Texas Tech (11/16/11)

[MeanMag]

Chris Jones is a man.

Jordan Williams needs some work, but it will happen.

Holmen, please stop taking 50% of your shots.

And once again, Chris Jones is a man.

We need someone not named Chris Jones to be able to hit 3's. Chris would be able to create big time opportunities for a person like that. Who is that on this team? Could it be Stojilikovic? Trey Norris? Someone has got to hit those good looks at least 50% of the time.

[FirefightnRick]

Start making salient points and I imagine it will happen less.

You mean, STOP DISAGREEING WITH ME, and it will happen less.

Rick

[TIgreen01]

Thought we had better talent....really, WOW on our freaking talent. Gillespie is a top tier coach and their post was huge. Once we start running something resembling an offensive set, look out. We look like an all star team right now. We'll get there. The hype is true....the sky is the limit for this bunch.

[FirefightnRick]

I agree. This team is way to athletic to sink into a zone. Unless it is a trapping corner zone.

Just guessing here, but maybe he/she feels we should have played a zone because he/she felt we were not playing defense all that well and blocking out after the shot? Athleticism doesn't do much if your not contesting shots and cutting off the drive individually?

We play sloppy ball and position poorly on defense. Some here are happy with that. Others are not.

I liked the press and the defensive effort the last three minutes. Why can't we play with that type of intensity on defense the whole game?

Rick

[Green Lantern]

Pretty good showing on the road against a Big 12 opponent, especially given the fact that we shot just under 36% from the floor.

Couple of random thoughts:

Agree with CBL...more Franklin & Alzee. Less Holmen.

Very athletic team. Can become a great defensive squad.

Need to identify someone that can consistently knock down an open 3 for us (hopefully that guy exists on our current roster)

Jones is a baller. Still makes some forced plays, but w seasoning he has the potential to be great consistently.

Wished we'd have forced the foul earlier towards the end of the game. Still winnable, although long shot at that point.

I'm imagining all this raw talent + Tony Mitchell in Feb./Mar. of next year and my sports pants are excited.

[GangGreen]

Just guessing here, but maybe he/she feels we should have played a zone because he/she felt we were not playing defense all that well and blocking out after the shot? Athleticism doesn't do much if your not contesting shots and cutting off the drive individually?

We play sloppy ball and position poorly on defense. Some here are happy with that. Others are not.

I liked the press and the defensive effort the last three minutes. Why can't we play with that type of intensity on defense the whole game?

Rick

A zone defense is not going to help you BOX out after a shot. This is game #2. We have a shitload of newcomers. We are going to lose a lot of games. Thankfully, in basketball winning 2 of 3 is the upper echelon.

[foutsrouts]

Wow. Sounds like a couple of people around here need to get a room to figure things out. As far as the game was concerned, I thought we were the best team overall, but it is just going to take a few games to get it together. We'll get there soon enough, and I'm not just talking about one month from now.

[GangGreen]

As far as defense goes, we forced 20 turnovers and had 12 steals. That is damn good.

[Censored by Laurie]

That's what the St Gregary's of the world does for you.

Your not allowed to criticize JJ over here. You know that don't you?

Preparing your team to go up against a Billy G coached team by playing non scholarship patsies doesn't allow much time for your team to GEL.

For Christs' sake can't you use the ignore button and let someone have their own opinion that differs from yours?

Im not being sour The clowns here can't take anyone criticizing JJ. But they will be the first ones crying over here in March when we don't have a high enough rpi to get us to post season should we not win out because we don't schedule anyone but patsies to start the season.

You mean like defense? I'd say our coach Karen Aston has it figured out pretty good so far.

Whatever. I'll not stoop to the level of some of the children over here and call you an idiot or dumb for your opinion.

Roadrunner, I'm telling you now. Your not allowed to criticize a JJ coached team and have your own ick

opinion here. The Occupy Mean Greeners here will pull out every justification known to the basketball world to explain how and why your wrong. Don't even try.

