Miami played well overall.
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They did
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We are getting very little lately from Lewis, Smith and Kamari. That hurts.
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Last year we got dusted by UT. This year, we lose but it’s damn close. In our recent stretch we lose a lot, but we are always in it. And we don’t have the perfect team for how coach Steele wants to play. At least not yet. This speaks volumes to me. We gotta find a way to win a few to get to the tourney.
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Agreed CP. 3 total points from those three on 1-10 shooting.
Good effort against a decent team. We’re just not good enough to win yet.
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Someone needs to light a fire under Smith. He can make an impact, but just plays too timid. He needs a little Mabreyizing
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Not much to be upset about from my seat. We got beat by a better team. I’m glad we exposed Toledo defensively. I’d put Toledo no better than 4th in the MAC behind Kent, Akron, and Ball St. We played at a nice pace, took good shots and took good care of the ball. One of the things I’d be upset about is another high turnover game from Mirambeaux and some of them were careless.
Defensively, we probably did as well as we could given the matchup problems Toledo creates, especially against us with a small point guard and a really big center. There were a few rebounds we missed that led to 2nd chance points for them. We only played zone 1 possession by my count!
The other negative thing that stood out was 6/11 from the foul line.
Just can’t say enough good things about Safford and how he lays it all on the line. Good shot selection by Lairy tonight. Outside of the turnovers, Mirambeaux played well inside. Nice for Mabrey to play his 2 best games at this point in the year.
If we’re going to make a run for Cleveland, it needs to start Saturday. Our schedule is about as favorable as it can get, which is weird to say given we play OU twice. But outside of a road game with Toledo, we play 5-11 (not Eastern) the rest of the way.
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Stanford and Lairy almost both had double doubles. That’s pretty encouraging. Anderson always delivers and the freshman looks to be a stud player in the making.
We’re 1-8, but that doesn’t tell the full story. 5 of the losses were by five points or less and 6 of the losses were within one possession in the final minute. After tonight’s game we’re 336th in the Kenpom “luck” rating. We haven’t quite been able to get over the hump in close games (which isn’t necessarily unexpected for such a young team), but we’ve been right there for most of the conference season. A lot to be optimistic about.
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Very little is generous. I’m ready to see Yofan get a few minutes just to see if there’s a spark to be provided.
I agree. I would add that they had no answer for Mirambeaux, but for long stretches we didn’t go to him.
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Yep. I was trying to be kind. I raised before I would like to see Yofan get some minutes. I have no idea what, if anything, Lewis is bringing to the table right now. Same with Kamari. If he isn’t making threes, he contributes little else. I think Billy Smith has just hit a wall.
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While Anderson did turn the ball over too much again, something Steele has commented on, I was a little perplexed as to why we stopped feeding him down low the second half. 12 points first half, and UT had little answer for him. I would have like to have seen him get a few more looks in the post. Maybe the only true advantage over UT we had on the court.
As an aside, every time I see Shumate, I think this is a poor man’s Wally. He has been a very solid player for UT throughout his career.
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Four players in double figures, totaling 73 points. That should win a lot of games. Defense has to get better, especially against the quick, high scoring guards (Carry, Coit, Ayers, Farrakhan, now Dennis).
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Kamari, Julian, and Billy are blowing their big opportunity. Right now we have 4 guys who are pretty consistently performing at a high level. Tatum and Morris are doing their part as subs for Lairy and Mirambeaux. That still leaves the 5th starting position and the minutes when Safford and Mabry are on the bench. Those are the minutes which are holding us back. The staff thinks K, J, and B have the potential to do the job and keep giving them opportunities, but they are failing. Their opportunity is now because if they don’t step up now and get the job done, they may not get another chance. We are bringing in guys in our recruiting class that will take those spots and who probably will get the first opportunity if K, J, and B don’t get the job done now. Lairy is the only starter who will not be back.
Frankly, K,J, and B are missing open shots, they do not catch the ball cleanly, often just knocking good passes down, and then are not in shooting position. Billy has trouble defending against faster players, and has not demonstrated an all around offensive game and good scouting has taken away most of his open looks. His attitude and hard work look solid, hopefully he will get better. Kamari, who was a really good shooter last year, is not a good shooter now. He has not shown the maturity to handle the off the bench role. Last year, he was given a starting role with about 10 games to go, and after he got comfortable, he was one of our best players late in the year. Not now, though, he seems to lack the confidence. I don’t know if Julian is still bothered by injuries, but he really is contributing very little. He played better back in Nov-DEC.
Next year we are probably taking a high quality combo guard off the transfer portal ( 4 out of 5 Toledo starters are transfers and another guy who was starting before injury is also a transfer, so 5 of their top 6 guys are transfers. Coach Steele should be able to find a high level combo guard who will come in and be better than what we have now. There are more of these types of guys in the transfer portal than any other kind of player.)
Anyway, with the quality of the players who will be added to the roster, these guys need to up their performance and stake a claim on a spot now, or their opportunity will be gone and they might not get another one. The transfer portal has changed college basketball, it is no longer a game of freshmen working their way up to the top by their 3rd or 4th year. In order to compete, Coaches have to look for guys that can do the job now. It is much more of business type attitude, produce or get fired, for everybody. So I do think K, J, and B need to step up now, not just for the team’s current success, but also for their future here. And this is not a Miami thing, it is just the way it is in college basketball everywhere now.
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