Yep low percentage passes which was frustrating. We played harder than they did in the 2nd half. The 2nd half margin was just 6.

We would have had to play almost an error free game in order to have had a chance to stay in the game.

We didnt learn anything new yes but we were also reminded that we aren't going to cave to any team either.

Hill is similar to Loubeau in one way. He's undersized and at some point he's not effective against taller players. Absolute dawg but can't get taller.

I think if we get some more height and athleticism we will be great moving forward.

I'm not aboard with the comments about not athletic. Not tall enough, sure, but if we weren't as athletic or moreso than most of the teams we play, we wouldn't have 19 wins, 9 in conference. We'd have maybe 3 in conference and a lot of total blow outs where we were never in the game. We were down 4 to Arkansas last night with the game over 3/4 complete. Going into the game, we had one more loss than Arkansas over-all and in conference.

Athleticism isn't the issue. There's not a player on this team I wouldn't take against anybody with more height inside.

I think it's pretty clear this is a top 40 team. They should cruise against those ranked about 41 and below, but teams ranked higher than that will be a challenge. I think the Softball team is shaping up to be the same (except maybe top 30). Baseball is still TBD. We'll know a lot more about them after this weekend.

Muy said:

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We have more money than Arkie. Go pay for more size and talent.

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where did you dream this one up?

txag72 said:

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I'm not aboard with the comments about not athletic. Not tall enough, sure, but if we weren't as athletic or moreso than most of the teams we play, we wouldn't have 19 wins, 9 in conference. We'd have maybe 3 in conference and a lot of total blow outs where we were never in the game. We were down 4 to Arkansas last night with the game over 3/4 complete. Going into the game, we had one more loss than Arkansas over-all and in conference.

Athleticism isn't the issue. There's not a player on this team I wouldn't take against anybody with more height inside.

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We are not athletic as the top teams. Almost all of our players came to A&M because they were not going to be a starter on their prior teams. We have a lot of bench players that were good but not good enough. Bucky has made them into a team that can win if we are not playing the very top talent around the country. Kudos!
Not good enough is partly size but also athletic talent.

A bunch of our turnovers happen when we don't have a good point guard playing. Lane is the only decent pg but he's doesn't have the height or ability to score much.
Look at the AR point guard, can easily handle the ball but also makes tons of points. We don't have a player anywhere near his ability.

I don't think Arkansas is that superior. They threw a lot of junk toward the rim and the majority went in. They ran completely out of control all night and got bailed out by quick whistles. Part of it was our guys being caught off guard with how quick they got up the court.

But we made an awesome run in the second half only for a 2-3 min string of absolutely ridiculous refereeing to take over the game. It put Clemence on the bench when he was scorching and they had NO ANSWER. It put Hill on the bench when he was bending their star over backwards on defense. It got them into the double bonus on MOSTLY TOUCH FOULS THAT WERENT BEING CALLED BOTH WAYS.

Even if you think that was all fine, then we STILL mostly only lost on turnovers. And not because they were forced, but because we didnt take care of the ball. All self inflicted.

I actually came away feeling like we can hang with ALMOST anyone if we play mostly clean, bring the energy the whole game, and can stay in front of our man on defense and not let them charge the basket on a quick inbound.

Arkansas with all their talent had no answer for Clements. None. Not even a chance. He was abusing them inside and out. When he plays with that confidence and we can couple it with a locked in Griffin and hopefully reawakened Dominguez (not holding breath on either), we are absolutely dangerous on offense and few teams can stop it. Lots of ifs though.

Craigy said:

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Muy said:

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We have more money than Arkie. Go pay for more size and talent.

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where did you dream this one up?

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Whilst sitting on the hammock sipping Blue Moons.

bobinator said:

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You could see the difference in athleticism by how much ground they could cover defensively and by the fact that when they get in trouble driving to the basket they had like three lob threats on the floor.

How many guys on our team could catch a contested lob? And I'm not talking about bigs that are always lob threats, but even a player like Quenton Jackson or Derrick Roland that could catch lobs.

