Official: AAC Tournament Thread - SMU vs. UCONN (The Ship)

[Stallion]

It could be that SMU was so much better than ECU down low that the emphasis today was on feeding the bigs. I know I wanted them to keep taking candy from the baby today. Points in the Paint were too easy

[mrydel]

Watch out for Houston coming in as a spoiler. They could keep Temple and Tulsa out by winning the tourney.

[SMUer]

ECU played their best game in school history and we still beat them by 5+.

Crazy how many players and teams have epic nights against us...darned, bad luck I guess...

We are experiencing the single greatest sports season in 25 plus years in smu history. Just enjoy it. Jesus step away from the ledge. Hate to be around you during football season.

And I want to win more games and go deep in the tournament, which isn't happening going forward with perimeter defense like this. It is the difference between being pro-spective and retro-spective; you are happy with the previous results (wins) and so are content to digest whatever happens, while I want us to improve after every game so that we are playing peak in our last game, whenever that may be. It is obvious we have a weakness which we have the personnel and schemes to fix, so fix it.

[mrydel]

Other than UConn fighting for its life, the only conference team we have not swept did not beat us with 3s.

[stangsup4]

Our 3 point Defense % was No. 81 out of 345 coming in-which is Top 23% in the Country

Percentage doesn't matter, the volume does. We allow teams just to launch 3s against us which is the worst thing you can do. Would rather have teams be run off the line and take wide open mid range jumpers than contested 3s.

I am a Rockets fan and have embraced the advanced statistics so that might be part of it. But the stats tell you to run them off the line at all costs.

[SMUer]

I don't think Kentucky would beat us with threes either, there are plenty of better basketball teams than us. I think UCONN and Memphis are better inside than we are; I think Cinci has a nice mix of inside and out. We just have the best PG in the conference and that matters.

[Harry0569]

Our 3 point Defense % was No. 81 out of 345 coming in-which is Top 23% in the Country

Percentage doesn't matter, the volume does. We allow teams just to launch 3s against us which is the worst thing you can do. Would rather have teams be run off the line and take wide open mid range jumpers than contested 3s.

I am a Rockets fan and have embraced the advanced statistics so that might be part of it. But the stats tell you to run them off the line at all costs.

Completely agree. 3 points is more than 2 points.

[ojaipony]

I don't think Kentucky would beat us with threes either, there are plenty of better basketball teams than us. I think UCONN and Memphis are better inside than we are; I think Cinci has a nice mix of inside and out. We just have the best PG in the conference and that matters.

Huh? Memphis and UConn are nowhere near as good as us inside.

[Stallion]

Other than UConn fighting for its life, the only conference team we have not swept did not beat us with 3s.

well Cincy did hit 7 for 12 58% against SMU in Dallas but some of those were ridiculous late shot clock shots-

[PonyFan32]

I personally want to enjoy the ride when we have an awesome team. I don't think that's mutually exclusive with a few critiques, but I try not to let my critiques overwhelm my feeling of being crazy lucky to experience the ride this team is on.

My view on 3 point defense:

1. Yes, it is a weakness.
2. Our weak areas are perimeter defense by guards and in transition. Definitely wish Nic and Sterling guarded tighter on 3s and were better in recovery off of picks.
3. No team has bigs who can adequately defend 3s. Having them guard 3s exposes too much underneath. East Carolina hit several 3s in the first half where our bigs were hedging a bit inside instead of coming out on the 3 ball (due to picks, switches, whatever).

What about another subject while we wait for the next game...

Top Ridiculous (Good) Moments from the Game:

1. Every Ryan Manuel alley oop finish
2. Markus taking the big white guy behind the woodshed all 2nd half.
3. Back to back steals for points in the 1st half
4. Nic's in the air pass to teammate for points on the fast break (forgot who he passed to).
5. Nic's hesitation 3 pointer in the corner to freeze his defender.

