BASKETBALL Middle Tennessee vs Ohio (ESPNews), 6:30PM, Sunday, 11/24/2019

[MTsumner92]

Crump was a PG is HS and he's hit a growth spurt so right now he's just figuring his own self out.. clearly he's not able to play the point at this time and he's been learning a totally new position guarding guys differently than he's ever had to his entire basketball career.. calling him a total bust is typical of Wileys ignorance.. be frustrated but at least say things that line up with reality man.. kid is still just a r-freshman.. right now Crump has to figure it out while playing; not an easy ask and it puts his deficiencies in plain view- he doesn't have the luxury of developing outside of game action as there's only a 9-man rotation, there's no one else to rely on with 3 transfers sitting out, Dishman's hurt, and Scurry can't play for a few more games..

Johnson before MT picked him up late was headed to play college football so his toughness is noted and his basketball skill now focused should only continue to improve.. the freshmen are playing like freshmen.. the one difference is that last year's team really had heart and they battled despite a clear lack of offensive talent in the OOC schedule- this team hasn't shown as much of that as I would expect.. so did that 'fight' and heart come from Scurry, Hawthorne, or Gamble? Whomever was the catalyst, someone needs to light a fire under the teams a$$ soon...

You combine the cold shooting with everything else, youth, lack of game experience in playing guys that are bigger, faster, stronger than most of these upperclassmen and you get these poor outcomes.. that said the poor defense and slow starts are on both the players and the coaches- one game here or there is one thing but the trend in this tourney is a real issue.. I hope we won't see another 4 game stretch with such poor shooting- especially to start the games; everyone knows that the offense and shooting won't always be there but the defense then has to dig in.. hopefully the young guys will take that to heart but I'm hoping to see one of these upperclassmen step up and be a leader..

I'm looking more at Green, Sims, and Jones for consistency than the younger guys..

6 games in and there are some positives- this team has more assists than turnovers- last year the team was turning the ball over at a 2:1 ratio vs assists.. so there's that...

Exactly what I noticed. Crump looks unsure of what he is doing. Completely lost. Great athletic ability. Hopefully he will get there by the end of this season. Jackson has great athletic ability but looks shocked at how physical people are bumping him. Welcome to college basketball Jackson. He will live in the weight room in the offseason and be who we think he can be next year. He know how to take it to the hole though. Quick up and down. No playing around..

Our team looks like they have never played together before. Well....guess what? They haven't. This tournament helps me understand the uphill battle we face. I think the players are ready to listen now. Some of the new ones seem to be ballhogs. No cohesive team play at this point. Just a bunch of individuals. We suck inside. Our outside guys are trying to help inside but the trade off is giving up easy threes. Its just where we are now.

 

[sWiley]

All those reasons were my concerns. That combined with style of play being applied to higher level basketball and never having been anywhere other than Asheville are all the reasons I raised when he was hired. He never even should have been on the short list - not for a program that had become a perennial mid power. Now we are a joke again. I continue to hope he proves me wrong but he still looks lost Doesn’t give me a lot of hope but I will keep keeping my fingers crossed.

To be fair I was happy to see Nick's energy and anger. I was just fine with the technical foul that he got because we weren't winning that game anyway. I feel like at times he is a bit too laid back. I like hot-headed, involved, screaming and yelling coaches. Kermit Davis was fantastic in that regard, I just loved when another team would come out and get up on us 4-0 and he could call a timeout 45 seconds into the game and just go ballistic. It worked too.

Anyway

McDevitt does appear to be recruiting some pretty talented players, and I like the transfers we have signed so far. With that said, there are a few players he has signed that I really don't like and feel they should find somewhere else to play, but I guess that's expected because he isn't going to strike gold with every player. Crump just looks like a huge miss to me and I guess that's to be expected because it was a last minute signing. He's more of a UNCA type recruit than someone who can hang in CUSA (though he's welcome to prove me wrong). I just don't see it with Crump, at all. His body and game is going to have to change drastically for him to ever find a position. He's such a tweener and just doesn't offer anything positive to the team and seems a long way from doing so (hate to be so harsh but it is how I feel).....

Eli Lawrence is all over the place but very raw I suppose. He probably just needs more time....a lot more time. Really has no business on the court in my opinion but I guess with our injuries/sitting transfers/Scurry having to sit we have no one else? Still not sold here but I suppose it's not fair for me to judge because he's so wet behind the ears. Maybe he should have gone the JUCO route. I do get tired of hearing "we are so young" all the time. There are plenty of young players that come out and play well as true freshman. Happens all the damn time. Anyone remember Giddy Potts as a freshman? Voted to All Freshman CUSA team....What about Tyrik Dixon as a freshman? Named to All Conference USA Freshman team.....Being a freshman and/or young can't always be an excuse.

