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I knew this team was going to struggle to score points, but I wish we could at least say they were playing great team ball with an attitude and were forcing turnovers instead of the opposite.

I wish the team were doing better too and I agree that the past couple of weeks the play has been very poor. But you have to keep in mind the talent on the team and the roles these guys have previously played at the college level. We have sometimes (and will a few more times) been extremely overmatched by our opponent.

And I find the comparison to Indiana a little ridiculous. They were 19-12 last season, making the second round of the NCAA Tourney, returning 5 of their 7 top scorers. This DOES NOT include DJ White, who in all regards is their best player, because he sat out all of last year except 5 games because of ineligibility. Add him back to the lineup and you have a Big TEN team, coming off a NCAA Tourney birth essentially only losing 1 player from its top 7 scorers (or 7 man rotation). Thats not even including whatever freshman they might have brought in. Compare that to 14-16 was it? Losing 2 of your 7 man rotation and replacing noone in that rotation. In my opinion it would seem like Indiana has a little more fire power and talent and therefore will probably have some better results.

MustangIcon wrote: We have sometimes (and will a few more times) been extremely overmatched by our opponent.

And I find the comparison to Indiana a little ridiculous.

We have played two teams where we were overmatched, FSU and Oklahoma and I expected the final results of both games. What I didn't expect was to loose to a team of midgets from NCA&T at home, and score a measly 19 points in the first half against Southern Miss.

Who said anything about comaring out talent to Indiana's?

You must not have been at or watched the UH game if you don't think we were overmatched there. We we could do nothing defensively to stop those guys. We do not have the speed/athletisiscm to match up with them one on one and you cannot play a zone against a team who just finished shooting 40+ percent from 3 against Memphis in their last game and continued to shoot for a great percentage against you.

Oklahoma, while better than us in every aspect of the game, was still a very dissappointing game. We made the trip up for that one and yes we should have been beat by them but the guys just played weak and gave a poor effort that game.

NC AT was similar to UH in that they ran an almost all guard/swingman lineup at us and launched three's all night. Seeing that game in person I can tell you they are a good team, and a perfect team to exploit our weaknesses. I still think we should win that game but I am certainly not surprised by the loss.

MustangIcon wrote: the guys just played weak and gave a poor effort that game.

That is the reason I posted the link.

What exactly is your point? Do you have a problem with the players or the coaches or what? Come out and say what you think.

Treadway21 wrote:What exactly is your point? Do you have a problem with the players or the coaches or what? Come out and say what you think.

Good question

Treadway21 wrote:What exactly is your point? Do you have a problem with the players or the coaches or what? Come out and say what you think.

Why are you so defensive over me wishing it was being said our team was "giving great effort, playing together, forcing more turnovers, playing with a chip on their shoulders even though they they are struggling to score".

I don't know why they aren't playing like that, do you?

Treadway21 wrote:What exactly is your point? Do you have a problem with the players or the coaches or what? Come out and say what you think.

I think he has a problem with the lack of competitiveness in a couple of recent games. Why don't you?

I don't think we lost the games because of a lack of effort or because we didn't play as a team.

JT, I never said I wasn't unhappy (triple negative?) about the team's performances recently. But I'd be intereted in what people around here think is the cause and I would like people to be on record with it as opposed to being coy about what they think.

My opinion is this team is full of role players some of which are playing to potential and some having to try play above their level, which means uneven peformances. Coaching can only go so far in elevating talent. Old habits die hard. SMU Basketball has had many stretches of underperformances and turnovers in games in both the Dement and Tubbs eras. One of my big frustrations last 2 or 3 years was the team went through long stretches of being unable to go on runs with turnover after turnover. So far in conference play that fault continues. A team cannot go scoreless for long stretches and win consistently. We need some shooters.

3-point shooting cures cancer.