Because we don't have school today, I'm a basketball coach so I'm always trying to pick apart things and I really needed to sit down and re-watch these games because some similarities are rearing their ugly heads.

Teams are spreading us out. Shooters in the corners, pick and roll to open up the middle. Our lack of a defensive guard or a post with the quickness to push guards out like years past is not only apparent when you watch games, but I'm sure other coaches have picked this up. It's not like teams are running complex stuff against us. They put athletes on the floor and have other shooters around them hoping that those guys can knock down a few momentum three's (GT, Tech and Wake).

Giving up offensive rebounds at the worst time- some of this has to do with effort, some of this has to do with digging ourselves so much of a hole it looks like we are tired at the end of the contest. Fundamentally guys are not boxing out, instead we're looking to run which is never good until you get the rebound first.

Our offense looks more NBA than college-

The thing I've been impressed with the last few years is how college basketball our offense looks. Now maybe Tony has gotten the idea for future years we need to run more pick and roll like in the pros, but we don't have the personnel this year or the athletes where that's going to work. As soon as teams get up six or eight we start relying on one-on-one basketball too much which gets us down even more in a second.

We stop going to AG-

Look at the games we won and look at the games we lost. Even when down a few possessions this team somehow forgets that we have a guy with the block who when one on one no team can stop. Granted we miss layups, but I said this early in the season, we are an inside/out team, not the other way around.

Toughness-

Why are we always the team when things aren't going well backing away from contact vs. giving it back? This would've never happened in the last few seasons, but for some reason this team is trying to rely on finesse versus toughness which teams especially on the road are taking advantage of in key stretches.

We really need to do the exact opposite of what we've been doing. Try to be more of a defensive oriented club at home where the crowd will pick us up energy wise and simply try to get out in transition scoring 10 to 20 points a game that way on the road. Great coaches adjust to the personnel they have at the time not their own personal philosophy. That is what makes Izzo and Coach K amazing coaches. They adjust to the personnel not their own philosophy of basketball and tend to make both of those things together work as one.

Tonight's game turned at the end of the first half. Up by six, with the ball, and we turn it over (for the second time) trying to inbound from in front of the FSU bench. Kid hits a three, his first basket, and ignites like the Human Torch. Nolte and Wilkins turn easy shots into hard shots, missing both, late in the game when we must score. I have to say I am really concerned for the season given what I saw tonight. Plenty of time and ample opportunity to turn it around but I am not seeing the pep in our step to give me much hope.

LP
MB
DT
AG
JR

MT
MS if not hurt
DH
IW


Salt and EN don't see much time rest of this season

AG and JR give us post offense

I hate our offense right now. Not much movement and teams continue to pack it in daring us to make outside shots.

Salt looks quicker than he did early in the year. Good job hedging early in the game.

FSU switching a lot in the half court early.

Glad Hall got his first start. Kid has waited his turn and kept working hard until his playing time could increase.

Why do we keep playing Nolte? If he could hit 1 or 2 3's a game, that is one thing, but the kid has lost all confidence in his shot.

FSU was spreading the floor with 4 guards early and TB saw that and subbed in pretty quickly.

MB has sucked from 3. His shot is still flat and we thought that was fixed over the summer.

LP is passing up good shots. His scoring is needed night in and night out. Kid needs to shoot 10-15 shots a game.

Is TB trying to find defense so bad he is failing to realize this team is money when getting out in transition offense?

Gill has to stop picking up dumb fouls. We can't afford him on the bench for long stretches as the season gets going.

SLOB was a issue early in the game. How could we not get the ball in? These are things you don't see from a TB team.

Why does Salt get minutes if he just is a guy who is using 5 fouls? JR is a better scoring option.

Once again this offense has no ball movement or screens to get guys open. This game in the second half turned into one on one basketball again.

We don't have the quard quickness we need. Why not DT and DH when we need guys to slash which will open up drive and kick?

This team might be better served running the offense through LP. His shot is the most consistent on this team right now.

This team is sloppy. MB is forcing dumb shots and as I have said for weeks, the offensive movement sucks which leads to one on one basketball too much.

We need quicker guards. Coleman might be a must in 17. We are slow and getting split by every team with quick guards.

This team has a true identity crisis and it's going to take some team leadership to clean up.

Tony really needs to just settle in the lineup and go with it because the tinkering isn't working either. I know his identity is a defensive minded coach, but this team has shown this season that they're better when they can get out in transition and start an early offense before the other team sets their defense because we are severely lacking a knockdown shooter that can bury teams.

This is a 7-10 seed come tourney time that will need the right matchup and shooting to even think about making the Sweet 16.

This is the most frustrated I've been in the Tony Bennett era.

The offense needs to run through Gill and LP. Next two games are must wins in the worst way. Sad we have to say that this early in the year.

We all love Malcolm but in our 3 ACC losses he has taken 48 shots making only 16. Thompson is afraid to shoot, Tobey is a defensive liability and Gill sometimes gets overmatched by opponents 7 footers. Shayok in a sophmore slump or still injured. Hall inconsistant and poor Nolte barely shooting 20%, we all cringe when he shoots (as does he). Wilkins hustles but is undersized for a 4 and struggles to do his job with also having to compensate for others not doing theirs. Perrantes is doing a great job from 3 but the offense is too dependent on Malcolm and when he is slumping our offense is hurting. He is about 40% of our offense and when he is misfiring we are in big trouble. He is forced to keep shooting and sometimes it is down right ugly, he is not the pure shooter Joe was or the athlete Justin was. We desperately need to develop another consistant weapon, we can't keep putting the pressure all on Malcolm. He also leads the team in TO's, again because he is trying to do too much because rarely are others doing their share. Next year we will have a pure shooter, maybe 2, a slasher with range, a defender and a great low post scorer/threat but this year too much is being asked of Malcom and he can't consistantly come through.