Bottom Ridiculous (Bad) Moments from the Game:

1. Nic's attempted cross court one-handed bounce pass that spun right to an ECU defender
2. That ridiculous flagrant 1 elbow non-call.
3. Ben Moore's baseline jumper airball.
4. Nic's not so impressive attempts to draw charges on the break.

Final thought... I know Ben E has really not played anywhere near his potential, but let's can the Wilfong nonsense. Ben E would run circles around Wilfong. Ben E plays really hard, defends well, and he plays on MY TEAM. Which means I'm going to support him 100% either way. Critique his offensive inadequacies all you want, but never forget which side he's on. He's one of the good guys.

[ojaipony]

And I want to win more games and go deep in the tournament, which isn't happening going forward with perimeter defense like this. It is the difference between being pro-spective and retro-spective; you are happy with the previous results (wins) and so are content to digest whatever happens, while I want us to improve after every game so that we are playing peak in our last game, whenever that may be. It is obvious we have a weakness which we have the personnel and schemes to fix, so fix it.

Yes, I agree. But I'm just saying to enjoy the ride. We haven't experienced this since 1988. (I graduated in 1989 so I have NEVER experienced this as an alum and loving every minute of it).

[ojaipony]

I personally want to enjoy the ride when we have an awesome team. I don't think that's mutually exclusive with a few critiques, but I try not to let my critiques overwhelm my feeling of being crazy lucky to experience the ride this team is on.

My view on 3 point defense:

1. Yes, it is a weakness.
2. Our weak areas are perimeter defense by guards and in transition. Definitely wish Nic and Sterling guarded tighter on 3s and were better in recovery off of picks.
3. No team has bigs who can adequately defend 3s. Having them guard 3s exposes too much underneath. East Carolina hit several 3s in the first half where our bigs were hedging a bit inside instead of coming out on the 3 ball (due to picks, switches, whatever).

What about another subject while we wait for the next game...

Top Ridiculous (Good) Moments from the Game:

1. Every Ryan Manuel alley oop finish
2. Markus taking the big white guy behind the woodshed all 2nd half.
3. Back to back steals for points in the 1st half
4. Nic's in the air pass to teammate for points on the fast break (forgot who he passed to).
5. Nic's hesitation 3 pointer in the corner to freeze his defender.

Bottom Ridiculous (Bad) Moments from the Game:

1. Nic's attempted cross court one-handed bounce pass that spun right to an ECU defender
2. That ridiculous flagrant 1 elbow non-call.
3. Ben Moore's baseline jumper airball.
4. Nic's not so impressive attempts to draw charges on the break.

Final thought... I know Ben E has really not played anywhere near his potential, but let's can the Wilfong nonsense. Ben E would run circles around Wilfong. Ben E plays really hard, defends well, and he plays on MY TEAM. Which means I'm going to support him 100% either way. Critique his offensive inadequacies all you want, but never forget which side he's on. He's one of the good guys.

Post of the day right here.

[Nacho]

nattering nabobs of negativism

[ojaipony]

I don't think Kentucky would beat us with threes either, there are plenty of better basketball teams than us. I think UCONN and Memphis are better inside than we are; I think Cinci has a nice mix of inside and out. We just have the best PG in the conference and that matters.

Cincy beat us because they have an absolute elite defense and we don't score tons of points to begin with. Also, it seems we were outcoached both games and our guys get "a little" intimidated by them.

Temple is going to be a tough, tough game.

But bring anyone on! Let's get to the ship baby!!!!

[Stallion]

Where did we finish with Kato in 1989?

The Koncak team that rose to No. 2 and was primed for No. 1 before a devastating loss in Lubbock imploded that year and barely made the NCAAs

I'm just trying to figure out how many decades has it been since we were Top 20-or Top 15 in RPI during the post-season

Good trivia even for me-I'm thinking it might be during Doc Hayes era-maybe one of Bliss' other teams

Good question-who knows