this year's team

[SisyphusMiner]

I only saw the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half of the St Mary's game.
My impressions:

We were beaten by a team with better talent and better coaching.  I don't think we need to feel bad about losing on the road to them.

Boum is great
Bryson is a great player, and sometimes forces things that aren't there.
Bienemy looks like a significant upgrade at point.
Verhoeven was against superior players, but the referees allowed the opposing center to "Shaq" him down in the lane.  Other player was allowed to initiate the contact, bump him back, and then do it over again until a layup.  This should have been an offensive foul

I didn't see a lot of Sjolund which surprised me.  I guess he played more when I wasn't watching.
Kennedy didn't do much when I was watching.

We still can't defend the pick and roll.  We still struggle with picks up top.  We still don't really have an offense if the 3s aren't falling for us.  We still can't screen to create open 3s.

Basically, it feels like we upgraded players, but the Xs and Os haven't changed.  CRT is what he is, and Haskins he ain't.  Or Sadler, or Gillispie...

Again, this is just based on a total of 10 minutes of gametime.

[Chanson]

My concern is the defense. Offense happens when good players step up, but defense takes more hustle & know how than talent.

[SisyphusMiner]

Agree on defense.  Important point is that we run a specific defense.  You can look it up on the internet if interested, and find exactly how it is implemented, and what the rules are for positioning, screens, etc.

The problem with this is that good coaches with well disciplined teams will adjust their offense to take advantage of the weakness of your defense.  Our defense has a specific weakness for the pick and roll up top, and for double screens.  W KY,  Marshall, St. Mary's all have known this going into the game, and ran an offense designed to shred the defense.  If we are unable to make a counter-adjustment we will always get creamed by better coached teams -- unless we get hot from the 3 and outscore them.

I still remember in 1992 when Haskins implemented a new defense right before the Kansas game and it discombobulated them.  This is what coaches who actually understand the game do.  You tweak your offense to take advantage of the other guys weaknesses defensively and you tweak your defense as well.  The fact that we never adjust anything shows the coach does not truly understand the game.  He has learned an offense and a defense, and is a good recruiter.  We will be exactly as good as the players on a given day, and no better.

[zyxwvutsru]

so what's your saying is that we have a chance?!  YES!!!

[Chanson]

Play small & the speed will cut the percentage of jumpers. Then adjust & play big when they pound the paint. However, that big kid for St. Mary's was so dominant.

[SisyphusMiner]

I don't think losing at St. Mary's is problematic per se.  I expect to lose that game.  I just want to see a UTEP coach make a gametime adjustment.

[Chanson]

Hey Sis,
Were you able to watch the game? We couldnt cut AZ rebounding, but score implies we hinge in there. I heard the last 5min of game. We had our chances, but couldnt hit shots towards the end. I was guessing we were tired & beat up.

[SisyphusMiner]

I have only been able to watch part of the 2nd half of St. MAry's.  I don't feel bad about losing by 8 at UA, and I won't feel bad about losing at ASU as long as we make a game of it.  Note that GCU only lost to them by 1.  These are good games for us as CUSA will seem easier and slower.

Stats agree with you.  Generally I feel like the biggest difference between the haves and have-nots is the quality and depth of the big men.  3 point shooters are easier to find --not for UTEP apparently, but in general.  This is how 12 seed upsets generally win in the tourney.  Blast from the outside.  In that sense, CRT's concepts aren't too bad -- slow down the other team a bit, hope to have better frontcourt than most of the conference, and really gear towards the 3.  It offends the purist in me, but I do understand the logic. 

Going off of stats, here's what stands out to me.
Boum and Williams are obviously carrying the team so far.
Bienemy has a 17:1 assist to turnover ratio.  This is incredible, and the main thing I want to see in a point guard.  2:1 is a good ratio. 
Kennedy is obviously struggling with shooting, but is at least rebounding to make up for it.

[Chanson]

Thanks for the observation.

Again, looking at the numbers, we hung in a bit on defense (finally).
Boum- great scorer & he seems to close down outside shots.
Bieniemy- I like his ball control. He needs to find his groove on scoring.
Vulikic- his timing is off. I do think he will be good. Only a Fr.
Kennedy- timing is also off, however he hustles & rebounds
Sjolund- less talent than I expected. He needs to crash boards instead of waiting for the right shot.
Williams- Stud, but needs to work on protecting paint better
Odigie- work on post moves & defense
Verho- keep getting better @ protecting rim & rebounding
Those who I left out have fewer minutes & have little stats

I'm just glad we were within single digits. ASU looks to be a bit faster. We have a chance if we have low turnovers & better shot percentage.

[kyyote]

I have only been able to watch part of the 2nd half of St. MAry's.  I don't feel bad about losing by 8 at UA, and I won't feel bad about losing at ASU as long as we make a game of it.  Note that GCU only lost to them by 1.  These are good games for us as CUSA will seem easier and slower.

