Team

[hawgfan4life]

Every few posts since Minnesota loss has been about how nothing has improved and how bad the coaching is as usual.  Where are the posts complimenting the team tonight?  Team chemistry,player confidence, and the normal cycles of play will usually provide highs and lows.  Despite all the negative posts recently, this team is better top to bottom and when the highs and lows are finished, this team will be a tough opponent and fun to watch.  There was a brief moment in the second half that was a hawgball flashback. 

[Arazorbackguy1]

Talk to us after Houston and Texas games upcoming.  Austin Peay is probably. It going to tell you that much, other than we did what we should have done.

[Biggus Piggus]

Took me until this morning. Last night's game showed great progress. MA went to a starting lineup that would not let the opponent get comfortable on offense. That was a necessary strategic change. The previous starting lineups were not good enough on defense, and opponents had been able to get rolling right from the start. That had affected their comfort level for the entire game.

MA not only brought Hannahs off the bench - and he was much more effective - but he also used some lineups with three forwards. They worked very well.

Who knows what comes next, but that was an excellent performance against Austin Peay, which had only been blown out by Dayton at its place in the season opener.

[jjdlc]

Took me until this morning. Last night's game showed great progress. MA went to a starting lineup that would not let the opponent get comfortable on offense. That was a necessary strategic change. The previous starting lineups were not good enough on defense, and opponents had been able to get rolling right from the start. That had affected their comfort level for the entire game.

MA not only brought Hannahs off the bench - and he was much more effective - but he also used some lineups with three forwards. They worked very well.

Who knows what comes next, but that was an excellent performance against Austin Peay, which had only been blown out by Dayton at its place in the season opener.

This, Peay might not be the best of competition, but it was encouraging to see our team make progress in areas they had not been comfortable in previously.  Houston and Texas are going to be big tests going forward, looking forward to it.

[hawgfan4life]

Talk to us after Houston and Texas games upcoming.  Austin Peay is probably. It going to tell you that much, other than we did what we should have done.

It told us Coach A is still adjusting and coaching and it showed us players are taking coaching.  It also showed us a lot of potential this team possesses in the collection of players.

It provided no guarantees of success.  Failure or success versus Our next couple of opponents won't determine the entire seaso either.  It will only provide more insight into potential and highlight areas to improve.

[Dominicanhog]

they look great so far.. lets see who steps up when the opposing talent is as good or better... Mike is getting lots of time for his bench...

[WorfHog]

We'll see what happens when we play a team with a pulse again on the road. Looks like they're taking steps, but you have to account for the level of competition.

[hawgfan4life]

We'll see what happens when we play a team with a pulse again on the road. Looks like they're taking steps, but you have to account for the level of competition.

Exactly!  Well said!

Indiana and Texas are perfect examples of teams that would wholeheartedly agree with your post.

[hawgfan4life]

Talk to us after Houston and Texas games upcoming.  Austin Peay is probably. It going to tell you that much, other than we did what we should have done.

Haven't played Texas yet, but took care of Houston just fine.  I guess Houston was way over-rated since we beat them, and we still have not done anything yet that we shouldn't have done.  And we must not forget how we played so horribly bad and get horribly out-coached at Minnesota.  Definitely shouldn't forget that.

Beating Houston proved little more than we are a decent team with a ton of potential and we still have a lot of things to improve on to be a legitimate top 20 team.  Losing to Texas if it happens will prove nothing more than we are still a very beatable team that has a lot of things to improve upon to be a legitimate top 20 team.  All things considered, we are a pretty good team with the potential to be a legitimate to 20 team, but we need to continue improving, winning, and get mentally tougher and confident.

[Biggus Piggus]

Kelvin Sampson was very unhappy after the game because he thought his team would have beaten Arkansas if Devin Davis had not cut his fingers on the rim. I don't know how you cut your fingers on the rim, especially when you're not even shooting. Did the Hogs secretly plant razors on the rims, just to catch the Coogs by surprise? Maybe rusty nails? I don't know. I think cutting your fingers on the rim is tantamount to failing an intelligence test.

Without Davis, Sampson had to give 25 minutes to Kyle Meyer, a senior but a career plugger who had barely played in the LSU game. He produced 7 points and 3 rebounds in all that time.

Davis had been a very good rebounder, also good at drawing fouls. His scoring production was modest, and he was a liability at the line (53%).

Houston already had rebounding issues even with Davis as a starter, so taking him out gimped them on the boards. Also, when he went down UH's rotation went from eight players to seven. Arkansas gave double-digit minutes to nine players in that game, not 11 or 12. The Cougars did seem to wear down, but the Hogs out-executed Houston down the stretch.

Does Sampson's excuse hold water to you? In my view, without Davis Houston's frontcourt rotation went from bad to worse. They were not going to be really good up front even with him. But they had four good guards to work with. The three remaining bigs needed to rebound and defend. They accumulated 9 rebounds between them and "held" the Hogs to 53% 2-pt shooting.

Sampson's biggest problem is that one of his few bigs is 6-10 senior Danrad Knowles, who is playing a lot and producing little. Knowles should have gone to Arkansas. Sampson does not know what to do with him.

Sampson has always run a slow-tempo system that depends on strong defense and rebounding + a big 3-point scoring margin. His good teams always had a couple of power players (you might remember Taj Gray, Aaron McGhee, Kevin Bookout, Jabahri Brown). He has nobody like that now.

The guy had better adjust to the players he has. It would help if his team could avoid those hazardous rims.

[Kevin]

where the net hooks join the rim, is a place where a finger could get cut. I have seen it before.

[lynbug]

Absolutely thrilled to be 7-1 at this point.  Enjoy every victory. But, am I the only one who thinks that the paint will be a big problem for us down the stretch......unless adjustments are made?  Moses did a better job Tuesday night, he's got the shot blocking going, but is he going to be the enforcer under the basket that we need when conference season arrives? And if he has to sit early can Trey fill in adequately?  Just asking.

[DiamondHogFan]

Absolutely thrilled to be 7-1 at this point.  Enjoy every victory. But, am I the only one who thinks that the paint will be a big problem for us down the stretch......unless adjustments are made?  Moses did a better job Tuesday night, he's got the shot blocking going, but is he going to be the enforcer under the basket that we need when conference season arrives? And if he has to sit early can Trey fill in adequately?  Just asking.

I think Thomas and Bailey will help more down low as the season goes on.  They are capable of it.