re: Antonio Blakeney hasn't lived up to the hype....plain and simple

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Simmons is getting them open looks all day, but they are settling for outside shots

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because they are getting open looks. You're supposed to shoot the ball when you get open looks, unless it's known that you just can't shoot the ball. But we (by we I mean I) came into the season thinking we were going to play a fast paced small ball type offense featuring Simmons point forward kicking the ball to open shooters who were going to sink open jump shots all day.

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RELAX

Its how you end the year that counts

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Not if you're playing in the NIT again. Nobody cares if you win the NIT or lose in the first round.

Jones probably came in with the type offense he thought we WERE going to be able to run with these players. But things aren't going as planned.

For now, we just need to be a drive it to the basket type team, down and dirty ugly basketball with more of Bridgewater and Robertson banging inside and Gray, Simmons and Blakeny driving it in and everyone just banging on the boards.

Maybe when Hornsby gets back, and if Sampsons stroke gets a little better, we'll have two jump shooters we could rely on and get back to Simmons driving and kicking it to the open man.

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disagree. Blakeney is struggling for sure, but we need him to find it if we're going to go anywhere this year.

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Let him do it off the bench. We can't have a hole there with that many minutes

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Blakeney isn't the only one struggling. Sampson and Patterson aren't doing much better. The offense is a complete and utter mess. LSU is playing rec-league style basketball against structured college teams.

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I'm unhappy too, but mine has more to do on the defensive end.

We're getting in the lane, kicking the ball out, and missing a lot of wide open shots.

We need our defense to improve to help us when we can't throw it in the ocean. It leads to transition points

Our strategy now seems to be over rotation to help down low. All it is doing is allowing us to be beaten inside and out. Let us get dominated down low

And we need to make our damn FTs

Good news is he's not one and done

You should start calling him Antonio Brickeney. That'll help things.

Once they are available the starting lineup should be:

Gray
Hornsby
Quarterman
Simmons
Victor

Blakeney and Sampson can come off the bench until they show consistency to take the jobs away.

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For now, we just need to be a drive it to the basket type team, down and dirty ugly basketball with more of Bridgewater and Robertson banging inside and Gray, Simmons and Blakeny driving it in and everyone just banging on the boards.

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I like both guys, but Bridgewater and Robinson have physical limitations that make them virtual non-factors. Bridgewater is just too short to play inside. Robinson is too slow and frankly, would just clog the lane on any drives. They're not making shots right now. Unfortunately it happens. However, it's incredibly frustrating to watch the sheer lack of movement away from the ball. Simmons has NBA HOF type of court vision and he's dying to find guys in good spots every time he gets the ball. If ANYONE slashes to the basket away from the ball, Simmons will find him. LSU should have players diving to the rim everytime Simmons touches it. Instead, they all stand around the perimeter and wait for him to do something. Jesus Christ! If you want to be a big-time scorer there is no one in CBB better to play with than Simmons. He draws all of the attention and is more than happy to give the ball up to teammates for open looks.