Texas vs N Colorado game thread

[Longhornmaniac8 255]

Some thoughts:

-I was pleased we played with the confidence of a winning team. Great team defense. It will keep us in games.

-So happy for AJ. What a story. I hope he's just getting started. 

-Ramey can ball. I like his game.

-I don't know if I've ever seen Hepa make a shot. 

-I think this will be an improved shooting team from last year. Between Jones, Liddell, Williams, and whenever Febres randomly heats up, there's better shooters than we've had.

-Offensively, it's still a grind to watch, but we at least seem to be moving the ball a bit better/more creatively.

-After a single game, this team looks like it could make the tournament. That doesn't mean they will. I'm just glad Radford isn't on our schedule again.

[Catdaddyhorn 3444]

29 minutes ago, perfectchaos007 said:

Did AJ finish his final chemo treatment last September or This September?

This September.

[perfectchaos007 6643]

Just now, Catdaddyhorn said:

This September.

wow. incredible 

[dcar00 14210]

40 minutes ago, Longhornmaniac8 said:

Some thoughts:

-I was pleased we played with the confidence of a winning team. Great team defense. It will keep us in games.

-So happy for AJ. What a story. I hope he's just getting started. 

-Ramey can ball. I like his game.

-I don't know if I've ever seen Hepa make a shot. 

-I think this will be an improved shooting team from last year. Between Jones, Liddell, Williams, and whenever Febres randomly heats up, there's better shooters than we've had.

-Offensively, it's still a grind to watch, but we at least seem to be moving the ball a bit better/more creatively.

-After a single game, this team looks like it could make the tournament. That doesn't mean they will. I'm just glad Radford isn't on our schedule again.

Its one game but this is my biggest fear.  we were a grind to watch against N. Colorado, just like last year.  wait until we play a team with actual athletes.  We didn't hire Shaka to run an offense he doesn't know how to run so he could practice being a pick and pop coach to recruit one and done's.  Its really frustrating but whatever.  we will see what  happens.

it does seem we might have better shooting...if we are open.

[Goo Punch 4275]

got busy during the game but just wanted to check in to say WELCOME BACK AJ!!! What a performance! easily the highlight of the night. 🤘🏼 AJ!

[Hard Times 302]

I think it's safe to say AJ is back, but the rest of the team seems to have CSWS syndrome. At least from 3. Take out AJ the team was 3-22 from 3. No way that gets it done against B12 competition. And B12 competition isn't going to go 2-21 from 3 either. Nice defense, but the offense has a long way to go. And if someone doesn't step up and take over Sims' position our guards will be constantly double teamed since no one has to guard Sims.

[VinyVango 694]

Ramey outplayed Coleman at PG.  Coleman dribbled too much and was a bit panicked and tunnel visioned at times.  That said, he was not bad.  Ramey was more poised and just outplayed him. 

Jones earned a starter spot unless he wants to come off the bench.  Febres was out of sync.  Cunningham looked like he's not played in a year.

Give Liddell or Williams a start over Febres and Cunningham.

Hamm or Kai Jones deserve a shot a starting PF.  They both need more time, as they play aggressive on the boards.  Hepa is still playing like a soft SG. I'd say he was one dimensional if he did one thing remarkable.

Simms can't get out of his own head at times.  He should be okay in short spurts if we don't run too many specific plays with him as option 1 on offense.  Baker played like Febres and Hepa on offense, but showed he could can use his size at times on defense.

The defense will be fine.  The offense looked rough until Ramey and Jones had the ball more.  Hamm and Ramey showed some nice chemistry on the pick and roll.

I think we were out rebounded overall by a shorter, skinnier team.  A lot of that is on the personnel used (we had several minutes with Febres or Williams as our 2nd defender in the paint) and our offense set (all of our bigs standing out waiting for a 3 point shot).  That 4 guard line-up will be the death of us come conference when Big-12 coaches draw our one big man out of the paint (like the N Colorado coach did very successfully at times).

