Tulane MBB today

[Baywave1]

Vegas odds are now about UM as 11 point favorite with 150 o/u. European odds (which don't use spread but pay to win like the track) quote Tulane at 5.5 to 5.8 to win and UM at 1.15 to 1.18.


Looks realistic to me especially if Daniels is out/limited in his effectiveness.


UM plays pressure, high energy style right to Tulane's biggest weaknesses (turnovers and lack of speed/weakside defense.) So we'll find out quickly if anything has improved. If nothing else Tulane has to cut the USF game turnovers of 26 in half to be competitive ATS.


Memphis style combined with a slight expectation that Tulane will shoot better makes me incline to favor the over. Tulane playing "well" today will mean outscoring these guys. I don't see the Wave holding them down. Just my view.

[windywave]

Yeah won't be wasting my time

[NJwave]

[quote="Baywave1"]Vegas odds are now about UM as 11 point favorite with 150 o/u. European odds (which don't use spread but pay to win like the track) quote Tulane at 5.5 to 5.8 to win and UM at 1.15 to 1.18.


Looks realistic to me especially if Daniels is out/limited in his effectiveness.


UM plays pressure, high energy style right to Tulane's biggest weaknesses (turnovers and lack of speed/weakside defense.) So we'll find out quickly if anything has improved. If nothing else Tulane has to cut the USF game turnovers of 26 in half to be competitive ATS.


Memphis style combined with a slight expectation that Tulane will shoot better makes me incline to favor the over. Tulane playing "well" today will mean outscoring these guys. I don't see the Wave holding them down. Just my view.[/quote

I think this game tells a lot about our program at the moment. Both teams brought in NBA guys trying to turn their programs around. Hardaway has already developed an identity for how his teams will play. They aren’t winning big yet but clearly are improving. He has a great recruiting class coming in next year. We are back to working on box out drills and bringing in bad JUCO players.

[gerryb323]

I think there's another game at the same time I'd rather watch

[gerryb323]

I double checked game times and I don't know why all the grumbling. By the time the basketball game starts, the football game will be over anyway.

[windywave]

I double checked game times and I don't know why all the grumbling. By the time the basketball game starts, the football game will be over anyway.

They just don't want to see two losses in person

[windywave]

Only down 6 4 left in the first

[windywave]

Couldn't help myself I flipped it on when I saw we were down 2 with 14 seconds left. I almost threw the remote at the frick on court decision making.

We lost if my above statement didn't make that clear

[NJwave]

Much better effort but lose by 4. I think the refs put the wrong shooter on the line when we fouled down 2 late.

[1309th WAVE]

The 2 home AAC covers are 2 more than I thought we'd have at this point. Definitely not as good as being competitive with Ohio State's 3rd string but still

[Baywave1]

The 2 home AAC covers are 2 more than I thought we'd have at this point. Definitely not as good as being competitive with Ohio State's 3rd string but still

Just to be precise, it was Guerry Smith's observation that Tulane was competitive with OSU's second string in the second half of that game. Yes he was factually correct that virtually all of the OSU players on the field that game be they 1st through 10th string were more highly recruited than anyone Tulane signed or had playing.


Did it matter when Tulane lost the game by a ton? Upon reflection probably yes because he was trying to explain why he thought at the time Tulane could still have a winning season when they were headed to a mid-way 2-5 record. They were only playing OSU once as some may have been too upset about the result. It was and still is insightful.

[Baywave1]

On to the game:

Big reason for loss: Memphis had 40 to 50 offensive penetrations with its high paced offense and Tulane took one charge in the game at about the 5:30 mark of the second half.


Second big reason: Tulane was 18 points behind early in second half which we have seen before. You simply can't expect Garrison finishes in every game you play to pull them out for you.


Tulane was competitive in turnovers (losing only 11-9) and dominated in rebounds (48-35.) However it was outshot at 45% to 38%. Considering Tulane's inherently weak defense, it has to outshoot the other team to win while being competitive in turnovers and rebounds.


Attitude of team looked great. Paul, Cornish and Barrett did not start. All played better coming off the bench. Maybe the message got through. Paul was spectacular. He played the best game in his four years at Tulane. Combined with Koka, Tulane was above average on the front line tonight (at least on offense and rebounding) for the first time since when? This was the most encouraging thing. Tulane will start winning again if (and I'm not predicting) it continues.


Zhang had his best game since FSU.


As Windy noted Tulane had a couple of open looks in last minute to tie or take the lead in the game but could not convert. Players simply missed the shots.


Otherwise Memphis may have had more butts in the seats than Tulane did. (If not, it was close.) Combination of Saints and very few students with Greek rush going on and school not starting until tomorrow. No Sound Wave nor cheerleaders although a few Shock Wave participated. It is what it is.

[GreenieBacker]

maybe the answer with Cornish is to sit him down and then bring him in as a key substitute. MD has to find a way to cut down on turnovers maybe he's stumbled on one?

