I'm puzzled by that one... Redirecting the direction of this thread back onto a more on-topic note, I think Lazarre's play tonight spells good news for this team... Now we know we can get serviceable minutes from a big man while either Bass or Lloreda are on the bench getting rest and/or foul trouble minutes on the bench... We hadn't seen much of him till tonight... Having him be able to come in and play significant minutes in a backup role takes the strain off our low post tandem, and him not playing so much will have him with fresh legs for the stretch run in the regular season, and being all warmed up for any post-season action LSU finds... I think that Koundja's injury will rehab, and he'll be able to come back in and lend some agility and physical ability, which will help out the team as well... The most important thing is to get Lloreda well...My opinions of him aside, his the stir in the drink for this team, and without him, you could obviously tell that the team lost confidence...
Whipple was absolutely horrendous, and Mitchell played like his head was somewhere else completely. Tac Minor was the only bright spot in the second half. Also, I've seen high school teams that looked less disoriented on fast breaks. Mitchell was falling all over himself, Whipple ruined every break he was a part of, and everyone else missed layups. I finally get my wife to come to a b-ball game and they played like terds.
Brady's mistake. Now, I fully support Brady and respect Lloreda's talent and heart. BUT....speaking of lazarre, I keep wondering why he didn't get lot more minutes. He was very productive and hustled like hell while he was in. Why put in the minimally effective Lloreda and leave him in there? Auburn was abusing him because they knew he was 50%. I can't tell you how many times Lloreda was walking around out there and getting burnt and shooting half ass and just genuinly playing poor. Why not take him out and let him sit out the game, with a 6th man full of energy who was having a career night. I think the reason we lost is because Lloreda was in for too many minutes in his poor condition, and auburn was able to exploit this weekness. I saw it with mine own two eyes.
Brady's teams play well when they are underdogs, when the world is against them - when they get no respect. Whenever the press, fans, etc.. start saying - hey - maybe we should start paying attention to what is going on down in Baton Rouge, the team serves up a steaming dish of crap, seemingly just so they can say - you see - you overlooked us - again. That is not how champions respond to success. I've learned that from Saban. Brady's got the drill down on dealing with adversity. He has no clue how to deal with success. That's not saying he's a bad coach. He's probably as good a coach as LSU can get right now due to the state of basketball facilities at LSU. But he better learn how to be a winner and how to manage success a whole lot better. A lot of teams follow the same pattern as Brady-coached LSU teams. More follow the pattern of "it's not the dog in the fight, but the fight in the dog" mentality of Brady. It's why people expect a team to come out flat after a gutsy win like LSU had at UF. Brady needs a mind-shift - a paradigm shift. He would be well-advised to speak to coach Saban for advice and not those damn phsychologists.
Lloreda was limping badly and many times he did not even get down court on the break, but just squatted in the paint and watched the play. You could tell he was hurt and probably should not have been playing. He was just too gimpy to work the inside with his usual aggressiveness. But the play of the healthy players was lackluster. Auburn got a little run to a 7-point lead in the second half and the Tigers kind of gave up. Whipple was open for many shots but wasn't taking them. Is Brady coaching him not to shoot? or is he just timid? Mitchell and Bass needed to step up their game to cover for Lloreda, but it didn't happen. Lloreda is going to have a bad game now and then. The rest of the team can't get down when that happens. When we were down 20 points with about 6 minutes to go, I thought it was time for some 3-point shooters to start putting them up. Maybe Brady doesn't have the long-range gunners for that.
Mikeb - right on you're stealing my thunder! a few days ago I posted something similar and a bunch of clowns on this site claimed I was "bitching"after we beat Fla. i'm never one to say I told you so, but here's evidence. clamoring for respect and entrance into the top 25 does this team no good, especially a young team. brady has still not learned how to manage this team's psyche. he needs to shut up and just coach.
Are you trying to say that Brady decided to blow it? I'm pretty sure Brady didn't say to himself, " I think I'll decide to blow it tonight". There are players involved here too.
Re: Mikeb - right on What's in the water up there? Do you follow this team at all? Do you know they have won 5 0f their last 6 games? Did you know we couldn't hit the ocean last night? Did you know we missed 1 and a 1/2 starters last night? It's called BBALL.....
It's still sinking in for me... the 28-2 run is what bothers me more than the loss or the overall play. If you think about a 28-2 run for just a few minutes you start to understand the extent of the ass-whipping. Yeah, Auburn was hot, but I would reserve "Hot" as an adjective to explain a 17-4 run or a 16-2 run, but 28-2 is really hard to comprehend. Pride and determination have to play a part at some point during a 28-2 run by any team.
All I know is that Whipple and Hudson have been huge disappointments. They are like the new Torris Bright's. I am happy with everyone else overall. Bad time to blow the game like that in front of a sold out crowd...
