Some big wins, during a time that they are struggling, mentally I think more than anything. They have lost their way, a glimmer of who they were the first half of the season. But they are gutting it out, getting some big wins. Although I wish they had never got lost in the first place. These are big wins they are miraculously coming back time after time to get. That’s a big deal. Says a lot.
I just wish they would hurry up and get back on the track of who they can really be.
What do you think has caused them to lose their way? What do you think would help them find it?
Obviously more time. Gafford still plays very hard, makes key plays from time to time, but has hit a little wall and has obviously been scouted well, as have some other guys on the team, I think Jones, hit a wall, he didn’t play much last season, hit his wall this year, struggled through that even still. Specifically, to find it, you can get lost it trying to find it. Panic. You can change this line up, change prep, change practice, watch film, push, let up, yell, and whisper, push button after button. They are trying individually to find it, and they do in spirts, but can’t maintain it.
Stay unified and keep working and it will come. I don’t think there is a specific way to just find it. When you get lost you have to work your way back or get rescued. Maybe a event, a game, a play rescues them. May make it click. Who knows. Obviously they are trying. They are closer than they were. They are making it hard on themselves being in a funk, maybe that will get old at some point. They can be very good though, already proved that.
I “dunno” but it is exhausting…
I think it is fatigue of a shallow guard depth. Look at how good we were playing early in the season with fresh legs, because Hall and CJ were playing enough to give our guards breaks. CJ started shooting terribly against CS Bakersfield and couldn’t be on the court very long. His weak defense gets even worse if he isn’t shooting well so he can’t play very much. Our 3 SR guards started playing more minutes in a system that is supposed to wear down the other team, but it started wearing us down more than the opposing team. Losing Kahlil Garland to med RS really hurt us combined with CJ’s downturn. Barford (41 mins) played way too many minutes against UGA and all 3 guards are already banged up or fatigued. CJ only played 10 minutes against OSU. has to start playing more minutes so he has to start playing better defense and shooting better. Early on, CJ was playing a lot against teams like UNC 26, UCONN 21, Houston 20, CSU 23, Minn 15, Troy 17, ORU 19 and then CS Bakersfield 20. He fell apart against CS Bakersfield and then his minutes against UT, Misstake, AU and LSU dropped to 13, 10, 3, 14, and 12. That is a sizable difference in breaks for our 3 SR Guards. Fatigue… plain and simple.
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basket … 7/cj-jones
DATE\tOPP\tRESULT\tMIN\tFGM-FGA\tFG%\t3PM-3PA\t3P%\tFTM-FTA\tFT%\tREB\tAST\tBLK\tSTL\tPF\tTO\tPTS
Fri 11/10\t
vsSAMFORD
W 95-56\t21\t4-7\t.571\t2-5\t.400\t0-0\t.000\t3\t1\t0\t0\t0\t0\t10
Sun 11/12\t
vsBUCKNELL
W 101-73\t20\t3-8\t.375\t0-1\t.000\t1-1\t1.000\t5\t1\t0\t1\t0\t0\t7
Fri 11/17\t
vsFRESNO STATE
W 83-75\t16\t3-6\t.500\t0-2\t.000\t0-0\t.000\t2\t1\t0\t0\t0\t0\t6
Thu 11/23\t
vsOKLAHOMA
W 92-83\t10\t1-4\t.250\t0-2\t.000\t0-0\t.000\t1\t0\t0\t0\t1\t1\t2
Fri 11/24\t
vs#9 UNC
L 87-68\t26\t4-11\t.364\t4-10\t.400\t0-0\t.000\t2\t0\t0\t1\t1\t0\t12
Sun 11/26\t
vsUCONN
W 102-67\t21\t5-8\t.625\t3-6\t.500\t6-6\t1.000\t1\t1\t0\t1\t1\t0\t19
Sat 12/2\t
@HOUSTON
L 91-65\t20\t4-9\t.444\t3-6\t.500\t0-0\t.000\t3\t0\t0\t0\t2\t1\t11
Tue 12/5\t
vsCOLORADO STATE
W 92-66\t23\t7-9\t.778\t3-5\t.600\t2-2\t1.000\t1\t2\t0\t0\t1\t0\t19
Sat 12/9\t
vs#14 MINNESOTA
W 95-79\t15\t5-7\t.714\t5-7\t.714\t0-0\t.000\t1\t0\t0\t0\t3\t1\t15
Sat 12/16\t
vsTROY
W 88-63\t17\t2-5\t.400\t0-3\t.000\t2-2\t1.000\t2\t1\t1\t1\t0\t1\t6
Tue 12/19\t
vsORAL ROBERTS
W 104-69\t19\t5-10\t.500\t5-8\t.625\t0-0\t.000\t2\t2\t2\t0\t2\t1\t15
Wed 12/27\t
vsCSU BAKERSFIELD
W 95-68\t20\t1-6\t.167\t1-5\t.200\t1-2\t.500\t2\t0\t0\t1\t1\t1\t4
Sat 12/30\t
vs#19 TENNESSEE
W 95-93 (OT)\t13\t1-6\t.167\t0-3\t.000\t0-2\t.000\t3\t0\t1\t0\t1\t0\t2
Tue 1/2\t
@MISS ST
L 78-75\t10\t0-2\t.000\t0-0\t.000\t0-0\t.000\t1\t0\t0\t0\t2\t1\t0
Sat 1/6\t
@AUBURN
L 88-77\t3\t1-3\t.333\t0-2\t.000\t0-0\t.000\t1\t2\t0\t0\t0\t0\t2
Wed 1/10\t
vsLSU
L 75-54\t14\t2-6\t.333\t0-3\t.000\t0-0\t.000\t0\t0\t0\t0\t2\t1\t4
Sat 1/13\t
vsMISSOURI
W 65-63\t12\t0-3\t.000\t0-0\t.000\t0-0\t.000\t0\t0\t0\t0\t0\t0\t0
Wed 1/17\t
@FLORIDA
L 88-73\t21\t2-6\t.333\t2-5\t.400\t0-0\t.000\t0\t0\t0\t0\t1\t0\t6
Sat 1/20\t
vsOLE MISS
W 97-93\t15\t4-7\t.571\t3-5\t.600\t0-0\t.000\t2\t0\t0\t0\t0\t2\t11
Tue 1/23\t
@GEORGIA
W 80-77 (2OT)\t14\t1-3\t.333\t1-2\t.500\t2-2\t1.000\t1\t0\t0\t0\t1\t0\t5
Sat 1/27\t
vsOKLAHOMA STATE
W 66-65\t10\t2-3\t.667\t2-3\t.667\t0-0\t.000\t0\t0\t0\t0\t2\t0\t6
CJ has played even less minutes lately with 4 mins against A&M and 7 mins against LSU. Hall has played 35 and 17 minutes respectively. We need more than 39 and 24 minutes combined to rest our 3 SR guards for this style of defense. This is why our starting guards are so fatigued.
Tue 1/30\t
@TEXAS A&M
L 80-66\t4\t0-1\t.000\t0-1\t.000\t0-0\t.000\t0\t0\t0\t0\t0\t0\t0
Sat 2/3\t
@LSU
L 94-86\t7\t0-3\t.000\t0-1\t.000\t0-0\t.000\t0\t1\t0\t0\t0\t0\t0
Glossary