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"Wisdom & Learnings" from Vegas, Diane & Alozie Sign, + FSU Up Next
89 Plays9 days ago
Welcome to Episode #64 of the No Conference for Old Men Podcast.
Like last season, it was a mixed bag for our Houston Cougars at the Players Era Festival. With lots of "wisdom & learnings", as Coach Sampson described, for this year's Cougars team. The team won 2 games over Syracuse & Notre Dame, but suffered a close loss in between to a tough Tennessee team looking for payback for last season's Elite 8 loss. Our Cougars are now 7-1 for the season and now ranked #8 in both the AP & KenPom rankings. But lots for the team to work on in this 10-day break before facing FSU at the Toyota Center.
Please have a listen as the 3 Old Men break the games down from Vegas, as well as provide some thoughts on what to expect from a team adjustment perspective heading into this final stretch of non-conference games. We also provide our perspectives on the 2 elite HS kids to sign with the Cougars during the early signing period. Needless to say, another elite class w/ Diane & Alozie coming on board next season.
- No Conference for Old Men is available for free via Spotify / Apple Podcast / SoundCloud & the GoCoogs.com website; we're also available via the Republic of Football Podcast feed from the folks at Dave Campbell's Texas Football as their only basketball-centric offering
- Intro / Exit music: Ground Zero provided by FreeBeats.io
- Please follow us on gocoogs.com/old-men/
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Overview
00:00:07
@NoConfForOldMen
Welcome folks to episode number 64 of the No Conference for Old Men podcast, the podcast where three old guys are talking Houston Cougars basketball with a bit of Big 12 coverage added in as well. And proud members of the gocougs.com network, the undisputed number one Houston Cougars content provider.
Houston Cougars' Feast Week Recap
00:00:24
@NoConfForOldMen
And we're back with all three old men after Feast Week.
00:00:27
@NoConfForOldMen
Bill Walker, former player, Tom Lediak, former coach, and myself, Steve Chang, analytics guy for this episode. And after Feast Week, Just like last year, it was a stiff early test with three tough games and was also a bit of a mixed bag like last season with better results, but still a lot of learnings about this year's team and what needs to be worked on moving forward.
00:00:50
@NoConfForOldMen
Cougars scratched out a tight seventy eight seventy four OT win over, I think, what might be an underrated Syracuse team to open up the Players' Era Tourney. Lost a heartbreaker to Tennessee 76-73 2.
00:01:05
@NoConfForOldMen
Then finished off with third game, 66-56 win over Notre Dame that, in my opinion at least, was not as close as the score indicates. So our Cougars are at now seven and one for the season and have actually dropped to number eight in both the AP poll as well as in Ken Palm.
Upcoming Games and Team Improvement
00:01:22
@NoConfForOldMen
Now comes a big week and a half where, if you guys might recall, last season we saw the biggest adjustments made by Coach Sampson in defining the identity of last year's team. for time to take from what was learned and in working on things as we move forward towards the end of the year. So it's going to be fascinating to see and discuss what we expect going into the FSU game on Saturday. And then we've got also two lesser games following that that will allow us to further solidify this year's team's identity. Heading into the Arkansas game and then into conference play two games later. So let's get into it, guys, starting with the Syracuse game.
00:02:01
.0Bill Walker
Wait, wait, wait.
00:02:02
@NoConfForOldMen
Oh, no, I forgot. You guys reminded me. Ryder game, right?
00:02:05
Tom Lidiak
Rider game, yeah.
00:02:06
.0Bill Walker
That's right. One of the biggest games of the year so far.
00:02:07
@NoConfForOldMen
Okay. Okay. Okay, Ryder game. Yes, I forgot. I thought we had covered it already. But why start off with a little bit of tidbit on the Ryder game.
00:02:13
Tom Lidiak
No.
00:02:15
@NoConfForOldMen
it And actually, Bill, why don't you start on the Ryder game?
00:02:20
.0Bill Walker
Well, I've only got three things to say about Ryder. a Three takeaways from the game. The most important one is that personally going back to the podcast when we previewed the game, I predicted us to win eighty eight forty three
00:02:37
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:02:37
.0Bill Walker
And with two minutes left in the game, what was the score? 88-43. Unfortunately, we outscored Ryder 3-2 to end the game and and won 91-45.
00:02:51
.0Bill Walker
But but but um'm I'm getting there.
00:02:54
@NoConfForOldMen
You were close. You were close.
00:02:55
.0Bill Walker
I'm getting there.
00:02:55
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:02:57
.0Bill Walker
Only two other things I'll mention from that game. One, I liked seeing Mercy dropping a career-high 14 points. And the other thing that that I enjoyed was the fact that of our 37 made field goals, we assisted on on a pretty amazing 23 of them.
00:03:19
.0Bill Walker
I mean, we moved the ball well.
00:03:19
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:03:21
.0Bill Walker
We we hit open players, created shots for the other players. For teammates, played unselfishly. yeah This is a game where we could have you it could have been a lot of just taking the ball to the hoop one-on-one, but we moved the ball well. 23 assists is is a lot, and on 23 made field goals, that that that was impressive, and that's it for Ryder.
00:03:45
@NoConfForOldMen
Nice. How about you, Tom? Any key takeaways from
Ryder Game Insights
00:03:47
@NoConfForOldMen
the Ryder game?
00:03:47
Tom Lidiak
but Not a whole lot. Ryder was a scrappy bunch, but they were just they they're just outmanned.
00:03:52
@NoConfForOldMen
Overmatched.
00:03:53
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:03:55
Tom Lidiak
McCarty, Mercy, Seiko, Ramon got quite a few minutes coming off the bench. Fleming said a solid game. Senacoli had one rebound.
00:04:04
Tom Lidiak
And I can't believe nobody's mentioned this yet, but if you're watching on TV, how can we not talk about that Ryder fan with that turkey leg? That thing was humongous. That's...
00:04:15
Tom Lidiak
That's what I, that's what I remember most about that game.
00:04:20
@NoConfForOldMen
That's hilarious. I mean, okay.
00:04:22
Tom Lidiak
But that's, that's about it.
00:04:23
@NoConfForOldMen
I think quite honestly, I have nothing to add from an analytics perspective on
Syracuse Game Analysis
00:04:28
@NoConfForOldMen
Ryder. So why don't we move to the new era games and and Tom, why don't you kick things off with your coach's perspective on the first game, the Syracuse game, which, which was a tough one.
00:04:37
Tom Lidiak
Yeah. Uh, Syracuse came out like it was, uh, like their hair was on fire, you know, like mad dogs in a meat house and, and, uh,
00:04:42
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:04:46
Tom Lidiak
You know, Adrian Autry, former player under Jim Boeheim, fist pumping and and all that. It's like, down boy. You know, it's it's a it's the first it's the first half at the players' era.
00:04:59
Tom Lidiak
But Syracuse did, you know, they did play hard. i don't know if we were, don't know.
00:05:01
@NoConfForOldMen
They played well.
00:05:04
Tom Lidiak
It kind of got us back on our heels, I thought. Another thing that's kind of surprised me about Syracuse, I'm not familiar with them. You know, I i don't watch them, you know, and why would I personally?
00:05:16
Tom Lidiak
you know, why but I was surprised. No two, three zone, you know, I know.
00:05:21
@NoConfForOldMen
I know. I know. I don't think they played it at all. Right?
00:05:24
Tom Lidiak
No, no, no, they didn't.
00:05:24
@NoConfForOldMen
The whole game.
00:05:25
Tom Lidiak
and So, uh, what else I have written down? Uh, it looks like we shot better from three than from two. Sennac had 12 rebounds. Uh, Jojo only 24 minutes, uh, due to fouls.
00:05:39
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:05:40
Tom Lidiak
A a lot them, uh, that come under the stupid variety, you know, uh,
00:05:40
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:05:43
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:05:46
Tom Lidiak
Sennac at S.A. had 12. Oh, Uzon and Sharp, you know, they carried us this game.
00:05:50
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, thankfully.
00:05:52
Tom Lidiak
But, yeah, it was, you know, and then and then Syracuse the other night, they beat Tennessee. it was I believe it was a home game for Syracuse, but still they, i thought pretty pretty much Syracuse had shot their wad, you know, in the game against us.
00:05:57
@NoConfForOldMen
and know. It was.
00:06:06
Tom Lidiak
But, you know, kudos to them for beating Tennessee, who's got who's got an excellent team, in my opinion.
00:06:12
.0Bill Walker
They played some 2-3 against Tennessee.
00:06:15
@NoConfForOldMen
Did they?
00:06:15
Tom Lidiak
They did. Okay.
00:06:19
Tom Lidiak
Well, they they probably saw how we shredded Oakland's zone and then then they decided not to play in East zone against us.
00:06:26
@NoConfForOldMen
But yeah I was shocked too, watching the game. It's like, I don't remember them playing zone even once against us.
00:06:31
Tom Lidiak
Mm-mm.
00:06:32
@NoConfForOldMen
And of course they were probably exhausted after that first game. Bill, how about you from a player's perspective on the Syracuse game?
00:06:39
.0Bill Walker
Bottom line. we got lucky uh
00:06:43
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Yeah.
