vs. Ole Miss 12/8/18

[RedBirdBallisLife]

My "source" let me know sh*t is gonna get real after this game and you won't see the same team you saw last night. We'll see if he's right because something's gotta give.

He was wrong. Same old, same old. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Ya I know. Imma let him cool off before we talk again.

 

[DWRedbird]

So what would you have done differently? I feel like HCDM is trying to get the best possible talent.
Do you really think his goal is recruiting projects?
I think this team has a major identity disorder. To me it seems he doesn’t know what type of program he wants us to be and his recruiting reflects that.

I would have probably put a major focus on a juco big who could defend and rebound. I wouldn't have cared if he average 2pts a game if he could defend and rebound. Your next question to me would be, "then who do we not pick up?" and my response is that until I see them play probably Hillsman as he only has one year left. If we don't get Fisher, that sucks, but then we can focus on getting a PG to help shoulder the guard load this year. But, that's just me armchair coaching, as I don't know what was out there nor who was available. I also probably spend the summer focusing on defense rather than putting in a new offense.

I agree with you, I think HCDM is getting the best talent he can, but I also agree that we seem to lack identity.

 

[DWRedbird]

Love Jefferson.

As for Key, he’s likely injured, but if so, what the hell is HCDM doi g by trotting him out there every night. Either shut him down until he’s healthy or sit him.

So just play with 6 against UIC?

If it got Key right for the rest of the year, and got him shooting like he was last year, I'd have been ok with it.

That said, I have a feeling Key wants to play, and wants to be out there for every game of his senior year, and I think right now it would take a sling, boot, or cast to keep him off the floor.

 

[redbirdron1]

IMO - Tinsley and Evans are both lacking confidence and R at wits end as to how to improve. Dan's just hoping
they push through it. Evans is pressing due to the contributions of JJ and Copeland. Tinsley - same deal as we all witnessed
2/3 of last year.

Muller - what bothers me is why he doesn't run set plays for JJ. Ride that guy as he's the purest shooter we have - everyone knows
it so design specific plays to free him up. Now JJ is not a PG so I get you can't put him anywhere on the perimeter. As mentioned, Dan's offense
has no movement but not having a floor general would lead to more turnovers with a lot of back cutting. I really like Copeland as a 2G and he's got
the street ball skills to make contributions. We lack a floor general - the one guy that has the savvy to get the ball to the right guy at the right time.

Recruiting - we need another big body as Rey is too slow. He doesn't have the lateral quickness to play with the good bigs.

 

[Brick]

Why are you complaining to me?

I would think a P5 would generate more atmosphere. Guess not.

Sorry I live in Florida!

Too many Bird fans watching on TV.

 

[Brick]

Group going to UCF game!

 

[gobirds72]

I get it. It just would be nice if we had more options THIS year. My own selfish reasons. There's talent in those street clothes and we need it now...

This is kind of my beef. I feel like this was the year we were supposed to go for it. Instead of taking advantage of two extremely talented players in, Phil and Yarbs, and instead I feel like we went all in for next year.

So what would you have done differently? I feel like HCDM is trying to get the best possible talent.
Do you really think his goal is recruiting projects?
I think this team has a major identity disorder. To me it seems he doesn’t know what type of program he wants us to be and his recruiting reflects that.

His biggest issue began with the 2/1 deal on David Ndyaie. David would have to be a beast for me to make this deal. We wasted 3 years trying to make that work. You almost have to be perfect on the recruiting trail if that doesn’t pan out. We then bring in Gassman, Bruninga, and Chastain. We miss on Tinsley...because in my eyes he has been a miss. Now we have 5-6 guys left that have to carry the load. We are now hoping that the guys in street clothes are good enough to compete next year. Sounds like we are playing poker.

 

[91Bird]

[/I really don't understand our offense and I guess haven't since Muller has been here. Everyone just stands around and watches at times. Move! Help when someone is double teamed! Ole Miss was constantly moving on offense, it was night and day between the two teams. I thought I remember that before the season that Muller had sad he had installed a new offense during the offseason but I have yet to see it. That will continue to be my biggest critique of Muller, his teams have never had an offense. Standing around the perimeter and jacking 3's doesn't work and can only get you so far. Clearly it has. Especially when you recruit athletes that you want to teach to shoot]

I agree 100%. Their defense is not good and they don't run much of an offense. I'm not sure what they work on in practice.

 

[redbirdron1]

Go Birds72 - the thing about King David was that when healthy he provided us with protection for the same weak
perimeter D. Blocking and altering shots when opponents blow right by us to the rim. We have none of that now. 0.

Muller is getting good recruits but they're just not tough enough. And he's not making them tougher. He doesn't want a street
thug but yet - we need some of that to change the direction this group has taken.

 

[V Boy]

Only way this Redbird team wins is if these 5 players are on the floor 30+ mins at end of year.

Fayne
Yarb
Copeland
Jefferson
Evans

Tinsley is a liability on the court. He’s basically Kenneth Pierson who was a 3rd string player for Stallings and could never get on the court.

