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Post by aztecnation76 on Dec 17, 2014 22:26:53 GMT -8
After tonight's game, consider my expectations officially lowered.
Let's face it. This team just doesn't have "it". At least as this point in time. Way too many issues with this team. Lack of a true PG, no senior leadership, lack of a go to scorer, horrendous 3 point shooting team, poor free throw shooting team, plays extremely tentative on the road, way too turnover prone at an alarming rate, can't handle the pressure of being a ranked team(not for long) ect....
Really makes you miss the 2 true, quality senior leaders we had in Thames and Davis. Both of whom exuded confidence, leadership and, most importantly, composure. Something this team clearly lacks.
This is easily the most frustrating team I have seen here over the last 5 years. No question about it. Especially when they were considered to be the "deepest" and most "talented" in the history of the program. All hype obviously.
Also, a lot of people on here (myself included)believe the Aztecs should just waltz into conference play and win it with no problem. I'm not so sure anymore. Especially with how piss poor this team has looked on the road so far. Sure, the conference definitively looks to be down and on paper, the Aztecs look like the class of the conference by far, but you can't win anything based on paper, and from what I've so far, this Aztecs team looks like nothing more than a paper tiger. Have to only hope that they win the conference from here on out. Not to mention some sort of identity, as well as some serious leadership skills.
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Post by aztecanthony on Dec 17, 2014 23:26:21 GMT -8
Should have played JJ all 45 mins, what were the coaches thinking? JJ only played 43 minutes:) I'm not sure shrigley has the confidence to be our go to shooter. Polee needs to drive more, shoot less 3's, we need more fast breaks and allyoops for him. Kell should play SG, like his confidence and stroke. I like quinns shot, happy he's back. I think the loss will force the coaches to give pope and cheatham a chance. I think Zabo is quick enough to break the press. I love the way the team fought to send it to ot. Coach needs to improve In game adjustments and substitutions.
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Post by Luchador El Guerrero Azteca on Dec 17, 2014 23:28:47 GMT -8
This is the only critical post I've read tonight that is well reasoned and reflective. Thank you, you speak for many too busy defending the program vs the trolls and can't simultaneously critique the problems...
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Post by aztech on Dec 18, 2014 1:15:10 GMT -8
After tonight's game, consider my expectations officially lowered. Let's face it. This team just doesn't have "it". At least as this point in time. Way too many issues with this team. Lack of a true PG, no senior leadership, lack of a go to scorer, horrendous 3 point shooting team, poor free throw shooting team, plays extremely tentative on the road, way too turnover prone at an alarming rate, can't handle the pressure of being a ranked team(not for long) ect.... Really makes you miss the 2 true, quality senior leaders we had in Thames and Davis. Both of whom exuded confidence, leadership and, most importantly, composure. Something this team clearly lacks. This is easily the most frustrating team I have seen here over the last 5 years. No question about it. Especially when they were considered to be the "deepest" and most "talented" in the history of the program. All hype obviously. Also, a lot of people on here (myself included)believe the Aztecs should just waltz into conference play and win it with no problem. I'm not so sure anymore. Especially with how piss poor this team has looked on the road so far. Sure, the conference definitively looks to be down and on paper, the Aztecs look like the class of the conference by far, but you can't win anything based on paper, and from what I've so far, this Aztecs team looks like nothing more than a paper tiger. Have to only hope that they win the conference from here on out. Not to mention some sort of identity, as well as some serious leadership skills.
Why in hell do we shoot so many goddamn 3s when we haven't been good at it at all. Tonight we hoisted 25 of them and only made 5. Meanwhile we were 19-38(50%) for 2 pointers. Did you know Cincy only had 11 three point attempts? Guess why we lost.
Is it a matter of lacking discipline or refusal to use more motion? If that ratio of 3 point attempts to 2 point attempts continues, I guarantee we'll never beat teams by comfortable margins. Oh we'll get lucky on occasion, but that'll only encourage players to continue it. I'm sorry, but the players' lack of discretion is on Fisher.
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Post by NCAztec82 on Dec 18, 2014 6:26:52 GMT -8
Tough road loss. Get used to these kinds of games. Program is still maturing and a national profile means everyone will be psyched up when you go to their house. Washington and Cincinnati games were frustrating, but the underclassmen will gain big time experience.
As a team, you don't want to call out 0 for 7 three point bricking, so I'm going to vent and move on to Ball State.
Clear weaknesses at the point and lack of discipline will be this team's undoing, but panic is not the answer. It's just very hard to win on the road in college.
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Post by kozy on Dec 18, 2014 7:28:35 GMT -8
Five for twenty-five for 3 point shots. Don't tell me that a shooter has to forget the last miss and look to the next shot.