I'm hoping Jordan Davis is a star next year. C.J. Jones will only continue to get better. If we can ever get an inside outside game going and get C.J. some open shots he can be a sniper for us. I like the limited stuff we saw from Millner and Tyson Jackson will be an enforcer for us for the next 4 years. If Jackson can develop a short range game and get better around the rim on offense he could really be special in this league. All of the rest of his signees are still big question marks for me. I've heard good things about Dishman and he certainly passes the eye test but we may never know at this rate. Redshirted first year here then the injury. Hopefully he can get a medical year and still have 2 years to play?

With Fussell, Tyson Jackson, possibly Dishman, and possibly Donte Houston....that would be a serious big time front court that could compete with most teams we play. If we could just find some shooters to pair with them for the future and play some damn defense we could field a pretty damn good team. If everyone stays healthy and nobody transfers of course. We are going to need those breaks to go our way going forward if we wanna get back to building a national brand. I think McDevitt will get the players in here but were gonna have to stay healthy and can't have our best players leaving the team.

CUSA as a whole is getting a little better IMO. If you look at recruiting across the board for the conference it's slowly getting better, especially at places like Western Kentucky and Marshall. La. Tech has a hell of a team and coach as well at this point too. It's a shame we nose-dived when we did. The league is finally improving a little and we fell off the face of the earth.

 

[dukewayne]

Wiley, I've said it before, you know the ins and outs of football with good knowledge, but basketball.....not so much.

Yea, MT sucks on the court right now. You are right about that, and it's pretty clear to any that are paying attention.

In my opinion, you are off on your assessments of the young players as recruits, skills, or potential. I'm pretty impressed with the early signs of CNM's recruiting. I don't think it is fair to blame the incoming freshman for having to be thrown into the fire while they are still developing and growing into their bodies. They can't control that, but they will be tremendous assets to the team and program in a couple of years.

Being honest, all the blame is not on CNM. We need to put a lot of that responsibility right where it belongs on Kermit. He left the cupboard fairly empty. Kermit admitted that had he stayed he would have been going through a rebuild job. Kermit advised patience for the new coach.

Right now, effort is something the team can fix. I'm not expecting miracles from things that require hard work and time. Effort and fight should be correctable in a reasonably short period of time. Come January, I'll be sounding the alarm about coaching if effort hasn't improved. Overall growth and development in the system & players will take a while longer than just a few weeks.

Parting thought, Shawn Jones career track with MT is instructive. MT's star C-USA POY as a senior PF. He was not that as a freshman. It was widely discussed how much Shawn Jones grew & developed while at MT. It was celebrated how he was thin and still growing when he got here. It was his senior year that he eventually became the leader and best in the conference. A big difference was Kermit had other upperclassmen players so that Shawn Jones was not thrown into the fire and exposed as a freshman. MT's current freshman are not afforded that luxury through no fault of their own. I think they are handling it pretty good all things considered.

 

[sWiley]

A big difference was Kermit had other upperclassmen players so that Shawn Jones was not thrown into the fire and exposed as a freshman. MT's current freshman are not afforded that luxury through no fault of their own. I think they are handling it pretty good all things considered.

I don't know Basketball???? Shawn Jones played just fine and more than held his own as a freshmen.....

Shawn Jones bio:

2010-11 (Freshman):
Played in all 32 games as a freshman averaging 10.9 minutes per game ... Averaged 4.1 points per game and shot a team high 50.5 percent from the field

Meanwhile....here is Crump as a freshman.....

2018-19 (Freshman): Played in nine games as a freshman, earning starts in the first seven, and averaged 2.2 points and 2.4 rebounds in 17.2 minutes per game


Let's do some math here.....
As a freshman, shawn jones averaged 4.1 points per game in 10.9 minutes of play.....That's 0.37 points per minute

As a freshman....Crump averaged 2.2 points per game in 17.2 minutes per game.....That's 0.127 points per minute

The two are not even comparable.

 

[kingaling42]

I don't know Basketball???? Shawn Jones played just fine and more than held his own as a freshmen.....

Shawn Jones bio:

2010-11 (Freshman):
Played in all 32 games as a freshman averaging 10.9 minutes per game ... Averaged 4.1 points per game and shot a team high 50.5 percent from the field

Meanwhile....here is Crump as a freshman.....

