TEMPLE (9-17, 2-11) at WSU (11-16, 3-11) GAME THREAD

[SubGod22]

my coaching knowledge stops at the jr high level, it's pretty much summarized above

That apparently qualifies you to coach WSU.

[ShockingButTrue]

"The WSU teams that ranked among the best nationally in defensive rebounding for a decade straight were disciplined and dedicated to boxing out every time a shot went up."

...and that was just at practice (probably more so).

[ShockHat]

If I'm not mistaken, even Taylor , who is unmatched at being able to see potential positives, is even coming to the end of his rope...."used to be hallmarks'.....

From what I can tell if Taylor’s posts and his analysis, it seems like he thinks Mills has the x & os, but just doesn’t seem like we’ve got the players with the talent to execute.
I mean, the fundamental stuff they should already know, they just don’t. Look at them play, their failure to execute even simple stuff. I think Mills did poorly this year, but it’s hard to blame him too much given what he’s got to work with (partially his own fault).

Taylor is clever about how he words things too, from saying that Bell was the only one allowed to the media conference. I’m guessing that Bell will be back next year which I’m okay with, provided we get the other proper talent we need.

[rjl]

Part of me has the deepest hopes that Mills is actually a decent coach, but the players suck so bad they can't even eek out a win against Temple.

But then the bigger part of me sees what Mills has done with some of the few good players we already have - See Ballard v. Temple - and I'm not sure I see a silver lining.

Every recruit, be it a freshman or a transfer, carries a bit of risk that they'll be bad. I think if we are going to have any hope whatsoever we've got to believe that Mills was just extremely unfortunate and, although he had pretty much the same amount of time to work the portal as every other coach, nearly every one of his recruits were ones that squarely landed in the "bad" part of the risk analysis.

If Mills is actually a decent recruiter, statistics tell us that he's used up a disproportionate amount of bad recruits and next year will swing the opposite way.

This is all to say that we are guaranteed at least one more year of Mills and, barring a miracle, two more years of Mills. He's got the opportunity to right this ship and I hope he does it.

This post was brought to you by the sunshine pump committee.

[Stickboy46]

From what I can tell if Taylor’s posts and his analysis, it seems like he thinks Mills has the x & os, but just doesn’t seem like we’ve got the players with the talent to execute.
I mean, the fundamental stuff they should already know, they just don’t. Look at them play, their failure to execute even simple stuff. I think Mills did poorly this year, but it’s hard to blame him too much given what he’s got to work with (partially his own fault).

Taylor is clever about how he words things too, from saying that Bell was the only one allowed to the media conference. I’m guessing that Bell will be back next year which I’m okay with, provided we get the other proper talent we need.

A couple games into the year, i'd buy this excuse .. we are now nearly 30 games into the season and they not only are not improving on the simple stuff, they are getting worse. That's 100% a coaching issue. if what you have been doing for 20+ games is making the team get worse .. you don't just keep trying the same thing. HCPM appears reluctant to really adjust.

[ShockHat]

Part of me has the deepest hopes that Mills is actually a decent coach, but the players suck so bad they can't even eek out a win against Temple.

But then the bigger part of me sees what Mills has done with some of the few good players we already have - See Ballard v. Temple - and I'm not sure I see a silver lining.

Every recruit, be it a freshman or a transfer, carries a bit of risk that they'll be bad. I think if we are going to have any hope whatsoever we've got to believe that Mills was just extremely unfortunate and, although he had pretty much the same amount of time to work the portal as every other coach, nearly every one of his recruits were ones that squarely landed in the "bad" part of the risk analysis.

If Mills is actually a decent recruiter, statistics tell us that he's used up a disproportionate amount of bad recruits and next year will swing the opposite way.

This is all to say that we are guaranteed at least one more year of Mills and, barring a miracle, two more years of Mills. He's got the opportunity to right this ship and I hope he does it.

This post was brought to you by the sunshine pump committee.

to be fair on Ballard, there could be very real reasons he can’t play as much; reasons that PM is tight lipped about and for good reason.

I can’t imagine that PM actually wants to play Pohto given his attitude. But if there’s something with Ballard, then it’s either Pohto or Germany which isn’t a good hand to have.

There ARE reasons I feel positive about PM. We could easily have a very different record if the team actually cared and wanted it, which you can tell they don’t. Sometimes players aren’t coachable in that way. And I’m gleaning that from the article about Quincy Acy. So I’m not fully on board of this guy sucks. I think he had a bad hand, did terrible with that bad hand, and is stuck in a tough spot.

all that matters is what he does with the offseason. That’ll tell us everything we needed to know.

[asiseeit]

Okay Shockhat, I've asked this several times - name me three D1 backup centers with better numbers than KP? No one has done it yet. You are in the group that don't understand his value especially with QB having questionable stamina and/or persistent health issues. Also, compare KP's numbers to all the other players on our current team. The center position is not the team's problem.

[Stickboy46]

Okay Shockhat, I've asked this several times - name me three D1 backup centers with better numbers than KP? No one has done it yet. You are in the group that don't understand his value especially with QB having questionable stamina and/or persistent health issues. Also, compare KP's numbers to all the other players on our current team. The center position is not the team's problem.

I think you might overvalue KP a bit while others are undervaluing him. That said .. using his numbers ... on a 3 win AAC team doesn't really do anything. Look at Germany's numbers at UTSA last year yet he's not good enough to get on the floor here. We are a crappy team so even average to below average players will have decent numbers

[Dan]

Surely Mills will improve his record next year. That alone will get him a 3rd year. He does need to improve by more than a couple games though. Maybe he's a genius by setting his starting bar so low.

[asiseeit]

Historically, based on a 25-30 minute game KP would average close to or better than a double double. That is pretty serviceable for a starting D1 center but I would grade him about a C+ as a starter. I'd grade him a B+ to an A- as a BACKUP based on relativity to other D1 backup centers. Of course, there are many that are going to grade him much lower but numbers are numbers. Any team needs a good backup center as few play 30 minutes a game and ours much less. Does anyone really think we could recruit a backup center better than KP? I seriously doubt it !

[SubGod22]

Surely Mills will improve his record next year. That alone will get him a 3rd year. He does need to improve by more than a couple games though. Maybe he's a genius by setting his starting bar so low.

My concern is we'll have a much weaker non-con schedule so he can try to get a few more wins. In theory, we should get a few more in conference next year as well as we aren't going to be playing all of the top teams twice and we will instead have a H/H schedule with Temple, UTSA, Tulsa, and Rice for sure. Granted, that hasn't helped us much this year, but it is what it is.

Is the Mizzou series over? K-State owes us one more I believe, but I wouldn't be surprised if they work a buy out of that so Tang doesn't have to kick Mills ass.

Are we locked into any others? Do we have a MTE scheduled yet?

[BOBB]

Ballard has to be carrying an injury or significant fitness issue.

[Horn28Clem30]

Ballard has to be carrying an injury or significant fitness issue.

If he's injured - there is zero reason to be having him play any minutes, so I can't buy that one personally, but who knows.

[BAShocker]

Ballard has to be carrying an injury or significant fitness issue.

Fwiw (don’t shoot the messenger), during last night’s radio show (paraphrasing), Mills indicated that QB didn’t play much in the 2nd half and overtime due to defensive matchups.

Honestly, I’m tired of other teams dictating the matchups or who we elect to put on the floor. We should be dictating that.

[SubGod22]

Ballard has always had a stamina issue.