Four Questions

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Different roster, sure — but it's the mostly the staff running the same system, and the exact same flaws from a 17-28 stretch (ending 24-25 on a 5-8 slide before last year's 12-20 campaign) just showed up again: getting bullied on the glass (41-26), settling for contested jumpers when the half-court offense stalls (35% FG), and the returning core (Nigel 0-for-11, Parham 2-for-13) looking stuck.

We didn't get bullied on the glass. We grabbed 23.4% of our missed shots. They grabbed 29% of their missed shots. Advantage for them but not an overwhelming one by any stretch. Don't confuse getting bullied on the glass with missing a lot of two point shots.

I wouldn't say settling for contested jumpers was the problem either. We shot 36.4% from three, so we were taking good jumpers. It's not being able to hit contested (and uncontested) layups and floaters that was the issue, which was also an issue last season.

I'd also say that the staff isn't running the same system. I haven't picked up all the nuances yet, but a clear difference is that we are crashing the offensive boards a lot more this season while in past seasons we would cheat back in order to prevent run outs (which Michigan thoroughly took advantage of).

Past performance is relevant to evaluating coaching performance. It also has some value on projecting individual player performance. But I'd argue it's next to useless for projecting team performance.

I get why fans are ansty. But I think some patience is warranted before passing judgement on the current season.

[Viper]

What the struggles in the last half of the 25-25 season have absolutely no relevance to this season.

setting context

[brewcity77]

Nigel is clearly the best player on the team, full stop.

Nigel was clearly the best player on last year's team. He hasn't been the best player or even best guard in any game yet this year.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Nigel was clearly the best player on last year's team. He hasn't been the best player or even best guard in any game yet this year.

I think he was the best guard in the mercyhurst game and had an argument for the Detroit mercy game.

[brewcity77]

I think he was the best guard in the mercyhurst game and had an argument for the Detroit mercy game.

Maybe Mercyhurst but none of the guards really stood out. Stevens was the best against Detroit.

Regardless, even at his best this year he hasn't stood out. I fully believe the player we need him to be is still there, but we haven't seen it since March.

[muwarrior69]

I rewatched the game today after watching it live yesterday.  Michigan's length obviously bothered the whole team and especially Nigel and Parham.  But prior to Nigel being taken out of the game he had a couple good drives with aggression and hopefully that will carry over to Mizzou.  Would be nice for him to see a 3 pointer go in to open up lanes for him and to space the floor.

The rest of the team besides Stevens, Porter and Egbuonu played tentatively and really didn't need to.  They are athletic and talented enough IMO. They got to the hoop.  Make layups and it's a much closer game.  A few less stupid unforced turnovers and the game is closer. Defensively there were so many mismatches where our smallest players were on their bigs.  They also didn't hustle back on transition defense.  I think some of that had to do with what Tower said which was the offense (balls rolling off the rim and in and out on several threes) affecting the defense. 

Regardless,  I don't think it's necessarily a talent issue.  Need to play with more toughness and less tentativeness.

I think Sunday will be interesting to watch.  Agree with posters that it's not a must win game but the sooner they play with toughness and less tentativeness the better.  That's what I'll be looking for. To me the talent is there, unlike last year.  Don't jump off the wagon yet fellas!

I am more concerned about the wheels coming off. Let's hope we turn it around this afternoon.