OFFICIAL at Houston thread 2/8/18

[Bergermeister]

Somebody get out the Excuse Chart.

[One Trick Pony]

Quickly glancing at just the facts.
The team is horrendous away from Moody. The Mustangs have two road wins this year one away one neutral.



I predict will have two more wins - our second away game at East Carolina and a big upset at Moody with either Wichita or Cincinnati.

[One Trick Pony]

Somebody get out the Excuse Chart.

That's a prerequisite

[mustangxc]

Embarrassing? Choking? Game blowers? A DOH team?

Are you guys kidding me?

This is an undermanned team playing 3 frosh significant minutes.

Our best scorer isn't in basketball shape.

"Gu won't take over a game". No, really? He was a 6th man last year. He is a very solid, starting role player this year. You don't just step up and be the man. You have to be "the man". All of our stars are injured. Pippen didn't step up and lead the Bulls to a championship. No s***. He wasn't Michael Jordan. And Gu isn't Shake or Jarrey.

We have 7 players. 3 are frosh. 2 are out of shape transfers. Give the kids credit for being ahead on the road against the third best team in the conference with 5 minutes left. There were many points in this game we could have given up and bailed, but didn't. You mean a young team with transfer parts and injured stars has trouble finding a finisher on the road? What a surprise!

IF Shake comes back, Eli, Douglas, and Agau are getting valuable minutes right now that will really have a positive impact. IF Shake comes back, we still have a chance to go on a run, and these last few games will be discounted by the committee because of the injuries.

This wasn't a matter of having anyone on the court who needed to "take over the game". Everyone knows we are playing without our 2 best players but the simple fact is that our guys blew a 7 point lead and were outscored 17-1 over the last 5 minutes of last night's game. Sorry, but they played very poorly in that stretch and made poor decisions, forced things, did not have good spacing, did not move the ball very well, etc... With a 7 point lead and every possession being critical, they just did not perform...as a group. It wasn't on any ONE player. They ALL played poorly down the stretch and I expect they would all admit it. I understand the being short handed argument and no doubt fatigue was a factor, but the simple fact is that this team has not been able to close games on the road. Choking or just not being nearly as good a team as most seem to think we are? They are clearly a different group on their home court, as is the case with most college basketball teams.

In defense of the team, those poor decisions were precipitated by aggressive play by the Cougars that should have stopped play for a foul call but instead resulted in transition 3s. We had been playing a controlled tempo for 35 minutes and all of a sudden the Cougars got overly aggressive and the refs just let them play. I understand you have to adjust as a team but it is not easy to transition when there is such a stark contrast in how the game is played from one minute to another. Being short handed killed us because the collapse started when Agau was on the bench because we lost our defensive enforcer.

[PonyTime]

WHY WERE WE PLAYING ZONE TILL THE BITTER END?

Former Georgetown coach JTIII, who was calling the game, mentioned more than once that SMU should switch to man to change things up when Houston was starting to make their run and Grey was slicing through the zone at will.

Seems to me that we never switched to man.

I understand why we were going zone most of game with a shallow bench and potential foul problems, but this game we had PLENTY of fouls to give with 5 min to go (it actually hurt us later to not have the fouls when we were trying to send them to the line).

Why no switch to man? They were too tired? Seems that JTIII was right. We needed to stop Grey from driving right through the zone every time.

What am I missing?

[PonySnob]

Did we finish the game with any timeouts left?

[JasonB]

Houston also made a great adjustment by pressing us tight when we were tired at the end of the game. I think it is disappointing for McMurray to be so gassed during the game and no legs in the second half. Akoy has an excuse with the injury, but McMurray should be in shape and ready to go.

An excuse chart, though? EVERY SINGLE TEAM IN THE COUNTRY will struggle on the road against the third best team in conference when you lose your 2 NBA players. Perspective.

Looking to next year, assuming Shake and maybe Foster leave, we have a bunch of really good role players. We don't have that stud that can take over when the game is tight. McMurray is a nice second option, but too inconsistent to be the primary - he is our Vinnie Johnson. We need an Isiah Thomas and I don't see that player on the roster next season, which would mean competing for 3rd place in conference again.

[PonyTime]

McMurray can't slice through the lane and draw the fouls or score like Shake can. He gets blocked half of the time or turns it over. This offense is based on ability of a player to drive and kick it out to the shooters. Who was driving last night? Eventually they decided to let Akoy be the passer as the other options were not working (and that is when Akoy threw the ball out of bounds in a critical turnover).

