Huge Change in Substitution Patterns

[I.I.]

After the Houston game, Coach Haith made a huge change in sub patterns to try to make a final run toward March.

The most obvious was starting and staying with Swannegan who responded with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Maybe less noticed but just as important was the huge increase in time for Taplin who responded as well.

Also after consistent struggles with shooting and turnovers, Curtis was benched in favor of more Ray and Taplin.

Smith and Birt remain the keys however as they are the most unpredictable factors. When they both play their best games we always win.

 

[bigzit]

when swannegan scores 8 or more we win (always).... low post production (anything above poor) on a team with strong guard play = wins against teams outside the top 25 on most nights.

 

[URedskin54]

I will accept any substitution pattern or strategy that gets us back to playing the kind of defense we played last year. More Swannegan and less Curtis seems like a good move. Pod likes to say our O is hard to watch, but to me watching us scramble on D for 20 seconds while the other team passes up good shots for great shots is more painful.

 

[astonmartin708]

To be fair, he had a big night against one of the worst teams in the league. From what I remember the same thing happened with him last season.

I do like playing taplin more than Curtis.

 

[nevadanatural]

It's never painful to watch my team play. Whether they play like champs or struggle I can't wait for the next game and I'm sad when the last game is played and I have to wait 7-8 months before I can see the next one. It was awful when I could only see 2 or 3 televised games per year.

What's painful is I see so many fan bases where teams struggle to win just a few games each year and the fans support the team and find the good points to build on going forward. This fanbase looks for only the bad and can't even wait until a game is over to complain about how bad the performance was and how we'll be lucky to win another game. They can win by twenty but we're doomed because of this or that awesome insight into what REAL basketball players are like. An incoming player has to play like Ben Simmons or he's a waste of a scholarship, not a D-1 player, etc. What's painful is reading that after every game, win or lose.

 

[URedskin54]

Haven't missed a game, always look forward to the next one, and rarely anything negative to say about a player. I want to see our team play up to the level defensively that we all know they can play. I have a higher opinion of their abilities than most.

 

[Gmoney4WW]

It's never painful to watch my team play. Whether they play like champs or struggle I can't wait for the next game and I'm sad when the last game is played and I have to wait 7-8 months before I can see the next one. It was awful when I could only see 2 or 3 televised games per year.

What's painful is I see so many fan bases where teams struggle to win just a few games each year and the fans support the team and find the good points to build on going forward. This fanbase looks for only the bad and can't even wait until a game is over to complain about how bad the performance was and how we'll be lucky to win another game. They can win by twenty but we're doomed because of this or that awesome insight into what REAL basketball players are like. An incoming player has to play like Ben Simmons or he's a waste of a scholarship, not a D-1 player, etc. What's painful is reading that after every game, win or lose.

Mic just hit the linoleum floor at Bigzit's house.

 

[I.I.]

Really good to see Nevada back with us after a really tough time last year. Need more fans like him.

 

[Tulsafanzz]

Even though he only scored 2 points, I thought Ray had a huge impact on the game. He had 4 steals, but his relentless defense caused many more Tulane turnovers. Loved his flying out of bounds-over chairs save. His momentum took him up the aisle to about row 10!

I'd really like to see more of Ray & Taplin in at the same time. A half or 3/4 court trap with Ray, Taplin & Harrison could really cause problems for a lot of teams.

 

[drboobay]

It will be interesting to see if Taplin is ready for big minutes against the top teams in conference. Our seniors are known quantities and it is hard to imagine a huge improvement year over year. Taplin and Birt to a lesser extent are x factors.

 

[bigzit]

WE'RE ALL WINNERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

pathetic.......

As one of the great one's once said, "winning isn't everything, it's the only thing!"

 

[t-townpod]

Gold and Blue glasses are wonderful but I prefer stating the obvious on message boards. Many of us are as big of fans as any and I disagree with Chris and others that talk about how we are more negative after losses than we are after wins. We often try to describe the good, (which often goes unnoticed) and the negatives which often are over noticed) no matter whether we win or lose. The goal of mine is always the big dance and to get there you have to have certain team ingredients.

I am so proud to see Nevada back. We need ALL fans for our tiny program.

 

[TU_BLA]

Even though he only scored 2 points, I thought Ray had a huge impact on the game. He had 4 steals, but his relentless defense caused many more Tulane turnovers. Loved his flying out of bounds-over chairs save. His momentum took him up the aisle to about row 10!

I'd really like to see more of Ray & Taplin in at the same time. A half or 3/4 court trap with Ray, Taplin & Harrison could really cause problems for a lot of teams.