Those teams don't have to worry about moving up the rpi food chain. We do. And I never insinuated that us beating up on SG was why we lost this game.

You first

You mean, STOP DISAGREEING WITH ME, and it will happen less.

Rick

Your first 11 of your first 12 posts in this thread never presented any argument or opinion related to this game.

Instead you somehow tie the St. Greg's game into why this team lost to the great Bill G...then change your mind and say you brought it up because of RPI implications. You then "criticize" but without actually referencing ANYTHING that took place in the game. You then enjoy a bit of a spat with me as I point out that your not even formulating an argument...rather just popping off at the mouth.

The one I'll let slide as basketball worthy...calling into question this team's defense...was pretty roundly refuted...with numbers (Tech shot just 45% from the field, 2-11 from 3 and turned the ball over 20 times)...and this you simply summarily ignore because it doesn't fit with the pre-determined narrative you created.

I'm fine with people disagreeing with me. Just make an actual argument and back it up with something. Anything.

[Maduro]

We suck. I quit.

you just lost a listener

[Mean Green Matt]

I saw two very evenly matched teams. We happened to be the road team, which gave the edge to Tech. I'm not worried yet. We get T-Mitch before the SBC season starts, and really, this year, conference play is all that matters. We have a tough schedule this fall, and lots of road games that are going to toughen up the team a little bit. Expecting to win is great, but Tech is not an inferior team, and we had to play in Lubbock.

Edited November 17, 2011 by Mean Green Matt

[FirefightnRick]

Your first 11 of your first 12 posts in this thread never presented any argument or opinion related to this game.

Sure it did. You simply chose to take something I hinted at in the very first post(that we don't prepare for our season as I think we should because we play patsies), and start with your usual sucky smart ass comment of "HUH", dismissing my opinion altogether. Then when I try and explain, it continues over and over.

We may have forced 20 turnovers but as we will see, as we have seen the past 9 years, we won't play in your face type defense that will get us to the next level.

You can spend all night trying to refute my opinion all you wan't. But you would be better served by simply saying you agree to disagree.

Rick

Edited November 17, 2011 by FirefightnRick

[FirefightnRick]

A zone defense is not going to help you BOX out after a shot.

Not what I meant. I was thinking a 2-3 zone would prevent you from having to box out after the shot as much as man does. Again, I'm simply guessing at what he meant. Could have suggested that for other reasons?

Rick

[DJstars21]

Imo,

Chris Jones is a real player. My only concern is he may play more like Iverson than say, Chris Paul or J Kidd. Great individual stats, not so great record. Either way I am/will be referring to him as CJ5 from here on, he's an outstanding 1 guard can't wait to see him set loose again.

I am not a fan of Jordan Williams at this point. There is no excuse for getting what 3 fouls in the last 8-10 mins of a game when your team is down, not to mention his other mistakes.. He's gotta step it up.

Considering or fg%, sloppy passing, and weak ball control this was a damn close game. Throw T Mitch in the mix and we are dangerous, I can already invision him and CJ5 hooking up all game long.

This team will be a beast, you can bet the farm on that!

Edited November 17, 2011 by DJstars21

[UNT90]

Aren't all basketball games a woman's game.

FOOTBALL!!!!!!!

From someone who must have never played the game

You're right.

It was their home court, their home cooking. In a match of 2 fairly even teams the home team normally gets the benefit. We got it last year.

Exactly, if this game was played in Denton, UNT wins by 5 or more. These teams are mirror images of each other right now.

Just guessing here, but maybe he/she feels we should have played a zone because he/she felt we were not playing defense all that well and blocking out after the shot?

Rick

Seriously?? You give up position and create rebounding lanes when you play zone.

Some really basketball stupid and overreactive comments on here tonight (not to mention people wanting to win an argument that started last year and has nothing to do with this team). Poeple need to be prepared to lose to a Sam Houston or UTA, because that is what young teams do, and this is a VERY young team that is still adjusting to facing a new level of competition night in and night out.

