It's a combination of things. Free throws need much improvement. Too many turn overs. And not smart play calling.....down by only one it was idiotic not to try to put it inside for a simple two points to win the game! But, it is a young team and if you are going to lose just soon lose by 1 point to the number two team in the country. Overall, although I would have loved the win, I think we have a bright future.
Our team is relatively young, so that's one explanation why we've had so many turnovers/fouls (it seems like in alot of the losses, teams hangs with us because they shoot so many free throws). To go to Morgantown/Columbus/Hartford and get a W-L-L result where the margin of point difference is very small is very impressive. To think if guys like T. Mithcell,Thomas, and Rolle had a season or two under their belts, the we might be close to undefeated at this point. I'm really proud of our team, and by the end of the season, I hope we'll end on some sort of high note. D. Mithcell and Big Baby are doing their roles as leaders, now all we need is our younger players to develop.
I'm glad that the last few posts on this thread show some semblance of sanity. Many of the posts seemed to show perhaps a lack of appreciation of a good game, fought hard by our Tigers, against the number 2 ranked team in the country in front of close to 17,000 hostile UCONN FANS (now, that's a basketball school), in front of a national TV audience in a one point loss. Or, perhaps some that just don't understand what coaching is. Jim Calhoun himself: POSTGAME QUOTES UConn Head Coach Jim Calhoun "Along with the Gonzaga win at Maui, that was probably the best win we've had this year....I think the way we won, shooting 30 percent from the field and having to dig out a win in a game where we couldn't buy a basket – mainly because LSU played very good defense, by the way. LSU is very talented – probably a little bit young. Davis is just such a load to handle. I love the Mitchell kid, the point guard, I think he's a terrific, terrific basketball player. Matter of fact, I love the whole team ..." "I really think they run their stuff exceptionally well. I thought they got good shots. I thought that we got better on defense as the game progressed. I thought we did a terrific job of holding them to 29 percent in the second half, after getting blasted early in the first half. For whatever reason, the lack of offense discouraged our defense. Today, we made a step forward, at least for us, in the second half, by understanding that there are other ways to win games than by making three pointers, or getting fast break dunks, etc. And we found ways to win that basketball game." "John's team played great defense. They're only going to get better. Those young kids are absolutely sensational. I mean, they really are good....They probably have the most deceptive record, eight and five, in the country." What's tough of course, is that we've lost 5 games by a combined 11 points. But, we've lost them to respectable competition, and Brady has scheduled 5 or so NCAA tourney teams in the "pre-season" and that will continue next year. That's what you get when you play a serious schedule, but that's what it takes to get back to respectability. I do think that LSU is slowly gaining that respect. The key to this season will be in fact, how do the young guys improve with these punches, and can we prove our mettle and finish in the top 4-5 teams in the SEC to get into the tourney. Our weaknesses are obvious--some correctable others harder to fix. We had more turnovers due to sloppier ball handling, we missed more free throws, our offense relies too heavily on Darrell Mitchell and Glen Davis right now. UConn converted more points off of turnovers, and hit 80%+ of their free throws to our 60%--in a defensive game with two teams relying on low post players. Let's try to support this team as they find their way. I think if we can keep these kids together another year, you'll really begin to see the fruits of their labor. :geauxtige
I really like the schedule upgrade, and as long as we grow as a team to be competitive in SEC play (win the West?:wink: ), then we'll be fine. It would be nice to see us hang on to one of those big leads that we get, just to prove that we can do it. That would go a long way in improving our young team's confidence level. :thumb:
By all accounts, Temple has been the 'shutdown' guy on the other team's #1 perimeter scorer all year. He was on Rashad Anderson today and held him to 3-16 shooting. The defense argument holds no water. Now, he isn't the a weapon offensively but there's really nobody else to help bring the ball up the court besides him. Voogd seems to have digressed the past few games and Temple is needed to help at point.
I definitely like the schedule upgrade. I will take the 8-5 record over 12-1 with nothing but cream puffs. This schedule forces this team to grow up fast, which I believe could pay dividends once SEC play starts and prepare us for the tourney. Michigan State every year plays one of the most difficult schedules in the country and is usually gelling by tourney time. With what I seen so far from SEC play so far this year, LSU should not lose no more than 5 league games. Florida is the only team that based on talent and play this year would be better than LSU. I watched Kentucky get absolutely humiliated Saturday by Kansas.
I think tmitch can handle the ball just as well as Temple. I agree that Temple has improved on the defensive side, but he's a liabilty on offense. I'd like to see Lazare in the lineup, giving us a bigger front line with Thomas and Davis. Lazare is a good rebounder and can get some 2nd chance points. I think this team we'll do really well in a weak SEC.
Umm Anderson was gaurded by Tyrus almost the hole game. The only time I say Temple on him was a foul of 3 points
For the record, I do believe that Brady played the "bigger" line up a little yesterday. Lazare, Thomas and Davis. Lazare also played sparingly throughout the game. For a junior, I find myself actually disappointed with Lazare often. In yesterday's game, he was a relative non-factor. He picked up quick fouls, by playing lazy d, and then had difficulty amongst the bigger guys who where more athletic. He's 6-8 but I don't think he's nearly as explosive as Tyrus, he has a hard time elevating, and he doesn't work hard enough fundamentally on his positioning for rebounds. That said, I do think he's had some good games where when his confidence is on, he scores points (he could help us with the 14-16 foot jumpshot in this scheme) and is active. Yesterday just wasn't one of them. I'd like to see more of T.Mitch at 2 guard, as others have noted, which may lend itself to Lazare playing more, or even Chris Johnson at 3. Tasmin had a decent game yesterday slashing to the basket more so than his outside game, but at least he's fearless and taking it to the rack. Temple IS a decent defender, but MAN he cannot hit an outside shot consistently. I don't know if that was his game at U-High, but he got wide open looks at several threes that clanged off the sides of the rims. If I were him in the offseason, I would shoot hundreds of threes a day... If he can hit 40-50% of his threes, he will be a big help on this squad. As for the weak SEC, be careful not to pump up the Tigers too much. I generally agree with the statement b/c the league is YOUNG, but there are some teams that are dangerous. Florida is dangerous, young and big. Kentucky is down and vulnerable, but will toughen up in SEC play. Arkansas has the athletes to match us and might actually challenge for the West. Miss St., even though they've lost people, beat Arkansas by 2 yesterday. Alabama lost Davis yesterday, which will help our cause, but they'll still be tough. Youth and lack of guards will leave us vulnerable down the stretch in tight games. Although, bottom line is, I agree that a five loss season in the SEC is certainly achievable and leave us in the neighborhood of 19-10 or so season, which similar to last year, hopefully get us in. I'd say that since our only quality win is WVU and the "close losses" don't necessarily help our cause (although SOS does), we might need to really dominate the SEC West or have a nice SEC tourney run to ensure we get in.... :geauxtige
I'm just not going to buy the youth argument for Brady this year since much of the talent in the SEC is young as well. I think Florida is hands down the best team right now. Kentucky is down, but still will be good enough to challenge for the SEC title. Outside of those two teams, LSU is on par or better than the other teams with respect to talent level. This means it'll come down to coaching in many of the games. It's year 9 for Brady and it's time he shows he can beat the teams of equal talent. Our losses are probably @Arkansas, @Bama, and @Florida. UK is at home so this is a toss up. UT is home as well and should be a win. And we'll probably lose another game that we shouldn't. That's 4 or 5 losses that I see. Anything more than that will be a disappointment and time for Skip to make a decision on Brady.
