Dom has 2 boards, Frederiko and Dibba each at 1. I don't think the sub made a difference on the glass.

I don't think you can count on getting a rebound when you need it, we're not big enough

BQ_90 said:

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Dom has 2 boards, Frederiko and Dibba each at 1. I don't think the sub made a difference on the glass.

I don't think you can count on getting a rebound when you need it, we're not big enough

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It doesn't matter how small you are, there's zero excuse to give up an offensive rebound when the other team is shooting a free throw. It's 4 on 2 and you already have position off the block.

Yeah some people act like there's some magical series of screens we could run to get him open.

Dominguez would be open more if we could score at the basket. Tennessee didn't have to help on anyone, in fact the announcers were drawing up a "mistake" on one of Lane's drives that I'm certain was on purpose by Barnes. Tennessee wasn't going to help on drivers, they'd prefer to stick to our guys on the perimeter.

But Agee was outsized down there and nobody else can reliably get to the bucket and score, especially against a team with that kind of size. So no amount of screening or creative motion is going to get anyone open on the perimeter if they can shade and/or switch everything out there.

When he subbed them out. I was like what are we doing. But then before the next FT I was like ok it makes sense because even if they miss we should be able to get a rebound off a missed FT and you don't want them sending Fed Fed to the line. But then we did a horrible job trying to get the rebound. I didnt go back and watch it, but from memory Dominguez did a horrible job on the play.

Yeah I mean we probably needed Dominguez and some of our other guys to take a page out of Solo's book and dive forward at the first touch of contact on their back on the boards and maybe we'd get some pushing fouls called.

This isn't a "refs suck" thing because it's been extremely consistent over the years, but a bit like a charge in the old days, unless you act like you got hit by a train and hit the floor you're not going to get a call. And we're just absolutely no match for those huge dudes that Tennessee has.

It was to the point last night that I was hoping they'd make their second free throw each time.

Boxing out as gone the way of the dinosaur. It would have helped there because it shows displacement

bobinator said:

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Yeah I mean we probably needed Dominguez and some of our other guys to take a page out of Solo's book and dive forward at the first touch of contact on their back on the boards and maybe we'd get some pushing fouls called.

This isn't a "refs suck" thing because it's been extremely consistent over the years, but a bit like a charge in the old days, unless you act like you got hit by a train and hit the floor you're not going to get a call. And we're just absolutely no match for those huge dudes that Tennessee has.

It was to the point last night that I was hoping they'd make their second free throw each time.

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There were a couple situations late where Tennessee missed the first FT and made the second FT and my wife and I both said, "well, thats probably the best thing that could happen."

Not only were we out-matched, size-wise, but our wing guys aren't natural rebounders to begin with AND it was clear they were exhausted towards the end.

The rebound was assumed. We wanted free throw shooters in.

Goat Man said:

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I watched that play several times and Dom got pushed. Should have been a foul call on UT but they got the home call. But I agree if we had more physicality it would not be an issue.

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Tenn player was the one doing the pushing. However, our guys should understand the physicality that comes with being in the trenches late in the game.

Ruben did adjust though because in the sequence that followed, he straight up pushed a Tenn player while trying to get a rebound.

These are learning lessons.

I had the same thought when Bucky pulled Feddy for Dominguez on that free throw.
I totally understand the decision so Rueben is on the floor for offense, but there is no offense without securing the rebound. And Feddy gives us a little better (not much somehow) chance of grabbing the rebound.

Related to that...geez Feddy, Vinson and Clemence. goodness.
I don't want to say too much, but man, they do not contribute much...consistently.

Twice I was yelling at my tv/Clemence last night when he was just slapping the ball around with one hand.
Grab the ball! We need the ball!
He definitely has the size, some skill, some athleticism, but makeable plays are very difficult somehow.

Give Bucky credit. I don't know how he stays so composed when we can't seem to do easy stuff.

Pop, Doming and Lane hit FTs and that game never goes to OT.

They missed some critical ones too.

Sounds crazy but I agree on Isaacs rebounding on the low block there. He's active on the boards, and Rueben has very little lift.

