Horns vs KU

Roach is a liability. He needs another year of prime time pine and lots of quality practice proof before he gets these kinds of minutes against top #5 road opponents. He hasn't looked like a #34 recruit one time to me this season.
 
His perimeter defense is ****. This is one of those AAU pitfalls that's difficult for some recruits to overcome. It's a Catch-22. Coaches go on recruiting trips and make everything about the recruit seem like the sky's the limit, all the while knowing what horrid defense they're playing is going to come back to bite them.
 
Kansas has some lights out shooters. Our D shut down the wvu shooters, but ku is just better. Gotta give them credit.

And Ibeh cannot make a FT, which ku knows. So if it gets close, they just foul him like hack a shaq.
 
Wow... another forearm to the chest results in a blocking foul. Shaka's learning what it means to play at KU...

They really showed up to play, but the limitations of this team are really showing up down the stretch. It's a work in progress, and we're getting a lot of mileage out of the pieces we have. As someone said earlier, we're playing with found money on this road trip.

Let's see if we can get another run going here...
 
Yep, KU is making more baskets than Texas today. But not by many. Its a decent performance by the team, especially with all the minutes our freshmen had to play.
 
Texas was just very hot in the first half and cooled down. It happens. What's really unfortunate about the whole matter is that when that happens, you go with other options. And Texas is lacking depth when Cam is hurt and Cleare is out
 
The stretch in the 2nd half where we miss: 3 lay-ups, 2 open 3's, 3 or 4 FT's killed us. 10-12 points easy off the board.
 
Can't buy a basket when you need one, and refs know how to control a game....Not going to win any games with that crap....
 
txlandagent said:
And I'm officially going to hate on Roach until he gives me a reason not to.
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He's gotten more timid it seems to me. He isn't going hard to the hoop. He had two drives that could have resulted in dunks, but he tried a reverse layup, and floater and both missed. Even the announcer thought he was gonna dunk.

He'll get his groove back. A temporary freshman slump, imho.
 
Roach just looked a little frazzled the whole game. Real tentative efforts inside when he clearly has shown he has the elevation to throw some of those down. And then in the first half when he dribbled the ball off his foot and Smart had to put in Holland. Kid just needs to settle down, but that will definitely come with time.

Disappointing end to the game. But don't let it take away a very impressive effort by the Horns. I like to think that it could be the opposite result when the Jayhawks come into Austin on senior day, which will honor a pretty impressive class of seniors (Felix, Lammert, Holland & Ridley)
 
Holland and Yancy both play better D than Roach. They cut and get open more consistently. They're better with the ball and they're more efficient on conversion opportunities than Roach. Roach doesn't really do much well at this point. He's had a couple of good games and some ESPN highlights, but he is adding a net liability to the mix.
 
I think something must have happened between April and today regarding how Smart treats Yancy. I was convinced that Smart would come in and utilize Yancy's perimeter speed, average shooting, and his ability to create space in order to improve our guard play.

Instead, he lets Roach and Mack jack up shots and turn the ball over while Yancy is thrown a paltry couple of minutes in relief.

If Davis wasn't a baller, we'd be in deeper **** than I thought. I think having Ridley would change our style for the better, but that's a tall order at this point. I think we can either hope for a 10-or-11-seed in the NCAAs or just play for the NIT this year, and hit the reset button once Banks, Young, and Jones show up for 2017 practices this summer. We'll probably need to ink another transfer to play some type of F position as well.
 
I say cut Roach some slack; he's got a lot to learn and I'm sure he's working his butt off and trying his best. Roach is an awesome athlete and he just needs to catch up with Davis and Mack in his development. Davis is clearly the most developed with Mack second and Roach third. And, don't forget that Roach is learning how to be a point guard. If he was simply playing the 2 spot, I think that maybe he'd be a bit more developed at this point.

Todays game was a big stage and I think that both Roach and Mack were a bit overwhelmed by it. Not only did Roach struggle a bit, but Mack went 0-3 and looked a bit more like a freshman than he had in the previous several games. But, I'm sure that they'll both learn from this experience. Both of their play will likely pay dividends later this season and definitely will benefit next season. And, I think that both Roach and Mack will bounce back next game.