Ray played a monster game and was very disruptive on the defensive end. Heck, Dabney didn't score until the 2nd half of the game and Tulane started forcing the ball to him.

That play with Ray running up the aisle...if you weren't at the game, you didn't see him go 10-12 rows up the stairs and then come sprinting back onto the floor when he realized that he saved the ball and TU was breaking toward the basket. If he had come back on and gotten a pass and hit a 3, I think TU would have to replace the roof to the Reynold's Center. As it was, fans greatly appreciated that effort.

IMO, shorten the bench the rest of the season and go with 8. Swannegan, Dre, Birt, Harrison, Woodard, Ray, Taplin, Smith. Curtis doesn't need to see much floor time. He is in some sort of struggle zone right now and he's shooting too much from outside. He is most effective with the baseline dribble. He is an effective rebounder, but frequently is outmatched on the defensive side because he is almost always playing someone 3-4 inches taller than he is.

Taplin: kid can play with anyone. His handle is ++, his court vision is ++, his shot is +. He scored 12 points and the only way you knew that was if you looked at the scoreboard. He didn't take many shots and took what was given to him. As a FR, he makes fewer mistakes (physical and mental) than Dre does as a SR.

 

[astonmartin708]

IMHO, after wins people put on blue and gold blinders. We'll win a closeish game vs a bad team and people will say how good we did... when in reality we should have annihilated a team like Tulane by 30-40 points. They were BAD and we weren't much better.

 

[I.I.]

I was wondering if we had passed the ball back to Ray after he came down 10 rows onto the court that the same ref would have called a coming in from out of bounds infraction on him. That might have gotten a few fans ejected.

 

[GOB10]

Aston hit it right on the head we should have beaten this team by 30-40 points. The fact is we are not very good because we shoot sooooooo poorly. Oh and whoever said this team is not painful to watch please check your glasses at the door!!! This team is absolutely painful to watch!

 

[TUBballJunkie]

I'm probably more discouraged after the last 2 games than I've been all season with this next stretch. The Tulane win didn't take away the ick from the Houston loss at all.

I'm seriously afraid we're about to go 0-8 or 1-7.

 

[TUBballJunkie]

And I guess all that leaves is USF after that monster stretch, so basically 0-2 wins left regular season.

I hope not.

 

[mcane]

next two games @ Temple and UH at home will tell. 2-0 great; 1-1 meh, 0-2 yikes.

 

[TUBballJunkie]

UH is one of the few I think we'll at least be favored.

 

[TU_BLA]

We'll see. If Haith sticks with the rotation he used this past Saturday, we should be fine. We beat Tulane pretty easily and that was with some bad luck and still missing layups. The defense was much better, the close outs on the shooters was much better (there were still some lapses) and the defensive rebounding was better. We still missed a bunch of open easy lay-ups against Tulane. I'll reiterate...shot selection was 100x better than the Houston game (IMO, only one questionable shot vs. Tulane). Ball movement was much better versus Tulane. Overall, TU was fundamentally better this past game than it was versus Houston. Houston game hopefully was an aberration brought on by poor choices.

 

[seniorgolfer]

Ray played a monster game and was very disruptive on the defensive end.
Heck, Dabney didn't score until the 2nd half of the game and Tulane started
forcing the ball to him.

Taplin: kid can play with anyone. His handle is ++, his court vision is ++, his
shot is +. He scored 12 points and the only way you knew that was if you
looked at the scoreboard. He didn't take many shots and took what was given
to him. As a FR, he makes fewer mistakes (physical and mental) than Dre
does as a SR.

++++++++++++++++++++++
Taplin's defense has improved, and his footwork looks a lot better....If you
remember, Ray's defense as a fr. wasn't the best either....He improved
markedly over that summer as he got stronger in the weight room....That
may happen to Taplin as well....

Ray is a ton of fun to watch....His energy in our pressure defense seems to
wake up the whole house, and has been instrumental in some of our second
half runs that have decided games...

About a month ago, a friend and I were talking about our team seemingly
having reached its peak, and somehow the conversation centered on the
question "If you could draft one of the current seniors to play with next year's
young team, who would it be?" I almost immediately picked Ray....That
even surprised me a little, but I would still make the same choice....He does
influence the outcome of basketball games, and sets a great example for
the team with his hustle and clutch play.....

 

[Tu Geo]

Great post Nevada.

More Ray...... all game. Love that guy going to miss him next year.

Go TU!!!

 

[cmullinsTU]

Great post Nevada.

More Ray...... all game. Love that guy going to miss him next year.

