Men vs LSU Game Thread

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,763]

2 hours ago, TigerOne said:

Be best if we didn’t 

Nah I don't think so. People overthink this "oh they're going to lose focus if they move up" stuff. It's generally unfounded, and I hope it's not based on the second half they just had. They had stretches of being unfocused when they were a relative nobody playing actual nobodies during the out of conference portion of November-December. Yesterday wasn't the first time Pearl has ranted about it even. Maybe they'll learn the lesson eventually, but so far, they're just a team that's going to waver in intensity, whether they have a number by their name or not

 

2 hours ago, arktiger1975 said:

I agree, they can be deadly when they are shooting well. The good news is that they are not very good defensively. Have several guys who are atrocious at keeping their man in front of them. I posted some cut ups of their on ball defense in another thread, TONS of blow bys. That is the big difference from this year to last. They may actually be better offensively, but are nowhere near as good defensively.

Their defense definitely isn't great overall, but Auburn is also a team that has been susceptible to long periods of not putting pressure on the rim with their guards, especially when those guards are the two starters. I have faith that between the PnRs with Tre, KD's natural game, and some of these flex actions we've seen, we'll put a decent amount of pressure on the rim, but I could also easily see a scenario where we get Denver just hovering around or Aden only operating 30 feet from the basket. 

 

I would lean pessimist for this matchup right now, just because Alabama has seen a handful of top 50ish defenses, plenty of mismatches for their current roster, and played a variety of different games. That's the one advantage they generally have is that they usually play a backbreaking OOC. 

To be fair, we have played the second best offense in offensive efficiency (at the time of posting) in Baylor, but they are the only top 50 opponent we've played by that metric (St Bonaventure is 56th, A&M is 72nd). Tl;dr - I don't think it's one we should view as much more than a 50/50 coin flip atm

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,763]

2 hours ago, AuburnNTexas said:

I think KD is only guard we have that can slow Sears down.

This is the bad thing about CBB is that you very very rarely have much in the way of advanced metrics (or even just what's the shooting splits when x is being defended by y), which usually need to paint a picture for defense. I think Denver Jones has been a really good defender as the season has progressed, but I don't have any numbers to back that up. You would think KD's inclination to seek steals could do something to disrupt momentum for Mark, but he's also such a smart ball handler and a real "you reach I teach" type of guy.

Obviously though, it's going to have to be one of the two. The ideal version of this game is one where Estrada, Griffen, the other guards are going to have to win for us to lose. 

[GwillMac6 20,759]

2 hours ago, Tiger said:

Lior had his fun in the non-conference but now it's time to phase him out of the rotation completely.

This was a really good win that could've been a great win, but it's tough to ask more after a 15 point conference W

4 blocks from Cardwell is great, he was a menace tonight. 

There was a noticeable difference between when we were playing freely and pushing the pace compared to when we tried to bleed clock. 

We forced 17 turnovers. If we keep harassing teams like that we are going to put ourselves in position to win a lot of games

Can we add C Mo to that list!? He had no buisness in a top sec team rotation… let alone the starting lineup!

[GwillMac6 20,759]

WAR fuggin EAGLE 🦅 🐅 🐯 baaaaaabyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!! Wooooo!!!!! LFG!!!! Who up!?! Oh you got dang right we up!!! Yesssiiiiirrrr!!!! 🧡💙

[OfficiatingExpert 126]

4 hours ago, GwillMac6 said:

Can we add C Mo to that list!? He had no buisness in a top sec team rotation… let alone the starting lineup!

Bruce is so loyal and I admire that but almost every other SEC coach would have processed CMo two years ago for the scholarship. He’s always been like a three points 2 rebounds guy. Now he’s not even doing that. 

[arktiger1975 553]

16 hours ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

Would be very egregious if we didn't move up 3 spots or so 

I'm rooting for Memphis and Illinois to lose today. It would help us to move up even more. 

[BustemBigBlue 178]

13 hours ago, OfficiatingExpert said:

Chris Moore this season lol

Oof. Kinda true though. 

[NCAubs 378]

31 minutes ago, BustemBigBlue said:

Oof. Kinda true though. 

Hey hey!  He had an assist yesterday!

[Tiger 8,830]

10 hours ago, GwillMac6 said:

Can we add C Mo to that list!? He had no buisness in a top sec team rotation… let alone the starting lineup!

