Official Unofficial Houston-SMU Thread

by **MustangIcon** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 3:24 pm

Pony_Fan. I think Haynes averages 7ppg this season. The problem is lack of consistency and failures at the freethrow line. If he put up a consistent 10ppg (could be acheived by improving at the free throw line alone) we would have something.

I was in Dallas for the game yesterday and drove back last night. Some comments:

- UH was bombing from outside and JFrog is just too short to be effective at closing out. JFrog's sloppy play to start the 2nd half was kind of the "final straw" that caused Doh to go with Haynes. JFrog did have a pretty good game and when he came in with a few minutes left showed what he can bring to the table with that pretty split of the double team and teardop. If you think his benching was purely a punishment then what was Clink being benched for?

- Robert is still allergic to finishing around the bucket but did convert at close range more often than he usually does with a few putbacks to boot.

- Mangrum, despite his one ill advised goaltend (the other wasn't going in anyhow), is a serious contributor for this team. And that was on a day that his outside stroke was off.

- The ball movement was great. I have not seen ball movement like that in Doherty's tenure here. Frankly, it was rarely if ever present in the Tubbs or Dement eras either. You could tell we were running a system. Even as recently as SE Mizzou St game that wasn't apparent to me.

- The team is doing a great job of making it easy for the bigs to establish position in the post and make quality entry passes. this has been a problem, one that is easy to fix but never was, for years.

- Dia was fantastic in my opinion, regardless who was out for UH.

- Loved the final inbounds play and got a great look. Just didn't fall.

- In the first half, we were 3-13 from 3pt and UH was 6-12 but we still played well. I was impressed by how the team hung tough despite the shooting woes.

- If the team can execute like we did yesterday, SMU will win a few more CUSA games than anyone has recently been predicting.

by **Charleston Pony** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 5:13 pm

agree that spacing and ball movement has improved since the Tulane game; maybe they took a lesson from a Conroy coached team after watching film of that game

by **Pony_Fan** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 5:22 pm

I think Clinks had foul trouble Icon.

by **One Trick Pony** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 7:03 pm

by **skyscraper** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 7:13 pm

MustangIcon wrote:- The ball movement was great. I have not seen ball movement like that in Doherty's tenure here. Frankly, it was rarely if ever present in the Tubbs or Dement eras either. You could tell we were running a system. Even as recently as SE Mizzou St game that wasn't apparent to me.

That was the biggest thing I took away from the game. It was the first time I'd seen SMU in person since the season opener and watching the ball movement was nice.

by **PonyDoh** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 8:17 pm

Good thread.

You guys are making way to much of Doh berating his players come game time. K does it, Gary Williams does it, Calhoun does it, Knight did it etc. Obviously, Doh isn't on the level of those guys, or anywhere in the same hemisphere, but stylistically it's pretty accepted. I'd prefer to play for a warm fuzzy guy, and I'd want that for my kids, but it's no big deal. If a player screws up, get in their grill. No harm, no foul. Frog has thick skin, and is better than expected. That said, he was abysmal on D, which will draw choice words from most any coach.

as has been noted, the princeton is really coming together. What's crazy is that it's being done w/a true frosh running the point, and Dia/Nyakundi getting the initial post feed. Neither of those guys are known passers, yet they've really adapted and are putting together very nice assist totals. It'll be really effective when we have harder cutters and a big that can really pass.

We're running sets better right now, than I've seen in forever. Far more disciplined, and much better ball movement than either Tubbs or Dement, and tons better than early Doh. They control tempo vs almost everyone and are definitely onto something. It's impressive how this team is hanging around w/basically no talent, a frosh on point, and walk-on starting. The in bounds time-out, followed by the end play, was a thing of beauty. I'm starting to enjoy this exhibition season, b/c I can see the progress in the systems. Add players and it's on

by **Pony_Fan** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 9:01 pm

Yes, Doh is defnitely not K, Knight, or Williams - he just looks and acts like a fool most of the time during the game - then puts his PC face on afterwards. "I'm proud of our guys" -- used car salesman

No doubt, I don't think I've seen an assembled offense in Moody in a decade - due to players and sets. Always has looked helter skelter out there in years past. Run something, then shoot up a prayer after the clock goes down.

Really enjoy seeing the cuts to the hoop - haven't seen our guys do that ...hardly EVER. Even on plays that have broken down - the cutters have worked out pretty good.

