Balbay Babay!!

D

DVPMD

500+ Posts
Great game from DB tonight. Huge plays in clutch minutes. Horns Up!
hookem.gif
 
I've seen posters get down on this team, but those posters haven't a clue as to how much room this team has to grow. Balbay showed some great stuff tonight and over the last few games Dexter and Gary Johnson are starting to light it up. Conner even seems to be waking up.

If this team can keep growing, there's no reason they can't reach at least Sweet 16, and probably FF. Lots of upside here.
 
Amazing what a win will do for some of the posters on this board! This team WILL grow. Most of them have under Barnes during Big 12 play and will finish strong as the back court continues to improve. Good win tonight!
 
FF? easy. great game against an average wisconsin squad but Balbay, Gary and James came up huge...especially Balbay on D, as usual.

hookem.gif
 
Man was I impressed with this kid tonight. He helped us win that game at the end with his hustle and determination.
hookem.gif
 
I kept waiting for him to take it to the rim for one of those legendary slams that I've heard about on a couple of clear outs late in the game. A great contribution nonetheless.
 
The biggest problem will be shooting. Mason, Ward and Balbay will need to start hitting some of those open shots. They were a combined 3-14 and 5-19 if you include Atchley. One or two of them will need to come around if we are to make a run.
 
Great game for Balbay... but I need to see him perform like that in two back-to-back games before I feel more comfortable with him.
 
all i'm trying to say is great game from a young guy with not much experience. great hustle made the difference in the game, like running across the court to chase down that long rebound in the corner. i look forward to more great play; hopefully that type of hustle is contagious and mason and james already play that way. keep it up guys.
 
I was sitting there wondering why we play him so much, and he exploded for several great plays there near the end of the game when we needed them the most. I'll leave the coaching to Coach Barnes-apparently Balbay has great potential.
 
not bashing b/c Barnes is my favorite coach on the 40 acreas but is anyone else concerned about our end of game coaching these last 2 games?

I know Barnes has never been an offensive minded coach but come on. The last minute against msu was atrocious and we did the same thing this game with Abrams pounding the ball, trying to create something.

Against msu it was an awful shot by Mason. This game, without a huge offensive rebound and a lucky bank, wisky gets the ball back with 30 seconds left and only down one...how bout call or run a play toward the end?

either way, great road win no matter what.
hookem.gif
 
either way, I believe balbay is essential to any postseason run hopes we have. He seems to be a true pg and those are in short supply. Hopefully he can grow enough this yr for Damion and Conner to see the fruits...
 
I like Balbay, and I agree that he has a lot of potential, but he needs to develop some offensive ability to be effective. Once we get into conference play, our opponents will know that they don't need to respect him on the offensive end, and we'll end up playing 4 on 5 on offense. Whether it's jump shots or drives, he needs to be somewhat of a scoring threat.
 
The one thing I'll say about Balbay is that he's shown he has the ability to score. He was the leading scorer for his Turkish national team, and he scored for Brewster Academy during his year there.

In the halfcourt, at his best, he's been the Turkish Gottlieb for Texas this year. That's not alll bad. Gottlieb was tremendous for OSU. His senior year they played one of the most exciting games in the tournament only to lose to Florida in the Elite Eight. Still, in other settings Balbay has shown he's capable of more. Just as he's improved as the year has gone on, and looks less and less mechanical, I hold out hope we'll see more of him actually knocking down shots --- even as horrible as he's looked with his shot attempts to this point, and how allergic to putting the ball up he's seemed to this point. But we'll see.
 
Unfortunately, this isn't Turkey or high school. Until he shows that he's an offensive threat here, at this level, he won't get any respect from defenses, and therefore won't take any pressure off AJ, James, Johnson, etc. Do you really think Capel, Turgeon, Drew, or any other Big 12 coach cares how many points he scored in Turkey after the lack of offense he's shown in the first half of the season?
 
I can't figure out why Dogus has such trouble with his layups. His first instinct is to double clutch and toss up a ball that knuckles. It looks like he's sensing pressure that isn't there.

I'm hoping the game continues to 'slow down' for him and that he makes driving to the basket a high-percentage play
 
Dog will do alright at the PG. He has played against international players and held his own against some pretty good guards and teams.

The truth of the matter is that when he gets some more minutes he will not only get better but will be very good for a young kid having only played 12 D-1 games.
Look at how the team moves when Dog is pushing the ball and getting everyone a touch. Dog makes the passes that the team needs to score points, the team is sharper and plays with a lot of energy when Dog is handling the ball.

Give the kid some slack, he is getting better in a tough system that Barnes teaches and he has the ability to be a very good PG. Let him get some success under his jock and when he gets comfortable just watch what he is capable of doing.
 
rtw21, your ability to consistently misinterpret my posts and take my points completely out of context baffles me.

skymonkeyhorn, you and I are seeing the same thing. Balbay brings the ball up much more quickly than anyone else, and once in the halfcourt he's the best at getting the ball to teammates where they can do something with it. As I pointed out above, Gottlieb led a formidable OSU team to an Elite Eight, and finished #1 in the nation in assists for a couple of years in a row while looking like he couldn't make anything more difficult than an open layup.

I do agree the team would get much better if Balbay could knock down some shots. He doesn't need to be a perimeter assassin, but I would like to see him use his midrange game and show his ability to attack the basket. My belief is that if he keeps getting playing time --- and he should, simply based on how he's been performing on both sides of the court lately --- he'll continue to show more of the positive aspects of his game.

I'll say this. Outside of Balbay, Texas lacks players who can successfully initiate and execute screen and rolls.
 
SLX, please enlighten me on what I have misinterpreted or taken out of context. If you're referring to wulawhorn's thread, "Props to AJ Abrams", are you claiming that you didn't originally say that you were excited about AJ leaving, and that it would be "addition by subtraction", because that's an exact quote from your post before it was edited. Only after I called you out on it did you attempt to change what you were saying. Luckily, another poster saw it before it was edited and quoted you on it.
As for this thread, I merely said for Balbay to truly be effective for THIS TEAM, he needs to show that he can be an offensive threat, or he won't take any defensive pressure off of our scorers, and we'll be playing 4 on 5 on the offensive end. You instantly replied that Balbay has shown the ability to score, in Turkey and in high school. I then said that until he shows the ability to score at this level, the Big 12 coaches won't respect him as an offensive threat.

I don't have anything against Balbay--I don't think he's selfish, I'm not gonna say we'll be better when he's gone--I just think he needs to show himself as an offensive threat at this level to be truly effective for this team.
 
Balby, mason, abrams, johnson and pittman cannogt all be on the floor together. That leaves us with just one outside shooter that is never going to get left and a bunch of guys that can't shoot from distance.

I want to see dog play with Atchley, Abrams, Johnson and Chapman maybe. Still not great shooters, but better and should open up the spacing for him to maybe get to the rack.

We can't have thatg few shooters out on the court and expect to score imo.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Weekly Prediction Contest

* Predict HORNS-AGGIES *
Sat, Nov 30 • 6:30 PM on ABC

Recent Threads

Prediction Results Threads

2024 Schedules

Back
Top