Looks like horrific shooting again.
I'll take the win though. Much better than the alternative.
Hopkins' last trip to Beasley.
I'll take the win though. Much better than the alternative.
Hopkins' last trip to Beasley.
Hey...we won. Despite ourselves.
- Thread starter How_did_this_happen?
- Start date
Hop might be back. Rumors they don’t want to buyout his remaining $6M. Might be wishful thinking on my part.
I caught the 2nd half. It wasn’t anything to write home about, but a win is a win.
I caught the 2nd half. It wasn’t anything to write home about, but a win is a win.
Why on god's green earth are we trying to burn clock with like 7 minutes to go and taking piss poor shots as the clock expired?!
On several possesions we passed up very high quality looks to burn more clock. It was the basketball equvialent of the prevent defense.
I am happy with the win...but that was really poor coaching that could have cost us the game.
On several possesions we passed up very high quality looks to burn more clock. It was the basketball equvialent of the prevent defense.
I am happy with the win...but that was really poor coaching that could have cost us the game.
I've watched most of our games over the past few seasons, and if we're going to poke holes at Kyle Smith, it should be with regard to roster building, not his coaching. I used to coach junior high basketball, and while I'm hardly an expert on the game, I can spot bad coaching when I see it. Our offensive design isn't bad at all. It's the damn execution that sucks. We miss a TON of OPEN looks every game. I've never seen anything like it at this level.
I counted at least 6 missed uncontested 15' midrange shots by Gueye and Rodman yesterday. Plays that were run to perfection with wide open looks. The same is true with our 3-point shooting. Our ball we drive and kick the ball out well, our entry passes to Gueye get moved to open shooters, and we make the extra passes on the perimeter to find the open man. Powell was missing yesterday. Jaki's shot is always inconsistent, and he doesn't finish at the rim more than 20% of the time, and that's being generous. Bamba's shot is decent, but his release is slow. Mullins is a great shooter, but he's a turnover machine off the dribble and can't defend at an A-legue intramural level.
Kyle Smith at a more established program would be scary. He recruits and devlops big men and runs an offense that generates good looks. We just don't have a true point guard or a reliable 2/3 scorer, and the absence of Dishon Jackson has forced Gueye to play out of position.
With any semblance of outside shooting yesterday, we would have won that game by 15+. Eldridge Recasner, who I think is fantastic, called the game and is a UW alumnus. He pointed out throughout the broadcast how we kept getting wide open looks. That's not poor coaching, that's poor execution.
That seems to be the strategy, lately, burning clock snd not getting s decent shot off, or shot clock violations
This is just not a good shpoting team, most of them are spot up shooters and dont hit unless they are left alone by the defense
Hell, yesterday, they were all alone. My God, we must have missed at least 10 uncontested shots.
....and then there's the defense & rebounding. I didn't see the game last night but I'm pretty sure I know what it looked like. The 29% FG says it all. But you can't deny how good the other components of the team were vs. the Huskies.
Glad Cougar
Glad Cougar
I don't disagree with you...but the same broadcaster keep saying how we kept milking the clock, passing up good looks earlier in the shot clock, and ending up with piss poor looks or even no shots which happened once or twice.
Missing open looks is one thing..and not on the coach. Passing up high quality open looks just to jack up a piss poor shot at the end of the shot clock is.
Despite our poor shooting, had we just taken those good looks instead of trying to milk the clock and basically just creating the equivalent of a turnover, UW doesn't get back in the game.
I agree that it was poor shooting and poor execution, but disagree that it's poor roster management.
Smith has recruited several true PG, and combo guard PG's.
Smith recruited Koulibaly(Projected 1 and Done by experts, media, coaches, players, etc, DIDNT PAN OUT.
Smith recruited Flowers, 3.8 assist per game.
Smith recruited Rice, who got CANCER.
Smith recruited Powell who getting about 5.5 assist per game, and has game high's of 11,12 assist in about 2,3 games, and has been a decent shooter, about 11 ppg scorer, altho Dr Jeckle, Mr Hyde inconsistent at times, so he kind of has semi panned out, but even if he hadn't planned out, he was supposed to be a big time TRUE PG from Auburn.
Smith recruited a TRUE SCORING AND ASSIST PG in Darling, that hasnt panned out yet.