You have to win these games at home - moral victories are too familiar, we've been saying it for years -- I hope I put my foot in mouth and we happen to win 10 games. - just don't see it but would enjoy seeing this type of bball at least and catch some teams off guard.

by **Pony_Fan** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 9:05 pm

One Trick Pony wrote:

you can bring that to the next game

by **One Trick Pony** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 12:34 am

I was visiting my dear mother in-law today. The frog is hers .

by **Sacco** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 1:39 am

Pretty sure we're not making too much out of Doh's berating and tantrums. No way that's effective. He looks such a fool stomping around and getting red in the face. I think the reason that those Coach-K type coaches can pull it off is that they can back it up, so to speak. As in, I'm screaming at you because I clearly know what I'm doing and you clearly don't. I'm not sure Doh could establish that. Therefore, he looks like a whiney idiot. I get embarrassed for him.

On another note: My reaction to this game as a whole was that we were much more disciplined than I've seen us in a long, long time. Boneheaded plays happened but weren't as commonplace. Not as many errant passes and the like. Dia's ability to catch the ball was pretty uncanny. Mangrum had a little swagger (probably because his spirit hasn't been crushed yet).

by **RGV Pony** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 9:11 am

for the most part, in the second half of a close game, K is red-faced and expletive-laced while working the officals, not his own players. And it usually works to his advantage.

by **Harry0569** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 9:39 am

Pony_Fan wrote:
RGV Pony wrote:Coach and teach during practice..manage the team during games.

seems like the mind game wacko...

- that Kansas State coach might be the worst. I guess some react well to the crazy Knight approach. Others not so much - JJ approach is complete oppopsite. Hardly saw Dickey even come out of his seat.

iPad stinks to type BTW

I would not be surprised if Billy Martin, KSU coach, eventually hits a player. He scares the living crap out of me.

by **mrydel** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 10:23 am

What surprised me in Doh's actions was that after one play where Nuk had gone to the rim and missed, apparently he had blown a read. A foul was called on SMU after the play. As they went down the court for the FTs, Dia got on Nuk pretty hard. IMO I thought that should have been enough but then Doh started and was screaming at Nuk as they went down the to the other end. Then while the foul shot was being taken, Doh called Nuk over and let him have it again. Then a time out was called shortly thereafter and Doh let him have it again. I think that berating a player during a game, right or wrong should have perhaps a limit on how much need be done to get your point across.

by **PonyDoh** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 10:27 am

Sacco wrote:Pretty sure we're not making too much out of Doh's berating and tantrums. No way that's effective. He looks such a fool stomping around and getting red in the face. I think the reason that those Coach-K type coaches can pull it off is that they can back it up, so to speak. As in, I'm screaming at you because I clearly know what I'm doing and you clearly don't. I'm not sure Doh could establish that. Therefore, he looks like a whiney idiot. I get embarrassed for him.

On another note: My reaction to this game as a whole was that we were much more disciplined than I've seen us in a long, long time. Boneheaded plays happened but weren't as commonplace. Not as many errant passes and the like. Dia's ability to catch the ball was pretty uncanny. Mangrum had a little swagger (probably because his spirit hasn't been crushed yet).

I only used the HOF coaches to make a point. Tons of less successful coaches use the same approach. Coaching is about understanding the buttons to push, and Doherty has never shown that ability. If he's going to tantrum on the sideline, he needs a different demeanor off the court & in practice etc. If he's going to go ballistic in practice, keep it focused come game time. I'm a firm believer that in this generation of AAU softies, you can't brow beat all the time.

That said, I do believe you guys make too big a deal about his sideline antics. I could care less who he berates, as long as the kid doesn't make that mistake again. That's the end goal. OTOH, he shouldn't bury kids b/c of proactive mistakes. Vendetta coaching just cuts off your nose. We need all hands on deck, cause we have no talent. Can't afford to sit any of what we do have. As was pointed out in another thread, it'll be interesting to see if Doh reverts back to the human hook, once he has requisite depth next year. He has a bunch of similar options to choose from, so you'd have to think w/his temper, leashes are going to be short

by **PonyDoh** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 10:28 am

mrydel wrote:What surprised me in Doh's actions was that after one play where Nuk had gone to the rim and missed, apparently he had blown a read. A foul was called on SMU after the play. As they went down the court for the FTs, Dia got on Nuk pretty hard. IMO I thought that should have been enough but then Doh started and was screaming at Nuk as they went down the to the other end. Then while the foul shot was being taken, Doh called Nuk over and let him have it again. Then a time out was called shortly thereafter and Doh let him have it again. I think that berating a player during a game, right or wrong should have perhaps a limit on how much need be done to get your point across.

agreed! No problem w/screaming at the kids, but you can't just beat them down, after the initial point is made.