I agree man, not giving us much out there. But I'd still take giving him 5-8 mpg over giving any minutes to Lior at all 😂😂

[mustache eagle 2,416]

14 hours ago, OfficiatingExpert said:

Chris Moore this season lol

I’ve been a CMo defender… it’d be a whhhooole lot easier justifying with 6 pts and 4 or 5 boards a night …

[GwillMac6 20,759]

46 minutes ago, Tiger said:

I agree man, not giving us much out there. But I'd still take giving him 5-8 mpg over giving any minutes to Lior at all 😂😂

 

[Tiger 8,830]

Here's my thing with C-Mo. You can be productive without putting much on the Stat sheet. And he's a big body who is going to at the very least be a presence on defense and someone who is willing to move the ball and cut hard on offense. Lol yes I understand how low of a bar that is. 

Lior is literally a liability if he's not hitting open 3s. CMo might be invisible sometimes but I'd take that over being a clear target defenses attack and someone who can't be trusted on offense. He's made 2 three pointers all year. That's unacceptable for his role

Edited January 14 by Tiger

[GwillMac6 20,759]

2 hours ago, Tiger said:

Here's my thing with C-Mo. You can be productive without putting much on the Stat sheet. And he's a big body who is going to at the very least be a presence on defense and someone who is willing to move the ball and cut hard on offense. Lol yes I understand how low of a bar that is. 

Lior is literally a liability if he's not hitting open 3s. CMo might be invisible sometimes but I'd take that over being a clear target defenses attack and someone who can't be trusted on offense. He's made 2 three pointers all year. That's unacceptable for his role

C mo is a walking turnover and hasn’t hit rim the past few games on his wiiiiide open outside shots. Plus he blows easy layups. They both are negatives on the court and liabilities.

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,763]

2 hours ago, Tiger said:

Here's my thing with C-Mo. You can be productive without putting much on the Stat sheet. And he's a big body who is going to at the very least be a presence on defense and someone who is willing to move the ball and cut hard on offense. Lol yes I understand how low of a bar that is. 

Lior is literally a liability if he's not hitting open 3s. CMo might be invisible sometimes but I'd take that over being a clear target defenses attack and someone who can't be trusted on offense. He's made 2 three pointers all year. That's unacceptable for his role

They can at least have a positive game out of CMo, that's the one thing with him Like he was someone who cut to the rim well against Baylor for example. Can be a positive defender against good teams. I can't tell you the last time Berman contributed against a high level opponent. 

CMo def hurts the spacing and doesn't really do anything other than waste a few seconds when the ball comes to him. It sucks bc he was one of our best shooters, percentage wise, about 2 years ago. One reason I wanted Devan Cambridge back (for that SF spot) was because he'd at least give you even better defensive versatility, while being a stellar rebounder positionally, and offer a freakish alley-oop option. It really sucks we couldn't at least get him (amongst the other wing options we shot our shot on) 

[Tiger 8,830]

46 minutes ago, GwillMac6 said:

C mo is a walking turnover and hasn’t hit rim the past few games on his wiiiiide open outside shots. Plus he blows easy layups. They both are negatives on the court and liabilities.

 

8 minutes ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

They can at least have a positive game out of CMo, that's the one thing with him Like he was someone who cut to the rim well against Baylor for example. Can be a positive defender against good teams. I can't tell you the last time Berman contributed against a high level opponent. 

CMo def hurts the spacing and doesn't really do anything other than waste a few seconds when the ball comes to him. It sucks bc he was one of our best shooters, percentage wise, about 2 years ago. One reason I wanted Devan Cambridge back (for that SF spot) was because he'd at least give you even better defensive versatility, while being a stellar rebounder positionally, and offer a freakish alley-oop option. It really sucks we couldn't at least get him (amongst the other wing options we shot our shot on) 

You guys are definitely not wrong. I'm not advocating for him staying in the lineup. Honestly the only argument you can have for him playing over someone is if you're comparing him to Berman lol

[GwillMac6 20,759]

20 minutes ago, Tiger said:

 

You guys are definitely not wrong. I'm not advocating for him staying in the lineup. Honestly the only argument you can have for him playing over someone is if you're comparing him to Berman lol

I honestly think the only reason C Mo is still starting is because we are streaking. But next loss we have I def think there will be lineup changes for sure. 

Edited January 15 by GwillMac6

[GwillMac6 20,759]

35 minutes ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

They can at least have a positive game out of CMo, that's the one thing with him Like he was someone who cut to the rim well against Baylor for example. Can be a positive defender against good teams. I can't tell you the last time Berman contributed against a high level opponent. 

CMo def hurts the spacing and doesn't really do anything other than waste a few seconds when the ball comes to him. It sucks bc he was one of our best shooters, percentage wise, about 2 years ago. One reason I wanted Devan Cambridge back (for that SF spot) was because he'd at least give you even better defensive versatility, while being a stellar rebounder positionally, and offer a freakish alley-oop option. It really sucks we couldn't at least get him (amongst the other wing options we shot our shot on) 

You can!? Against who??? Berman and CMO both are incapable of being average let alone good vs sec and power 5 teams.

