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Well said. I woke up this morning feeling a bit more positive about the situation knowing we still have LaTech, SoMiss, ODU, and MTSU at home. A great way to build some momentum would be to knock off a hot Tulsa at their place tomorrow.
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And if no one is there to watch them play, did the game happen?

The sky fell a couple games ago. might as well deal with it and cheer the team on tomorrow. and pray a little too.

(01-24-2014 08:59 AM)Big Dee Wrote:  I would bench all the seniors this game shouldve been a blowout. Time to showcase the future of UAB basketball let the youth play. Coaching is the blame for this loss CJH still has guys playing out of position and bad rotations we didnt build anything something like football. No one seems like they can drive to the hoop. Bama is right no identity just lets see what chad can do for us.

I'm kinda with you here. I love what Rucker and Swing have done for us, but at this point they have proven to be no better than good players on mediocre teams.(we went a game under .500 with these guys as our best players)

I would like to see some major lineup changes made. I think Watts and Frazier should be starting together, and Watts should be the primary ball handler. I'd still play the seniors, but maybe they could provide a spark off the bench since them starting them isn't really working out great. I don't know what the answer is, but I feel like we have some nice pieces in place, we just haven't figured out how to fit them all together yet.

I like the perspective. The team definitely has a lot of time to improve and salvage a good season. It's going to be a tall task.

Something needs to be done. The team just looks BAD right now. I still can't wrap my mind around why we are shooting so many long range shots, when that has OBVIOUSLY not been our strength allllll year. We need to find an identity and stick to it. I think our team is more of an inside-out team, maybe based simply on the fact that we are such a poor shooting team. However, we need to stick with what gives us the best chance to win.

Really not the way I expected the season to go at this point . I really hope we can turn it around.

About next year: if we don't have a good year - I'm talking NCAA bid, win a game or two type of year, I'm off the Haase bandwagon.

Now with the only way to advance being to win the Confernece Tourney, Haase needs to increase the depth and use of the bench players. Coach has the opportunity to hold live game tryouts for next year's squad.

(01-24-2014 10:27 AM)BlazerPhil Wrote:  Now with the only way to advance being to win the Confernece Tourney, Haase needs to increase the depth and use of the bench players. Coach has the opportunity to hold live game tryouts for next year's squad.

I kind of agree with you guys, and I think lineup changes should be made. However, I dunno if making huge changes like that would be prudent. If you totally change the lineup and minutes, you're essentially conceding the season.

(01-24-2014 09:55 AM)blazers9911 Wrote:  

(01-24-2014 08:59 AM)Big Dee Wrote:  I would bench all the seniors this game shouldve been a blowout. Time to showcase the future of UAB basketball let the youth play. Coaching is the blame for this loss CJH still has guys playing out of position and bad rotations we didnt build anything something like football. No one seems like they can drive to the hoop. Bama is right no identity just lets see what chad can do for us.

I'm kinda with you here. I love what Rucker and Swing have done for us, but at this point they have proven to be no better than good players on mediocre teams.(we went a game under .500 with these guys as our best players)

I would like to see some major lineup changes made. I think Watts and Frazier should be starting together, and Watts should be the primary ball handler. I'd still play the seniors, but maybe they could provide a spark off the bench since them starting them isn't really working out great. I don't know what the answer is, but I feel like we have some nice pieces in place, we just haven't figured out how to fit them all together yet.

Rucker shot 48% from the floor last year. After last night he is down to 36%. Swing has gone from a 38.7% 3-pt shooter his sophomore year at UAB to 29.7%. Robert Williams continues to play hard but his 3pt shooting is also down from 36.8% last year to 31.3%.

ESPN's team stats go back to the 2001-2002 season and if the season ended today, this team's 3-point % (30.3) would be lowest for UAB at least since then.

Teams have figured us out and are sagging on Ruck and Frazier. Swing, CJ, and Rob are all shooting around 25% from 3 the last ten games. If we keep shooting this way, I'm not sure we'll finish .500 in C-USA.

NCAA bid and win a game or two? Slow down a bit there. I'm excited about the talent we'll have next year, but we are going to be really young, especially on the front line. Haase got arguably the best player in the state and arguably the best shooter to come next year. He also got a solid wing player who can score in bunches and another big guy who all the fans are just ignoring because of Lee. He is building something, but giving him 2 years to clean up the mess he inherited is not fair.

With CJ barely playing with foul trouble, I would have liked to see Mehinti get more than 13 minutes. We had a size advantage that we didn't use. Play a twin towers lineup with Foz and Mehinti in at the same time.

With Purifoy and Riddeau getting little or no minutes, we are relying on Rucker and Frazier (38 minutes and 14 missed shots each) too much. I wouldn't shake up the starting lineup like some are saying, but I would reach into the bench more. If not Riddeau, then give Madison a chance for a few minutes a game next to Watts so that Frazier can have a break.

At this point, I'd like to see:

Starting Lineup:

PG: Watts
SG: Frazier
SF: Williams
PF: Washington
C: Foz

Bench:

SG/SF: Swing
SF/PF: Rucker
C: Mehinti

SF/PF: Purifoy

Maybe it was just last night, but I feel like we are getting off to slow starts at both the beginning of the first and second halves. I was actually quite impressed with the way the bench players played last night (specifically in the first half). To me, some of our problems are very clear: (1) Frazier has been unable to learn the PG position quickly enough to the point that I question him playing there at all and (2) Rucker simply cannot shoot from outside the paint. He has also struggled this year to finish at the rim because of his lack of size and the fact that he shoots pretty "soft." (3) Swing is in a major shooting slump.

For problem (1), I'd give Watts the majority of the PG minutes. He doesn't blow you away with his athleticism and scoring ability, but he has shown some signs of improvement getting inside the lane and making the right pass. He also doesn't turn it over very often!

For problem (2), I'd bench Rucker. I believe he is a fantastic player and really played well last year. Unfortunately the defense plays off of him because they know his shot is abysmal. I think he needs to play primarily at the PF position and use his rebounding strength to get easy buckets down low more so like he did this past seasons.

For problem (3), I simply think he needs to come off the bench to shake things up. He'll play a little more against the 2nd unit and might be able to get his confidence back up. Once he does, I have no problem inserting him back into the starting lineup. I believe we have given him enough opportunities to break out of his shooting slump and he hasn't done so.

With all of that being said, I'm happy we are more competitive than we were last season. We certainly are improving as a program, but there is no excuse for losses like last night. We still have a chance to finish the season strong, and I'm really hoping the seniors on this roster find their groove and do exactly that.

(01-24-2014 10:48 AM)HSV_BLAZER Wrote:  With CJ barely playing with foul trouble, I would have liked to see Mehinti get more than 13 minutes. We had a size advantage that we didn't use. Play a twin towers lineup with Foz and Mehinti in at the same time.

With Purifoy and Riddeau getting little or no minutes, we are relying on Rucker and Frazier (38 minutes and 14 missed shots each) too much. I wouldn't shake up the starting lineup like some are saying, but I would reach into the bench more. If not Riddeau, then give Madison a chance for a few minutes a game next to Watts so that Frazier can have a break.

Mehinti is a defensive liability at this point. He'll be a great player next year no doubt. Preston played some great defense last night while he was in. However, he never looked for a shot nor did we run any plays for him. I counted 10 warm-up line lay ups we gave them last night. I don't care if we foul more but this has to stop.

somebody needs to email Coach Haase with all these ideas.

wait, this is a fan forum....proceed....