Alabama A&M Pre-game Thread

[orientalnc]

OK. This is what we expected. Mitchell is the real deal for us. Great game for him. Otherwise. we took care of business.

Anotherwise, BG needs to hire a FT coach. This was not good.

 

[ASURAMS07]

The whole team need to run sprints and suicides for the free throws they have missed. It's ridiculous Smh

 

[kg01]

Anybody else watching the Duke/MichSt and UK/KU games and making themselves sad at the level of play of these 4 teams compared to us?

 

[dtm1997]

Anybody else watching the Duke/MichSt and UK/KU games and making themselves sad at the level of play of these 4 teams compared to us?

I was gonna turn on Kentucky/Kansas, but just realized Vitale is probably calling it.

Generally sloppy tonight, but not without bright spots. I think we found out Josh Heath will provide solid minutes at the PG. Team generally played hard on defense and was fantastic on the boards (20 offensive? Jeez Louise). Tadric appears game ready and just needs reps.

FTs are the obvious point of contention, although Mitchell hitting 60%, I'll take all day. Also need to do a better job taking care of the ball. Too many TOs. I think the assist stat was a little misleading tonight, as I felt the team shared the ball better than 9 assists would lead you to believe.

I'm happy to take any win. Need to tighten up for Friday though.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Thanks a ton to @dtm1997 for use of his tickets.

Seemed like a group of recruits or more likely a specific team of high school or AAU kids were a bit below me but I can't say who they were. Isma'il Muhammad was sitting right behind the Tech bench, he seems to have really lost weight or slimmed down over the years. Also saw Kelly Rhino in attendance. As was mentioned CPJ attended the first half and a number of the football players were also sitting in the student section.

My brothers point of emphasis is the need to improve dramatically in the half court against the zone. I imagine we will once again see a steady dose of zone this year.

Gregory's postgame comments kind of took care of the rest of the things I had noticed. Like for one thing, Tadric made two three pointers after the guy passing him the ball had been fouled and so as the ref was blowing the whistle and they didn't count. Heath and Tadric both looked good at feeding the post but the bigs repeatedly failed to finish for them. Often Mitchell or Cox would actually put up a bad layup and then get their own rebound before scoring and so as CBG said the bigs were padding their own offensive rebound stats and keeping Heath from getting credit for as many assists as he should have had.

I was impressed at Hunt and Sampson's making the hustle plays and getting on the floor if needed. AD actually had some great disruptive plays and steals as well.

Randy Waters asked on the radio broadcast who Heath may have been recruited by out of high school in the event that he had decided to not follow his father to USF. He said he may have to do some research and find out as it would be interesting to know. Anyone here know? I too found that an interesting thought; primarily because I think Heath really did look solid.

 

[GTJason]

Heath is alright at PG, but we really need more talent there. It's going to really beat us in ACC play. I think when 100% non-starters are out there we are in big trouble. Most of the guys have no clue what to do so we just crowd outside of the arc. FTs are still a problem but I get a sense in this game their fouls were frustrating our guys. They were super sloppy and according to the announcers that's something they're known for. Not worth getting hurt over a team like that.

The highlight in the game for me: The announcers! You might laugh but those guys were great. I have no idea who they were but if they weren't tied to the program I am super impressed with their knowledge of our team. They even made a comment about how one of the Bama players went to Miller Grove which was the HS of Mfon Udofia. How the f' did he know that? That's research on another level. Hope they cover us again.

 

[LargeFO]

Heath is alright at PG, but we really need more talent there. It's going to really beat us in ACC play. I think when 100% non-starters are out there we are in big trouble. Most of the guys have no clue what to do so we just crowd outside of the arc. FTs are still a problem but I get a sense in this game their fouls were frustrating our guys. They were super sloppy and according to the announcers that's something they're known for. Not worth getting hurt over a team like that.

The highlight in the game for me: The announcers! You might laugh but those guys were great. I have no idea who they were but if they weren't tied to the program I am super impressed with their knowledge of our team. They even made a comment about how one of the Bama players went to Miller Grove which was the HS of Mfon Udofia. How the f' did he know that? That's research on another level. Hope they cover us again.

Jonny Babul was the color guy so he's very tied in to our details.

 

[Peacone36]

My greatest concern after two games is perimeter defense. UGA and AAM both rcvd way too many open looks. If we play a good shooting team we are toast.

Also Travis needs to be healthy, i turned this game off with 10 to go because our offense was so bad last night compared to last Friday

 

[MWBATL]

My greatest concern after two games is perimeter defense. UGA and AAM both rcvd way too many open looks. If we play a good shooting team we are toast.

Also Travis needs to be healthy, i turned this game off with 10 to go because our offense was so bad last night compared to last Friday

It was hard dot watch, I will grant you that. Some of it I put down to guys getting minutes who won't see the floor much if at all in ACC play (Lammers, Gueye, Heyward) and some of it was well....who we are, I guess.

Heath was a pleasant surprise and Tadric looked like a talented freshman (good skills but needs minutes to get better at this level).

I have one basic problem with this team...every player on it has glaring flaws...when a player has glaring flaws it is usually much easier to defend them. In ACC play, it will be hard aggressive defense against Cox and Mitchell because of their FT shooting. MGH simply isn't aggressive enough (I don't love watching him hoist up three-pointers), Jorge has no outside shot, Sampson has fabulous hustle but no visible offense, Bolden is still Bolden.

Our only real hopes offensively are Tadric (after about 10 more games) and Quentin. If Q doesn't shoot lights out against UGa, we lose that game.