So are the other reserves. The only one who is even a minor threat is Gassman. Maybe Bruninga will help a little. But they are so slow on D that you can only keep them out there a couple possessions before other team isolates or you are forced to play Zone.

So if you are Muller then the biggest decision you make is whether to rest Evans for a month and then bring him back in mid-Jan and hope he’s ready by late Feb.

 

[gobirds72]

Go Birds72 - the thing about King David was that when healthy he provided us with protection for the same weak
perimeter D. Blocking and altering shots when opponents blow right by us to the rim. We have none of that now. 0.

Muller is getting good recruits but they're just not tough enough. And he's not making them tougher. He doesn't want a street
thug but yet - we need some of that to change the direction this group has taken.

I understand. Instead of wasting a 2nd scholarship go out on the quad...I’m sure there a few tall people out there to protect the rim. I’m not going to argue...but your definition of a”good” division 1 recruit is different from mine. With the decline of Evans we are in deep doo doo. Maybe our goals are different.

 

[gobirds72]

Only way this Redbird team wins is if these 5 players are on the floor 30+ mins at end of year.

Fayne
Yarb
Copeland
Jefferson
Evans

Tinsley is a liability on the court. He’s basically Kenneth Pierson who was a 3rd string player for Stallings and could never get on the court.

So are the other reserves. The only one who is even a minor threat is Gassman. Maybe Bruninga will help a little. But they are so slow on D that you can only keep them out there a couple possessions before other team isolates or you are forced to play Zone.

So if you are Muller then the biggest decision you make is whether to rest Evans for a month and then bring him back in mid-Jan and hope he’s ready by late Feb.

You hit the nail on the head. When you are on the floor...if you aren’t a threat...you are just making the defense job that much easier. We have a lot of guys right now I would leave open and take my chances on them trying to score 20 feet away from the rim. We surely don’t mind chucking it up.

 

[CaliRdBrd]

Our offense should be a triangle of Fayne, Yarb and JJ
No one else should be allowed to shoot.
Just work it in and out until you get a clean look.

 

[gobirds72]

Our offense should be a triangle of Fayne, Yarb and JJ
No one else should be allowed to shoot.
Just work it in and out until you get a clean look.

I just looked at the stats. They are worse than I thought from outside the arc.

1. Jefferson .480
2 Yarborough .462
3. Copeland .347
—————————————-
4. Gassman .294
5. Tinsley .277
6. Evans .271

 

[DannyCooksey]

I thought we played hard at both ends and hopefully nobody got hurt or aggravated a lingering injury.

I think it was a very good performance.

 

[CB2K]

Muller acknowledged on the post game:
- that there are a few players shooting in the 20+percentage range on 3s that should be better and it is costing them.
- defense is just not that good even though they work on it
- sometimes the team panics when the other team goes on a run and they start jacking up bad shots
- they played with energy last night from start to finish -- way better than last game
- ball control has been good this year for the most part -- turnovers kept in check most of the year
- if they don't get better defensively then they will not be a very good team
- sees improvement but still has a lot of work to do on defense and will be concentrating on it during the breaks between the last 2 non-con games (finals are starting but they will still have practice with a few days off)

 

[Jsnhbe1Birds]

I think this team is a 16-16 team with the 5th/6th seed and a quarters loss. 16-16 (dans worst season) with his most "talented" team and Dan's verbalized hopes for NCAA should be enough to get him fired. Not at ISU though.

 

[RedBirdBallisLife]

Our offense should be a triangle of Fayne, Yarb and JJ
No one else should be allowed to shoot.
Just work it in and out until you get a clean look.

:text-+1: :text-+1: :text-+1: :text-+1:

Until the others get their shot back or find one..this is exactly it.

 

[Adunk33]

Regarding those criticizing the number of guys in street clothes on the bench, you are likely the same people that would be critical next season if it was a "rebuilding year." Recruiting the way he did, Muller clearly felt he would be getting a lot of great production from his seniors, and that just hasn't happened yet. Evans and Tinsley have the yips. Yarbs and Fayne are doing their part. Instead of having a potential rebuilding year next year, he brought in 3 guys with D1 experience to help fill the void left by the seniors.

The seniors aren't producing the way they should. They will though. Mullers teams are notorious for slow starts. I found the numbers a season or so ago, I believe it was in the last 10 games of MVC play muller has finished 7-3 or better in all but one or two of his years here. I don't remember the exact numbers but for whatever reason it takes time. That's fine with me, I was never a guy holding out for an at-large bid. We play for March. Get hot at the right time, and win it in STL.

Also, injuries happen. Clearly Key and Copeland aren't 100%. Hein hasn't played in a long time, Chastain is still banged up and who know what to expect when Taylor gets back. Every team in the country has to deal with these things. If our seniors produced the way they should be, the injuries would be a lot less noticable.

We'll be fine.

 

[Rollbirds]

Evans getting back to where he was at last year would be a game changer. If he's averaging the 15+ he averaged last year how many more games would we have won or at least been in. When Muller predicted his "best" team he couldn't have possibly anticipated his regression. I still hold out hope he gets back to where he was in time for post season.