We started McDermott yesterday and then he played 4 minutes in the game. Too Buzz-like, Leveque flashbacks. Address this and I'm good, no other complaints.

I guess I am the opposite, as bad as the offense has been I have more confidence that will be worked out by coaching and reps. I am concerned the defensive limitations are more physical limitations - length and athleticism - and no amount of coaching and games under belt will improve it much. Having said that, TEAM defense can improve and make them look more efficient overall.

I think in general the offense is definitely going to get better, of course it will, but i just mean our shooting specifically. It's not like guys are taking a bunch of wild off balance threes at the shot clock or whatever. We just can't reliably knock down open looks so far. So that has me a little worried because this isn't going to work if we don't bring that number way up.

But I think we agree on the defense, I guess what I'm saying there is I'm not overly worried about it because I didn't expect it to be very good to begin with. I imagine we'll get a little better at knowing our rotations and creating some turnovers and that'll be enough to get our defense to where I expected it to be.

I guess my two biggest concerns are

1) who is gonna step up. We seem to be a team of role players. We need some Rodmans and Pippens but we also need some Michael Jordans.

2) are we willing to be the hardest working team on the floor? We may not be the biggest or fastest or most athletic but we can dang sure be the hardest working. Effort doesn't require much.

I think we'll improve but I also think our cumulative basketball IQ is low and that's gonna have to change in a hurry.

Quote:

---

it's a concern that it doesn't seem like the full court pressure is generating the types of turnovers we were expecting.

---

This one, I'd argue, is more of an offense problem than a defense problem. We actually are generating turnovers at a pretty good clip at 21.1%, and that number will get better if we get better at making shots and can really set up the pressure.

I agree on the roles thing for sure, we talked about that some in the offseason. We need some Robins to become Batmen. But that doesn't just happen overnight and practice leadership and game leadership are different things. I'm not super worried about that aspect yet, I still think we'll get there on that, especially once Mgbako is back.

Without knowing him personally I'd say two things. He's always been a pretty demonstrative player. He's very Wade Taylor-esque. The other thing is he's probably frustrated that he can't play the way he's capable of playing yet. He's currently in his when-Jordan-was-#45 era. He just can't do the things he wants to do yet.

So that part isn't a huge concern for me, what is kind of concerning is that he keeps trying these insane passes that are leading to turnovers. Unlike Taylor who had to try some of those because we couldn't get people open, there are open spots on the court to pass it to, but he keeps trying to make hard passes. Just make the simple plays for now.

I think it's a combination of factors. When you're used to being a good scorer, struggling to score is gonna piss you off. However when you're off for a year, you're not just gonna pick right back up where you left off. Pop appears to have a higher basketball IQ than the other guys so he also gets pissed when they're not where he wants them. He's gotten onto Dominguez several times.

I think people are also going to just have to get used to our players yelling at each other more than the last few years. It's not that uncommon for players to vent their frustration at each other. People liked to make fun of all of Buzz's team building bits but they definitely worked on that front.

These players aren't familiar with each other, they're not familiar with the coaches, and even the coaches aren't familiar with each other yet, there's going to be some yelling out there.

My biggest concern is overall we are soft outside of a few of our bench guards. Very finesse team. Even our bigs. It shows on defense and on the glass

I think our fans take it personally lol Pop gave Dominguez a big high five after he hit that clutch free throw. If they don't take it personal, we shouldn't either

Biggest concern? None. The last 2 games have set expectations such that this year is one where I will just watch and see where the team goes.

It would be nice to see the team be able to finish games. It's crazy that we can lose a 15 point lead so fast. We need to learn to maintain a lead and not collapse. We seem to lose focus and the next thing you know we are fighting to stay in it or down. Definitely would be helpful to have someone who can take over offensively and score when we absolutely need it. I don't see us having anyone who can stop the other team but I don't see us getting any better at that at all. Last night they hit their last 8 shots in a row. Maybe Mgbako is that guy. We won't know until we see him on the court, though. The one thing I am certain of is that believing we are an elite shooting team hasn't shown to be true yet. When we need a shot, no one seems to be able to get it. I just wonder how much of the we have great shooters (in practice) is the same old type of hype we've heard in the past about players being able to shoot.

I've been pleased with the first 75% of the last two games. Still too many dumb fouls and dumb turnovers as we get used the the system. I don't think we are a good rebounding team, but I think that's personnel.

Shooting is mental. Idk how you fix it. Just gotta learn that missing isn't the end of the world and take the pressure off ourselves.

I'm worried that we thought any expectation at all could be substantiated.

I still think the hire is fascinating. I think it will be a good experiment for A&M. I see the setting of a positive team story arc starting to emerge but the Big 12 losses ratchet back even modest expectations a bit.

My guess is the chemistry grows and we see better coordination both on offense and defense. Whether the shooting picks up or not has always been an issue.

But our bread and butter as a school is defense in pretty much all of our athletics. I'll suggest that getting much better will prevent some losses we otherwise will have to endure.

