MBB: Sun Belt Tournament vs Troy

[diehardapp18]

Well I know most of us, myself included, are entering this Sun Belt Tournament with very little, if any, expectations at all. But either way, it's at least semi exciting to be playing in a post season tournament again as we've had a two year absence there. First game is against Troy who beat us 76-66 in the only matchup of the year in their building. We were down by one point at halftime. Griffin Kinney had 15 points and 7 rebounds against them in just 22 minutes, but also committed four fouls in the same timespan.

So what do you guys think are the keys if we want to have a chance to win? I guess obviously we need to shoot the three ball well, since we kind of live and die by it. Not too surprising considering Fox's roots. Shabazz is such a streaky shooter, so it would be huge if he can get heated up. Also Patrick Good will probably be very important as he can be a lethal bench scorer. Also staying out of foul trouble is important, there were so many fouls called in the game against Coastal yesterday but ours were more evenly distributed while they had like three players completely foul out. Hopefully Kinney will play well against them again and we can win the battle on the boards.

If we win, we will play Georgia Southern who we beat somewhat easily in the Holmes Dome a few weeks ago.

[agentpaul001]

I agree on all your points. Kinney was lighting them up that game whenever he was on the court. He's been doing a better job staying on the court lately and I'd imagine the tournament refs will do a good job calling the game both consistently and fairly.

Shabazz is too large a part of our offense to win without him shooting well. Hopefully his shots start falling early.

Our free throw shooting has been all over the place this season and it's hampered us in a few matchups. Hopefully we turn it on for tournament time.

[hapapp]

Going into the conference tournament we our last in scoring margin (-6.6), seventh in FT% (66.5%), last in FG% (40.9%), eleventh in FG% defense (47%), last in 3 pt FG% (32%), last in 3 pt FG% defense (39.2%), fourth in rebounds (36.7%), fourth in assists (13.1), seventh in steals (5.1), and last in turnovers (13.9).

The tournament is a whole new season, anything can happen. A win or two would certainly provide some positive mojo for next season with most of the crew returning. On the other hand, it is obvious why we finished in 11th place in the regular season. A team that struggles to shoot the ball accurately nor play very good defense, doesn't win many games.

[app97]

I like our possible matchups. I don't think there's anyone in our way until the semifinals that looks superior to us. We hung with Troy. The Kinney/Varnado matchup will be intriguing. We've also beaten Ga Southern pretty easily...we would meet them on Friday if we win on Wednesday. I would rather play Ga State than the 7 seed, Louisiana in the semis, though. ULL is always a tough matchup for us. I don't see how the lost the # of games that they lost in the conference this year.

[SpeedkingATL]

There is no team in the Belt that is unbeatable this year. Beat Troy then see who lines up next.

Come on Apps, you can do this!!

[bcoach]

Going into the conference tournament we our last in scoring margin (-6.6), seventh in FT% (66.5%), last in FG% (40.9%), eleventh in FG% defense (47%), last in 3 pt FG% (32%), last in 3 pt FG% defense (39.2%), fourth in rebounds (36.7%), fourth in assists (13.1), seventh in steals (5.1), and last in turnovers (13.9).

The tournament is a whole new season, anything can happen. A win or two would certainly provide some positive mojo for next season with most of the crew returning. On the other hand, it is obvious why we finished in 11th place in the regular season. A team that struggles to shoot the ball accurately nor play very good defense, doesn't win many games.

This is not a smart a$$ comment as I have not seen them play a single game. It is a real question. Is the fact that most of them are returning a good thing in this case?

[diehardapp18]

Going into the conference tournament we our last in scoring margin (-6.6), seventh in FT% (66.5%), last in FG% (40.9%), eleventh in FG% defense (47%), last in 3 pt FG% (32%), last in 3 pt FG% defense (39.2%), fourth in rebounds (36.7%), fourth in assists (13.1), seventh in steals (5.1), and last in turnovers (13.9).

The tournament is a whole new season, anything can happen. A win or two would certainly provide some positive mojo for next season with most of the crew returning. On the other hand, it is obvious why we finished in 11th place in the regular season. A team that struggles to shoot the ball accurately nor play very good defense, doesn't win many games.

This is not a smart a$$ comment as I have not seen them play a single game. It is a real question. Is the fact that most of them are returning a good thing in this case?

