Thoughts on OSU

[jtstang]

This was my first eyewitness account of this team. For the first 10 minutes or so of the game we played well on both ends of the floor. Not perfect by any stretch--too many turnovers on offense, and too many second chances on defense--but well enough to stay in the game with this top ten team. For the first 10 minutes of the second half we played well defensively--not as good as the first half, but good enough. For the rest of the game we played like crap on both ends of the floor. Unfortunately the game lasts 40 minutes.

But this is not why we lost. We lost because OSU has vastly superior talent at every position. Every starter of theirs is head and shoulders above every starter of ours. And for you Hopkins apologists, in advance--if you wouldn't trade him for Lucas every day and twice on Sunday, then you don't want SMU to be better. Stallion, insert recruiting rant here:___________.

Now we were gonna lose this game anyway, but some things could have made it more fun to watch. If we don't miss at least five or six layups and shoot what had to be around 50% from the line, we are not down 20 with four minutes to go, maybe only five or six down.

Unresolved:

1-Do we run a half court offense? It looks like the same stuff as before--one ballhandler and four guys with their shoes glued to the floor. Don't anybody come on here and tell me this is a MOTION offense.

2-Do we practice free throws at all?

3-Is there a moratorium on passing the ball to Reay inside? The guy works his [deleted] off in the low post on every trip, and looked a couple of times tonight like he can handle the ball down there.

4-Many of our turnovers are silly. Just dropped passes that hit you in the hand, or passes thrown at a guys feet.

5-Take a lesson from OSU on man D. When the guy picks up his dribble, GET IN HIS FACE, NOT FIVE FEET FROM HIS FACE. Also, help out on screens for the entire game, not about ten minutes per half. Play and overplay the passing lanes with the knowledge that somebody is watching your back door--by the way, somebody watch the back door.

Overall, not an embarassing loss like Tubbs worried about, but an expected loss and one which should have been closer on the scoreboard.

Sat in the student section tonight. Kudos to the students. A lump of coal to SMU for selling student section tix to OSU and reserving two rows behind the OSU bench for them. A second lump for posting security goons behind OSU bench for sole purpose of making sure the third row WAS COMPLETELY EMPTY. Both forcing SMU students up and over from some very good seats. Do not understand these policies and will not agree even if somebody explains them to me. Students--rise up and complain.

[Hoop Fan]

Lucas had a great game. His dad was there watching and I'm sure he fed off of that as much as his teammates. The guy was very average at Baylor the year before last. He has improved more than Hopkins no doubt, but it also has something to do with opportunities and space to operate. Because the overall strength and talent level was so different on the floor, our defense is on its heels scrambling and Lucas has room to operate. Meanwhile on offense, Hopkins has guys draped all over him everywhere he goes, no one creating space. He had a bad night to say the least, but its no reason to crucify the guy. He played hard, you cant always tell that by the stats or listening to the radio. And in the end, maybe hes not as good as Lucas, which is really no damn disgrace. I'm not giving up on him, he is still only halfway through his career.

[jtstang]

He has improved more than Hopkins no doubt, but it also has something to do with opportunities and space to operate. Because the overall strength and talent level was so different on the floor, our defense is on its heels scrambling and Lucas has room to operate. Meanwhile on offense, Hopkins has guys draped all over him everywhere he goes, no one creating space. He had a bad night to say the least, but its no reason to crucify the guy. He played hard, you cant always tell that by the stats or listening to the radio. And in the end, maybe hes not as good as Lucas, which is really no damn disgrace. I'm not giving up on him, he is still only halfway through his career.

I'm not crucifying anybody and not saying you should give up on him--he's our best player. And you are right, the reason he is not an effective point guard is precisely BECAUSE he has to carry this team and every opponent knows it. Lucas is the better floor leader for the same reason you point out--he's running a show full of top ten talent. He'd have similar problems as Hopkins here, but my statement is based on my thinking his talent level is higher, and you are right again--that's not a disgrace to Hopkins.

[DickerJames]

This is not a knee jerk reaction because of one horrible performance, but I think we have to be honest and admit that Hopknis has not come close to living up to the hype of his HS reputation. When you consider the fact he cost TWO scholorships, then I think you can say he has been a bust. Lucas performance tonight merits OSU giving his granny a scholarship.

I still believe this team has a good chance to have a very nice season and the potential to make noise in the WAC. Also, major kudos to Eric Castro the toughest and hardest player on this team. Chris Reay also had a very productive 7 minutes, and I thought playing him and Castro together was working very well tonight.

Bottom line for the game tonight is if the free throws had dropped, the easy inside baskets found the bottom of the net, and half of Hopkins 6 three point attemtps been good then this would have been a much closer game and alot more fun to watch.

[Diehard Pony]

My only question regarding all of this is why was Hopkins equally as bad against Montana State and UT-Tyer?

[Sic_em]

FWIW, driving home after the game, the radio announcer noted that as a sophomore at Baylor, Lucas put up 30 on SMU. He's always had the ability to score but now he has a great supporting cast at OSU that opens things up for him.

[LA_Mustang]

my thoughts....

Okie St. is a very good team. If I could pick a starting five from all of college basketball, Joey Graham would be on that team. He’s an exceptional talent and could play in the NBA right now.

Hop really, really struggled tonight. HF summed it up very well. I’ll leave it at that. My biggest concern – did someone kidnap Devon Pearson? I honestly did not notice him the entire game....well, outside of the five seconds when he stole the ball and scored. That was very disappointing. Reay was a pleasant surprise. He brings a lot of energy and he has some talent.