00:06:47
.0Bill Walker
look at the you the stats uh they they uh they outshot us uh think it was 43 to 36 percent uh from three we were better uh we shot 41 to their 26.
00:07:01
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:07:02
.0Bill Walker
uh uh let's uh or let's see the or yeah, the rebounds, we, we out rebounded them, but I'll get back to that. Uh, and that plays into us getting lucky. Uh, the assists were even, the turnovers were even, despite the fact that we committed 13, uh, you know, we had nine steals, we had five blocks, all of which, uh, were tuglers and we committed 23 fouls to their 21. So that was pretty even as well.
00:07:34
.0Bill Walker
Uh, Yeah, here's the issue. We won in OT, and they had a shot under the basket to win in regulation. But, and and this is the stat that I didn't just bring up, whereas we shot 19 27, 70% from the line they shot ones.
00:07:52
.0Bill Walker
twelve of twenty nine forty one percent
00:07:55
@NoConfForOldMen
I know.
00:07:57
.0Bill Walker
including a lot of miss frontands of one and ones you know if If they shoot anywhere close to 70% like we did, we lose.
00:08:06
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:08:07
.0Bill Walker
Also, yeah our rebound numbers were good, 49. forty nine But I think close to 10 of those came off of missed free throws.
00:08:20
.0Bill Walker
and so So it's a little bit misleading.
00:08:20
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:08:24
.0Bill Walker
you know Tugler and Sacco did hit the offensive boards, particularly in the second half. So the missed free throw padded rebounding numbers is, is, is accurate, but kind of partially accurate.
00:08:39
.0Bill Walker
You know, offensively, what, what just screamed out at me throughout the game is that our top inside threats, and I've mentioned this before.
00:08:50
.0Bill Walker
I've mentioned it, that this was, I was worried about this going into the season when we did our preview.
00:08:55
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Yep.
00:08:56
.0Bill Walker
I'm going to unfortunately continue to, harp on this is that our top inside threats are Sharp, Yuzan, and Fleming's penetrating inside.
00:09:10
.0Bill Walker
yeah Like I said, I mentioned it during the the preview, and and you know this is this is a this is a case, again, where where we really miss not only Roberts, the more than anything Roberts, because he played, he's, know, he he's played with his back to his to the basket, which we don't have anyone that does right now.
00:09:32
.0Bill Walker
But, uh, even Francis, Francis scored inside and, and hit free throws really, really developed his game, over the course of last year.
00:09:35
@NoConfForOldMen
Mm-hmm.
00:09:42
.0Bill Walker
But, but we do not have a big inside threat and that, uh, you know, that's, you know, we'll see what happens.
Concerns About Team Dynamics
00:09:52
.0Bill Walker
I've seen, you know, Tuggler's Tuggler's working at it a bit. He's not getting right to the basket, you know, a lot of kind of jump hooks inside. And and so, you know, it's still a work in progress, but, uh, yeah, aside from the guards, you know, we're going to see moving forward and probably for a lot of the season, uh, lopsided free throw attempt numbers, uh,
00:10:19
.0Bill Walker
And, you know, same with Tennessee throughout, as we'll be talking about shortly throughout the season, know, in this game, all of our offense came, as you mentioned, Tom from Sharpe and Uzun, who both scored 26. They scored two thirds of our points. Tuggler's five blocks, as I mentioned, were big, but he only scored two points. And of course, only played 24 minutes again due to fouls. Calvin, Calvin after the game, uh, referred to him as Edward Scissorhands, which I thought was pretty damn funny.
00:10:55
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Pretty accurate, too.
00:10:57
.0Bill Walker
Uh, yes, exactly.
00:10:58
@NoConfForOldMen
But... yeah Yep.
00:11:01
.0Bill Walker
Uh, yeah, use on use that had a great game, 26.7 boards, five assists, three steals. And like I said, sharp sharp who, who,
00:11:13
.0Bill Walker
May not have had a great, didn't have a great shooting game, but he was 11 of 12 at the line, which was big.
00:11:17
@NoConfForOldMen
That's great.
00:11:18
.0Bill Walker
Flemings, Flemings, six boards, six assists, but did not do much offensively. And and Calvin, actually throughout the entire entire tournament, Calvin was all over Flemings and Senac for their, quite honestly, for their poor defensive play.
00:11:35
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Yes. Yes.
00:11:40
.0Bill Walker
Yeah, this was a really ugly as will kind of be the next two, but particularly Notre Dame, ugly, and and this was a lucky win. you know The good news that we looked awful versus San Diego State in Notre Dame at this time last year, and look where we ended up.
00:12:00
.0Bill Walker
Admittedly, though, I have a few more concerns with this team than i did with last year's at this point, and and we'll get into that.
00:12:07
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Tennessee Game Recap and Analysis
00:12:09
@NoConfForOldMen
We'll get into that. We'll have a segment after the summaries for these three games where we'll talk about what we expect to see.
00:12:17
@NoConfForOldMen
I mean, honestly, even after Las Vegas, we had last year, we had plenty of concerns as well, but we'll we'll get to that. And this Syracuse game honestly surprised me a bit. And we've talked a little bit about it since, know, Syracuse has been awful these last few years. Yeah.
00:12:34
@NoConfForOldMen
And if you look at the stats so far as we did the the previews last podcast, Syracuse has been elite this year on D, you know really leading a lot of the key metrics with all the analytic sites. But I still had assumed that we were going to crush them. But in the end, it ended up being a really tough game where Syracuse actually had the chance at the rim to win in regulation, if not for that key block by Tuggler. but I actually do believe at this point Syracuse is probably...
00:13:07
@NoConfForOldMen
I don't know, a good bit better this season, as is reflected by their win over Tennessee last night. Now, from an advanced analytics perspective, we were good on D, but not great. We limited Syracuse to 26% from three-point range, blocked almost 16% of their shots, but somehow they still ended up being scorching from two-point range, hitting almost 60% of their two-point shots, where we've historically been giving up 45% from two-point range.
00:13:36
@NoConfForOldMen
Thankfully, as you guys had both mentioned, Syracuse only shot 41% from the free throw line. Otherwise, it would have been trouble for us. Now on offense, our effective field goal percentage was a miserable 45%.
00:13:47
@NoConfForOldMen
forty five percent But thankfully, we got out of our funk from three-point range, shooting at 41% from three-point range. But on the flip side, when you shoot only 33% from close range and turn it over 17% of your possessions, you really make it tough on yourself to win.
00:14:04
@NoConfForOldMen
But hats off to our trusty veteran guards in Nuzan and Sharp for leading the way with 26 points each to secure the win. was actually quite honestly great to finally get them going. Tugler, again, constant foul trouble, and it really needs to stop reaching for steals. I mean, his arms are long enough to deflect balls without constantly getting cheap ones poking at balls down low. But but we'll talk a little bit more about that later as well. Now, how about the tough Tennessee game?
00:14:35
@NoConfForOldMen
Bill, don't you go first with your thoughts on the tough 76-73 loss?
00:14:40
.0Bill Walker
Well, I'm not as quite as down after this loss as I was after the Syracuse win.
00:14:47
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, we play way better.
00:14:49
.0Bill Walker
yeah there There were some continuing problems, but overall, I thought it was a solid effort. I really liked the way we played early. You know Flemings came out strong on both ends, which which he didn't.
00:15:00
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:15:02
.0Bill Walker
He was kind of invisible, almost invisible in the Syracuse game.
00:15:05
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:15:07
.0Bill Walker
Tugler was active without fouling. McCarty hit a couple shots, which hopefully can become a trend as we get into the conference. Mercy looked good at the defensive end, especially.
00:15:19
.0Bill Walker
And Harwell, I thought, came out pretty solidly on both ends.
00:15:19
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:15:24
.0Bill Walker
yeah We clamped down on their top scorers, I'm at and Gillespie who I'd previewed and, and, and we looked good, unfortunately. And I'm going to hit this again and again and again, the lack of anything inside led to offensive droughts in both halves. The the perimeter game, uh, continued throughout the second half while, while Tennessee used their height to score inside draw fouls. And unlike Syracuse hit free throws, uh,
00:15:58
.0Bill Walker
One play that I'll bring up, and I typically don't don't focus on individual plays, but one play that I really thought cost us the game, quite honestly, late was a missed free throw by Tennessee. I think it was Boswell and Jalen Carey.
00:16:17
.0Bill Walker
just launched is his forearm slash elbow into Tuggler, got the offensive rebound, and scored.
00:16:17
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:16:26
.0Bill Walker
Just a brutal no-call. And you know if we get that rebound, i think I think we end up winning the game. But yeah, that play did not...
00:16:38
.0Bill Walker
particularly sit well with me for the game. we took 10 more shots than they did. We basically shot the same from the field, 47 to 46%, which is better for us.
00:16:49
.0Bill Walker
Rebounds are virtually identical. Assist turnovers, blocks were all the same. The big difference was they were 23 29 at the line.
00:17:01
.0Bill Walker
we were eight of
00:17:01
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:17:04
.0Bill Walker
yeah we committed 21 fouls to their 15. yeah They do have a really big team, so I expected them to shoot more free throws and and go inside, which which they did, and again, not unexpected.
00:17:18
.0Bill Walker
But this type of disparity, again, is going to be the norm if our offense remains so perimeter-focused, and we're... we're shooting from outside. We're not going inside and and drawing fouls.
