Texas St - UL Monroe

[Box and one]

1sr recap on Georgia -8 over Rider Geo won 78-72 so it didn't cover . Geo was 13-25 from the 3, 52% and was leading 58-38 with 12 minutes to go. Then they collapsed and let Rider get back in the game to get the cover. Rider top player Murray was held to 8 points even though he had 8 assists.Rider was 4-17 from the 3 and did out rebound the Bulldogs any way Rider lost the game but covered.. my bad.

UL Monroe +12 over Texas St **
UL is the worst team in the Sun conf. Texas St relies on one scorer Harrell their pt gd. Both teams front line are avg. They both played Sam Houston and lost. UL lost by 79-53 and Texas St lost by 69-62. So advantage to Texas St in common opponents Tonight in San Marcus a home game for Tx St no one will be there but me, 6 band members 4 cheerleaders and 6 from the dance team. and about 50-75 other fans. I have a real shot at the Pizza Hut give away tonight. If I win I will give my pizza to the nearest 12 and under kid around me. The gym will be empty so the only real advantage to the Bobcats is their familiarity to the basketball court. The crowd and noise will have no effect. But UL is so bad it might not even make a difference In pre-season poles Tx State is ranked No 1 in the Sun conf and UL is ranked 12th the bottom I think Tex st is the much better team but not really ready to give away 12 points.. Tex St should win and will win but I am going to predict by under 12. Bobcats rely to much on Harrell and the UL coach who used to play lead guitar for the Rolling stones Keith Richards should run a box and one on him. I am sitting right behind Keith tonight and at some point might say something like coach " do you ever practice on a box and one defense because if you do I would use it right now. Stop Harrell who is 5'4 and the Bobcats will have problems scoring. Anyway small small play on UL Monroe because Keith isn't going to listen to me anyway.

La Tech -13.5 over UTSA **
ULL -3.5 over Coastal **
Prov +2.5 over Butler **
WKU -6.5 over Rice ***
Iowa -4.5 over Neb **
all small plays tonight good luck

 

[Box and one]

Leaving for game in a few minutes Like Texas St under 72 points and UL Monroe over 61. But Bobcats strength is defense and UL has trouble scoring. But UL defense is bad so Tex St could get over 72 points. The more I break down this game the more confused I get .. ignore these.. just a small play on UL +12 tonight. Line has gone to 11 now .

 

[Box and one]

UL Monroe 57-Tex St 53.. what a game to watch. Was wrong because although only 3 cheerleaders were there but band had at least 20 members there. One dance team girl. UL won but had a team of head cases. I can't imagine if they lost last night. Keith Richards the UL coach is middle age,bald and has no control of his team on the court and in the huddle. But he has a kid named Blackmon who is about 6'1 built who has a beard and fro and looks like he is about 30 years old. But he can play defense and shut down Tex St only scorer Harrell , You don't need a box and one when you have a kid like Blackmon who hounded and denied Harrell the ball. Harrell had 2 pts at the half and ended up with 12 and wasn't a factor at all .At least Keith Richard knew that but he and his 7 asst coaches had trouble on the court ,on the bench and I'm sure in the locker-room at halftime contro;;ing his team which consisted of head cases everywhere. Blackman who was the MVP of the game refused to warm up after the half. Locure their one real offensive threat was shunned by his teammates because he was maybe the most selfish player I have ever seen. On a 2-1 break with the ball going for a layup he kept it instead of passing the ball to his teammate and forced the shot and missed. At the time out the open player said something to Locure who cursed him out. Then 2 other players said something and all hell broke out in the huddle . I am sitting 3 feet behind them and almost felt like interrupting them in the huddle and saying" fella's I have +12 points on you guys and your winning the game outright. Lets play together and concentrate on our defense. Locure you selfish bastard. Do that again and not pass the ball and your sitting next to me" Oh wait a minute.. That really didn't happen That was me dreaming. Anyway Keith has been coaching UL there for years so he must be doing something right. He lost his top scorer from Russia but has a 6'11 Brazilian Bufutto who takes a lot of space up and gets fouled You know Brazilians can shoot free throws. I didn't get the free pizza hut giveaway and the free T-shirt because I was sitting to close to the court. Not sure who UL plays next but they are not a very good team but Keith Richards needs to do a better job controlling his players. He had 1 player who was taken out and upset Bypassed the coach when he tried to tell him something as he walked over to the bench and sat at the end of the bench away from his team and sulked. An Asst coach walked down to the end of the bench to try to talk to him The player wasn't listening and turned his head away from the coach. " ok son do me a favor,go into the locker room get dressed and wait on the f..kin bus outside the gym" oops that didn't happen That was me again. Next game I cannot sit right behind the visiting coach .. need to be in row 4 a few seats back because there was a part of me that wanted to jump in the huddle and go off. And the funny part about all of this is I'm winning outright because Blackmon has shut down Tx Sts star player . Not sure if he is getting any credit for the outright win . There was a part of me when the game was over to yell to Blackmon and say " you were the MVP of this game. Harrell couldn't shake you and he forced a few air ball shots You frustrated the entire time you guarded him All his other points came when you were taking out.



a fun night in San Marcus last night

 

[BOBBYW]

...and you thought you retired from coaching !!

 

[Box and one]

Bobby W your right games like this I miss it more . But Richards might not be able to keep his players in check he did have a game plan to stop Harrell the one person who could harm him He didn't need a "box" because he had an athletic player that played " shut down "defense You don't see gimmick defenses in college like the triangle 2 or Box and one. Most college teams have a few scorers so stopping one isn't like in HS where you might have only one big time scorer. I think if you box and one someone in college hoops and he is a point gd then you have an advantage because that pt gd is also dribbling and probably the teams best passer. But " boxing" a pt gd is the hardest because he can dribble out of trouble and then it could be 5 vs 4 with your box def player behind chasing him. Post and fds are much easier to defend in a box I loved it because everyone knew that when they played me we would run it So teams would spend a few practices before they played me spending time on running an offense vs the Box. Ironically in 1986 I lost the NY state championship game by another coach boxing my superstar player. The fact that he went 7-15 from the Ft line didn't help and we lost by a few points.
Also the " box" player wasn't my best basketball player. He was my quickest and most athletic and had great feet. I had jv guys that could beat him one on one but he would close down any player ,draw off fouls and got deflections.. When we had varsity try outs some were going out for that " cobra" position and I would know it because they couldn't make a lay up. Blackman last night reminded me a little of that even though Blackman could play some Off.