The offense did struggle at first, but I didn’t think it was as bad as jt. Okie St.’s defense can make a lot of teams look bad. Several times I wanted to run up to Roberts and tell him to go with his instincts and penetrate. You can see it. He wants to but he’s still hesitant. He's got a ton of ability and it will come.

The FT shooting was unacceptable.

The number of SMU fans and students was embarrassing. There was probably 6,000 in attendance, half being OSU supporters. With all the students and alums living in DFW (that has to be about 40,000???), only 2,500 to 3,000 came to see our undefeated team play a top 5 team. That’s just terrible.

well, 48 hours until Tech.

[RGV Pony]

Not only that, LA, but where's all the Jimmy supporters? You'd think that we'd have scores of HS coaches & some of their kids there after all the hullabaloo w/ the letter campain to hire Tubbs last year. Take away the 4k OSU fans & you have not much more than we ever had in the Dement era.

[OldPony]

BHype has been a bust. Yes OSU has more talent. Yes- they overplay BHype. Good point guards make those around them better. If he had people in his face last night, why did he continue to shoot. Could he not get the ball to anyone else? Did he try? Take his horrible shootig percentage out of the stats and SMU shot pretty well. Bhype has had a few outstanding games in his career. He has been equally bad against good competition as bad compertition for the most part though. It's time to get someone else some playing time. I don't know how people continue to say that he is our best player. He certainly wasn't last night. How about at Montana St? It is time to admit that the guy is not only no TJ Ford but really a pretty average point guard. We all were excited and thought he was the answer but unfortunately he doesn't seem to even know the question. He is certqainly no Sasser nor Q nor J Rich.

[2112]

Half??????? are you kidding me? there couldn't have been more than 1,500 students and (fans?) combined. very sad!

[EastStang]

Regarding the free throws, did it look like conditioning misses (late in the half), or bad mechanics? If it was conditioning misses then the coach isn't managing the game properly. If its bad mechanics, that's hard to coach out. Kind of like putting yips. There are times, you just can't hit a free throw. About all you can do, is hope that some cheerleader raises her skirt, so that the shooter's mind is on her and instinct takes over. Otherwise, the mind starts sensing all sorts of distracting things. The ball's too slippery. There is a breeze that you feel. Your hand isn't in the right position.....

[jtstang]

If its bad mechanics, that's hard to coach out. Kind of like putting yips.

I think that is absolutely wrong. Good shooting motion from the line is teachable and learnable. After that, repetition and muscle memory is all you need to learn to shoot free throws. Unfortunately, that is an off-season project.

[MustangStealth]

Sat in the student section tonight. Kudos to the students. A lump of coal to SMU for selling student section tix to OSU and reserving two rows behind the OSU bench for them. A second lump for posting security goons behind OSU bench for sole purpose of making sure the third row WAS COMPLETELY EMPTY. Both forcing SMU students up and over from some very good seats. Do not understand these policies and will not agree even if somebody explains them to me. Students--rise up and complain.

I heard people complaining about this all game. It's not an SMU thing though, it's a new (last couple years I think) NCAA rule. You have to provide a sort of "safe zone" behind the visitors' bench for visiting fans. If you want to complain, call the NCAA and complain. From the NCAA website:

"The NCAA Committee on Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct met earlier to discuss how to assist conferences and institutions with these kinds of issues. Additionally, the Division I Men's Basketball Committee has requested that a number of groups within the NCAA provide guidance, particularly in educating participants about their obligation as role models. With this in mind, our committee is looking to provide institutions and conferences with helpful guidelines regarding sportsmanship and gamesmanship. Examples include requiring an upper-level administrator to attend each home contest, seating the home fans (particularly the students and bands) away from the visiting team bench, and placing security around the visiting-team bench, and providing such security when the visiting team and officials leave the playing field. "


Overall, I was disappointed with our play last night. We looked like we gave up early in the second half. A lot of stnding around while BHop takes an ugly shot. Reay deserved more minutes. I'm afraid that this year instead of being talented but inconsistent we may be consistently mediocre. And someone please inform the students that our colors are not gray and beige.

[jtstang]

Okay, well that's a BS "guideline" to be following, thanks B. Knight, but that does not explain selling SMU student seats to opposing fans and reserving them in the "general admission" section. Students, be heard in protest.

[Eddie P]

Old Pony-

You've been at this anti-Hopkins rant for quite a while now and it has started to get old. Weren't you the same genius who was lobbying to get Aikenhead playing time last year as well? It is completely and utterly foolish to suggest that Hopkins is anything other than our best player. I guess Eddie Sutton was just flat out lying when he suggested that Hopkins would start for many Big 12 teams. Did he or has he played as well as Lucas...obviously not. And he did not have a good game by any stretch and that is more than partially to blame by the fact that EVERY team we play knows who they have to contain to beat our team. Consider how many times players just kinds shuffled around while Hopkins had the ball...it's a team game and the guy can't do it alone. Who, may I ask, should start getting playing time instead of Hopkins at the point? Dement? Who? I'm curious to know. There may well be issues on this team, but blaming a pre-season All-WAC player of the year candidate is not really going to solve those issues.

That being said, several turnovers and one field goal is certainly not acceptable either, even if matched by eight assists. It's not like he wasn't TRYING to get others involved.