00:17:37
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Yeah.
00:17:38
.0Bill Walker
And, you know, get used to hearing Yuzan, Sharp, and Flemings. Those names a lot, I think, this year. Senac had a second straight double-digit rebound game, which was good.
00:17:50
.0Bill Walker
Tugler actually led us with five assists while while playing a pretty solid game. And and actually, i was thrilled to see that Tuggler played 33 minutes. What's not good, and Calvin's been on this team about this, and I mentioned it in reference to Sinek and Flemings, is the defense. And he was, i know, very unhappy about this game.
00:18:21
.0Bill Walker
We gave up 20 points. Now granted there were fouls, but he we gave up 20 points over the final six minutes of this game.
00:18:29
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Yeah.
00:18:31
.0Bill Walker
And you know that that you could see that we're still having some difficulty odd defense, the rotations, the fouling.
00:18:43
.0Bill Walker
It's somewhat mediocre right now, but you know Based on U of H's standards, i I see this as an absolute area where we are going to improve.
00:18:53
.0Bill Walker
No question about it. The the inside scoring, i'm i'm I'm worried about. And again, we'll talk about that. But but the defense...
00:19:00
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:19:03
.0Bill Walker
the defense is going to get better. That's what Calvin coaches. That's what stress.
Future Team Expectations
00:19:07
.0Bill Walker
That's, that's what he's always been just outstanding at no matter where he's been. And and especially with us, with the U of H teams, I mean, the defense is going to get better. So once again, we lose, but it this was not the worst loss in the world. And and I wasn't overly upset about it or despondent, anything like that.
00:19:30
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, no, completely agree. How about your view, Tom, from a coach's perspective with Tennessee?
00:19:36
Tom Lidiak
Just a couple of things. Emmanuel is limited to 21 minutes to his fouls.
00:19:41
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, in the first half.
00:19:43
Tom Lidiak
And I think think he got his second right away.
00:19:44
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:19:47
Tom Lidiak
he was just He was just reaching and hacking and grabbing.
00:19:47
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:19:49
Tom Lidiak
I can't remember the particular instance, but it's like they have control of the ball. you know just Just get back.
00:19:56
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. It was a foul.
00:19:58
Tom Lidiak
Yeah.
00:19:58
@NoConfForOldMen
No doubt. Yeah.
00:19:59
Tom Lidiak
Yeah, and, you know, what's kind of discouraging is what is this his fourth year here in our program, you know.
00:20:05
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:20:07
Tom Lidiak
So he he needs to be a lot smarter than that, you know, to stay on the floor. He's hurting the team when he gets in foul trouble. You know, it's not a not just a just not smart basketball.
00:20:21
Tom Lidiak
Fleming's had a hell of a game. And then Bill talked about the, I think he talked about the scoring drought, right, Bill, the seven and a half minute scoring drought, you know, we, but still, you know, Tennessee wasn't able to pull away because, a because we were, you know playing decent defense, but,
00:20:29
.0Bill Walker
Yep.
00:20:30
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:20:40
Tom Lidiak
The defense will get better. It can only get better because of how many young guys are playing.
00:20:45
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, that's the issue.
00:20:45
Tom Lidiak
Uh, you remember four of our top eight, you know, four of our top eight are, are freshmen, three true freshmen. Then you got McCarty. Who's a red shirt freshman. Seiko is, you know, there's the fifth guy of our top eight coming from different programs. Um, programs.
00:21:00
Tom Lidiak
You know, so it it will just continue to get better. That's all, that's you know, that's that's all you can say. it's you can't just, you know, sprinkles you can't just sprinkle some pixie dust on the on these guys and all sudden they're playing defense like six-year Juwan Roberts or JVA Francis or Jamal Shedd, Marcus Sasser.
00:21:08
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:21:08
.0Bill Walker
Yeah, I agree.
00:21:15
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:21:21
Tom Lidiak
You know, it just it's just – I think it's it's like a new era for Houston Cougar basketball. We're so used to these veteran teams. past couple years and now we got these, you know, talented youngsters and we're not used to, we're not, you know, we're not used to this.
00:21:37
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. The growing pains, right?
00:21:38
Tom Lidiak
And yeah.
00:21:39
@NoConfForOldMen
Associated with that.
00:21:40
Tom Lidiak
Yeah.
00:21:40
.0Bill Walker
And don't forget my Lake Wilson.
00:21:43
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:21:44
Tom Lidiak
Oh yeah. Yeah.
00:21:45
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:21:46
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, we don't have anyone to kind of replace what he brought.
00:21:46
Tom Lidiak
Just, you know, and, and the thing about Malik is, you know, it it took Malik what his third year before he started playing like he did, you know, last year and, You know, Jawan Roberts took him five years, you know, before he, you know, started to score a little bit.
00:22:06
Tom Lidiak
You know, there'll probably be some players that play here four or five years, but a lot of our guys we're recruiting now, you know, they're not going to be here, you know, as as long.
00:22:14
@NoConfForOldMen
I know.
00:22:16
Tom Lidiak
yeah So it's it's a double-edged sword. Fans just got to be patient. You know, Kelvin Sampson's not an idiot. He knows what he's doing. You know, this you know you still have people should have learned their lesson last year.
00:22:32
Tom Lidiak
You still have people that are doubting Kelvin, you know, and it's like, oh, yeah, it's like it's I was having deja vu all over again.
00:22:37
@NoConfForOldMen
In the boards. Yeah. Yeah, I know.
00:22:42
Tom Lidiak
i thought I was reading last year's threads. It had me confused, you know, and it's like, haven't you guys learned, you know, trust the goat?
00:22:44
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. No kidding.
00:22:51
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:22:51
Tom Lidiak
he he he knows what he's doing. He knows what needs to be done. And we just got be patient. You know, progress is not linear.
00:23:02
Tom Lidiak
You know, you're going to go down a little bit, go up and, and, you know, it's, it's just a different, a different team this year.
00:23:04
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:23:10
Tom Lidiak
It's totally, totally different from what we've had past couple of years, as far as, you know, a veteran team.
00:23:17
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. And from my perspective, like you, Bill, I actually thought with the Tennessee game that we played much better, especially to begin
Notre Dame Game Breakdown
00:23:24
@NoConfForOldMen
the game. i mean, we started off pretty hot. However, that stretch to end the first half and begin the second was just really difficult to watch.
00:23:33
@NoConfForOldMen
I knew it was going to be a tough game. It's Tennessee. Yeah. But, and you know, with with sharp and foul trouble, two minutes into the game, it gets really tough to be beating teams like that. And he never got in the groove after sitting so much in the first half.
00:23:50
.0Bill Walker
Nope.
00:23:50
@NoConfForOldMen
From an advanced analytics perspective, we were, again, just good on D, but not great. Similar to our game with Syracuse, and this is going to be kind of a recurring theme, we limited Tennessee to 29% from three-point range, which is great. Blocked almost 12% of their two-point shots.
00:24:07
@NoConfForOldMen
But again, somehow Tennessee was able to shoot a scorching 56% from two-point range. from two point range And just to give you know folks listening a reference compared to like last year or kind of our our norm, the last few years, that's 10 points, 10 percentage points higher than our historical two point field goal percentage D numbers. Now, on offense, we shot much better overall with our effective field goal percentage up to 53%, and our offensive rebound was really elite at 45% levels. And we almost never lose when those numbers are at that level. But unfortunately, as you you guys had both highlighted, the free throw disparity was huge with the 29 to 11 comparison, which was not...
00:24:56
@NoConfForOldMen
You know, quite honestly, for me, I didn't expect it. I know we don't have the low post presence with Roberts, but we do have a couple of guards that are taking it to the hoop. And I think that's what Samson's complaint was against a very physical D like Tennessee.
00:25:13
@NoConfForOldMen
they They play rough and tumble just like us. There's no way, even in this game, for the disparity to be 29 to 11. But, you know, at this point, it it is what it is.
00:25:22
.0Bill Walker
Well, the other thing, Steve, yeah, the other thing, Steve, is that, that
00:25:28
.0Bill Walker
historically under under Calvin, all are all the previous U of H teams tend to commit more fouls. We're we're far more aggressive than anyone defensively, and and we're going to commit more fouls.
00:25:36
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, more. hu
00:25:40
.0Bill Walker
So, you know, that's that's going to be the case. And and with with Tennessee, the one of the reasons they shot so well from two-point range is because they're so damn big.
00:25:43
@NoConfForOldMen
Agreed.
00:25:50
.0Bill Walker
and And, you know, they get the ball inside and, you know, Byproduct of that is that they're going to be fouls. So it wasn't entirely surprising to me that that the disparity was what it was, although it was pretty significant.
00:26:06
@NoConfForOldMen
twenty mean, nine to 11, that's like, that's three times.
00:26:09
.0Bill Walker
Yeah.
00:26:11
@NoConfForOldMen
That's almost three times the number of free throws. That's, yeah.
00:26:15
Tom Lidiak
And Kelvin mentioned that post-game.
00:26:15
@NoConfForOldMen
Anyways, I mean, he absolutely did, yeah. I mean, but like you guys had highlighted, silver linings that Uzan seems to be out of his funk offensively, taking it in for the mid-range floaters, as I had highlighted. And it's always been so effective. So it's great to see him doing that again. And Fleming's had another stellar day.
