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Game 3: Louisiana-Monroe at Texas, 7 PM, LHN

Machinator

By Machinator
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Machinator

Machinator 32099

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Tim Preston's thoughts:

After a sort of horrific, sort of terrible, sort of satisfying win over Arkansas on Friday, the Longhorns return to action tonight against Louisiana-Monroe in one of two more tuneups before next week's contests against UNC and one of either UCLA or Michigan State.

This game really shouldn't be close, but we've made things tough on ourselves in both games already, so we'll see.

Here's a few things I'll be looking for.

  • Matt's second half against Arkansas was unquestionably as poorly as I've seen him play in a Texas uniform. And it wasn't simply his lack of productivity, it was the sort of disinterested nature that he played with that was so concerning. That's not who Matt is. But what gives me the most hope is that it wasn't the whole game for him. Most of his struggles bore out during the second half, so it's not as if he wasn't prepared to play the game, it simply was a stinker. Regardless, that can't happen for this team. He's too important.
  • Backcourt rotation. Jones getting no minutes against Arkansas, especially given how competitive it was, is not a surprise. Don't be surprised to see Shaka tighten up his rotations in close games, particularly early in the season, as every win will be crucial for a team that knows it'll be fighting for the best seed possible come March (the line between being a five seed and being a nine seed may well be two wins, so every win counts). How that logic plays out with regards to the minutes at the guard/wing spots will be interesting as Shaka figures this team out. Coleman, Roach and Ramey appear to be the biggest locks for minutes. How Long, Febres and Jones fit will be a big question mark. Shaka love all three of Eli, Jase and Andrew, but their leashes aren't going to have endless slack. Those three guys need to provide shooting and passable defense. If one of the three can't follow through on that, minutes could be pretty sparse.
  • Let's simplify things for Dylan and Jericho. It's a two-game sample size, yes, but I don't think either Sims or Osetkowski are ready to be playmakers for this team. The senior and sophomore forwards have committed 17 of Texas' 30 turnovers in their first two games and competition is close to getting quite a bit tougher. It's for that reason that I actually think we'll see Dylan out around the three point line a good amount moving forward. Put him in a role where he's either a shooter, obvious straight-line driver, etc. Utilize Jericho as the main screener and get him moving on slips as much as possible or, if he's going to get the ball, get it to him in space where he can use his athleticism and explosiveness to attack a single defender away from the sag/help.
  • Kamaka's role? Dylan's rebounding was a big part of Friday's win, but his playmaking (1 assist to 6 turnovers) and shooting (2-9) issues were just as impactful on the other end. Can Kamaka's defensive presence improve to the point where he can be a net neutral player on that end? At this point, it's not quite to that level, but defense will get easier for him as the year continues and it'll be interesting to see how long Dylan can hold off the freshman forward who is as innately gifted on the offensive end as Texas has had at that position for quite some time.

I don't think tonight will be all that close, but I'm still fascinated to see how the above plays out. Shaka needs to keep winning, which leaves little room for tinkering. So, the things he DOES tinker with should give a good clue as to what he thinks the rotation/personnel will look like as the season continues.

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Goo Punch

Goo Punch 4275

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1 hour ago, BigOrange1 said:

would definitely like to see hepa take some of osetkowski's minutes.  i've been intrigued with what i've seen of him thus far.

Shaka needs to feel some heat at this point, and i hope that he does, because the impetus needs to be there for him to let these freshmen get some real minutes and experience during our softer non conference games hayes and hepa in particular.

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realgreggym

realgreggym 837

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3 minutes ago, DaysOff said:

The rims in the drum are too stiff. That has to be it.

You say that as a joke but in prehistoric times, rims would be slightly tightened or loosened and something our resident expert didn't know is that if we were playing a team that liked to run more than we did, our managers would put new nets on the rim and not stretch them out so when the ball went through the nets, it would be slowed down a little giving us an extra second to get back on defense. Thats called the home court advantage.

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Catdaddyhorn

Catdaddyhorn 3447

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5 hours ago, Machinator said:

Tim Preston's thoughts:

 

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sample size, yes, but I don't think either Sims or Osetkowski are ready to be playmakers for this team. The senior and sophomore forwards have committed 17 of Texas' 30 turnovers in their first two games and competition is close to getting quite a bit tougher. It's for that reason that I actually think we'll see Dylan out around the three point line a good amount moving forward. Put him in a role where he's either a shooter, obvious straight-line driver, etc. Utilize Jericho as the main screener and get him moving on slips as much as possible or, if he's going to get the ball, get it to him in space where he can use his athleticism and explosiveness to attack a single defender away from the sag/help.

  • Kamaka's role? Dylan's rebounding was a big part of Friday's win, but his playmaking (1 assist to 6 turnovers) and shooting (2-9) issues were just as impactful on the other end. Can Kamaka's defensive presence improve to the point where he can be a net neutral player on that end? At this point, it's not quite to that level, but defense will get easier for him as the year continues and it'll be interesting to see how long Dylan can hold off the freshman forward who is as innately gifted on the offensive end as Texas has had at that position for quite some time.

I don't think tonight will be all that close, but I'm still fascinated to see how the above plays out. Shaka needs to keep winning, which leaves little room for tinkering. So, the things he DOES tinker with should give a good clue as to what he thinks the rotation/personnel will look like as the season continues.

I hope this isn't the case. Dylan needs to cut to the basket more off those picks. Especially now since he never does it defenses won't expect it. He needs to see the ball go through the hoop with some gimmies before he's ready to start launching from outside.

 

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Rockethorn1978

Rockethorn1978 6102

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Do we seriously recruit any guys that can just take a guy off the dribble and hit a pull up jumper? Seems like everything is swing it around until you think you can drive hard and out jump the defender or dump it inside to our posts which doesn’t make sense given sims is fucking terrible at anything other than a lob dunk.

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immortal13

immortal13 4059

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6 minutes ago, Rockethorn1978 said:

I hope everyone sees how much ULM plays sag man defense, it basically is a matchup zone because we can shoot for shit or have any off the ball screening. You’re basically not making the defense even have to move much. Shaka has a very elementary offense.

Shaka has no offense. The players just do whatever they want

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