easy to say this now, but i would have not started lloreda. you need him later on. this game wasn't a must win. its at home against a bottom-half team. its a chance to see if bass and lazare can step-up. i was impressed by lazare's stats. didnt see the game but he had 8 pts really quick so he must be getting to the right spots. he dissappeared after that though. i wonder, too, how well he played D. no guard leadership--except maybe minor. this team will go as mitchell and hudson go. STATS of note: 1. low turnovers, how bad would it have been with more. 2. very few free throws. we hit them, but it tells me we werent attacking. some of that is on lloreda, but i think its more on bass and hudson/mitchell. 3. got killed on boards. cant have this! but its easily explained with lloreda gimpy and koundja out. the box score shows though that it wasnt auburn's big men that got the boards but everybody. it sounds like they were really active. KEEP JAIME ON THE BENCH TIL HE'S 100%!!!
Well Lazarre disappeared because he was on the bench. It was extremely puzzling to me to see the team walking down the court on breaks, either tired of not caring, and Lazarre is still sitting. That's one of the only coaching gripes I have. Brady, while not perfect, usually manages to enthuse his players on that task at hand. Last night was a case of players not playing up to their ability. Simple as that. It's not the end of the world, but it's scary. We can't go into either the SEC or NCAA tournament looking like this.
I think the defensive ability of Kundja was really missed. We had nobody that could guard #13 Robinson. Bass and Lloreda were his size but too slow to stay with him and Hudson and Whipple were too short. Kundja supplies good height and wingspan with the quickness to stay with a faster player and he was sorely missed last night. He also is a good rebounder, a place where the Tigers can usually beat opponents but were outrebounded 37-29. It was good to see Lazarre play well and I think he will have to step up this weekend at Vandy for LSU to have a chance to win. It was very puzzling to see him not in the game when it was obvious that Lloreda couldn't guard anyone. As far as Whipple not shooting the ball, it's because he is not good at it. His strength is bringing the ball up the court and getting into the offense with few turnovers. He gets in trouble when he tries to push the ball on the fast break, that is something that Minor is a little better at. Whipple is better in the halfcourt game and needs to focus on that. This game was like a 'No Fucking Way' game that happens on Madden after you run off like 10 wins in a row. The computer gets sick of you winning and decides that it's time for you to get a taste of your own medicine. All of your passes that used to be caught are now dropped and the computer catches everything. There's nothing you can do except take it. Or hit reset, but that button wasn't available to the Tigers last night.
I think the bottom line is that this fanbase, and its opinion of this team, and most decidedly it's head coach, acts in much the same manner as this team does...Streaky... We're high one minute...Low another... Like a mentioned a few weeks ago...a roller coaster ride...
I went to the game, and I checked the stats. Right after Auburn took the lead we started chunking. We missed our next 7 3 pointers, and 2 or 3 layups. We passed the ball right to them a few times. We fell apart. Our guard play was terrible. Mitchell 2-12, Whipple 1-5, Hudson 3-8, and Minor 4-12. We were 8-24 from the 3, with 2 of those coming at the meaningless end of the game. I cannot state this strongly enough, when the guards were not missing 3 pointers, they were driving to the basket and either missing the layup (because the shot wasn't there) or throwing the ball away. They have got to learn when to drive to the basket, and how to outlet pass it if the shot is not there! This is not a team that should "live by the 3, die by the 3" we don't have the shooters to do that. There is no doubt that the injury to Jamie was key, but it can't be an excuse for the state of panic that ensued on the court the second Auburn got the lead in the second half. I really felt like this was a huge game for this team. They finally beat a good team on the road, and got some respect in the polls. But having said all that, it was one game, and if we can split the next 2, and Jaime gets healthy, there is still some light at the end of the tunnel. All is not lost! Geaux Tigers!!!!!!!!!!!!
Re: Brady's mistake. Spot on bubba ... Brady blew it ... BIGTIME ... ONE OF THE POOREST COACHING "DECISIONS" I'VE EVER SEEN
If a team can shoot 33% from behind the arc, that is pretty acceptable. Its the 39% overall from the field that is bad. Missed layups are momentum killers. The guards aren't the only ones who missed layups. I still blame the offensive concept. The motion offense is just too plain jane. Maybe we aren't smart enough to run a more complex motion O, but the NBA style clear out and dribble drive to the goal is just not effective in the college game. Minor showed his ability at the end of the game. If Hud won't shoot the ball, Minor needs to be lifting it up. The guy can score. The offense just needs to be geared up to free up the outside shot AND for everyone else to CRASH THE BOARDS. The reason we were out rebounded is because we often only sent one guy to the offensive boards. That is just bad play, and bad coaching. That particular item can be hung on Brady.
Settle down all you know it alls! Guys chill out! Anytime, let me repeat anytime, an opponent shoots over 60% from the floor it will be hard to beat them. There is so much parity in college basketball today. We have a good "young" team. Just settle down and watch this team make a "few" waves in the NCAA Tourney.
