RebelFaithful.com

We suck!

Stayed close but turnovers killed us all game long.

Someone say "moral victory"......I dare you.....

Our guard play sucks, no getting around it. Our point guard play is beyond horrible. Neal isn't a pg, he's a 2 guard. Tyree is a pg, and I think will be a very good one. Problem is, he had surgery for a torn ACL is April, and didn't join the team until 2 weeks before the season started. So he had no practice time with the team since he was in high school last year. Plus, he won't regain all his quickness until next season, usually takes a year to regain all your quickness. He will be joined by another pg next year. Both are top 100 players. They and Burnett are all top 100 players, giving us 3 on the team at the same time. That's a first for us. Ky. beat A&M 100-52 last night. Fla. won at arkie by 9, and beat us at their house by 6. arkie went on the road and beat state by 10 last night. Our pg play will be our weak spot this year, hope we can overcome that somewhat. But it sure gets hard watching them turn the ball over so much. I even stood up and clapped one time last night when we made one of our STUPID turnovers. Correct them, and we may be a pretty good team.

A telling stat from Red Cup
Sebastian Saiz did what he does best—snatch down a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds—while Deandre Burnett led the Rebels in scoring with 18. Ole Miss out-rebounded the Gators, 34-28, and out-shot them from the field, 51.1 percent to 41.7 percent, but the turnovers allowed Florida to take 13 more shots.

rebeljim wrote:A telling stat from Red Cup
Sebastian Saiz did what he does best—snatch down a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds—while Deandre Burnett led the Rebels in scoring with 18. Ole Miss out-rebounded the Gators, 34-28, and out-shot them from the field, 51.1 percent to 41.7 percent, but the turnovers allowed Florida to take 13 more shots.

Same story different day.

I did a research project. Ole Miss vs. Butler in recruiting in the years where the players would've been on the team when Butler made the championship in 2010

2006(in case Butler redshirted anyone)
Rivals 100 Rivals 150
Ole Miss 0 0
Butler 0 0

2007
Ole Miss 1 1
Butler 0 0

2008
Ole Miss 1 0
Butler 0 0

2009
Ole Miss 1 0
Butler 0 0

2010
Ole Miss 2 0
Butler 0 2

I used Rivals rankings only and have no idea about Juco transfers. Butler went to the finals in 2010 and 2011. Ole Miss went to the NIT those years.

Edit: That didn't format well. The first number is if the player was ranked in the Rivals top 100. The second number is for players ranked 101-150.

You can have twelve point guards on the team but the problem is that only one ball is allowed. The guard play is terrible and we do turn it over too much. The main reason is players trying to do too much and forcing things. We are very weak in half court offense. You can also add basic fundamentals. When we really need to get down and work for a basket we can't do it because it is a foreign concept. It takes more than one or two passes to get a decent shot most of the time. Thank God for SS. Without him it would be a very long year. This team can shoot it, they can rebound it fairly well. They have enough talent to compete, so what is the problem. It is the same problem every AK coached team has had. No shot selection, no half court offense and too many people taking quick shots. Weak fundamentally and weak defense. No amount of talent will overcome these problems against good teams.

Eric do u really believe any coach in the country, college or pro, could've taken any of those teams we had and made the finals? We didn't have the talent on any of those teams that Butler had to make the finals, even if Red Auerbach or John Wooden was our coach. I do know Butler has some players in the pros right now. One of them is the best player on Utah's team right now. He'll be a free agent at season's end, and my Celtics may come after him. His name is Gordon Hayward. And he was at Butler from 2008-2010. I don't think we had a player NEAR his abilities. Shelvin Mack also went to Butler from 2008-20011. He now plays for Utah after playing for the Hawks, 76's and the Wizards. Both are starters for the Jazz right now also. So that's 2 players off those Butler teams that went to the finals that are still in the NBA, and starting. How many of our players from any of our teams made the NBA?? And how many still there??? Gee. u think there's much talent difference in those programs?????? But u go ahead and compare the 2, seems about right.

Just a few notes about the Florida game. 21 turnovers vs 8 assist. 29 total baskets, 8 assist. Think about this, there were 21 times we had the ball and when the possession ended we hadn't taken a shot. That is a little over one time every two minutes where we handed them the ball without any chance of scoring. I think we will all agree that Sebastian Saiz is the best player OM has. As a team OM shot the ball 66 times. The best player shot the ball 15 times. I would really like to know how many of his shots came off of offensive rebounds. My whole problem with the Ole Miss basketball program is it is like pickup or church league basketball. Any team is at it's best when the best offensive players are the ones taking good shots. Any idiot should know to get the ball to your best player. You have to make a concentrated effort to make sure your best player touches the ball most trips down the floor. Jim, I know you watch OM basketball. The next time you watch take a little note pad. Every time Ole Miss comes down the floor and makes a concentrated effort to get Saiz the ball mark it down. I'm not talking about every time he touches the ball. I'm talking about when they actually go to him on the offensive end. Make a mark every time OM actually brings the ball down and works for a shot. I'm talking about quality possessions. Ole Miss has no concept of what a quality possession is. Defense should be equal, Everybody should play it. Offense cannot and should not be equal. You have to get your best players more shots and even they have to take quality shots. Until Om learns this they will never be a good team.

rebeljim wrote:Eric do u really believe any coach in the country, college or pro, could've taken any of those teams we had and made the finals? We didn't have the talent on any of those teams that Butler had to make the finals, even if Red Auerbach or John Wooden was our coach. I do know Butler has some players in the pros right now. One of them is the best player on Utah's team right now. He'll be a free agent at season's end, and my Celtics may come after him. His name is Gordon Hayward. And he was at Butler from 2008-2010. I don't think we had a player NEAR his abilities. Shelvin Mack also went to Butler from 2008-20011. He now plays for Utah after playing for the Hawks, 76's and the Wizards. Both are starters for the Jazz right now also. So that's 2 players off those Butler teams that went to the finals that are still in the NBA, and starting. How many of our players from any of our teams made the NBA?? And how many still there??? Gee. u think there's much talent difference in those programs?????? But u go ahead and compare the 2, seems about right.

You are proving my point. Hayward was not ranked in the top 150 on rivals. According to rankings, we had more talent. There are coaches that can take lower ranked players and make them better. I believe this is the direction we need to go.

You said, "Ole Miss doesn't play the game" in basketball recruiting. The AAU game(your words). We need a coach that can find some Patrick Willis's in basketball and coach them up.

Kennedy might have a ring if he had the resources you and everyone else say he doesn't have. But, here is the thing, he doesn't have them. We need a coach that can work in that environment successfully. I believe there are coaches like that out there.