MBB Final: LA 76, UTA. 64

[SlickRick]

They definitely looked like a team that lost 6 seniors.

Our hustle on defense is making a big difference. Miller is working hard to rebound the ball better and it's showing. Russell had a poor shooting night. Davis was awesome. Wesley needs to shoot better. He doesn't have a go to shot. he cant go to the rim like Stroman. No mid range jump shot and rarely hits the 3.

We keep finding ways to score, but better defense is the difference maker. IMO.

[Boomer]

We won last night without Gant having to be the star. He scored 11, but Davis, Russell and Miller all had double digits too. That’s a good sign. Gant needs a break.

......Davis had what 3 in a row and some ringers in a previous game——that helps!

[zephyr]

The commentators last night were very good. You could tell they were experienced and they mentioned previously doing NBA and WNBA games. I loved the comparison of Miller to the 40 something guy with a knee brace who hangs out at the Y and can school all the young kids.

Russell and Wesley played well too. Russell found ways to score even though his 3s weren’t falling and Wesley ran the point well with 6 assists and only 1 turnover.

Ron Thulin man. I've always liked him and was excited when I saw he would be calling the game.

[zephyr]

When Malik went down Jay Walker said that the team would have to reinvent itself. Maybe they have done that. Took awhile but I guess that is not surprising considering he was a big part of what they did. Seems like guys have adopted to their roles and the coaches have adjusted how they play somewhat. Let's see if they can continue the good play of recent days on Saturday. JD stays hot like he was tonight and we have a shot. A loss won't kill us as we got the one we had to have tonight. I agree with the point that we should celebrate tonight and not worry about the disagreements about the program that some may have with each other. We can continue those discussions at a later date. Anytime you win a road conference it should put a smile on your face. It did to me.

Mike, defensively you may have something. On offense, I don't think we did anything different last night but make shots. We were on fire in the first half, particularly from 3 where our percentage was actually better than from 2. That won't happen often as you've seen with this team as we have guys that go hot and cold. Last year we had Bartley who we could always rely upon to hit shots, especially from the outside as he was so consistent. This year even our "shooters" have been hot and cold to say the least.

[zephyr]

They looked like the same team to me Mike. Jacking up 3s and giving up offensive rebounds cause they were busy looking for the fast break. This was long before we got out to a significant lead

They do not want to get out and fast break. They are not much of a transition team and have morphed into more of a deliberate team that focuses on defense.

[Million$Mullet]

They do not want to get out and fast break. They are not much of a transition team and have morphed into more of a deliberate team that focuses on defense.

Who? Us or them? Cause they were jacking shots up left and right when they weren’t making anything and continued to do so instead of running their deliberate offense. I don’t care what their scouting report said

[zephyr]

Who? Us or them? Cause they were jacking shots up left and right when they weren't making anything and continued to do so instead of running their deliberate offense. I don't care what their scouting report said

Them. Their coach has stated he has wanted to slow things down. They are the second best defensive team in the league. I do agree with you though that they likely want to slow it down as they are not a very good shooting team. In fact, percentage wise they are the worst shooting team in the league and more importantly, the lowest scoring team. I believe they've only scored over 80 only 4 times all year. I think many of the fast shots you saw last night were in large part due to us having a large lead. We put them in a position to have to put up more shots quicker in order to try to stage a comeback.

[Jacob81]

The only person I've seen bashing in this thread is you.

Bashing the haters!!!

[zephyr]

Bashing the haters!!!

Fight the good fight!

[VObserver]

Bashing the haters!!!

There are no haters who are regulars on this board. Some of us are just tired of mediocre basketball. Others are happy with beating up on the dregs of D1 basketball and calling it success.

We all love the program; just have a difference of opinion on coaching and scheduling.

[Jacob81]

There are no haters who are regulars on this board. Some of us are just tired of mediocre basketball. Others are happy with beating up on the dregs of D1 basketball and calling it success.

We all love the program; just have a difference of opinion on coaching and scheduling.