Stats agree with you.  Generally I feel like the biggest difference between the haves and have-nots is the quality and depth of the big men.  3 point shooters are easier to find --not for UTEP apparently, but in general.  This is how 12 seed upsets generally win in the tourney.  Blast from the outside.  In that sense, CRT's concepts aren't too bad -- slow down the other team a bit, hope to have better frontcourt than most of the conference, and really gear towards the 3.  It offends the purist in me, but I do understand the logic. 

Going off of stats, here's what stands out to me.
Boum and Williams are obviously carrying the team so far.
Bienemy has a 17:1 assist to turnover ratio.  This is incredible, and the main thing I want to see in a point guard.  2:1 is a good ratio. 
Kennedy is obviously struggling with shooting, but is at least rebounding to make up for it.

             That part about finding 3-point shooters, Sul Ross finds fricken snipers in El Paso of all places. lol

[Minermojo]

KY, the thing with El Paso is that there are many good to great basketball players here. The trouble is that coaches aren't impressed with their height. Most of our players are Hispanic and thus not on the tall side. If you have a 6'4" Hispanic you've hit the jackpot. Most of the tall players are in that range. But...since they aren't as tall they rely more on the long shot, the 3 pointer to make a point on the court. I would be in many of our local games trying to find the 3 point gem in so many teams that we have in the city. That's why Sul Ross has such a good luck in finding good players that can ball and lob that 3 point bomb. Also, I hate to say this but coaches don't think Hispanics can play ball and if they aren't black they seem to think that the Hispanic can't compete with them. Maybe under the boards they can't but heck if you saw the UTEP-Butler NCAA game many moons ago you would see that they beat us badly BECAUSE of their 3 point prowess. Now, I'm not saying that that alone would win games but if you force the opposing team to leave that area under the basket and come out to defend these wonders then you allow YOUR big men to score and rebound much better. A good example (I hear) with the Arizona game was that Williams was being killed under the basket because no Arizona player would come out from under the boards and would stiflle Williams where he couldn't produce.

My criteria wouldn't be a 3 point player that scores a bunch I would sign one with a better than average PERCENTAGE of his shots. Anyone can score a bunch if that player is one of those that as soon as he grabs the ball he lobs it to the hoop. My cousin used to be one of those so of course he would always wind up as the highest scorer. A team doesn't need those kind of players anyway as it tends to bring down morale in the team.

My two cents worth...

[SisyphusMiner]

You might be surprised how quickly a guy 6 inches taller than you can close that gap when you're trying to jack up a 3.

I think the problem is CRT values defense and 3 shooting.  It's hard to find a good 3 shooter that likes to play D.  D is work and no glory.

Kind of similar problem with rebounding.  It's mainly a lot of hard work every shot.    Guys that like to score don't like to play D.  The guys that play tough D or work for rebounds are guys like Verhoeven who figured out they are never going to be the top scorer but they can out-hustle everyone else.

It's a tough sell.  You have to convince them there is a payoff to be worth all the hard work and getting yelled at.  CRT hasn't convinced them of it.  Possibly partly because your PT and your performance and/or effort appear to be unrelated.

[Chanson]

Well I'll be dipped in shit. We won. Not only did we win, we beat the shit out of them. We did it not playing tip top. We did advance in perimeter defense.
I'm am seriously shocked, boys.

[SisyphusMiner]

I don't have access to the pac network so only listened to the Teich broadcast.
So i don't have specific opinions.

But this is a quality win on the road against a quality opponent.  This is the biggest win in quite a few years for us.

The two biggest things that jump out is how heavily we out-rebounded them, and just how awful their 3 pt shooting was.
Guards all engaged in rebounding.  This is really important that everyone try to rebound.
Not sure if their bad 3 pt shooting was due to our D or just a bad game since I couldn't watch.

But this is how Miners win under Terry.  They would have beat Arizona with this play.  We have the elements to be top tier CUSA when we play well.

Beating Bobby Hurley makes it extra special. It's not really his fault, I have just hated him from the days of watching him play when Dick Vitale would call the entire game like he was Hurley's momma.  "Bobby Hurley dribbles the ball upcourt like the god he is.  Bobby Hurley passes the ball to Laetner in the paint.  Bobby watches as his perfect pass enables Laetner to back down his opponent and score.  Bobby now guards the opposing point guard.  Bobby nearly steals the pass to the opposing shooting guard.  Bobby's intense glare causes the opponent to miss.  What a floor general!"

[Minermojo]

Well I'll be dipped in shit. We won. Not only did we win, we beat the shit out of them. We did it not playing tip top. We did advance in perimeter defense.
I'm am seriously shocked, boys.

We did? Who did we beat? No, seriously, I haven't been following the Miners so closely because one week they play and the next we don't. I don't even know if the football season is over and that tells you a lot.

Again, who did we beat? and by how much?