Edited November 17, 2011 by UNT90

[MeanGreenHoops]

Sure it did. You simply chose to take something I hinted at in the very first post(that we don't prepare for our season as I think we should because we play patsies), and start with your usual sucky smart ass comment of "HUH", dismissing my opinion altogether. Then when I try and explain, it continues over and over.

We may have forced 20 turnovers but as we will see, as we have seen the past 9 years, we won't play in your face type defense that will get us to the next level.

You can spend all night trying to refute my opinion all you wan't. But you would be better served by simply saying you agree to disagree.

Rick

Don't agree with you here. We forced a ton of mistakes and eventually adjusted to the high screen they ran so well early on in the game with the post. We rebounded pretty well as well. We lost some defensive intensity but part of that was Tech increasing the pressure which A. will happen in games and B. we showed inexperience in not handling.

The positives were, we battled back from that and made it a game, and had a chance to win.

My concerns with the team are shooters - We don't really have one at this point. Is that player on the roster?

Low post game - weak although Edwards showed some touch down low at times. Perhaps he''ll get it together. He hasn't played many minutes in a long while.

We might be better as a team like Illinois in the late 80's or Tulsa in the early 00's where you have so much talent, length and athletic ability you just try to out run and gun people.

[MeanGreenTexan]

Postgame thoughts:

Chris Jones is scary-good, but with being scary-good comes being scary. He's young and will need time to develop, but (I can't believe I'm saying this right now) he looks like Josh White 2.0 in the early going.

My only concern with Jones (and I think someone made a reference to Iverson in an earlier post) is that he is close to being a ball hog. I'm not sure why though... it could be because he's the only one doing anything. That DeWayne Wade style, circus shot layup late in the game was beautiful, but I hate it.

Too much standing around on offense watching Jones dribble the ball around. Gotta have some movement so he can find open guys without turning the ball over.

Jordan Williams is an enigma in the early going. I watched him make a strong move across the baseline early in the game for a nice finish. And then WHOA! That fast break alley-oop was the play of the night! He can fly. Strange 3 pointers out of him (none of which fell), I thought he was supposed to be a slasher type? I think he'll get his confidence in short order. When he does... watch out.

Contrary to what alot of other folks are saying on here, I thought Holmen played a decent game and his shot selection was pretty good! Unfortunately, he wasn't hitting many of them... but neither was the rest of the team not named Chris Jones & Alzee Williams, which leads me to my next point...

Where's Alzee? 14 min is not enough for him in this type of game. Need his defense on the floor, and he was hitting better than Jordan on O.

Also, Where's Niko? I thought he was supposed to have a nice outside touch? Stats show he didn't get a single shot off in his limited minutes. I like him though.

I thought defense was pretty good overall. Need to see more out of Edwards though. The difference in the game was that Tech wasn't as atrocious shooting the ball as UNT.

Surely we won't shoot that badly on a consistent basis?

Gotcher was a nice player. Too bad he didn't come up here.

[Censored by Laurie]

Contrary to what alot of other folks are saying on here, I thought Holmen played a decent game and his shot selection was pretty good! Unfortunately, he wasn't hitting many of them...

He went to the block early and was good. I think his first three shots were from the block...he hit his first little jump hook, missed his next but cleaned the o-glass and got a put back. He never went back inside after that...that's what frustrated me with his game. He, quite simply, is not a wing. He can knock down a wide-open 3, but damn near anybody can. His contested jumpers were off by a wide margin last night...the 3 from the corner that barely grazed the far-side of the rim, the one dribble inside the arc that got him CLOSER to the defender...these were horrible shots and at crucial times.

Holmen 15 feet and in can be a very good player. Holmen 15 feet and out is a huge liability.

Where's Alzee? 14 min is not enough for him in this type of game. Need his defense on the floor, and he was hitting better than Jordan on O.

I said last night, I seriously think we hit 2 jump shots last night...I can't remember anything dropping aside from Jones's pull up 3 and Alzee's 17'er of the curl. Alzee needs to be featured more and I have no clue what-so-ever why JJ (HEY!!! SEE THIS?!?! I'M CRITICIZING JJ!!! HOLY ESS, MAN!!!) didn't play him more...especially when we started pressing.

