East Carolina

[LeftyRose]

When you play bad teams, you keep them in a game with reduced possessions. It lets them hang around. The lowest average number of possessions in the NCAA this year is 59. UC had 55 possessions today.

People want to knock Urban Meyer for running up the score, but you need that mentality. You need to stay aggressive and put teams away. UC went into prevent offense for the last ten minutes.

Also, Troy, KJ, and Jermaine must hit some outside shots. Period. We can talk about getting it inside, but if these guys are O-for, teams are going to pinch the middle, all day, everyday.

 

[Robert]

When you play bad teams, you keep them in a game with reduced possessions. It lets them hang around. The lowest average number of possessions in the NCAA this year is 59. UC had 55 possessions today.

People want to knock Urban Meyer for running up the score, but you need that mentality. You need to stay aggressive and put teams away. UC went into prevent offense for the last ten minutes.

Also, Troy, KJ, and Jermaine must hit some outside shots. Period. We can talk about getting it inside, but if these guys are O-for, teams are going to pinch the middle, all day, everyday.

No. We just need to play better defense.

 

[LeftyRose]

I think the entire %$T^$%^%$^ coaching staff owes this team an apology. Larry Davis was abysmal all damn day. I dont know who made the decision to bench Troy today but it was completely unnecessary. You have an emerging leader and go to guy and you try to make a bullshit point because the kid went a little far in a rivalry game. If Mick made the decision shame on him. If it was Larry same thing. Then Cobb comes out and just goes nuts and LD decides to sit him for over 10 minutes. The last 5 minutes of coaching was some of the worst I have seen in a long time. Just abysmal. Troy is the heart and soul of this team and they decide to screw around in a game THEY CAN NOT LOSE to make a bullshit point. Im livid. Just embarrassing.

I would be surprised if LD made this decision on his own accord. I agree that I disliked the decision. It's not like he's a problem-child or this is a pattern. Sometimes you can teach a kid without being obvious.

 

[AZ BEARCAT]

WOW

UC big in this one.

Still shaking my head, sometimes these games lets just say will make you stronger.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

When you play bad teams, you keep them in a game with reduced possessions. It lets them hang around. The lowest average number of possessions in the NCAA this year is 59. UC had 55 possessions today.

People want to knock Urban Meyer for running up the score, but you need that mentality. You need to stay aggressive and put teams away. UC went into prevent offense for the last ten minutes.

Also, Troy, KJ, and Jermaine must hit some outside shots. Period. We can talk about getting it inside, but if these guys are O-for, teams are going to pinch the middle, all day, everyday.

Yeah pretty much.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

I know you can point to a million different things when we lose the way we did today, but isn't it obvious to everyone by now when Shaq is and isn't ready to play? Why did he get a chance to get back on the court after his first stint? He clearly wasn't ready to play. Again, he is not even close to the only one, but he is in his 4th year. I would love to see our PPP against a zone when Shaq is on a wing. As ugly as the game was on offense, we were in a position to win the game. Cobb sat too long in the 1st half, Ellis sat too long in the 2nd half, and Shaq shouldn't have seen the floor in the 2nd half. If we're gonna settle for subpar defense and jacking 3s, then play Moore at the 4 with Caupain, Cobb, KJ and Ellis.

 

[Cin City]

Still burning from yesterday. I said going into yesterdays game we needed to go 3-1 over the next 4 (@ECU, @SMU, USF, @Temple) and I truly thought we very well would, and I guess technically we still can. That was to stay in the hunt for a conference title. Im slightly worried going forward for our NCAA hopes. Im a realist and understood we would be up and down with all the new faces, but ECU really? Dammit i'm having a hard time letting it sink in. To the point where when I woke up today I was depressed. Sheesh. Question is, do we walk into Moody and win? If so, the head scratching will continue.

 

[TheLongHaul]

No. We just need to play better defense.

I hope this was sarcasm.

 

[waterhead]

Glad I didn't get a chance to watch the game. Sounds like a lot of over-reaction to Troy getting benched. He's probably lucky he didn't have to sit the whole game. If he played disinterested that is his own fault and cause for future disciplinary action.

I saw when LD talked to Troy on the sideline when he was ejected against UConn. He took him by the head and said something to the effect "I TOLD YOU NOT TO DO THAT!!". Meaning Troy has been warned about his taunting and show boating.

There is a fine line between getting psyched up and show boating and taunting sometimes. When you forget to get back on defense because your showing off to the crowd (and he has many times) it's a problem. When you get T'd up 2 times in the same game for taunting...it's a problem. It needs fixing and it needs fixing now. Sometimes you have to risk losing a game to make a point because if the kid doesn't lose playing time he will never get the point.