00:26:34
@NoConfForOldMen
And it was nice to see, as you guys both mentioned as well, McCartley finally having a decent game. It's his first decent game so far this year. And honestly, I was surprised that he didn't see much, if any time in the second half after going two of three from three point range. So I don't really know what was up there, but but we'll get into that a little bit later as
Vegas Tourney Takeaways
00:26:56
@NoConfForOldMen
well. But and then finally, let's let's get to the 66 to 56 win against Notre Dame. Tom, don't you kick things off?
00:27:05
@NoConfForOldMen
And what was your perspective from a coach's view on the Notre Dame game?
00:27:08
Tom Lidiak
I thought, I think we started off, we had a 26 to four lead, I think.
00:27:12
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:27:12
Tom Lidiak
And we, you know, we started to get some other guys in the game and I just kind of thought we lost some momentum there and it was, it was hard to get back. And you know, you, you let a team hang around, hang around, hang around.
00:27:24
Tom Lidiak
it you know, it makes it interesting at the end.
00:27:26
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. We played a lot of people though, too, right?
00:27:29
Tom Lidiak
Yeah.
00:27:29
@NoConfForOldMen
If you look at the lineups.
00:27:30
Tom Lidiak
I don't know that's the game said lot played eight minutes, but,
00:27:35
@NoConfForOldMen
He did.
00:27:35
Tom Lidiak
you know I like the way when Sed comes in he plays a lot of energy, ball screen defense. He's out there. He's moving his feet. And then the the key thing with that is that when when the balls when the guard gives the ball up, how fast Sed gets back to his man.
00:27:53
Tom Lidiak
And I think JoJo could be taking notes there because you know a lot of times JoJo, I don't know, you know just Sed seems like he has another gear.
00:28:04
Tom Lidiak
Uh, and i don't know, it's, uh, I just like the way said came in there with his, you know, with his enthusiasm, uh, you know, kind of like to see him maybe get a few more minutes in games and games that count.
00:28:17
Tom Lidiak
But, uh, you know, we don't, we, we, we don't, you know, we don't, we don't see, we don't see what goes on at practice, but you got remember, we, we had to use said a couple of years ago, you know, against Hunter Dickinson and,
00:28:19
@NoConfForOldMen
no the way
00:28:22
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:28:25
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:28:32
Tom Lidiak
You know he didn't hurt us. I mean, he actually, you know, he did sent him to send him to the tunnel at locker room with a shoulder injury or whatever.
00:28:35
.0Bill Walker
He hurt him.
00:28:38
@NoConfForOldMen
That's right. Yeah.
00:28:44
Tom Lidiak
no, but you know, I'm just trying to give big sets and bluff there.
00:28:47
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:28:47
Tom Lidiak
Cause I love what he's, you know, uh, You know, he probably works really, really hard at practice, and it's nice to see him get rewarded.
00:28:53
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, I'm sure he does.
00:28:55
Tom Lidiak
But like I was saying, 26-4 lead.
00:28:56
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:28:58
Tom Lidiak
You know, we brought some other guys in and, you know, let Notre Dame get back in the game. But they cut it to like four. I think that's after that guy, he banked two free throws in.
00:29:06
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, which was surprising in the second half. Yeah.
00:29:10
Tom Lidiak
Was he trying to do that or what?
00:29:12
.0Bill Walker
Yes. Yes, he was.
00:29:13
Tom Lidiak
that's how he shoot That's how he shoots them?
00:29:14
@NoConfForOldMen
He was? Really?
00:29:15
.0Bill Walker
Yes.
00:29:15
@NoConfForOldMen
That's how he does it? Okay.
00:29:16
.0Bill Walker
Yes.
00:29:17
Tom Lidiak
Well, use what's up there.
00:29:18
.0Bill Walker
Crazy.
00:29:19
Tom Lidiak
Use what's up there, right?
00:29:19
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:29:20
Tom Lidiak
You know?
00:29:20
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:29:21
.0Bill Walker
I used to do that playing horse. I never considered doing that in a game.
00:29:23
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:29:28
Tom Lidiak
Nice catch basket. You know, it's like when he put about, anyway, so that was my take of the Notre Dame game.
00:29:29
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:29:35
Tom Lidiak
It's kind of one of those games where you think we're going to, we're going blow em out and then you got to hang on at the end and, You know, it's it's a W, but a lot of times for a lot of people, it leaves like a bad taste in their mouth, you know, that we had to.
00:29:51
Tom Lidiak
It's like when you're blowing a team out and you put your scrubs in and they lose the lead.
00:29:53
@NoConfForOldMen
Yep. Yep.
00:29:56
Tom Lidiak
And then you got to put your stars back in with about a minute left in the game, preserve the win.
00:29:56
@NoConfForOldMen
Yep. yeah
00:29:59
Tom Lidiak
And then you're just more pissed off than anything else.
00:30:04
@NoConfForOldMen
That's a perfect description. How about you, Bill, from a player's perspective of the Notre Dame game?
00:30:10
.0Bill Walker
I've got virtually nothing to say about this game. Third game in three days. Great start. you know up Up by 22. yeah Even though we only gave up 56, Kelvin was still really unhappy with with with the defense, again, from Flemings and Sinek, the two freshmen.
00:30:23
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's it's true.
00:30:30
.0Bill Walker
and and and you You see it based on the minutes that they played, they they especially Sinek. He did not play many minutes in that game.
00:30:39
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. 15 minutes. Yeah.
00:30:40
.0Bill Walker
Yeah. You know, and I'm sure based on that and and actually during an interview after the game where Sharp had mentioned his own defense and leadership, which I loved hearing, he had mentioned that that this week's practices were probably going to be a bit brutal.
00:31:01
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:31:02
.0Bill Walker
And I would imagine that's absolutely correct.
00:31:04
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:31:05
.0Bill Walker
Really, the... really the One good statistic or the one statistic that I took away from this game is that we only committed five turnovers, which is a season low and and and yeah really good.
00:31:17
@NoConfForOldMen
Yep. Yep.
00:31:22
.0Bill Walker
Admittedly, Notre Dame does not pressure the ball at all.
00:31:24
@NoConfForOldMen
Yep.
00:31:25
.0Bill Walker
So that this would have been the game to to protect the ball.
00:31:29
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:31:29
.0Bill Walker
And and fortunately, we did. Bottom line, this was a really, really ugly game. And that's about all I've got to say.
00:31:39
@NoConfForOldMen
I mean, for me, yeah. I mean, it was it was weird. We led from start to finish. Game was really never in doubt. Lots of kids played. And I think the kids were all tired at this point, you know, three games in three days. Yeah.
00:31:54
@NoConfForOldMen
I expected a win going away, and I think the game was just not as close as the score indicated.
00:31:56
Tom Lidiak
Thank
00:32:00
@NoConfForOldMen
If you look at the advanced analytics, we were excellent on D when our starters were in. But like a broken record during this Vegas tour, similar to our two previous games, we limited Notre Dame to 21% from three-point
Addressing Team Weaknesses
00:32:15
@NoConfForOldMen
range. It's stiller. I mean, that's exceptional perimeter D and blocked almost 14% of the two-point shots.
00:32:21
@NoConfForOldMen
But even Notre Dame was able to to shoot 50% from two-point range against us. And i mean, that's got to be an area of focus you know this week. And as you kind of highlighted multiple times, Bill, it's Senac on D when we're talking about the scoring that's occurring from two-point range. Now, on offense, it was our worst shooting night.
00:32:46
@NoConfForOldMen
in the player's error tourney with effective field goal percentage at only 41%. Shooting poorly, quite honestly, from both two-point as well as three-point range. But again, I attribute that to playing lots of kids, usually our bench players.
00:33:00
@NoConfForOldMen
Some more examples of missed assignments on D that led to some easy two-point shots. And you saw Sanak, again, only getting 15 minutes play during this game. But it was nice that our veterans in Uzan, Sharp, and Tugler all played well during this game until Tugler again fouled out.
00:33:12
Tom Lidiak
Thank you.
00:33:17
@NoConfForOldMen
And it was actually nice to see Ramon Walker actually finally get some meaningful minutes this game. And, you know, to end the game, he was a player box score plus minus plus 17.5 for the game. So good for Ramon.
00:33:32
.0Bill Walker
Yeah, he played well.
00:33:33
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, and he got he got the minutes and he seemed very relaxed, right? And not rushing things.
00:33:41
@NoConfForOldMen
But let's let's let's talk about, before we get to the FSU game, right? Kind of a post-mortem of the Vegas tourney as a whole. you know What are some of the takeaways that you guys saw And what are your expectations? Because again, like last year, we saw the biggest change after Vegas when there was enough time for the coaching staff to think about it and really double down on what the identity is going to be you know for last year's team. And I expect the same thing to occur this year. And so, Bill, why don't you go first? i mean, what are some of the takeaways that you've got from a player's perspective and what do you expect to see change kind of going into the FSU game?
00:34:21
.0Bill Walker
I liked when Calvin was interviewed and he referred to W's and L's. And instead of wins and losses, he referred to them as wisdom and learning.