Man, how could this team be if we had a serious low post threat with Lane, Pop, and Dominguez spotting up off him? Those guys are making alot of tough 3s. Imagine if they were getting cleaner looks because we had a low post threat that had to be doubled.

Agee has been great, but he had no chance at a low post game last night with those dudes. We didn't even try to get it to him. Poor guy was completely gassed last night battled those SOBs. He missed two very makeable shots around the rim late off great passes from Pop I think because you could put a fork in him.

Yeah, we don't even need someone who's a great low block scorer like a Tyler Davis. That would obviously be incredibly helpful but we don't even need that level of skill, even someone who was just a consistently reliable lob threat and could rebound would take this team up an entire level.

bobinator said:

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If we're getting galaxy brain on this thing I'd have almost rather had Isaacs on the low block rather than Dominguez. Isaacs is actually pretty decent at rebounding and he's really good at making it look like he got fouled. Isaacs had five boards last night.

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I don't hate it. Dominguez was about the worst guy to have low there. Boswell (6'4" G) essentially stuffed him in a locker to get that rebound with no resistance

100% agree. It happened 2 or 3 times. I wasn't sure on that strategy. I kept yelling at my TV to sub in the big guys to get the rebound.

Vinson, Federiko and Clemence (who was fouled out anyway) played a combined 21 minutes and managed to corral exactly one rebound between them.

bobinator said:

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Vinson, Federiko and Clemence (who was fouled out anyway) played a combined 21 minutes and managed to corral exactly one rebound between them.

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Maybe he did sub Domino and Pop I in for their rebounding ability

bobinator said:

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Vinson, Federiko and Clemence (who was fouled out anyway) played a combined 21 minutes and managed to corral exactly one rebound between them.

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I would STILL rather have ANY of them over Dominguez on the block working to keep a 6'4" guard from muscling in for a game saving rebound

bobinator said:

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When it doesnt work you want every decision back but it's not like Federiko and Dibba were doing anything on the boards either. It also didn't help Dominguez that Isaacs pushed his guy into him.

Lot of things could have gone differently at the end but I think the main thing is we just don't have the bodies to play a physical game like that for 40 minutes. Much less 50.

Front rimming free throws, threes way off, not moving our feet on defense and fouling, all signs that we were just physically exhausted.

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If I remember right though we had a timeout. Get the rebound and use the timeout to set up your offense.

Problem here is that we're up 1. If we get the rebound they're immediately going to foul before we can call timeout.

I get it, I'm not saying it was some kind of coaching masterstroke to have Dominguez down there, he's a bad rebounder too.

But you're playing the odds of several things in a row.

1) Ament is probably going to make the free throw. He's a 75% FT shooter. So you're thinking the most likely thing you're wanting to do is quickly get the inbound pass to your best FT shooter before Tennessee can set up their defense.
2) If he does miss, are Federiko or Dibba significantly more likely to get the rebound?
3) Even if they are, are they significantly better enough that it offsets the likelihood that they're going to get fouled immediately before we can call a timeout? Federiko is shooting 51% on the season at the line and Dibba is even worse at 41%

But he does miss, and it goes towards Dominguez' side instead of Agee's, we can't get the next rebound either, and the rest is history.

We also don't have a guy that you want the ball in their hands and/or keeping everyone where they need to be in crunch time.

Seems sometimes Isaacs wants to be that guy, but he's not that guy -- he's the one that makes far too many mental errors late.

Yeah everyone has their pros and cons.

We've tried Lane, but he's also made some crucial turnovers and also missed free throws down the stretch of games, including last night.

Hill is the worst of our guards at free throw shooting and not as good of a ballhandler as Lane and Isaacs.

Dominguez is our best FT shooter, but he's not a great ballhandler which makes him easy to trap, and he's hard to get open on the inbounds.

Kind of is what it is. Seems Bucky has decided the best option is Isaacs, and he hasn't been quite as catastrophic with the turnovers lately like he was against SMU but he's got to knock down clutch free throws if he's going to have the ball in those situations.

we will be in a very big disadvantage in close games unless we get better at the FT line.

Solution, just start blowing teams out, lets start Saturday