CHOKE JOB!!!

[Wyovanian]

To call last night's game a choke job is to admit not knowing much about the game. Wyoming took a Top 25 team into overtime on the road under a 1st (for the most part) year HC who was left with some banged-up and not-so-experienced seniors and a few quality freshmen he was able to grab with a late start in the recruiting season.

The glaring problem I see is getting beaten, and beaten badly, inside by a smaller team. Wadell's hesitation when he gets the ball in the lane is exasperating at best. Obviously, with the exception of Luster, our starters really lack the speed we need to get penetration off the pass. I like the deliberate style of play and the defense-first philosophy, but to not have our size underneath as a threat seems like a waste of resources.

 

[dapokes]

I'd say martinez's three was pretty clutch.

Then he passed the ball to the other team for a game ending dunk. Wyoming basketball breaks my heart twice in 5 days.

I'm just frustrated because there clearly isn't a dominant/unbeatable team in this conference and we let this one get away. Refs or not...we can't keep waiting until 10sec left in the shot clock to run offense. We need offense and consistency. I wish we had that one player that can completely take over in any game. Preferably a pg that can take over somewhat similar to Murray St's pg.

Well, it took Murray St. several successful years before they could land that PG. Wyo is under one year coach with a lone winning season in three years. Wish all you want, we are where we are, and it won't just change. These kids were predicted to be terrible, and they have played great! Yes, the four game losing streak has been rough for us all...But, isn't that great?! To be able to feel again. Like we had the game and we couldn't finish? Unlike feeling numb the last four years wondering how much are we going to get blown out by? This teams worse loss was to Denver by 11 points. They have played hands down the best basketball that we've had in Laramie since 02 when we went 21-11. Wyo is going places, in the future. Eventually they will be where Murray St is and be able to pick up a good PG or F or C who can change the game.

How about a pg over 6 feet tall? I hope the Adams kid from Colorado gets to play point next year. Also, I can't wait for Haroldsen. I realize we're only a recruiting class or 3 away from being where we all want to be....however, when you're up 9 on the road and lose the way we did last night.

Everyone else:
That is the definition of a CHOKE JOB. I'm not talking a singular player choked like LeBron James in the 4th qtr of the NBA. The entire team sputtered and never got back. This is becoming a habit and it worries me, offensively. The inability to find late baskets, while the opposing team (refs help/triple brick off the rim before dropping in for a score) are finding ways to get the late points that put them ahead with 1-2 mins remaining and ALL of the momentum in the arena. If you're not FINISHING with a lead....then you're stalling as an offense and CHOKING away the game. I've had a night to sleep on it and have not changed my mind.

In response to the 'is it a joke not making the NIT' comments:
Dead serious, man. What's our next win? We're capable of winning 3 in a row. On the flip side, we're more than capable of having a lead the entire game and losing late to Boise and TCU at home. I don't see how you wouldn't see the seriousness of my doubt of making the NIT. We just lost 4 in a row and are slowly playing ourselves out of the NIT picture. I honestly don't want to play in the CBI...call me picky but I don't think that tournament should exist and it reminds me too much of when we got bounced and blown out by NW St or whoever it was. I just can't believe we blew our shot at the big dance. The loss to CSU still stings because now they're going. :brick:

 

[kansasCowboy]

If CSU has 10 losses or more this year, I doubt they go. And I see then with 11 or 12 losses before the conf. tourney. Not IN.

 

[WyoExpat]

I honestly don't want to play in the CBI...call me picky but I don't think that tournament should exist and it reminds me too much of when we got bounced and blown out by NW St or whoever it was.

The CBI doesn't excite me and I still do not know why it continues to exist either.

If we lose the next 4 we might be out of the NIT, but that is a big "If" We lost 4 in a row but I think we have also seen that 3 of those were games that were not should-win games at tipoff. They were games that we should have won after seeing the scoreboard at half-time. AFA at home was a bad loss by any measure.

We also need to be careful about getting too snobbish if the rest of the country doesn't know or even care whether we are Wyoming, Montana or Wisconsin and can't keep the name straight anyway. Therefore, I believe we lost to "Northeastern" which I believe is in Boston and used to play football in the CAA, which is home to both VCU and George Mason for basketball. Unfortunately, over the past 10 years CAA > MWC when all the chips are on the table.