I'm happy with the way the team fought and did not give up; and a split during this two game road trip is nothing to be ashamed about. Next up is TCU and time to revenge that loss in the third game of the conference season. :bevo:
 
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I think Roach plays well in practice and gets a lot of minutes. I don't want to disparage the young man, but I think there are veterans that are contributing significantly more in games and they deserve the opportunity to continue to do that. Roach is not ready for prime time.
 
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Look at the efficiency numbers in the ut v wvu thread. Roach is a pretty good ways down the list. He is struggling with the transition to big time basketball, no doubt. Once he gets some seasoning and can allow his innate athleticism to flow naturally he is going to be something else. It may take another season or so before that happens though.
 
Sangre Naranjada said:
He is struggling with the transition to big time basketball, no doubt. Once he gets some seasoning and can allow his innate athleticism to flow naturally he is going to be something else.
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I think it has been Shaka's plan all season to give the freshmen lots of minutes in hopes of developing at this level while creating depth for the present season.

Davis is clearly more consistent and has developed more quickly than Mack or Roach. I am confident Mack and Roach will get there; the light will come on and it could be this season or next. Impossible to say until it happens. There is NO question in my mind that it will happen for these two very talented youngsters. :hookem2:
 
Sangre Naranjada said:
He is struggling with the transition to big time basketball, no doubt.
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I almost hate to term it like that - I'd say he's basically playing like a freshman. I think we get spoiled by some of the guys that step right into their college roles that we forget that it's still not easy for freshmen to come in and play at an average to high level - and there a bunch that don't.

The key for this team has always been that they needed one of those three freshmen to figure it out early - and I think Davis is mostly at that point. If Mack clicks it on consistently, this team all of a sudden becomes a pretty dangerous mid-seed tournament team.
 
Roach is averaging 16.6 minutes per game. That's more than Holland, and Yancy yet he has a lower 3Pt % AND FG% than Holland and Yancy respectively. Mack's stats are only marginally better than Roach, but, he's also averaging 2 less minutes a game. Roach is also leading the team in TO's with 36. 36. Taylor, who plays twice as many minutes per game, has 35.

We know Freshman are going to play like Freshman more often than not - and of course our expectations should never be too high. That said, when I see two upperclassmen doing more with less minutes, I question why it is in big games that I have to continue to watch one guy play like **** when we have better options. I don't doubt Roach will continue to improve, and maybe someday be a standout player; and if we hadn't seen examples of how capable of actually winning big games this team is, I'd be all for letting the guy play as much as possible. But we have a legitimate shot at making the NCAA tournament. I just don't think it makes sense to continue to rotate a substandard contributor consistently ahead of older, better players. Just my $0.02.
 
I think we should all acknowledge and appreciate Kerwin's contributions in the TCU victory. He and Ibeh were extremely pleasant surprises.
 
Sangre Naranjada said:
think we should all acknowledge and appreciate Kerwin's contributions in the TCU victory. He and Ibeh were extremely pleasant surprises.
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Agree 100%. Ibeh has come a long way. He stays on the floor now, i.e., doesn't collect silly fouls while playing tough defense in the paint. He is learning a few moves offensively to use the backboard to go along with his dunks.

A light has come on for Roach. He had a few turnovers last night that he will not make next month at this time. He seems to be calming down on the court and getting it. Smart obviously has done a great job with him. And I think Taylor deserves a lot of credit for mentoring both Roach and Davis. And Shaka deserves all the credit for building great chemistry this year.
 
caryhorn said:
Agree 100%. Ibeh has come a long way. He stays on the floor now, i.e., doesn't collect silly fouls while playing tough defense in the paint. He is learning a few moves offensively to use the backboard to go along with his dunks.

A light has come on for Roach. He had a few turnovers last night that he will not make next month at this time. He seems to be calming down on the court and getting it. Smart obviously has done a great job with him. And I think Taylor deserves a lot of credit for mentoring both Roach and Davis. And Shaka deserves all the credit for building great chemistry this year.
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I will hold off saying a light has come on for Roach. He had a great game. Once he strings a few of those types of games together, then I'll agree with you. Like I said before, it will happen for him. The only question is when. I hope what we saw last night was the beginning of "when".
 
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