Morris Udeze is a Shocker

[pie n eye]

A voice of reason and sense.
Thank you Dan.

Mentioned multiple times, Mo is not a bad guy. He is playing with the talent he has and doing so out of position.
Once (and ever) JB develops, Mo can be shifted to #4, where he should be playing.

That is all.

Obviously no one is saying Mo is a bad guy.

I don’t think there is any world in which Mo is better suited at the 4.

[Woodrow]

A voice of reason and sense.
Thank you Dan.

Mentioned multiple times, Mo is not a bad guy. He is playing with the talent he has and doing so out of position.
Once (and ever) JB develops, Mo can be shifted to #4, where he should be playing.

That is all.

Mo is an undersized 5. He really doesn't have the skills needed to play the 4. He has no range and can't dribble penetrate.

[jcdshocker]

Mo was not the reason we lost at Memphis. We got nothing from DD and Tyson. Credit their defense but we didn’t make the open shots we did have.

Mo is undersized for a 5 but he is the best we have. I wonder if we shouldn’t play Poor Bear at the 4 with Mo at the 5. Trey isn’t giving us much offensive so bring him off the bench. Use Jo B to give Mo breaks or if he is in foul trouble.

Trey is the leading rebounder at 6 a game plus getting 6 points. If he sits it won’t be PBC getting more minutes it will be RC4.

[Dan]

You think post play is the main reason we lost against Memphis?

nope, I think the Memphis defense is a terrible matchup for our offense that has exactly 1 starter that can somewhat consistently make shots (TE). With Dex and AG as the other guards that aren’t scoring and Trey and Morris being undersized underneath, it’s just a game we can’t win if our defense isn’t better than theirs.

[ShockRef]

Mo is an undersized 5. He really doesn't have the skills needed to play the 4. He has no range and can't dribble penetrate.

Pie & Wood,
Agreed.
But he certainly isn't a 3/wing and we agree about the 5. So if you are going to put him on the floor to contribute, 4 is the only place he could help...maybe.
The coaching staff thinks he can help or the others can not and therefore he gets the PT.
I'm still on the PBC/JB increased PT. But the coaching staff hasn't touched base so I think we will see more of the same.
Looking forward...
UC has Vogt, who isn't good, but has his way with Mo.
SMU twice, which does not bode well.
Memphis and Houston again, ut oh.
Tulane and UCF twice, may be ok with these two.
ECU...maybe, if we even play them.

That is all.

[Woodrow]

Pie & Wood,
Agreed.
But he certainly isn't a 3/wing and we agree about the 5. So if you are going to put him on the floor to contribute, 4 is the only place he could help...maybe.
The coaching staff thinks he can help or the others can not and therefore he gets the PT.
I'm still on the PBC/JB increased PT. But the coaching staff hasn't touched base so I think we will see more of the same.
Looking forward...
UC has Vogt, who isn't good, but has his way with Mo.
SMU twice, which does not bode well.
Memphis and Houston again, ut oh.
Tulane and UCF twice, may be ok with these two.
ECU...maybe, if we even play them.

That is all.

IB must feel he is the better 5 man. He gets playing time for that reason and not because he has the abilities to play any other position. One thing I've noticed is Coach IB doesn't seem to make any real changes in the starting lineup. The 5 who start are the same 5 who were penciled in prior to the season starting. Maybe he doesn't like to rock the boat but sometimes you need to.

[60Shock]

Lets also face the fact that Memphis's Center is very good, extremely athletic, and can jump like hell. Combine that with our horrible shooting, and we will not beat Memphis the nest time either.

[TheShocktocles]

Lets also face the fact that Memphis's Center is very good, extremely athletic, and can jump like hell. Combine that with our horrible shooting, and we will not beat Memphis the nest time either.

And yet, Tulsa swept them.

[asiseeit]

Good defensive centers will shut MU down one one one. MU doesn't make a good traditional PF and
certainly doesn't make a good stretch four. I say he isn't a good traditional PF because he can't rebound or defend
well enough. His offense generally comes when one of our guards penetrates and forces the opposing
center to help leaving MU open. He is generally ready for that scenario and finishes strong when he does
get that open space. He has strength but little to no polished post up moves. He is what he is and certainly
merits floor time on THIS team. My belief is that Poor bears ceiling is higher, plays better defense, and is
a bit of a threat from the perimeter which helps with spacing. I was hoping JB develop faster but hasn't
happened yet.

[SHOXAAC]

Good defensive centers will shut MU down one one one. MU doesn't make a good traditional PF and
certainly doesn't make a good stretch four. I say he isn't a good traditional PF because he can't rebound or defend
well enough. His offense generally comes when one of our guards penetrates and forces the opposing
center to help leaving MU open. He is generally ready for that scenario and finishes strong when he does
get that open space. He has strength but little to no polished post up moves. He is what he is and certainly
merits floor time on THIS team. My belief is that Poor bears ceiling is higher, plays better defense, and is
a bit of a threat from the perimeter which helps with spacing. I was hoping JB develop faster but hasn't
happened yet.

Great analysis. All have said for years that Poor Bear's ceiling is higher than Udeze, but yet it hasn't materialized. I doubt it will at this point. My fear is that our expectation regarding JB will yield the same disappointment of both Udeze and Poor Bear. We just haven't been overly successful in procuring big men. Our hope is just have a serviceable team of post men that can weather the storm.

[ShockingButTrue]

Great analysis. All have said for years that Poor Bear's ceiling is higher than Udeze, but yet it hasn't materialized. I doubt it will at this point. My fear is that our expectation regarding JB will yield the same disappointment of both Udeze and Poor Bear.

... Probably more.

JB has been here what, 20 months now? Isn't he suiting up for games?

[SubGod22]

I think you're all right. Mo doesn't have the skillset to be a traditional 4, but he is better facing up and could probably be ok mid-range. He doesn't have the skillset of a traditional 5 as he has next to no back to the basket game.

I don't hate Mo, but I'm also not a fan of him playing so many minutes, especially against a team like Memphis. Poor Bear and Jo need more court time. Both have higher upside and PB is a bigger offensive threat and is less likely to force bad shots. Any of the 3 can stand on the baseline and wait for a guard to drive and dish to rack up points.

[NCAABound]

Mo can't play against bigger stronger dudes...yes he might get a few buckets on drives and dunks...but he'll probably give up many more. JoBu needs reps pronto.

[Aargh]

Udeze is effective against post players that are less athletic than he is. Against more athletic post players, he's a role player. There are some things he can do, but he's not going to be a major factor on offense or defense. This is not a good thing going up against Anei and SMU.

[Shockm]

It is no shock that Moussa Cisse took MU down in this game from a defensive standpoint. He was ranked a 5 Star, Number 2 Center in the country last year. 6'10 with a 7'4 wingspan while Mo is 6'8 with a 7' wingspan. Cisse was Mr. Tennessee in basketball. Udeze doesn't have the offensive game to score down low against a player of his length and athleticsm. Cisse's problem is that he can't shoot and for him to score like he did was not Morris' fault. Our guards weren't staying in front of their man, and he had to bring defensive help which opened up Cisse down low. We didn't lose to Memphis because of Udeze.

Udeze has been fine against other AAC Centers and he would have been serviceable against Cisse, if not for our guards. If our guards had stayed with their man, we would have been fine. We did allow Memphis to get hot (3 point shooting) in the first half against our zone which isn't their usual game, but in the second half, we played really bad defense, worse than any game we have played so far, and then when they would drive against our guards, Mo would come to help and Cisse had open dunks and layups. As bad a shooter as Cisse is, he can dunk and shoot layups. Additionally, we weren't hitting any shots.