UGA Postgame

[gr82b4au 5,568]

I truly thought this was the year. But once again no ncaa. This is the most talented Au team in a long time. 

Team that will have even more talent and experience - maybe next year in the year.  Pretty much our motto in bball anyway.

there is more I want to say about the coaching but... not tonight  

 

[NoALtiger 3,849]

1 hour ago, jared52 said:

AU absolulty did not meltdown in the second half. They stayed in it until the very end. The last shot was inexcusable, but they fought through Frazier shooting out of his mind to put themselves in position to win. 

AU lost on the road by one to a tournament team fighting for their lives. Not a bad loss at all for this team. 

Up by 16 and lose= meltdown to me. Not as bad as the 23 point meltdown against Ole Miss I suppose so there's that. As far as if it's a "bad loss" at this point..does it really matter? Still goes down as another L. 

[ellitor 33,062]

48 minutes ago, jared52 said:

Dude, your optimism is astounding, but AU has fizzled in the end. That doesn't usually mean post season bids. I'm sure there are mathematical possibilities, but there are human elements to the selection and I don't see AU passing the eye test with the last few performances. 

No optimism involved. I eliminate emotion & just look at numbers & pay attention to people that know much more than I or you about teams we are competing against for a spot. The NCAA & NIT Tourneys roughly combine to take the top 100 teams. The totality of AU's resume is a top 100 resume (That speaks to too many NCAA teams getting to play in post season tourneys but that's a topic for another day & time). Obviously in this case you want to be as far up away from 100 as possible to make the NIT. That's where remaining games come into play. Obviously any loss to Mizzou ends any NIT chance but beat them & whoever #6 is the SEC Tourney & AU would still have a real NIT shot. Also remember that some of those teams battling us are hovering around .500 and will not make it because you have to be better than .500 to make the NIT. The Vols are a big threat of missing the NIT because of that for example.

[gravejd 3,267]

So many winnable games this year that we couldn't pull out. Just add this to the list. Hopefully we next season we can win more if these than we lose

[AU64 10,122]

9 hours ago, steeleagle said:

did u guys listen to the postgame? BP said the play was for  whoever got the inbounds to look to drive to the basket if lane open, if not give it back to Harper.

Watching the replay, Harper had a wide open shot. Lang had screen 2 guys after dishing it. So to say The shot was over 3 guys was not true.

The only problem I had, was that Lang is not a guy that is good handling the ball to drive it. Ofc, I felt he was going to try to give it up, as he did.

But sometimes with only one shot it is hard to get it into your best ball players...

Whoever?   what does that mean.? ....bet Lang was barely guarded and he almost never drives to the basket...made a half hearted effort and dumped it back to Harper...

If that was the play call...I stand by my criticism.

[mustache eagle 2,388]

Y'all go back and look at the last play.  Everyone who is calling for a last play drive to the basket ... that was the play.  Dunnans had an open drive to the basket.  He comes past the screen but whoever had the ball (Lang?) hesitated and didn't make the pass.  The next option was Harper with the long 3.  Everyone who has watched Harper knows he will jack up the longest 3's on the team.  I'd like for heron to have been in the position Dunnans was cause the play was tailor made for a lefty layup but Dunnans makes those kinds of plays at the basket often.  If they would have passed to him in the cut ... we win this game.  It was a good play call by CBP and I don't know basketball.

... and Dunnans was looking back for the pass.  The play wasn't executed.

[Tiger 8,817]

Well we have our answer if Pearl drew something up to attack the basket and instead we took a long, but open, 3. If he makes it everyone says how genius Pearl is even though it wasn't the play call

 

Side note: I am bitter as hell about this loss

[augolf1716 21,093]

14 hours ago, auburn4ever said:

augolf1716, you can call me a smart ass all you want to, but this team keeps right on losing. I'll be very surprised if Auburn goes to the NIT. BTW, Georgia isn't that good. They were only 17-12 coming into this game.

You should know after 10 years of dealing with you I know you like the back of my hand. As always you show up out of the blue with the smart ass post after not giving any input during the game. just trolling as usual keep doing it and you'll get a well deserved vacation. Lord knows I've been patience with you

[AU64 10,122]

57 minutes ago, Tiger said:

Well we have our answer if Pearl drew something up to attack the basket and instead we took a long, but open, 3. If he makes it everyone says how genius Pearl is even though it wasn't the play call

 

Side note: I am bitter as hell about this loss

They are just freshmen.....except the guys who were apparently supposed to make the play....and didn't ...

