Nice start to the basketball season

[ellitor 33,087]

I did some digging this morning and figured out this is the first time AU started the season 3-0, winning all 3 games by at least 17 points since 98-99 season. That team won the SEC regular season title & was a #1 seed in the NCAA Tourney.

Now I am in no way saying this team is as good as the 98-99 team but I thought that was an interesting & fun early parallel to note.

[gravejd 3,270]

I wonder how the competition we have played this year so far compares to that season? I'll give 2 internet points to wants to take a stab at that one

I don't THINK this team has a ceiling that can compare to that team but we'll see. That team didn't have a lot of holes. But enjoying the start to the season for sure. We officially have a basketball team again in my eyes and we'll see what they can do as the year goes on. But i'm starting to slowly think we can hope for more than NIT. Not saying we should expect NCAA but maybe we can maybe hope for it. I was thinking that was out of reach prior to the season but i'm seeing more out of this team early than i was expecting. We struggled shooting the ball pretty bad the last 2 games and still won comfortably. I was not expecting that to be possible...

[JwgreDeux 1,279]

Hard to draw many conclusions about how our season will end at this point, but I think there are some conclusions we can draw at this point: 

1. This team is going to play defense, especially on the perimeter, which will keep us in games on bad offensive nights. 

2. This team can get scoring from multiple places. We can shoot outside, and have multiple guys that can break defenders down and score the ball. That is huge over the course of a season as guys will  have bad nights. 

3. This team is small but athletic. Opposing bigs are going to get theirs, but if we can limit everyone else on the floor we can win. A post player scoring 20 isn't a death nail by itself. 

4. This team is young and will make mistakes and go through lulls at times. 

5. This team is deep. Kinda related to number 2 above, but we are legitimately 10 deep, and could probably play one or two more if forced to. 

I don't think we are in for any surprises from here on out, as far as seeing something in this team we haven't already gotten a glimpse of (good and bad). 

 

[tigeraddikt 1,600]

On 11/18/2016 at 0:44 PM, gravejd said:

I wonder how the competition we have played this year so far compares to that season? I'll give 2 internet points to wants to take a stab at that one

I don't THINK this team has a ceiling that can compare to that team but we'll see. That team didn't have a lot of holes. But enjoying the start to the season for sure. We officially have a basketball team again in my eyes and we'll see what they can do as the year goes on. But i'm starting to slowly think we can hope for more than NIT. Not saying we should expect NCAA but maybe we can maybe hope for it. I was thinking that was out of reach prior to the season but i'm seeing more out of this team early than i was expecting. We struggled shooting the ball pretty bad the last 2 games and still won comfortably. I was not expecting that to be possible...

First 3 games of 98-99 were against 1.) SE Louisiana (114-60 shellacking); 2.) Florida A&M (94-47 drubbing); 3.) Central Florida (77-42 pounding). Three schools out of the gate that were held to an average of 50 points with an average margin of victory of 45 points (avg score for three games is 95-50). What sticks out to me is opponents' average score. This year's AU team is nowhere near that team, but they may be just as talented, if not more so. Just young talent. What sticks out to me about the 1998-99 squad was the immediate and enduring chemistry they played with. In fact, when they were pre-season #1 going into the 1999-2000 campaign, it was my freshman year at AU and although they had a really solid year, they had nowhere near the chemistry that year than the previous. All around campus you could hear people saying, "Wow, so Bryant Smith meant THAT much to the team last year..."

In 1998-99 Florida A&M was overall 12-19 and scored 72.6 ppg; for Central Florida it was an overall record of 19-10, scoring 72.7 ppg. SE Louisiana's final record was 6-20 that season, and they scored 68.6 ppg. FAMU actually went to the NCAA tourney as MEAC conference tournament champion. They got drilled by Duke first round. 

Georgia State has lost to us and beaten an NAIA team by 42 so far this year, so that tells us nothing. North Florida lost to Miami by 38 pts, with a victory over an NAIA school by 36. Eastern KY beat IUPUI by 10, lost to UNC Wilmington in OT by 9, and lost to us last night. If anything it is likely that E. Kentucky might be about as good this year as UCF was in 1998-99. I'm not sure how to project the other two, not that it matters. Either way, 1998-99 was magical; a similar run would set up for next year or the next, with the foundation being laid this year.

