(AdvoCare Invitational) UCF, Sun. Nov. 26, 12 Noon, ESPN U, 970AM

Let's face it. We are a work in progress. Not a full roster yet in terms of a well rounded team. I'm hoping Keita brings the banger we need, and that a big with post moves is reeled in somehow. As long as Ponds stays, (not counting on Lovett's return), we will have an unreal and deep backcourt next year. Owens, Keita, Clark, Roberts, and a mystery recruit. Team will compete this year, and may make or just miss the tournament, but will be a definite NCAA team next season, and may win a game or 2.
 
Honestly Bashir drives me nuts every time he gets the ball in the offense he has to pause then he either goes into a dance or shoots. The pause is like a (insert extreme example here or see my previous post) in the middle of the offense. Every time he pauses he is killing the flow of the offense and letting the defense adjust. I'd rather Mullin pulls him every single time he pauses until he learns it.
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+1000

Mullin needs to tell him that if the shot or and open lane is not Immediately available, he needs to move the ball. He has talent but needs to be channeled. As you noted, his habit of holding the ball and jab stepping for 10 seconds needs to stop. He doesn't beat people off the dribble. So, he needs to keep it moving.
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Hate to say this but "someone" would need to tell Mullin to tell Bashir because in year three of the Mullin years I have yet to see a cogent strategy to maximize each player's skills within the "team" concept. While the defense has improved a bit the offense resembles NY street ball. Too much emphasis on individual play with the long distance green light being abused to the point where some of Lovett's and Bashir's shots look more like a chucking competition amongst the St. John's players. The offensive sloppiness in Bashir, Lovett and to a lesser extent Shamorie's game is starting to rub off on Justin Simon. If the guard tandems start trying to do a dipsy doo on every other offensive play that falls on the coaches. Mullin could get away with that loosey-goosey offense with Kentucky level talent but our players need some Hurley level coaching.
 
Silver lining is a win despite poor games from our top players.

Biggest concern for me is our penchant for making bad decisions down the stretch. We should have been able to put it away when we had them down 10 (as was case yesterday as well). But, we let them back in because we didn't work hard enough for easy baskets or a foul. Some of that is lack of inside game. But a lot of it is willingness to live and die by the three.

Challenge for us is lack of on court leader who recognizes when we are adrift and takes charge. Ponds can be that guy. Lovett is a little too wild.

 
Silver lining is a win despite poor games from our top players.

Biggest concern for me is our penchant for making bad decisions down the stretch. We should have been able to put it away when we had them down 10 (as was case yesterday as well). But, we let them back in because we didn't work hard enough for easy baskets or a foul. Some of that is lack of inside game. But a lot of it is willingness to live and die by the three.

Challenge for us is lack of on court leader who recognizes when we are adrift and takes charge. Ponds can be that guy. Lovett is a little too wild.
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That on court leader needs to be Justin Simon. No other player on this team seems willing to accept that role.
 
Good news, as many have pointed out, is this year's team is much better than last year's team (would be a pretty big disappointment were that not the case). Question is are we just 4 or 5 games better and an NIT team or an NCAA team. If we want to be the latter, this team needs to foul less and get better shots on the offensive end. Really think Ahmed is much better suited to be first man off the bench.
On the plus side, both Yakwe & Amar are showing signs of being solid contributors and Lovett & Ponds are way better shooters than recent numbers. Still think 10-2 is very achievable going into BE play, which would be ideal.
 
We really need to work on the cheap fouls. I like the way Lovett is up in his guys face and is doing a better job than last year with staying with his man but we need him and the rest of our guys to avoid cheap fouls early in games and in 2nd half and at critical junctures. That hook foul that knocked Lovett out of the game was a bad one, We need them in the game with such a short bench and you can play aggressive but play smart
 
I don't know what the over/under was for me the times I left the room in disgust during this dung heap of a game. As Merle Haggard wrote, "The Bottle Let Me Down". I admire all of you who stayed for all 40 minutes. The string beans in mushroom soup sauce/gravy I enjoyed during Thanksgiving came up several times.

