Sunday, November 28, 2010

Trying to Focus On Basketball

So yesterday was dominated by the news of Coach Caldwell's resignation and the football team getting man-handled by a pretty bad Wake Forrest team but I was focused on the b-ball game. Vandy beat Appalachian State by a score of 86-73. I could only follow on stat tracker as I was on the Bolt Bus down to D.C. but here are some of my thoughts......

1. At what point do we become concerned about Taylor's struggles? I know he got hurt in the previous game but he has been basically non-existent on the offensive zone in 3 out of the last 4 games. He is a junior, he should be more consistent then this especially if he wants to be 1st round NBA draft pick.
2. Huge game from Festus. He is still fouling too much but he is surpassing AJ's production from last year (if you don't count foul shooting).
3. Break out game from Lance. We can afford to have Taylor struggle if Lance plays this well consistently. But can he?
4. Solid jack of all trades days from Brad and Andre. You guys don't have to score a ton. Get 5-10 points, 5-8 bds, 5-8 assists. Love it.
5. When Jenkins is feeling it he is unstoppable. Still would like to get him even more shots. He is gonna drop 35-40 on someone real soon. Would love for it to be on ESPN so he can get the attention he deserves (maybe against Mizzou?)

6 comments:

Memorial Magic said...

1. While it is concerning that Taylor has disappeared recently, I find it more encouraging that the team is still able to score consistently with Taylor on the bench or not taking shots. He did pass up some outside shots in this game. Not sure why. Hopefully he will start to play up to the preseason hype that surrounded him, but there does not seem to be any panic in the meantime.

2. Festus seems to get whistled for one foul a game that (in my opinion) he does not deserve. He got called for a blocking foul in the lane in the second half when I felt that he had established position well before the offensive player arrived. If anything, it should have been Odom's foul for running into the App St player from behind. Hopefully this trend will die out.

3. Lance has been playing well for a few games now. I really like the way he's rebounding the ball and making hustle plays. His play has helped offset Taylor's struggles.

5. For a decent amount of time in the second half, App St used a box-and-one on Jenkins. It led to some easy baskets underneath for other players. I'd rather see Jenkins wait for good shots and nail them than force bad ones. I feel good that the team has played this well with Jenkins still searching for his outside shot. We all know he is going to find it, and the team is going to be just that much better when he does.

Anonymous said...

3. Break out game from Lance. We can afford to have Taylor struggle if Lance plays this well consistently. But can he?
-------------------------

What do you call the way he played the last two games?

Did you go to them???

Seth said...

Yea its basketball, but this hire could be huge. I think Stallings will understand if its the talk of Vandy for a few weeks, it doesnt mean we dont care about basketball, it just means this is an exicting time at Vandy.

We will probably be the only SEC school looking for a head coach which could go to our favor. I say forget the Malzahn talk, bc he will be looking to get the hell out of Auburn and will probably head west. Lets think logical.

What about Rick Stockstill?

Anyway, back to basketball. CKS said yesterday after the game Jeff wasnt "looking through the lens of the team" Whats that mean you ask? Hes thinking about the NBA. Stallings didnt sound mad, he said he understood and it happens, but will address it if it continues to be a problem. Overall, I think Jeff will come around bc he at some point he has to realize if hes no good this year, then the NBA will think hes no good. Seems logical enough.

This team is deep and we dont rely on one person to score. Fes is solid and is heads and shoulders above where I thought he could be this year. At the game yesterday he kept the crowd in it and was no doubt the most intense player on the court. Fes will be remembered more than AJ when he leaves Vandy and could be the best center Vandy has ever had.

Be there on Wednesday night as Belmont will be no easy/ cupcake team to beat. Plus, you gotta love Rick Byrd and what hes done at Belmont. Should be a good game.

Seth said...

and by Belmont I mean Western. Still should be a great game.

macpfled said...

1) TAYLOR DRAMA: The only one anyone should worry about Taylor is if he starts playing for his lottery pick and not for the team. He came out and missed a lot of good shots and then picked up some tick tack fouls. HE DOES NOT NEED TO FORCE 15 shots a game. The NBA does not care about him putting him up 20ppg, they draft on potential and if he keeps shooting well from outside and finishing strong his excellent D and athleticism will push him up in the draft. We have 9 excellent players in our rotation and he should not feel pressure to be THE STAR. CKS is going to have a real challenge making sure all this NBA stuff doesn't go to Taylors head. Could be a huge distraction if starts to get needy.

2) App. State is a pretty solid team and there scorers were making RIDICULOUS shots but Vandy was pretty inconsistent on D. One possession we would smother and then the next just fall asleep on a switch or miss a rebound..if we had played 40 minutes of focused D we could have held them under 60. I'll say it again but as good as Jenkins is on offense his D really hurts us. I'd say 3-4 easy app state buckets were on him.

3) Dear Tinsley: I love you but please stop throwing the ball away. AND GET MORE CONFIDENT WITH YOUR SHOT, there is no reason you should not shoot 40% so just go out there and do it.

4) Dear Lance: You are playing awesome but please just go a game without missing 1-2 wide open layups. PLEASE

Andrew Smith said...

If Jeffrey Taylor doesn't play better, he's not going to be drafted in either round by an NBA team. Yes, NBA teams will draft you high if you're really athletic but lack basketball skills, but that's not JT's problem. His problem is that he's weak willed and fearful, which pretty much prohibits NBA success.

I'd also question his work ethic at this point. Yes, he seems to have worked on his outside shooting a bunch, but he doesn't seem to have added the 15 pounds of muscle that might allow him to finish some drives rather than being thrown to the floor by stronger men. And that's pure effort.