00:34:34
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:34:34
.0Bill Walker
And that's why it's it still makes absolute sense to say that despite the ugly wins, the the only the one loss, but the not...
00:34:34
@NoConfForOldMen
loss. Yeah.
00:34:45
@NoConfForOldMen
but last yeah
00:34:47
.0Bill Walker
the the nod great play, the not consistent play so far. It's still really early and we are going to be okay come March. And I've, I wholeheartedly believe that a to an extent.
00:35:03
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:35:03
.0Bill Walker
i
00:35:04
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:35:05
.0Bill Walker
ha Yeah. I mean, I'd want nobody else working with this team and, and in terms of putting us in the position we need to be in at the end of the year, you know,
00:35:11
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:35:17
.0Bill Walker
calvin Calvin can absolutely get that done. Now, at the same time, and again, I'm just beating the hell out of a dead horse that that I've been beating forever. I still see no replacements for for Roberts and Francis on offense inside.
00:35:37
.0Bill Walker
And...
00:35:38
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, yeah.
00:35:40
.0Bill Walker
ed
00:35:41
@NoConfForOldMen
what What do you think the solution is on that front?
00:35:41
.0Bill Walker
in
00:35:44
@NoConfForOldMen
What do you believe? I mean, again, I'm not saying it's going to happen. But what do you think is our best option to address that weakness?
00:35:51
.0Bill Walker
Right now, I don't know. i don't know because, i mean, Sanak is a face-the-basket player. he he's Tugler has done some posting up.
00:36:06
.0Bill Walker
You know, he's he's not posting up and and just getting in for layups or dunks like Robert Stavros. didn't particularly dunk the ball, but he got in for for yeah spin, get in left-handed layups.
00:36:17
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Baby hooks. Yeah.
00:36:20
.0Bill Walker
And Tuggler's, most of his inside game is has kind of been the the the jump hooks from from close, but but he really is also more of a...
00:36:28
@NoConfForOldMen
Mm-hmm.
00:36:34
.0Bill Walker
kind of face the basket player. And in fact, when he and Sharp were interviewed after the Notre Dame game, and and like I said, Sharp was talking shit yeah sharp as i mentioned she was talking about how he needed to be a better leader, especially on defense. And he was he was bemoaning the fact that that we had given up the 20 points over the final six minutes. When they asked Tuggler, what he needed to focus on going forward, I was hoping he'd either say, a stop fouling.
00:37:09
@NoConfForOldMen
The following. Yeah.
00:37:10
.0Bill Walker
yeah Yeah, I mean, that was number one. But number two was to to say, you know, continue to develop my my inside game on the offensive end.
00:37:13
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:37:19
.0Bill Walker
But he he said, I need to be a better offensive rebounder. And and yeah and that's great.
00:37:26
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, that is true.
00:37:27
.0Bill Walker
but But being an offensive rebounder doesn't – that's not necessarily the mindset of someone who wants the ball inside and and you know is going to be posting up and and scoring.
00:37:43
.0Bill Walker
It's it's you know rebounding the other misses, and Grantedy could be rebounding his own misses.
00:37:45
@NoConfForOldMen
But he might be more... yeah he could be...
00:37:50
.0Bill Walker
But, yeah.
00:37:51
@NoConfForOldMen
which he has done, but he could score off of those, right?
00:37:54
.0Bill Walker
Yes.
00:37:54
@NoConfForOldMen
Maybe more easily than a post-up, right?
00:37:57
.0Bill Walker
Yes, but that's still not –
00:38:00
.0Bill Walker
running an offense through somebody inside and and scoring inside. it's it's It's, you know, potentially getting more offensive boards off almost assuredly misses from from our guards.
00:38:16
@NoConfForOldMen
Mm-hmm.
00:38:16
.0Bill Walker
And they're going to be taking the overwhelming majority of the shots, at least for the foreseeable future as I see it, and You know, it as much as, and people that know me from growing up and and playing, nobody loved to shoot from the outside more so than I did, or just shoot, period.
00:38:37
.0Bill Walker
but
00:38:38
@NoConfForOldMen
All
00:38:39
.0Bill Walker
But I don't know that that's that's a long-term winning strategy, just winning way to play, because you're not going to be hot from the outside all the time. and and and and And we've demonstrated that
Player Development and Strategy
00:38:58
.0Bill Walker
so far.
00:38:59
.0Bill Walker
And I, yeah, I'm concerned that that we do not have a reliable inside scorer and that our inside scoring, again, is going to be penetration from Sharp, Usain, and Flemings.
00:39:15
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:39:18
.0Bill Walker
And I think that's going to that's going to be it for a while. and And, and maybe that's going to be it throughout the season. We'll, we'll see. I hope that, uh, you I hope that, that Tuggler becomes more of a down low threat and who knows, maybe, maybe, Sanak can, can to some extent develop that as well. But, but he seems to me like, like he's, he's pretty much exclusively face the basket. Uh,
00:39:49
.0Bill Walker
So that's, yeah, that that's my concern going forward right now. I will say this last year coming out of Las Vegas and we were granted, we were only four and three, but I did feel a little better about this team.
00:40:04
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:40:07
.0Bill Walker
I mean, we, we lost an overtime to Alabama who a lot of people, including myself thought was the second best team in the nation behind us at that point last year.
00:40:20
.0Bill Walker
you know, that was a game where the entire team fouled out except for a crier and, uh, you know, ended up losing an overtime loss because of, uh, and not to, not to go into depth on a game from last year, but it was a game where, where we lost, we lost, uh, uh, Mark Sears and let him shoot a three pointer from the top of the key to tie the game later.
00:40:44
@NoConfForOldMen
Yep.
00:40:46
.0Bill Walker
Else we would have, we would have won that game, but, uh, But, yeah, i I still felt a little better about that team because I liked our balance offensively.
00:41:00
.0Bill Walker
yeah we we had a we had a good veteran team last year. Yeah, we kind of sleptwalk through San Diego State. we we We looked just as mediocre against Notre Dame. But but then it it all turned around – yeah This year, i right now, I don't know that we're – don't think we're a top three team in the Big 12.
00:41:27
.0Bill Walker
And, yeah, I think Arizona right now is better than we are.
00:41:31
@NoConfForOldMen
Mm-hmm.
00:41:32
.0Bill Walker
I think right now Iowa State's better than we are.
00:41:34
@NoConfForOldMen
Iowa State. Yeah.
00:41:36
.0Bill Walker
And I think you could certainly make the argument that BYU right now is better than we are. And despite the fact that they got just blitzed by Purdue, I think we're kind of neck and neck with tech right now. So we're not great.
00:41:55
.0Bill Walker
And I actually am not 100% convinced that we're top eight at the moment.
00:42:02
@NoConfForOldMen
Yep.
00:42:03
@NoConfForOldMen
How about you, Tom? What was your takeaway from Vegas and the adjustments you're expected to see as we head into FSU?
00:42:09
Tom Lidiak
You know, a lot of chatter, you know, on the message boards about, you know, lack of an inside game. You know college basketball, you can't make a trade midseason.
00:42:23
Tom Lidiak
You know, we have what we have, and that's Tugler and basically Senac, you know, Kalief is just in there for defending and rebounding and, you know, and dropping off maybe for dunk every now and then.
00:42:39
Tom Lidiak
So that's that's it. those are Those are the options. You know, we have Sanak, when he posts up with his back to the basket, instead of ending with a with a jump hook, he ends with a fadeaway from the free throw line. and You know, it's, a I don't know, could be a a strength thing. i'm I'm not sure, but, you know, that's...
00:43:01
Tom Lidiak
that's that's suboptimal when you're shooting a, you know, you start off in a post move and you end up with a 15 foot fade away from free throw line. I've never seen a, yeah, I've never seen a big man's coach teach that said, okay, here's here's your go-to move.
00:43:09
.0Bill Walker
Yeah, that's his that's his mindset.
00:43:17
Tom Lidiak
You know, you're gonna you're going to shoot a fade away, you know, from the free throw line. I'm not sure, know, what it is, whether it's says a strength thing But he is right now he's just incapable of you know getting to the rim on his on on this move when he when he start when he starts backing in.
00:43:37
Tom Lidiak
JoJo, well-documented so far this year. you know his His struggles you know down low with the ball. It's getting to the point where you can't use that excuse that he was held out of contact you know for such a long time because that's been probably over a month now.
00:44:08
Tom Lidiak
game.
00:44:09
Tom Lidiak
you know, i'm not sure how we, uh, you know, Kelvin's a hall of fame coach.
00:44:11
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:44:14
Tom Lidiak
He's, he's a goat. He'll, he'll, he'll figure something out. The free throw discrepancy discrepancy, you know, you're not going to get to the free throw line whole lot when you shoot a lot of a lot of threes.
00:44:25
.0Bill Walker
Exactly.
00:44:26
Tom Lidiak
You know, and we' we'll see. I mean, I think last year after the Las Vegas, I think we had more time. Remember how the games were spaced out so much last year?
00:44:34
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. A few more days. We had a few more days.
00:44:35
Tom Lidiak
Yeah, yeah.
00:44:36
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:44:36
Tom Lidiak
And I remember Ryan Monso saying that nobody had fun. that time off between Vegas and the first time we played, the staff didn't, the players didn't.
00:44:46
@NoConfForOldMen
Yep.
