So we have now lost 2 straight games for the first time in Coach Smith's tenure. I get the loss tonight, as SDSU is legit, but no reason for a blowout loss earlier this week at UNLV.

I am glad Queta came to play and looked more like his old self, but where was everybody else! Brito, Anderson, Porter, Miller have pretty much all been non existent. Bean, Merrill, and Queta were by far the best for us on the floor, although Bean did start out a bit rough. We are going to need guys to start hitting shots in order to even think about an at-large bid.

Hopefully we can turn things around and get some momentum with our upcoming games where we should be favored. I am not giving up on this team! Lets go Aggies!

This offense is bad and the defense couldn’t get stops when they needed it. Any more losses and we will have to win the conference to make it to the tournament.

The offense is really, really bad right now. No shooters and no one with the ability to break down the defense and create offense.

The offense is really, really bad right now. No shooters and no one with the ability to break down the defense and create offense.

Now we will see what type of coach Smith is.

I don’t know. This is the first time I’ve had the thought that this team may not make the NCAA tourney. We are now 2-3 in big games and lost a headscratcher to UNLV.

I understand why the team is where it is, but I’m really disappointed given the high hopes for the season.

Teams trap Sam on picks and no one else can make teams pay for it. Brito and Miller are not doing enough to justify their minutes.

We don’t have anyone else that can create their own shot. Not sure how our offense gets much better unless Queta can consistently command double teams

We are one athletic scorer away from being a tourney caliber team.

ThunderAggie wrote: ↑

January 4th, 2020, 10:29 pm

We are one athletic scorer away from being a tourney caliber team.

The thing is, we all kinda saw this need in recruiting last year....

NIT

Miller and Brito have been bad the last 4 weeks. When we play bad teams we can get away with it, when we play good teams we are exposed. When those two play good, we are unbeatable. I don't understand not playing Anderson in the second half, he has not been good lately, but... Dorius.

Miller can't get shots unless somebody breaks down the defense, we don't have that on this team.

Yeah, wish we still had a guy like John Knight III on the roster. Think that was Smith's biggest mistake, not finding someone to replace him for this season

ineptimusprime wrote: ↑

January 4th, 2020, 10:30 pm

ThunderAggie wrote: ↑

January 4th, 2020, 10:29 pm

We are one athletic scorer away from being a tourney caliber team.

The thing is, we all kinda saw this need in recruiting last year....

This!! Let’s be realistic. Last years squad came out of nowhere and that was probably one of the most enjoyable seasons I’ve witnessed BUT that team had a full year of healthy Queta and it seems Abel and Brito have regressed to more of what can be expected from them.

Bean has replaced Quinn’s production but haven’t replaced Bean’s energy and bench production - Fonzo was early in the year.

I hope this isn’t the case but we took MWC by surprise last year. Teams have scouted us and know our plays and weaknesses - we have poor guard play on D and offense and cannot take anyone off dribble or create. Teams will play Merrill physical and double him.

I’ll gladly eat crow and I hope I’m wrong. I think Bairstow will be a player, Marco should be good and I like young guys we’ve signed but need some more athletes and transfer or upperclassman next year

I have a feeling we are going to be the definition of a bubble team this year...living on the edge!

ThunderAggie wrote: ↑

January 4th, 2020, 10:55 pm

I have a feeling we are going to be the definition of a bubble team this year...living on the edge!

Gotta think we’ll lose at least 4 or so games in the regular season. Our tourney hopes rest a lot on avoiding any more bad losses and how LSU and Florida do in SEC play.

ineptimusprime wrote: ↑

January 4th, 2020, 10:30 pm

ThunderAggie wrote: ↑

January 4th, 2020, 10:29 pm

We are one athletic scorer away from being a tourney caliber team.

The thing is, we all kinda saw this need in recruiting last year....

Wow same guy different sport thread....gotta say not shocked. When are you going to call for coach Smith's head?

ThunderAggie wrote: ↑

January 4th, 2020, 10:29 pm

We are one athletic scorer away from being a tourney caliber team.

And he's sitting on our bench.