We just don't have those guys at any size.

We made up for it most of the time by being highly skilled, but I don't know how you could watch us play against these good teams and think we're on any kind of similar level athletically overall.

We're starting a guy at the four that I'm not sure can dunk.

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And yet, we were within striking distance before we were forced to stop playing defense while Arkansas was allowed to do whatever they wanted.

Again, I'm not saying we match up athletically at all. I'm saying that when we are humming, even a talented team like Arkansas looks like garbage trying to stop us.

We CAN compete with anyone. Can we do it consistently? Obviously not. But the gap is smaller than you think. And the Buzz metrics you are used to like rebounds and turnovers matter a little less than you think since we can score with heavy volume QUICKLY.

bobinator said:

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It just makes our margins in games like that pretty thin

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100%

Just get to the tournament and try and make some noise. You never know from there.

Can you imagine us getting in and then Clements, Griffin, AND Dominguez all heating up from 3 at the same time?

Then imagine we stop turning the ball over, play more focused defense, and one of our two bench bigs steps up and becomes reliable.

Is there anyone we wouldn't blow out?

This was clear after Florida

Not for basketball. Not even close . Calipari alone probably costs our whole bb budget

txag72 said:

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I'm not aboard with the comments about not athletic. Not tall enough, sure, but if we weren't as athletic or moreso than most of the teams we play, we wouldn't have 19 wins, 9 in conference. We'd have maybe 3 in conference and a lot of total blow outs where we were never in the game. We were down 4 to Arkansas last night with the game over 3/4 complete. Going into the game, we had one more loss than Arkansas over-all and in conference.

Athleticism isn't the issue. There's not a player on this team I wouldn't take against anybody with more height inside.

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Not as athletic in comparison to the top tier teams like Florida and Arkansas

Plenty of teams win games against teams that are more athletic because they are strong in other areas and have good coaching/systems, but when you face teams like Florida and Arkansas, it is clear that they are more athletic and much bigger than us. They are physically superior and we need to play near perfect to beat them, which we didn't.

We had way too many turnovers, dry spells and stupid, unnecessary fouls

NyAggie said:

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txag72 said:

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I'm not aboard with the comments about not athletic. Not tall enough, sure, but if we weren't as athletic or moreso than most of the teams we play, we wouldn't have 19 wins, 9 in conference. We'd have maybe 3 in conference and a lot of total blow outs where we were never in the game. We were down 4 to Arkansas last night with the game over 3/4 complete. Going into the game, we had one more loss than Arkansas over-all and in conference.

Athleticism isn't the issue. There's not a player on this team I wouldn't take against anybody with more height inside.

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Not as athletic in comparison to the top tier teams like Florida and Arkansas

Plenty of teams win games against teams that are more athletic because they are strong in other areas and have good coaching/systems, but when you face teams like Florida and Arkansas, it is clear that they are more athletic and much bigger than us. They are physically superior and we need to play near perfect to beat them, which we didn't.

We had way too many turnovers, dry spells and stupid, unnecessary fouls

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It's really only length. Our athleticism is fine which is why we can play so fast on offense.

But our guards are smaller than other teams guards, our only decent big is small and struggles to rebound against lengthy bigs, and big athletic stretch 3's and 4's gives us fits as we usually have a small guard covering them or Griffin (athletic but not strong) or Dibba (slow footed on defense).

Mr.Milkshake said:

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Obvi some due to qual competition, but our forced turnover rate has dropped by around 50% since around Tennessee-Georgia stretch. Opp points per poss, our free throw rate, def eff fg % have similarly gotten worse.

It's our defense mostly that has gotten abused

Also in the last several games, except ole miss, Ruben has basically been the worst guy on the floor for either team. His fall off really stretches back to around South Carolina. He shouldn't be getting minutes except set pieces.

