re: Tide Hoops | Please Anchor

Not upset about last night. Auburn is just a better team as hard as that is to admit. I think the effort and focus has been much better the last two games. If we get that fixed, I’ll feel ok about things. Hopefully beat Kentucky Saturday. Then come out and play hard and beat the teams we should beat the way we should beat them. Not that bs we saw against Georgia and Missouri
This team has defensive issues that will probably limit it’s ceiling this year. Sweet Sixteen would be a major accomplishment for this bunch.

I think one tweak to the system that Oats really needs to implement is the welcoming of the jump stop, short pull-up. We said this at times last year when teams were smothering us high and refusing to help and basically daring us to try and make 1-on-1 contested shots at the rim, but there is a real opening against certain styles and personnel for the 6-8 foot slam on the breaks pull up. And I'm guessing, if it was charted, that the PPP against a team like Auburn w/Kessler on the floor is just as high or higher on 7 footers than it is at the rim. We had multiple opportunities last night where we beat the guard at the top and had a wide open, no contest look from 8 feet. And we almost always stubbornly ran it into Kessler and tried to take an awkward shot or made a frantic pass out to the wing.

I don't want us to start taking iso-mid range jumpers or anything, but teams with certain personnel (which, I might add, is very rare) can put a great shot blocker underneath and basically overplay us on the wings knowing that the "risk" of getting beat off the dribble is negated because our only positive play at that point is trying to score over a great shotblocker with smaller guards.

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His emphasis should be more on lane shots than rim shots. Right now, his top three are free throws, rim shots and 3pt shots. Especially with our guards bring shorter, they need to feel free to take that lane jump shot or floater.

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Especially because we have 2 guys are really creative around the rim and have pretty good touch. I have no doubt that Shack would be very good in the lane at using the glass, soft touch, one handed floater type stuff (he already does it some and effectively).

And you know, it may be something that is "ok" to do by the staff, we just don't do it very often because of the nature of the looks against most teams that don't have the best shot blocker in the country. So when you get in a game where you are playing that kind of team, it's hard to reprocess yourself.

i seen guards trying to play defense on the ball handlers hip rather than in front of the ball. running beside a ball handler as he drives the lane is not a defensive position. it's a give up the lane drive easily position. no wonder bediako is overwhelmed, he gets crashed on by multiple players at once after his teammates give away position. bama scored 81 points last night, more than enough to win. if they only played defense. but then again, defense takes energy, effort and consistency.

Defense is mainly effort. Anyone can guard if they want to. As explosive as those two are, they could guard if they really wanted to. Chris Paul is one of the best defenders at 6ft 1.

Herb Jones is where he is because of his defensive effort. The rest will come.

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Even with effort and energy defensively, we just don't have very talented defenders at guard. Shack has made himself into an acceptable defender over 4 years, but JD and JQ just can't guard anybody.

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I honestly don't know what to make of JD at this point. Like, he's not an outright bust or anything, but how the hell was he considered a borderline top 10 overall prospect? And how did our coaches miss all of the enormous holes in his game and only recruit one guard from the portal as a contingency plan? I'm not even mad about it. I just don't really get it.

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I honestly don't know what to make of JD at this point. Like, he's not an outright bust or anything, but how the hell was he considered a borderline top 10 overall prospect? And how did our coaches miss all of the enormous holes in his game and only recruit one guard from the portal as a contingency plan? I'm not even mad about it. I just don't really get it.

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I guess it happens, but he's clearly much, much more raw than a lot of people thought he was (and I'm guessing than our coaches thought, too).

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On another note, I agree with the poster from the last page about Auburn having absolutely killed it in the transfer portal. You'd consider adding one or two helpful players as pretty good but 4 of their 5 most important players are transfers.

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Yep - I mean they had a bit of a perfect storm with roster construction this year between bringing in the #1 pick, Kessler hitting the portal and already having a connection to Auburn and KD Johnson kind of similar.

Kessler and Jabari are what take them from a really good Top 15 team to the best team in the country. Guys like KD Johnson and Wendell Green are able to play wild and free because of what Kessler/Jabari do. Johnson is a perfect spurt player for them, but if he were in another situation (like he was at UGA), he'd be an out of control and inefficient player who would drive you absolutely nuts. Green would put up 30 and 10 assists one night and shoot 2/14 with 8 turnovers the next.

As Bruce said in his postgame interview on ESPN, they are so good because they are an excellent sum of their parts. They have 5-7 guys who are perfect fits for their role in his helter-skelter play loose and fast system.

Looking at next years roster we could have up to 4 spots open to fill through the portal…what do y’all think our biggest needs are?

Mine:

1. A 5 that can shoot

2. An Experienced PG to go with Bradley(and maybe JD)

3. Reliable Shooters

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I honestly don't know what to make of JD at this point. Like, he's not an outright bust or anything, but how the hell was he considered a borderline top 10 overall prospect? And how did our coaches miss all of the enormous holes in his game and only recruit one guard from the portal as a contingency plan? I'm not even mad about it. I just don't really get it.

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I still think the problem with Davison offensively is that he is WAY too deferential to JQ, Shack, and Ellis, our veteran guards.

Our best games this season are Miami, Gonzaga, Houston, and Baylor.

In Those 4 Games - Davison's Averages:
Minutes: 27
Points: 14.3
FGA: 7.8
FG%: 67.7%
3PA: 3.0
3P%: 58.3%
Rebounds: 6
Assists: 5

In The Other 18 Games - Davison's Averages:
Minutes: 24.1
Points: 6.8
FGA: 5.6
FG%: 41.0%
3PA: 2.4
3P%: 20.9%
Rebounds: 3.8
Assists: 3.9

Splits:
Minutes: -2.9
Points: -7.5
FGA: -2.3
FG%: -26.7%
3PA: -0.6
3P%: -37.4%
Rebounds: -2.2
Assists: -1.1

In sum, in our best 4 games of the season, Davison has been far more assertive in looking for his own shots on offense.

Its like you can tell when he is playing loose versus clammed up and desperately trying to get the ball to someone else.