has incredible potential. That said, the weight of being the starting PG seems to be too much for him right now. Not saying he won't figure it out, but at this level his lack of a shot really hurts what he is capable of as guys can sag off him and go under every screen. He's got so much athletic talent, and he can only use it once or twice a game.

Dustin Thomas: He's starting to get some offensive mojo back. He kind of looked like he belonged out there against Zona. Long ways to go, but he could be building towards something. Still defensive OUCHness though.


Wes. What the hell happened to him out there? He's so inconsistent. That first half against UW was amazing. Thenn...... Great game (by all accounts) against USC. Then.... At this point I wonder if he is a lot more mentally raw than physically raw. He's shown flashes of great touch, post moves, etc. But he disappears.

Negatives:
SOphomore Guard play. Less said the better. Talton had a great feed to Scott in the first half against Zona and made a nice shot or two. That's all I'm going to say.

Team defense. We are just used to a higher standard around here, and we aren't there this year. We weren't there with the Mayor, and his loss hasn't helped us at all. Although, the last game I saw where a team shredded us at will like that was probably the UCLA game at home last year. That was a pretty decent defensive team. It just happens sometimes. That said, the sum of the situation is that we are just not that good on D. Seems to be mostly a lack of experience. We still have frosh helping too much at the wrong time.

 

[mattrob]

What Snow said. Almost exactly the way I've felt.

My biggest disappointment has been how careless the team is with the ball. I'm not sure how many of those soft cross-court passes can be taken the other way before the team realizes they're not going to get away with it. They just seem to be panicking with any defensive pressure. Other than that, it's about what I expected.

 

[wyobuff]

I know mattrob said it, but the ****ing turnovers are killing us.

 

[Darth Snow]

I will add that King must have pissed Tad off something fierce. For him to be getting almost no time is very strange at this point and time. He's obviously physically talented. It took desperation against Zona to get him in the game. What's going on there?

Put that in the discouraging column.

 

[Eggon]

It is hard to watch at moments, but we are making progress since the loss of Spencer. Overall this team is still athletically capable, but a couple of key players need to grow into their role and soon. I am encouraged by yesterdays play in the second half as that reflects on their toughness and character. Team confidence was under assault, and yet they battled back. Maybe aggressive, but I like that X is undaunted in the post game. Just maybe he is ready to follow Ski and notch it up.... Play with confidence.

Ski demonstrates this growth overall. Many including me were frustrated with his play at times last year, but he is regaining his confidence this year and that is reflected in his play. Really very solid effort thus far overall. This process is still under way for a couple of key players, but I expect these guys to be right there in the ASU game Sat. with a shot to win it. I believe we may look at the first AZ game as a turning point, and the second AZ game in Boulder as an outright war!

No complaints here that can't be addressed with time....

 

[BuffLuke80]

Is he 24 with the tabletop?

 

[tante]

So I usually have one player that I root for the most. For the past 3 years it was dre (just loved his style of play). I was thinking that Thomas was going to fill that void, but it has turned out to be ski. So you can consider me the #1 member in the fan club. He frustrated the heck out of me last year and I found myself just defending him at the start of the year, but damn he plays ball with a lot of heart.

 

[Scotch]

No surprises, going about as I expected after the injury.

Take care of the ball and stop with the turnovers and this team will look pretty good.

Both Gordon and Hopkins need to figure it out on the offensive end.

#TadBall does need a jump shooter or two.

 

[NYbuffDIEHARD]

Without The Mayor there is virtually no room for error and the way we are playing with complete lack of urgency in terms of the importance of every possession is frightening. We are so careless with the ball and the dumb turnovers and bad shots are killing us! If we just cut down on those we could be ok. I don't know though if we are capable of it. Talton has been a disappointment to me so far, he needs to step up a bit and protect the ball and make better decisions. XJ also needs to realize he is a star, the kid can play and during stretches he is dominant, I hope he starts to realize how good he is and take over more often. Anyway thats my 2 cents.

Also, I know it isn't a totally accurate comparison but we lost to UCLA by 13 and to Arizona by 12. The Mayor Averaged 15 a game. Ugh. Go Buffs.