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One area that I thought killed us last night (I haven't looked the stats) was not grabbing defensive boards and allowing multiple attempts to score for the opponent. I get it, we don't have much height, but I noticed multiple times where our guys didn't even get off the floor while a UA player swiped the ball. Agee is physical, Clemence is improving in that area. I just don't know what's going on with Frederico but he is far from a presence around the rim. Vinson? Athletic and has shown some proclivity to mix it up but not seeing the floor. Whatever, would sure like to see some improvement…none of those 4 are too short to be effective.

Heineken-Ashi said:

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NyAggie said:

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txag72 said:

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I'm not aboard with the comments about not athletic. Not tall enough, sure, but if we weren't as athletic or moreso than most of the teams we play, we wouldn't have 19 wins, 9 in conference. We'd have maybe 3 in conference and a lot of total blow outs where we were never in the game. We were down 4 to Arkansas last night with the game over 3/4 complete. Going into the game, we had one more loss than Arkansas over-all and in conference.

Athleticism isn't the issue. There's not a player on this team I wouldn't take against anybody with more height inside.

---

Not as athletic in comparison to the top tier teams like Florida and Arkansas

Plenty of teams win games against teams that are more athletic because they are strong in other areas and have good coaching/systems, but when you face teams like Florida and Arkansas, it is clear that they are more athletic and much bigger than us. They are physically superior and we need to play near perfect to beat them, which we didn't.

We had way too many turnovers, dry spells and stupid, unnecessary fouls

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It's really only length. Our athleticism is fine which is why we can play so fast on offense.

But our guards are smaller than other teams guards, our only decent big is small and struggles to rebound against lengthy bigs, and big athletic stretch 3's and 4's gives us fits as we usually have a small guard covering them or Griffin (athletic but not strong) or Dibba (slow footed on defense).

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Yeah, I guess what I'm ultimately trying to say is that there are just some teams that we are physically overmatched against, whether it be length or jumping ability etc…

We're pretty slow too overall. We have some fast guys, but as a team we're pretty slow. Especially laterally. Like Dibba is straight line fast but isn't very quick. Same with Griffin. Dominguez and Agee are neither fast nor quick.

Muy said:

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Side topic, but I believe that 3 of the 20 richest people in the world are Walton family members.

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I think that is 20 richest Texans but could be wrong

Sq 17 said:

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Muy said:

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Side topic, but I believe that 3 of the 20 richest people in the world are Walton family members.

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I think that is 20 richest Texans but could be wrong

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No, in the world!

Craigy said:

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Muy said:

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We have more money than Arkie. Go pay for more size and talent.

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where did you dream this one up?

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Because we spend infinitely more in football than Arkie. I'm not referring to our BB revenues or how much we currently invest in BB, we are a much wealthier athletic program than Ark.

Arkie NIL budget for BASKETBALL is much higher.

Sterling82 said:

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Mr.Milkshake said:

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Obvi some due to qual competition, but our forced turnover rate has dropped by around 50% since around Tennessee-Georgia stretch. Opp points per poss, our free throw rate, def eff fg % have similarly gotten worse.

It's our defense mostly that has gotten abused

Also in the last several games, except ole miss, Ruben has basically been the worst guy on the floor for either team. His fall off really stretches back to around South Carolina. He shouldn't be getting minutes except set pieces.

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One area that I thought killed us last night (I haven't looked the stats) was not grabbing defensive boards and allowing multiple attempts to score for the opponent. I get it, we don't have much height, but I noticed multiple times where our guys didn't even get off the floor while a UA player swiped the ball. Agee is physical, Clemence is improving in that area. I just don't know what's going on with Frederico but he is far from a presence around the rim. Vinson? Athletic and has shown some proclivity to mix it up but not seeing the floor. Whatever, would sure like to see some improvement…none of those 4 are too short to be effective.

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Rebounding is almost 100% about effort and fundamentals.

Maybe the game has changed but you watch kids and they don't box out. That is how you neutralize athleticism and, to some extent, size disadvantage.

