WCU game

B

bierce

1,000+ Posts
Sloppy start. Some bad passes, some bad hands, some bad shots. Mason, Ward, Brown, is not a good starting combo.
 
Yeah, Bradley and Hamilton are too good.

Bradley gets things going with a couple of steals near mid court. Johnson now in and working well in close.
 
We will see a different starting lineup every game until conference play starts, thats just what Barnes does.

James has a terrible handle. I've seen way too many fast breaks ended by him turning the ball over b/c he tries to take it coast to coast instead of giving it up for a guard to handle it.

Hamilton is way to trigger happy early on, just as he was against UC-Irvine.
 
I think they return all 5 starters from last year. They also go 9-deep. Good challenge for this team early in the season.
 
Texas moving out, up by 11 with 8 minutes to go first half. James goes out for his first break after he went down for a loose ball and a WCU player on the ground swung a roundhouse kick at the ball and James. Thug move.

Hamilton making some dumb plays. Quick shots without a clear look, foul in the backcourt.

Johnson has looked very, very good. James still has problems with his hands.
 
Agree on Hamilton being trigger happy. Of all the players on the court, he appears to be pressing the most. Defense is not really his thing and he thinks he needs to make his mark on offense. He needs to let the game come to him and play with this team. The others will make him better.

With that said, there is a lot of talent on this team. I would hate to be an opposing guard. There are 4 guys that can be in your jock at any time.
 
And the team isn't working hard. Time for Johnson to come in.

Edit: So he did and the team shifted into a different gear.

Brown still making bad passes, but his defense is better than I expected.
 
WCU isn't the typical RPI 260 team that Texas schedules to go with the great OOC games. It had an RPI of 190 or so last year, but returned 6 of the top 7 guys in minutes played. I expect them to finish near the top of the Southern Conference and with an RPI around 120-140 or so.
 
Yeah, FT shooting is going to be one of the few weaknesses of this team. It almost looks like an afterthought to the team and in a close game that could be a big problem.
 
On a pace for less than 22 points in the second half, and I'm not praising the defense here. No offensive flow. There is a lot of hammering going on without foul calls, and Texas is missing a ton of FT, but the offense doesn't look good.
 
Small lineup. Three guards, Johnson and James.

And the guards are Mason, Ward, and Balbay. No shooters on the floor.
 
Wangmene with the soft touch on the FT. Lobs it up to land on the bridge and then roll in without bouncing.
 
The Bradley dunk was one of the sickest dunks I've ever seen in person. I was sitting on the opposite baseline, and from my vantage point, I didn't even CONSIDER that he could throw it down. I was expecting him to lay it up on the glass or dish to a big man and then BOOM! Explosive and with fury.

I had no idea that he had that in him.

I'm sure there are a lot of team with starting lineups that are just as good or better than us, but our depth is unreal. I don't think it's hyperbole at all to say you could divide this team in half and have two teams make the tourney as 4 or 5 seeds.

Agree with whoever said that we press too much and try for too many spectacular plays. Lots of pick and rolls where the ballhandler tried for a highlight reel alley-oop -- there seemed to be 5 or 6 lobs that were just completely unrealistic (e.g. to a big man who was still 11 feet from the rim or had his back turned).

FT shooting was horrid. One foul shot (Hamilton?) in the second half looked like it hit the backboard before it hit the rim. Awful.
 
Barnes hasn't found the right combinations yet, but that is to be expected. But what a group of talent. And Gary f'n Johnson! He's almost forgotten around the bigger names, having someone like that to come in off the bench? Not too shabby.
When this team starts to click, with great guard play, and a little bit more passing, should be something to see.
 
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