Lose Gafford. Bailey, Gabe and Chaney are hardly reliable in frontcourt. Guards will be better, is Justice better then Jalen? Is next year another building year?
Recruiting & top juco big man.
a year older will help. depends on who he signs in the upcoming spring signing period. a couple of games when gafford has been a non factor or in foul trouble, they really spread the floor and actually moved the ball better at times. might be more of a pressing team. i certainly hope it won’t be any worse than this year.
joe needs to work on driving to basket and mid range jumper but we can count on him i think
jones needs to cut his turnovers and improve ball handling, hopefully shot will be more consistent
simpson needs to work on his shot period, become much more consistent
harris, shoot 1000 times a day if that is what it takes
sills, honestly has been a disappointment, i figured he would be an improvement over beard but he’s not. turnover prone, very inconsistent shot.
gabe, no comment
bailey, find some confidence, work on his shot
cheney, work on mid range shot and ball handling
hill, who knows
henderson, who knows, will he still be here and if so, will he help at all, add weight and aggressiveness
gafford in fact needs to come back, but he won’t, money dangling will be too great, but he has a lot to work on also.
then you add three. need two centers i think and a forward. need some shooters period. tired of athletes that can’t hit the side of a barn. find basketball players first and foremost.
Gafford will be missed in many ways… our many wide open threes will be defended differently next year when you don’t have a center that gets doubled and sometimes triple teamed. Then take 8 rebounds off a team that is downright awful rebounding to begin with, and finally, take away his defense and threat to block a shot down low against a lot of talented SEC centers. If we don’t recruit a real presence down low you better have one hell of a jump forward from everybody else.
With one exception. They will give Harris all the room he needs to launch a 3.
Looking at the schedule, there’s a chance we’re playing Alabama to determine if we go 15-16 or 16-15 this year. We have an outside shot at 18 wins…so, where do we go from here? This vaunted freshman class really boils down to 2 guys that could start at any top tier Power 5 conference next year (Joe and Cheney). We lose Gafford for sure, and what kind of recruiting class do we really have to hang our hats on? Jalen is a serviceable ball-handler and can drive and kick - but he can’t shoot. Mason and Keyshawn can hit 30-35% of wide open 3’s - but can’t break defenders down off the dribble. Gabe? Bless his heart, he busts his ass. Bailey…similar to Gabe. Neither of them would start for another mid-tier SEC team. Desi looks like another Kareem Reed to me - a decent backup point guard…but wouldn’t make a dent in a top-tier program elsewhere.
I love Mike Anderson and were he fits in the history of our program, but how does Hunter Yuracheck justify giving him a ninth year at the helm given the state of our program?
IMO firing Mike this year would be a horrible signal to recruits and potential coaches. Plus who do you hire that assures better results?
But I get the frustration. All of us want to return to the Glory Days.
Things have changed so drastically since Eddie and Nolan produced big time basketball. Not that we can’t get there but it’s so hard with the business side of getting big time players. In many ways the entire NCAA D1 landscape is disgusting. At least to an old timer like me.
Maybe the team wins most of the remaining games but like some, I’m dissapointed in program this season.
And after making tourney and getting immediately bounced first round last year.
If Mike had even just one run to sweet 16, it would help give confidence that he is hungry and can have a more consistent top ten or top 20 program.
I’m really worried for next year. We need some major recruiting upgrades imo.
Like all of us I miss the glory years.
But what I really miss is being in the discussion as a national power program with high expectations.
I don’t need final fours every year. Just a program that makes a serious attempt to field that kind of team every year knowing NCAA tournament is basically a given.
I’m not sure that is the expectation of the program at the moment.
I miss that.
CMA won’t be fired! That’s my opinion.
Chaney needs to continue to put in the work improve. Gabe may actually suprise all of us next year. I just hope he stops jacking up 3’s. The way to improve is simple look at the bench and see who can provide a positive to the team. If they can’t send em packing. You need 13 players that can play period. While it was nice to see patience from the staff with Garland that was a wasted scholarship and it hurt the team last year and this season too.
Phillips transferring compounds the issue continuing.
We need Joe, Jones, Chaney, Gabe, Emery-Simpson, Sills, Adrio and Harris to hit the weigh room with a purpose. They all need to work on shooting. They need to concentrate on rebounding. That’s a baseline of where to get better for next season.
Next yr will be far worse unless we bring in about 3 impact players starting with a dominant Big man who can score inside, a power forward that can shoot the midrange and attack inside and another G that can penetrate as well as stick the 3. IMO we have all 3 to turn this around…we will be really miss Gafford and unless we can replace him with a true impact guy we are going to get hammered b/c they will have nothing to worry about inside and will just shut down the 3 b/c we have no one who can drive and score…Pressure really on CMA to bring in impact players who can score!..will see who he brings in.
don’t know who will no longer be with the team and who will be brought in, it’s hard to guess other than to say that most players should improve with age and experience.
