Ay-Ziggy-Zoomba.com

Falcons led by three with just over a minute left, and had a shot to win it in regulation and missed....then UTSA shelled us in OT.

Thomas and Brown ARE the reason we lost that game. Their stat line is even better than how they played. Stats just show offense, doesn't show how many times they also got beat off the dribble. I don't like calling people out but our upper classmen need to step it up and be more consistent.

gmartin wrote:Thomas and Brown ARE the reason we lost that game. Their stat line is even better than how they played. Stats just show offense, doesn't show how many times they also got beat off the dribble. I don't like calling people out but our upper classmen need to step it up and be more consistent.

Did you see the game?

Yes I did watch the game. I counted 17 times where our guards were either flat footed, overplayed or were simply out of position. Brown and Thomas were forcing shots. Everytime we took a step forward and got close we took two steps back. Our play from what should be our team leaders have been so inconsistent. And from another thread it appears I am not the only one. I have missed only watching one game this season and I have yet to see two games in a row where we have played consistent except consistently poor.

gmartin wrote:Yes I did watch the game. I counted 17 times where our guards were either flat footed, overplayed or were simply out of position. Brown and Thomas were forcing shots. Everytime we took a step forward and got close we took two steps back. Our play from what should be our team leaders have been so inconsistent. And from another thread it appears I am not the only one. I have missed only watching one game this season and I have yet to see two games in a row where we have played consistent except consistently poor.

G, I'm with you about Brown and Thomas, (although I think we should leave Oglesby out it). Thomas is a very good, well-rounded ROLE player. He just isn't the type of guy to put a team on his back. Whether it's due to coaching or Thomas himself, he doesn't seem to have the same game-to-game mettle that a guys like John Reimold did. I don't mean this harshly.

It's getting harder and harder to accept the playing time decisions. Brown is consistently under-delivering in every aspect, yet he continues to get major minutes. It's clear that Brown is not going to lead us into the post-season. We should be using Brown's minutes to groom Clarke,Orr, and Sealey, all of whom are far more capable. It's even harder to watch as Oglesby rides the bench. He's the only tough minded, consistent front-liner we have. Maybe now that he holds a freaking NCAA record he'll get the major minutes he deserves.

Calhoun's lack of consistency is also an issue. He's not a senior, but he's the one player we should be able to depend on as a goto guy, and he hasn't been anything close to that.

gmartin wrote:Yes I did watch the game. I counted 17 times where our guards were either flat footed, overplayed or were simply out of position. Brown and Thomas were forcing shots. Everytime we took a step forward and got close we took two steps back. Our play from what should be our team leaders have been so inconsistent. And from another thread it appears I am not the only one. I have missed only watching one game this season and I have yet to see two games in a row where we have played consistent except consistently poor.

Was it on tV?

It was streamed online and I paid to watch the game just like I pay to watch all the other away games I cannot attend. I have missed a total of 7 games in 3 years watching the game either in person, on tv, or online. Fortunately our Colts game was away so I watched that on Sunday ticket and watched the second half after the BG game. BG has the talent to compete with anyone in our league but we need to learn how to put it together. We can never play a full game. Just look at how we start most of our gsmes, in a whole and always fighting back. When we play a good first half, we start the second half like crap, case and point, MSU game. And Sunday when we fought back Brown and Thomas had 5 horrible possessions on offense, and 3 bad possessions on defense. Personally I think Coach Orr has to much of a laid back approach. I don't know what goes on in practice as I am too far away to attend a practice but at the games Coach Orr, to me, lacks enthusiasm and urgency and I believe that passes down to the players. I would love to see a feisty and enthusiastic coach on the sidelines. Coach Orr and Coach Miller have two different types of coaching styles, one calm and relaxed, one with passion and anger. I think the results speak for themselves.

I couldn't agree more with the assessment of Coach Orr. If BG had natural leaders on the court, his calm approach would probably work better, This team still does not. Nate Miller was a natural leader. He took over a team in the second half of Orr's second season and won a MAC regular season title. Since then, good talent, but no real leaders. Combine that with Orr's laid back approach and IMO you have what you have. The team that beat Temple, and the team that no showed at Western Kentucky. This staff is mediocre defined. Oh, and adding a knock down 3-point shooter would be really nice as well.