00:44:50
Tom Lidiak
You know, he said Kelvin was on a, he he called it a razor last year. Defensively, you know, we're just not as good as we were last year, veteran team again. You know, that's just, that's just something that you only get better by practicing and then going in into a game situation and and and playing. So it's just one of those things where,
00:45:09
Tom Lidiak
You know, we're only going get better by by by playing more games. So, you know, the the the most the the most concerns I've i've heard on podcasts and, you know, the message boards is is the lack of a low post game and, you know, getting to the free throw line.
00:45:28
Tom Lidiak
Offensive rebounding could be another concern. Yeah. Hopefully Kelvin lights lights a fire underneath JoJo's ass because, you know, he used to be such a good offensive rebounder.
00:45:39
Tom Lidiak
He would tip the ball, tip the ball and all that, you know, and as most you guys know, rebounding, yeah, it's it's it's a little bit technique, but there's, you know, a lot of desire in there and just not giving up on balls, you know, making making second and third efforts, you know, to to get it, not just give up not just give up when it when you feel a guy hit you,
00:45:48
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:45:53
@NoConfForOldMen
Wow.
00:45:56
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:45:58
Tom Lidiak
you know, not to give up. And a lot of lot of the fouls that JoJo gets besides those dumbass reaching fouls or where he just like literally goes over the back, you know, of somebody.
00:46:09
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:46:10
Tom Lidiak
And that's, you know, that's not making second third efforts, you know, when when somebody blocks you out and you're your offensive rebound technique is to go over somebody's back, you know, and, you know, that's just a so hopefully – uh, you know, these last few days of practice, that's been, that's been addressed to, to Jojo.
00:46:29
Tom Lidiak
yeah, that's, uh, that's what I see is the concerns, you know, going forward.
00:46:33
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:46:34
Tom Lidiak
Another one is, uh, uh, Harwell's, he needs to get, get going here.
00:46:40
@NoConfForOldMen
He does.
00:46:40
Tom Lidiak
Uh, you know, he needs to shoot better. you know, he's a McDonald's all American. He needs start playing like it. Uh, You know, he came in as having a reputation as as a really, really good shooter. And he's just got to, you know, he's just got to step it up a gear.
00:46:57
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. I mean, I think his D has been decent, especially for a freshman. So we'll see.
00:47:01
.0Bill Walker
Yeah.
00:47:02
@NoConfForOldMen
And i I expect him to start playing a lot more.
00:47:05
.0Bill Walker
And again, don't want this to be as just dumping on UMH.
00:47:10
@NoConfForOldMen
No, no, it's not dumping. It's like solutions.
00:47:12
.0Bill Walker
Yeah. I mean,
00:47:13
@NoConfForOldMen
It's more on solutions. Like, what do you, what do you expect to change? Right.
Florida State Game Preview
00:47:17
.0Bill Walker
yeah Like I said, I love the fact that Sharp, during the last interview after Notre Dame, mentioned that he's got to be a better leader. And I think that's going to help everyone on the team.
00:47:28
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, I mean, we talked about this, right, in the game summaries. If you look on defense, the biggest difference you see, you know, this season versus the past few seasons is our ability to defend inside the arc from two-point range.
00:47:42
@NoConfForOldMen
You know especially as we started playing these better better teams, right? All three teams we played in Vegas shot over 50% from two-point range. Never happens against us, right, historically when we've had veteran veteran teams, right?
00:47:53
.0Bill Walker
Yeah.
00:47:56
@NoConfForOldMen
and And that's actually with the reigning Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year in Tuggler defending the baseline. So something's off, right? And that needs to be corrected. And and we're confident our...
00:48:06
@NoConfForOldMen
Our coaching staff will do that. I also see less pressure at the point of attack with Fleming's guarding the point. He's a savvy defender, does a nice job of keeping his guy in front of him, but he's not in his man's face, like what we saw with Cryer, Shad, Robinson before him. But I think we saw a little bit more aggression on that front with Fleming's versus Notre Dame, at least at the beginning of the game. So hopefully that's a trend moving forward. You know, Senac's actually been a bit of a liability at the four, right?
00:48:37
@NoConfForOldMen
I mean, we talked about him playing more face the basket, but in high school, yeah he played the five. And so it's a little bit new popping the threes, but he's getting lost at times. And when you talk about...
00:48:50
@NoConfForOldMen
allowing for easy twos and dunks. It's been his mistakes in the rotations. it And some of Tuggler's fouls are when he tries to cover for Senac's mistakes and then the foul occurs.
00:49:03
.0Bill Walker
I agree.
00:49:04
@NoConfForOldMen
And so, yeah, so this week we'll be getting him more comfortable with the assignments and expectations. That's gotta be an emphasis, right? And Coach Sampson mentioned this at the last press conference as well. I expect Sacco and Harwell to start playing the bulk of the bench minutes moving forward and just being much more relied upon moving forward. I think the potential is there. Sacco is actually his numbers have been pretty decent.
00:49:29
@NoConfForOldMen
I think, unfortunately, I think the McCarty experiment may be over unless he really starts killing it in practice. And and consistently in practice against the remaining you know lesser teams in December as well.
00:49:42
@NoConfForOldMen
So those are the types of things I expect. And when you talk about low post scoring, I'm actually expecting maybe we we do try Senac a bit more and just run more low post plays for him.
00:49:56
@NoConfForOldMen
I don't think we've been parking him down low enough, and I think he's strong enough. And maybe instead of force feeding Tugler, we might go back to more of like last year's where, you know, he's going to get his points off of dump offs from the guards or off offensive rebounds.
00:50:13
@NoConfForOldMen
And he's just able to react and quickly do layups or dunks. And that may be our better answer of scoring, you know, with Senac and Tugler inside. So we'll see.
00:50:23
@NoConfForOldMen
I'm curious to see if any of those things are going to happen versus Florida State.
00:50:27
.0Bill Walker
Yeah, I mean, there are a number of things that could happen.
00:50:28
@NoConfForOldMen
So,
00:50:35
@NoConfForOldMen
He does.
00:50:40
.0Bill Walker
And I'm not going to i'm not goingnna
00:50:43
.0Bill Walker
start to talk about how i I think the team should be coached, but but just just as a fan, yeah I'd maybe like to see Sinek flash to the free throw line and and get the ball there and draw some attention and then and then maybe get the ball to Tuggler inside and and and give, yeah, exactly, give Tuggler an opportunity to to dominate whoever he's playing.
00:50:55
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Yep. What?
00:51:03
Tom Lidiak
High-low.
00:51:03
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Yeah.
00:51:05
Tom Lidiak
High-low.
00:51:05
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:51:06
Tom Lidiak
And and and Coach Sampson, Coach Sampson in the past, you know, he's he's, you know, in the past Coach Sampson, has you know, has played two bigs and they do what's called a role-replace game where, you know, the screener rolls to the basket and the other big replaces him at the high post then you can do some high-low.
00:51:11
@NoConfForOldMen
I think we will see some of that now.
00:51:25
Tom Lidiak
So, you know hey, we might see some of that Saturday against Florida State.
00:51:28
.0Bill Walker
Yeah, we'll see.
00:51:30
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Yeah.
00:51:31
Tom Lidiak
Yeah.
00:51:32
@NoConfForOldMen
So let's get to Florida State. And I know where we've covered quite a bit of ground and and just quickly here from a Florida State game.
00:51:42
@NoConfForOldMen
And Tom, why don't you start on the game preview? What's your coach's view on the game?
00:51:47
Tom Lidiak
I'll start with their coach. I'm not sure you pronounce his last name. his He's an ex-FSU player, spent some time in the NBA. Luke Locks?
00:51:58
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, I don't know how to pronounce it either.
00:51:59
.0Bill Walker
either yeah It's either lous or
00:52:01
Tom Lidiak
Luke.
00:52:01
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:52:03
Tom Lidiak
Okay. no d No D in that spelling, right?
00:52:07
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah And it's fitting, right?
00:52:07
Tom Lidiak
oath
00:52:07
.0Bill Walker
and is
00:52:07
Tom Lidiak
but but
00:52:08
.0Bill Walker
yes
00:52:10
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:52:11
Tom Lidiak
Yeah. They gave up 95%. The last two games, 95-8 and 107 to Georgia.
00:52:13
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:52:16
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:52:17
Tom Lidiak
we'll see We'll see if there's any improvement on Florida State on the on the defensive end, but they're having it they're having a tough go of it. They do have some wins, but it's against the Rambling States, Alcorn States, you know, over the world.
00:52:31
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:52:31
Tom Lidiak
So they did play Florida, a tough game, close close loss for them. but but but it's still an L, you know i'm saying?
00:52:43
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:52:44
Tom Lidiak
You know, a good loss is like an oxymoron, you know?
00:52:47
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:52:49
Tom Lidiak
You know, it's like like that saying goes, you show me a good loser and I'll show you a loser.
00:52:53
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:52:55
Tom Lidiak
Anyway. But that's about all I know about Florida State. They just haven't been relevant, you know, in basketball for, a you know, a long, long time.
00:53:07
Tom Lidiak
I hear they have some
00:53:08
.0Bill Walker
No, they were reasonably relevant of for several years under under lambert Leonard, who I do not like because he bailed on the University of Miami, went to the NBA.