I’m with you. I fall in the middle currently. I want a more prestigious basketball program. Marlin should have gotten more accomplished to this point. Home Scheduling does suck.

But after hitting what looked like rock bottom, and personally feeling that marlin lost the team. They came out and played their best half on national TV against GSU and haven’t really let up since. I give credit to marlin, he could have easily lost this team and let them pack it in, credit the players for fighting through adversity. Credit the kid that washes the jock straps!!! Everyone involved has stepped up their game recently. I’m happy for this team, especially miller. You can see he loves the game and wants to win.

I started understanding miller at one of the games. At halftime they had Russell interviewing players on the team up on the video board. Russell was asking them, who on the team has the most swag. They all answer with who dressed the best, nicest jewelry, shoes, style.... miller was at the end. He said whoever makes a free throw to win a game or pulls a big rebound,” I just want to win games” and he was all business, didn’t crack a smile. It’s like he was upset they pulled him off the court to ask him a stupid question. He became one of my guys after that.

[Cajunsmike]

Mike, defensively you may have something. On offense, I don't think we did anything different last night but make shots. We were on fire in the first half, particularly from 3 where our percentage was actually better than from 2. That won't happen often as you've seen with this team as we have guys that go hot and cold. Last year we had Bartley who we could always rely upon to hit shots, especially from the outside as he was so consistent. This year even our "shooters" have been hot and cold to say the least.

Agree that our shooters are hot and cold which is why we have been inconsistent. Defensively, we are much better because we have turned the ball over much less.

[Cajunsmike]

There are no haters who are regulars on this board. Some of us are just tired of mediocre basketball. Others are happy with beating up on the dregs of D1 basketball and calling it success.

We all love the program; just have a difference of opinion on coaching and scheduling.

There are also some of us who think focusing on the coaching staff is pointless. We all know the shortcomings and strengths. However what we think, either positive or negative, is meaningless as it is obvious the administration thinks highly of them. That remains the case despite what 20 people post on a message board. I do understand that negative posts after disappointing losses is a form of venting which is a benefit these boards provide and that will never change. When I say administration it means a lot more than the AD office. It goes all the way to the President and there are several people in between. I understand that when enough people stop paying attention things can change. We are not nearly at that stage yet. In fact, we have had roughly 5000 with good energy at the last two games which is a rarity for mid major teams these days.

[Hatch]

I’m with you. I fall in the middle currently. I want a more prestigious basketball program. Marlin should have gotten more accomplished to this point. Home Scheduling does suck.

But after hitting what looked like rock bottom, and personally feeling that marlin lost the team. They came out and played their best half on national TV against GSU and haven’t really let up since. I give credit to marlin, he could have easily lost this team and let them pack it in, credit the players for fighting through adversity. Credit the kid that washes the jock straps!!! Everyone involved has stepped up their game recently. I’m happy for this team, especially miller. You can see he loves the game and wants to win.

I started understanding miller at one of the games. At halftime they had Russell interviewing players on the team up on the video board. Russell was asking them, who on the team has the most swag. They all answer with who dressed the best, nicest jewelry, shoes, style.... miller was at the end. He said whoever makes a free throw to win a game or pulls a big rebound,” I just want to win games” and he was all business, didn’t crack a smile. It’s like he was upset they pulled him off the court to ask him a stupid question. He became one of my guys after that.

I saw that same clip at halftime of one of the games on ESPN+ and really liked Millers answer. I’ve kind of always had that impression of him. When he first signed I started looking for video on him and found this interview from when he won the Kentucky State Championship as a senior, he was named MVP of that tournament.

https://youtu.be/4O74H3vO-BQ

[zephyr]

Agree that our shooters are hot and cold which is why we have been inconsistent. Defensively, we are much better because we have turned the ball over much less.

Mike, turnovers affect your transition defense but our problems were in the half court during our dark stretch. I don't see a huge correlation in less turnovers and our ability to stay in front of our man and contest shots.