This is why I was confused earlier in this thread. I had turned the channel to ESPNU instead of ESPN2, they had the re-broadcast of the Marquette vs Oklahoma State game so I was trying to figure out how the LSU game could possibly happen at the same time. I think TM is only out temporarily from what I understand?
Too many turnovers for sure. Need to improve the transition defense. So many times we would score and then ASU would break and catch us out of position. I lost count how many shots they made and drew the foul. I thought they were talking about Thornton being out for the season...I don't think they got good info if they said Tas.
There's two Thorntons on the team: Marcus and Quintin. I'm not sure what happened to him, but Quintin's arm has been in a sling since before the season started. Maybe clair would know.
First, watched the game... diSappointing, frustrating, invigorating and exciting all at the same time. There's a lot of interesting components to this team... a lot of athleticism and some interesting inside-out players. BUT, the talent is both young and unpolished. You can see glimpses of that raw talent from Marcus Thornton, Anthony Randolph and Chris Johnson. In MT and AR there's more NBA talent factor than we had last year with Big Baby... BUT, you could see how inexperience in a structured colllege game hurts Marcus (I don't know how many forced shots, lapses in defense and silly turnovers he had) and you could see how Anthony couldn't quite defend (other than the pure athletic, weak side block plays) and rebound against more solidly built college men. They are going to have to learn to defend in a way that allows them to use their length rather than rely on their bulk. I am amazed and encouraged though b/c you can now see what LSU could be with a legit PG. Wow... Bo Spencer was solid. Also inexperienced but he hit shots, brought the ball up quickly, could penetrate and dish and calmed down the offense. Garrett Green also surprisingly may be the most solid low post defender against low post muscle. Nice to also see Alex Farrer get some time. Terry Martin especially to me was disappointing today, and really we had "off games" from Marcus and CJ. After all of that, you know what actually kills us? Not really the rebounding (although that will be a key determining factor in our games this year... although in our games we've been +/- just a few boards of the other team in each of our games). It's the turnovers. For a team built around offensive players, we can't afford to turn over the ball so many times. It's not Bo Spencer either. It's Marcus Thornton, Terry Martin, Chris Johnson. These guys have to value the ball possessions. Fix that and we're going to be a potent team. You'd like to see this team apply more defensive pressure as well, but I wonder how hard guys like Terry Martin and MT are going to play that d if they're disinterested on offense. Also with a less deep team and no true defensive down low presence, we may see more creative zone usage and not as much pressure. Lastly, on the injuries. I hate to say it, but the Brady bug has bit again. Q. Thornton has a torn pectoral muscle from working out. HE's deciding whether to take a redshirt, b/c it's likely he'll be out several weeks. Tas' has tendinitis and maybe a torn something in his foot and may have a season affecting injury--they'll be evaluating when they get back to BR. It sounds a lot more serious than originally projected, b/c Tas' was hobbling around before the games. Lastly, D. Mason who would have given us some depth, also has a viral infection around his heart. That's three guys counted on for depth, and takes a relatively deep 9-10 man rotation down to 7. More minutes for Garrett Green and Alex Farrer, and a lot of minutes now for ARandolph and Chris Johnson. Welcome to the big league boys.... It's going to be a wild and crazy season, Tiger fans. :geaux: :bball: LSU IS A BASKETBALL SCHOOL. BE A FAN.
Okie and I are on I-10 coming from the new orleans airport and don't want to read 1000 posts for the score can we get it again. Thanks!