Go TU!!!

Agreed. Ray isn't the most talented in this senior class but he is who I'll miss the most from it. His on-court demeanor (almost always seems happy and excited to be playing), his quickness, and playing the drums after home games have really made me enjoy watching his career at TU.

 

[I.I.]

Ray and Swannegan bring a little bit of attitude that is missing from others .

 

[Gmoney4WW]

I'm probably more discouraged after the last 2 games than I've been all season with this next stretch. The Tulane win didn't take away the ick from the Houston loss at all.

I'm seriously afraid we're about to go 0-8 or 1-7.

Wow u really are down on the rest of the season. I thought 4 wins was realistically pessimistic, I assume you are worried we'll only win 2 games including USF? Three wins is my worst, but realistic fear. We are on as many night as we are off. I'm guessing 4-5. Temple & @Memphis are tossups. Hopefully we come away from @UCF, Houston, & USF with 3 wins. The other 4,... I don't wanna talk about.

 

[TUBballJunkie]

Yes I'm worried that UH and USF at home are it. The team was SO lifeless in Houston and I didn't see much change in most of the players Saturday, fortunately Tulane is just dreadful.

Is the talent there to win more of those? Sure. I just worry that the "want" is gone.

 

[TU_BLA]

Yes I'm worried that UH and USF at home are it. The team was SO lifeless in Houston and I didn't see much change in most of the players Saturday, fortunately Tulane is just dreadful.

Is the talent there to win more of those? Sure. I just worry that the "want" is gone.

They had a lot more energy on Saturday...you could tell in the arena there was more desire and want. They just didn't get desperate against Tulane which is what appeared happened at Houston after the slow start. For some reason they have this idea that once they get down double digits they have to jack 3s from all over including guys like Smith and Curtis, who shouldn't really take shots from more than 15 ft. The defensive intensity was much higher on Saturday as well. I don't know if Curtis was nicked up or not, but Taplin brings a lot more to the table than Curtis does on the offensive end, and his quickness creates havoc on the defensive side, especially when we trap.

Houston seems to be banged up right now. We need to attack their guards and rebound better and we'll be OK.

 

[hotterthanyourhusbandTU]

Junkie is dialed in...

The team just doesn't seem as effective as last year. The inside game and team defense is way different (definitely inconsistent).

Last year, in watching the team, I was confident TU was the 2nd or 3rd best team in the conference.

I don't have the same perception this year. The guys have gone through really tough stretches offensively, and surprisingly defensively.

Defense is 90% all out effort, tenacity, and relentlessness. I hope the guys can find the desire again on that side of the floor.

 

[TUBballJunkie]

The first half vs Tulane looked just the same. They did not get desperate until LATE at Houston and that was the only signs of life. Defense and reboounding was undoubtedly more troubling than the shooting woes which are just reality. I'm done getting mad about awful shooting, because it is what it is. Poor defense doesn't only give up buckets, but it eliminates fast break chances and forces us into an unproductive half court offense. That's how we can win in spite of our shooting, period.

There's a couple players that still look aggressive all the time, but we're not beating anyone but USF or Houston on the backs of Swannegan and Taplin. UCF on the road will be another story for Brandon than it was at home last weekend.

 

[Gold*]

I'm not that worried about UCF. They stink. Temple and Houston will be hard.

 

[Gmoney4WW]

Yeah, I don't think @UCF is that hard of a game to win. It has become obvious with their schedule getting harder.(I saw that three game losing streak a mile away.)

 

[TUBballJunkie]

I don't think it's all that difficult for those giant bodies to clog the lane for our guards or give the bigs fits. Both of those can happen to this team easily and we're in trouble if we're forced into jump shots.

We shall see.

 

[Gmoney4WW]

Go TU, Beaaaaat Temple!!!

 

[mcane]

last year, TU beat Temple twice. Particularly in Philadelphia, TU won because Temple missed 3 points and TU got lay-ups off of fast breaks on the rebound. Very similar story to what Houston did to TU this year.

Key is the zone defense and whether Temple or TU get hot. I'm beginning to think that is the entire season - which team is playing better D/shooting a higher percentage from 3.

 

[astonmartin708]

last year, TU beat Temple twice. Particularly in Philadelphia, TU won because Temple missed 3 points and TU got lay-ups off of fast breaks on the rebound. Very similar story to what Houston did to TU this year.

Key is the zone defense and whether Temple or TU get hot. I'm beginning to think that is the entire season - which team is playing better D/shooting a higher percentage from 3.

God I hope we don't zone the entire game. Haith's zone blows 75% of the time.