The 2 guards tonight

[chapman]

Agreed. And they were both ready to bail last year. I do not see the love for Juan. While he may be a likable kid and he does hustle, he cannot shoot well, cannot play adequate D, and continues to look lost out there. And if Williams is so big on playing minutes to guys that D up, these two are not those guys.

Still appears to be the Fulce-like "chicken with head cut off" out there.  Except Fulce learned to play adequate D and could hit the 15 footer with some consistency, despite not having any knees. 

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Hey everyone,

It was one game. One game does not prove that Mayo is our savior. Nor does it prove that Jake is useless.

Let's settle down and wait til we have more to observe.

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

Hey everyone,

It was one game. One game does not prove that Mayo is our savior. Nor does it prove that Jake is useless.

Let's settle down and wait til we have more to observe.

Im basing the Jake is useless mantra off of his performance last year too. Kid cant hit a shot.

[GGGG]

Hey everyone,

It was one game. One game does not prove that Mayo is our savior. Nor does it prove that Jake is useless.

Thanks!  Of course, no one said that Mayo was a savior or Jake was useless...

[brewcity77]

Are there worse teams out there? Sure. Is Southern a "good team?" Nope.

Last year Middle Tennessee State won their league and earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. Tonight they had to rally from a 12-point second half deficit to beat Southern. I'm no saying they are world beaters, but yes, they are a good team, there's a good chance they'll be in the tourney again, and they'll have a good season.

Just because most of the SWAC sucks does not make Southern not a good team. There are good teams in bad leagues.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20131110/SPORTS06/311100096/MTSU-men-claw-back-win-opener-vs-Southern

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Thanks!  Of course, no one said that Mayo was a savior or Jake was useless...

Maybe some hyperbole on my part. Let me fix it

It was one game. One game does not prove that Mayo is our savior should start and get the majority of the minutes at the two. Nor does it prove that Jake is useless a walk on who has no business getting minutes at a high D-1 program.

Really I was just trying to save time and space. Got preserve those internet trees

[GGGG]

Also, can we stop the "Southern is a good team" stuff? Cool, they were an NCAA team last year. They also play in the SWAC. Somebody has to get in from there.  They graduated their best player from last year. They got a 16 seed. Pretty revealing. You have to be pretty bad to get that seed. Wow, they played a semi close game with the most overrated team in the history of the NCAA tournament who also benefited from playing in an awful conference, and then who then went and lost to a mid major 9 seed in the next round.  If we want to look at their results from last year, they won 23 games and 15 of those came within their conference.  They lost to teams like Texas Southern, Arkansas Pine-Bluff, Alcorn State, and North Carolina Central.  But I'm guessing those teams are good teams too.  This isn't some team that is too good for its own league, last year was their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 7 years, playing in a terrible conference.

Are there worse teams out there? Sure. Is Southern a "good team?" Nope.

Having said all that, I am not one bit worried about last night's game.  Is there any doubt that if we wanted to play Gardner, Mayo, Jamil, and either Juan or Steve with Derrick for 35 minutes each last night that we would've won by 30 and had a nice shiny score like some of the other buy games (which is what this was)?  No doubt to me.  But Buzz (thankfully) likes to get some kids some experience who aren't necessarily ready to play the minutes that he gives them this early.  They need the experience though.  I would've expected nothing less than an ugly game that showed a close score but nobody really had anything to worry about for our first game of the year.  We will look slightly better on Tuesday, and then we will look like a different team next Saturday when we play to win every possession and see an 8 man rotation.

But no, Southern is not a good team.

Southern finished last year with an RPI of 182.  Higher than DePaul's.  And higher than upcoming opponents New Hampshire and Cal St. Fullerton.  I don't know if that makes them "good" in your eyes or not, but it was a fairly decent opponent to start the year with.

Now Grambling on the other hand...342 out of 342.  They are godawful.

[keefe]

RIP Chris Kyle

Roger that. A great American Warrior

[wadesworld]

Southern finished last year with an RPI of 182.  Higher than DePaul's.  And higher than upcoming opponents New Hampshire and Cal St. Fullerton.  I don't know if that makes them "good" in your eyes or not, but it was a fairly decent opponent to start the year with.

Now Grambling on the other hand...342 out of 342.  They are godawful.

I agree that they are not awful and that there could be worse teams to start the year off.  But I don't understand why we're trying to justify the close score with Southern being a good team and Southern having played a tight game with a "1 seed" last year.  Who cares?  Gonzaga wasn't that good last year, and Southern lost their best player from a 16th seeded team.  We need not justify anything because we were throwing people into the game that weren't ready to be there to get them some gametime minutes.  We weren't hoping or trying to win the game by 40 points like we could have.  We were hoping and trying to win the game while getting some valuable experience in before next Saturday.  1-0.  Got what we wanted.

Last year Middle Tennessee State won their league and earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. Tonight they had to rally from a 12-point second half deficit to beat Southern. I'm no saying they are world beaters, but yes, they are a good team, there's a good chance they'll be in the tourney again, and they'll have a good season.

Just because most of the SWAC sucks does not make Southern not a good team. There are good teams in bad leagues.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20131110/SPORTS06/311100096/MTSU-men-claw-back-win-opener-vs-Southern

I'm sorry, Brew, but you're using a loss to Middle Tennessee State University as a way to show that Southern was a good team.  Let's just consider that for a moment.  Uhh...no.

[Windyplayer]

I'm sorry, Brew, but you're using a loss to Middle Tennessee State University as a way to show that Southern was a good team.  Let's just consider that for a moment.  Uhh...no.

Don't get hung up on the name. It's a good point by Brew.

[NersEllenson]

Maybe some hyperbole on my part. Let me fix it

It was one game. One game does not prove that Mayo is our savior should start and get the majority of the minutes at the two. Nor does it prove that Jake is useless a walk on who has no business getting minutes at a high D-1 program.

Really I was just trying to save time and space. Got preserve those internet trees

No, one game does not mean Mayo should start and get the majority of minutes at the two - It's Todd's body of work his past two seasons (even though last year was a complete throwaway year) that dictates he should be the starting 2.  Jake, nor any of the freshman, have scratched the surface of what Todd has done thus far - even if Todd didn't do much last year. 

Hate to break it to you too, but Todd has major game, and this season will bear it out - would not surprise me at all now to say he could be our leading scorer, or push Devante for that role - which I previously would have said Jamil Wilson.