Censored by Laurie

the Boise loss is at least a Quad 1 loss...same with St. John's and Miss State (we didn't play Dayton, btw). LSU is Quad 2...Fordham a Quad 3 loss. I am loving the competitive balance in this conference, but I don't think anyone, least of all Charlotte did enough in non-con to make this a three bid league if either Memphis or FAU win the tournament.

same...but it's just not in our DNA to go quick in a half-court set.

this is a reasonable take. get ready for two pages of unreasonable takes.

that was fantastic officiating.

we've clearly made the decision that Christian Moore isn't ready to contribute, so without Rubin this team has two potential ball-handlers...Noland and Edwards. gonna have to live with some turnovers.

Grayson Allo doesn't have a single turnover this season. he clearly takes care of the ball better.

last night was actually his 4th game knocking down 4 threes...third in a row. he was often feast or famine at UTSA...had 10 games of 4 or more threes, but also a couple bigger 0-fers. he's kinda our Hardaway, Jr. also...I think it speaks a lot to his character to go from being such a volume shooter, over 9 shots/game to settling into being more a role guy on this team.

I don't recall reading much distain for Edwards...he can be frustrating and definitely a different style lead-guard than we've had in a while...he's just a pure volume scorer and we've been spoiled on guys like Perry and Hamlet who were far more efficient scorers and better offensive facilitators. good shout though from Hoo...Edwards made two key defensive plays on that last SMU effort...stood up Phelps on the break-away and good hands to force the kick out

true. but the fact that Allen was our volume shooter from the line makes me worry about the overall line a bit less.

aggravated the hammy. can't imagine he'll be good for FAU

I think the 16 assists on 25 made FGs tonight is my favorite stat of the night...that's with a couple direct breakaway buckets. Ruben was a part of that, but man CJ was good on the ball tonight. Walker and Allen can split the game ball for me...Allen with a double-double and Walker was everywhere and seemed to relish the challenge of guarding Phelps. Edwards has the memory of a goldfish...big part of what makes him great. guess Buggs just needed a shoulder realignment. massive game from him.

not sure the purpose. asperger's seems like the best explanation for the cause.

you can't figure out a parking lot.

congrats on 100% spelling.

this aged horribly. in just 2 minutes.

honestly these refs have been pretty darn solid tonight, but the missed push off and that last call on Walker were awful.

CJ gotta work super hard to be the primary in this trap. Edwards just does not handle it well

I love this working it to CJ on the block. he's gotten unlucky on some of his little floaters, but this is finally the plan B offensive set I've been hoping for.

I've a huge crush on Rondel Walker

I loved Alzee so much. I don't recall anyone having quite the freshman-into-sophomore year come-up...went from purely playing for defense and averaging less than 2ppg to a double-digits scorer the rest of his career.

I'll add...man, going back through some of those Benford rosters...I have only scant memories of some of those dudes. I couldn't give you 10 words on Deckie Johnson. same for either Ja'Michael/J-Mychel. I think if the name Carrington Ward came up in conversation I'd have told you he was a free safety from '08 or so. Keith Frazier I remember from some prolonged recruiting battles and constant speculation. I can't tell you anything about the FOUR games he actually played here. nor did I recall that he finished his career at UTEP. what a time to be alive that was.

exactly. he averaged 15-10-3blocks with good coaching...13-8.5-2.7 with awful coaching. as a freshman and sophomore. everyone set the expectation that he'd give 25-15 a night and that every shot from the paint would end up three rows deep...so now because TM didn't live up to their unrealistic expectations they've allowed their memory of him to be a disappointment. it's really sad. dude was a treat.

facial expressions and an unrealistic set of expectations for what one player could do night in and night out. if I had to guess.

also, to be very clear since I know so much of what I've written the last few days has been negative...I like Hodge, I love what Grant has put in place, I'm still bullish on the direction of this program, and I recognize that progress isn't linear especially in what should best be considered by most metrics a "rebuilding year". that said, we're still talking about a lot of the same warts that we have for the the last 3 or 4 seasons. i like a tight rotation...but when you're playing 8 purely out of necessity because there are 3-4 empty scholarships on the roster (anyone wanna tell me their favorite Bryce Zephir or Rasheed Browne memory?) there's an issue in recruiting. the offense is stagnant. really there hasn't been a real discernible system here for some time, but we had individual players like TP and Javion plus a "plan B" in a Bell, Kai or Abou post back down. I don't buy "tired legs" v. Charlotte so much as I do it was all individual creation, awful ball movement and no "plan B" against a good D (a pin-down/back-cut...or why we can't get Scott iso either facing or posting from around 15-18 feet is beyond me) all that...and the defense just isn't as good this year. Kai, Eady, Martinez, Abou were plus defenders. we're fresh off maybe the best moment in program history. I'm fine with some regression given all factors. but these feel like things that need to be cleaned up if this program wants to keep stepping forward.

the "try hard" wasn't directed at you directly. it was in the OG post and it's cropped up sooooo much as a defense for his minutes. he's been averaging 15 minutes a night in the 9 D1 games since Boise. 133 minutes to be exact. he's taken 9 shots in 133 minutes. in his season high against Temple...25 minutes...he logged a stat line of 0 points on 0-0FG, 0-0FT, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 foul. it's hard to not accidentally end up with a few rebounds in 25 minutes. he's at best a passenger when he's on the floor, at worst a liability on both ends. if this is honestly giving more than what either Cotton or Moore can, then we have recruited poorly