Post noncon pre conference musings

Merry Christmas everyone!!

What can we take from last nights game? A few things I think.

Josh Jackson is THE alpha dog we have so often times been told about. He is not an AAU anomaly that can only score when no one is playing real defense. He is not the next LeBron, Kobe or Wilt. But most importantly he is NOT worried about damaging his chances of being drafted in the first round. He is an absolute freak athlete that loves the game. He will dunk on you for the sole purpose of letting you know he can and will whenever he feels like it and you cannot stop him. He will rebound with anyone in the Big 12 for sure. And oh by the way, might be the second best passer on the team and regularly passes up “heat checks” to get the ball to an open player. Sure his free throw shooting needs work but riddle me this…name another player who will be at the line that you think more often than not is there for the “and one” because…when he was fouled HIS SHOT ALREADY WENT IN!!! How many points are left off the score because a player gets the foul but isn’t strong enough to finish the play? Not this one. Man do I wish he was 17. Is it apparent who my favorite player is? Absolute rock freakin star on the court. I think I miss him already for next year.

Azubuike. Man what a killer. Hate, literally hate to see that. Not sure the light bulb was fully on yet, but it was getting there. Seeing him watch last night hurt me almost physically. You could see the pain and frustration in the kids eyes. I just hope Hudy can at least get the cardio going after surgery.

Frank was his usual tough self but it was apparent his mind was elsewhere. 4-10 from the line is a mental thing clearly. I am positive he will come back from break ready to go.

Devonte also appeared to have checked out early. 4 points, only 3 assists, a turnover and 0-5 from three is just not what we have come to expect from him. Maybe he lost his stipend on blackjack or knew his flight was running late, not sure. But much like Frank, he’ll be back and ready to give the horned frogs his best.

Svi is just getting better and better. I was ready to give him a one way ticket back to the Ukraine around this time last year. But getting him going to the basket instead of being the token “three guy” has changed everything. I thought he “might” play in Europe for a while at first but given his continued growth (has he gotten about 40 pounds thicker? Thank you again Andrea) hes GOING to play in the NBA no question. Given a choice between him and Frank going into the lane I am starting to lean Svi’s way lately.

Love, love, love me some Legerald Vick. I’ll take 24 minutes of Legerald every game please. Love the motor, love the toughness and has got some swagger. Right now he is still making some mistakes, but given a steady dose of 20-25 minutes a game he is going to be a nightmare coming off the bench for opposing teams. As in, “whew..Mason or Graham is out…oh crap who is this guy????” One question for any takers…can we talk to the kid about the shorts?

Speaking of the shorty short club…Carlton Bragg needs to thank his lucky stars he was born after camera phones were invented. Domestic abuse is never right and people need to learn to just walk away. But lets make sure that applies to everyone involved, not just the human with more Y chromosomes. Nuff said on that I think. I thought he was way more active on the boards and on defense than I remember. 2 points and 6 boards isnt first team Big 12 stuff but he only played 15 minutes. He clearly should be in some kind of proverbial dog house for recent behavior but Im pretty sure he had a full time residence there already with HCBS for on court issues. He clearly appears to be the object of wrath, example of what not to be, whipping boy….etc for HCBS this year. I hope the message gets there and its all motivation for him.

Then comes my least favorite subject…double L. I had to do a serious retake when I checked the boxscore before sitting down to write this. I would have bet he had at least 5 turnovers last night. A fifth year senior with hands that bad just shouldn’t be playing that many minutes and in no universe that I am aware of, starting for this team. I haven’t seen it. I am currently not seeing it. And I am almost positive I will never see it. He is a liability with his hands and is an atrocious scorer. 27 minutes is a crime to the rest of his teammates. He and his concrete laden mitts will almost assuredly cost this team a game or two in conference play. Sure, he had 12 boards. He is a full foot taller than half the UNLV team!!! He is going to look seriously pedestrian AGAIN, in the Big 12. Some day someone will explain this character flaw in HCBS to me but for now I just don’t get it.

The bigs are going to be an issue for sure. But sitting guys like Lightfoot and Coleby immediately after a mistake seems like a recipe for disaster to me. He trusts Landen to play with three and four fouls a ton. Live with some mistakes. Play for the future, not just today maybe? I like both of these guys and in Azubuike’s absence I think they could both play very well for HCBS. But he needs to accept the hiccups like the rest of us have to accept the bumbling hands of his current selection.

Is 13 in a row a real possibility? Certainly. Is the lack of a dominant big a threat to that possibility? Most definitely. But I believe the constants of Mason, Graham, Svi and Jackson are going to be just enough to get the job done. For anyone out there who hasn’t watched any other Big 12 teams yet this year I have news for you….get ready. If they indeed do get that 13th in a row it will not, repeat not, be easy. Granted the schedules for other teams are not RPI treasures but check out the L column for the rest of the league. Besides the disaster that Shaka has become and a team Lon forgot to recruit for, the rest of the league looks pretty salty. So as we say in the biz, ladies and gents buckle those seat belts…its about to get bumpy. Should be fun!!

This is great stuff, Hawknmo! Thanks for taking the time to post your thoughts and analysis! It's much appreciated!

Your comments are appreciated, Hawknmo.

I have little real basketball acumen, but my opinions of Lucas are different from yours. It has been a short time since his injuries hampered him dramatically, so he may not be at full strength yet. That being said, I thought he did a more than decent job at his position. We have scorers, so it doesn't bother me that he doesn't score often. His not catching the darned ball was not always his fault, in my opinion. I saw an experienced player who may show us soon the skills he had last season. It does seems he is a target for the refs; some of the foul calls were questionable, I thought.

In any case, the game was thrilling, at least in the fist half. Christmas travel plans may have been strong in the minds of our 'Hawks during the second half, who knows.

Good stuff. I only differ in the analysis of Lucas. Granted, he'll never be an offensive powerhouse, but I don't list him as a liability either. Last year, he became a critical component of the offense, taking some pressure off of Perry, and I think most people appreciated his role.

This year, he's essentially doing the same job: grabbing rebounds, setting screens, and playing defense. Last season in what most people felt was a "good" year for him he averaged 5.8 points a game. This season, he's averaging 5.7.

So while he hasn't improved his stats from last year (yet), he hasn't regressed either. Coming off of injury and what appears to be a reset of his mental situation a couple games ago, he's essentially picked up where he left off last year: a role player, not a superstar.

Of course, if Bragg would magically transform himself into "Perry 2.0" things would look a lot like last year's team in the paint. Not sure that's gonna happen.

As far as I'm concerned, if we can get 30 minutes of Lucas without foul trouble and with his primary contributions being defense, rebounding, and screen-settng, I'd be fine with that.