 

[tante]

Without The Mayor there is virtually no room for error and the way we are playing with complete lack of urgency in terms of the importance of every possession is frightening. We are so careless with the ball and the dumb turnovers and bad shots are killing us! If we just cut down on those we could be ok. I don't know though if we are capable of it. Talton has been a disappointment to me so far, he needs to step up a bit and protect the ball and make better decisions. XJ also needs to realize he is a star, the kid can play and during stretches he is dominant, I hope he starts to realize how good he is and take over more often. Anyway thats my 2 cents.

Also, I know it isn't a totally accurate comparison but we lost to UCLA by 13 and to Arizona by 12. The Mayor Averaged 15 a game. Ugh. Go Buffs.

UCLA was closer than 13 and Arizona was further than 12.

 

[sackman]

The positives are that the team is figuring out how to play without Spencer. Unfortunately, they're doing it against some of the top teams in the conference (UCLA, UA). I'm hopeful that the high level of competition will bring them together faster. The negative is that it's taking a while for them to fully figure out how to play without Spencer.

Gotta love Ski and Jelly, though. Those guys are nails. What we're learning, though, is that those two cannot get it done by themselves. XJ has GOT to pick up his game significantly - and fast. He's the key to the season, IMO.

 

[cubuffs85]

UCLA was closer than 13 and Arizona was further than 12.

The scores don't tell the whole story in either case, unless you are playing in Vegas. I'm not much of a gambler but I would've taken the Buffs against the spread. But even though we covered the spread, it didn't feel that way.

 

[Buffs@5345']

The scores don't tell the whole story in either case, unless you are playing in Vegas. I'm not much of a gambler but I would've taken the Buffs against the spread. But even though we covered the spread, it didn't feel that way.

No, but it also didn't feel like Arizona had put on the brakes and we were getting garbage points at the end.

I don't think I am sunshine pumping (there was lots of profanity and head shaking last night) but I do think that despite the some of the mistakes and a couple of stretches of sitting on heels, the Buffs looked like they were in the game last night. They cleaned up boards on our end and while the performance on the offensive glass was obviously diminished by their bigs - they kept fighting for the multitude of missed shots and layups.

The thing we could most easily turn from a negative to a positive in my mind is finishing strong at the hoop. I can't count how many 1'-2' 'shots' were off the mark. If the player can't dunk that's ok, but put it off the glass with authority or get it to the cylinder before release. Clean up the close in play and the perimeter shooting is not as glaring. Clean up the ugly turnovers and there are more in close looks to make.

I think those two points will improve, both because players grow into roles and because we won't play Arizona every night. Fix them and we have a game by the time Arizona comes back to our place.

 

[tante]

No, but it also didn't feel like Arizona had put on the brakes and we were getting garbage points at the end.

I don't think I am sunshine pumping (there was lots of profanity and head shaking last night) but I do think that despite the some of the mistakes and a couple of stretches of sitting on heels, the Buffs looked like they were in the game last night. They cleaned up boards on our end and while the performance on the offensive glass was obviously diminished by their bigs - they kept fighting for the multitude of missed shots and layups.

The thing we could most easily turn from a negative to a positive in my mind is finishing strong at the hoop. I can't count how many 1'-2' 'shots' were off the mark. If the player can't dunk that's ok, but put it off the glass with authority or get it to the cylinder before release. Clean up the close in play and the perimeter shooting is not as glaring. Clean up the ugly turnovers and there are more in close looks to make.

I think those two points will improve, both because players grow into roles and because we won't play Arizona every night. Fix them and we have a game by the time Arizona comes back to our place.

Good post. We also had some bad fouls. The kind where we get a little contact but still let them have a good shot opportunity. If you are going to foul, don't let them put a good shot on goal.

 

[CVilleBuff]

These next two (next 4 really) tell us a whole lot

 

[Scotch]

Arizona was in our face all night at the rim. Biggest reason for the missed layups. Good thing was the Buffs never stopped driving the lane.