[Green P1]

This is game #2. We have a shitload of newcomers. We are going to lose a lot of games. Thankfully, in basketball winning 2 of 3 is the upper echelon.

People need to be prepared to lose to a Sam Houston or UTA, because that is what young teams do, and this is a VERY young team that is still adjusting to facing a new level of competition night in and night out.

#THINGSPEOPLEJUSTDONTUNDERSTAND

Edited November 17, 2011 by Green P1

[TheTastyGreek]

Also, Where's Niko?

He's the white guy. The tall one.

I'll point him out the next time I see you at a game.

[TheTastyGreek]

Some really basketball stupid and overreactive comments on here tonight (not to mention people wanting to win an argument that started last year and has nothing to do with this team). Poeple need to be prepared to lose to a Sam Houston or UTA, because that is what young teams do, and this is a VERY young team that is still adjusting to facing a new level of competition night in and night out.

I regret that I have but one +1 to give.

We've come a long way from arguing about Gonzaga and at-large bids. Group hug?

[Army of Dad]

Postgame thoughts:

Chris Jones is scary-good, but with being scary-good comes being scary. He's young and will need time to develop, but (I can't believe I'm saying this right now) he looks like Josh White 2.0 in the early going.My only concern with Jones (and I think someone made a reference to Iverson in an earlier post) is that he is close to being a ball hog. I'm not sure why though... it could be because he's the only one doing anything. That DeWayne Wade style, circus shot layup late in the game was beautiful, but I hate it.

Too much standing around on offense watching Jones dribble the ball around. Gotta have some movement so he can find open guys without turning the ball over.

Jordan Williams is an enigma in the early going. I watched him make a strong move across the baseline early in the game for a nice finish. And then WHOA! That fast break alley-oop was the play of the night! He can fly. Strange 3 pointers out of him (none of which fell), I thought he was supposed to be a slasher type? I think he'll get his confidence in short order. When he does... watch out.

Contrary to what alot of other folks are saying on here, I thought Holmen played a decent game and his shot selection was pretty good! Unfortunately, he wasn't hitting many of them... but neither was the rest of the team not named Chris Jones & Alzee Williams, which leads me to my next point...

Where's Alzee? 14 min is not enough for him in this type of game. Need his defense on the floor, and he was hitting better than Jordan on O.

Also, Where's Niko? I thought he was supposed to have a nice outside touch? Stats show he didn't get a single shot off in his limited minutes. I like him though.

I thought defense was pretty good overall. Need to see more out of Edwards though. The difference in the game was that Tech wasn't as atrocious shooting the ball as UNT.

Surely we won't shoot that badly on a consistent basis?

Gotcher was a nice player. Too bad he didn't come up here.

We were thinking something similar last night. Chris Jones is what Josh would have been if he was 6-1. He is very quickly becoming my favorite player. I think Jordan Williams really needs a season or two before we see what he is really capable of doing.

I agree on Holmen and Alzee.

[cl_1_2008]

Chris Jones is a ball hog now? He dished out 8 assists in the first game. They needed him to score this game because nobody else on the team could make a shot, so he scored 31. He only had 3 assists, but again, your teammate has to make a shot for you to get credited with an assist. There are gonna be a few bumps along the way, but we will be fine. And stop comparing him to Josh White. They have very little in common. Chris Jones can get to the rim whenever he wants to.

[PlummMeanGreen]

Basketball is not my main sport, but Coach Jones will take this talent far into March Madness when they jell; whether it be this year or next. One UH friend has confirmed that to me so I'll got with what that ol' Coog has to say.

What part of December does our future NBA'er start playing? I think he would have made the difference last night which could be the no-brainer statement of the year. Wish we could play the RRaider's once Tony M. is on the court.

[NT Alum '04]

Shooting 36.5% from the floor and 6.3% from the arc. We lose by 5pts thats not bad. More experience and coaching then we will see fewer of these games.