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*** LSU GAME THREAD

When 40 of 64 total shots are from 3- that is a major problem.
LSU played us that way. A ton of them were open looks. When we got around the rim it was a Melee. It was clear their game plan was to not let us in the paint. I would have liked to see us try some stuff to Gurley on the block but we just couldn’t get any penetration
 
It is what it is fellas. We are a pretty frustrating team with a handful of weaknesses. Regular season definitely fell short of what many of us had hoped despite some awesome wins. But we are in the dance with a 5 or 6 seed and guess what? Can’t make a run if you aren’t there. Let’s see what we can do. None of the bad losses matter anymore
 
LSU played us that way. A ton of them were open looks. When we got around the rim it was a Melee. It was clear their game plan was to not let us in the paint. I would have liked to see us try some stuff to Gurley on the block but we just couldn’t get any penetration
Would like to see some 10-12 foot jumpers instead of all the 3’s or completely contested layups. But that is not Oat’s system.
 
Would like to see some 10-12 foot jumpers instead of all the 3’s or completely contested layups. But that is not Oat’s system.
I get where you are coming from for sure. I just think it’s easier said than done with the way they guarded us. The 3 was the best shot we could get a lot of the time and that’s by design on LSU’s end…You have to make them pay when they do that and we didn’t really today. Shack going 0-8, many really good looks, is never a good sign for us
 
20 plus turnovers and your leading scorer was basically a no show is why we lost....This team just turns the ball over way too much, doesn’t have any low post scoring, terrible 3 point shooting, forwards can’t score, etc....While Kentucky, Auburn, And LSU did very well in the transfer portal this year, we missed big time.
 
20 plus turnovers and your leading scorer was basically a no show is why we lost....This team just turns the ball over way too much, doesn’t have any low post scoring, terrible 3 point shooting, forwards can’t score, etc....While Kentucky, Auburn, And LSU did very well in the transfer portal this year, we missed big time.
While all of that certainly attributed to the loss we were still right there with a chance to beat a good team on the road. The problem I have is making terrible mistakes at critical times in the game. Ellis' pass attempt to Rojas on the baseline was terrible. Ellis has played enough basketball and is supposed to be a go to player. You can't make those mistakes. JD's shot clock violation is inexcusable. I thought Oats should have taken a timeout there and drawn up a play. I don't understand how you don't know how much time is left on the shot clock coming out of a dead ball. I know he's a freshman, but damn.
 
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While all of that certainly attributed to the loss we were still right there with a chance to beat a good team on the road. The problem I have is making terrible mistakes at critical times in the game. Ellis' pass attempt to Rojas on the baseline was terrible. Ellis has played enough basketball and is supposed to be a go to player. You can't make those mistakes. JD's shot clock violation is inexcusable. I thought Oats should have taken a timeout there and drawn up a play. I don't understand how you don't know how much time is left on the shot clock coming out of a dead ball. I know he's a freshman, but damn.
The irony behind the shot clock violation is that of all games, Oats didn't have any TO left...
 
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Oats blew this game with this line up. We were up by 5 and then we took out Chuck. Game turned and that is on Oats. I haven’t said much about his coaching, but that was a mistake.
I’ve been saying this for a while. Surprised with Oats being an analytics guy that he doesn’t play Chuck more. He’s at the top in offensive and defensive analytics.
 
Would like to see some 10-12 foot jumpers instead of all the 3’s or completely contested layups. But that is not Oat’s system.
You and me both. Did Gregg Popovich tell DeMar DeRozan hey shoot threes because it’s what the NBA is going to. NO. What about the Chicago Bulls. NO. You play to the strengths of your team. Not fit the team to a system. Somebody go tell him to talk to Coach Saban. This is the biggest area of growth for Oats in my opinion.
Would like to see some 10-12 foot jumpers instead of all the 3’s or completely contested layups. But that is not Oat’s system.
 
I thought we still had one with it coming in OT. That's what it showed on TV atleast.

But he did get a TO in overtime didn’t he? I don’t know if he used it, but pretty sure both teams get a TO.
Yeah, I think you guys are right. Which really gets to me, I was thinking there were no TOs and that's why he didn't call one in that critical moment.
 
You and me both. Did Gregg Popovich tell DeMar DeRozan hey shoot threes because it’s what the NBA is going to. NO. What about the Chicago Bulls. NO. You play to the strengths of your team. Not fit the team to a system. Somebody go tell him to talk to Coach Saban. This is the biggest area of growth for Oats in my opinion.
DeRozan ain’t on this team…neither is Brandon Ingram…there is no one on this squad that I trust to make pull up midrange jumpers on a consistent basis.

IMO Guys that shoot 20% on wide open assisted 3pts have no business taking more difficult shots unless we just want to struggle even more.

This team just isn’t complete and I don’t think any amount of strategy is going to make them complete.
 
DeRozan ain’t on this team…neither is Brandon Ingram…there is no one on this squad that I trust to make pull up midrange jumpers on a consistent basis.