2018-19 (Freshman): Played in nine games as a freshman, earning starts in the first seven, and averaged 2.2 points and 2.4 rebounds in 17.2 minutes per game


Let's do some math here.....
As a freshman, shawn jones averaged 4.1 points per game in 10.9 minutes of play.....That's 0.37 points per minute

As a freshman....Crump averaged 2.2 points per game in 17.2 minutes per game.....That's 0.127 points per minute

The two are not even comparable.

You missed his point as usual Wiley- he didn’t compare Crump to Jones.. he said that you wouldn’t have projected Jones as a POY type player by looking at his freshman year.. 4.1 pts and under 11 minutes doesn’t scream all-conference.. he also made the point about leaning on upperclassmen to take pressure off freshmen to allow them to develop in a better environment.. you should try reading and attempting to comprehend before you go off on unnecessary tangents..

 

[dukewayne]

I don't know Basketball???? Shawn Jones played just fine and more than held his own as a freshmen.....

Shawn Jones bio:

2010-11 (Freshman):
Played in all 32 games as a freshman averaging 10.9 minutes per game ... Averaged 4.1 points per game and shot a team high 50.5 percent from the field

Meanwhile....here is Crump as a freshman.....

2018-19 (Freshman): Played in nine games as a freshman, earning starts in the first seven, and averaged 2.2 points and 2.4 rebounds in 17.2 minutes per game


Let's do some math here.....
As a freshman, shawn jones averaged 4.1 points per game in 10.9 minutes of play.....That's 0.37 points per minute

As a freshman....Crump averaged 2.2 points per game in 17.2 minutes per game.....That's 0.127 points per minute

The two are not even comparable.

You should know this from football that 1 or 2 stats does not paint a full or accurate picture. Context is king.

Shawn Jones a fitting role earlier in his career, hence 9 or 10 mins a game in a backup or supporting role that was more conducive to his success & development. Had Shawn Jones started and played the mins and role of a key player for the team, you would likely have been lambasting him for how much he sucked.

Before Crump's season was cut short last year by an injury that ended his season and opportunity to practice and develop, Crump was filling more of the guard even PG role. He was starting some too due to lack of players left by Kermit. Despite his limited time last year, assts or even assist to turnover would have been a more appropriate stat that you might have mentioned.

My main point is that especially these young freshman are unfairly being judged based on their starting in key roles for the team even though they are not even fully grown. In defense of the players and CNM recruiting, they would be coming off the bench in a supporting role for about 8-10 minutes a game so they could learn and develop in an ideal world. A world where Kermit didn't leave right at the point that he had few returning players with experience.

For what it's worth, I'm not saying you don't know basketball. I'm trying to say your basketball knowledge is not on the same level as football. I kind of figured you might have ended up agreeing with that assertion. In my opinion, your knowledge & insight into the details of football gives you some authority when you speak on matters of football. Ultimately, I was trying to say I disagreed on your assessment of the new recruits and performance & future potential of the young freshmen in hopes that you might give those young guys some slack especially considering their circumstances.

 

[RahRahRaider]

Lol. As I sit here and ready some of these post I can’t do anything but laugh. Some of the topics and statements (in a nutshell) are as follows.
1. I have saw better rebuilds in year 2.
2. I don’t like the freshman. They don’t match up well with people we play.
3. We are comparing people that literally average a layup difference a game. Then arguing how much better one is than the other.
4. CNM apparently can’t recruit and win.
5. Complaining about offense and what we run?

Just take a minute and look at these arguments.
1. No one. I mean no one can rebuild off of the start CNM has. We all know about the situation last year. Then you look at having to play all these freshman after losing the two guys you planned on anchoring your front court. That’s tough to make that argument.
2. There’s a reason that the freshman at CUSA level are where they are. Very talented but have holes in their game. If they were ready to make a real impact, they would be at Duke, UNC, etc.
3. Do I really need to discuss this. Wow
4. CNM had a ton of guys in the past especially at UNCA that went power 5 after a year with him. That speaks for his recruiting eye. He obviously hit on stuff that others missed.
5. Finally one of my favorite comments. Complaining about the offense. We obviously don’t have too many issues scoring so why fix it. Dribble hand off is the same action as pick and roll. All of our motion stuff is predicated off DHO. Trying to force a switch and get the matchup you want. That is basketball today. Not sure why we are questioning that. Occasionally yes at the end of the clock you have to play one on one. Welcome to college basketball.