00:53:10
Tom Lidiak
with Hamilton. Yeah.
00:53:13
@NoConfForOldMen
Hamilton.
00:53:21
Tom Lidiak
Yeah.
00:53:23
.0Bill Walker
But
00:53:23
Tom Lidiak
Yeah. and And, but even Leonard's last few years at, uh, FSU were, you know, they, they had Caleb, Caleb Mills played on, you know, with that, with that crew, whatever.
00:53:25
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, we're terrible.
00:53:27
.0Bill Walker
yeah, at the end, yeah.
00:53:27
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:53:32
Tom Lidiak
So, uh, we'll see.
00:53:33
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:53:34
Tom Lidiak
I'm, I'm, I'm really excited. Interesting to see, you know if If there's any subtle changes you know that Kelvin has made, we'll just we'll just have to see. but you know i'm I'm excited to see us take the court again.
00:53:51
Tom Lidiak
it's been it's been over It'll be like a week and a half.
00:53:52
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. No kidding. We're going to have. Yeah, exactly.
00:53:55
Tom Lidiak
and and Every time we take the court, I don't care if we're playing a writer or we're playing whoever. you know I just love to see our coos play.
Off-Court News and New Signees
00:54:02
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, exactly. How about you, Bill, from a player's perspective versus FSU?
00:54:08
.0Bill Walker
Saturday, December 6th at the Toyota Center. And not that I could ever be accused of being a self promoter, but, but since this is, and I, you guys know where I'm going, this is my, my birthday.
00:54:18
@NoConfForOldMen
he
00:54:24
.0Bill Walker
And so, so, and anyone who, uh, yeah, anyone who wants to, to bring my presence presents to the game, uh, yeah, I,
00:54:24
@NoConfForOldMen
Happy birthday. better win.
00:54:34
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:54:37
.0Bill Walker
Certainly happy to accept. Florida State, they're 5-3 right now. The two-game losing streak, Tommy mentioned, 95-59 against a pretty average at best Texas A&M.
00:54:51
.0Bill Walker
107-73 at home versus Georgia, who's not great team either.
00:54:52
Tom Lidiak
Buckyball.
00:54:54
@NoConfForOldMen
i been bad
00:54:56
.0Bill Walker
one oh seven seventy three at home versus georgia who's not a great team either They've got zero starters returning from last year and they lost their top eight scores. So this is a brand new team.
00:55:12
.0Bill Walker
Uh, 95, I believe in Ken Palm. And I think they're over a hundred in both offensive and and defensive categories.
00:55:15
@NoConfForOldMen
Yep. Yep.
00:55:21
.0Bill Walker
Uh, Yeah, Luke Laux, first year after the aforementioned Leonard Hamilton. He's never coached in college. he As you mentioned, Tom, he played at FSU.
00:55:35
.0Bill Walker
He was an assistant with Sacramento and Golden State, and I think he's going to bring – well, he wants to bring a lot of the Golden State offense, everything, yeah, to to the –
00:55:47
Tom Lidiak
Defense?
00:55:51
.0Bill Walker
to Florida state. He, he has actually said that he wants to lead the nation in pace of play and in three pointers attempted, i would hope made, but so far that's been nowhere close.
00:55:59
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:56:03
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:56:08
Tom Lidiak
He's brought the NBA defense with him too.
00:56:09
.0Bill Walker
Uh,
00:56:11
@NoConfForOldMen
yeah
00:56:13
.0Bill Walker
uh, they've got, I'll mention just four players. They are, They are a guard-heavy team, kind of like us, three starting guards, although they're big.
00:56:31
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
00:56:33
.0Bill Walker
Their best player so far is a transfer. They're all transfers. Robert McRae a
00:56:42
.0Bill Walker
kind of combo guard, point guard, shooting guard, 14 points a game, seven assists, two steals, three and a half turnovers. And he is so far been about their best shooter at 41 and a half percent. Uh, he's transferred. He started at wake forest. Then he went to Jacksonville transferred. Uh, he will probably be matched up. I imagine with Fleming's, I would think, uh,
00:57:12
.0Bill Walker
LeJay Jones is a 6'7 shooting guard.
00:57:17
Tom Lidiak
Six, seven.
00:57:17
.0Bill Walker
13 points.
00:57:19
Tom Lidiak
You guys don't get that one, do you?
00:57:22
.0Bill Walker
Oh, yeah, I got you.
00:57:24
Tom Lidiak
Okay.
00:57:24
.0Bill Walker
Nice one.
00:57:24
Tom Lidiak
Okay.
00:57:26
.0Bill Walker
13 points. i 40% from the field, although 35% from three. So he's he's okay, but he's a he's their defender.
00:57:34
@NoConfForOldMen
Thank you.
00:57:38
.0Bill Walker
And solid swing man. He came in from St. Bonaventure. Their next guard, six five So that's why I said no Charlie Ward, no Bob Sura. These guys are big. Kobe McGee, 6'5", he transfers in from Drexel. 11 points, four boards, two steals.
00:57:59
.0Bill Walker
He is supposed to be their lights-out shooter. He shot 43% from three at Drexel last year. He's he's shooting 40% from the field this year, so none of their guards can hit anything so far. If if they do, they could...
00:58:16
.0Bill Walker
maybe be a bit more competitive, but so far they're not shooting. And and when you're not defending as well, that that makes it kind of a difficult recipe for winning. And then their lone good front court player, 6'10 power forward, transfer from Clemson is Chauncey Wiggins. He's averaging 13.5 points, 5.5 boards,
00:58:40
.0Bill Walker
He's also shooting 38%, a big guy shooting 38% from the field. So, you know, it's it's pretty anemic, uh, But these guys are supposed to be able to to shoot and to score well.
00:58:45
@NoConfForOldMen
terrible
00:58:54
.0Bill Walker
So, you know, the potential is there, but it it it just hasn't materialized against anybody good this season. Even the close game against Florida, it was a I think it was 60 to 58.
00:59:05
.0Bill Walker
Maybe it was a low scoring game. that They're not scoring points against good teams. Yeah. They are going to play fast, like I mentioned. They're going to work to shoot a lot of threes, a la Golden State.
00:59:19
.0Bill Walker
And if they hit their threes and do anything offensively, they could possibly keep this game maybe to within 12, 15 points.
00:59:32
.0Bill Walker
Like I said, I think it's going to be Fleming's just all over McCray. I think Sharp's going to be on Jones, Yuzan on McGee.
00:59:42
.0Bill Walker
And I think... With our defense, I think they we're going to continue their streak of of abysmal shooting. Their D is absolutely mediocre, and I think all three of our guards are going to score. And I would imagine that, and it's funny because we were just talking about it, and I have this written down, that SYNAC is going to be able to do some...
01:00:06
.0Bill Walker
better damage, some more damage than he's done throughout the season. Uh, he's going to continue to rebound. Well, they, like I said, they've only really got one
01:00:16
.0Bill Walker
pretty good to above average front court player. So, uh, so we should, we should be able to, uh, to hopefully do some more inside scoring, you know start to pick that up.
01:00:30
.0Bill Walker
Uh, but, uh, Florida State's just got no chance against us. I have us winning 90-61.
01:00:40
@NoConfForOldMen
Wow, you expect that much scoring. but Wow.
01:00:44
.0Bill Walker
They just gave up 107 to Georgia, and they gave up 95 to A&M. A&M, anyway, is not a good offensive team.
01:00:52
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
01:00:53
.0Bill Walker
So, yeah, I have us getting to 90.
01:00:53
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
01:00:56
.0Bill Walker
And, yeah, 90-61. and
01:00:56
@NoConfForOldMen
Okay.
01:00:58
.0Bill Walker
and
01:00:58
@NoConfForOldMen
I mean,
01:00:59
.0Bill Walker
yeah ninety to sixty one
01:01:01
@NoConfForOldMen
Okay. I mean, from an analytics perspective, FSU is a bit of an enigma given their new coaching staff this year, but as you kind of highlighted it Bill, they're 95th in Ken Palm. So we should win this one pretty comfortably. I'm not going to go through any of the other stats.
01:01:17
@NoConfForOldMen
I mean, based on the metrics, Ken Palm has us winning by 15 points and I don't disagree with that.
01:01:22
.0Bill Walker
Oh.
01:01:23
@NoConfForOldMen
So yeah, I figured it'd be something like a 76 to 61 win with more consistency on defense, hopefully. So why don't we maybe just spend a couple minutes talking some off-court news and end on a positive note with two new signees in Airfan Dion and Ikena Alozi signing on in the early signing period. What do you guys think about the two new signees coming in to next year, another kind of banner freshman class?
01:01:53
@NoConfForOldMen
Bill, what's your initial take?
01:01:56
.0Bill Walker
Well, I really thought we were going to talk about the game that that we were looking forward to watching this weekend. And I noticed that on Saturday, prior to the of H game, Hannibal LaGrange goes on the road to battle Western Illinois.
01:02:10
.0Bill Walker
And I'm really excited about that and makes makes for a great game.
01:02:12
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
01:02:14
.0Bill Walker
i've I've been waiting all year to see Hannibal LaGrange. In terms of the players, you know, I've mentioned it, we're assuming that Senac leaves after this year, which which I think is going to happen.