 

[Adv8RU12]

...we can't keep waiting until 10sec left in the shot clock to run offense. .

I thought the strategy was good. Why? Well everybody just stood there, including ball-handler Luster, GIVING THE BOYS A REST. And they needed rest in spite of the fact that the bench contributed in this game.

 

[bladerunnr]

...we can't keep waiting until 10sec left in the shot clock to run offense. .

I thought the strategy was good. Why? Well everybody just stood there, including ball-handler Luster, GIVING THE BOYS A REST. And they needed rest in spite of the fact that the bench contributed in this game.

I don't like the strategy. We often don't get a good shot off and it gives their defense a rest. We didn't play that way when we beat Vegas. I don't really understand this strategy. At first, I thought it was to shorten the game when Washington was in foul trouble. But we continued taking the air out of the ball when he was in the game. We are so used to doing this now that we when we got a 4 on 1 fast break, we turned the ball over. It's playing "not to lose", and just like the prevent defense, it rarely works.

 

[kansasCowboy]

...we can't keep waiting until 10sec left in the shot clock to run offense. .

I thought the strategy was good. Why? Well everybody just stood there, including ball-handler Luster, GIVING THE BOYS A REST. And they needed rest in spite of the fact that the bench contributed in this game.

I don't like the strategy. We often don't get a good shot off and it gives their defense a rest. We didn't play that way when we beat Vegas. I don't really understand this strategy. At first, I thought it was to shorten the game when Washington was in foul trouble. But we continued taking the air out of the ball when he was in the game. We are so used to doing this now that we when we got a 4 on 1 fast break, we turned the ball over. It's playing "not to lose", and just like the prevent defense, it rarely works.

It's no different than what most FB coaches do when they get a lead, they slow down the tempo, let the play clock run down and then run the ball to keep the clock going. And start all over again.
Wyo had the lead, they were maintaining it, they slowed down even more than they normally do to takeaway from turnovers from passes and let the clock keep going down, then would run quick screens away from the ball which was giving them at least three or four different options (that I saw during the game) to go to before the shot clock ran out. Then play tough D get the ball back and do it again. Shyatt tried to maintain the lead and get out of their as fast as he could with a win. They just couldn't quite get it done.

 

[calpoke25]

I understand the reasons for slowing the temp down, and last night it almost worked, still I think you need to change the pace up every now and then, otherwise the defense after a while just gets to sit back and say, "OK we only have to worry about guarding them until the last 10 seconds."

It's one thing to slow it down and run the Princeton type gameplan where you make the defense work for 35 seconds, but to just hold the ball at mid-court for the first 25 seconds every possession is giving the defense too much time to rest IMO.

Last night it almost worked though so tough to criticize coach on that one.

 

[calpoke25]

To further expound on the football analogy, it's one thing to just run the ball when you have the lead, but it's another thing when you just run the fullback dive 3 times into the middle of the line and punt.

Sometimes last night I felt we were running the fullback dive into the middle of the line and punting.

Again though we almost won with it, we were 1 basket away from winning.

 

[gbpoke]

I guess my biggest complaint about this team offensively is the lack of an inside game, or even an attempt at trying to establish one. Last night in the game each time the Pokes got inside--it wasn't often either, maybe a half dozen times--something good happened. But when, as has been mentioned before, we wait for 25 second to drain of the clock, then we run a baseline runner with a couple of screens to try and get an open three look without ever looking inside. It almost seems as if the offense isn't made to get looks inside and is more of a motion offense. It puzzles me when we clearly have 2 of the better post players in the league in Waddle and Washington. On a side note I was pleased to see Nance finally take a few shots and make them last night.

 

[WyoExpat]

It's one thing to slow it down and run the Princeton type gameplan where you make the defense work for 35 seconds, but to just hold the ball at mid-court for the first 25 seconds every possession is giving the defense too much time to rest IMO.

I share your opinion. I understand the concern about turnovers on the perimeter that lead to transition points for the opponent when there is substantial ball movement, but an active half-court offense should wear down the opponent's legs just as much as our defense wears out our players' legs.

I think we need more ball movement in the half court while working the clock too.