How satisfied with Maui are you?

[madguy30]

Said this before Maui, still believe it.

My concern about our bigs is growing. Obviously still early, but I'm not seeing skills and abilities that will translate well to high major games.

So far.. Ward / Jones / King are superior to Hatfield / Jefferson / Jackson in my view.

This discounts that the former three had years of playing together.

There's a gap defensively right now but there were flashes of some really good things.

If Jefferson can get some 3s to drop he's going to a problem.

Also Chatfield has been great as a back up 5.

 

[NoCreativity]

Said this before Maui, still believe it.

My concern about our bigs is growing. Obviously still early, but I'm not seeing skills and abilities that will translate well to high major games.

So far.. Ward / Jones / King are superior to Hatfield / Jefferson / Jackson in my view.

Defensively yes, offensively no, and free throw shooting....absolutely not. Its refreshing to have bigs that when they get fouled we have more than a 50-50 shot of going in.

 

[nrg4isu]

I'm not seeing skills and abilities that will translate well to high major games

Wut?

Do you consider Auburn to not be high major?

As others have said, we have a little to be desired on the defensive end but offensively they're absolutely skilled and able.

 

[CYDJ]

I’ve been saying that too. Jackson and Jefferson are definitely more skilled than Jones and Ward. But, they are not nearly as good at rotating or guarding off a switch. BRE was elite at that. Still, being able to feed a post up and convert should help limit dry spells.

BRE was NOT elite at rotations when he first got here. He picked it up quick and ALWAYS showed effort. But, he was as lost as any other new guy when he was thrown in, in his first year. Not as lost as, let's say, Omaha, but let's not think that he was all world rotator when he got here. He worked his ass off to get to that point.

That gives me high hopes for Jefferson. Jackson, may not have the motor big enough to move that massive body THAT quickly. But, he has a very good shot at not getting pounded off the block easily. There are always tradeoffs.

I really like Chatfield off the bench too. He is kind of between Jefferson and Jackson. Moves pretty well and has a little bulk that makes him hard to back down. He is also not afraid to put his nose in there. I believe our frontcourt will make us happy by the end of the year.

Now, if we could only get the backcourt to pass a little more than dribble (into 3 defenders), we'll have ourselves a contender.

 

[brokenloginagain]

Said this before Maui, still believe it.

My concern about our bigs is growing. Obviously still early, but I'm not seeing skills and abilities that will translate well to high major games.

So far.. Ward / Jones / King are superior to Hatfield / Jefferson / Jackson in my view.

So 2-3 seasons vs 6 games? Got it.

 

[coolerifyoudid]

I think many still forget that Jefferson is still getting up to speed after meniscus surgery. We haven't seen him at his best yet.

 

[madguy30]

I think many still forget that Jefferson is still getting up to speed after meniscus surgery. We haven't seen him at his best yet.

But he's supposed to be the best right now and stay that way every game for 3-4 months!

/s

 

[Bestaluckcy]

Really liked seeing that 1. 4 across set as an adjustment to the Auburn late turnover set. These coaches know the game well, and aren‘t afraid to switch up their schemes to get an advantage.

 

[Cyinthenorth]

8 seems appropriate. You took care of business against teams you should beat, and were right there with a team of your caliber. Blowing an 18 point lead in that game is what moves it from a 9 to an 8. But **** happens in this sport all the time, so I'm not gonna crucify them for that either

Edit to add that it was also super lame that we ended up with probably the lamest possible series of opponents, which also keeps this number at 8 instead of 9. Beating Colorado by near 30 was really fun though.

 

[IlliniCy]

Solid 8. 1 shoulda, coulda, woulda. 1 win over a team that will be a 4-6 seed, IMO. 1 ass whoopin over a mediocre club.

Went up a spot in Kenpom.
We good!

 

[cydnote]

If you (unrealistically) thought we would easily sweep the Maui field, you still can't vote less than a nine. We were one bounce away from being equal to or greater than arguably the best team in the nation as things set now. We tested against three unfamiliar foes/coaching staffs. We used an extended bench and gave them invaluable experience that should pay dividends down the schedule. We tested our resolve to bounce back when things didn't go our way. We showed the new additions to our roster the results achievable (and the need for) all the grueling practices they been thru thus far. No (additional) injuries. I'm certain that the fans would have graded the trip higher if we would have been crowned champs, but I'd have to believe the coaching staff/players would grade the trip very successful if you include things outside of the scoreboard.
Put my vote in at 9.

 

[CycloneVet]

Went with a 7, and a solid one at that. Definitely room for improvement. I think we saw a mixed bag of results……Auburn stings and they exposed/ showed us what can happen if we stop pushing the pace, passing / sharing the ball, and not getting after it on the boards - with our bigs there is no excuse for getting out rebounded.

