BE PREPARED (rule changes and increased foul calls)

[skilldawg]

I think Heem put that burden on himself sort of like KD with the Thunder. Like King James said several weeks ago, it'd be nice to be able to shoot 35 shots or so in a game. That was Heem. I don't know of too many games that he shot south of 30 times. The first few games back, I thought I remembered seeing Alex doing the same, and then I quit looking at the stats. Although, I do have to say, I've noticed the last few games that Alex has seemed to reign in his shooting attempts. I remember wondering the other game if Coach or any teammates might have told him something about taking too many shots. If he hasn't taken Heem's role, I think it's because he plays differently than Heem and seems to play "in control" a little more. Anybody know a site that has our games and stats. I've got the time to look it up, and actually am interested to find out.

latech sports.com basketball stats

Game by game and season stats can be found. Would give a link but don't know how to on my phone

[HoDo-Tech70]

I'm going to research this when I get back from bringing Jed to the Dr. Give me a couple of hours.

I haven't done any research, but I've noticed that defenses have become aware of Alex's primary way of scoring. In the Oklahoma game, he scored possession after possession on a drive from right to left across the lane and a left handed shot. Oklahoma seldom stopped him. Since then, when he drives through the lane the defense collapses inside and stops his drive further away from the basket.

[PawDawg]

I haven't done any research, but I've noticed that defenses have become aware of Alex's primary way of scoring. In the Oklahoma game, he scored possession after possession on a drive from right to left across the lane and a left handed shot. Oklahoma seldom stopped him. Since then, when he drives through the lane the defense collapses inside and stops his drive further away from the basket.

I think Floyd was the first to pick up on it.

[HogDawg]

I don't think you can chalk it up to an increase in quality of teams. Southern Miss and UTEP just about had their best offensive games of the season against us. 21 teams did a better job than us defensively against UTEP, and 17 teams did a better job than us defensively against Southern Miss. Also, UTSA, Marshall, and North Texas are bad teams.

You can probably attribute it to life without Heem and/or tired legs. Hopefully this week will rest any tired legs, and hopefully Heem will be back soon. Maybe we have a giant target on our backs now, and teams are playing up to us. Maybe our recent opponents have simply gotten lucky against us, or maybe we caught them at the wrong time. Maybe opposing coaches have "figured us out." Idk.

But one thing's for sure, if we don't get back to playing the defense we did pre-Southern Miss, we won't be dancing come March.

Could we be witnessing the fact that Mike White's aggressive "style of play" (pressing defense, etc..) becomes a liability by tournament time each year because it takes a physical toll on the players? White's teams do seem to play much better in Dec and Jan each year than they do in Feb and March. (I'm not saying this is a FACT, I'm just suggesting that this seems to be the case.)

When Appleby returns, it should give this LA Tech team a huge emotional and physical lift. Appleby's legs should be very fresh, and the players around him will be more experienced and TESTED. This could work out very well for this year's DAWGS.

[Dwayne From Minden]

Could we be witnessing the fact that Mike White's aggressive "style of play" (pressing defense, etc..) becomes a liability by tournament time each year because it takes a physical toll on the players? White's teams do seem to play much better in Dec and Jan each year than they do in Feb and March. (I'm not saying this is a FACT, I'm just suggesting that this seems to be the case.)

When Appleby returns, it should give this LA Tech team a huge emotional and physical lift. Appleby's legs should be very fresh, and the players around him will be more experienced and TESTED. This could work out very well for this year's DAWGS.

Not really -

Last year we stumbled down the stretch because of primarily two things I felt -

1) Immaturity/Youth - long win strength, top 25 and the burden of being the top team in the conference and doing it with a bunch of sophomores which kinda caused a "wake-up" moment of "wow we just won XX straight games and somehow we are conference champs" this caused them to press down the stretch and struggle offensively

2) Our schedule was back loaded - @ Denver and @ NMST to close the season both very good teams who we had at home early before anyone knew who we were and allowed us to get on a run, plus Utah State was hurt and not who they were supposed to be

Can't explain UTSA in the tourney - it was just one of those nights where every shot they threw up went in and we had a lid on our basket

The year before we won 7 of 8 down the stretch and 2 in the tourney against Nevada and Utah St

[Beaz17]

Appleby played in 16 games this year and has 207 FGA for an average of 12.9 shots per game and had a FG% of 46.9% . That don't look high volume to me - that looks like high efficiency.