Basically, we ought to be embarrassed about only scoring 66 against a team that weak. It says TONS about our offensive capabilities, ESPECIALLY with the ridiculous number of offensive rebounds we had.

I like this team's hustle, but after two games, I really wonder if the record is going to be any different?

 

[collegeballfan]

It was hard dot watch, I will grant you that. Some of it I put down to guys getting minutes who won't see the floor much if at all in ACC play (Lammers, Gueye, Heyward) and some of it was well....who we are, I guess.

Heath was a pleasant surprise and Tadric looked like a talented freshman (good skills but needs minutes to get better at this level).

I have one basic problem with this team...every player on it has glaring flaws...when a player has glaring flaws it is usually much easier to defend them. In ACC play, it will be hard aggressive defense against Cox and Mitchell because of their FT shooting. MGH simply isn't aggressive enough (I don't love watching him hoist up three-pointers), Jorge has no outside shot, Sampson has fabulous hustle but no visible offense, Bolden is still Bolden.

Our only real hopes offensively are Tadric (after about 10 more games) and Quentin. If Q doesn't shoot lights out against UGa, we lose that game.

Basically, we ought to be embarrassed about only scoring 66 against a team that weak. It says TONS about our offensive capabilities, ESPECIALLY with the ridiculous number of offensive rebounds we had.

I like this team's hustle, but after two games, I really wonder if the record is going to be any different?

The schedule is a lot tougher than last few seasons. The team could be a lot better than last year with a poorer won-loss record. We will know a lot more after the Vandy game.

 

[Peacone36]

A poorer schedule doesn't make you a better team. Just makes your record better.

 

[gtbync]

I think it's best to wait to see how every game is played. It seems like a lot of people base the whole season on a couple of games instead of letting the games play out. Just because we played a certain way in one game don't mean we will play that way the following games. Just let the games play out

 

[orientalnc]

I think it's best to wait to see how every game is played. It seems like a lot of people base the whole season on a couple of games instead of letting the games play out. Just because we played a certain way in one game don't mean we will play that way the following games. Just let the games play out

This is especially true with games like this. The coaches want to try a lot of different combinations on the floor. A 40-point win is nice for the fans, but may not be what the team needs.

 

[Ramblingon]

Man Mountain Mitchell is quickly becoming a crowd favorite. Knew FT's would be a concern, but hire Mark Price for a seminar. Heath is a very good ball handler, but I hope Jorgenson is okay.

Look out for IPFW this Friday. They are not a cream puff. Also have a 6-9 295 lb. center who is good and experienced. Great test for Cox and Mitchell.

 

[Peacone36]

yes but when you notice instances from both games you can establish trends. Both Georgia and AAM got good looks from deep. If that happens against Duke, UVA, ND, Syracuse NC State and even BC we are really going to struggle.

 

[Techster]

I think it's funny some on here thought the offense was hard to watch last night. Our offense under CBG has always been hard to watch. How many times have we gone to half time with under 30 points? Outside of a few instance when everything has been clicking, it's always been my impression that CBG's team have relied on defense, individual performances to carry us, and the occasional transition buckets off TOs. Watching our half court offenses have felt like root canals.

What I like about this team is we have two legit threats that can be the "go to guy", and Mitchell looks like he's going to be a double-double machine. We're more of a threat from 1-5 to score. Look at the box score from the first two games: Every one of our starters has legit ability to average double figures in points, or close to it. It's not going to be like last season when we relied so heavily on Trae Golden and some other guy who decides to step up for the night.

I'm going to give the team a pass for last night. Definitely should have played better, but they had to come down a bit and play AL A&M after an emotional rivalry game with, from what I've read, maybe half capacity in McCamish.

 

[dtm1997]

Say what you will about BG's offense, even if ineffective at times, we looked a lot smoother the past two nights. I'm not saying we looked great or will be able to facilitate well against better teams, but we definitely looked better with passing, ball screens, taking the smartest shot.

 

[alaguy]

The good, bad, and ugly.
Good-- team hustle/effort but not always to good effect
- Heath, 7 assts,0 TOs , looked good, I can't see Jorg being better at this time , Mitchell-Off rebs-wow ,a 260 lb attack creature
-lot of players got play-time
Bad- Watching us on OFf vs a zone, PLEEZE (looked like blewiit-throw it up and reb the ball) I thought we had practiced hi-low post.Throw into one big at foul-line and then pass to other big under goal! I think I saw it twice
Gregory will not be coach next yr if we can't do better because we will see it a LOT
Ugly--FTs,esp at start
Admittedly, this is a new team put together so the start will probably be slow but ACC will be here fast

 

[Peacone36]

I agree we looked good against UGA. Jorg knows how to run the break as well as the halfcourt. Heath did play well last night. My fomfort with him has increased

 

[Connell62]

Heath is alright at PG, but we really need more talent there. It's going to really beat us in ACC play. I think when 100% non-starters are out there we are in big trouble. Most of the guys have no clue what to do so we just crowd outside of the arc. FTs are still a problem but I get a sense in this game their fouls were frustrating our guys. They were super sloppy and according to the announcers that's something they're known for. Not worth getting hurt over a team like that.

The highlight in the game for me: The announcers! You might laugh but those guys were great. I have no idea who they were but if they weren't tied to the program I am super impressed with their knowledge of our team. They even made a comment about how one of the Bama players went to Miller Grove which was the HS of Mfon Udofia. How the f' did he know that? That's research on another level. Hope they cover us again.

Other than they referred to Tadric as a PG 15 different times. I finally found myself saying dude, he's an off-guard!!