Interested in others thoughts. Potter scores 12 in the 1st half and plays very well, then plays almost no minutes in the 2nd. I know Toledo stepped up the defense, but … really?
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Horribly out coached after halftime. What a terrible loss yet again. The first half was one of the best I’ve seen the team play in the last two years.
I will keep my comments very brief. Very disappointing outcome and second half. I want to congratulate UT coach Todd K for making the necessary adjustments and his team playing a well-coached, composed second half. That is all. Read between the lines as you see fit.
I wondered the same thing Alum1. He was great in the first half. Not sure if he got injured - I kind of doubt it since he did come in a few times. He turned it over a few times. At the very least, when you’re down 3 with 4 seconds left and have a 57% guy at the line, I’d have my 7’ guy in the game for rebounding.
The great news is that all 5 of the freshman have shown moments of being big-time players for us.
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Maybe, with additional experience, we stand a chance of breaking this hideous 21 game losing streak in Oxford later this season.
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This was a very bad prediction, unfortunately.
Several observations. Toledo must have had a horrible scouting report. Maybe confused by our surprise starting lineup. Mabry was just standing there wide open with no pressure on him and somehow missed his first 3 threes and missed a wide open driving layup by 4 feet…Then he hit 3 straight open threes and a layup after a great pass from Potter. How can you play us and give Mabry and Hunter open threes??
Plus, with both Ipsaro and Dean out. How can you not pressure our ball handlers more? I dreaded the start of the second half because I thought I knew what was coming. Extended pressure and forcing us to drive and taking away open perimeter looks.
Cooper is not really a point guard. He can do the job for two minutes, but his skills are really much more suited to the shooting guard position. He had a difficult time getting us into our offense and even struggled with their press at times, he was unable to penetrate and create something positive.Toledo’s terrible defensive strategy in the first half played right into our strengths, but in the second half they made all the right adjustments and shut us down. This is a game I thinkwe would have won with Ipsaro healthy, and probably with Dean healthy. Hard to play without your two point guards.
Mirambeaux is very disappointing, he looks more out of shape than last year, not as quick on his feet .
Mabry is a great shooter, but bad things tend to happen when he puts the ball on the floor and tries to create.
I did like when we played Hunter at the shooting guard and Bultman at the small forward with Elmer at the 4 spot. That might be our best lineup, along with Ipsaro or Dean at the point.
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I agree on Mirambeaux Dick- in fact I have said it on here a few times. He has a role and can help us at times but I would play Potter and Morris more
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Unfortunately, our HC is enamored with AM and thinks he is the difference-maker. Like doing an iso play on our last possession with a guy who shoots 58% from the FT line.
And while I am nitpicking, second half, Bultman gets the ball on a fastbreak, I saw the block coming the whole way down the court, Elmer wide open to Bultman’s left. Rather than execute what would have been an easy bounce pass leading to a dunk for Elmer, Bultman keeps the ball, goes up for a weak layup and the ball is swatted by the UT player with authority.
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Not many teams have an offensive lineman on the basketball team…
Not the results we want but I’m not ready to give up on the team just yet. We need to clean up a lot of stuff but it’s early January and I think we can.
We didn’t have a point guard last night and we probably could have/should have won. Shit happens.
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Maybe we should have developed a backup, such as Eli Yofan?
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We have a good backup in Bradley Dean. Unfortunately both he and our starting point guard Ipsaro were out with injuries. Cooper had been the starting shooting guard and had played a little at the point before. Eli Yofan is not a point guard either, he is a shooting guard, kind of a different skill set.
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In thinking about the Toledo loss, I went back and looked at the stats. Some things stand out. After looking at the box score, I think what Bultman did in this game has gone unappreciated. He played 36 minutes and had 11 rebounds and 6 assists. He also had to bring the ball up court against pressure about half the time. Nobody else had more than4 rebounds or 4 assists. I think we looked at the points Darwishi and Mabry and Potter gave us and did not appreciate Bultman’s contributions, which was greater. For example, Hunter played 38 minutes and had 1 rebound and 1 assist. Potter had 4 turnovers and 1 assist compared to Mirambeaux who had 4 assists and 1 turnover. Bultman had 6 assists vs 2 turnovers. Cooper did not turn the ball over, but did not get us into our offense. He had 2 assists and 1 turnover, which would be OK for a shooting guard, just not enough assists for a point guard.
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Wow, agreed, really good analysis.
I hear ya Dick. I think Bultman is still a net positive, but he could do more. I wish he used his size more effectively around the basket to be a better finisher. Defensively, he falls asleep on help side too much for my liking. He could’ve stepped in and taken a couple of charges but instead he just swiped at the ball.
And I wonder how many of those assists are the function of our guys making 3s. He was better than Cooper getting us into our offense but I wish he were more consistent possession-to-possession at both ends of the floor.
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I’m more of a Boltman guy.
