Theories on why we give the game away (or almost)...

[USCMusicMan]

Theory #1: My personal theory is lack of depth. The part when you need your "critical" players to kick it up a notch is the last few minutes. Since we have all of our best players out there for 3/4 of the game, they never get rest and can't kick up that notch, whereas the other team can do this because they are rested.

Theory #2: Change of Strategy. We seem to play more conservative and try to wear down the time. Well, all I gotta say is if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Other teams seem to take advantage of it, thus the close victories/losses.

Theory #3: Lack of Chemistry/Experience. Since we're a young team, maybe we don't have the knowledge to be able to make "smart" chocies in shot selection during critical periods. Also, we seem to have more steals...which could be blamed on lots of things, but I think this team is just starting to get acustomed to each other.

It could be a combonation of things, but I really think it's Theory #1 that is plaguing us for last year and this year.

BTW, great clutch win today guys!

[Sides]

You have to start somewhere. This was a clutch win that we needed. We need to keep building instead of evaluating why it could have been lost.

Do you think NC st and George Mason are worried how they almost lost to the cocks?

[AtlGAMECOCK]

a win is a win, a win against vandy would have been nice.If I would have to say why it ended closer than it should have, we get confused on d and we get caught in screens our we get caught doubleteaming someone while the open guy gets the pass and strokes a three.

[jstrom]

Theory #1: My personal theory is lack of depth. The part when you need your "critical" players to kick it up a notch is the last few minutes. Since we have all of our best players out there for 3/4 of the game, they never get rest and can't kick up that notch, whereas the other team can do this because they are rested.

Theory #2: Change of Strategy. We seem to play more conservative and try to wear down the time. Well, all I gotta say is if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Other teams seem to take advantage of it, thus the close victories/losses.

Theory #3: Lack of Chemistry/Experience. Since we're a young team, maybe we don't have the knowledge to be able to make "smart" chocies in shot selection during critical periods. Also, we seem to have more steals...which could be blamed on lots of things, but I think this team is just starting to get acustomed to each other.

It could be a combonation of things, but I really think it's Theory #1 that is plaguing us for last year and this year.

BTW, great clutch win today guys!

Regarding #1, I think it's fundamentally wrong because we don't have any clutch players to this point. Someone may end up being "that guy" or "those guys", but so far, two players have tried their hardest to CREATE that in themselves and I honestly believe it's cost us two games we otherwise could have won. SILLY, silly, silly "AND-ONE" type shots at critical times at the end of games absolutely cost us a couple of times. When these guys aren't in a position to outrun a team (one of our strengths) they need to learn to be disciplined, set the offense and friggin' pass the ball to create open, REASONABLE shots. Look at the FGM vs FGA % and you might see a pattern with this team. 33% will never cut it. Add ANY one player deciding he doesn't want to play defense, those are their challenges.

[roosterrizk1]

How bout the glass half full - we WON !!!!! :clap:

[Chickenfan]

dont get me wrong I love USC, but this is the way we do things in all sports. Luckily we won tonight, which is a change when we are in that situation, but we cant be surprised by winning by 1 when we should have won by 7. We are Carolina, unfortunatly cant finish a complete game in Football of B-Ball

[roosterrizk1]

Whatever Man .... :roll:

[superstar90]

Honestly guys besides the last few minutes of the game it was a well played and coached game by us. PU has one of the most disciplined teams around, and they usually do very well with their zone, and we just beat them silly with it. If we can continue to beat zones, we will beat more people. When teams have to go man up on us all the time our speed will kick in, and allow us to create easy baskets.
Holmes is really going to be a good player, and Muldrow is right there with him. That's going to be huge for us during SEC play. I also liked how Dave said he wanted to get Archie more shots, and it occurred. Archie didn't shoot great, but he had some good looks. Those shots will start to go in for him.

My biggest problem with last night was watching Devan miss some FT's! He missed early and late in the game.

[cack]

seriously ...

[U-Dub Gamecock]

The reason why Providence was in position to win the game at the end is because they were KILLING us with offensive rebounds.. Our guys do not block out well AT ALL.. And that #11 for Providence is pretty damn good..

Its just good to finally win a close game.. Remember, that team beat Arkansas by 16 earlier this year.. and since Arky is the pre-season pick to win the SEC West..

