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Tough without McLemore
Posted on 2/27/18 at 10:09 pm
Posted on 2/27/18 at 10:09 pm
Harper, Heron, and Brown are the engines and I love their game but McLemore was the gas. The ability to block shots and change momentum is completely gone now.
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Posted on 2/27/18 at 10:52 pm to TailbackU
So is interior defense and floor spacing. Spencer isn’t bad, but it’s tough when he’s the only legit lost defender we have.
Posted on 2/27/18 at 10:55 pm to TailbackU
Yep, McLemore made this engine fire. But we were thin regardless, those guys just all worked very well together. Sucks, but at least AU will make the tournament and hopefully share the SEC regular season title. If you had asked me at the start of the season, I would have said NIT was our ceiling.
Posted on 2/27/18 at 11:05 pm to AUsteriskPride
Does not excuse the horrible shooting. Think these guys have lost their swagger.
Posted on 2/28/18 at 5:51 am to wareaglepete
Bryce being injured also. That is 3.5 of our better players.
Posted on 2/28/18 at 6:31 am to wareaglepete
quote:
Does not excuse the horrible shooting. Think these guys have lost their swagger.
That's a bit of the issue with a 3-point shooting team. When you're hot, you destroy teams. When you lose confidence? You struggle to keep up.
If I could put together the best strategy for the rest of the season, it would be to beat South Carolina to at least share the regular season title and then lose the first game of the SEC tournament. That would at least give our guys some extra rest to heal up and get their minds back in the game.
Posted on 2/28/18 at 6:35 am to StringedInstruments
quote:
That's a bit of the issue with a 3-point shooting team. When you're hot, you destroy teams. When you lose confidence? You struggle to keep up.
To me, this teams style, relying on the 3 point shooting and having no inside game, is like having a offense in football that relies on the pass. Great when it works but eventually, the wheels will fall off. Inside game is more consistent if you have the bodies just as a running game in football
Posted on 2/28/18 at 6:35 am to TailbackU
Of course losing McLemore wasn’t good. But his loss isn’t why we’re losing.
We’ve been living by guard play all season long, now we’re dying by it.
In the USC, UF, and Arky losses, Bryce Brown shot 9 of 37 from the field, 4 of 25 from 3 pt land.
In those same games, Harper shot 9 of 29 from the field, 2 of 14 from 3 pt.
Thats a combined 18 of 66 from the field (27%) and 6 of 39 (15%) from 3 pt.
Our non-big “bigs” have been tremendous all year. Losing McClemore hurt.
But our last 3 losses have been because the guards we’ve counted on all year long, Brown and Harper, were horrendous in those games.
We’ve been living by guard play all season long, now we’re dying by it.
In the USC, UF, and Arky losses, Bryce Brown shot 9 of 37 from the field, 4 of 25 from 3 pt land.
In those same games, Harper shot 9 of 29 from the field, 2 of 14 from 3 pt.
Thats a combined 18 of 66 from the field (27%) and 6 of 39 (15%) from 3 pt.
Our non-big “bigs” have been tremendous all year. Losing McClemore hurt.
But our last 3 losses have been because the guards we’ve counted on all year long, Brown and Harper, were horrendous in those games.
Posted on 2/28/18 at 6:36 am to beatbammer
And we’ll lose to USC again on Saturday if those 2 don’t get their shite together.
Posted on 2/28/18 at 7:13 am to beatbammer
I think McLemore being able to play away from the rim offensively really opened things up for Harper and in turn the other shooters. We’re really missing that right now with Spencer’s limited offensive game.
Posted on 2/28/18 at 7:21 am to Smoke7024
This pretty much ends the silly debate about whether this team would be better with or without Wiley. Shooting goes cold and we're fricked. It'd be nice to have a post player for some high percentage shots.
This post was edited on 2/28/18 at 7:21 am
Posted on 2/28/18 at 7:32 am to Rhino5
yep, this is why the Mcklemore injury was so painful. Everyone knew it completely altered this team for the worst.
Posted on 2/28/18 at 7:41 am to beatbammer
quote:
We’ve been living by guard play all season long, now we’re dying by it.
Defensively we haven't been getting the steals and blocks the last few games which really helps sparks our offense. Part of that is due to our last 2 games being on the road and Arkansas and Florida are more experienced teams that don't turn it over much.
But this team always relied on our guards. Harper has played awful the past few games. His shots aren't falling, but he also isn't getting the assists. I think we also started to take for granted how incredible Browns shooting had been nearly all of SEC play. He was shooing damn near 50% from 3. While shooting 8-10 a game. Heron has looked great imo, but it looks like more of our old teams with one star and little help around him.
Also, Murray has struggled to finish around the basket. It would be nice to have a place donwlow to get easy points when the shots aren't falling. The good news, it's two road losses against tourney teams. If we get hot shooting again we can still make a sweet 16 run. That's what I'm hoping for now.
This post was edited on 2/28/18 at 7:42 am
Posted on 2/28/18 at 7:48 am to ATLtiger12
His loss is huge...he was literally the player we could afford to lose the least.