Polee doesn't have a three pointer, neither does Shrigley and Quinn needs to work on his.
I would run a zone against these bricklayers and beat them every night.
Seeing JJO on the court for 43 minutes and scoring 6 points defies logic. Smart player but can't score and hasn't in two years. I don't care that Pope or Cheatham can't play defense and we don't know that for sure. WE can sit Spencer and Chol and not lose one ounce of offense. I would rather see Shephard, the only star of this team, Polee and Pope with Cheatham off the bench to run a three forward team.
Time for this staff to make some changes or really fail this year. Won't win with this line up and style of play.
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Post by therealoracle on Dec 18, 2014 7:35:20 GMT -8
After tonight's game, consider my expectations officially lowered. Let's face it. This team just doesn't have "it". At least as this point in time. Way too many issues with this team. Lack of a true PG, no senior leadership, lack of a go to scorer, horrendous 3 point shooting team, poor free throw shooting team, plays extremely tentative on the road, way too turnover prone at an alarming rate, can't handle the pressure of being a ranked team(not for long) ect.... Really makes you miss the 2 true, quality senior leaders we had in Thames and Davis. Both of whom exuded confidence, leadership and, most importantly, composure. Something this team clearly lacks. This is easily the most frustrating team I have seen here over the last 5 years. No question about it. Especially when they were considered to be the "deepest" and most "talented" in the history of the program. All hype obviously.Also, a lot of people on here (myself included)believe the Aztecs should just waltz into conference play and win it with no problem. I'm not so sure anymore. Especially with how piss poor this team has looked on the road so far. Sure, the conference definitively looks to be down and on paper, the Aztecs look like the class of the conference by far, but you can't win anything based on paper, and from what I've so far, this Aztecs team looks like nothing more than a paper tiger. Have to only hope that they win the conference from here on out. Not to mention some sort of identity, as well as some serious leadership skills. +1, The Real Oracle does not see it. The Real Oracle Out |
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Post by 12414 on Dec 18, 2014 8:14:56 GMT -8
Frustrating is a good word, OP. This talented team has created so many questions and, so far, few answers.
Just a few of my many questions:
What happened to this team after playing so well in Maui? Since Maui, a 2-2 record, with one of the wins resulting from a furious comeback at home against an average team.
Who is going to step up to be the impact point guard, floor general, distributor this team so desperately needs? At this point in time, Kell is not the answer. Against Cincy, he looked uncomfortable throughout and had serious issues vs the press.
When will the team shooting live up to Fisher's comment that this year's team is a better shooting team than last year's? When?
Why did Dakarai play only 3 minutes and Zabo none last night? In Fish I will always trust...but was scratching my head last night. Dakarai is the most improved returning player and has played well in recent games - IMO, he deserves more playing time. My guess is AQ has taken Zabo's place in the rotation, but considering the issues Kell was having, there were minutes for Zabo.
There are many more questions (turnovers, sloppy ball handles, etc, ad nauseum). And the issues are numerous and critical at this point. Will all or most of them get resolved? I hope so. And there is always hope when you have Steve Fisher leading the team.
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Post by tecsonthebeach on Dec 18, 2014 8:26:15 GMT -8
First time in recent years I've seen the Aztecs flustered by the press. Cinci beat us at our own game.
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Post by AztecSports95 on Dec 18, 2014 8:27:26 GMT -8
The most frustrating thing to me is the turnovers. Most of them are unforced. Bouncing balls off your foot. Sloppy passes. Stepping across the lane on a free throw. Rookie mistakes. This team just doesn't seem very cerebral. We play defense. It will always cover up poor shooting and keep us in games. But the turnovers are the real Achilles heel here.
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Post by sdmotohead on Dec 18, 2014 8:36:41 GMT -8
I think the cupcake section of our schedule is coming just at the right time. Lick our wounds, regroup and get ready for Molehill action.
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Post by gigglyforshrigley on Dec 18, 2014 8:38:29 GMT -8
We have a lot more talent than the results are showing. I think we'll figure it out because have good coaches, but our coaching (at least offensively) has been less than adequate thus far.