 

[cubuffs85]

These next two (next 4 really) tell us a whole lot

I hate these kind of definitive posts. I mean if we go 3-1 are we suddenly so confident? (which is what I think they'll do) What does 2-2 tell you. Yes, if we go 1-3, that's bad.

 

[cubuffs85]

I mean every game is much more important now, since we went from playing for seeding to just getting in. Unless we just play dreadful in the next four games, I'm not going to suddenly think this team can't make the Tourney.

I think you can take away things from just about every game. Last two games -- we're much better than a team like USC at home, significantly worse than UofA on the road.

I do get it how from a fans standpoint, why the games get magnified.

 

[tante]

I hate these kind of definitive posts. I mean if we go 3-1 are we suddenly so confident? (which is what I think they'll do) What does 2-2 tell you. Yes, if we go 1-3, that's bad.

Here is a handy guide

4-0 great!!! we will make dance
3-2 right side of bubble
2-2 wrong side bubble
1-3 NIT
0-4 furk

 

[mattrob]

I hate these kind of definitive posts. I mean if we go 3-1 are we suddenly so confident? (which is what I think they'll do) What does 2-2 tell you. Yes, if we go 1-3, that's bad.

Do you actually have an opinion on anything, or do you always sit in the middle and tell everyone else how wrong they are? Because that's all I've seen here the last couple of weeks.

Yeah, 3-1 looks good for our tournament chances. Otherwise we may play ourselves to the bubble. It's a pretty crucial stretch and we need a nice run soon to right the ship. It's not like CVille's going way out on a limb here.

 

[FChairbanks]

a major negative for me is the lack of focus going into a road game, almost like a deer in the headlights. Once the team breaks into the scoring category they settle down, but that first 4 minutes is excruciating...

 

[CVilleBuff]

I hate these kind of definitive posts. I mean if we go 3-1 are we suddenly so confident? (which is what I think they'll do) What does 2-2 tell you. Yes, if we go 1-3, that's bad.

I hate posts that criticize my sound logic. 2 wins tells me we likely have a losing conference season. We are hitting the portion of the slate where we need to pick up conference wins. We have a brutal end stretch. We struggle and drop these next few games and this thing goes down quicker and deeper than imagined. You can hate on it all you want, but we're at a critical point. We need 3 wins out of 4.

 

[cubuffs85]

Do you actually have an opinion on anything, or do you always sit in the middle and tell everyone else how wrong they are? Because that's all I've seen here the last couple of weeks.

Yeah, 3-1 looks good for our tournament chances. Otherwise we may play ourselves to the bubble. It's a pretty crucial stretch and we need a nice run soon to right the ship. It's not like CVille's going way out on a limb here.

Let me know when the "crucial stretch" ends.

 

[cubuffs85]

I hate posts that criticize my sound logic. 2 wins tells me we likely have a losing conference season. We are hitting the portion of the slate where we need to pick up conference wins. We have a brutal end stretch. We struggle and drop these next few games and this thing goes down quicker and deeper than imagined. You can hate on it all you want, but we're at a critical point. We need 3 wins out of 4.

No hating, we need every win we can get. If we don't go 3-1, I don't think the season is suddenly over.

 

[Quattro]

Let me know when the "crucial stretch" ends.

So why is this not a crucial stretch?

 

[CVilleBuff]

No hating, we need every win we can get. If we don't go 3-1, I don't think the season is suddenly over.

If we want to Dance and not sweat it out, we win 3 of these. Sure, our season wouldn't be over by definition in the NIT, either, but everyone else here seemed to clearly comprehend what I was referencing without me having to explicitly explain.

 

[cubuffs85]

So why is this not a crucial stretch?

It is but the crucial stretch is pretty much the rest of the season. We go 3-1, the games just magnify after that.

 

[mattrob]

Let me know when the "crucial stretch" ends.

If we go 1-3 here it's pretty much over. How's that?

 

[Scotch]

Looking at the schedule and expanding on what CVille is saying, I would hope for 6-2/5-3 in the next 8 games before they go on the 3 game road trip to end the season. Very doable if they can keep winning at home.