Ucla vs #7 Missouri thread
I saw some reports on Twitter last night that Tony Parker is seriously thinking about leaving UCLA......
UCLA needs this game more then Missouri does..A win with ease some pressure off coach Howland....But in order to get the win,they've got to hit the boards,take care of the ball and make their shots.....Missouri is 2nd in the nation in rebounding,even their point guard is averaging close to 4 rbs a game...
We all know UCLA can score,but to win this game,they got to show they can play some defense....
I think this Mizzou team is better than last yr's team. They're not as skilled as last yr's team but they're deeper, stronger, more physical, better defensively with better size all over the place. UCLA's best hope will be to pack it in, play a lot of zone and dare Mizzou's shooters to beat em from the outside. UCLA's gotta clean up the boards though, MIZZ kills the o-glass.
Although my Preseason Top 14 came out very ugly, I am very pleased with my selection of Mizzou at #6.
Mizzou is one of the few truly complete teams in the land and has a legit shot at going all the way. They were a 30 win squad last year but had glaring holes in post play and depth.
Those two deficiencies have been rectified with the additions of Oriakhi from The Conn, Bowers back from injury (a lethal hybrid forward), and several nice transfers on the wing.
This team was 275th in rebounding last year!!! 275th!!! Now they're #1!
Phil Pressey is one of the best facilitators in the land, as well. The one thing about Mizzou, though, is that they haven't found their stroke. If they want to go to the Final Four, they have to be more consistent dropping Js.
pressey with the terrible decision there. Up 2 but a 28 second differenc ein hte shot clock and game clock so the tigers need to score and he dribbles down to 2 seconds left and jacks up an ugly contested airball three. His decision making has been poor down the stretch.
I agree. Shabazz seems to make wide open 3s and layups/dunks in transition. I didn't see the whole game because I was switching back and forth with Minnesota/TT but Pressey needs to get better shooting, Brown needs to utilize his athleticism more...not sure how Bell missed that easy layup and not sure where Oriakhi was all night.
P.S., Bill Walton is a wise man and absolutely hilarious!
speaking of bill, he used to always say funny things like when a guy would throw up an ugly air ball he would say how his teammates should be ready the exquisite passing skills of said player. He did that again tonight. Shabazz was triple teamed under the basket and forced it up with the ball missing the rim and bill praises his high iq realizing if hes triple teamed just throw it to the opposite side of the rim where you surely have teammates ready, lol.
bruins win!!!!!!!
So happy right now. TOnight should crush any doubters about what shabazz is made of. They litteraly draw up no plays for him and he just plays within the offense spotting up and running the lanes and posting up when there's chances. If they made a little bit more of a conscious effort to get him the ball, he cold be even more dominant.
Loved listening to Bill Walton call the game and overall was a fun game to watch. However, if I were Mizzou, I would have called a quick timeout on that offensive rebound so you could draw up a play to at least try and get you a decent look instead of dribbling back out to the 3 pt line and throwing up a hail mary.. I think there was still like 2.5 seconds left on the clock when they got possesion of the ball and still had one timeout left.
Mizzou's lack of 2ndary ball-handler hurt them in the end. Flip practically played the entire game at a high level and looked fatigued, at least mentally towards the end of regulation which led to some bad plays on his part, like the late consecutive TOs and the airball. Haith made some questionable calls as well, like keeping out Oriakhi down the stretch and that final play, with Pressey inbounding it.
That was the best game I've seen UCLA play up to date and they needed it. The Wear twins came through. For them to have continued success, the twins are gonna have to play more I think. They're the perfect pressure release for the other scorers since they can pop and make those easy jumpers from mid-range. If they start knocking down those jumpers at a high clip, that opens up driving lanes, passing lanes and it brings the help further away from the lane.
Tonight, ucla is 9-3 and playing better with shabazz and Kyle Anderson both coming on stronger. I watched mizz vs Illinois and they looked like a very good physical team. Ucla is back in the top 25 hunt with a win tonight. Let's go bruins.