Complete Idiot said:

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He's made the NCAA tournament 8 of his 12 years as a head coach, and made the sweetv16 or better four of the 12 years. That includes taking over situations that were very poor at New Orleans and Virginia Tech.

I think most expected a first year that would be a struggle. I not worried at all about where this is going to go and only hope to see growth this year. No doubt this was a disappointing game, but let's not panic.

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Not panicking, but reality setting in.

Gonzaga didn't look like a Elite 8 team to me at this point and time. Too many turnovers for them as well.

Our offense doesn't look like we are even trying to look for ways to score for the first 20 seconds of the shot clock during that first half after the second media.

We were like 1-17 at one point from three land before hitting a few down the stretch of the game.

Team plays hard on defensive side but doesn't rotate on the second pass down low and loses the rebounding positioning on the opposite side of the glass a lot which besides the height advantage was the reason Gonzaga killed us on the boards

We actually played relatively well until our "best players" forgot how to dribble and decided to start handing the ball over on 4-5 straight possessions.

Bob Harris said:

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Jeez....I hope some of you never have kids.

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Seems like a thing a great parent would say.

Gap said:

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We played with them for 10 minutes. I don't see how playing "relatively well" can be used to describe anything about Friday night's game. It is a 40 minute game. We never made them sweat anything. We lost by an even 30 points and didn't break 50 points with our offense.

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I expected to lose last night but did not expect the level of beating that we took. The game at Gonzaga last year was actually more competitive (we were down by 10 at half last year).

I feel empathy for people who invested time to actually travel to that game and only got about 30 minutes of clock time of competitive game experience before the thing turned into a major dud.

Frankly, losing by 30 points at home to anyone should be kind of inexcusable. I would have to go back and check when was the last time at Reed we lost by that much.

I believe in Buzz and think he is a great coach, but last night was still underwhelming and disappointing in terms of how uncompetitive it was. Though I know is just one game.

Hopefully they don't Get ran out of the gym like that vs the horns.

I was disappointed at the quality of play last night but I love that this team did not give up. Gonzaga is very talented, experienced, and also a bad matchup for us. It's way too early to give up on this team. it seems like they're spending too much time thinking out there right now. As they get comfortable with Buzz's system that will improve. I'm not at all unhappy that I made the trip to the game.

Gotta take your lumps. Ags have a lot of new pieces and missing players. The important part is the "culture" right now and buzz is getting it done in that area with the team. Guys were still hustling but looked like dear in headlights at times because they are still trying to gel.

There is a cycle that takes place on any good team / program and we are in the infancy of that cycle. Gotta let Buzz keep doing his thing as he is still forming the tenets of what he wants from his program and it takes time.

The team had a TON of free looks both inside and outside the arch last night. I'd like to think that was a scheme thing, and directly related to Buzz. Unfortunately the players were busy building a brick skyscraper addition to Reed.

That's pretty much the extent a coach has in a game; getting these guys looks. I'm pleased to see that was the case last night, but unless the players take it upon themselves to shoot better, then Buzz will need to nuke and pave the roster.

First ten minutes were fine. Need a complete game now.

Our defense was fine until they settled in. Then they got open. Our offense was Billy Ball. Sorry Buzz and I know you won't read this and I'm absolutely positive you'd excuse it if you did, but the ball screens weren't there.

To a certain extent Gillispie and $Bill scheduled to scrimmage, win, and build trust and confidence and this game was not in that style. But I was very disappointed. With that said: with Mitchell, Flagg, and Chandler there isn't a progression on handle from last year. All three appeared not to have privately sought coaching to address and correct. Mitchell and Chandler like taking the ball into the paint apparently expecting the defenders to stand still so they can thread through them. Instead the defenders especially from behind encircled and the ones in front mainly stood tall and they often got stripped. Which s probably why we reverted to Billy Ball...that's the default. All of them would be embarrassed in a pickup game to do that, but I suspect in pickup they only play less athletic opponents and dominate.

But I've seen enough to believe Buzz will get it done. I hope there is visibly more progress this year.

No Starks is a big deal. We don't have many players with that kind of upside. When JJ Chandler is a key scoring guy for a team (although he has looked better this year), you know you are in trouble.

2nd Generation Ag said:

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I think Buzz thinks he is a master turn around artist and maybe he is. But I hate when coaches tank a season to start the climb back up. Fran did that and he never recovered.

Next year go out and get a grad transfer or two. Mark Few did with Gonzaga.

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I agree. Sure doesn't make folks want to go out and buy a ticket to this product or spend the time to travel for this product.

The few games I have watched last season doesn't surprise the **** show that they did last night. BK recruitment was bad and those players aren't the right fit. Sure they are good, but not what you need if you want to win conferences. Rebuilding year unfortunately and so like the football program, we're just going to need to give these coaches time. OF course there's always a small chance the kids buy in quickly but after a 30 point loss, maybe next year.

This team will struggle to score until we find a serviceable PG. There was little or no motion by players without the ball in their hands, as well. Not a good combination.

REALLY needs Starks to come back & be a viable part of the team & make smart decisions (if he's capable of this). He's the best PG on this roster.

Quote:

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We were like 1-17 at one point from three land before hitting a few down the stretch of the game.

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We took a huge number of forced shots in the final few seconds of the shot clock. That most certainly affected our 3pt percentage.

When Gonzaga went to a zone D, our offense literally collapsed and in short order we were down double digits.

The loss was predicable due to new players & new scheme. The thing to look for is how we learn from the loss. We could have played a bunch of no-bodies & not grown as a team. This is a great bench mark as to where to focus improvement.

This was hard to watch. Turned it off and went to bed. Horrible play by basketball players. Not Buzz but these guys need to look at the film and see how bad they were at fundamentals.

Not real smart, wild , reckless, etc.

AggieDruggist89 said:

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I live in Blacksburg. Every Hokie would laugh at this thread. Relax. Buzz will get us there.

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I am relaxed. Let's just not lose by 30 any more at home. That kind of ass whooping sucks a lot of air out of the balloon. Regardless of how hard they appear to be playing, nobody wants to spend much time watching 30-point beatings.

war hymn aggie said:

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This team will struggle to score until we find a serviceable PG. There was little or no motion by players without the ball in their hands, as well. Not a good combination.

REALLY needs Starks to come back & be a viable part of the team & make smart decisions (if he's capable of this). He's the best PG on this roster.

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Had to be very satisfying for Gilder to know he made a right decision. Can't help but think that his decision had something to do with not being able to depend on Starks...and then Admon comes to to town and sees that TJ has declared himself ineligible.

And Turge's first year we had 30pt losses to texas, ou, kst and home losses to the 11th and 12th place b12 teams (also won the preNIT and spent some time in the top 15) and still made 4 dances in 4 yrs.

That doesnt make last night any less fun obviously, but it also doesnt mean things are hopeless.

expresswrittenconsent said:

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That doesnt make last night any less fun obviously, but it also doesnt mean things are hopeless.

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Especially when the guys are still giving it their all until the clock read 0.0. <---that's meaningless to most, but it speaks volumes as to the Buzz effect on this team.

My lord. You don't think Buzz is rolling up his sleeves and busting his butt? Part of a coaches job is to promote the school. Trust me Gillespie had plenty of struggles his first season. Buzz isn't a coach who brings in a lot of ace recruiting types. And there is nothing wrong with that. Lot of ways to add good players. Buzz has won a lot of games doing it just like he is doing now.

Better buckle up. I also tried to warn you on not enough Bigs. Buzz likes guard heavy rosters. Played Jimmy Butler and Jay Crowder at the 5.