people joke about free throw defense, but when the whole game is easy offensively, anxiety goes down and its easier to shoot fts.

3/15/2018 6:40:26 PM

nice showing by batts lol

3/15/2018 6:40:38 PM

Nevermind, we are neither.

3/15/2018 6:41:09 PM

they said they might wanna think about when to start fouling. cmon. we started fouling at 19:18

3/15/2018 6:41:26 PM

Really bad end to the season. Coaching didnt really adjust to the game situations

3/15/2018 6:41:28 PM

Team has regressed but season overall much better than expected.

3/15/2018 6:41:37 PM

^^^^ yeah there was no way that was in the cards

[Edited on March 15, 2018 at 6:42 PM. Reason : ]

3/15/2018 6:41:48 PM

I hope some of our defensive inefficiencies and breakdowns in the press can be attributed to improper personnel. Guys like Yurt, Beverly, Hunt, Lennard, Al...don’t have the speed to aggressively press and trap and rotate. That’s where we really need to improve imo...team speed.

3/15/2018 6:43:14 PM

if you have a team that can't press, you don't press.

3/15/2018 6:44:26 PM

The press can always be broken by the pass.

There will be teams where it just wont work and they will get dunks out of it. Keatts has to see whats happening and decide if it's worth it.

It hasn't been worth it this game and agaisnt BC and we kept doing it.

3/15/2018 6:45:03 PM

Free throws were the difference in this game. The shear number SH got to take and the ridiculous number we missed.

Outscored 16-35 on FTs.

3/15/2018 6:45:51 PM

that and the hunt-beverly combo going 0-6 from downtown

3/15/2018 6:46:45 PM

batts banking in the longest 2 you can take is a fitting end to his career here

3/15/2018 6:48:42 PM

What a waste.

Oh well, we weren't even supposed to be here this year.

3/15/2018 6:50:16 PM

Al Freeman crying. Only the Freemans did well this game.

3/15/2018 6:51:00 PM

Glad I won’t have to watch abu ruin us any more

3/15/2018 6:53:20 PM

Footage of Freeman crying really making me mad.

3/15/2018 6:53:35 PM

Al looked at the score with about 5 min left and decided to work on his resume. Not sure he passed once after that

3/15/2018 6:53:59 PM

53 total fouls in a tournament game... really shows who the best team is. This was a free throw contest and we were the worst at them today.

3/15/2018 6:58:36 PM

It was basically Nard. 5/11. If yurts in that is prob 8-9/11

3/15/2018 7:01:38 PM

Quote :

"Al looked at the score with about 5 min left and decided to work on his resume. Not sure he passed once after that"

He was the only reason we were in the game and if we had any hope of winning it was gonna be because Al continues to go off and just take over.

3/15/2018 7:03:33 PM

^^if yurt was shooting those same foul shots maybe, but yurt wasn’t drawing them like nard

[Edited on March 15, 2018 at 7:04 PM. Reason : $$$]

3/15/2018 7:03:56 PM

^^exactly

[Edited on March 15, 2018 at 7:05 PM. Reason : ]

3/15/2018 7:04:58 PM

^^^I mean yea we weren't winning without him scoring but he also didn't light up the scoreboard by going 1 on 5. He killed it playing within the offense, when he played hero ball the results weren't as good.

He was 85% awesome today, 15% early season Al

[Edited on March 15, 2018 at 7:06 PM. Reason : E]

3/15/2018 7:06:30 PM

Quote :

"It was basically Nard. 5/11. If yurts in that is prob 8-9/11 "

To be devil’s advocate...would Yurt have drawn those fouls? Yurt may not have been as physical. And Dorn went 0/2 at the line. And I remember Markell missing the front end of a 1 and 1. That might as well be 0/2.

3/15/2018 7:07:07 PM

He hit quite a few step back 3 pointers at critical moments -- that's hero ball. And it worked.

3/15/2018 7:07:26 PM

trying to win when your 2 best players are fouled out = working on your resume

3/15/2018 7:07:26 PM

Hot take of the thread

[Edited on March 15, 2018 at 7:10 PM. Reason : I bet nobody dethrones rwoody]

3/15/2018 7:10:30 PM

Beverly didn’t hit 3s. Yurt was bad. Hunt was bad. Al freeman had to ball out. Maybe he was “15% early season Al” but that’s just what you’re gonna get when he has to do that much. You have to be willing to accept that if you want the 30+ points. He’s not great enough to give you all the good without any of the bad.

3/15/2018 7:10:52 PM

You guys are right he was perfect and it's horrible to criticize anything about his game

And my Lennard comment wasn't meant to knock him, he played great in more minutes than usual. But somebody mentioned free throw contest and the rest of the team was 69%

[Edited on March 15, 2018 at 7:16 PM. Reason : (his stepback 3s were 1on1 open shots within the offense totally the same) ]

[Edited on March 15, 2018 at 7:17 PM. Reason : Hunt missed 2 shots = bad]

[Edited on March 15, 2018 at 7:17 PM. Reason : If a team knows you won't pass you are much easier to guard]

3/15/2018 7:15:15 PM

no no, our best scorer should become a passer when we need scoring the most, you're right

3/15/2018 7:17:55 PM

How many times did he score going 1 on 4?

3/15/2018 7:19:48 PM

what is this resume for, european ball?