[ellitor 33,087]

52 minutes ago, JwgreDeux said:

Hard to draw many conclusions about how our season will end at this point, but I think there are some conclusions we can draw at this point: 

1. This team is going to play defense, especially on the perimeter, which will keep us in games on bad offensive nights. 

2. This team can get scoring from multiple places. We can shoot outside, and have multiple guys that can break defenders down and score the ball. That is huge over the course of a season as guys will  have bad nights. 

3. This team is small but athletic. Opposing bigs are going to get theirs, but if we can limit everyone else on the floor we can win. A post player scoring 20 isn't a death nail by itself. 

4. This team is young and will make mistakes and go through lulls at times. 

5. This team is deep. Kinda related to number 2 above, but we are legitimately 10 deep, and could probably play one or two more if forced to. 

I don't think we are in for any surprises from here on out, as far as seeing something in this team we haven't already gotten a glimpse of (good and bad). 

 

Especially if we get a nice 6' 10" Christmas present in a month or so.

[AuburnNTexas 7,140]

Like everybody I like a lot of what I see and I have concerns about other things. Last night Dunans was forcing it to much he got into the lane a bunch of times where if he had just pulled up he would have had an easy shot but instead he got in to deep and had to try and make a tougher shot. I have seen Purifoy do the same thing in other games. We don't block out on the boards as well as we need to especially with the size of this team.  We don't move as well without the ball as we should especially against a zone. Weak on FT's.

That is it for the bad stuff. Tremendous effort from every player, we play hard on D, we press we wear teams down, we have multiple scorers. One game it is Brown, another Harper, laat night Herron and Purifoy. Dunans is capable of a big game, Lang can shoot, The two bigs are helping on D especially protecting the rim sometimes that hurts them on the boards, We have two very very good PGs as Johnson showed last night.

We find ways to score even when we are not hitting our shots.  Now I want us to improve ball movement and have the players play hard but relaxed so as not to get to excited and make bad plays. All doable as the season goes on.  I can't wait to see how we do against some of the better teams we will be facing soon.

 

Cole you have one of the better BB minds on this board what is your opinion so far?

[gravejd 3,270]

2 hours ago, tigeraddikt said:

First 3 games of 98-99 were against 1.) SE Louisiana (114-60 shellacking); 2.) Florida A&M (94-47 drubbing); 3.) Central Florida (77-42 pounding). Three schools out of the gate that were held to an average of 50 points with an average margin of victory of 45 points (avg score for three games is 95-50). What sticks out to me is opponents' average score. This year's AU team is nowhere near that team, but they may be just as talented, if not more so. Just young talent. What sticks out to me about the 1998-99 squad was the immediate and enduring chemistry they played with. In fact, when they were pre-season #1 going into the 1999-2000 campaign, it was my freshman year at AU and although they had a really solid year, they had nowhere near the chemistry that year than the previous. All around campus you could hear people saying, "Wow, so Bryant Smith meant THAT much to the team last year..."

In 1998-99 Florida A&M was overall 12-19 and scored 72.6 ppg; for Central Florida it was an overall record of 19-10, scoring 72.7 ppg. SE Louisiana's final record was 6-20 that season, and they scored 68.6 ppg. FAMU actually went to the NCAA tourney as MEAC conference tournament champion. They got drilled by Duke first round. 

Georgia State has lost to us and beaten an NAIA team by 42 so far this year, so that tells us nothing. North Florida lost to Miami by 38 pts, with a victory over an NAIA school by 36. Eastern KY beat IUPUI by 10, lost to UNC Wilmington in OT by 9, and lost to us last night. If anything it is likely that E. Kentucky might be about as good this year as UCF was in 1998-99. I'm not sure how to project the other two, not that it matters. Either way, 1998-99 was magical; a similar run would set up for next year or the next, with the foundation being laid this year.

2 points for you! Thanks for the info

[bigbird 60,506]

To me, the offense looks stagnant a little too often. A lot of standing around and watching one-on-one matchup. When they get the ball moving they look very good.

[AU64 10,122]

Watched a bit of the Ga State -Purdue game where they got nailed by the BIG refs...fouled out three starters and Purdue scored final 20 points I think it was to win by about 6 or 7 points.   JMO but made that win over GS look a bit better.

 

 

[AUGoo 2,659]

22 hours ago, ellitor said:

Especially if we get a nice 6' 10" Christmas present in a month or so.

?

[augolf1716 21,109]

3 hours ago, AUGoo said:

?

Mr Wiley

[AUGoo 2,659]

Didn't realize he might be an EE

[tigeraddikt 1,600]

2 hours ago, AUGoo said:

Didn't realize he might be an EE

Wow he must be smart. That's a difficult degree choice.