IMO Guys that shoot 20% on wide open assisted 3pts have no business taking more difficult shots unless we just want to struggle even more.

This team just isn’t complete and I don’t think any amount of strategy is going to make them complete.
Agree 100000000%. People act like we have a roster full of guys that could shoot a high percentage on pull up mid range shots lol. That’s a difficult shot to make and a difficult shot to create that only elite players can do with any consistency. That’s the reasoning for Oats philosophy here.

does anyone remember our grant teams passing up good looks from 3 non stop just to drive into bigs and throw up a BS prayer at the rim? I used to pull my hair out watching us do that…. Now I pull my hair out but for other reasons
 
DeRozan ain’t on this team…neither is Brandon Ingram…there is no one on this squad that I trust to make pull up midrange jumpers on a consistent basis.

IMO Guys that shoot 20% on wide open assisted 3pts have no business taking more difficult shots unless we just want to struggle even more.

This team just isn’t complete and I don’t think any amount of strategy is going to make them complete.
Not true at all, I know for a fact that JD thrived on the mid-range shot in HS. I've been in serval game threads questioning why he is not pulling up from there. I believe Shaq and Ellis could also be good mid-range shooter. There was a time last year when Primo went through a shooting slump, but then when you watched him play at the combine and Chicago before the draft, he was killing it from the mid-range which helped him his draft stock rise. He rarely shot that shot at Bama even though it's there because teams play Bama to shoot the three or drive all the way to the basket.

It's there, I think these guys can hit it, they are just discouraged from taking it.
 
Agree 100000000%. People act like we have a roster full of guys that could shoot a high percentage on pull up mid range shots lol. That’s a difficult shot to make and a difficult shot to create that only elite players can do with any consistency. That’s the reasoning for Oats philosophy here.

does anyone remember our grant teams passing up good looks from 3 non stop just to drive into bigs and throw up a BS prayer at the rim? I used to pull my hair out watching us do that…. Now I pull my hair out but for other reasons
It’s impossible for you to say what we could or couldn’t do because you’ve never seen us try to shoot midrange under Oats. That’s the way we’ve been coached- to take a 3 or drive to the rim. I would bet a lot of our guys could make a 10-15 ft jumper vs a three or a heavily contested shot at the rim. And yes I remember all the Grant teams.

Answer a question for me. Do you think if this is FB Coach Saban would continue to do something where we rank last in America and continue force that as our identity. You can’t honestly say yes to that question. Stop defending this Oats system and call a Spade A Spade. I’m not saying fire him. I’m saying adjust to the talent on your roster. No shame in that. This team is not built for his system. PERIOD.
 
It’s impossible for you to say what we could or couldn’t do because you’ve never seen us try to shoot midrange under Oats. That’s the way we’ve been coached- to take a 3 or drive to the rim. I would bet a lot of our guys could make a 10-15 ft jumper vs a three or a heavily contested shot at the rim. And yes I remember all the Grant teams.

Answer a question for me. Do you think if this is FB Coach Saban would continue to do something where we rank last in America and continue force that as our identity. You can’t honestly say yes to that question. Stop defending this Oats system and call a Spade A Spade. I’m not saying fire him. I’m saying adjust to the talent on your roster. No shame in that. This team is not built for his system. PERIOD.
Agree. Shooting 40 3’s when you rank 311th at this skill is questionable.
 
It’s impossible for you to say what we could or couldn’t do because you’ve never seen us try to shoot midrange under Oats. That’s the way we’ve been coached- to take a 3 or drive to the rim. I would bet a lot of our guys could make a 10-15 ft jumper vs a three or a heavily contested shot at the rim. And yes I remember all the Grant teams.

Answer a question for me. Do you think if this is FB Coach Saban would continue to do something where we rank last in America and continue force that as our identity. You can’t honestly say yes to that question. Stop defending this Oats system and call a Spade A Spade. I’m not saying fire him. I’m saying adjust to the talent on your roster. No shame in that. This team is not built for his system. PERIOD.
It’s just very different from football. I don’t think this team wreaked of a poor 3 point shooting team in the off-season. We have guys that have the ability to shoot it and shot it well last season that haven’t done so this year. I think it’s not particularly easy to adjust your entire system mid season, especially when that system has won against some of the best teams in the country already. Should we develop more variety in our half court sets? Yes I believe so.

I still maintain that our offensive system hasn’t lost us games this year. The turnovers were costly today and in some other losses, and we have given up well over 80 points in several losses. We score more points per game than last year when we won the conference. If this team was elite defensively the offense is plenty good to be an elite team
 
I do prefer us to keep the 3 point attempts more around our average of 29 per game. Few too many today. But I didn’t think we just threw up a bunch of awful shots from 3. We had open looks all day bc that’s what LSU was willing to give us. You simply have to make them pay for that and we really did a decent job except for shack being way off today. If he had his normal day from 3 we would have probably won the game.

I think if you go in and say “ok we’re passing up open 3s and driving to the rim/taking mid range shots instead” the guys are going to be thinking way too much.