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,763]

2 hours ago, GwillMac6 said:

You can!? Against who??? Berman and CMO both are incapable of being average let alone good vs sec and power 5 teams.

Against Baylor, he was routinely getting open on off ball cuts, ran the court well, etc. Think he only actually got the ball off off those in the first half of the game. It's also important to mention that he's a guy that isn't always going to get the ball even when he does do the right thing now

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,763]

2 hours ago, Tiger said:

 

You guys are definitely not wrong. I'm not advocating for him staying in the lineup. Honestly the only argument you can have for him playing over someone is if you're comparing him to Berman lol

I was agreeing that he's definitely a better asset than Berman! Simply put, I don't see how a guy who plays less minutes, worse defense, and gives you about the same offensive impact could be better. CMo win by default.

The second half of my post was just about ways that another wing asset could've been better for us 

[GwillMac6 20,759]

17 hours ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

Against Baylor, he was routinely getting open on off ball cuts, ran the court well, etc. Think he only actually got the ball off off those in the first half of the game. It's also important to mention that he's a guy that isn't always going to get the ball even when he does do the right thing now

And he hasn’t done f#%k all since besides turn the ball over. Get blown by on defense. Not hit rim on 3 point shots where the next defender is not in the same county as him and blow wide open layups. The 1 and only reason he’s still in the rotation let alone staring is because Bruce is obsessed with being 2 deep at every position. But is it really being 2 deep if 1 guy makes you a significantly worse bball team? Him and lior quite frankly don’t deserve any playing time except for the end of blowouts with walk ons. 

Edited January 15 by GwillMac6

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,763]

9 hours ago, GwillMac6 said:

And he hasn’t done f#%k all since besides turn the ball over. Get blown by on defense. Not hit rim on 3 point shots where the next defender is not in the same county as him and blow wide open layups. The 1 and only reason he’s still in the rotation let alone staring is because Bruce is obsessed with being 2 deep at every position. But is it really being 2 deep if 1 guy makes you a significantly worse bball team? Him and lior quite frankly don’t deserve any blowouts except for the end of blowouts with walk ons. 

I believe we have a difference of opinion on the defense part of things, but I’m not saying that you’re wrong for your take here. I can personally understand why he’s still there, but I can understand why someone else would like those minutes to just be distributed amongst the rest of the team. Agree to disagree 🤝

[GwillMac6 20,759]

3 hours ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

I believe we have a difference of opinion on the defense part of things, but I’m not saying that you’re wrong for your take here. I can personally understand why he’s still there, but I can understand why someone else would like those minutes to just be distributed amongst the rest of the team. Agree to disagree 🤝

People think because C Mo hustles and try’s hard that he brings defense. He doesn’t . He is one of our worst defenders. He can’t ever stay in front of his man.

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,763]

55 minutes ago, GwillMac6 said:

People think because C Mo hustles and try’s hard that he brings defense. He doesn’t . He is one of our worst defenders. He can’t ever stay in front of his man.

Sir, I believe you missed the agree to disagree part 

[GwillMac6 20,759]

1 hour ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

Sir, I believe you missed the agree to disagree part 

me and you don’t really do the whole agree to disagree thing!
 

I cannot fathom why anyone would disagree on c mo and lior! You of all people is what I’m struggling with. They shouldn’t be in the rotation whatsoever. Let alone starting for C mo even if it is just a token start. 
 

 

Edited January 15 by GwillMac6

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,763]

9 minutes ago, GwillMac6 said:

me and you don’t really do the whole agree to disagree thing!
 

I cannot fathom why anyone would disagree on c mo and lior! You of all people is what I’m struggling with. They shouldn’t be in the rotation whatsoever. Let alone starting for C mo even if it is just a token start. 
 

 

I just don’t see why you’d completely take him out the rotation when seasons are a marathon, not a race. Even this version of him recently, that’s still a guy you throw a handful of minutes, if not for any other reason than to steal some minutes of rest. Maybe our guys could still play that frenetic pace if we had less one dude in the rotation, but I don’t know if they could do that by March if they did. As long as he has the potential to be a net positive (which he has shown the ability to do so THIS season) against real teams, why not let him play ~10 minutes or so? I don’t think him airballing a couple shots warrants completely taking him out

I also just fundamentally disagree on the defense part, but again, it’s just agree to disagree. He definitely works better when defending bigs rather than agile wings on the perimeter, I’ll agree to that point