JFW_AGGIES wrote: ↑

January 4th, 2020, 10:59 pm

ineptimusprime wrote: ↑

January 4th, 2020, 10:30 pm

ThunderAggie wrote: ↑

January 4th, 2020, 10:29 pm

We are one athletic scorer away from being a tourney caliber team.

The thing is, we all kinda saw this need in recruiting last year....

Wow same guy different sport thread....gotta say not shocked. When are you going to call for coach Smith's head?

He got an intramural coach fired last year.

JFW_AGGIES wrote: ↑

January 4th, 2020, 10:59 pm

ineptimusprime wrote: ↑

January 4th, 2020, 10:30 pm

ThunderAggie wrote: ↑

January 4th, 2020, 10:29 pm

We are one athletic scorer away from being a tourney caliber team.

The thing is, we all kinda saw this need in recruiting last year....

Wow same guy different sport thread....gotta say not shocked. When are you going to call for coach Smith's head?

For real, guy? For real? I love Coach Smith. He should be extended.

But he should have signed a JC or grad transfer PG last year.

ineptimusprime wrote: ↑

January 4th, 2020, 10:30 pm

ThunderAggie wrote: ↑

January 4th, 2020, 10:29 pm

We are one athletic scorer away from being a tourney caliber team.

The thing is, we all kinda saw this need in recruiting last year....

They did sign that guy, he just won't be eligible until next season.

I feel a lot better tonight than i did aboyt UNLV. SDSU is legit good. The thing that impresses me about them is it in years past they had great defense but really struggled shooting this year they have really good defense again but offensively they have some really good shooters. Bottom line is we need to shoot the ball better we do that and we'll win a bunch more games. This is a huge week coming up we need both wins against Air Force in Nevada. One thing I love tonight was our effort I can take losing if we put forth a great effort like we did tonight. Sometimes the other team is just better than you are.

Team will be fine. Team shot poorly and Bean who has been great all year struggled a little.

As said SDSU is legit. Flynn is extremely quick and shoots well.

I do think Bairstow needs to play more and we need Anderson to get out of his funk. Team plays very hard and I loved that Smith had them fighting till the very last second.

The only thing they can do is to keep fighting and pick themselves up from the floor, work harder and win some games. I have confidence this team will figure it out. There are alot of high character players on our team that have pride that will get us going in the right direction again.

The next 3-5 games will be really interesting. Last year the coaching staff enjoyed low expectations and were able to surprise a lot of teams. Defenses are clearly keying On Sam (traps / physical play) and accordingly the offense looks broken. This is where the value of coaching gets demonstrated. Really interested to see what is designed to beat the defensive looks they’re seeing. That being said, players still have to make shots.

What now? We finish strong and have a great season. San Diego state is an extremely good team. I believe they are the last undefeated team in college basketball. It is not panic time as far as our iverall season is concerned.

Aggie formerly in Hawaii wrote: ↑

January 5th, 2020, 9:31 am

What now? We finish strong and have a great season. San Diego state is an extremely good team. I believe they are the last undefeated team in college basketball. It is not panic time as far as our iverall season is concerned.

Exactly, we have played one really bad game and that was against UNLV. I am hopeful that this week we can get back on track and get back to our winning ways. I have no shame in saying that San Diego State it's just a lot better than us right now. They have their vintage defense but this year they actually have some really good Shooters and a good offense to go with it.

Be interesting to see how the players respond this week and what the coaching staff does in terms of changes to the scheme or lineups in order to spark the team. If Queta can continue to play well will be huge for us as he gets back to his old form hopefully. He is looking a lot better.

KissMyAg wrote:

JFW_AGGIES wrote: ↑

January 4th, 2020, 10:59 pm

ineptimusprime wrote: ↑

January 4th, 2020, 10:30 pm

ThunderAggie wrote: ↑

January 4th, 2020, 10:29 pm

We are one athletic scorer away from being a tourney caliber team.

The thing is, we all kinda saw this need in recruiting last year....

Wow same guy different sport thread....gotta say not shocked. When are you going to call for coach Smith's head?

