Observations

[RE Tycoon]

Here are my thoughts on what it's going to take for this team to win:

Don't play these three players: Lowe, Miller, and Voc. They are worhtless when they are on the court. Lowe needs to be benched for a couple of games so that he realizes that his play has gone down considerably from last year, hopefully that will put him on notice. I've never thought that Miller was special, and his play is supporting my hunch. In my opinion he should be strictly a garbage time player. I had high hopes for Voc but he is not the same player that he was before the injury, I feel that he should only play when B-hop needs a rest, if he is in the game too long he becomes a huge liability.

Get rid of the zone: I say this for 2 reasons. One, it kills our rebounding on the defensive end. Our team can not play a zone to save their lives, they are constantly being sucked out toward the free throw line and when a shot goes up they are out of position and the other team gets an offensive rebound. Reason two, we can't defend a three. I don't know if we're too slow to rotate or if it is the coaching, but when the other team swings the ball there is always a guy there that gets an open look and drains the three.

Go with a steady 8 or 9 man rotation: Dement throws too many differnet people in the game. If I was the coach I would go with a starting rotation of B-Hop and Isham at the guards, Q and Simpson at the forwards, and finally Castro at Center. My subs would be Kelley, Voc, and the Rack. I might put Lowe in the starting lineup in place of Isham, but only if he showed improvment. I know this is roughly what Dement does now, but I would let the starting 5 play as much as they possibly could.

I saw some good things in this game: Simpson is starting to come on and I hope he continues to contribute more and more, we'll need him next year to be a MAJOR contributor. I also noticed that Dement has one coaching bone in his body (I'm glad to see old Dement still cares) he put a box-and-one on Carl English at the begining of the second half when Isham came in. The bad news it lasted one maybe two plays.

Finally, this team needs help. We all know it and we all see the same things year in and year out. Fire Dement and do it now so our new coach can start recruiting and hopefully get something out of the talent we do have. In case anyone cares, my pick would be to steal Jimmy Tubbs back from Oklahoma and give him a chance at the helm. He can't be worse than Dement.

Go 'Stangs

[This message has been edited by Current STUDent (edited 01-10-2003).]

[Charleston Pony]

I didn't see the game and I know statistics can be misleading, but I see the same old story. Hawaii shoots a better overall preventage (of course they should on their home court) and they have 19 assists to 14 turnovers whereas SMU has only 8 assists to go with 17 turnovers. From the games I've seen, there's just not enough motion in our offense and guys don't move well "off the ball" to position themselves for good shots. Bhop's 1 assist to 5 turnovers tells me either he's not penetrating and looking to dish or the guys aren't moving/reacting well. The other stat that has hel consistent on the road is that Hawaii out rebounded us 36-27.

This was certainly not a game I expected us to win. Have to hope we can regroup and steal one at San Jose. La Tech managed to, and San Jose offers one of the few opportunities for a road win...if we are going to be one of the upper division teams in this year's WAC.

[Pony_Fan]

MIN PTS
K.Lowe 16 0
J.Isham 18 0
B.Miller 5 1
V.Atkins 11 1

Very crappy production here. I guess Isham is not that hurt? I didn't hear the game.


CP nailed it on the head - the assist (or lack thereof) are killing us. 10 TO's in the 1st half gave UH a nice cushion.

Where is the real Hopkins that I saw in HS? Looks like he is scoring more but
I guess for this season he won't be the explosive guy I remember - he should be able to at least penetrate/dish but that ain't happening at all b/c of injury or his teammates...not sure which.



[This message has been edited by Pony_Fan (edited 01-10-2003).]

[PX]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Pony_Fan:
<B> MIN PTS
K.Lowe 16 0
J.Isham 18 0
B.Miller 5 1
V.Atkins 11 1

Very crappy production here. I guess Isham is not that hurt? I didn't hear the game.


CP nailed it on the head - the assist (or lack thereof) are killing us. 10 TO's in the 1st half gave UH a nice cushion.

Where is the real Hopkins that I saw in HS? Looks like he is scoring more but
I guess for this season he won't be the explosive guy I remember - he should be able to at least penetrate/dish but that ain't happening at all b/c of injury or his teammates...not sure which.

[This message has been edited by Pony_Fan (edited 01-10-2003).]</B></font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Bryans problem is related to his weight and conditioning as much as the injury. Perhaps more.

Isham played 18 minutes and had no points and no rebounds? To me that sounds like his wrist is still hurt.

[Horseshoe]

His wrist has to still be hurting. He's been playing way too well to put up numbers like that without a reason.

[OldPony]

I think Dement's time is fast coming to an end but I don't want to get rid of him for an unproven like Tubbs. Let's wait until after the season, look at how this team has performed and then pull the rigger IF we are fairly certain of getting something better. Dement looked pretty good on paper and in his first 2 years. Something has gone wrong and progress has stalled but he is not a bad coach. He may just not be a good one.