Yes. The thing is, while we are incredibly young, a lot of these young guys have at least shown traits that make you believe they can turn into solid college basketball players. We know when his shot is falling Shabazz is lethal, he's going to be our go two guy for the next two seasons no doubt. Around him, Patrick Good has shown he is a fantastic shooter. I bet his 44% clip on threes is one of the best percentages in the conference. Tyrell Johnson is another true freshman, that with an additional 15 lbs could be a guy that turns into a very solid 4-man. Kinney is only back for one more year, but again he's proved to be a solid big man in the Belt. Logan is never going to be a good scorer, but he's not a bad distributor. Kelvin Robinson could turn into a decent third scoring option as he gets more consistent, and Isaac Johnson should turn into a solid post presence. Babic and Holley are also good for a few threes off the bench every game. All these guys have shown valuable traits, it's just about them getting more comfortable and figuring out how to use all those traits to form a solid team. If we aren't around .500 next year I'll be very. very concerned. I've said it once, I'll say it a million more times: I still think the biggest thing holding Fox back is recruiting. Aside of Shabazz and Emarius none of the guys we get to commit were very coveted.

[firemoose]

Tyrell Johnson is a So. Isaac Johnson is the true freshman. Tyrell is more of a post/wing. Isaac has been playing all over the place and will just get better. Tyrell had put on 20 lbs (remember the before/after picture I posted back in August) but lost most of it after Jimmy left as the basketball S & C coach. We have to get him bulked back up as he loses confidence when he gets pushed around and tends to rush his shots. We also have to make a change in the basketball S & C for this offseason. The new S & C guy is not experienced enough for the position (was one of Jimmy's assistants) and it's shown as the season has gone on. Not enough going on in either maintaining strength or from the nutrition side. Visible differences in the upperclassmen from the fall until now.

Kelvin Robinson's biggest contribution this year has been his D. He's been the only consistent guard that's been able to defend other teams PG's. When he went down with the knee injury/suspension we lost seven straight games. We haven't been great since he's been back by any means but before he went down other teams PG's weren't able to just blow past for the layups that others have been talking about. He will be a better player with more consistent shooting but he is already the best overall defender of our guards.

[hapapp]

Going into the conference tournament we our last in scoring margin (-6.6), seventh in FT% (66.5%), last in FG% (40.9%), eleventh in FG% defense (47%), last in 3 pt FG% (32%), last in 3 pt FG% defense (39.2%), fourth in rebounds (36.7%), fourth in assists (13.1), seventh in steals (5.1), and last in turnovers (13.9).

The tournament is a whole new season, anything can happen. A win or two would certainly provide some positive mojo for next season with most of the crew returning. On the other hand, it is obvious why we finished in 11th place in the regular season. A team that struggles to shoot the ball accurately nor play very good defense, doesn't win many games.

This is not a smart a$$ comment as I have not seen them play a single game. It is a real question. Is the fact that most of them are returning a good thing in this case?

That's a fair question. The hope is yes. No doubt, there is the need for lots of improvement. We have to shoot better but more importantly we have to learn to play significantly better on defense. That probably is the most difficult thing for young players to master. It is certainly better that with our statistical deficiencies this is not a senior laden team but rather one that has a chance to grow and improve. But, just because we return all the key players off a bad team doesn't guarantee success going forward. We will find out how good a coach Jim Fox is next season. Youth will no longer be the excuse. The pieces seem to be there, his task is to get them to mesh.

[bcoach]

Tyrell Johnson is a So. Isaac Johnson is the true freshman. Tyrell is more of a post/wing. Isaac has been playing all over the place and will just get better. Tyrell had put on 20 lbs (remember the before/after picture I posted back in August) but lost most of it after Jimmy left as the basketball S & C coach. We have to get him bulked back up as he loses confidence when he gets pushed around and tends to rush his shots. We also have to make a change in the basketball S & C for this offseason. The new S & C guy is not experienced enough for the position (was one of Jimmy's assistants) and it's shown as the season has gone on. Not enough going on in either maintaining strength or from the nutrition side. Visible differences in the upperclassmen from the fall until now.

Kelvin Robinson's biggest contribution this year has been his D. He's been the only consistent guard that's been able to defend other teams PG's. When he went down with the knee injury/suspension we lost seven straight games. We haven't been great since he's been back by any means but before he went down other teams PG's weren't able to just blow past for the layups that others have been talking about. He will be a better player with more consistent shooting but he is already the best overall defender of our guards.