It wont be. What you are seeing is the beginning of the end, whether it ends at this end of this season or next. I plan on “checking out” for a year if Ned is retained, but will continue to be apart of this board because I like helping to keep the masses informed and I love the football recruiting stuff that RD, DD and the rest of the crew brings.
I like Mike…but 8 years is a long time to continue with excuses and “wait until next year(s)”. The fact is, we’re trying the same things over and over, and expecting different results. Does anyone recall what the definition of that is?
With the athletes (or lack thereof) we have, we’d be better off making life hell for opponents in the half court - ie, we “guide” the opponents ball-handler to their uncomfortable side - and pick up everyone man-up when they cross the half court line. This full court “press” ain’t working. All too often it provides a 4 on 3 or 3 on 2 for the opponents. In the event we’re able to thwart a layup, they’ve usually got a shooter set up for an open 3. It’s killing us, and it’s part of why we’re running out of gas at the end of so many losses. It would be better to “spring” the full court trap as a surprise, or when we’re desperate - and when we have our legs.
Beyond that, you have to have a half court offense and inbound plays for critical possessions - we simply don’t, and rarely have had under CMA. If you watch the elite teams, you’ll see maniacal perimeter defense to challenge each and every 3 point shot. We give up far too many open ones.
The last 4-5 years, we’ve enjoyed a run of guards who could shoot the 3 AND break people down off the dribble and finish at the rim (Macon, Barford, Hannahs). This bunch has some shooters (Isaiah, Mason, Keyshawn, Desi) and one guy (Jalen) who can get to the rim. The problem is, that without both skills they’re too easy to defend. When you add to that that we don’t reverse the ball and we don’t run a two big-men screen game to get Gafford and Cheney open inside, you’re left with these empty possessions.
There’s my take. I haven’t posted in a year, so please don’t think I’m just a hater. I started going to games in Barnhill when the floor was surrounded by dirt in the early 60’s. We’ve had season tickets to Walton since it opened. I love my Hogs, but we haven’t set the footing for long-term success - we’re going to continue being a middle of the road team unless Mike makes some changes in his approach…or we find ourselves forced into finding a new leader.
Development.
Team will be a year older. I think we can expect better shooting from Sills and KES.
Dro will be a SR and have his best year. Gabe is improving each year and expect more next year.
Believe.
With all the problems you mentioned, so far they have been every game except two road games ( one of them against #1). What does that tell you?
As far as middle of the road team, here are our SEC finishes last five years
2013-14. 5th
2014-15 2nd
2015-16. 8th
2016-17. 3rd
2917-18. 4th
Does that sound like middle of the road? You may be caught in the “prisoner of the moment” syndrome, looking at this year with 9 newcomers on the roster.
Look around college basketball. This happens to all young teams. Players struggle until they find their footing and get comfortable on the court, unless they are immediate impact 5 star players. We don’t have any of those. Look what is happening to A&M this year, how Tennessee was two years ago
If there is any criticism of the staff, it should be about how the Portis-Qualls team and the two Macon-Barford teams finished in the NCAAT. Not how this year’s team has performed. That part is not a surprise.
About a month ago (JAN 1), I thought I had a pretty good idea of who would leave:
Garland
Gafford
Ibby
Henderson
Phillips
1 has left, but watching the last two games, I’ve seen some reactions of some of our bench players. Not saying they will leave, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see the four remaining above and any of the following:
Embery-Simpson
Sills
Chaney
Bailey
Now I’m not saying we will lose all eight (I REALLY HOPE WE DONT), but I would not be surprised if any of those eight guys leave.
As for next year, I think every player will be improved, except maybe Bailey
[quote=“WizardofhOgZ”]
With one exception. They will give Harris all the room he needs to launch a 3.
Wiz, hard to argue that…
[quote=“Hogsrus”]
Hope teams do leave Harris open for 3’s next year. Look for him to be much improved in that area. All college guards know that has to be part of their arsenal at the next level.
Even MJ had to develope in that area.
I am not a prisoner of any moment but rather of 8 years of only moderate achievement. The SEC was a lesser conference the first 4 years of Mike’s tenure, and if you think our lack of success in getting into the NCAA tournament, or our success there is EVEN middle of the road, then you have a lower threshold for success than I (and many others) have. At this point, we shouldn’t be so content to accept that “young” is our problem. Kentucky, Duke, Kansas, and North Carolina are young every year, but they get better by February and March. The skill sets (as outlined above) of many of our players are well below the upper tier of major programs.
As a basketball coach, I see things on the court that have consistently been a cause for concern. We lack fundamentals in rebounding and defense - even free throw shooting. I see a coach unwilling or unable to adapt to changing rules and in-game situations. As mentioned above, our full court press is wreaking more havoc on us than our opponents. Here’re some stats to consider: #all ncaa/#SEC
3 point %. 33% #225/#10
FT%. 66% #311/#14
Reb/game. 35 #208/#12
I think middle of the road would be generous at this point.
The Hogs have been out rebounded every year from 2012-2018. The discrepancy is even more glaring in SEC play over that time span to the tune of plus 421 opponent rebounds.