Interesting takes. I think this team is the most talented team we have had since Brandon-McLeod-Matela. Hopefully he is the right man for the job. I am pretty lukewarm on him as a coach but definitely wish he was a bit more outwardly passionate. Love getting some insight from someone who watches so many games.

I think passion is a positive but anger not so much. I remember some awful high school coaches who would have just been awful to play for.

This team lacks a guy like Martin Samarco...a guy who can just go nuts and drill 3's in bunches.

I don't think this team is any more talented than a number of teams we've had recently. The team we had when Almanson and Reimold were seniors would drill this team.

Flipper wrote:This team lacks a guy like Martin Samarco...a guy who can just go nuts and drill 3's in bunches.

I don't think this team is any more talented than a number of teams we've had recently. The team we had when Almanson and Reimold were seniors would drill this team.

I think its the most athletic and has the most potential. A ton of teams had great individual players, this one seems pretty deep with a ton of guys that are fun to go out and watch

Globetrotter wrote:

Flipper wrote:This team lacks a guy like Martin Samarco...a guy who can just go nuts and drill 3's in bunches.

I don't think this team is any more talented than a number of teams we've had recently. The team we had when Almanson and Reimold were seniors would drill this team.

I think its the most athletic and has the most potential. A ton of teams had great individual players, this one seems pretty deep with a ton of guys that are fun to go out and watch

Agreed. I think this team is far more athletic than any we've had in the past 5-7 years.

I also don't think any team needs a Martin Samarco. He was a me first player who put up tons of shots. Sure he'd go nuts every once in awhile and have a great game, but it was just as common that he'd take 20 shots to get his points. He was the typical "I'm gonna get mine" type that never seemed to care about whether or not it was best for the team.

This team DOES have one player who is never afraid to get and take his own shots in Calhoun. It also has an athletic center in Oglesby, and a more technical center in Black. It has athleticism at the 3 in Sealey, and it has the more consistent all around production from the 3 in Thomas.

Unfortunately what this team doesn't have is decent guard play...like every other freaking team we've fielded for the past 10 years. And unfortunately you just can't win college basketball games with crap guard play...which is what we get from at least one of the guard spots on an every game basis. Basically we've got 1) A jitterbug PG who doesn't see the floor well and has no jumpshot. Occasionally he looks great, but usually he's inconsistent at best. 2) A SG that can't defend, can't pass, can't create his own shot and only occasionally is a good shooter. He can go off for 20, but just as likely to finish with under 5. 3) A SG that can do NOTHING of worth on the offensive end, but is a good defender. 4) A group of young guards who look athletic but for whatever reason haven't played enough for us to really know what they can bring to the table.

It's the same crap I've been preaching here since Ronald Lewis left. We don't have good enough guard play to win in the MAC. This year was supposed to be the year that maybe that changed with some youngsters coming in that could do some things others haven't been able to, but until they start getting consistent minutes who knows. I think what pains me more than anything is that we haven't been able to bring in a single worthwhile PASSER since Brandon Pardon graduated. It's really quite pathetic.

I think that's spot on. I don't know if there has been a year since Orr took over where I didn't ask, "Why isn't INSERT NAME HERE playing more?" Sealy, Clarke etc. etc. Guys get in, show really well and then don't play consistently. Orr and Clarke have both shown flashes of being pretty good. I think Orr probably has a Thomas like ceiling of very good contributor but never a star while Clarke, for all that I know of him (which is not much and I do have my huge internal bias of wanting this to be right) has a ceiling of All MAC player.

The best MAC teams I can remember of late have been loaded with interchangeable guards who can hurt you. Akron and Kent seems to always have an endless bench of athletic guys who cause tons of problems on Defense and keep the tempo going on offense.

Samarco wasn't so much "me first " as "who else?"....

It's a fine line to walk...but I tend to set some distinctions between "athleticism" and athletic ability as it relates to basketball. I agree we have some guys with some athleticism...I not convinced it's going to translate. It's like in baseball...Daniel Schlereth has the ability to throw a baseball 95+ MPH. It remains to be seen if he can throw it past a major league hitter...or close enough to the plate to know if he can throw it past a major league hitter....