[jared52 4,354]

12 hours ago, NoALtiger said:

Up by 16 and lose= meltdown to me. Not as bad as the 23 point meltdown against Ole Miss I suppose so there's that. As far as if it's a "bad loss" at this point..does it really matter? Still goes down as another L. 

Second half 16 point lead, yeah, I'd call that a meltdown. AU had a 16 point lead on the road and half of it evaporated in about 2 min, then it got to 4 but back to 7 at the half. The second half was back and forth with both teams playing pretty well. AU was down 6 at times late in the second half and fought back to give themselves a chance to win. If That 16 point first half lead turned into a 16 point loss, it's a meltdown. AU was resilient last night on the road. It's actually a good sign to me that they have not given up on this season. They can beat Mizzou twice and put themselves into a NIT play-in game essentially (according to @ellitor) on the second day of the SEC tournament. Pull off that upset, and AU is in the NIT, which is what those of us who had realistic expectations from Day 1 expected.

[jared52 4,354]

2 hours ago, mustache eagle said:

Y'all go back and look at the last play.  Everyone who is calling for a last play drive to the basket ... that was the play.  Dunnans had an open drive to the basket.  He comes past the screen but whoever had the ball (Lang?) hesitated and didn't make the pass.  The next option was Harper with the long 3.  Everyone who has watched Harper knows he will jack up the longest 3's on the team.  I'd like for heron to have been in the position Dunnans was cause the play was tailor made for a lefty layup but Dunnans makes those kinds of plays at the basket often.  If they would have passed to him in the cut ... we win this game.  It was a good play call by CBP and I don't know basketball.

... and Dunnans was looking back for the pass.  The play wasn't executed.

I thought the same thing when I saw it. That was designed for our best player on the drive to get the pass and Lang missed it. It was tight with the backside help, but it was there. I would have rather him make the pass and UGA have to defend it than for the long three attempt by someone who hasn't been shooting well lately. Harper needs to get some regular length threes under his belt before taking those 30' ones again. Seems all his shots are WAY out for no reason. 

[jared52 4,354]

Also, if Purifoy, Brown, or Heron been the shooter there, I would have been more OK with it. I love a guy named Jared, but he wasn't the guy for the shot as I said. Again, it was all in the personnel and setup. I wonder if Heron (was he in, I know he tweaked something and wasn't in before the last timeout) or Purifoy might have pull the defense out more and thus made the pass to Dunans a bit easier. I don't think UGA was at all concerned with Harper having the ball in his hands so they let him get open more easily.

[Tiger 8,817]

Didn't we blow a double digit lead to UGA just before the new year? 

Our natural progression should have us being able to close these games next season. They will learn just like our football team from 2015 to 2016 in close games. But damn it's frustrating because it's not like we aren't coming up with Ws in close games we are getting significant leads on teams and letting them come back and beat us.

[au302 2,669]

It's frustrating because we haven't really played "bad" basketball in the conference besides South Carolina. It's that every game we play well but have just enough "bad" mixed in to lose. This team lacks a true leader and in-game coaching. Look what Bryce Drew, a great X and O guy, has done with Vandy. They have progressed as the season has passed. If you look at their players, they are no where near as talented or athletic as we are. They just play smart, disciplined basketball. I'm not saying fire BP and get a better in game coach but we should look to bring in someone who can draw the plays up

[Tiger 8,817]

We are never going to play what most people consider smart, disciplined basketball that is just not Bruce Pearl's style and it never has been part of his successes. He does not run a rigid offensive system like, say, Wisconsin or teams like that and Pearl has been extremely successful in his style. Now I must couple that with saying that a lot of our guys on the team have seemingly below than average basketball IQ and that could either be natural limitations or the game still needing to slow down for some of them.

For example, we know McLemore has an amazing brain on him. But a few games ago he still tried to grab a rebound while still hanging on the rim from a missed dunk. Everyone in the stands knows you can't do that. Or our guys just having no earthly idea when or WHERE to cut or how to move the ball in a zone beater set. These are correctable in some cases and I'm hoping it happens in the off-season.

Even though we emphasize athleticism and slightly more 1 on 1 style there is still a way to play smart basketball within this system. I understand having great individual offensive talent but to be honest there is no real reason to ever have to take a contested shot when some simple ball movement (especially since we added Wiley) and moving without the basketball can give you an open look, so I understand some of the frustration people have over this but to expect that to change drastically is setting yourself up to be upset. His UT teams played essentially just like our current team is except they were just deeper and never had a season where their top scorers were all freshman.

