• Welcome to OGBoards 10.0, keep in mind that we will be making LOTS of changes to smooth out the experience here and make it as close as possible functionally to the old software, but feel free to drop suggestions or requests in the Tech Support subforum!

MBB Game 5: LSU -- CC Consolation Final - 3 pm Sunday ESPN2

Coach T said:
Now you may talk ugly about me.
Click to expand...

OK.

Here's the thing. Excusing poor results and claiming fandom superiority over those who don't may seem like it's being kind. It's not. It's saying the equivalent of "bless your heart, you tried but it's just too hard to be good, so I'm proud of you for just showing up." I believe WFU is capable of more. I'm pretty sure Currie and Forbes believe that too.

I'm not emotionally invested enough in WFU hoops at this point to truly engage you on whether your call for participation cheers from the WFU fanbase is respectful to WFU athletes or utterly disrespectful (it's the latter), but if I were a basketball player and read all these attempts to blame injuries, non-waivers, refs, nut-punches and so forth for these never-ending losses, it would make me feel bad about myself and my team.

And I'm going to believe most folks associated with the program would rather figure out how to win, than get some attaboys for showing up.
 
Being the masochist that I am, I watched the whole game (which I had taped and avoided knowing what happened, so that I could play golf with my father, and my son this afternoon - unfortunately, my wife accidentally spilled the beans about the result, based on my comments about my golf game today). I watched it anyway knowing that we had lost. And I know that our guys that are able to play had the cards stacked against them from a height disadvantage perspective and they are giving everything they've got on the offensive end of the court. I am also in the camp with the group that thinks that Monsanto and Reid are probably exactly the missing pieces that this team needs to be good, so I still have quite a bit of hope.

However, the way we have played defensively for a stretch in the 1st half of nearly every game (falling behind by double digits) is abysmal and frustrating. Our rebounding (especially in this tournament) has been ridiculously poor. Those two things are effort, hustle, and wanting it more. Until we figure out which players on our team want it that much, we can't be considered a good team. Watched Houston for 4 minutes tonight and they made as many hustle plays in those 4 minutes as we did in 45.
 
WFcatamount22 said:
Wait was the Reid waiver denied? I thought we were still waiting on the NCAA.

The NCAA might just be the most currupt, awful, disgusting organization in sport.
Click to expand...
Your final sentence is correct. Nobody can ever say you are wrong about everything and be accurate.
 
Whatever you think of Marsh, Carr got into foul trouble against Utah (which he handled incredibly) and LSU. We have 0 inside presence without him, so we need Marsh at least drawing attention and setting picks to get Carr and our guards open up top and on the block.

I’ll admit that I’m wondering what we could do differently with the 7-8 players we have right now. These middle tier SEC teams are not that good. Sure they’ll out athlete you from time to time, but I don’t see UGA or LSU making the tourney.

We seem to have a bunch of solid players that just aren’t vibing yet. I love Forbes, but if this is the way, then you have to have a simpler plan that can be implemented to adjust for the high player turnover rate. We play decent man defense but pitiful zone (despite slowing LSU down, hence why I don’t think they’re going to be good). Our man offense is top notch, but our zone offense has been an Achilles heel for his entire tenure.

And it’s not like we’ve been peaking later once they mesh either.
 
Last edited:
As for Forbes not physically drawing up plays, that’s not a huge concern for me. Lots of coaches and/or managers trust the talent they hired or have to make decisions. Pretty sure he’s talked about that extensively in his interviews.
 
Man I wish I could believe Forbes will cut down nets here but nothing from his teams has shown me the discipline and fundamentals to do so.

I made a point to watch the rebounding yesterday instead of the ball and guys are not doing proper boxouts at all. Seems like a decent high school coach could fix that.
 
Demonwolverine said:
Whatever you think of Marsh, Carr got into foul trouble against Utah (which he handled incredibly) and LSU. We have 0 inside presence without him, so we need Marsh at least drawing attention and setting picks to get Carr and our guards open up top and on the block.

I’ll admit that I’m wondering what we could do differently with the 7-8 players we have right now. These middle tier SEC teams are not that good. Sure they’ll out athlete you from time to time, but I don’t see UGA or LSU making the tourney.

We seem to have a bunch of solid players that just aren’t vibing yet. I love Forbes, but if this is the way, then you have to have a simpler plan that can be implemented to adjust for the high player turnover rate. We play decent man defense but pitiful zone (despite slowing LSU down, hence why I don’t think they’re going to be good). Our man offense is top notch, but our zone offense has been an Achilles heel for his entire tenure.

And it’s not like we’ve been peaking later once they mesh either.
Click to expand...
The fact we could have gotten another serviceable big over Canka bothers me
 
I can honestly agree with both sides of this board from this past weekend - was truly disappointing watching in person especially after being so hype getting these tickets going into the season lol.

There's no denying we can be a miserable fan base 😅 ...........but rightfully so. But still not gonna go as far as saying Forbes needs to be booted after this year ; think he still deserves one more regardless of what happens.

I also think this year might be a flip around from the last two - we started off mostly solid and had high hopes for the tourney going into mid Jan and then crash & burned. This year I think we're starting off rocky but will adjust very soon and these close losses will end up being wins once the rebounding inability is fixed (and it is definitely fixable) + we get at least one of our guys back (hopefully all 3 of them). I really do think Efton (if approved) & Damari will return as advertised ; and it's not just us hyping them up, these two should be massive game changing factors. While I do agree many other teams are probably missing players too (maybe a Jao at the most), I don't think most are missing one of the best three point shooters in the country along with two 7 foot rim protectors. Yet we still took UGA & LSU to the line with 7 players (pretty much) & kept up with a fantastic Utah team almost 3/4th's of the game.