I realize the design is a "create turnovers to turn defense into offense" design. But it's a little leaky.

You can really boil the shooting problem down to just three players, Isaacs, Hill and especially Agee. Everyone else is at least shooting fine. Not elite, but fine.

bobinator said:

---

You can really boil the shooting problem down to just three players, Isaacs, Hill and especially Agee. Everyone else is at least shooting fine. Not elite, but fine.

---

I think you're right. But our school has dealt with scoring droughts like we live in the Sahara Desert.

Shooting will revert to the mean both ways imo. My biggest concerns are the approach leads to almost no second chances per possession and we don't appear to have an on ball defender that you can match up on an opponents hot hand and slow him down. The former would be less of a concern if we actually turned teams over and got buckets off them but the turnover rates haven't been what I expected.

With regard to the full court pressure and relative lack of turnovers generated off it , I expected a lot more trapping than I've seen so far . What we've see is more man to man full court pressure that slows the opponent down but hasn't caused a lot of turnovers so far.

When we did trap the Montana coach was all over telling his guys to split the trap near the inbound baseline . The building was so quiet I could hear his instructions from 103 Row S. To his credit … he has some pipes

Shooting and Pop's play. He's just seems like an empty hole right now on offense. He's the guy I think they were counting on going and getting a bucket when offense gets stuck

I know he's still coming back from injury but we really need him to round into form soon.

Just my observation....other teams we have played seemed better at passing the ball around the perimeter getting it to an open shooter. We seem more dribble drive and kick out for 3's which hasn't looked great and seems a little out of control at times. It seems when we do pass the ball around the perimeter we hesitate instead of just shooting and then we are covered, forcing the dribble drive and kickout.

I agree with what has been said by many on this post already. But I can't help but hold out reservations until we see Mgbako play. I'm hoping/believing he will impact the post more and change the flow of our offense.

It's hard to judge a team that has yet to play with their most talented player. Even then, it's gonna take time for him to gel with the other guys.

I guess we will see on Friday!

1. Shooting.
2. Shooting against.
3. Lack of "Dawgs". Last team had a lot more. Sliding on the floor, etc.

My worries so far this season is:

- shooting, more importantly against good competition. Offense I think could get better but no continuity yet
- defense/ rebounding (Biggest worry)
- lack of PG, that can attack the basket
- It doesn't seem like this team plays insanely hard consistently like they need to. A lot like Buzz's 1st season and then hopefully like 19-20 season they start really locking in at end of year


A lot of "hopefully" statements and less certainty at this point.

Offense and defense speak for themselves as concerns but I'm also concerned about lack of urgency.

Since you asked, I'm worried we're going to lose a bunch of games.

I'm wondering how long it will take to shake down this roster and if we will have enough buy in. It feels like it might be teetering at the moment.

If/when it comes together it will be fun to watch but we seem like we are a long ways away from that moment right now.

And maybe adding Mgbako will suddenly make everything look a lot better but I kind of doubt it.

It's weird because there are stretches where we look pretty good. A couple of times it felt like we were one made three or one more stop from burying UCF and we couldn't quite do it and then fell apart.

And then obviously Montana just went nuclear, that was bizarre. I kinda think it showed a little something that we were able to win that game after it looked like we were shellshocked.

Oh yeah staying together and hitting the FTs late was huge. We are taking steps its just shaky at times. And what Bucky said on TexAgs about guys buying in or sitting on the bench and if they're not good teammates on the bench then they will be playing for somebody else got my attention.

We need a consistent scorer from the guard spot. Hopefully this will be Isaacs as he gets into shape. This coupled with Mac coming will give us two consistent scorers.
We were better with the alleyoops, we will continue to get better with each game.

bobinator said:

---

It's weird because there are stretches where we look pretty good. A couple of times it felt like we were one made three or one more stop from burying UCF and we couldn't quite do it and then fell apart.

And then obviously Montana just went nuclear, that was bizarre. I kinda think it showed a little something that we were able to win that game after it looked like we were shellshocked.

---

It has started with a sloppy missed alley oop the last few games.

Take this for a grain of salt


Watch warm ups we are a much better shooting team then last year especially from behind the arc BUT that hasnt shown in the stats so far

CF #99 couldnt miss and i would love to see his end of year average

I think we are bottom 1/3 of the conference unless we start hitting shots at a much better clip

Defense will get better

I dont think the offense defense subbing works during a normal game except at the very end yet we seem to do it a lot during the games so far. This is obviously by design I just dont know the endgame of why early in some of these games

Some cautious optimism that might actually be an NCAAT team in his first year got blown to bits the past couple of weeks, but other than that, wouldn't say I'm 'worried' as a fan about much this season.

Bucky was an unproven hire at this level and may be a hit or miss. I was very impressed with the staff and roster for this first season that he was able to patch together despite a really late start. I hope he does pan out and hoping to at least see a sense of positive momentum by the time this season is over.