La Tech game

[Diehard Pony]

Originally posted by Arkpony:
I can only relate all this to the team closest to where I live..the Arkansas Razorbacks...If Broyles were sitting in the stands watching the Razorbacks play like the Ponies, he would definitely NOT be smiling. He would be embarassed and livid. And something would be done.

That is really at the heart of my point ArkPony. It's sickening.

[Hoop Fan]

I'm not saying that Copeland is an SMU "guy",but he looked plenty unhappy to me.

[LATech]

Pretty decent crowd today at Moody considering the nasty weather. If SMU had hit their shots this would have been a closer game.

Good luck 'til next time, SMU.

LATech

[Dement-ed]

Originally posted by Pony_Fan:
I am glutton for punishment to even have gone to the game...had to leave. Bunch of quitters ....

Do you mean the team or the fans who left early?

In all the ugliness out there today, I saw a few things that prevented me from wanting to find a high bridge on the way home.

1. Patrick Simpson absolutely played his tail off. He didn't hit every shot -- hell, he had pretty major oral surgery Wednesday, and would have been fully exonerated had he taken today off -- but he went hard to the hoop (even though he didn't make every shot) and rebounded and hustled. I don't know if being left out of the starting lineup jump-started him, but that was as inspired as I've seen him play in .... maybe all season.

2. Brian Miller should be starting at shooting guard. Isham had two points, and those came on a follow-up slam off a rebound. He started the season so well, but it looks like his confidence is absolutely zilch right now. I don't know the guy, so I can't say for sure, but, he looks scared to shoot and scared to drive, and he's not defending nearly as well as he did early in the season. Miller, on the other hand, seems to be getting his shot back to where it was when he was recruited. His shot is such an effortless flick of the wrist, it looks like he's in range as soon as he crosses mid-court. Let's get him 12-15 shots a game and see what kind of numbers he can put up.

3. For all of those who have been complaining this season about BHop's distribution, he did have a season-high 8 assists today. He also had 9 turnovers, unfortunately, including three passes to a wide-open shooter on the perimeter that ended up sailing into the stands. Who knows .... if he gets those passes on target and the shooter knocks down the shots, we could be sitting here talking about a point guard with 12-14 assists. When's the last time we had one of those?

4. Freshmen Demetric Bennett and Devon Pearson seemed to handle starting pretty well. They looked a lot more poised than they did in their first few games.

As you might gather by my screen name, I'm an admitted fan of Coach Dement. I want nothing more than to see this team turn it around and play well for him. I didn't think it would happen today, because I can only assume there's still some shell-shock after the trainwreck at Rice. The Ponies needed to use today's game to really bury the Rice game, then seriously re-group for the next game Thursday at UTEP. And it will need to be a good re-grouping job, because UTEP's not that bad.

<small>[ 01-24-2004, 03:32 PM: Message edited by: Dement-ed ]</small>

[TacoPony]

I'm almost speechless... but not quite.

We need to go to Patrick more. Why isn't he racking up 30-point games? 4/8 FGs and 6/8 FTs today for 16 point and 9 boards. But it seems that usually we only go to him when the shot clock is running down. We should go to him first. We should build our offense around him, our only true finisher inside (2nd place for that category is Isham, who's not afraid to dunk in traffic).

Brian Miller's shooting is impressive, all-year long, to me... but he's one dimensional. He hurts other aspects of the game like defense.

BHop started the game by forcing a lot of passess... turned into turnovers but I was happy to see him making an effort to distribute. unfortunately, he was trying to make FANCY passes. Regardless of whether his teammates were playing at the same speed, they were mostly risky passes. It was great to see him dish on the fast break, for a soft dunk by one of the Freshmen... we've seen too many messed-up 2-on-1 breaks this year. but later at times we saw the old BHop 1-man team play again. I always thought Damon Hancock and Troy Matthews could pull off the 1-man game when they were forced to (because teammates weren't contributing on offense). We see BHop do that sometimes, but too often not. (I'm sure this one is a controverial comparison)

As others have commented, I too notice BHop at times moving lazily around the court. And he never shows emotion, which makes me believe that he's not a team leader. That's dissapointing for a 'star' point guard.

I think BHop blew the assignment to block out the LaTech free throw shooter in the last minute, adding more points to LaTech. Miller was visibly upset, but BHop had no reaction at all. When the next free throw was missed, he lazily leaned himself toward the shooter... still not a good fundamental block out.

Pearson is a stud, and I look forward to him developing under the next coach.

Rack is still unable to contribute enough. He's what 6'11" and his best way to score is by taking an 18-foot baseline jumper? He had a couple big time blocks today and has had some impressive ones all year, but he is not a force on the boards. maybe he's like Dirk and just needs to play #4 next to Castro.

Speaking of Castro, I can't ever question his effort, but what's up with his lack of strength and jumping ability this year? I've never seen a center get blocked so many times and otherwise miss so many close inside shots around the basket. He's at 49% shooting but probably should be at 55%.

TacoPony

[ponybutt]

TacaPony,

You are dead wrong!!!! BHop shows a ton of emotion on the court. He is very frustrated with his play and the teams. Should you watch him closely, and obviously you don't, he is very animated!!! On top of that, BHop's passing was never better than today. He couldn't hit the broud side of a barn shooting, but his distrobution was good. The passes he threw out of bounds were because he thought his teammates would be attacking the basket and they weren't

Granted, we have NO outside shot right now. BHop couldn't hit anything!Also, we do get lazy on defense. But BHop is not the main problem, not by a long shot.

[TacoPony]

I don't see the emotion, but maybe I'm just missing it. for the record, I don't think BHop is a majority of the problem; general lackadaisical offense and defense on part of the whole team is the main problem.

[ponybutt]

TacoPony,

I am with you...

[OldPony]

It amazes me how many people on this board continue to be blinded by BHop's HS performance and his recruiting hype. He has had a few outstanding games but most of the time he is below average. People talk like it is everyone else's fault that he isn't good. He was 0 for 6 again yesterday from 3 point. A whopping 4-14 from the field. Yes, he had a lot of assists- almost as many as he did TO's. He puts up one game after another with this same type of play yet he is considered to be good? He gets his shots blocked because he can't learn that the big boys will cram it down his throat when he drives the lane and learns nothing. He still gets the hype from the announcers as if he was living up to his HS rep. It isn't hard to see who on his HS team was the real stud. So far he has been a total bust compared to his hype. If he hadn't been talked up so much, he would be on the bench. And we gave 2 scholarships for this. That's why Dement should be fired. I know I'll hear that he was Fresman of the Year in WAC. That was decided before he played because he has done nothing to get the awards except score points. A lot of people can score points if they shoot 15-20 times a game. Most more than 20. Now all of you Hop lovers with your heads up your Bu%% give me hell and tell me how stupid I am. Please quote his assist to TO ratio, his shooting percentage and how hard he tries so we can all see how wrong I am. Or let's talk about how the others aren't worthy of his profound leadership. There isn't anything wrong with him that Bosh couldn't fix if he were still playing HS.

[Hoop Fan]

I don't think there is any doubt Hopkins has had a subpar season, but so have other guys. I don't see any reason to pick on any individual, these arent pro athletes.

[OldPony]

You can say that again. What bothers me is the lack of desire shown by this team and the constant excuse making on this board. We have 2-4 guys on this team who hustle every time out.