[Gamerooster]

As a team we don't know how to pass. And, defense was very poor during the last minute.

[FoghornLeghornCock]

All I know is we lost three games in a row and finally won one against a quality opponent. You won't hear me complaining or not giving out style points, because we made it a close win. Like our win against NC in football which was our last win maybe we should say thank you and be grateful to any win. I think only really good teams should ever complain about close wins mediocre or bad teams should say great one more win on to the next game.

[roosterrizk1]

I think as this Team plays more games - the chemistry should get better - and the Team should really improve.

[USCMusicMan]

All I know is we lost three games in a row and finally won one against a quality opponent. You won't hear me complaining or not giving out style points, because we made it a close win. Like our win against NC in football which was our last win maybe we should say thank you and be grateful to any win. I think only really good teams should ever complain about close wins mediocre or bad teams should say great one more win on to the next game.

Oh I am agreeing, my glass is half full, but I would like to finish off an opponent the way we should've. So far this had been a trend for the year and THANKFULLY for the first time this year we won the close one, but it is still a concern for future games.

[Spur20001]

Hey, we won, so why all the fuss? Look at LSU, they blew a 21 point lead with 8:33 left in the game. These things happen. I am happy with the win.

[jstrom]

Honestly guys besides the last few minutes of the game it was a well played and coached game by us. PU has one of the most disciplined teams around, and they usually do very well with their zone, and we just beat them silly with it. If we can continue to beat zones, we will beat more people. When teams have to go man up on us all the time our speed will kick in, and allow us to create easy baskets.
Holmes is really going to be a good player, and Muldrow is right there with him. That's going to be huge for us during SEC play. I also liked how Dave said he wanted to get Archie more shots, and it occurred. Archie didn't shoot great, but he had some good looks. Those shots will start to go in for him.

My biggest problem with last night was watching Devan miss some FT's! He missed early and late in the game.

That mean you're happy with Downey going 1-6 beyond the arc? Turning into a short Dominique Wilkins...lol

[Go Cocks]

Hey, we won, so why all the fuss? Look at LSU, they blew a 21 point lead with 8:33 left in the game. These things happen. I am happy with the win.

I watched a lot of that game and LSU looked great - running plays, blocking shots, and being disciplined. Nova looked like a bunch of street ballers taking circus shots and no discipline. I can't believe they pulled that game out. That's quite a comeback!

[TheGuitarCock]

Just glad we won :grin:

[evilpoptart]

Theory #1: My personal theory is lack of depth.

Theory #2: Change of Strategy.

Theory #3: Lack of Chemistry/Experience.


Why did Odom allow such a gap in recruiting for this to happen. The man is a decent gameday coach, but his teams look lost sometimes while playing. It kills me.

[superstar90]

Why did Odom allow such a gap in recruiting for this to happen. The man is a decent gameday coach, but his teams look lost sometimes while playing. It kills me.

I'm sure this wasn't on purpose by him. You know during that time we had a some really good players go out of state. They turned down clemson also, so it wasn't just that we did bad at recruiting. Those players just wanted to go else where.

[carolinathru&thru]

How bout the glass half full - we WON !!!!! :clap:

Straight up :thumbsup:

[usc89]

I agree with ya totally! You HAVE to be patient and disciplined against a Zone defense team like Providence. I've seen all too many "fun and gun" teams get their legs knocked out from by teams like Providence.

The only part of the game with which I have any problem is that the refs called a foul on Downey with .2 left in the game. In this situation, I don't blame Devan for playing good defense, but that's a situation in which the ref needed to keep whistle in pocket.

Anyhow, understanding that you're still in the game until the clock reads 0:00 is important and wins like this one prepare us to make a run at the SEC and NCAA tourneys.

Also, KUDOS to these players and coaches for correcting the problems we had been having at the FT line! WOW! If we had not had each and every one that we hit, we would have lost. This is a testament to the fact that these shots are the MOST important ones in the game! To keep this up, you guys just need to shoot 20-30 EVERY day!

When you look back at Michael Jordan, what made him so special was that he was ALWAYS practicing and trying to get better, even after he had several world championship rings. Practice and heart are the trademarks of champions, and our Gamecocks showed both in this game! GREAT JOB!

Keep it up!!!!!