Texas vs TCU

1st half 52% FG and 42% 3PT shooting. Really not bad by our usual standards. 7 turnovers though and zero defense. WTF...

 

Horns down by 15 early second half. Looks like another WV type beatdown coming.

 

Uhg. This is hard to watch

 

I'm not understanding how this team completely and 100% flips in games. If they have awesome defense they suck on offense. If they are lights out on offense the defense doesn't exist. Why can we hardly ever do both at the same time?

 

So why did we lose this game with 52% fg and 50% 3pt shooting?

• Cant hit FT at 58%
• Too many turnovers resulting in easy TCU baskets
• Out rebounded 33-22
• TCU had 82 total shots to our 72
• TCU shot 55% fg and 50% 3pt...no defense
• TCU 90% FT shooting

 

So I've been worried about this for a while and it's starting to play out. This team was considered by a lot of people to be an "elite defense," but that was primarily because Roach could shut people down and Bamba erased everything in the paint. But people have figured Bamba out now, and basically anyone with a decent hook shot is taking him to the hole on a regular basis. I don't know if it's in his head, but he just isn't the disruptor that he was earlier in the year.

As a result, all the defensive weaknesses are getting laid out there. Osetkowski and Davis are big-time defensive liabilities without a top shot-blocker behind them, and now basically we're turning into a turnstyle down the lane and baseline.

Shaka needs to start coaching yesterday because this team isn't making the tournament at this rate.

 

I’m starting to believe Shaka is Strong. Can’t coach power 5.

 

I would like to hear your specific complaints about Shaka, without bringing a football caoch into it.

I have laid out my concerns about Smart over the season. And my concerns are related to specific basketball issues. What are yours?

 

TCU is a very good shooting team. And the top FT shooting team in the B12. They They are a team that plays very few freshmen. Jamie Dixon is arguably one of the top (Bill Self is the other, and Huggins is there too) coaches in this league, which is arguably one of the top two leagues in the country.

TCU is a better team than the Horns. We were fortunate to beat them at home.

Smart has not shown that he can scheme and coach half court offense. That is a problem when you play a well coached, disciplined and athletic teams.

Smart is a decent coach, and would do OK in other Power 5 leagues: Pac 12, & SEC.

But, ACC, Big East and B12 are extremely good, with the B12 strong top to bottom, as we saw today. BU killed KU today. And wvu went down again.

 

Shaka Smart is 2-4 against TCU.

 

Why don't we use that zone that Syracuse has made famous? Or do we? I heard on the radio that teams are drawing Mo outside.

 

Well it appears it’s the same story. Look at what this coach did at Louisville or look at what this coach did at VCU. Come to Texas and mediocrity ensues. It implies that they can coach when they’re in a weaker conference but when push comes to shove against the power 5 level, maybe they don’t measure up.

 

That's kind of like saying "Why don't we just run what Alabama runs?" Or "why don't we just call the touchdown play?" (Not entirely, obviously!) Lots of teams run 2-3 zones, and I would say we ran some different types of zone all year long that at one point or another were probably 2-3. (I remember one basketball coach or analyst or someone say that eventually whatever zone you play ends up being a 2-3. Not sure that's completely true but there's probably some truth to it.)

Syracuse is just (or at least WAS just... I haven't seen anything about them being particularly great this year) really good at it, and Boeheim was really talented at coaching it. But it's not a magic bullet. We could have played any defense out there and with the effort and energy we put out there, TCU would have shredded it.

 

That's the problem. That was also the problem against KSU. The crowd, or lack of, could not give them energy either.

I never understood what made a zone a "Match up Zone", I thought all zones matched you up with who was in your zone.

I have not been critical of Smart up to now, but isn't that his responsibility to get the team ready to play? It is hard to get stops when you are letting the other team get layups and offensive rebounds when you need a stops. You could see the lack of energy when the game started. Roach turned the ball over and just watched as TCU started with a layup. I watched Roach take another of his force shots after dribbling into trouble a just jogged back on defense pouting.

Noi made three treys in a shot time at the start. Smart should have taken a time out and and adjusted the defense.

Who is the PG of the team. Coleman was supposed to provide that function. Over the last 4 games Coleman's role seems to have changed from PG to SG. over the last 4 games, we dropped 3 of the games, this is Coleman and Roaches assists and TO. The first no. is A and second is TO.

TTU Coleman 2 - 1 Roach 6 - 4
OU Coleman 2 - 4 Roach 4 - 5
KSU Coleman 4 - 4 Roach 4 - 4
TCU Coleman 4 - 4 Roach 5 - 4

We all know Roach is NOT a PG yet he seems to trying to provide that function. That is on Smart. He needs to fix that and get back to Coleman being PG because he is a poor shooter. Since Bamba seems to play more beyond the ft line than near the basket, maybe there will be lobes to Roach cutting to the basket without him dribbling into coverage having to out put a prayer or committing a TO. Dylan O has all but disappeared.

This is my opinion and it's not worth much, but Coleman, Roach and Dylan O have regressed during the season, not gotten better.

It is also amazing that Bamba is now the best FT shooter on the team. Maybe he could give Roach Et al lessons.

 

My question is based entirely upon the idea that Mo is being drawn away from the basket and that it is negating his presence on D. Energy levels is another subject entirely.

And why don't we just run what Alabama runs? There's a lot of angst over the play-calling here isn't there?

 

Ried Gettys said he asked Shaka his thoughts before the game. Shaka said he was “concerned about how they were going to play against TCUs zone”.

Well, the concern was valid. I also have concerns. I’m concerned that 1) he can’t coach offense against zone defense. 2) can’t coach half court offense period. 3) can’t coach zone defense. 4) has no confidence in himself 5) has no confidence in his players 6) looks like players have limited confidence in themselves.

 

That's my thing; Smart is worried about playing against a zone but we don't use one?

 

I had not thought about this ^^^ until just now seeing it. But it makes sense. This may be what is missing when the Horns can't seem to adjust, can't play half court offense; and Shaka refuses to get out front and strident with his players. (i.e., get in their face like coaches sometimes have to do) He seems soft. He seems to be devoid of the ability to get Roach focused and disciplined.
And why are Coleman's to's rising, and his assists not.

Admittedly, this could change on a dime, especially if we pull off two wins this week. This is the most roller coaster season I can remember.

 

He does seem soft. Like he’s more interested in players liking him than he is getting them fired up and motivated to play hard every night. Or getting in someone’s *** for doing something dumb. As much as it pains me to rail on a guy for being nice. Rick was too hard on his players and it hurt us. There has to be a balance. Good coaches figure out how to be both.

 

This^^^.

 

Just wait until next year when Mo is gone and we no longer have a dominant shot blocker. We'll wish we were on a roller coaster again. I believe this is as good as we'll get.

 

I think his reaction to Trump's winning the election was interesting. He let them dwell on their feelings instead of saying, "We're here for a purpose and that is to win ball games because I'm being paid millions to do just that."

 

Bystander, I think you nailed it. I believe Shaka does have a little too much empathy for his players (Charlie Strong). Bringing up election results seems like a diversion from lack of success on the court. Apparently, there were several teams that won a lot and made it to the dance in spite of election results.