[PeteRasche]

Seeing Blake Paul had 15/13/3 made me do a double-take. Unfortunately it came while Sehic had 7/6/0 instead of his normal workmanlike mid-double-digit scoring and 10-ish boards. If you can put Sehic and Paul on the floor and get near-double-doubles out of both of them, it would be huge.

I have not seen games in person or even hardly on TV/streaming this year, but it sounds like Zhang is very much a mental situation. Yes, I read he was hurt (hyperextended elbow) and hopefully that getting better is part of his improvement here, but it also sounds like he tends to disappear when the environment is hostile, or things don't go well right off the bat. For instance, my Cincinnati co-workers who attended the game here said that he had an early airball, and after that he heard the traditional "Airball!" chant every time he touched the ball, and they said he visibly lost all confidence. He apparently even airballed several more shots in that game. So maybe along with healing the elbow, he needs a visit with the sports psychologist...

[NJwave]

Seeing Blake Paul had 15/13/3 made me do a double-take. Unfortunately it came while Sehic had 7/6/0 instead of his normal workmanlike mid-double-digit scoring and 10-ish boards. If you can put Sehic and Paul on the floor and get near-double-doubles out of both of them, it would be huge.

I have not seen games in person or even hardly on TV/streaming this year, but it sounds like Zhang is very much a mental situation. Yes, I read he was hurt (hyperextended elbow) and hopefully that getting better is part of his improvement here, but it also sounds like he tends to disappear when the environment is hostile, or things don't go well right off the bat. For instance, my Cincinnati co-workers who attended the game here said that he had an early airball, and after that he heard the traditional "Airball!" chant every time he touched the ball, and they said he visibly lost all confidence. He apparently even airballed several more shots in that game. So maybe along with healing the elbow, he needs a visit with the sports psychologist...

Zhang has a great looking shot and appears like he can get it off with very little space. I would say the confidence thing is probably more of freshman thing and nothing to be overly concerned about.

My issue with him is that he can't defend anybody. They ran an isolation play against him late yesterday on a huge possession and he got beat to the basket with ease. He isn't quick enough to cover a guard and not strong enough to cover a forward.

[PeteRasche]

He isn't quick enough to cover a guard and not strong enough to cover a forward.

Oh, you mean what my first thought was about him when I saw his highlight film in his recruiting thread last year?
Obviously defense is a completely different topic of which we've beaten the dead horse many a time here.

[angrywavedad]

Seeing Blake Paul had 15/13/3 made me do a double-take. Unfortunately it came while Sehic had 7/6/0 instead of his normal workmanlike mid-double-digit scoring and 10-ish boards. If you can put Sehic and Paul on the floor and get near-double-doubles out of both of them, it would be huge.

I have not seen games in person or even hardly on TV/streaming this year, but it sounds like Zhang is very much a mental situation. Yes, I read he was hurt (hyperextended elbow) and hopefully that getting better is part of his improvement here, but it also sounds like he tends to disappear when the environment is hostile, or things don't go well right off the bat. For instance, my Cincinnati co-workers who attended the game here said that he had an early airball, and after that he heard the traditional "Airball!" chant every time he touched the ball, and they said he visibly lost all confidence. He apparently even airballed several more shots in that game. So maybe along with healing the elbow, he needs a visit with the sports psychologist...

Zhang has a great looking shot and appears like he can get it off with very little space. I would say the confidence thing is probably more of freshman thing and nothing to be overly concerned about.

My issue with him is that he can't defend anybody. They ran an isolation play against him late yesterday on a huge possession and he got beat to the basket with ease. He isn't quick enough to cover a guard and not strong enough to cover a forward.

Nobody on the Green Wave is a particularly good man defender but you're right, Zhang is a traffic cone.

[Baywave1]

I watched Zhang several times closely on defense and he is hustling. He just is not very good at it.


In its way, UM reminded me of Georgia State. Both are smaller quicker teams that literally ran around and through Tulane.

[rjc]

Can't understand why we don't play zone. We are to slow to play man to man. Last night they just drove on us at will. If we played zone it would more difficult to drive the lane and we would be in better position to rebound if we block out. Shooting the 3 would be easier for the opposition, but we don't do a very good job defending the 3 now. We took 1 charge last night. As much as teams drive on us there seems like none of our players are willing to step forward and take the charge. rjc

[PeteRasche]

Can't understand why we don't play zone.

Uh, because our coach only ever coached in the NBA where it was illegal until 2001 and then basically never used since anyway?

I can't understand why we can't improve our man-to-man since it's clearly what's killing us. Instruction plus effort should cause improvement and everyone seems to think the effort is there, so that implies the instruction is lacking.

But if it's just plain lack of D1-level quickness and we literally can not defend D1 opponents because we're too slow or weak across the board, then zone it should be.