On D he allowed the rest of our guys to play aggressive and he protected the rim and cleaned up the boards. He also made it easier on Murray to find room for his unique style of play.
On O he stretched an opposing D. It opened up driving lanes which created better shots from 3.
I have no doubt Brown's injuries are hobbling him, but IMO with McLemore we'd have beaten USCe and UF. We probably would have won last night as well.
The statement that we live by guard play and die by guard play fails to give the proper respect to what McLemore did for our guards and how he helped them look unstoppable at times this season.
Also, being 8 deep means we play zone. We suck at it. Zone basically kills our defensive rebounding. Zone has slowed the rhythm of our offense.
On D he allowed the rest of our guys to play aggressive and he protected the rim and cleaned up the boards. He also made it easier on Murray to find room for his unique style of play.
On O he stretched an opposing D. It opened up driving lanes which created better shots from 3.
I have no doubt Brown's injuries are hobbling him, but IMO with McLemore we'd have beaten USCe and UF. We probably would have won last night as well.
The statement that we live by guard play and die by guard play fails to give the proper respect to what McLemore did for our guards and how he helped them look unstoppable at times this season.
Also, being 8 deep means we play zone. We suck at it. Zone basically kills our defensive rebounding. Zone has slowed the rhythm of our offense.
This post was edited on 2/28/18 at 7:49 am
Posted on 2/28/18 at 8:15 am to Tigerman97
Seems like total BS to me when we are one of the only teams sitting out their players when there are literally dozens of other teams which did the same thing we did that have players still playing. frick the NCAA.
Posted on 2/28/18 at 8:21 am to Tigerman97
Can't disagree with any of that. We don't look like the same team without him. We haven't been creating as many turnovers or getting those blocks, which would allow us to run and get transition baskets and open 3's. The number of open looks Arkansas and Florida had from 3 is probably due to us playing a zone, and it's just not the strength of this team defensively.
It's tougher to see the impact of losing McLemore on offense. He definitely stretched the floor more and I don't doubt that it helped our guards drive and dish. But I think offensively, we can find a new rhythm without him.
We are still a team loaded with shooters outside of Spencer. Okeke showed against Bama what he is capable of with more minutes when he is playing aggressively. Harper has been my favorite player all year, because of how he ran the offense and set everyone else up around him. Murray should be able to get 10 points around the basket more consistently if he can start finishing.
The reason you say we could have beat USC, Florida, and Arkansas with McLemore is because we had a chance to win all of those game without him. Bottom line is Harper and Brown are 6-39 from 3 in those 3 games. We needed 3 more of those 3 point attempts fall in each of those games or for them to shoot 15-39 (38%), much more in line with their shooting the rest of the season. I still think those shots can start falling again.
It's tougher to see the impact of losing McLemore on offense. He definitely stretched the floor more and I don't doubt that it helped our guards drive and dish. But I think offensively, we can find a new rhythm without him.
We are still a team loaded with shooters outside of Spencer. Okeke showed against Bama what he is capable of with more minutes when he is playing aggressively. Harper has been my favorite player all year, because of how he ran the offense and set everyone else up around him. Murray should be able to get 10 points around the basket more consistently if he can start finishing.
The reason you say we could have beat USC, Florida, and Arkansas with McLemore is because we had a chance to win all of those game without him. Bottom line is Harper and Brown are 6-39 from 3 in those 3 games. We needed 3 more of those 3 point attempts fall in each of those games or for them to shoot 15-39 (38%), much more in line with their shooting the rest of the season. I still think those shots can start falling again.
This post was edited on 2/28/18 at 8:23 am
Posted on 2/28/18 at 8:30 am to ThaiTiger24
quote:
Seems like total BS to me when we are one of the only teams sitting out their players when there are literally dozens of other teams which did the same thing we did that have players still playing. frick the NCAA.
That's not how the NCAA works.
Posted on 2/28/18 at 8:33 am to ATLtiger12
quote:
The reason you say we could have beat USC, Florida, and Arkansas with McLemore is because we had a chance to win all of those game without him. Bottom line is Harper and Brown are 6-39 from 3 in those 3 games. We needed 3 more of those 3 point attempts fall in each of those games or for them to shoot 15-39 (38%), much more in line with their shooting the rest of the season. I still think those shots can start falling again.
Here's hoping that we're slumping at the "right" time and they get this shite fixed before the post season.
Posted on 2/28/18 at 8:41 am to Doldil
quote:
Here's hoping that we're slumping at the "right" time and they get this shite fixed before the post season.
Yeah 25% from 3 point land isn't going to get it done.
Posted on 2/28/18 at 8:46 am to ATLtiger12
quote:
The reason you say we could have beat USC, Florida, and Arkansas with McLemore is because we had a chance to win all of those game without him. Bottom line is Harper and Brown are 6-39 from 3 in those 3 games
Over the past 5 games, Brown and Harper are 17/73 3FG shooting 23.3% and have shot a combined sub 30% in 4/5 games
They haven't both shot >30% in the same game during that span either
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