re: Basketball Team Has Many Problems

We look like we're supposed to be
playing ball on a black top.

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ou aren't going to win many games when you can't make 3s. its not like the shots they are taking are horrible either. we are missing a ton of open 3s. once our shooters break out of the slump we will be fine. the season for sure is not lost and I still think lsu will finish 1, 2 or 3 in the sec. for those who disagree feel free to tell me the sec teams that have impressed you the most so far.

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You can win games without being a great 3 point shooting team. To do so there has to be a greater emphasis on getting points in the paint and playing strong defense. Even before the season there was (or at least should have been) questions about LSU's perimeter/3 point shooting ability. TQ was a below avg. shooter, as was Martin. Gray was not known as a "shooter" either. Really Hornsby was the only guy, and he has shown thus far to be very streaky. The strength of this team was NEVER going to be 3 point shooting. This line up probably won't shoot as bad from deep as the season goes on as they have in the first few games, but they aren't going be a great "shooting" team at any point in the season.

In the SEC UK has been impressive as has Ark. Florida has struggled with some key guys being out, but when you have has a much success as Billy Donovan has had there's no reason to think they won't turn things around. I also think Alabama has looked better than they did at any point last season.

LSU has simply looked bad in all 5 games out of the gate. They played ZERO defense against GWU and then had a complete lack of awareness at then end of the game and damn near let GWU back in by taking shots early in the shot clock with 2:00 to go.

Against an avg. (at best) TTU the defense improved a bit, but poor shooters continuously jacked up shot after shot. There were long stretches of the game where LSU couldn't make a FG. If it wasn't for TQ, LSU loses.

ODU, Weber and Clemson were more of the same. IMO LSU is fortunate to only have 2 losses. I'd be more confident that this would get turned around if the same problems they have had thus far this year weren't the same problems they never fixed last season.

The season isn't "lost", but to watch this team right now and think that they'll finish in the top-3 of the SEC is absurd. This group looks much worse that last year's squad at this point, and that group was only able to finish .500 in the league.

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where did I say that we have to be great? if we are an average 3 point shooting team we will be good. you have to at least make teams respect the fact that you might make it.

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The problem is that this team isn't going to even be an avg. 3 point shooting team. That was evident even before the season started. Who besides Hornsby is a legitimate 3 point threat? TQ and Gray aren't "shooters". Martin showed last season that he can make 3's, but it is a complete waste of his skill set to have him just simply be an outside shooter.

UK struggled last season (for their standards) until about mid-way through SEC play until Calipari reached the conclusion that his team simply couldn't knock down outside shots with any consistency. At that point they used their athleticism to attack the basket every possession. They finished the season as national runner-up being ranked 288 in 3 point apg, and number 1 in FT per game.

LSU has a similar type of line up (albeit not as talented overall) Of their 5 best players 4 are guys who are better slashers than shooters. What's a more reasonable attack? Continue to settle for 3 pointers/perimeter jumpers and hope that a bunch of below avg shooters get hot? Or take some very athletic guys and constantly attack the bucket? With this lineup LSU should shoot (at minimum) 20 FT per game.

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I think JA tried to find a bigger name to silence the "Johnny Jones" faction.

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No. He fake interviewed a bunch of mid-tier coaches to get them extensions. Jones was the only real candidate.

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Hornsby is getting better every game.

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His last game was his worse one. 2-12 shooting, 0-5 3 point and 2 turnovers. He did get an assist and 2 steals but hardly a player that is getting better. I would argue his first game was his best.

This is looking like an NIT team, at best.

I'm curious to see how they do once the conference schedule gets going.

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Not much objectivity in your post. Please tell us why you think a certain Ayer is overrated?

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I am basing my remarks on what I have seen in the games not press releases. I assume you are talking about Martin although why you don't use his name I don't know. Martin is 6'10" and yet he plays like 6'6". On offense he sets up way out on the wing and hardly moves at all. He takes a lot of 3 point shots. Last year he shot 33% from three. Not horrible but certainly not good. This year he is 1-14 .017 which is way beyond horrible.

So he tries to be a 3 point shooter which he is not. He has no post moves and in fact never does post up with his back to the basket. His driving moves to the basket are not smooth and only work occasionally because he is very tall. He misses a lot of short shots and put backs around the goal because he is too timid and doesn't go up strong. His defense is only so so and he loses his man quite often.

Overall shooting percentage this year is 40.9% and last year it was 47.1%. The first is terrible and the second is mediocre for someone with his hype.

What is he good at? Okay free throw shooter, fair rebounder and can make spectacular dunks off of the fast break and the occasional alley-oop pass.

Besides stats the thing that I don't see in him is passion. He is passive, almost listless at times. You never see him fired up being aggressive,energetic, pumping his fists. It is almost like he is there because he has to be, not because he wants to be.

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They don't look like a well coached team right now. They look very sloppy.

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Shooting poorly from the field does that and to any team. You guys are making way too much out of five games, three of which were played in the Caribbean. Who knows how this team will be playing after 10-15 games as a unit.

Premature hype goes as expected