3/15/2018 7:21:14 PM

Yes? He came to state bc Keatts told him he would be #1 offensive option and get shots. He was benched at the halfway point bc he was going overboard. Everybody on this board knows what a bad Al possession looks like but bc he was on fire from 3 that can't be mentioned

3/15/2018 7:24:40 PM

our options down the stretch were putting the ball in beverly or batts' hands. al hero ball was preferable to anything else, especially when we needed to score quickly

3/15/2018 7:26:52 PM

It's 100% fine for him to look for his shot, all I'm saying is when there is nothing there and the defense collapses on him, look around or reset.


Btw I also obv dont think we lost bc of him. We lost bc of foul trouble and Seton Hall being on fire. Without Al we prob lose by 25

[Edited on March 15, 2018 at 7:35 PM. Reason : A]

3/15/2018 7:28:53 PM

You can fairly criticize Al. I’m just saying that in order to get “good Al” you just have to accept that you’re gonna get some possessions of “bad Al”. Because he’s good, not great. Great players can have great games without the mistakes. He isn’t on that level, and his teammates weren’t helping...so you gotta accept that you’re gonna have a little bit of bad Al. On a lot of teams that’s probably not acceptable. But when he and Dorn are our only scorers I don’t really mind him taking over. Dorn did some one and one stuff that went nowhere too. It’s not great offense but we were in a position Where we had to force things. I’m not saying Al is above criticism. I just think the criticism is misplaced a bit. He wasn’t taking over to pad his stats

3/15/2018 7:36:10 PM

I think 90% of your post is what I'm saying. However, I do think at some point he decided he was shooting every time down the court. I told my gf that he prob wouldnt pass again and he didn't. He prob shouldn't have passed much, but >0 may have gotten him more space.


And that doesn't turn him from a scorer into a passer like TTs dumbass straw man

[Edited on March 15, 2018 at 7:41 PM. Reason : And yea Dorn had some tough possessions too]

3/15/2018 7:39:50 PM

^ fair assessment. Ultimately it’s hard to win with poor FT shooting and no contributions from Yurt, Bev, or Hunt.

3/15/2018 7:45:14 PM

that game was a crime against basketball

3/15/2018 8:02:12 PM

I can agree with that. So many whistles.

Also sucks Abu had to go out like this. Not sure if it was his knee or general confidence or what but he was some different this year.

Glad Nard went out on a decent performance although I'm sure he wants some of those free throws back

Wish Hunt and Yurt could have been more involved.

Also will be sorry if this is the last we see of Batts love watching him play D.

3/15/2018 8:05:45 PM

I know we weren't expected to make the tournament in the preseason, but I've gotta say I am really disappointed in this team. Our last two games were infuriating to watch. It was like we never recovered from not getting the 3 seed in the ACC tournament. Lots of guys played like zombies. Within the first 5 minutes of the game the body language was miserable. It didn't even feel like they were excited to be playing.

3/15/2018 8:15:03 PM

Seton Hall looked damn good to me. We helped them look good, I know. But they still looked like a team that should’ve been better than a 8 seed.

3/15/2018 8:18:26 PM

It was crazy we were even in that game...and it was basically because of Al. We lose by 20+ easily if he doesn't carry us.

Dorn had a decent game...but was still 5-14. Markell was okay...but was in foul trouble. Y7 was hot garbage. Abu was hot garbage. Beverly didn't do shit except get exploited on defense. Sam Hunt was non-existent.

That game might have come down to the wire if Lennard Freeman had hit his free throws. Then it literally would have been the Freeman's vs. Seton Hall.

What a weird game.

3/15/2018 8:21:30 PM

they did lose to Nova by one in OT without Rodriguez and lost to Butler in the tourney w/ him limited.

Bet they are a 6 if they win those.

Team full of seniors who've played together for 4 years, thats a tough out

3/15/2018 8:23:57 PM

^^^ No they didn't. No need to lie to ourselves

[Edited on March 15, 2018 at 8:24 PM. Reason : .]

3/15/2018 8:24:41 PM

the weirdest game

the better team won, but they gave us so many opportunities that we couldn’t take advantage of.

3/15/2018 8:25:53 PM

^^ seton hall looked good...I don’t feel like that’s up for debate. You can argue that we’re the reason they looked good. But don’t act like they didn’t look like a good team.

3/15/2018 8:27:59 PM

They finished 3rd in a conference where the 1st and 2nd place teams are #1 seeds. They're obviously a pretty good team.

3/15/2018 8:31:57 PM

it wasn't a strange game at all. the game was totally representative of our overall season. We lost to a really good team because they outscored us.

Don't criticize the players for this game, criticize the coaches for putting them in a horrible position.

Throughout the season I hoped (wishfully) that maybe this was a defensive system/strategy that was so sophisticated it was over even my head and would soon start to work but it is truly just bad defenses that speeds up the game and hopes the other team makes mistakes.

Make no mistake, Keats is a great offensive coach and it was a good year, but he clearly has no situational awareness or defensive strategy. Its was easy to think he was "the new coach k" because he is such a tremendous improvement from the poor excuse of a coach he replaced. Ultimately, thats our fault for not controlling our hopes.

I'm still on board

[Edited on March 15, 2018 at 8:44 PM. Reason : we played well. better than most of our quality losses. this was a lot like the unc and miami losses]

3/15/2018 8:43:36 PM