Witt is supposed to be that guy in absence of shake and he was MIA last night.

[mustangxc]

Houston also made a great adjustment by pressing us tight when we were tired at the end of the game. I think it is disappointing for McMurray to be so gassed during the game and no legs in the second half. Akoy has an excuse with the injury, but McMurray should be in shape and ready to go.

An excuse chart, though? EVERY SINGLE TEAM IN THE COUNTRY will struggle on the road against the third best team in conference when you lose your 2 NBA players. Perspective.

Looking to next year, assuming Shake and maybe Foster leave, we have a bunch of really good role players. We don't have that stud that can take over when the game is tight. McMurray is a nice second option, but too inconsistent to be the primary - he is our Vinnie Johnson. We need an Isiah Thomas and I don't see that player on the roster next season, which would mean competing for 3rd place in conference again.

I think Douglas is that guy. The coaching staff needs to do everything possible to instill confidence in him. Our future hinges on him blossoming.

[RI Stang]

Houston also made a great adjustment by pressing us tight when we were tired at the end of the game. I think it is disappointing for McMurray to be so gassed during the game and no legs in the second half. Akoy has an excuse with the injury, but McMurray should be in shape and ready to go.

An excuse chart, though? EVERY SINGLE TEAM IN THE COUNTRY will struggle on the road against the third best team in conference when you lose your 2 NBA players. Perspective.

Looking to next year, assuming Shake and maybe Foster leave, we have a bunch of really good role players. We don't have that stud that can take over when the game is tight. McMurray is a nice second option, but too inconsistent to be the primary - he is our Vinnie Johnson. We need an Isiah Thomas and I don't see that player on the roster next season, which would mean competing for 3rd place in conference again.

I think Douglas is that guy. The coaching staff needs to do everything possible to instill confidence in him. Our future hinges on him blossoming.

Totally agree with this. The jump just in the last two games with him is extremely encouraging and I love how he battles on the glass and took that contact (or really initiated it actually) on his and-1 in the first half. He has the makings of being a very impactful player.

As for the comment on Foster leaving - I don't see any possibility. He even mentioned on his interview last night that it's 8 months of rehab. I don't see any way an NBA team uses a 2nd round pick on him without even getting to see him workout. Would be shocked if Shake came back but would be equally shocked if Foster DOESN'T come back.

Next year will be dependent on his recovery and how much of an impact Mike can make, along with further development of Douglas, Landrum and Ethan. I think Hunt will get minutes but would expect in the 10-15 range most likely. Maybe a grad transfer guard who can create? That would be nice. However, I'm MUCH more interested in what we have for 2019. To me we need to be all in on that group - my dream is to land Maxey, Harris and Bolden (transfer).

[SoCal_Pony]

17-1 run to end the game, multiple turnovers, terrible decision-making on the court, losing composure, questions about the coaching...if that is not Doh-esque I don't know what is.

and by the way, that was hardly a hostile environment. Late in the game, when the Coog fans finally got a 'little' loud, JT even joked that 'is there a crowd here?, we're not the only people watching' comment.

Let me tell you what I think. If Shake and Jarrey leave and Jank doesn't knock it out of the park in recruiting this year, we are a team that for the 1st time in several years has no real NCAA tourney aspirations going into the season. Let's then see how that impacts Moody Magic.

[mrydel]

I still go back to leadership. When Shake is there he is issuing orders as he comes down to court. Even telegraphs the lobs he throws up and is still successful. Last night it was just throwing the ball around and shooting late. I want Jimmy to pick it up in this role. He has to be more than a ball handler. He needs to be leading an offense.

[PonyLawExpress]

I still go back to leadership. When Shake is there he is issuing orders as he comes down to court. Even telegraphs the lobs he throws up and is still successful. Last night it was just throwing the ball around and shooting late. I want Jimmy to pick it up in this role. He has to be more than a ball handler. He needs to be leading an offense.

Agreed. My wife even said to me who is going to throw all the lobs after Shake leaves... I'm not sure. We need Whitt to step up and actually be the leader of the offense, set things up, and make other around him better. That is going to be his role next season.. He has been good for most of the year, but we need him to be able to take that stuff on.

Jarrey will be back. He wouldn't risk going undrafted, which would be very possible/likely, and still be recovering from a torn ACL. He was a 60-40 stay if he played all the season, no reason why he would tear an ACL and bolt for the draft. If it was Shake in his shoes it would be a little more questionable, because Shake is more established and shown more over his career where a team might risk a 2nd rounder on him. Also, Shakes game isn't based off explosion/athleticism.