The problem isn't roster building, the problem has been EXTREME BAD LUCK IN NOT HAVING PLAYERS NOT PAN OUT AND NOT GET INJURED, etc.
WSU last year had injuries. Then had Noah, Roberts, Koulibaly, Ryan Rapp, Efe, Jackson, Flowers, Rice, Jaki, in no particular order, EITHER, graduate, leave via transfer, get injured, etc,.
THATS EIGHT FCKING PLAYERS, MORE THEN 3/5, 2/3 OF LAST YEARS 23 WIN NIT FINAL FOUR, GONE.
YOU DO THAT TO ANY NON DUKE, KENTUCKY, TYPE TEAM, AND THEY ARE GOING TO HAVE A EXTREMELY BAD RECORD, LIKE WSU.
And the reason WHY IS:
When Smith got a lot of good piece replacements, because of the INJURIES, IT TOOK TIME AND STILL IS TAKING TIME FOR THE PLAYERS TO JELL, DEVELOP CHEMISTRY, PLAY TOGETHER, LEARN HOW TO EXECUTE, LEARN HOW TO WIN ETC.
ITS AWFULLY HARD TO MAKE WIDE OPEN SHOTS CONSISTENTLY, AND EXECUTE CONSISTENTLY WHEN YOU ARE CONSTANTLY NOT PRACTICING, MISSING GAME TIME, BECAUSE OF INJURIES, ETC.
Trust me, I was, used to be about a 43% from 3 shooter. I got that good because I took about 2000 3 pointers per day and constantly practiced, played, etc.
When I got injured, and wasn't able to play, practice, etc, my 3 point shooting make % dropped from about 43% to about 17% to about 33% at best, and became more streaker, inconsistent then the streaky shooter I already was.
The same kind of thing is happening to the players and the team.
It's not coaching, roster management, lack of building rosters, etc.
It's BAD LUCK AND INJURIES.
And that's what Craig Ehlo the radio announcer says, agrees with.
And according to him and Ken Pom, Ken Pom have WSU as the best team of it's win-loss record in nation, and 3rd MOST UNLUCKIEST TEAM IN NATION, AND ONE OF THE MOST INJURED TEAMS IN NATION, WITH THE 5TH TOUGHEST SCHEDULE IN NATION.
THATS ACCORDING TO BOTH OF KEN POM AND RADIO ANNOUNCER CRAIG EHLO.
And so because of that this season gets a BIG AZZ GIANT ASTERISK WRITE OFF, etc.
We played not to lose and by some stroke of luck we won. I’ve been a big supporter of KS but that was a terribly managed game the last 10 minutes. You can’t take your foot off the gas with that much time left and have bad possession after bad possession trying to get a shot off in the last few seconds of the shot clock. If they played that way with that lead ten times they’d lose nine. You have to run your offense and forget about the scoreboard unless you have a double digit lead with 2 minutes or less left.
Yeah, we kind of hashed that one over last year. I don't read every player assessment written by every so-called expert, but I see quite a number of them. I never saw anyone claim Koulibaly was one and done, and nobody has provided proof that anyone made such a claim. A "one-and-done" player is going to get more scholarship offers than just WSU, Missouri State, and Holy Cross coming out of high school.
Glad Cougar
That's exactly right. I like Powell. He's a solid player, but he's not a primary point guard. He's a versatile kid who can play the point or the 2, but we need a true point man. Every program worth their salt places a huge premium on having an elite point guard.
That's why they are so difficult to come by. The supply is small while the demand is very high.
There was a video posted in one of the threads here, last year. In the video the interviewer said something like, "When you were scoring 30 per game in Canada, there was some experts, media, coaches, players, fans, people, etc, that said you were a 1 and Done. Is, was that right?". Then Koulibaly confirmed it by saying that he had gotten some 1 and Done projection, speculation by media, coaches, players, fans, people, etc.
Apparently some here have forgotten that video that was posted here.
I'm not saying he was a 1 and Done. But there was 1 and Done speculation about him by a couple, few, some, experts, media, coaches, players, fans, etc.
And then that video interview confirmed that.
And now people have forgotten about that.
And obviously Koulibaly didn't pan out, etc,
But Jourdand missed the point.
The point was not that he was supposedly a 1 and Done.