I wouldn't be as mad about this if we didn't have the talent, but we look like we have no idea what to do offensively, it's not just missing shots
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Post by Deleted on Dec 18, 2014 8:39:19 GMT -8
The most frustrating thing to me is the turnovers. Most of them are unforced. Bouncing balls off your foot. Sloppy passes. Stepping across the lane on a free throw. Rookie mistakes. This team just doesn't seem very cerebral. We play defense. It will always cover up poor shooting and keep us in games. But the turnovers are the real Achilles heel here. I agree. If we play with a bit more composure Aztecs win maybe even easily. To's led too loss though Shepard blamed the Defense. Defense did give up alot of points in overtime - worst 5 minute stretch in the season for the defense but when you can't hit open shots it demoralizes a team and wears on a relatively young team . Fisher does not seem to get that. |
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Post by therealoracle on Dec 18, 2014 8:43:11 GMT -8
Frustrating is a good word, OP. This talented team has created so many questions and, so far, few answers. Just a few of my many questions: What happened to this team after playing so well in Maui? Since Maui, a 2-2 record, with one of the wins resulting from a furious comeback at home against an average team. Who is going to step up to be the impact point guard, floor general, distributor this team so desperately needs? At this point in time, Kell is not the answer. Against Cincy, he looked uncomfortable throughout and had serious issues vs the press. When will the team shooting live up to Fisher's comment that this year's team is a better shooting team than last year's? When? Why did Dakarai play only 3 minutes and Zabo none last night? In Fish I will always trust...but was scratching my head last night. Dakarai is the most improved returning player and has played well in recent games - IMO, he deserves more playing time. My guess is AQ has taken Zabo's place in the rotation, but considering the issues Kell was having, there were minutes for Zabo. There are many more questions (turnovers, sloppy ball handles, etc, ad nauseum). And the issues are numerous and critical at this point. Will all or most of them get resolved? I hope so. And there is always hope when you have Steve Fisher leading the team. Quinn got injured, and isn't 100%? The Real Oracle agrees with your thoughts on Dakarai, he definitely should have seen more than 3 minutes... The Real Oracle Out |
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Post by zollner on Dec 18, 2014 9:07:00 GMT -8
This team does not warrant being ranked, although being ranked early in the season usually has to do with last years results. It is a true basketball axiom that teams that pressure full court do not liked to be pressured.
Shooting is muscle memory type action, but also a confidence type action, this team does not have the confidence to see the ball go through the hoop. Near the end of the regulation Shepard and Poole both missed shots near the rim, the attempts would have been much easier shots if that would have used the backboard.
I agree with Aztec Nation 76 that I have my doubts that this team will win the MWC. There seem to be so many things to fix on this team that it is hard to know where to start. I would start with massive amounts of turnovers. Realize that every turnover is a four point switch, the 2 you don't score and the two the other team gets to score. So if you have 15 turnovers that is a potential 30 point switch. For a team that doesn't shot well that is the death knell. Take care of the dam ball!!!
These kids play hard, I don't question their effort, but their energy level seems to wane after so many times not seeing the ball go through the hoop. Defense will win a lot of games, but once you get behind and need that extra adrenalin to catch up which you get from scoring it just isn't there. I believe we went the last 5 minutes of the 1st half without scoring a point.
This team has talent but there are several key players whose basketball IQ is very low. I'm not going to name names, everyone has there own take on that question, and the team chemistry is not where it should be. I get the feeling that there are some players who don't like other players and leave it at that.
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Post by aztech on Dec 18, 2014 12:07:21 GMT -8
This team does not warrant being ranked, although being ranked early in the season usually has to do with last years results. It is a true basketball axiom that teams that pressure full court do not liked to be pressured. Shooting is muscle memory type action, but also a confidence type action, this team does not have the confidence to see the ball go through the hoop. Near the end of the regulation Shepard and Poole both missed shots near the rim, the attempts would have been much easier shots if that would have used the backboard. I agree with Aztec Nation 76 that I have my doubts that this team will win the MWC. There seem to be so many things to fix on this team that it is hard to know where to start. I would start with massive amounts of turnovers. Realize that every turnover is a four point switch, the 2 you don't score and the two the other team gets to score. So if you have 15 turnovers that is a potential 30 point switch. For a team that doesn't shot well that is the death knell. Take care of the dam ball!!! These kids play hard, I don't question their effort, but their energy level seems to wane after so many times not seeing the ball go through the hoop. Defense will win a lot of games, but once you get behind and need that extra adrenalin to catch up which you get from scoring it just isn't there. I believe we went the last 5 minutes of the 1st half without scoring a point. This team has talent but there are several key players whose basketball IQ is very low. I'm not going to name names, everyone has there own take on that question, and the team chemistry is not where it should be. I get the feeling that there are some players who don't like other players and leave it at that.
You know, I hope that's not he case. I'm sure all the players know which players are better than the guys who are starting since they see it in practice. They have to accept the coach's decision to play the upperclassmen and put their egos aside. Maybe Pope and a healthier Cheatham are pissed about it, but they better be stewing in silence. OTOH, Fisher better break them into the lineup soon or all hell will break loose. They're our future stars who signed here to play, not to sit on the bench for prolonged periods. They'll make mistakes on the floor as expected, but this team needs their upside, and pronto.
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