[ellitor 33,087]

10 hours ago, tigeraddikt said:

Wow he must be smart. That's a difficult degree choice.

[AUGoo 2,659]

12 hours ago, tigeraddikt said:

Wow he must be smart. That's a difficult degree choice.

I know.

Right?

[younggun 14]

On 11/18/2016 at 0:44 PM, gravejd said:

I wonder how the competition we have played this year so far compares to that season? I'll give 2 internet points to wants to take a stab at that one

I don't THINK this team has a ceiling that can compare to that team but we'll see. That team didn't have a lot of holes. But enjoying the start to the season for sure. We officially have a basketball team again in my eyes and we'll see what they can do as the year goes on. But i'm starting to slowly think we can hope for more than NIT. Not saying we should expect NCAA but maybe we can maybe hope for it. I was thinking that was out of reach prior to the season but i'm seeing more out of this team early than i was expecting. We struggled shooting the ball pretty bad the last 2 games and still won comfortably. I was not expecting that to be possible...

I've always wanted to earn internet points, so here it is: 1998-99 season started out with wins over Southeastern Louisiana(won by 54 pts), Florida A*+&M (won by 47 pts) and Central Florida (won by 35 pts). We started the season 17-0 before losing to Kentucky and finished the season 29-4.

[gravejd 3,270]

2 minutes ago, younggun said:

I've always wanted to earn internet points, so here it is: 1998-99 season started out with wins over Southeastern Louisiana(won by 54 pts), Florida A*+&M (won by 47 pts) and Central Florida (won by 35 pts). We started the season 17-0 before losing to Kentucky and finished the season 29-4.

Sorry bud, tigeraddikt was already awarded the 2 internet points and we can't go giving out repeat internet points. Otherwise the whole system just comes apart

 

[Tiger 8,819]

This game tomorrow against Texas Tech will be good for the eye test. They have P5 caliber athletes and we will finally see our guys matched up against athletes on the same level as us. I think we can excel but I also think when when our offense gets bogged down if we don't snap out of it quickly can become problematic for us as the level of competition will be getting better and better.

[cole256 17,044]

On 11/18/2016 at 3:47 PM, AuburnNTexas said:

Like everybody I like a lot of what I see and I have concerns about other things. Last night Dunans was forcing it to much he got into the lane a bunch of times where if he had just pulled up he would have had an easy shot but instead he got in to deep and had to try and make a tougher shot. I have seen Purifoy do the same thing in other games. We don't block out on the boards as well as we need to especially with the size of this team.  We don't move as well without the ball as we should especially against a zone. Weak on FT's.

That is it for the bad stuff. Tremendous effort from every player, we play hard on D, we press we wear teams down, we have multiple scorers. One game it is Brown, another Harper, laat night Herron and Purifoy. Dunans is capable of a big game, Lang can shoot, The two bigs are helping on D especially protecting the rim sometimes that hurts them on the boards, We have two very very good PGs as Johnson showed last night.

We find ways to score even when we are not hitting our shots.  Now I want us to improve ball movement and have the players play hard but relaxed so as not to get to excited and make bad plays. All doable as the season goes on.  I can't wait to see how we do against some of the better teams we will be facing soon.

 

Cole you have one of the better BB minds on this board what is your opinion so far?

Work has been super intense and I haven't been able to watch a game yet just highlights. The one time I did have time I watched my cousin play who plays for Tennessee. I don't want to get on here and just spit a bunch of cliches, but as soon as I watch one I'll let you know what I think.

My expectations with the rotation before the season was we'd turn the ball over a good bit. We'd have a bunch of room for improvement as the season progresses because scorers don't have their identity yet. And I think we'd have trouble closing close games due to lack of size and experience.  And we'd be streaky because I figure we'll take alot of jump shots, so people may wonder why we look so good one minute and so bad the next. But that's a guess before we really get started

[Tiger 8,819]

9 hours ago, cole256 said:

Work has been super intense and I haven't been able to watch a game yet just highlights. The one time I did have time I watched my cousin play who plays for Tennessee. I don't want to get on here and just spit a bunch of cliches, but as soon as I watch one I'll let you know what I think.

My expectations with the rotation before the season was we'd turn the ball over a good bit. We'd have a bunch of room for improvement as the season progresses because scorers don't have their identity yet. And I think we'd have trouble closing close games due to lack of size and experience.  And we'd be streaky because I figure we'll take alot of jump shots, so people may wonder why we look so good one minute and so bad the next. But that's a guess before we really get started

You're not far off at all IMO