We Are Who We Thought We Were

[Cowduck]

I found that loss last night to be supremely frustrating until I remembered that this team is exceeding expectations as it is. When have we gone into a road game against a mid-tier conference opponent expecting to win in the last 5 years?

I'd say at this point we know what kind of team we have, and it is the kind of team Coach Shyatt has been telling us we would be since he was hired. On the plus side we get maximum effort, borderline elite team defense that will keep us in every game, and an offense with a combination of frontcourt skill and outside shooting that isn't terrible but will struggle frequently. On the negative side we have a major lack of depth and a major lack of perimeter athleticism and ballhandling that makes it extremely difficult to break defenses down with dribble penetration or otherwise create something when the play breaks down. The bottom line in college basketball is that you are only as good as your guard play, and all of our guards have limitations that make us relatively easy to defend.

I am thrilled with the direction the team is headed - thrilled to be pissed when we lose games like "58-52 @TCU" instead of being embarrassed when we lose games like "76-60 home vs. North Florida." We're ahead of where I thought we'd be but the roster is the limiting factor right now. Let's hope we find guard play in future recruiting classes that addresses our offensive weaknesses. If we do that, we'll be hoisting conference championship banners.

Can anyone tell me what we should be expecting from Shakir Smith in future years? Given what I have read about him it sounds like he might be the kind of player we are in sore need of right now.

 

[fromolwyoming]

If he's a slasher, that is certainly what we need. Washington and Waddell are basically our most consistent players, but can only do so much when double teamed and no one on the outside is make the 3 or deep 2s.

 

[bladerunnr]

Cowduck, I think your analysis is mostly accurate. It's too bad Jackson and M'baye didn't stay. Then, this team would be much better. I think the frustrating aspect to last night was that the game was very winnable. Does it say something about the condition of our program that we lose at tcu every year? We played them in the pigtail game last year!

We did play an ooc schedule that was rated only about the 300th hardest in D1. The win at CU was impressive as I was there and loved the way we dominated inside and Martinez was really good from 3. But the outside shooting has been spotty, at best.

I think Shyatt will ultimately get better players in here. But lets face it, almost any result would have been better than any Heath Schroyer disaster. It's like when Glenn came in after Vic and won 4 games. Everyone was happy because we were used to winning 1 or 2. We are respectable now. I guess we should be happy with that.