Overall for a 1st game, it was fine.  We have enough depth that we don't have to ride a cold or shellshocked player (Febres, Simms, Cunningham, Hepa) after he makes 1 or 2 bad plays.  And, we need to play a lot less of the 4 corner, contested 3-point offense and more of the moving and screening sets to make the opponent work a bit on defense.

Purdue game will be a huge measuring stick.  They will beat us to death on the offensive boards with that stick if we run the line-up with Simms or Hamm as the only big man on the floor.

[Rockethorn1978 6079]

Lineups will change game to game for a few games I suspect, My issue was we look like we are running the same dumb shit as last year that didn't work so yea we will win a few games when we shoot well but the majority of the season we will shoot the way we are which is terrible. Teams will continue to sag way off our guys and clog the lane and we will still try and pick and roll and attempt a lob to sims which won't work. Shaka  has to be the worst offensive coach in America. 

[Red Five 40859]

It’s Sims. One m. This annoys me.

[Catdaddyhorn 3444]

2 hours ago, Rockethorn1978 said:

Lineups will change game to game for a few games I suspect, My issue was we look like we are running the same dumb shit as last year that didn't work so yea we will win a few games when we shoot well but the majority of the season we will shoot the way we are which is terrible. Teams will continue to sag way off our guys and clog the lane and we will still try and pick and roll and attempt a lob to sims which won't work. Shaka  has to be the worst offensive coach in America. 

I worry about not having a great roll man like Hayes to draw attention away from shooters. 

[dcar00 14210]

3 hours ago, Red Five said:

It’s Sims. One m. This annoys me.

maybe he was watching the 2001 Big 12 championship...

[dcar00 14210]

4 hours ago, Rockethorn1978 said:

Lineups will change game to game for a few games I suspect, My issue was we look like we are running the same dumb shit as last year that didn't work so yea we will win a few games when we shoot well but the majority of the season we will shoot the way we are which is terrible. Teams will continue to sag way off our guys and clog the lane and we will still try and pick and roll and attempt a lob to sims which won't work. Shaka  has to be the worst offensive coach in America. 

yep.  nothing changed and we don't have  a hayes.  I'm trying my best to stay somewhat positive but the first game was flashbacks to last year.   maybe AJ and Ramey can cover and Febres can become a 2 out of 3 good games guy instead of 1 out of 4.   We will have to shoot well from 3 to win against Big 12 because we will have no inside game.   baylor made 18 3's.

[Revolution512 1487]

In agreement that Ramey should run this team. Coleman dribbles us out of the offense far too often. He’s scared of turning it over so he just holds it. It’s awful and it’s year 3.

[Horns RD Standard 67]

And granted it's just one game this year, but I've never gotten the sense (nor did last night's game do anything to change it) that Coleman or Ramey are great facilitators offensively. If Shaka continues to try to force one of them into being the offensive 'conductor' of sorts this team will continue to struggle on that side of the court again, imo. They're both better at creating shots for themselves then they are creating shots for others. Which greatly lessens their effectiveness if you're trying to run a "free-flowing" Coach K type of offense. You could probably get away with one of them if the offense was more set/play driven. But that doesn't seem like it's what Shaka's going for.

I don't want to beat the kid up but everything about Coleman suggests he's a PG (size, decent handles, etc.), but I just don't think he has a high enough Basketball IQ to run a show. His anticipation, court vision and the desire to create for others just isn't there when I watch him. It's like he's just playing the role w/o his heart really being in it.

Ramey is a hooper and you can see his versatility. You could put him in a number of different spots and he'd be effective. But forcing him to be your main ball handler I think sacrifices what he can bring in other areas of the floor offensively. 

Sims is still a huge disappointment. Does he just not work on improving his Basketball skillset? He seems like the same raw unrefined athlete that he was when he first walked onto the 40.

A Jones - when he gets his strength back, watch-out! So encouraging and heart-warming to see him performing like that!

They should script a few plays in the first 8-10 minutes of each game to get Fabres at least 3/4 good looks from 3. Otherwise, he seems disengaged offensively.