Obviously, if you're 6'2" and boxing out a 6'11" monster it won't do much, but if you're of a similar height and build, the majority of the time positioning and effort will beat athleticism. It won't 100% of the time, as sometimes guys just make plays.

But boxing out also then neutralizes which ever player is crashing the boards ability to get out on the fast break. So I imagine part of it could be part of the system as we look to push the ball up the court on misses. You can't have 5 crash for defensive rebounds and then expect to push the ball back up the court effectively; you have to have guards leaking out looking for the pass to push the ball up the court.

Again, very simple formula. Our turnover rate around TN was consistently hitting 18-22. It has since dropped to 10-12.

With both teams ppp around 1.02-1.06 and 70 possessions/game, that's a -13 point per game differential.

Our D sys got exposed. You can clearly see Opp PPP go boom after Georgia.

Muy said:

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Craigy said:

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Muy said:

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We have more money than Arkie. Go pay for more size and talent.

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where did you dream this one up?

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Because we spend infinitely more in football than Arkie. I'm not referring to our BB revenues or how much we currently invest in BB, we are a much wealthier athletic program than Ark.

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Football is completely different than basketball. Arky BB NIL runs circles around us. Terrible BB marketing and the worst arena in the SEC. But I understand.. we are rich

Seems like the team has hit their ceiling

Tournament feels unlikely but NIT is not horrible for a Frankenstein roster

txag72 said:

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I'm not aboard with the comments about not athletic. Not tall enough, sure, but if we weren't as athletic or moreso than most of the teams we play, we wouldn't have 19 wins, 9 in conference. We'd have maybe 3 in conference and a lot of total blow outs where we were never in the game. We were down 4 to Arkansas last night with the game over 3/4 complete. Going into the game, we had one more loss than Arkansas over-all and in conference.

Athleticism isn't the issue. There's not a player on this team I wouldn't take against anybody with more height inside.

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It's not that our players are not athletic but as one poster said, Arkey players mid jumpers were polished and just effortless... without a doubt, Arkey has several talented players. If arkey players are putting up 69% field goals...it's going to be hard to beat them.

rsf0626 said:

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Seems like the team has hit their ceiling

Tournament feels unlikely but NIT is not horrible for a Frankenstein roster

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Tell me you only watch the Aggies without saying you only watch the Aggies.

OKC~Ag said:

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txag72 said:

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I'm not aboard with the comments about not athletic. Not tall enough, sure, but if we weren't as athletic or moreso than most of the teams we play, we wouldn't have 19 wins, 9 in conference. We'd have maybe 3 in conference and a lot of total blow outs where we were never in the game. We were down 4 to Arkansas last night with the game over 3/4 complete. Going into the game, we had one more loss than Arkansas over-all and in conference.

Athleticism isn't the issue. There's not a player on this team I wouldn't take against anybody with more height inside.

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It's not that our players are not athletic but as one poster said, Arkey players mid jumpers were polished and just effortless... without a doubt, Arkey has several talented players. If arkey players are putting up 69% field goals...it's going to be hard to beat them.

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It's all relative. Compared to the posters on this board, every one of our guys is freak athlete. Compared to Arkie, meh. Compared to UF - no.

bobinator said:

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I kinda think Arkansas is on par with Florida. Different kinds of athletic, but those teams both just have dudes. And obviously their length compounds their athleticism.

We can out-skill some fairly athletic teams though, I thought Georgia was pretty athletic but not very skilled.

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I'll buy this. I did think Arkie was pretty undisciplined which I perceive as typical Cal coached team. It's why I thought we had a shot last night. Instead they were undisciplined and took poor shots but made them.

I dunno if they're that undisciplined or if that was just part of their plan last night. We normally want to make the game chaotic but it was pretty clear they were better chaotic basketball than we were so they were perfectly fine just keeping the game frantic. We'll see how they do against Florida.

Btw I thought Cal took a really smart timeout to reset the ten second clock on a backcourt play in the second half. I think it was during that big run they had and they were going to have to inbound it again with only 4 seconds left so he took that timeout because he could feel how big that moment was.