[jared52 4,354]

So here is my final play analysis:

So you have Harper, Brown, Lang, Dunans, and Purifoy on the floor. Brown and Purifoy aren't involved in the play at all based on their lack of movement (other than Purifoy stepping out deeper to open the middle for Dunans). Lang is charged with getting open at the top of the key.

Lang accomplishes getting open with a little push on his man. Harper (the smallest guy on the team) is now charged with setting a screen on the biggest guy on the floor (small mistake decision in my book). This is to free Dunans up the middle.

Harper sets his screen but Dunans does not rub off of it well. The contact also causes Harper to stumble a bit but it probably doesn't mess up the timing too much. What you cannot see on the screen shot, but Lang's head seems turned toward Harper the entire time. He never looks to Dunans once he is past this point of the play. Look at all the space in the lane.

Lang takes one dribble toward Harper and picks it up. Harper, recovering from his stumble bounces out to get separation from his man and use Lang as a screen. All other players are out of the play at this point. It's all up to Harper.

Lang sets a mostly legal screen and tosses the ball to Harper. Notice the direction of Harper's momentum. He's headed towards the middle of half court. That will be important later.

Here we see Harper just before release. Look first at his feet. If Bruce was the rim, Harper's in great position. This is brought on by his momentum from the previous frame. Now look at his hips. If McLemore is the rim, Harper's in great position. The only parts of Harper's body that are ready for the shot are his arms and head. It's a tough shot to get off and a tough shot to be accurate with. If he takes on dribble 45 degrees from where he caught the ball (he has plenty of time), he gets his body right and gets a step closer to the rim.

One good thing to notice here. Look at how Brown and Purifoy were in position for a rebound. Great work by them not really having any role in the play, but knowing where to be. Dunans battling too. But the bad here is how far out Harper took the shot. It's just unnecessary. Also, notice where the ball misses. All the bad form and momentum took the ball right where it should have gone, to the front of the rim and short. Now Lang can't know for sure where the ball was going to go, but he should have popped up to the top after the shot to occupy a space that needed a rebounder. That's a stretch I know because he can't know from his position where the ball is going to hit, but the top would have been a good place to drift as he would have had a shot at long rebound from a fairly large portion of the floor. Choosing to ball watch didn't help anyone. Kudos on the solid screen though.

If Brown were given all of Harper's tasks on this play, I would be more OK with the setup. I just think it was the wrong guy for the job.

[au302 2,669]

Great analysis. I agree Brown should have been involved. It was a good play just not executed. I wish we could've had Purifoy or Brown shoot the shot. 

[GwillMac6 20,589]

Looking back on this whole basketball season and analyzing it we were honestly SO close to getting over the hump and at worse being a NCAA bubble team. We took care of business in the non conference and held serve as well as AU could do outside of the boston college debacle. Garbage team we should of destroyed. It is clear to me now we were a few quality upperclassmen away from really turning this whole baby around. Our freshmen our obviously not the caliber of player as the ones kentucky trots out year in year out so we can just not out talent you alone with our frosh. We needed a few more quality reserves to balance out the roster. TJ Lang is not a SEC basketball player but he has to play big minutes for us. Bryce Brown is a specalist who just recently found his shot again. Spencer going down hurt more than I thought it would. We are super thin on the inside and he was a great shot blocker. WE ARE SO CLOSE. hopefully adding 2 more quality rotation players in Mitchell and Chuma will give us the full stable of horses we finally need to close out games in the sec and not give up big leads. This whole season will be 1 season long learning experience for the freshmen that will serve us really well next season.

[mustache eagle 2,388]

jared52, nice work.  you guys know what this play is?  it is the lob play to mclemore that we have done a couple times in the last couple of games ... one of which became a sweet alley-oop dunk.  even though lang didnt get the direct pass to dunnans, he still could have passed over the top of the defender (assuming dunnans would have known to look for the ball over his right shoulder).  the play was there.  could you have imagined dunnans, one of our seniors, making the game winning basket on the road that essentially clinches our spot in the post season for the first time in years.  maaaaan, that would have been sweet for him.  i have lots of respect for dunnans.