^^^ good one JFW_^^^^

Did coach Smith move Queta to point guard and change the offense to have Sam only shoot two’s.

If that were done we’d be calling for Smith’s head. As it is people will keep talking basketball on here, that’s what you do on a message board.


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We'd be fine if we had guys who could make shots.
Miller, Brito, and Anderson don't make enough shots.
Porter doesn't take enough shots.

Merrill is missing now too (injury?). And passing up open shots.

Also, we take too many off-the-bounce threes and not enough catch-and-shoot threes.

I heard McChesney was going to be the best shooter on the team right after we signed him but he's redshirting so even if true, we don't have him.

Catch-and-shoot threes are easier to make. Maybe we need to run some set plays to create those to get some of these giys making shots.

I don't know...

Agree the perimeter guys have to shoot better. It felt last night that Bean was struggling to find his place with Quetta. They just need time on the floor together.

Makes me wonder how big of a loss was Quinn Taylor. Guy was mature, older player - a steadying force. Queta and Bean are young and are still figuring it out together. I feel like we're missing that veteran leadership.

Aggie19 wrote: ↑

January 5th, 2020, 11:48 am

Makes me wonder how big of a loss was Quinn Taylor. Guy was mature, older player - a steadying force. Queta and Bean are young and are still figuring it out together. I feel like we're missing that veteran leadership.

The biggest thing we miss with Quinn Taylor is that he was a stretch 4. Bean and Queta are both great players, but they don’t pair well together and ruin our floor spacing. I am interested in seeing how a lineup with Anderson at 4 (who can hit 3s) and Queta at 5 would look (assuming Anderson can get his swag back).

brian5562 wrote: ↑

January 5th, 2020, 12:50 am

Team will be fine. Team shot poorly and Bean who has been great all year struggled a little.

As said SDSU is legit. Flynn is extremely quick and shoots well.

I do think Bairstow needs to play more and we need Anderson to get out of his funk. Team plays very hard and I loved that Smith had them fighting till the very last second.

At what point do we stop saying the team shot poorly and start saying that this is a bad shooting team? Something is broken fundamentally with the offense.

ineptimusprime wrote:

Aggie19 wrote: ↑

January 5th, 2020, 11:48 am

Makes me wonder how big of a loss was Quinn Taylor. Guy was mature, older player - a steadying force. Queta and Bean are young and are still figuring it out together. I feel like we're missing that veteran leadership.

The biggest thing we miss with Quinn Taylor is that he was a stretch 4. Bean and Queta are both great players, but they don’t pair well together and ruin our floor spacing. I am interested in seeing how a lineup with Anderson at 4 (who can hit 3s) and Queta at 5 would look (assuming Anderson can get his swag back).

I love Bean and I love Queta but I think there is some truth to this. With Queta back and with both on the floor, it seemed like Beans play was not as prominent. He still had some great plays and is still a great player, it just seemed like the space he would normally be operating in was taken by Queta. I think the team has gotten used to playing a certain way and with Queta coming back, we need to figure out what our strategy is going to be and there seems to maybe be some confusion out on the court.

I think there are some interesting lineups that can be employed. Like as was said already, Queta with Anderson at the 4 seems like a pretty good lineup. I would like to see Queta and Kuba in a zone with our guards overplaying the perimeter and daring people to try to go inside. I think that same lineup on offense could be super difficult for teams to defend against.

Whatever we are going to do, we need to get a game plan together and everyone buy in. Right now and even for large parts of this season, we have been in flux and we need to really start getting some continuity as a team.


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Well the shooting problems have even gone to Free throws, we missed a lot of those. and it hurt any chance USU had.

oleblu111 wrote: ↑

January 5th, 2020, 3:49 pm

Well the shooting problems have even gone to Free throws, we missed a lot of those. and it hurt any chance USU had.

Yeah and the ones we did make bounced all around the rim and luckily fell in. We need to be swooshing em! Even Sam has struggled and “barely” makes the ones he makes sometimes. I’m sure Coach Smith is having them shoot LOTS of them.