[Beaz17]

Hamilton: 25 games and 244 FGA for 9.76 per game
Anderson: 25 games and 233 FGA for 9.32 per game
McNeail: 25 games and 176 FGA for 7.04 per game
J Johnson: 25 games and 146 FGA 5.84 per game
C Johnson: 25 games and 185 FGA for 7.40 per game
Speedy: 24 games and 150 FGA for 6.25 per game
Kyser: 24 games and 118 FGA 4.91 per game

[Beaz17]

Better measure is shots per minute:
Appleby: 430 mins and 207 shots for a shot every 2.07 mins
Anderson: 573 mins and 233 FGA for a shot every 2.45 mins
Hamilton: 681 mins and 244 FGA for a shot every 2.79 mins
C Johnson: 553 mins and 185 FGA for a shot every 2.98 mins
McNeail: 532 mins and 176 FGA for a shot every 3.02 mins
J Johnson: 484 mins and 146 FGA for a shot every 3.31 mins
Kyser: 529 mins and 118 FGA for a shot every 4.48 mins
Speedy: 704 mins and 150 FGA for a shot every 4.69 mins

[boxerdog]

Raheem is a prolific scorer, and he can do it in a variety of ways. Consequently, when we play teams that emphasize defense, we're better served with him on the court. Scoring in transition and the floating jumper is his bread and butter. He can hit the three, but we don't need him to if JJ and Speedy keep knocking them down like they have been.

[Dirtydawg]

Appleby played in 16 games this year and has 207 FGA for an average of 12.9 shots per game and had a FG% of 46.9% . That don't look high volume to me - that looks like high efficiency.

I saw those stats, too, before I left, and can't help but think that something's off with that. Seems like Raheem shot more than that pg, but looking at his fg% and ppg, that seems about right.

[Dwayne From Minden]

I saw those stats, too, before I left, and can't help but think that something's off with that. Seems like Raheem shot more than that pg, but looking at his fg% and ppg, that seems about right.

Part of his maturity over the off-season

Last year he could shoot you out of a ball-game as quickly as shoot you into one, this year he was a lot more selective and efficient in his scoring - he had developed into a much more complete player

[Dirtydawg]

Part of his maturity over the off-season

Last year he could shoot you out of a ball-game as quickly as shoot you into one, this year he was a lot more selective and efficient in his scoring - he had developed into a much more complete player

I think that he matured even more as this season wore on. I remember one of the early games looking at the stats and seeing he shot like 30 something shots, and thinking same game, different year. Then his style of play lends one to think he's shooting all the time. I still haven't gone back and looked at game per game, but that's on the to do for tonight.

[boxerdog]

Among players logging significant minutes:

JJ has the 2nd highest fg% at 52.7% (behind Kyser who often scores off of dunks).
JJ has the 2nd highest 3pt% at 37.5% (behind McNeail)
JJ has the 3rd highest ft% at 74.6% (behind McNeail and Appleby)
He also rarely turns the ball over (3rd lowest on the team)

I didn't notice Coach White specifically substitute JJ for Appleby (which is the rotation I think works best) until the ULM game. Now, with Appleby being out, I think he's entrenched himself at the 3 and will rotate with Raheem upon his return. Raheem's return will give us a legitimate 9 man rotation w/o losing much on the floor at any give time.

Speedy (Alex)
Alex (McNeail)
Raheem (JJ)
Chris (CJ)
Kyser (Zeke)

[hambone29]

30 shot attempts in one game is pretty rare I would think. I doubt Raheem has come to close to that number of attempts in one game.
Anyway- has Coach White hinted at an expected return date for Raheem?

[boxerdog]

30 shot attempts in one game is pretty rare I would think. I doubt Raheem has come to close to that number of attempts in one game.
Anyway- has Coach White hinted at an expected return date for Raheem?

White hasn't really dropped hints. Judging by Raheem's Facebook, I thought he was suggesting he might be back for the Rice game Saturday. But yesterday's post indicated he's not yet ready (injury still slowing him down).