It was a win against a good team that Street and Smith predicted would finish third in the AAC behind Cincinnati and Wichita and ahead of UCONN. You can't underestimate this win. It doesn't matter that UCF missed nine free throws in a nail biter. Most of you remember Buffalo's Scott Norwood's wide right against the Giants that made Parcells a genius. Those nine missed free throws turned Chris Mullin into a coach of a 6-1 team. What were we this time last year...2-5?

Looking ahead... I don't think Ponds goes 1-11 again this season. Lovett could go 5-20 again and the team could blow numerous layups each and every game. It doesn't mean we'll lose. Clark and Simon aren't the five star players they were billed as. I'm elated they're here, but it is what it is. Don't get me wrong. They're solid. Not five stars.

I love the NBA west coast offense Mullin/Richmond brought in. I love the defense. I never thought I'd say that. I love the defense. We outrebounded a taller team...a desire/effort stat, 15 blocked shots? Yeah, I love the defense.

As I posted before, we're a number one draft pick away from scaring the elite teams. It may never happen, but we hope.
 
Yeah. I am really glad UCf is a horrible three point shooting team because it would have been brutal if this game went into overtime
 
I'm as big of a fan as most on the site...if either one of those 3's went in at the end and it went to OT, I am 100 pct sure I would have left and followed it on my phone. Couldn't take it anymore...
 
I've never posted before but am a rabid follower of this team and this site for many years. Just spent the weekend in Orlando at the Tournament and it was awesome. Great games,great party Friday and met some great SJU people as well as some Mizzou fans. With that said, all the criticisms posted on here are all valid,and no games were decisive victories. Yet,one thing we must realize is this team has learned what it takes to win and how to get there. They couldn't do that last year.So that's progress and we hopefully get better. Still we are a work in progress and hopefully we keep learning. Would have liked more ball movement all weekend but that didn't happen. Need to learn how to beat those zones.Gotta keep working.Its great to see that team believes in the coaches and that is so crucial.Agree that we need disciplined floor leader out there and it wasn't Simon this weekend.
 
I've never posted before but am a rabid follower of this team and this site for many years. Just spent the weekend in Orlando at the Tournament and it was awesome. Great games,great party Friday and met some great SJU people as well as some Mizzou fans. With that said, all the criticisms posted on here are all valid,and no games were decisive victories. Yet,one thing we must realize is this team has learned what it takes to win and how to get there. They couldn't do that last year.So that's progress and we hopefully get better. Still we are a work in progress and hopefully we keep learning. Would have liked more ball movement all weekend but that didn't happen. Need to learn how to beat those zones.Gotta keep working.Its great to see that team believes in the coaches and that is so crucial.Agree that we need disciplined floor leader out there and it wasn't Simon this weekend.
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Hey Fred ..... thanks for sharing your thoughts. Please make additional posts.....don't be a stranger.
 
The FT disparity was a problem yesterday. On top of that, we didn't even try to pretend to get the ball inside. If you want to flourish on the perimeter you have to at least pose a threat on the interior. Definitely was a frustrating game to watch but 6-1 is right where the team needs to be.
 
This was one of those games where we played down to the level of our opponent. We've got until Saturday to shake the virus. Glad to see we got out of Orlando in one piece.
 
The FT disparity was a problem yesterday. On top of that, we didn't even try to pretend to get the ball inside. If you want to flourish on the perimeter you have to at least pose a threat on the interior. Definitely was a frustrating game to watch but 6-1 is right where the team needs to be.
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We really haven't tried to establish a post offense in any of our games, primarily because we don't have anybody to do that.

Owens has never displayed any back to the basket moves, he gets his points from o rebounds and feeds on fast breaks, in the 1/2 court he is more of a screener/passer who hits the occasional 10 ft. jumper.

Clark probably has the best post-up game but he is undersized to do that on a consistent basis.

Yakwe has been playing better but will never fill that role. See Owens above for KY.

Amar, ???????????

This team thrives on fast-paced guard-oriented play. When we speed up the game we can be very effective. If we get stuck in a slow-paced game, not so much.
 
I know yesterday's game was beyond ugly but let's remember that this year is a year we are expected to make a leap in our number of wins......judgements will be made on mullin, the program, impact on recruiting, etc. if we do not show that we are truly on the way back....so, for me, i don't care how many ugly wins we have this year, i'll take each and every one of them.....
 
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