Brown has started every single game and has been terrible on both offense and defense this year. Nobody is blaming him for today's loss. It's just puzzling that he continues to get starts & minutes over players who could actually help the team more (Newton, Wonders, Ferguson).
well he does play pretty high caliber defense
I agree he hustles. He's just not big or athletic enough to guard the other wing players in the MVC. They go straight at him every time they see a mismatch.
And he's scored ZERO total points the last 5 games. We're basically playing 4-on-5 when he's in there. Nothing against the kid- he's obviously worked his butt off since he's been here, but the talent just isn't there for this level of basketball.
But you want to replace him with Ferguson?.....who has played in only 7 of the games so far, for a total of 50 minutes? And a majority of those minutes have were against Little Rock (1st game) and Lincoln (Div 2).
Of the 3 you mention, only Newton can currently play at this level defensively, at least at this time. I would not mind seeing him start, but as many have pointed out, it doesn't matter who starts. Brown only played 5 minutes total and played no better or worse than during the 7 game winning streak. He's not the reason.
While I agree with the defensive mentality of this coaching staff once in awhile you have to sacrifice defense for offense especially with a team that struggles to score and have so many shooters struggling to make shots sometimes maybe go deep in the bench and find someone with a hot hand and maybe extend the leash a little as in if a player makes a mistake let them play thru it and gain confidence instead of looking over their shoulder to see if they are coming out I know the objective is to win buy sometimes a little confidence goes a long way
Up to this point I've blamed our struggles on an anemic offense due to Mullins not recruiting a single player who can reliably knock down a shot, but when you look the numbers, they don't really back that up.
Among our guards, Ferguson, Johnson, and Wonders are shooting around or better than 40% on both FG% and 3P%. Yet, Ferguson is getting 7 min/game and Wonders 9.5 min/game.
I realize we don't have a lot of evidence to back up those numbers, but is it reasonable to wonder why those two aren't getting more minutes? Is it because they're that much of a liability on defense?
Looking at the roster and numbers, it just feels like this team should be winning more, and more convincingly, than they are.
Ferguson is 2-5 from 3..not a large enough sample size. I haven't watched him on the court enough to say if he can hang defensively. In Wonders case, it is absolutely 100% about defense.
Ther are too many deficiencies on this team right now, most of which have been mentioned already, for me to get into. Salukis are lucky to be in a logjam second place with more trouble looming ahead.
One thing I've noticed though, BM rarely gets mad and is under control on the sidelines. He's cool, calm and collected. I'm happy to see this for the most part. I certainly don't want to see a patented Brad Underwood aortic ventricle blowout rant for example. But once in a while he needs to kick some ass on this team. Maybe he does it in the locker room, I don't know. If not, it's past time to do it. The fact that they begin each game/half so flat and lethargic is just ridiculous.
Apologies to any medical professionals about heart reference. I hated anatomy.
March on triumphantly!
Oh yeah need to learn to rebound other teams get too many 2nd chances either under the basket or kick out wide open 3s
No, I wouldn't start Ferguson. I would start a bigger, more NCAA- calibre line-up and try to score more inside (which seems to suit our talent better than jacking up threes at a 20-25% rate). It would also address our other biggest problem, which is lack of rebounding and interior defense. Look at our stats. I'd like to see a rotation something like this:
5) Muila/Ebube/Hornecker
4) Rupert/D'Amico
3) Domask/Newton/Ferguson
2) Jones/Wonders/Brown
1) Johnson/Banks
Bucky Dent's article today is spot-on, especially the last couple paragraphs. You apologists may not want to read it.
At what point did Bucky say “season over” because I’m pretty sure that wasn’t in his column. I read something that told us what we already knew.
No, I wouldn't start Ferguson. I would start a bigger, more NCAA- calibre line-up and try to score more inside (which seems to suit our talent better than jacking up threes at a 20-25% rate). It would also address our other biggest problem, which is lack of rebounding and interior defense. Look at our stats. I'd like to see a rotation something like this:
5) Muila/Ebube/Hornecker
4) Rupert/D'Amico
3) Domask/Newton/Ferguson
2) Jones/Wonders/Brown
1) Johnson/Banks
I 100% agree with that line up. What is it they call doing something over and over again and expecting a different outcome? Oh yeah, stupid. Shake the damn lineup, up. Even though we won several games in a row, those wins mostly felt like losses.
Bucky Dent's article today is spot-on, especially the last couple paragraphs. You apologists may not want to read it.
At what point did Bucky say “season over” because I’m pretty sure that wasn’t in his column. I read something that told us what we already knew.
The article just stated facts. Nothing eye opening or even criticism. 24% shooting from 3 point land doesn’t seem like a recipe for sustainable success. Especially at the rate we are shooting them. Maybe we need to stop chucking them up ? Man I wish he was grading me when I was a student at SIU. no 1 loss isn’t the end of the season but a championship team needs to win these types of games. Drake, INSU, Bradley and Missouri State will all be tough games to win on the road. Not that we can’t do. But something has to change for it too happen. I fully expect a better performance in Terre Haute. The clock is ticking on Mullins and his opportunity to take this program back to the NCAA tournament. Domask and Jones won’t be here forever and Man I am not encouraged by anyone else on this team moving forward.
No, I wouldn't start Ferguson. I would start a bigger, more NCAA- calibre line-up and try to score more inside (which seems to suit our talent better than jacking up threes at a 20-25% rate). It would also address our other biggest problem, which is lack of rebounding and interior defense. Look at our stats. I'd like to see a rotation something like this:
5) Muila/Ebube/Hornecker
4) Rupert/D'Amico
3) Domask/Newton/Ferguson
2) Jones/Wonders/Brown
1) Johnson/Banks
It would require stretching outside of Mullins’ comfort zone with playing bigger, but that would be a lineup with some upside. Seems well worth a try. Hard to imagine it wouldn’t be a defense/rebounding upgrade and they already struggle to get to 60 points as is.
It's the singular, stubborn focus on not wanting to adapt, from lineups to style of play, that is most aggravating.
If you're down 10 in the second half and shooting poorly, then waiting until the end of the shot clock to get a shot off will not get you back in the game - you literally have to increase volume by shooting earlier in order to get more possessions to overcome your poor shooting percentage.
If you continue to have slow offensive starts yet still maintain the same starting five then I don't know what to tell you; there's a direct correlation there.
If you state you force the other team to play to your lineup yet never play to your frontcourt strength by putting in two bigs at once, then that's just stubbornness. Do you think Bowen Born would have gotten as many of his layups with Muila and Scottie both packing the paint? Or Muila and Cade? Or Rupert and Scottie? Or Rupert and JD? At least try it out, coach, just put two in, leave them in the paint, and watch your rebounding volume soar and your interior defense change the game.
Bucky Dent's article today is spot-on, especially the last couple paragraphs. You apologists may not want to read it.
At what point did Bucky say “season over” because I’m pretty sure that wasn’t in his column. I read something that told us what we already knew.
You're ridiculous. Show me one person who has said the season is over. We just want (and expect) our team to play better. I'll be making the trip to Terre Haute. Will you?