The point was that Koulibaly was a very highly rated, ranked, respected, thought of, etc, whether 1 and Done or not POINT GUARD RECRUIT that SMITH RECRUITED, and that because of that and Flowers, and Rice, and Darling, and PG Powell, that Smith has recruited what we're supposed to be GOOD POINT GUARD, and that because of that it's not Smith's fault with the Point Guard situation.
That was the point, not whether Koulibaly was 1 and Done.
Craig Ehlo said that Powell was a PG.
And Powell might only be getting 2.7 assist now, or had more recent bad games lower his assist total down to 2.7 assist.
But there was a time when Powell was getting about 4, 4.5, 5, 5.5, assist per game, and there was about 2,3 games, where Powell had about 9,10,11,12 assist in a game.
And Craig Ehlo pointed that out too.
And Powell had about 11 points per game and a LOT of assist per game at Auburn.
Powell is supposed to be a True PG, has been a True PG in past.
I don't know why he has struggled as a PG here now in more recent games.
And it's not a lack of ball handling, passing, etc, as CRAIG EHLO SAID THAT POWELL IS A GOOD DRIBBLER, BALL HANDLER, PASSER, PG SKILLS.
With the current exchange rate, 30 ppg in Canada in only worth 5 ppg in the US.
I like Powells game and I think he is more than capable of playing the point guard position but I think we need more assists out of him. If you take out the 12 assist game which was Texas State the very first game of the season he is averaging 2.4 assists per game and again he is only averaging 2.2 in conference play.
The Koulibaly video Mikalas is referring to had nobody saying Koulibaly was one and done. It had Koulibaly saying he was being projected as one and done. I stand corrected it wasn’t his mother that predicted he was one and done…it was Koulibaly himself!!!
Maybe the problem isn’t Smiths roster
management as much as his player evaluations. We seem to have a roster full of 4 star guys that seem a lot closer to 3 star guys to me.
The Koulibaly video Mikalas is referring to had nobody saying Koulibaly was one and done. It had Koulibaly saying he was being projected as one and done. I stand corrected it wasn’t his mother that predicted he was one and done…it was Koulibaly himself!!!
Maybe the problem isn’t Smiths roster
management as much as his player evaluations. We seem to have a roster full of 4 star guys that seem a lot closer to 3 star guys to me.
Koulibaly was one and done.....he played one year at WSU and was done with Pullman.
Glad Cougar
So what? Ehlo doesn't say bad things about our kids, nor should he.
Powell is averaging 2 assists/game in P12 play. Break that from an assist to minutes played standpoint, and he's one of the worst PG's in the Nation.
WSU suffers from the Seattle Mariners syndrome of a player having a monster year, 50+ homers, or .350 batting average, or 150 RBI's, or 135 runs scored, or 65 stolen bases, or all of the above, in 1 season, then either gets traded to Mariners, or Seattle gets that player in Free Agency, and then that player ABSOLUTELY SUCKS, the very next season in, for Seattle, after the AWESOME season the player, had last season at the previous team.
At least WSU is not as bad as Seattle Mariners, as WSU gets Gardner Minshew's and Mike Flowers, etc, for every Powell, etc, they get.
At least Powell is at least scoring about 10 ppg.
Powell had very solid numbers at Auburn although injuries only allowed him to play 11 games. At Tennessee his numbers dropped substantially as did his playing time. He is solid at WSU scoring but he needs more assists imo, needs to move to the 2 guard next season.
Powell is not a good enough defensive guard to play the 2. He either needs to do better at PG or play as a 3.
If Rodman is gone, then maybe Bamba moves to 3, but I think Bamba would stay at 2, and have either Carlos Rosario, Jaki, Jabe, Powell compete to play 3, and if don't play 3 , then either Jaki or Carlos or Bamba plays at 3, and if Bamba stays at 2, and either Jaki or Carlos play at 3, then Powell, Jabe back up 2,3, unless have to have Powell run PG, if Darling or Rice not good enough at PG, etc.
Powell has the offensive ability and dish out assist ability(EARLIER IN SEASON, AND AT AUBURN), to Play BOTH PG and 3.
Does not have the scoring power to play the 2 guard spot.
Defensively he is a good 3, and just barely by skin of teeth ok PG DEFENSIVELY, and CANT DEFEND OPPOSING 2 GUARDS.
Defensively Jabe is slightly worse then Powell, and can play the 3.