That being said I DO LOVE the boost in confidence TC was starting to play with and you don't want to discourage enthusiasm. He is the emotional leader on the court and we need him to be. However, you don't have to get in another players face to psyche yourself up. You don't have to look for fan admiration after every other bucket you make. You can't stand on the baseline flexing to the crowd after a dunk while the ball goes back in the other direction without you.

As a coach you WILL lose the whole team if you let one player slide on things the other players aren't allowed to do. I don't care who you are. LD may have coached a bad game but I was hoping he would send a message to Troy.

 

[Doogle]

Glad I didn't get a chance to watch the game. Sounds like a lot of over-reaction to Troy getting benched. He's probably lucky he didn't have to sit the whole game. If he played disinterested that is his own fault and cause for future disciplinary action.

I saw when LD talked to Troy on the sideline when he was ejected against UConn. He took him by the head and said something to the effect "I TOLD YOU NOT TO DO THAT!!". Meaning Troy has been warned about his taunting and show boating.

There is a fine line between getting psyched up and show boating and taunting sometimes. When you forget to get back on defense because your showing off to the crowd (and he has many times) it's a problem. When you get T'd up 2 times in the same game for taunting...it's a problem. It needs fixing and it needs fixing now. Sometimes you have to risk losing a game to make a point because if the kid doesn't lose playing time he will never get the point.

That being said I DO LOVE the boost in confidence TC was starting to play with and you don't want to discourage enthusiasm. He is the emotional leader on the court and we need him to be. However, you don't have to get in another players face to psyche yourself up. You don't have to look for fan admiration after every other bucket you make. You can't stand on the baseline flexing to the crowd after a dunk while the ball goes back in the other direction without you.

As a coach you WILL lose the whole team if you let one player slide on things the other players aren't allowed to do. I don't care who you are. LD may have coached a bad game but I was hoping he would send a message to Troy.

Troy barely said 2 words on either technical. That particular game was being called very tight due to the intensity and Troy might've realized that earlier than he did. That said, it's not worth a benching. As others have stated, there's any number of subtle ways to make your point without punishing some minor over-exuberance that would've gone unnoticed in another game. Whether it's Larry, Mick, or both - they're guilty of out-thinking themselves on this one. Maybe Larry should've spent more time thinking about his substition patterns or calling timeout at crucial moments instead of punishing a player for doing something that's done 200 times a game and almost never called.

 

[Bearcatboy]

Still burning from yesterday. I said going into yesterdays game we needed to go 3-1 over the next 4 (@ECU, @SMU, USF, @Temple) and I truly thought we very well would, and I guess technically we still can. That was to stay in the hunt for a conference title. Im slightly worried going forward for our NCAA hopes. Im a realist and understood we would be up and down with all the new faces, but ECU really? Dammit i'm having a hard time letting it sink in. To the point where when I woke up today I was depressed. Sheesh. Question is, do we walk into Moody and win? If so, the head scratching will continue.

We still have 3 loses coming so you can kiss the conference good bye

@smu
@tulsa

@temple
Or
Xavier

 

[waterhead]

Troy barely said 2 words on either technical. That particular game was being called very tight due to the intensity and Troy might've realized that earlier than he did. That said, it's not worth a benching. As others have stated, there's any number of subtle ways to make your point without punishing some minor over-exuberance that would've gone unnoticed in another game. Whether it's Larry, Mick, or both - they're guilty of out-thinking themselves on this one. Maybe Larry should've spent more time thinking about his substition patterns or calling timeout at crucial moments instead of punishing a player for doing something that's done 200 times a game and almost never called.

If LD told Troy to stop running his mouth and just play then it absolutely was a benchable offense regardless of how it looked to the refs. The other benchable offense IMO is showboating while forgetting where the basketball is.

Trust me...I want to see the enthusiasm, swagger, and confidence in Troy. But there is a way to do it...and there is a time to do it. IMO he's been trying to get the focus of the crowd on him and it should be to get the energy of the crowd on the team.

Flexing of the muscles can be changed to waving the palms up to get the crowd up on their feet. Smack talk to the other team can be replaced with hi fives and chest bumps to teammates etc.

I guess we can agree to disagree...I guess there are two ways to look at it

 

[cincrulz11]

Trust me...I want to see the enthusiasm, swagger, and confidence in Troy. But there is a way to do it...and there is a time to do it. IMO he's been trying to get the focus of the crowd on him and it should be to get the energy of the crowd on the team.