And I know most of them are really young, but Hepa, Hamm & the Freshman (sans Williams) all seemed to just hoist up 3s as soon as they could. Like they were just rushing to shoot them just to shoot them. I was really hoping Hepa would settle down in his second season, but he seems to be just as jittery and lost as he was last season.

One bright spot I saw was the defensive intensity. That can carry over. And to me be very promising going forward. That's what can keep this team afloat until or if they ever find something they can go to consistently offensively.

I don't follow recruiting (basketball or football for that matter), so my exposure to Freshman come when I watch them don the burnt orange for the 1st time. Liked what I saw from Williams, the big kid from Westlake and the kid from Jamiaca. The kid from Westlake looks to lack athleticism (which means he'll be here for a few years), but doesn't lack confidence offensively. He was shooting j's like he was expecting to make them. Although a couple of them barely caught iron if any at all. Defensively he looked to 'know' where he wanted to go, but the feet just didn't get him there. He may need to stay anchored around the cup so he doesn't get too exposed.

Are you all expecting any of them to be impact contributors? One was out last night, is he gonna help and if so where? 

[VinyVango 694]

Liddell was the guy out last night.  He shows a lot of bounce and energy, and is more inclined than most of our team to crash the boards.  He was woefully underused last year in favor of guys who like to stand at the 3 point line, almost like the plan was to redshirt him at times, but then got heavy minutes in the NIT and played very well.  I think Liddell and Hamm deserve more than 10 mins a game.

I'd like to see Shaka tighten up the reigns on the 3-point shot selection... Our forwards and centers were 1 for 13 on 3 pointers last night and most of them didn't even attempt to get a shot inside the 3 point line.  Most of those shots were early in the shot clock.  Many were fair to well defended.  And, most were taken with nobody on our team near the basket, greatly reducing the risk of an offensive rebound/put-back.  I can recall any of the three point shots being off a pass following a feed inside the paint to collapse the defense a bit.  Though Sims was skittish and unable to catch the ball consistently last night, Baker wouldve been worth a shot for a post feed and kick out.  That never happened.

The defense looked improved...definitely the way we played the pick and roll/pop.

All things to build on... just game one.  But, there were some things seen on offense that looked like ingrained bad habits and lack of planning rather than first game jitters.  I'm hoping for the best.  Coleman, Febres, and Sims need to play like they've been on the court together before, or sit next to the walk-ons.

 

[Lerka Lerka 1087]

4 hours ago, Horns RD Standard said:

Ramey is a hooper

And you repped it. Come on Derka, you have to disguise your socks better. 

[Catdaddyhorn 3444]

20 hours ago, Horns RD Standard said:

 

I don't follow recruiting (basketball or football for that matter), so my exposure to Freshman come when I watch them don the burnt orange for the 1st time. Liked what I saw from Williams, the big kid from Westlake and the kid from Jamiaca. The kid from Westlake looks to lack athleticism (which means he'll be here for a few years), but doesn't lack confidence offensively. He was shooting j's like he was expecting to make them. Although a couple of them barely caught iron if any at all. Defensively he looked to 'know' where he wanted to go, but the feet just didn't get him there. He may need to stay anchored around the cup so he doesn't get too exposed.

Are you all expecting any of them to be impact contributors? One was out last night, is he gonna help and if so where? 

I was really surprised by Williams. I had him slotted as the Liddell of this season and thought he'd get the least amount of playing time among the freshmen. Not only will he get playing time, but depending on his progress I can see him taking significant minutes from Febres by conference play. I was hoping Kai Jones would have a chance at having a Jaxson Hayes type trajectory during the season, but it looks like he'll have nowhere near that impact. And as for Will Baker, I'm in a wait and see mode with him. All the criticisms I've seen about him are often the same obligatory critiques thrown onto big white guys from affluent backgrounds without any regard for whether they're applicable or not. I've seen enough of him in person and online to be highly impressed and while his athleticism isn't in the speed/quickness area he's a much better run and jump athlete than people give him credit for. I fully expect him to catch a few "bodies" during the course of the year.  

Edited November 7, 2019 by Catdaddyhorn