here are my thoughts after rewatching the game and paying closer attention
summary for those who dont like reading:
exposed some on the ball screen defense
tick tack fouls
missed good looks
for those who dont mind reading:
we had a really rough time guarding quinerly, we actually didnt a decent job with everyone else but him. he was too fast for edwards, mark and taze… shead was on him most of the game. he exposed our ball screen defense particularly shead. it was really bad to start the game, shead was just getting caught in the screen and/or both him and the help would follow quinerly and he’d pass to the roller…sasser switched mid1st and it actually improved. shead went back to guarding quinerly in the 2nd, shead improved off the screens in the 2nd (you could tell he was cognisant of the problem) but still wasnt great. there were 4 to 5 times throughout the game shead was knocked to the ground on a screen, .without the screens on ISO “i think” shead did a good job, but what i think doesnt matter, the refs called some kind of foul every time quinerly tried to iso shead …note a twist they threw in the 2nd half was double screens, which threw us off some more and deciding who was staying with who
there was so many tick-tack fouls especially in the 1st half ,and almsot every 50/50 call went their way. the last 10 mins of the 1st half i actually thought we played great D, but the refs just kept bailing them out…drives and miss (foul), tries to rebound (foul), both going for a loose ball (foul on Houston)… the 2nd half the fouls deflated our defense, it was clear we were “trying to defend without fouling” weren’t putting bodies on anyone, weren’t physical at all
we missed SO MANY good looks, sasser went 8-25, you’d think he was just taking a bunch of crazy shots with those percentages…he actually made most of his tougher shots… of his missed maybe 4 were forced, everything else were clean looks he makes most of the time. He flat missed 4 unguarded 3s…and i’m not just pointing my finger at sasser, same with everyone, edwards missed 2 unguarded 3s, Fabian airballed a 3 that was wide open…we got so many looks we wanted the shots just werent falling
other random thoughts
i thought sasser played really good defense for the most part
shead confidence as an offensive player is spiking and rapidly, took multiple off the dribble long 2s, it was just 2 games ago he wasnt taking open3s. he was looking to score yesterday, but note 3 of his layups were horribly missed (didnt even touch rim), but a hopefully learning curves… but i like the confidence
obviously roberts and free throws
it doesnt happen often and not just talking this game, whenever there is a defensive breakdown for some reason Mark is always involved… im not saying its an issue, i noted earlier its not often (maybe one or twice a game)… but the last few games whenever someone is running open for a 3 from miscommunication, mark is involved somehow …also talking about mark on D i can’t put my finger on why but mark gets scored on a lot by bigger guards, most of the time the shots looks tough and he is contesting, but they make it over him…maybe the physicality, or giving them too much space and relying on his height… i don’t have the answer just something i noticed
not to pile on mark, but that was a terrible offensive game by him, by what was supposed to be our best offensive player… he has to be more than what he showed yesterday,
bama got 10+ points off of “almost mistakes”, they lose the ball on a scramble drill all our guys would go of the ball, bama would somehow recover and would swing it to the now unguarded bama player
despite our reputation we havent been dominant rebounding all year, this was the 1st game this season we actually manhandled a team with a heartbeat on the boards
and despite losing i think we sent a strong message that we are an elite high seed team…also foul calls are reduced in the tourney so i doubt we’d get calls like that if we rematched them in the tourney
After what I saw I’d give Carlton the start on effort alone. That was the first time in a UH uniform where Carlton went face to face with a top 10 opponent and took it to them. That was Old School Big East style of play last night. Tough and relentless.
One thing that I noted is that Edwards, Tramon and Taze have to be more reliable scorers and defenders in big games. They are the bigger guards on the team and 2/3 have to have good games in these matchups. As the team gels, I think this won’t be an issue.
Last year we knew what to expect from Deeky and Grimes. Not only on offense but there defense was reliable.
Carlton should be starting over Chaney, he’s a real Center. Im a fan of Chaney but undersized and not a post threat, when Carlton post up, he gets double teamed, which leaves a shooter open.
I felt Taze shouldve gotten more minutes, his hustle with steals, rebounds and 3 pointer really helped with momentum towards UH
The final possession we shouldve had more flow on offense and not hero ball, where Sasser drained clock and lost the ball and Kyler had to chuck it up for clock, i know Sasser drained the previous 3, but man i think we shouldve attacked and not drain clock, especially when your down and dont have the lead
The loss sucks, we all know it should not have happened….
What it shows me is we went into a hostile environment against a top 10 team….went toe to toe despite poor shooting from three and the line and still should have won.
It gives me the belief this is a final four team again….our players and coaches are some tough SOB’s and back down to no one.
I felt really bad about the officiating during the game, I feel a lot better now. For me it is a win (just like the Notre Dame Cotton Bowl win). It makes life easier.
I know there will probably be an inexplicable loss or 2 during conference because there is every year, but after seeing this team play so far and keeping an eye on the rest of the conference, this will likely be our best chance at an undefeated conference slate. At this point in time, I really do feel like we are head and shoulders above every other team in this conference.
Alabama plays at Memphis tomorrow night. I can easily see Bama winning that game by 20+, yet somehow ESPN BPI has Memphis with a 53% chance of winning. That’s insane!
for people who like x and o’s stuff hoopvision made a mini video looking at how screens were used in the game and how we adjusted and how they adjusted
is a thing that would be one, with LOTS of film to study.