There was a little bit of a hangover playing Dayton and we didn’t play our best game - they had something to do with that - Dayton is a tournament team. All three opponents exploited our slowness in rotating our defense when we doubled which resulted in uncontested open looks (many from 3). Definitely something to get shored up as others will do the same.

Colorado was a get right game for us and I think showed what he is possible if we play up to our potential.

The one thing that I have yet to see with this team is who is the “Scrapper”. The guy that will take the charge, dive for loose balls, out hustle someone for a rebound, etc. Tamin is probably the closest to this at the moment but needs to be careful with his history of injuries - still don’t know if he is 100%. TJ’s prior teams had several of these types of role players and I wonder if we have too many alphas that are looking to score first and not necessarily sacrifice for the overall team.

Keshon is by definition a scrapper

 

[Cyrealist]

I went with an 8. The primary objective of preconference games is to get better. I think this was good for that. I would say Auburn is a little mor cohesive than we are at this time, but that means we have greater potential for improvement. We won't be the same team come Feb-March. I thought the biggest weakness was inconsistency on offense. I believe that's what cost the lead against Auburn - we had no answer for their defensive intensity. I was encouraged that we didn't completely fall apart and kept battling.

 

[cyclones500]

I chose 7. That's probably one lower than deserved, but seems reasonable, most details already mentioned. Blowing the big lead still stung, but UA winning title makes it more understandable. Getting into winning bracket probably preferable for resume, but no guarantee we would have beaten either UNC or Memphis. Might have finished 1-2.

 

[sj4]

One funny thing about it all is that when the game started Auburn was ranked #4 and we were #5. And even though both those rankings might and will change throughout the year you have to admit that, in spite of how it happened, the one point loss for a team that was ranked one spot behind the team that won by one point made that ranking deadly accurate. Sort of a meaningless observation but none the less.

 

[kirk89gt]

Keshon is by definition a scrapper

To a point, sure, but he is definitely ball dominant. Not afraid of taking it into the teeth of the defense and more times than not that works out for the team.

What I was thinking of when I used the term scrapper, names like Kalscheur, Kunz, Linsey, and Jones on past teams comes to mind. Not necessarily the focal point of the offense (Gabe would be an exception here), but gritty team guys that aren’t afraid to sacrifice for the betterment of the team.

Maybe the modern day term is “glue guy”?

Need to better understand who the glue guy is on this team. To me it isn’t as apparent as in years past.

 

[CycloneVet]

To a point, sure, but he is definitely ball dominant. Not afraid of taking it into the teeth of the defense and more times than not that works out for the team.

What I was thinking of when I used the term scrapper, names like Kalscheur, Kunz, Linsey, and Jones on past teams comes to mind. Not necessarily the focal point of the offense (Gabe would be an exception here), but gritty team guys that aren’t afraid to sacrifice for the betterment of the team.

Maybe the modern day term is “glue guy”?

Need to better understand who the glue guy is on this team. To me it isn’t as apparent as in years past.

Curtis Jones is who I’d think.

 

[Frak]

My biggest complaint from the tournament was the seeding. There is no reason for ISU auburn in the first round. Assuming UConn was the overall 1 and auburn the 2, that would mean they seeded us 7th. So we get #4 vs #5 (AP) in the first round on espnu? That’s stupid. We should have been the overall 3 and played auburn in the second round.

 

[JP4CY]

My biggest complaint from the tournament was the seeding. There is no reason for ISU auburn in the first round. Assuming UConn was the overall 1 and auburn the 2, that would mean they seeded us 7th. So we get #4 vs #5 (AP) in the first round on espnu? That’s stupid. We should have been the overall 3 and played auburn in the second round.

Going in, here's how I probably would have had it:

Auburn
Uconn
ISU
NC
MS
Memphis
Dayton
Colorado

After:
Auburn
ISU
Memphis
MS
Dayton
NC
Colorado
Uconn

 

[cyclones500]

Going in, here's how I probably would have had it:

Auburn
Uconn
ISU
NC
MS
Memphis
Dayton
Colorado

After:
Auburn
ISU
Memphis
MS
Dayton
NC
Colorado
Uconn

Gave you a "Like," this is solid. I think the "after" I would put UNC #5, 3rd place game was OT.

The initial seed list makes sense, but also trying to remember when bracket was announced, and with expectation/last season's results/"biggest brand" possibilities, seems like Auburn probably was more like a 4 seed ... putting UConn & North Carolina in separate quads, I'd expect something like that. UConn v Dayton or CU seems to make more sense than UConn-Memphis is round 1.