Totally agree. After the first game he came back there were flashes and I was optimistic he’d continue progressing from last year. However, I started to lose some hope it would happen this year because he’s played poorly at times. However, yesterday was very encouraging even though he got gassed a few times.
I think Jarreau has another gear and obviously there’s a ton of room for growth with Nate.
I am not even concerned about the defense, the defense is the strong point of this team and will get even better and the defense alone will keep us in most games. It is the offense that need to get better. We have 2 shooters but they are going to have to shoot a decent percentage for us, and we are going to need either 1 of the 3 to catch fire and that is either Hinton, Fabian, and or Jarreau only then will we be a tough out. Anything from Brady is icing on the cake.
Tech last year did…oh and a couple of Brad Stevens teams did as well
“Right now” , I don’t see us getting past first round. We still need a strong guard who can create, pop and penetrate. Hinton is definitely the answer but is not there yet.
tech last year had Keenan Evans who could put up 30 on any given night along with 2 other players that were or will be lottery picks
i noted in that post elite guard play is what defines good tourney runs , tech had keenan evans …and brad stevens teams had gordon hayward
i meant teams that rely on defense to win games dont do very good…those teams had great defense but didnt rely on the defense to win games, if teams started putting up points they could go toe to toe vs them…we are currently a team that depends on defense to win
the tourney is the elite of the elite playing in games that could forever change their lives…someone will find a way to make tough shots (look at nevada cincy)
I get what you mean…we just need be a bit more consistent on offense to reach our full potential.
Maybe all fan bases are like us, but a week ago we were horribly underrated and going to go on a long run in the tournament.
This week after an official aided last second loss on the road to a 13-3 Temple team who is undefeated at home, we are a team that has major question marks.
Temple’s three losses (all away from home) are UCF, Villanova, and VCU. The combined records of those three are (37-11).
Granted, other than the Coogs, they don’t have any signature wins other than Davidson, Georgia, Missouri and Cal. (Georgia, Missouri and Cal aren’t very good).
In short, the Coogs are good and when Brooks and Davis are hot they are extraordinarily good. It seems like we keep it close until Brooks and Davis heat up.
The last 4 years I’d say defense mattered at least a little bit. You can’t tell me that South Carolina wasn’t a defense only team. Same with Syracuse. I do think being defense only means you are going to play a ton of close games and makes your margin of error much smaller.
Last year’s Final Four defensive ratings (nationally).
Loyola (17)
Michigan (3)
Villanova (11)
UNC (38)
2017
South Carolina (3)
Gonzaga (1)
UNC (11)
Oregon (17)
2016
OU (17)
Syracuse (18)
Villanova (5)
UNC (21)
2015
Kentucky (1)
Duke (11)
Michigan State (27)
Wisconsin (35)
The positive thing about this team is that the lone lost has been a controversial one. With two free throws given to Temple because of a toss tie technical and the questionable charge at the end of the game. I’ve seen the charge called on Corey Davis. It’s borderline, but look at the way he contorted his body sideways for the layup. That’s what we called a home court advantage call when it’s questionable; but at the same time the referees shoudn’t decide a game like that on that 50/50 play when they ain’t sure it was a legit charge. I’ve seen referees swallow their whistle on that exact play before.
Some of y’all are going to have to get over the Temple loss. Basketball is a law of averages. The Coogs were not going to finish undefeated. I’ve been saying for weeks the undefeated non-conference record was going to buy us a ton of margin for error for the log haul, and that, as long as nothing crazy happened during the conference slate (no worse than 12-6), the Coogs were going to get no worse than a No. 6 seed in the tournament. Temple was one of those games I had circled as one of the 6 losses. It was unfortunate we lost, but it coulda gone either way. It happens. Law of averages. You move on. I promise you, the Coogs are not going to get dinged selection-wise for losing at Temple the way they did. They’ve already backed it up win a win. So, it’s done. Let’s move on.
As far as for what our prospects are in the tournament, there is a lot of randomness there, too. Just because we shoulda beat Michigan last year, it doesn’t mean you automatically pencil us in the finals against Villanova had we won. It might have meant that, but you still gotta play the games. All it meant was that we probably had just as good a shot at making it all the way through as Michigan did. The way we were (are) built, it’s a good recipe for success. But you still gotta play the games.
I’ll say the same thing about this year’s team. We’re gonna have a shot and be capable of beating a lot of teams and possibly even scoring an upset along the way. I like our chances specifically because we are sound defensively, rebound effectively (especially on the offensive end) and are reasonably solid from the free-throw line. I also love our transition offense, which is a great weapon to have when you’re D-ing up on the other end. Those are all great factors against anyone. Areas where we are weak (inside scoring, forcing turnovers and shooting percentages) can be cancelled out as long as we continue to rely and thrive on our strengths.
So much this.
We don’t have the top end talent of a Duke. Sampson has built a team that gives you 9-10 guys that scratch and claw for everything on the court. Swarming defense, good rebounding and solid perimeter shooting is a great equalizer in the college game.
Is the roster perfect? No but this team in mid January is far from what it will likely look heading into March. The conference schedule is always a crucible and the league is far more competitive top to bottom than last year’s ultra top heavy three-headed monster. That’s great in terms of development for Jarreau and Hinton and the other young guys.
There are only a handful of teams who seem like sure-fire sweet 16 teams. But that’s why the tournament is great. Many things would need to break the Coogs’ way, but this team absolutely is good enough to win multiple games come March.
The conference is much better at the bottom this year but the top teams aren’t as good either.
Last year we had multiple, “Wow, we might be very good and able to make some noise” games. Blowing out Arkansas at home, beating Cincy at home, beating WSU by double digits at home and beating WSU on a neutral court.
This year we don’t have one yet and have less opportunities other than if we beat UCF or Cincy by a healthy margin on the road or in the conference tourney or just destroying them at home.
When Fabian White is 100% we will be unstoppable.
We were at the WSU game and I was concerned about our free throw shooting. One of our left handed players missed the rim completely and I see we were FT - 20 / FTA 29 for 69%. I am not an expert but 69% FT made seems to be low. Do we need to improve?
On the season, U of H shoots it from the stripe at a 71.8% clip, which ranks in the top 35 percent nationally. While it may not sound all that great, keep in mind a team free throw percentage 70% or better is considered solid while 75% or better is considered outstanding. Plus, if you take out the charity marks of Landon Goesling and Chris Harris (players who see limited to no minutes of action usually), the team percentage jumps up to 73.6 (or top 20% nationally). And if you consider only the top seven Cougars that go to the line the most on per-game basis, the team mark escalates to 78.3%, which would easily place them among the nation’s top five! So, while the free throw shooting overall doesn’t sound all that high, at least they’re getting good team production from those that do the bulk of the shooting.
Thank you for the information Jason.
My main concern is our FT shooting. More teams lose at the line in the tourney than win on the court. It bit us last year and we need to get better.
This team is currently 274th in Adjusted Pace, they’ve consistently played stylistically much more like the Princeton teams than a “run and shoot” team. And that Pace number has been in the 300s much of this season, this has been a pretty deliberate offensive team this year.
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