This is on Muss

Basketball Insider Board
#21

Hope we can get this thing turned around quick. Watching A&M starting to look good. No easy way out of this got to increase intensity and aggressiveness and hit some shots

#22

I don’t buy it that Arkansas has superior talent. Our best win to date is against San Diego State only because of a last second shot to tie it. Missouri took us to the wire. A pedestrian LSU team beat us. Today their center play was far superior to ours and their depth from the bench annihilated us. We have to keep plugging along and hope that Muss figures out who to insert for Walsh until he gets his head on straight. If it takes playing some kind of zone when Pinion and Graham are in so be it

1 Like
#23

You’re gonna be okay…

3 Likes
#24

If we don’t have superior talent over Vandy after the last two classes, we are in deep doo doo! lol

#25

You take out 2 high level players and you are not looking the same. Take top two players off any SEC team and see what happens or any top 25 team.

#26

Yeah, I will. My post is sincere, but I admit to venting a bit. I know losing Trevon and Nick was tough. But I thought we would have enough talent to at least be 3-2 right now. I expected our new guys like Black, Walsh, Council, and Pinion to step up. I expected Devo and Kamani to be leaders. But that hasn’t materialized. This season is what it is. Happens to all Coaches. Even the good ones like Muss. I know Muss will do what he can the reat of the season. And then work hard to get shooters and scores on the team next season.

#27

We do seem to be in it pretty deep at the moment. I think how our talent level pans out the rest of the year will be very interesting. Clearly we weren’t the more talented team today. I do not think it was a case of we had superior talent but inferior coaching or anything like that. Call it inexperience or inconsistency or whatever but we were flat out less talented today.

My question is if, big if, our players don’t raise their talent level significantly then what are the consequences going forward? If five star first round projection Walsh is a bust how does that play in musslemans future recruiting efforts? And if pinion, dunning, and ford (all espn top 100 recruits) do absolutely nothing this year will they stick around for another? Will Muss want them back for another? Does he blame our struggles this year on youth and inexperience? I wouldn’t be surprised if he goes back to his old playbook and completely flips the roster bringing in a bunch of experienced upperclassmen transfers. I hope our coaches can keep this team together and dialed in the rest of the year. There’s just a ton of unrealized potential we would all love to see come together, but it feels like it’s all slipping away and it’s gonna be a hard fall. What do y’all think?

#28

I put this loss squarely on the players. They gave up 60 + points in a half to…Vanderbilt :face_vomiting:

2 Likes
#29

This season is what it is. Losing your top two guys with NBA talent was really tough. Just expected the rest of the team to step up their game. Hasn’t materialized. Bad seasons happen to all coaches. Even the good ones like Muss. He’ll do what he can the rest of the season, and then work to get those shooters and scores we need for next season.

#30

Yeah, I bet the coaching staff will be extremely active in the spring portal. Whatever problems can’t be fixed during the season will be fixed in the offseason. This is all just a temporary bump in the road because of 2 major injuries.

#31

Today is January 14. Let’s revisit this same subject exactly one month from today and then again exactly one month later.

1 Like
#32

Hope your right. There’s time to turn things around. Be interesting to see if Muss chances his style to fit the abilities of his players. Maybe give Ford, Dunning, Graham, and pinion more playing time.

1 Like
#33

I think to keep beating the “we’ve lost our two best players” drum is a cop-out. Were we not ranked when NSJ wasn’t playing? And don’t tell me the team suddenly meshed so well in the handful of games he played, that his absence has made a seismic shift. As far as the Brazile, he’s a talent but not a talent that would devastate the team to the point it can’t right itself after losing him to injury. He wasn’t exactly dominating in non-con action.
This team is still very talented without those two. But, talent and stars doesn’t necessarily translate into a good fit. This team needs to be able to keep offensive players from blowing by them, defend the 3 better and develop some offensive cohesiveness.

#34

Oh we will don’t worry. Just looking for some kernels of hope relevant to this years team not the past two. Muss is the first to say this is a completely different struggle than the last two seasons. We never gave up 63 points in a half or lost 4 in a row by double digits.

I’m getting on the nick smith prayer chain, it’s looking like our only hope, pass it on :pray:

#35

Yes. The defensive collapse today is puzzling. Even in loses we could hand our hat on defense.

1 Like
#36

Odds are still Nick is done for the season. But who knows. Maybe the therapy will work and he could come back next month, and help save the season.

1 Like
#37

Let’s not hang our hopes on either Nick playing later in the season or on his being the force that he was before the injury should he come back or on his being able to turn this same team around if he does come back and is that good. What we seriously need is a major upgrade from the current roster.

#38

There isn’t a sole on this board that is more upset at the performance than Muss or the guys on the team. If there is a way to figure it out Muss will. I can’t say that for many of our previous coaches.

1 Like
#39

I’ve noticed secveral people mention Dunning and Ford. What can either realistically provide that benefits the team? Neither are shooters. The obvious choices for increased minutes off the bench are Graham and Pinion. One provides interior scoring, the other perimeter shooting. But neither P or G are exactly great defenders so…what to do.? Muss will figure out something I guess. Playing the Mitchell twins together sure hasn’t worked.

#40

But is there anything else within the realm of possibility that I could hang my hopes on to actually change our fortunes? Im looking for serious suggestions. I think NSJs return is an actual possibility and could get us in the tourney. But I don’t see any other source of offense even if we somehow switch to a zone defense to keep teams from scoring 97 on us again. What else can I hang my hopes on?