If Darling and or Rice do well at PG next season combined with if Jackson and Gueye come back and do well, and if Diongue, Chinyelu, Cluff, Crespin if rejoins team, do a decent job backing up Jackson and Gueye, and if Jaki then locks down the 3 spot, and if WSU injury free, Jabe, and Powell would have to get back up minutes at 3, 2 spots, because of their defensive liabilities.
What Powell and Jabe need most is to have a Bennet like coach teach them good defensive technique, positioning etc.
If slow as molasses, poor lateral, Harmeling learned to play good defense, take charges, etc, Jabe, and Powell should be able to do the same with a right kind of teacher that like who taught Harmeling.
I think this is where Smith struggles, while he does good with defensive scheme, it's questionable if Smith can teach defense to Jabe, Powell the same way that Bennet taught Harmeling.
Same with offense. Think Smith's offensive scheme is great. But don't think he is as good as Bennet at teaching how to execute, make 3's, make FREETHROWS, pass effectively, take good care of ball, etc, the way Bennet taught players to do those things.
And I think that because he pushes defensive scheme so much, and offensive scheme so much that drill that into them, so that they execute the systems on Defense, and offense, and then miss wide open shots, FREETHROWS, etc, because either he Smith didn't teach them how to Make wide open shots, FREETHROWS, etc, that or if he is teaching them, they are not learning. Or maybe Smith Assumes that they can hit a wide open shots, freethrow, etc.
But I think that's the biggest difference between Smith and Bennet, as Bennet was a good teacher that taught how to make wide open shots, etc.
Could be wrong, that's just how I see it.
But most of all IF Smith could keep the team HEALTHY, for a change, then maybe Smith's players could actually play, practice, learn, get good at things like defense, making wide open shots, making FREETHROWS, passing effectively, developing, Jelling, developing Chemistry, learning to play together, etc.
Still think Smith needs to hire a injury prevention, recovery, etc, specialist coach for, to the team to help team avoid injuries, and or recover from injuries.
Injuries, etc, can still happen, but I do think that maybe can maybe mitigate the risk a wee, tiny little bit, or speed up recovery time, etc.
But WSU, Smith, does need better luck in the injury, sickness, etc, dept.
IMO Powell's been steady as the "PG" this year. This is the first time he's played big minutes (34/game in conference) over an entire season in his career. He's had 13 total turnovers in conference (or slightly less than 1/game) with 6 coming against UCLA (3 each game). He doesn't really force anything or make bad decisions. I think he needs to improve his production when he penetrates whether it's finishing or passing. Tries to often to use his length to finish instead of his shooting skill. Defensively he's not Bamba but seems to hold his own for the most part. He's not going to be the most dynamic lead guard but has the potentially to be really good moving forward.
Houinsou has struggled of late and has a lot to clean up (decision making/turnovers/shooting, etc.), but he seems to have the potential to compliment what Powell does. Houinsou's just young. Assuming DJ doesn't return, a perimeter of Powell/Bamba plus Houinsou if he's able to clean things up works for me.
Houinsou has struggled of late and has a lot to clean up (decision making/turnovers/shooting, etc.), but he seems to have the potential to compliment what Powell does. Houinsou's just young. Assuming DJ doesn't return, a perimeter of Powell/Bamba plus Houinsou if he's able to clean things up works for me.
Yeah, I think you made a valid point, that Powell has been better then even I as one of his semi defenders, has said he has been.
And I think Craig Ehlo agrees with the point you made, and would make the same point.
I think I and others sometimes get to caught up in only looking at the stats whether good or bad stats.
As you pointed out, sometimes stats or lack of stats doesn't tell the whole story.
Your right that Powell doesn't turn the ball over despite passing a lot. And your right that he Powell sometimes misses easy lay ups on penetration, because of trying to use length, etc.
Based on what you said 10 ppg, 2.7 assist per game, and game high's of 9,10,11 assist in 2,3 game high games, is decent, ok, semi good, semi solid, better then I, others give him credit for.
Thanks for your point, perspective, pointing that out, as I would probably have continued to miss that point that you made.
I agree Powell has played the point guard role adequately, not perfectly but adequately. I would love more assists but hopefully that will come. Houinsou has had his moments but is still is making freshmen mistakes hopefully that also changes.
He has 12 games without a turnover. I'm not sure our offense is conducive to a lot of assists. IMO he's not a pg but he's filling in pretty well.