Is the S&C hire a lack of commitment or one of those things that just didn't work out as they though it would. I remember the last assistant that was promoted in the BB program. S&C should be in the top two hires a program looks at the way I see it. ( although I don't see clearly 100% of the time )

[app97]

Tyrell Johnson is a So. Isaac Johnson is the true freshman. Tyrell is more of a post/wing. Isaac has been playing all over the place and will just get better. Tyrell had put on 20 lbs (remember the before/after picture I posted back in August) but lost most of it after Jimmy left as the basketball S & C coach. We have to get him bulked back up as he loses confidence when he gets pushed around and tends to rush his shots. We also have to make a change in the basketball S & C for this offseason. The new S & C guy is not experienced enough for the position (was one of Jimmy's assistants) and it's shown as the season has gone on. Not enough going on in either maintaining strength or from the nutrition side. Visible differences in the upperclassmen from the fall until now.

Kelvin Robinson's biggest contribution this year has been his D. He's been the only consistent guard that's been able to defend other teams PG's. When he went down with the knee injury/suspension we lost seven straight games. We haven't been great since he's been back by any means but before he went down other teams PG's weren't able to just blow past for the layups that others have been talking about. He will be a better player with more consistent shooting but he is already the best overall defender of our guards.

and Robinson's assists. He was the leading assist guy on the team before he went down with the knee issue. He' s also the toughest guy on the team that I've seen and wants the ball during clutch situations.

[hapapp]

A look at our side of the bracket:

http://espn1420.com/sun-belt-tournament ... irds-nest/

Note that Troy is 7-2 v. the teams in this side of the bracket.

[EastHallApp]

At the power conference level, you can reload quickly by landing blue-chip recruits and/or high-end grad transfers, so experience isn't always essential. Can't really do that at App State, and from what I gather Fox's system perhaps requires more experience to execute than some. So, he's consciously decided to build for the long term, even as the team has a longer stage of growing pains than we'd all prefer.

To that end, six of our top nine players are freshmen and sophomores (the other three are juniors), and we're simply not likely to win a lot with a roster that young. Does that mean those players will definitely win big when they're juniors and seniors? No. But I would think they'll continue to improve as they gain experience.

[asu66]

I agree on all your points. Kinney was lighting them up that game whenever he was on the court. He's been doing a better job staying on the court lately and I'd imagine the tournament refs will do a good job callin
Shabazz is too large a part of our offense to win without him shooting well. Hopefully his shots stg the game both consistently and fairly.
art falling early.

Our free throw shooting has been all over the place this season and it's hampered us in a few matchups. Hopefully we turn it on for tournament time.

I'm eternally hopeful for our Apps, but I also have to be realistic. The Troy Trojans lead the Apps in 15 of the 21 team stats that the Fun Belt tracks. That's not a promising start to a tourney where any loss sends you home to wait for next October. Go here for those Team Stats... http://www.sunbeltsports.org/custompage ... ath=mbball

Every stat is important, but at tourney time, one of the most important is "Turnovers." In that regard, our Apps lead the entire league in that internal team flaw--turnovers. It gets worse in that three of our best players lead our team in the "coughing up the ball" category-- Kinney is the most error-prone with a team-high 75 TOs; Logan is second with 57; followed closely by Shabazz with 51. Troy will most certainly be going after the ball at every opportunity.

To win, we'll have to protect the ball when we have possession, we'll have to shoot well from everywhere and we'll have to have good contributions from the bench. As has already been mentioned, statistically, Troy does just about everything on the BB court better than the Apps. It will take a solid, all-around performance to beat them.

That said, I just have a feeling that Fox and his troops will pull this rabbit out of the hat and stay alive to play a fun game to *hopefully" send Ga Sou packing.

[firemoose]

Tyrell Johnson is a So. Isaac Johnson is the true freshman. Tyrell is more of a post/wing. Isaac has been playing all over the place and will just get better. Tyrell had put on 20 lbs (remember the before/after picture I posted back in August) but lost most of it after Jimmy left as the basketball S & C coach. We have to get him bulked back up as he loses confidence when he gets pushed around and tends to rush his shots. We also have to make a change in the basketball S & C for this offseason. The new S & C guy is not experienced enough for the position (was one of Jimmy's assistants) and it's shown as the season has gone on. Not enough going on in either maintaining strength or from the nutrition side. Visible differences in the upperclassmen from the fall until now.

