.44caliberkiller
Well-known member
1. I've been a firm believer in giving Edwards time to develop his program at Wyoming and his first two years although not spectacular were solid enough for a first time head coach. But many more games like the UCSB game and I may quickly change my tune. Losses happen and I can handle them but many of the decisions Edwards makes continue to be mind numbing. I understand that we have a few injuries but there is no reason we need to be playing iron man basketball. Justin James should not be playing 40min in the first game of the season. Austin Mueller should not be on the court for more than 20min a night (he played 36). You can't recruit Junior College transfers who can't beat out or even spell a solid but unspectacular walk-on PG (Redding) and a undersized under skilled positionless sophomore (Mueller). Don't get me wrong I have no doubt in my mind that A.J. Banks and Luwal Dung are superior players than Redding and Mueller but they don't do us much good sitting on the bench. The ironic thing is it seems like a massive over correction from Edwards first year as head coach. He went from playing a deep rotation full of mediocre players and then bringing his two best players off the bench(James/Dalton), to only playing what he considers his 6-7 best players. And if were going to be a mediocre or bad team why not play the younger more athletic players who seemingly have a much higher upside? Edwards rotations seem to be very short sighted, this is the time of year to play inexperienced players who have upside and let them find their way at the D1 level.
2. Justin James looked like a guy who could have really used a warm-up game. He was very rusty in the first half and struggled finding his jump shot all night long. I love JJ as much as the next guy but Wyoming doesn't stand much chance of winning when the opposing team has two players (McLaughlin/Ramsey) who out perform him, much less inside the cozy confines of the AA. James was by no means bad in this one (20pts/11reb/4asst) but we will need him to be better if were going to be what we want to be.
3. One thing I would have liked to have seen was our two leading returning scorer's from a season ago (James/Maldonado) be more aggressive to begin the game. I don't believe either player attempted a shot in the first 5min of the game. If things were going well offensively I could see them being patient and waiting for the game to come to them. But when you have a young inexperienced team who is struggling, you need your star players to step in and lead.
4. I don't want to berate the kid but at this point it is absolutely unacceptable to have Austin Mueller playing 36min in a meaningful basketball game. Before I go too far let me preface this by saying I hope Mueller makes me look like an idiot and goes on to be a great player. And I do believe that he has some abilities but right now he doesn't seem to fit with what Edwards is trying to do and it seems obvious than he has no confidence on the offensive side of ball. Time after time he passes up open shots, and it's not only three's he's passing up. Late in the game he had a wide open layup but he hesitated and eventually missed. It boggles my mind how Johnson/Porter/Dung didn't even get a chance to play when Mueller was such a clear liability, especially on the offensive side.
5. A.J. Banks looked quite promising but unfortunately he didn't play much. In his 6min he managed to log 4pts/1stl and what should have been a offensive rebound and foul call but the refs "missed it." He clearly has some ability and play making potential, hopefully he along with Dung/Johnson/Porter get the opportunity to either sink or swim.
6. Jake Hendricks looked very promising and should definitely be starting. Although his shooting percentage for the game wasn't good he looks to be a very capable shooter. And as Edwards has said he has surprising athleticism, his three steals were quite impressive. Truthfully I liked about everything I saw from Hendricks in his first action for the Pokes.
7. At the end of the day the game of basketball comes down to putting the actual basketball in the hoop. A crazy concept I know, and UCSB was just much better at that than Wyoming was. We still had our chances to be sure, but we need to drastically improve on the offensive side of the ball. But all hope isn't lost, I think there is some potential lineups that could be very effective offensively for Wyoming. One lineup I would love to see more of would be Banks/James/Hendricks/Maldonado/Thompson, that seems to be a strong offensive team and for a team that struggles to score this lineup could provide a much needed boost.
8. Hunter Thompson looks like everything we could hope for in local boy staying and playing for his hometown team. He's a hard nosed player with size and immense talent. He started his Wyoming career like gang busters, scoring the first 5pts for Wyoming in the game. But unfortunately he got in early foul trouble then ultimately got knocked out of the game with a concussion and possible broken jaw. In a night full of disappointments the injury to Thompson and possible missed time is by far the most disappointing. If Thompson misses significant time it will not only stunt his development but it could cripple Wyoming's backcourt. Hopefully he makes a speedy recover and "Big Country" can get his promising UW career rolling.