01:02:30
@NoConfForOldMen
likely.
01:02:31
.0Bill Walker
Tuggler is going to be gone. We've absolutely got to bring in front court players. and And in this case, it's going to be a back-to-the-basket front court player.
01:02:37
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
01:02:42
.0Bill Walker
So, so yeah, any anybody any front court player I'm ecstatic to see come in, especially someone as high – that says that highly rated. And then I will say exactly the same thing in terms of point guard.
01:03:01
.0Bill Walker
We're going to lose Flemings. We're going to lose you, Zan, and we're going to be left. The cupboard's going to be bare in terms of point guard. So yeah, I think I love the fact that, that, that the two we've got coming in our point guard and, and basically a five,
01:03:19
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
01:03:23
.0Bill Walker
That's great. Quite honestly, I think because we're going to be so almost, well, we are going to be starting from scratch. I don't necessarily think that we need to go out and recruit multiple fives, four fives, and multiple point guards. I think we're going to want to go to the portal, which which is not something that we're accustomed to doing.
01:03:48
.0Bill Walker
especially, you know, outside of really Uzan, but we're going to need some leadership next year. And and so I love the fact that that we're bringing in two super talented players in the, in two of the positions that we're going to need. you know, we, we supplement that with, with a couple of veteran portal players down low and at the point and,
01:04:14
.0Bill Walker
Yeah, I think the winning continues. And obviously, we're going to recruit.
01:04:16
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
01:04:18
.0Bill Walker
you know we've We've got others on the radar right now.
01:04:21
@NoConfForOldMen
Yep.
01:04:21
.0Bill Walker
We're going to be bringing in more young players. So yeah, we're off to a great start.
Closing Remarks and Engagement Encouragement
01:04:25
.0Bill Walker
I'm thrilled.
01:04:27
@NoConfForOldMen
How about you, Tom? What's your initial impression of the two kids?
01:04:30
Tom Lidiak
I'll start with the, Arafan Dion, Dian, uh, seven foot one, uh, two 90.
01:04:34
@NoConfForOldMen
Yep.
01:04:40
Tom Lidiak
we'll see what coach Bishop can do with them. Cause, uh, there's definitely some work there, you know, to do, as far as like, uh, on his body conditioning, it'll be interesting to see what, uh, if Kelvin, you know, sticks to the pick and roll defense with him.
01:04:50
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
01:04:56
Tom Lidiak
I'm not sure how well, uh, uh,
01:04:57
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. He can recover, right?
01:04:59
Tom Lidiak
how well he moves, you know, because in the past, you know, Kelvin had an assembly line players who were like in the 6'8", 6'9", range that had wingspans, but they were really, really agile type players, you know, JVA Francis, you know, Juwan Roberts types, bret of Reggie Chaney.
01:05:19
Tom Lidiak
This is totally...
01:05:20
.0Bill Walker
Carlton.
01:05:21
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, Carl.
01:05:22
Tom Lidiak
Carlson was a big guy. Yeah.
01:05:23
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
01:05:24
Tom Lidiak
So it'll be interesting see, you know, if, if Kelvin decides this, you know, we're going to stick to what we do and you're, and kid, you're just going to have to do it, you know, or, or he maybe tweaks, you know, tweak some coverage up a little bit. But from what I've, from what I've heard of this kid,
01:05:45
Tom Lidiak
he has a really soft touch, uh, you know, uh, face up mid range, uh, you know, free throw, uh, he can shoot free throws, et cetera.
01:05:47
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
01:05:55
Tom Lidiak
Excited about him. The guard we got, uh, is it a Kena, a lowy, a low Z, something like that.
01:05:59
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Uh, a low Z I think. Yeah.
01:06:02
Tom Lidiak
Okay.
01:06:02
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
01:06:03
Tom Lidiak
Yep. Uh, coming in as what a point guard or a combo. I'm not sure.
01:06:08
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. He'll definitely pay, pay point.
01:06:09
Tom Lidiak
it's,
01:06:10
@NoConfForOldMen
Cause we got no point guards.
01:06:11
Tom Lidiak
Yeah, and and who who knows?
01:06:11
@NoConfForOldMen
so
01:06:15
Tom Lidiak
Kelvin might have his eye on his next point guard right now.
01:06:18
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
01:06:19
Tom Lidiak
that's That seems to be the thing around Christmastime players who... you know their teams I don't know if their team's not going anywhere or what the deal is. you know they're they're They're starting to make decisions, and their agents are starting to reach out to some schools.
01:06:33
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
01:06:36
Tom Lidiak
But bottom line is Kelvin's going to have his pick of the litter as far as point guards go. There's a lot of point guards around the country that will look and see. what Kelvin has done with, you know, Jamal Shedd, Kingston Flemings, you know, you go on and on and on as far as point guards go.
01:06:54
Tom Lidiak
And, you know, they'll be beating down this door, you know, to play to play for Kelvin. It's almost, we've become like point guard you, you know, around the country.
01:07:04
@NoConfForOldMen
No kidding.
01:07:05
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
01:07:05
Tom Lidiak
Bill mentioned, you know, along with Dion, hopefully McFarlane, has a complete recovery and he doesn't have these injuries again.
01:07:13
@NoConfForOldMen
Oh, yeah. That's right.
01:07:15
Tom Lidiak
and They'll give us some, you know, some depth next year, but it looks like we're going to go the portal, but we just have to see what happens with Sinek.
01:07:22
@NoConfForOldMen
Yep.
01:07:23
Tom Lidiak
You know, even Fran for Shilla was, I think he said right now, he thinks Tugler will need a fourth year, you know?
01:07:31
@NoConfForOldMen
Possibly.
01:07:32
Tom Lidiak
Yeah.
01:07:32
@NoConfForOldMen
i would agree with that view right now as well.
01:07:34
Tom Lidiak
You know?
01:07:37
Tom Lidiak
So we'll, we'll, we'll have to see what, what goes on. with Tugler and Senac for next year. But I'm, you know, and I'm sure Kelvin has it has a pulse on of this, you know, this stuff. He's very rarely is he, you know, surprised with with somebody.
01:07:55
Tom Lidiak
I know he was surprised with the Armani thing a few years back, you know, when he decided to to leave and go pro. But for the most part, you know, Kelvin's got a good, you know, has a pulse on the squad and,
01:08:01
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah.
01:08:07
Tom Lidiak
You know, you're you're you're coaching in the present, but you also have an eye to the future, you know, the future of the program. So I'm excited about what we signed so far.
01:08:17
Tom Lidiak
Those those two two kids are – sounds like they're going to be really good really good players.
01:08:22
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, yeah, I agree. And you know you add on top of that rumors of potentially signing Caleb Holt in the spring signing period, and you're talking about a class that's basically equal to this past one.
01:08:28
Tom Lidiak
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
01:08:34
@NoConfForOldMen
When we thought this was a once in a generation type class, this may become the norm as well with Samson as our head coach. I mean, like you guys highlighted Deanne at 270, seven foot one is the type of center I've always dreamed of us signing, but it really hasn't been coach Samson's historical kind of type of center.
01:08:44
Tom Lidiak
Sorry.
01:09:11
@NoConfForOldMen
then he should be able to play the kind of D that coach expects. Like you highlighted, he's very skilled offensively and imposing on D given his size and the comp I would have.
01:09:21
@NoConfForOldMen
is more like the old time centers. you guys remember Kofi Coburn from Illinois that we killed, he kind of plays like him or a Tito Horford. If you want to go way back when, you know, with the kid that was supposed to have signed with us and went to LSU.
01:09:34
@NoConfForOldMen
If you look, uh, yeah, LSU and then Miami.
01:09:35
.0Bill Walker
University of Miami.
01:09:39
@NoConfForOldMen
Right. I think.
01:09:40
.0Bill Walker
And then started his career with the Milwaukee Bucks.
01:09:41
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah. Yeah.
01:09:45
@NoConfForOldMen
That's right. I'd say the closest NBA comp in today's game is probably, i would say, a more active version of DeAndre Ayton. That's kind of who he reminds me of. Now, Olozi, I just love.
01:09:59
@NoConfForOldMen
The only thing I will say on him is he is a Jamal Shet clone in both game as well as body build type. Now, of course, the yeah, yeah.
01:10:07
.0Bill Walker
Yeah, he's defensive. He's a great defensive guard.
01:10:11
@NoConfForOldMen
Yeah, so the test is going to be yeah how he develops over time within kind of Samson's system. And we'll see. So that's it for this 64th episode of the No Conference Enrollment Podcast. Hope you all enjoyed it. And again, would really appreciate it if folks would follow, subscribe, or collect our podcast, depending on your podcast platform of choice.
01:10:33
@NoConfForOldMen
We are also available via the Republic of football podcast feed from the folks at Dave Campbell's Texas football as their only basketball center podcast. We're at the gocougs.com website for those that prefer to digest the content that way. We appreciate the continued support from all. Also, please give us follow on our...
01:10:52
@NoConfForOldMen
a Twitter account, NoCompSforAllMen. And thank you all again for listening and be on the lookout next week where we'll also start, at I guess, covering some more Big 12 games. And so you can download and listen as the next episode drops.
01:11:08
@NoConfForOldMen
Take care, everyone.