Kelvin Robinson's biggest contribution this year has been his D. He's been the only consistent guard that's been able to defend other teams PG's. When he went down with the knee injury/suspension we lost seven straight games. We haven't been great since he's been back by any means but before he went down other teams PG's weren't able to just blow past for the layups that others have been talking about. He will be a better player with more consistent shooting but he is already the best overall defender of our guards.

and Robinson's assists. He was the leading assist guy on the team before he went down with the knee issue. He' s also the toughest guy on the team that I've seen and wants the ball during clutch situations.

Yep. Was going to add the assists and toughness parts but went back and added the S & C stuff and forgot to finish my post.

[firemoose]

Tyrell Johnson is a So. Isaac Johnson is the true freshman. Tyrell is more of a post/wing. Isaac has been playing all over the place and will just get better. Tyrell had put on 20 lbs (remember the before/after picture I posted back in August) but lost most of it after Jimmy left as the basketball S & C coach. We have to get him bulked back up as he loses confidence when he gets pushed around and tends to rush his shots. We also have to make a change in the basketball S & C for this offseason. The new S & C guy is not experienced enough for the position (was one of Jimmy's assistants) and it's shown as the season has gone on. Not enough going on in either maintaining strength or from the nutrition side. Visible differences in the upperclassmen from the fall until now.

Kelvin Robinson's biggest contribution this year has been his D. He's been the only consistent guard that's been able to defend other teams PG's. When he went down with the knee injury/suspension we lost seven straight games. We haven't been great since he's been back by any means but before he went down other teams PG's weren't able to just blow past for the layups that others have been talking about. He will be a better player with more consistent shooting but he is already the best overall defender of our guards.

Is the S&C hire a lack of commitment or one of those things that just didn't work out as they though it would. I remember the last assistant that was promoted in the BB program. S&C should be in the top two hires a program looks at the way I see it. ( although I don't see clearly 100% of the time )

The S &C hire wasn't as much a lack of commitment as a fix to an situation that came up quickly. It hasn't worked and I believe Mike will fully address it now. They gave the person a chance but youth and inexperience once again have reared their ugly head. You can't be a coach to many of these players and also be their best buddy. Especially in S & C, where pushing one past limits requires a firm hand always.

Diplomatic way of saying things.

[Saint3333]

Shabazz is probably the best player we've had since Donald Sims, with a higher ceiling as well. Isaac Johnson will be one of the best rebounders in App's history when he graduates.

If we could develop more consistent shooters in Fox's system we can easily be a top half SBC team next year.

[bcoach]

Tyrell Johnson is a So. Isaac Johnson is the true freshman. Tyrell is more of a post/wing. Isaac has been playing all over the place and will just get better. Tyrell had put on 20 lbs (remember the before/after picture I posted back in August) but lost most of it after Jimmy left as the basketball S & C coach. We have to get him bulked back up as he loses confidence when he gets pushed around and tends to rush his shots. We also have to make a change in the basketball S & C for this offseason. The new S & C guy is not experienced enough for the position (was one of Jimmy's assistants) and it's shown as the season has gone on. Not enough going on in either maintaining strength or from the nutrition side. Visible differences in the upperclassmen from the fall until now.

Kelvin Robinson's biggest contribution this year has been his D. He's been the only consistent guard that's been able to defend other teams PG's. When he went down with the knee injury/suspension we lost seven straight games. We haven't been great since he's been back by any means but before he went down other teams PG's weren't able to just blow past for the layups that others have been talking about. He will be a better player with more consistent shooting but he is already the best overall defender of our guards.

Is the S&C hire a lack of commitment or one of those things that just didn't work out as they though it would. I remember the last assistant that was promoted in the BB program. S&C should be in the top two hires a program looks at the way I see it. ( although I don't see clearly 100% of the time )

The S &C hire wasn't as much a lack of commitment as a fix to an situation that came up quickly. It hasn't worked and I believe Mike will fully address it now. They gave the person a chance but youth and inexperience once again have reared their ugly head. You can't be a coach to many of these players and also be their best buddy. Especially in S & C, where pushing one past limits requires a firm hand always.

Diplomatic way of saying things.

Got it. Thanks

[Budman2154]

So, next year per his Airness, "the ceiling is the roof"?

[proasu89]

Shabazz is probably the best player we've had since Donald Sims, with a higher ceiling as well. Isaac Johnson will be one of the best rebounders in App's history when he graduates.

If we could develop more consistent shooters in Fox's system we can easily be a top half SBC team next year.

I think that Isaac will end up having the type of impact that Jeremy Clayton had....with a few more points per game.