9. I know many were happy to see Alan Herndon leave but with him gone we seemingly have no rim protection. Even a healthy Jordan Naugton doesn't seem to be the answer as he has never been much of a shot blocker. Thompson certainly could development into a rim protector but as of right now he doesn't seem suited for it either. The one guy on the roster who may have some rim protecting capabilities is Luwal Dung. But to protect the rim one needs to be on the court and so far that hasn't been the case.
2. Justin James looked like a guy who could have really used a warm-up game. He was very rusty in the first half and struggled finding his jump shot all night long. I love JJ as much as the next guy but Wyoming doesn't stand much chance of winning when the opposing team has two players (McLaughlin/Ramsey) who out perform him, much less inside the cozy confines of the AA. James was by no means bad in this one (20pts/11reb/4asst) but we will need him to be better if were going to be what we want to be.
3. One thing I would have liked to have seen was our two leading returning scorer's from a season ago (James/Maldonado) be more aggressive to begin the game. I don't believe either player attempted a shot in the first 5min of the game. If things were going well offensively I could see them being patient and waiting for the game to come to them. But when you have a young inexperienced team who is struggling, you need your star players to step in and lead.
4. I don't want to berate the kid but at this point it is absolutely unacceptable to have Austin Mueller playing 36min in a meaningful basketball game. Before I go too far let me preface this by saying I hope Mueller makes me look like an idiot and goes on to be a great player. And I do believe that he has some abilities but right now he doesn't seem to fit with what Edwards is trying to do and it seems obvious than he has no confidence on the offensive side of ball. Time after time he passes up open shots, and it's not only three's he's passing up. Late in the game he had a wide open layup but he hesitated and eventually missed. It boggles my mind how Johnson/Porter/Dung didn't even get a chance to play when Mueller was such a clear liability, especially on the offensive side.
5. A.J. Banks looked quite promising but unfortunately he didn't play much. In his 6min he managed to log 4pts/1stl and what should have been a offensive rebound and foul call but the refs "missed it." He clearly has some ability and play making potential, hopefully he along with Dung/Johnson/Porter get the opportunity to either sink or swim.
6. Jake Hendricks looked very promising and should definitely be starting. Although his shooting percentage for the game wasn't good he looks to be a very capable shooter. And as Edwards has said he has surprising athleticism, his three steals were quite impressive. Truthfully I liked about everything I saw from Hendricks in his first action for the Pokes.
7. At the end of the day the game of basketball comes down to putting the actual basketball in the hoop. A crazy concept I know, and UCSB was just much better at that than Wyoming was. We still had our chances to be sure, but we need to drastically improve on the offensive side of the ball. But all hope isn't lost, I think there is some potential lineups that could be very effective offensively for Wyoming. One lineup I would love to see more of would be Banks/James/Hendricks/Maldonado/Thompson, that seems to be a strong offensive team and for a team that struggles to score this lineup could provide a much needed boost.
8. Hunter Thompson looks like everything we could hope for in local boy staying and playing for his hometown team. He's a hard nosed player with size and immense talent. He started his Wyoming career like gang busters, scoring the first 5pts for Wyoming in the game. But unfortunately he got in early foul trouble then ultimately got knocked out of the game with a concussion and possible broken jaw. In a night full of disappointments the injury to Thompson and possible missed time is by far the most disappointing. If Thompson misses significant time it will not only stunt his development but it could cripple Wyoming's backcourt. Hopefully he makes a speedy recover and "Big Country" can get his promising UW career rolling.
9. I know many were happy to see Alan Herndon leave but with him gone we seemingly have no rim protection. Even a healthy Jordan Naugton doesn't seem to be the answer as he has never been much of a shot blocker. Thompson certainly could development into a rim protector but as of right now he doesn't seem suited for it either. The one guy on the roster who may have some rim protecting capabilities is Luwal Dung. But to protect the rim one needs to be on the court and so far that hasn't been the case.