Vibes will be different in a month. Time to go on a 7 game home win streak with that momentum launching into January. Let's eat
 
Don't think you can call Marsh a rim protector, but he is tall.

I also don't think people are hyping up Reid because he's a world beater. He may be good, but even if he's only somewhat decent, he plugs a massive hole that we have, so he's really important for this team moving forward.
 
AdoptedDeacFan said:
I can honestly agree with both sides of this board from this past weekend - was truly disappointing watching in person especially after being so hype getting these tickets going into the season lol.

There's no denying we can be a miserable fan base 😅 ...........but rightfully so. But still not gonna go as far as saying Forbes needs to be booted after this year ; think he still deserves one more regardless of what happens.

I also think this year might be a flip around from the last two - we started off mostly solid and had high hopes for the tourney going into mid Jan and then crash & burned. This year I think we're starting off rocky but will adjust very soon and these close losses will end up being wins once the rebounding inability is fixed (and it is definitely fixable) + we get at least one of our guys back (hopefully all 3 of them). I really do think Efton (if approved) & Damari will return as advertised ; and it's not just us hyping them up, these two should be massive game changing factors. While I do agree many other teams are probably missing players too (maybe a Jao at the most), I don't think most are missing one of the best three point shooters in the country along with two 7 foot rim protectors. Yet we still took UGA & LSU to the line with 7 players (pretty much) & kept up with a fantastic Utah team almost 3/4th's of the game.

Vibes will be different in a month. Time to go on a 7 game home win streak with that momentum launching into January. Let's eat
Click to expand...
Don't think we'll have Monsanto or Reid by the time we play Florida and Rutgers. The noncon games after Dec 6 are a bunch of poorly rated midmajors. Wish the November schedule included the midmajors and December had the more important games, for our sake.
 
AdoptedDeacFan said:
I can honestly agree with both sides of this board from this past weekend - was truly disappointing watching in person especially after being so hype getting these tickets going into the season lol.

There's no denying we can be a miserable fan base 😅 ...........but rightfully so. But still not gonna go as far as saying Forbes needs to be booted after this year ; think he still deserves one more regardless of what happens.

I also think this year might be a flip around from the last two - we started off mostly solid and had high hopes for the tourney going into mid Jan and then crash & burned. This year I think we're starting off rocky but will adjust very soon and these close losses will end up being wins once the rebounding inability is fixed (and it is definitely fixable) + we get at least one of our guys back (hopefully all 3 of them). I really do think Efton (if approved) & Damari will return as advertised ; and it's not just us hyping them up, these two should be massive game changing factors. While I do agree many other teams are probably missing players too (maybe a Jao at the most), I don't think most are missing one of the best three point shooters in the country along with two 7 foot rim protectors. Yet we still took UGA & LSU to the line with 7 players (pretty much) & kept up with a fantastic Utah team almost 3/4th's of the game.

Vibes will be different in a month. Time to go on a 7 game home win streak with that momentum launching into January. Let's eat
Click to expand...
I don’t disagree that we will get better as the season progresses. The problem is that our resume may be unsalvageable by that point.
 
I am really torn on how to feel right now about this team. I am encouraged in a lot of ways but also see a lot of things to be concerned about... Cam has been dominant at times but has also disappeared at others. The additions of Boopie and Hunter appear to be more examples of portal miracles by Forbes. Marion is raw but shows potential. Friedrichsen shows promise as a shooter and plays hard on defense - but he's young and needs strength. Carr is a really good player and continues to get better.
But our rebounding has been poor and our defense spotty. We are obviously weak in the middle which puts pressure on Carr to play out of position and get in foul trouble. Our zone offense has been incredibly bad at times, costing us at least one game. Canka and Clark don't appear to be playable right now. I'm not sure what to say about Zeller - he has shown some signs of hope offensively...

We are never going to be the type of program that can lose a player like Monsanto, plus depth inside like Marsh, and just plug in replacements. Marsh would have made a big difference in the last two games, for sure. In nothing else, his presence keeps Carr fresher and out of foul trouble.

I hate losing these games early but really think that if we get Monsanto and Marsh back we are going to beat some good teams this year. We have the potential to get hot and just out-score people, if nothing else. Also getting Reid eligible would make us a seriously dangerous team.

We really do need to improve our defense and rebounding, however - no doubt.
 
Deacsfan27 said:
Could we have? We went after a ton.
Click to expand...
I think Forbes and Clawson go by the book maybe it is time we do what everyone else is doing and ask one of these mid major bigs not in the portal if they would like to come and play in the ACC. We know others are doing it.
 
WF Efficiency Ratings, through 5 games:

KP: Offense: 111.8 #33; Defense: 102.4 #150
Torvik: Offense 111.5 #34; Defense: 102.9 #176 (among ACC teams only L'ville and ND have worse defensive ratings)

WF has the ugly combination of not turning over opponents (#317 in defensive TO rate), while also giving up a ton of offensive boards (#285 in preventing offensive boards). Theoretically, it should be next to impossible to suck in both categories as teams that sag and don't force TOs should at least have decent team rebounding numbers... Nope. Understand depth is an issue; so, perhaps the team has to dial it back on D, but the Deacs are not looking good in hustle stats.
 
What are the odds the Reid waiver denial gets overturned at this point? I have to think very slim. Seems like we need to quit banking on that.
 
I'm not one of those guys who thinks rebounding is all effort, but a lot of our problems do seem to stem from just watching the ball bounce around while the other team goes and gets it.

I understand we are physically outmatched inside (somehow despite having two 6'10 guys in there in Carr and Keller) - it's just the lack of work ethic in securing the rebounds that grate me. Often times it seems like we have done a decent enough job of boxing out initially, we just don't go get the ball. To me, THAT is a lack of effort and what I would characterize as lazy play.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top