Garrett Green

He was great today. I hope this game did something for his confidence

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I have been very critical of him this year, even suggesting that he needs to move on after this season.

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I have been very critical too and I don't think it has been unfair. In fact I blamed Trent more for playing the poor kid so much.

But he played by far his best game as a Tiger today. He still got 3 shots blocked and lofted an airball and was pretty useless on defense, but it was still by leaps and bounds his best game.

Now does that mean I think his future is bright and this vindicates Trent giving him all those minutes?

Not really. I remember Voogd going off against Georgia one game for 12 points and some surprisingly spectacular plays, but he never followed that up.

The limitations are still obvious and I'll need to see consistent improvement before I say Trent must see something we all don't.

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Something made Trent Johnson use his last scholarship on a point guard, rather than a post player. Perhaps Green's development in practice that has been unseen by the fans is one of the reasons.

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Agree. Needs to lift the weights....

I know about the bad talent level and things like that.. and I know I may get crushed for this.. but still some things do go back to coaching. LSU has trouble with boxing out and running simple offensive plays. Even if the talent is bad and you miss the shot, at least you got an open shot. LSU isn't fluid on offense at all and never really gets off a great shot. It's almost like Trent knew like everyone did that this year would be bad, so he kind of half asses it sometimes. No matter how bad the talent level is, you should always be able to box out and run a fluid looking offense, even if the shots won't fall.

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I know about the bad talent level and things like that

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I'm with ya all the way Monpelier.

I really like Trent. Like his character and integrity, his leadership and for that I badly want him to succeed.

But that doesn't mean I am going to put my head in the sand regarding trying to rationalize issues I've seen this year that have nothing to do with talent.

You've hit on some I could hit on several others if pressed.

But at least for once this team showed some signs of both individual and collective improvement and played with energy and enthusiasm, something IMHO they have seldom played with this year.

So kudos for that. I've been critical enough, I'll give them credit for once.

its hard to watch all those putbacks that other teams get when we fail to get the rebound. im not too worried about the future as far these fundamentals go, i think its just going part in parcel with the terrible season. last seasons team was as fundamentally sound a team as i can remember and they improved tremendously in those areas from the previous season. this year you've got storm as a first year starter who really didn't play much his freshman year, he's making some mistakes and fouling, green missed the season, dotson is a freshman, harris a freshman, same with ludwig, basically i think we'll see these things improve with experience. maybe not next season right away with a new crop of youngsters but i like to think 2012 and 2013 are going to set up to be special seasons for LSU. green and dotson will be healthier, maybe ludwig gets a redshirt to work on his game and spend some time with the weights, harris had his best game since the non conference season and bass seems to be finding some sort of rhythm offensively. sometimes you can out talent your own mistakes like blocking a shot when you get out - boxed and the opponent tries to score on a putback but we all know the talent is lacking for the most part, it will get better, us fans just have to keep the faith.

i hear you. i think people make me out to be the LSUBEATLES version for trent but that's not true. i just have faith in what he has done where he's been and what he's going to do here. i really believe LSU hit a home run with the trent hiring. he's all ab out basketball and integrity. our team plays with integrity, i've seen people accuse them of quitting and a team coming off a 35 point beatdown that follows up with an effort like they did today are far from being quitters IMO. people like to look at the losses and say 'now where's the coaching?' but you look even deeper and you see today is another case of us being in a game we really have no business being in just like against ole miss, washington state, mississippi state, utah. coaching also has something to do with why we are in those games. last season i wish we would have fronted the post a little more to help CJ, i wish we would have played more zone at times but i am still a big trent johnson fan, LSU had a nice team last season but since the final four year its been pretty clear that the program as a whole was a spilled drink away from being a big mess. trent is cleaning up and he's also building so im all about giving him some time. i anticipate all aspects of the game will improve, building off some things we saw today.

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our team plays with integrity,

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I like that about Trent more than anything. It's why I want him so badly to succeed S.

The teams you mention that we had no business being in games with, quite frankly ain't all that great, and I didn't exactly think we were really that competitive in Starkeville. I think it was reasonable to expect to be competitive in all those games though, especially the ones at home.

But that's hair splitting minutea. I was fairly pleased with Trent's hire at first announcement, though I had wanted someone a bit younger maybe and with a bit better recruiting pedigree.

But once I got to know his integrity and character man I just want the dude to succeed.

I was so glad to finally see some signs of life and progress today because the lack of it all year was really starting to concern me. If he can follow this up to finish the year I will feel much better than I did this morning about our future.

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Moving him out of the center of the zone made him much less of a liability

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I agree, cause he has absolutely no value as a post defender. He IMHO doesn't do anything well in that regard.

He can at least get his hand up on the wings or baseline area of a zone but he will also be exposed there trying to stay in front of athletes there.

But you're righ tom he's less of a liability.

I'm happy the kid made some good plays today. He's looked like he didn't want to be out there all year and even today he had three shots blocked and a couple of clutsy turnovers but Trent sees something in the kid. I hope Trent's right and I'm wrong.

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The guy scores 6 pts in 30 min. fouls out, and people think he might have made a turn around. I am not sold on this guy. i am not sold on Dotson 1 pt.

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I agree on Green, and as for Dotson, I know the kids coming of an injury but man, I still don't see it. I think Trent may have mis-evaluated.

From all reports I've heard Trent was really counting on this kid to contribute alot this year. He's not even doing that on a bad team.

Trent's not the kind of coach to run kids off. They'll be here as long as they want to and I think that's the right thing. And I hope they develop. I have my doubts but I've been wrong before.