You know how in Joe's freshman season you knew he was going to be pretty good? Then Malcolm? Then London? Gill in his first year here? Well, we haven't seen any freshman last year or this year look like that and the sophomores continue to not take that serious step.

Two thoughts.

When the posters saying and predicting that Shayok would be a star and make that leap, I never understood it. I don't think he ever is going to be a consistent contributor. His game is wild and reckless ( his shot too) and his dribble is worse than Justin's.

Also, I think in the limited time he has gotten, Reuter comes closest to being like the aforementioned players as far as looking like he could be a consistent contributor down the road. I have no idea why this guy doesn't get in the game more especially when you need offense down low.

where can I find TB post game?

Not sure about the defensive problems, but on the offensive end, we just need to run the offense and trust the open player (without having Nolte in the game, ever). It seems to me that there is too much LP and Brogdon playing a two man game and the other players standing around. This bores them and forces Brogdon especially into bad shots.

This is the reason that we're not getting open looks. I saw a lot of open passes tonight not get made (especially when Nolte was in the game), but our other players ARE good and can score when you get them the ball in the right spaces/spots.

Between Hall, Shayok, Thompson & Wilkins...someone...anyone, needs to step up and play with some form of consistency.

When these guys disappear, we lose. It's happened in every loss this season.

We don't need them to be MB, AG or even LP. We just them to find a role, and fill that role on a consistent basis. Nichols and the incoming freshmen better be ready to play next year, because after 17 games this year, I have little faith that we can rely on this group to be our core in 2016-17.

weve seen two years of dominant regular season results only to come up empty when it counted. I think this season is going to be one of dogfights, mistakes, trial and error, and losses. I think we finish the year ranked in the late teens and go Into the tourney as a 5 or 6 seed. And that's when all our battle scars from the season could pay dividends. Are we a final four team? Not unless someone else steps up big time. But I think we will advance to the sweet 16 at least.

Figured the board could use some good news tonight

About a half hour or so before things get going down in the Tucker Center between No. 13 UVa and Florida State. I'll be back in a few with the starting lineup and the game updates.

As always, have at it folks...

Tobey is the key to this game and doesn't even know it.

Good morning guys, I'll be speaking with Deedrick Daniels again today to get his thoughts on his in-home visit he had with Mendenhall, I'll also be catching up with Ty Jerome to talk about his injury as well as Chaz Ah You who was just offered by UVa last week. He is a 4-star 2017 kid and is pretty legit. I'll post some teasers in this thread later on today so stay tuned!

Everything we need to know about the season will be told in these two games.

The Hoos didn't respond against a bad team in Bleaksburg, then backed it up with not elevating their game quite enough to beat a decent team in Atlanta. The remaining home schedule is pretty manageable until the very back end (RPIs 129, 80, 199, 123, 96, 5, 23). The remaining road schedule is pretty daunting until the last one (87, 47, 23, 21, 9, 18, 129).

I figure if we beat FSU and Wake in Tally and W-S, then we will win at Clemson, manage at least 6-1 in the remaining home games, and steal one or two on the road for a 12-6/11-7 type ACC record and likely 4th-6th place finish. If we beat the Noles but lose to the Deacs, things get sketchier for finishing much better than 9-9 or 10-8. Lose to the Noles and Deacs, we probably finish sub-.500, as Clemson becomes the only winnable road game and there are still a home game or two that could be lost. Lose to the Noles and beat Wake? Your guess is as good as mine ... hahaha!

Of course, it could start clicking for some guys and this could be wrong (and this is always given with the caveat that an injury could derail everything), but it's just how I'm seeing it going into Sunday.

Thoughts from the board?

It's a crazy year. Teams must come to play every night. I think some of this crazy will bottom out in the next few weeks, but be very happy our SOS and wins out of conference are legit. This might be the wrong year to be on the bubble come Selection Sunday.

47-25 at the half IN EAST LANSING!. Like I said there are NO dominant teams. Bodes well for an interesting March.

Miami gets beat by 5-1 CLEMSON SERIOUSLY?? then my favorite PUKE LOSES to the Golden Domers! and the Hokies are 4-1 in conference THIS IS INSANE

A former Michigan commit, three-star QB Victor Viramontes is a clear target for the Cavaliers.

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Last year was a very poor year for the program. This was primarily attributed to the lack of front line depth, so we brought in three first year players who were supposed to help. Last night we lost to Louisville 59-41. Our two returning front line players each played 30 minutes; one scored 6 points, and the other failed to score. The first years who were recruited to beef up the front line played very little and contributed little. I have not watched anything other than the highlights of our games, so I do not know what the primary problem might be, but it appears that the coaching staff either cannot identify talent or cannot develop talent.

We'll get started with UVa's Tony Bennett in a few. Check this thread for notes.

Coach K looked like his back hurt a lot.