[mustache eagle 2,388]

i mentioned this in another thread ... but could you imagine this team with Cim Bowers and Tyler Harris on it?  Holy cow!  This team really really lacked guys with their type of abilities - leadership, grit and some talent (oh yea ... and with size and rebounding ability)

[au302 2,669]

4 minutes ago, mustache eagle said:

i mentioned this in another thread ... but could you imagine this team with Cim Bowers and Tyler Harris on it?  Holy cow!  This team really really lacked guys with their type of abilities - leadership, grit and some talent (oh yea ... and with size and rebounding ability)

Couldn't agree more. If we had Cim and KT's leadership we'd be light years ahead. Leadership is what it really boils down to. If you don't have a guy who can get in your face and tell you how it's done it's gonna be tough. I'm optimistic. A group of Freshmen won us 17 maybe 18 games in a regular season while playing very frustrating basketball. I mean, think of the possibilities. Next year we have a year of experience, and hopefully Brown and Heron can be the leaders. I'm fine with TJ Lang staying and playing a few minutes. He's not and sec player but he can hit threes which is valuable 

[Tiger 8,817]

49 minutes ago, jared52 said:

So here is my final play analysis:

So you have Harper, Brown, Lang, Dunans, and Purifoy on the floor. Brown and Purifoy aren't involved in the play at all based on their lack of movement (other than Purifoy stepping out deeper to open the middle for Dunans). Lang is charged with getting open at the top of the key.

Lang accomplishes getting open with a little push on his man. Harper (the smallest guy on the team) is now charged with setting a screen on the biggest guy on the floor (small mistake decision in my book). This is to free Dunans up the middle.

Harper sets his screen but Dunans does not rub off of it well. The contact also causes Harper to stumble a bit but it probably doesn't mess up the timing too much. What you cannot see on the screen shot, but Lang's head seems turned toward Harper the entire time. He never looks to Dunans once he is past this point of the play. Look at all the space in the lane.

Lang takes one dribble toward Harper and picks it up. Harper, recovering from his stumble bounces out to get separation from his man and use Lang as a screen. All other players are out of the play at this point. It's all up to Harper.

Lang sets a mostly legal screen and tosses the ball to Harper. Notice the direction of Harper's momentum. He's headed towards the middle of half court. That will be important later.

Here we see Harper just before release. Look first at his feet. If Bruce was the rim, Harper's in great position. This is brought on by his momentum from the previous frame. Now look at his hips. If McLemore is the rim, Harper's in great position. The only parts of Harper's body that are ready for the shot are his arms and head. It's a tough shot to get off and a tough shot to be accurate with. If he takes on dribble 45 degrees from where he caught the ball (he has plenty of time), he gets his body right and gets a step closer to the rim.

One good thing to notice here. Look at how Brown and Purifoy were in position for a rebound. Great work by them not really having any role in the play, but knowing where to be. Dunans battling too. But the bad here is how far out Harper took the shot. It's just unnecessary. Also, notice where the ball misses. All the bad form and momentum took the ball right where it should have gone, to the front of the rim and short. Now Lang can't know for sure where the ball was going to go, but he should have popped up to the top after the shot to occupy a space that needed a rebounder. That's a stretch I know because he can't know from his position where the ball is going to hit, but the top would have been a good place to drift as he would have had a shot at long rebound from a fairly large portion of the floor. Choosing to ball watch didn't help anyone. Kudos on the solid screen though.

If Brown were given all of Harper's tasks on this play, I would be more OK with the setup. I just think it was the wrong guy for the job.

Thanks for breaking this down. Should've been an easy lay-in for TJ Dunans for his 2nd game winner of the season, at the very least. Ugh. 

[Tiger 8,817]

Can I give TJ Lang a shoutout for actually using his size for the first time I think I've seen in almost 3 full years now? He had an And-1 layup in the first half on a fast break off of a steal and used his taller frame to initiate contact and finish at the rim. 

[jared52 4,354]

29 minutes ago, mustache eagle said:

jared52, nice work.  you guys know what this play is?  it is the lob play to mclemore that we have done a couple times in the last couple of games ... one of which became a sweet alley-oop dunk.  even though lang didnt get the direct pass to dunnans, he still could have passed over the top of the defender (assuming dunnans would have known to look for the ball over his right shoulder).  the play was there.  could you have imagined dunnans, one of our seniors, making the game winning basket on the road that essentially clinches our spot in the post season for the first time in years.  maaaaan, that would have been sweet for him.  i have lots of respect for dunnans.

But not QUITE enough to spell his name right?

[mustache eagle 2,388]

also in the second to last picture in jared's post ... harper could have made an easy pass to brown who was going around the top of a screen and would have had an "in flow" jumper for a three.  you know, brown, the guy who had been hot from three point land this game going 5 of 7 ...

another crazy stat from this game.  we finally have a decent FT shooting night at 75% (12-16) ... only to have our opponent go 93.8% (15-16)!!!  That actually makes me laugh ... what the heck do we have to do!?  we were fairly even statistically, except for a couple of rebounds, a couple of steals and a couple of turnovers.  the difference was player of the year level numbers and 38 minutes from JJ Frazier.  That dude is a player.