Flexing of the muscles can be changed to waving the palms up to get the crowd up on their feet. Smack talk to the other team can be replaced with hi fives and chest bumps to teammates etc.

I guess we can agree to disagree...I guess there are two ways to look at it

Troy has never had any issues before and the 2nd technical he was talking to his teammates. I'm not exactly sure what he's supposed to do differently there. The ref thought he was doing something else so he gave him the T.

Troy's bad for the first T, he admitted it and said he deserved it. If Troy had a long standing issue of acting this way, then I could understand all this.



Anyway what does it matter now. As long as he gets back in the starting lineup and plays like he did before the ECU game, all will be fine.

 

[david aka the TYZ]

I think we need to trust the coaches decision on benching troy. For all we know troy might have had a sour attitude after the fact and while being addressed by the coaches and that's why he lost his starting spot. We lost the game because the team didn't come out to play. Caupain was pouting and the other players were dialing it in. Shame on them. What happens if caupain gets hurt, should we allow the team to just fold and give up the season or do we still want them to go out and fight? Yesterday was a good lesson for the team. They played like crap and they took a loss. If I'm coach I would want a whole lot of explaining out of caupain before he starts again. One player is not above the team. I think caupain will be fine. He's smart and I think he's learned his lesson. He seems to me to be the type to only let something like this happen once. Hopefully he plays with fire on thursday. The rest of the team too.

 

[waterhead]

Troy has never had any issues before and the 2nd technical he was talking to his teammates. I'm not exactly sure what he's supposed to do differently there. The ref thought he was doing something else so he gave him the T.

Troy's bad for the first T, he admitted it and said he deserved it. If Troy had a long standing issue of acting this way, then I could understand all this.



Anyway what does it matter now. As long as he gets back in the starting lineup and plays like he did before the ECU game, all will be fine.

I agree with you on the last comment for sure. Troy is THE MOST critical guy on our roster and he's becoming my favorite.

Personally I can do without the "look at me" antics. He's been doing it after 3 pointers (hands up waving to the crowd), dunks (flexing muscles to the crowd), and other plays (such as the two technicals). I've been watching him. While he is playing to the crowd he's been slow to get into the press at times which renders the press useless. He made 8 of 9 shots against UConn...if you go back and watch I bet he showboats or jaws on at least half of them.

I want him to be confident and excited...but there are better ways to do it/show it IMO. I guess the technicals are just the straw that broke the camels back for me. Next time we play UConn he's going to have a target on his back...and that could hurt the team.

 

[Robert]

I hope this was sarcasm.

100%.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

Someone put it perfectly yesterday. We aren't good enough to be above the little things. It just speaks to the overall immaturity of the team at this point. We win 4 straight and think we are going to win every game just by showing up. I personally don't think it matters one bit if Troy started yesterday or not. His reaction to it tells me that the coaches knew what they were doing. If there is an issue, stomp it out now. Obviously it sucks that it cost us a needed conference win, but that part of it is 100% on Caupain. I'd rather lose this game than one in the tournament bc we didn't reign a kid in when we had the chance. The fact that he folded yesterday shows that he wouldn't be ready to lead this team in a tournament game as of right now anyway. If this isn't the most humbling experience of his life, I don't know what else would be. This game shows the guys that no one is above the team, and that speaks to the original point about no one being above the little things. We may or may not win on Thursday, but I'll bet my bottom dollar that the best players on the team are going to get back to grinding and making the little plays that give us a chance to win.

 

[Doogle]

Playing to the crowd. Gesturing after 3s. Wow. These are all things none of use have ever seen before on a basketball court. It's like Nick Van Exel and Steve Logan never existed.

Seriously though...I've never minded a bit of that if it's done with a purpose. Troy has been asked to be the leader of the team and I'm sure he is trying to get some of his more sedate teammates into the game. Some of you might disagree but I was happy to see a little swagger from someone.

 

[TheLongHaul]

100%.

Phewww!

 

[TheLongHaul]

Playing to the crowd. Gesturing after 3s. Wow. These are all things none of use have ever seen before on a basketball court. It's like Nick Van Exel and Steve Logan never existed.

Seriously though...I've never minded a bit of that if it's done with a purpose. Troy has been asked to be the leader of the team and I'm sure he is trying to get some of his more sedate teammates into the game. Some of you might disagree but I was happy to see a little swagger from someone.

I really like Troy, but what he has been doing is way beyond what NVE and Logan has ever done. He flexed his muscles and let the other team get behind him after a made floater. Yes, a floater. Confidence is good, taunting after every play isn't. I'm sure Caupain will quickly figure this out if he hasn't already.