I would have liked to see us run more action through Gurley today. We have had solid success going to him in the post and him either finding a cutter or scoring himself. Imo oats has gotten a little carried away trying to play matchups recently instead of getting our best lineup on the floor as much as possible and letting them work. I get going small for a stretch and seeing if you can negate something the opponent is doing but don’t just go in thinking “small lineup is the plan today” and do it no matter what the game dictates.
 
Yep. Dropping games to mizzou, uga, and TAM are the disappointments. It’s one thing to lose to Memphis at Memphis or Davidson on basically no prep time bc of the cancelation but the bad conference losses are the frustrating ones. There’s undoubtedly a level of disappointment to this season that could only be rectified by deep tournament run. I think Oats is just miffed by what to do with this team which gives me little hope that we do have a tournament run. Our rotations are rarely the same two games in a row. We can’t even find a starting lineup. That is a way more concerning issue than the system we run. Messing with the lineup should pretty much be done with by February. You gotta make some decisions and live or die by them
A & M wasn’t a bad loss. They’re a good team and will finish tied with us in the conference standings and will have a better overall record than we do. We played a bad game, but losing to them is by no means a bad loss.
 
A & M wasn’t a bad loss. They’re a good team and will finish tied with us in the conference standings and will have a better overall record than we do. We played a bad game, but losing to them is by no means a bad loss.
Check out their non conference schedule. There’s a reason they aren’t even a bubble team and we are a 6 seed. We should beat them at home. They aren’t awful but it’s a bad loss at home
 
I'm no basketball guru like maybe some on this board are, but here are a few observations:

1) Turnovers - IMHO a good team shouldn't make more than 12 per game. If you do, then you're probably going to get beat. Bama consistently makes more than 12 per game(usually close to 20), and that certainly has contributed to their loses. They made 21 today giving LSU 23 points!
2) Passing - Bama consistently makes poor one-handed passes into traffic which leads to turnovers. Don't know who the announcers were today, but they alluded to this point numerous times.
3) JD - How can you not know that you only have 4 seconds on the shot clock? No excuse! He's played in 31 games this year so IMHO he is not a Freshman anymore. He is a Sophomore now!
4) Gurley - Stop taking 3 point shots! I don't think that he's made a 3-point shot in 2 months! If you're open pass on the 3! He's good on the inside, but not on the perimeter.

Lastly, I have not really seen any improvement with this team. They continue to make the same mistakes over and over again! On the football side, everyone gets on Golding when we don't see any improvement on the defense throughout the year. I like coach Oats, but the same thing applies here!
 
A & M wasn’t a bad loss. They’re a good team and will finish tied with us in the conference standings and will have a better overall record than we do. We played a bad game, but losing to them is by no means a bad loss.
Was a very bad loss. Aggies did not have to play Auburn and Kentucky twice. Non conference schedule not very good and they lost 8 conference games in a row at one time.
 
Was a very bad loss. Aggies did not have to play Auburn and Kentucky twice. Non conference schedule not very good and they lost 8 conference games in a row at one time.
He does this weird thing on here where he insist on only looking at the absolute surface level info to derive his talking points and opinions.
 
The irony behind the shot clock violation is that of all games, Oats didn't have any TO left...
That was right in front of our bench. The refs pretty much give the coaches a timeout in the situation. They let them stand there and literally tell every player what to do. I’m not sure what to believe. Either they didn’t tell JD there was 4 seconds. Or he forgot. I find it hard to believe he just forgot. We were too busy telling every player where to stand and what to do.
 
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It’s impossible for you to say what we could or couldn’t do because you’ve never seen us try to shoot midrange under Oats. That’s the way we’ve been coached- to take a 3 or drive to the rim. I would bet a lot of our guys could make a 10-15 ft jumper vs a three or a heavily contested shot at the rim. And yes I remember all the Grant teams.

Answer a question for me. Do you think if this is FB Coach Saban would continue to do something where we rank last in America and continue force that as our identity. You can’t honestly say yes to that question. Stop defending this Oats system and call a Spade A Spade. I’m not saying fire him. I’m saying adjust to the talent on your roster. No shame in that. This team is not built for his system. PERIOD.
Said it 1000 times. This team needs motion, off ball screens, cuts. This everybody stand in one spot and watch one guy drive and shoot a layup or kick for a 3 isn’t for this group. Nobody is saying it doesn’t work. Nobody is saying fire Oats. Just saying adjust a little, just a little. Run sets that are designed to get Shack an open 3 that goes into Gurley posting up. Use your strengths. And then while all that’s going on and people
Actually have to guard off the ball, then JQ and JD can drive without 5 sets of eyes starring and waiting on them. They can’t get to the rim bc people aren’t worried about our shooters and are standing in there waiting to help.
I’m not changing my stance on our offense hurting our defense either. The amount of turnovers kills our defense. The amount of quick shots, especially 3’s hurts of defense. The amount of missed 3’s in general, hurts our defense. Three or four of the other teams defenders being able to stand there and 100% know where their guy is and know he isn’t moving and watch our one guy dribble, hurts our defense.
 
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