Air Force

[Globetrotter]

Excited to see we won and that we battled.

Lots of mistakes
-Shot way too early on the shot clock too often
-Very bad shot selection throughout
-Almost no movement on offense

Those things for competent coaches are very easy to fix.

My lineup if I had control.

1-
2-Curtis
3-Ayers
4-
5-Agee

1) Curtis: He's our best player despite what everyone has mentioned. His shot selection is often unwise and rushed. Many people here have called it hero ball. Refined he is an all MAC player. A coach should be able to slow him way down. Slowed down and efficient he could be a bonafide star. He played 32 minutes in game 1. 2 years left of eligibility
2) Agee: He is a super fun player. Aggressive, active, strong and dictates things in the post. I bet he will average 13-8. 26 mins in game 13 years left of eligibility
3) Ayers: He runs the floor exceptionally well. He has length and can score but his shot selection left a lot to be desired. 16-7 in 27 mins 1 year left of eligibility
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If those are your top 3 players all 6-4 and above, you have length and scoring. What you could probably use the most would be a stretch 4, who can defend and a PG who can control the offense, push things and play defense.

PG-2 options
4) Metheny: He's aggressive and plays under control, can get an offense settled if we ran one. He is undersized, can't finish at the basket and his shot is broken. He played 29 minutes, scored 3 pts (1-8 shooting), 1asst, 3 TOs. 3 years left of eligibility
5) Lightfoot: Lightning quick, strong, looks the part. 11 minutes, 3pts (1-3 shooting), 2asst, 3 TOs 4 years left of eligibility

This will be a race. Can Metheny settle himself before Lightfoot matures. Both can be what this team needs. I think you obviously start the 3 year veteran over the rookie but a mature Lightfoot is exactly what the team needs. If Metheny plays like a field general who is the 4th scoring option maybe he can be that but he is pressing way to much.

PF-3 options
6) Turner: Motor is excellent, he has put in his dues. 2pts 3 rbs in 16 minutes in the opener. 37% on 3s last year2 years left of eligibility
7) Towns: 6-9, had 6 or more boards 3 times in 43 games at OU....then has 6 in 21 minutes in game one. I assumed he wouldn't contribute but he might be the primary backup at the 4 and 5. Doesn't seem to be able to shoot 3s well to stretch things though 3 years left of eligibility
8) O'Neal: 6-7, Lost 40 pounds and has really improved. Has nice touch around the hoop and can bang with anyone. Poor on D. Limited to 5 minutes in the opener after getting some quick fouls. No idea what role he has. Might be the kind of player to play early and if he can't get going not see the floor. Game doesn't really compliment Agee's very well. 1 year left of eligibility

If you could combine Turners motor, with Towns height and O'Neals offensive game....and give them shot blocking ability....you'd have the perfect 4. As is I would start Turner. He can impact the game without needing to score.

1-Metheny/Lightfoot
2-Curtis
3-Ayers
4-Turner-Towns-O'Neal
5-Agee
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9) Mills: Had a really rough year with us last year after scoring a bunch in his first stop. Started a bunch last year and played the 5th most amount of minutes in the opener. 4 rebs and 3 points in the opener and looked much better overall. Settled and efficient. 2 years left of eligibility

1-Metheny (29) /Lightfoot (11)
2-Curtis (32) - Mills (24)
3-Ayers (27)
4-Turner (16) - Towns (21) - O'Neal (5)
5-Agee (26)

10) Elsasser (9): Put up 5 points in 9 minutes. Didn't look terrible out there. I don't understand how he is playing so much. How is it possible he's our 9th best player?

11) Diarra: 6-11...assumed he wouldn't be much after averaging almost nothing in juco....then got 5 rebounds in 9 minutes in the exhibitions and certainly didn't look out of place....and then hasn't played.

12) Felt: Probably redshirting due to a knee injury?
13) McCombs: Probably redshirting because we have good depth there?

[BPardonMyTake]

Single game +/- is largely meaningless, IMO. I think it's a useful stat over the course of a larger sample size, but I wouldn't read too much into last night.

Lightfoot's rating was probably largely about coming into the game in the 1st half after we were getting shredded early. His entry coincided with O'Neal & Matheny leaving the game. We DEFINITELY defended better in the 1st half from that point forward, but I'm not sure how much of it I'd attribute to his presence. Maybe some, but realistically it was the interior on cuts that was getting killed early on.

Pardon's synopsis above is pretty spot on, IMO. The only thing I'd say, because I seem to be so pessimistic about this team anymore, is I'm very skeptical that Ayers & Curtis are actually talented enough around the rim to finish as effectively as they did last night. Most of their drives just looked like out of control prayers that got answered at a reasonably high clip last night (To me). Off balance bank shots, up & unders, etc...all against a far less athletic defense around the rim. If they prove capable of making circus shots at the rim all season against MAC competition I'll live with them just lowering their heads and attacking the rim, but I'd still much rather see actual ball movement.

I definitely agree though that buckling down on defense and turning the game into a slopfest is probably our best path to winning. I cringed a bit when Huger was talking postgame about us wanting to play more possession games. On the one hand I get it, our best bet to scoring is transition rather than grinding out possessions, but on the other hand I feel games with more possessions generally favor the better team in the end. I suspect we'll end up with a better record in slower games played in the 60s than we will in faster games in the 80s this year.

Hammb--from what you saw in one game. What would be your ideal starting 5/ general rotation? I'm honestly ok with what we rolled out there Monday. I would hope we get more from Gabe than what we got from swingle but I could see him being Swingle-esque in the sense of he starts most games but only ends up logging 10-14 minutes pending on game flow and turner ends up finishing most nights with 20+ minutes.

I think you're about right. I'm not a fan of seeing Elsasser okay so much but he's also not the worst guy we play so whatever.

I'm not sure where O'Neal fits in D1. Slimming down is great but he's still very limited athletically. Couldn't move his feet enough for AF's cuts and they were not an athletic team. Gabe's touch around the rim is great but to me he looks like a D2 star, just too limited by athleticism to really play in D1. I'm sure he'll have some good nights but I think swingles role could be where he ends up.

I've kept waiting to see that shooting touch from Mathe y again but still waiting. If he's not a 40% guy from 3 then I hope like hell lightfoot earns his time. Kaden cannot finish at the rim in D1 and his defense is meh at best. Right now he's a shooter that can't shoot.

Agee and Curtis are the only 2 guys I'm comfortable penciling in for 25+ mpg this year. If Ayers keeps playing well then he'll get that many as well. The rest of this crew could come down to just trying to find and ride out a hot hand. Hopefully lightfoot can develop into 20+ mpg by the tournament time. Matheny would be much better as a bench piece. I can't believe I'm saying it, mostly a testament to this roster, but at this point playing Elsasser for 5-10mpg isn't the worst idea.

the O'neal assessment is spot on and man I can't believe I'm saying this but I think I'm with you on Elsasser too. Strikes me as lower ceiling Matt Fox. Just a guy that's been in the system for a while, won't kill you on defense, and a decent spot up shooter.


I'm legitimately excited to see how we match up with Oakland tomorrow. As long as I'm still looking forward to watching games, I'm content. Not sure that'll be the case all season but we're still going strong here after game 1 lol