Gameday Thread: No. 8 Baylor (0-0) at No. 6 Gonzaga (0-0)

boognish_bear said:

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Scott Drew postgame: "For Baylor fans that stayed up, I promise that we will get a lot better, and we will give you a better effort than this"

Drew noted the Bears' negative assist-turnover ratio (11:12) and only eight second-chance points. "That’s not Baylor basketball." #SicEm

— Jackson Posey ✞ (@ByJacksonPosey) November 5, 2024

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That's great Scott but did you put together a roster capable of playing baylor basketball? There are legitimate questions about that.

The most concerning was effort . We knew our defensive coaching is poor. But the effort was bad. Energy, sporadic effort, and defense has been a problem for years now. Play softer early games to get going.

When a 6' freshman is the most locked in guy on the floor you have a major problem

I'm going to watch it tonight (instead of election coverage).

Our D was obviously bad all around in that game, but the thing I've gotten the most tired of seeing these last few seasons is our 3 point defense - especially when playing man defense. Why is it so easy for any decent or better opponent to constantly get wide open 3 point looks (as in no defender within 20 feet of the shooter) if they're simply patient enough to execute 5-6 passes or less?

By mid season last year I was hoping we would go back to the zone. Since Tang left we haven't been any good at man.

BearFan33 said:

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By mid season last year I was hoping we would go back to the zone. Since Tang left we haven't been any good at man.

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We haven't been any good at zone either. Good teams and good players don't play zone, it's not a defense for championships.

Just now replying, this game was pretty much exactly what I predicted and expected. We have an entire new rotation playing its first game on the road against a top 6 team which is already a cohesive, well-oiled machine with almost all of its rotation intact.

Our defense looks absolutely horrid even by our standards, especially our transition D and perimeter D. No communication and guys completely lost especially in transition. Team defense is reliant upon team cohesion, so part of that is to be expected with an entirely new rotation. Unfortunately I am not confident in this staff's ability to coach 'em up on the defensive end. We have a massive amount of improvement needed to even sniff being a mediocre defensive team. Not sure we will get there. Our offense will sizzle but our defense has to be at least be mediocre come tournament time to avoid another round-of-32 disappointment.

Wright was terrific and hit the floor running, and what I like the most is we may get 2 or even 3 years from him in a Baylor uniform. Edge played tentative and hesitant, but for now I chalk that up to first game jitters. It's prudent not to panic over a one game sample size when the bad game is your first college game on the road vs. a top 6 opponent. Give him time to find his niche on our team and his talent will shine. He was an absolute stud this summer and was the best player on a Bahamas team that included Buddy Hield and DeAndre Ayton.

I know we run a guard-oriented offense, but think we need to find a way to get Omier more offensive touches. If he can provide us consistent inside production it would open up space for cleaner looks on the perimeter.

Overall this team still has time to gel so not panicking over a loss to a team of this caliber. Plenty of room for improvement and evidence on tape to motivate the players to learn from.

Crawfoso1973 said:

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Road game and 7 of Gonzaga top 8 rotation players are returning players. Huge advantage over us in the first game of the season since we have an entirely new rotation. I think we lose this one, potentially convincingly. It will help us get better immediately though.

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SPOT. ON.

Thanks.

Quinton said:

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The most concerning was effort . We knew our defensive coaching is poor. But the effort was bad. Energy, sporadic effort, and defense has been a problem for years now. Play softer early games to get going.

When a 6' freshman is the most locked in guy on the floor you have a major problem

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There were times when even I, a basketball layperson, wondered what we were doing on D. I remember one play Gonzaga's post player was wide open. I told myself I hoped Gonzaga's point didn't notice. He noticed.

Guitarbiscuit said:

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Quinton said:

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The most concerning was effort . We knew our defensive coaching is poor. But the effort was bad. Energy, sporadic effort, and defense has been a problem for years now. Play softer early games to get going.

When a 6' freshman is the most locked in guy on the floor you have a major problem

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There were times when even I, a basketball layperson, wondered what we were doing on D. I remember one play Gonzaga's post player was wide open. I told myself I hoped Gonzaga's point didn't notice. He noticed.

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The fact that Wright and Nunn routinely ended up on their post players, while Josh O slipped out to guard the perimeter is all you needed to see to realize the flaw in our defensive design.

The switch-everything defense is so easy to exploit. It's maddening that we're still doing that **** with players who aren't remotely capable of doing it effectively.

Crawfoso1973 said:

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Just now replying, this game was pretty much exactly what I predicted and expected. We have an entire new rotation playing its first game on the road against a top 6 team which is already a cohesive, well-oiled machine with almost all of its rotation intact.

Our defense looks absolutely horrid even by our standards, especially our transition D and perimeter D. No communication and guys completely lost especially in transition. Team defense is reliant upon team cohesion, so part of that is to be expected with an entirely new rotation. Unfortunately I am not confident in this staff's ability to coach 'em up on the defensive end. We have a massive amount of improvement needed to even sniff being a mediocre defensive team. Not sure we will get there. Our offense will sizzle but our defense has to be at least be mediocre come tournament time to avoid another round-of-32 disappointment.

Wright was terrific and hit the floor running, and what I like the most is we may get 2 or even 3 years from him in a Baylor uniform. Edge played tentative and hesitant, but for now I chalk that up to first game jitters. It's prudent not to panic over a one game sample size when the bad game is your first college game on the road vs. a top 6 opponent. Give him time to find his niche on our team and his talent will shine. He was an absolute stud this summer and was the best player on a Bahamas team that included Buddy Hield and DeAndre Ayton.

I know we run a guard-oriented offense, but think we need to find a way to get Omier more offensive touches. If he can provide us consistent inside production it would open up space for cleaner looks on the perimeter.

Overall this team still has time to gel so not panicking over a loss to a team of this caliber. Plenty of room for improvement and evidence on tape to motivate the players to learn from.

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I think we'll be fine offensively. But I don't know how we intend to defend for 30-plus games, 40 minutes a game with two bigs.

We don't have enough post depth with both Omier and Josh O healthy and out of foul trouble. If either gets hurt or has to sit due to fouls we are absolutely screwed.

If our plan is to play Celestine or Asemota at the four, we might as well count on an opponents scoring average in the 80s.

Yeah, I think the plan all along was to have Celestine fill the Bridges role at stretch 4. Unfortunately nowhere near the length or defensive ability of Bridges.

Crawfoso1973 said:

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Yeah, I think the plan all along was to have Celestine fill the Bridges role at stretch 4. Unfortunately nowhere near the length or defensive ability of Bridges.

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He's a guard on both ends. It was never fair to expect him to fill that role IMO.

IvanBear said:

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BearFan33 said:

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By mid season last year I was hoping we would go back to the zone. Since Tang left we haven't been any good at man.

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We haven't been any good at zone either. Good teams and good players don't play zone, it's not a defense for championships.

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Fair enough but I'd like to see us use it some, depending on personnel on the floor. Teams shooting above their averages has been a big problem for us since Tang departed.

I'm not worried about offense. Its the defense that needs help.

it's all upside from here!

- el kkm

viva donaldo!!!

arriba arriba!!!!!

{ el a-do-ra-ble BHJ tirando pistolas }