*** USC MBB (3-8/5-10) vs. #20/19 Mizzou (6-6/13-6) Game Thread ***

[kingofnerf]

South Carolina (5-10, 3-8 SEC) returns to Colonial Life Arena on Saturday to host No. 20/19 Missouri (13-6, 6-6 SEC) in SEC action.  Tip time for the matchup is set for 2 p.m. ET on ESPN2 with Karl Ravech (play-by-play) and Jimmy Dykes (analyst) on the call, while Derek Scott (play-by-play) and Casey Manning (analyst) will have the call over the air on the Gamecock Radio Network.  Four will be honored on Senior Day on Saturday in managers Luke Colwell and Ryan Prendergast, senior guard Seventh Woods, and junior forward Nathan Nelson.  Senior Day festivities will begin approximately 15 minutes prior to tipoff at center court.
 

GAME INFORMATIONArena: Colonial Life Arena (18,000)Broadcast: ESPN2  Play-By-Play: Karl Ravech  Analyst: Jimmy DykesRadio: Gamecock Radio Network  In Columbia: 107.5 The Game  Play-By-Play: Derek Scott  Analyst: Casey Manning  Sirius: - | XM: 192 | Internet: 963Watch: WatchESPN/ESPN AppLive Stats: GamecocksOnline.com

https://gamecocksonline.com/news/2021/2/19/mens-basketball-gamecocks-host-no-20-19-mizzou-saturday-afternoon.aspx

 

[Gary]

Maybe the worst half of basketball ever played at the CLA under Frank Martin.  Lawson is playing as poorly on offense as  I have ever seen him.  Our defense is bad.   Minaya's shooting slump continues.   Seventh Woods is playing far too many minutes.  Just an awful performance.   You can tell the players are frustrated and probably have no confidence either.   

You would hope that as the season goes along, the team would get better.   But that isn't happening with this team.  They are getting worse.   The coaching staff gets paid lots of money to fix the problems, but they seem to have no answers.

 

[Gary]

When you have to play guys like Woods and Moss, you are in big trouble.  Those guys bring nothing positive to your team.    If they do something good on one end, they will soon follow it up with something bad on the other end.    Couisnard, even in a shooting slump, is a better player than both of them combined.   Frank's recruiting mistakes are on full display in this game.   

The only guys on this team who can half-way play SEC basketball are :  Lawson, Bryant, Couisnard, Frink, Leveque, Hannibal, Minott.  And some of them are iffy.

 

[ConwayGamecock]

I always expect the team to play hard and play smart. I am okay with a loss If that happens - sometimes we just play a better team, or the other team hits a lot of threes, the ball bounces the wrong way, refs make a few bad calls, etc.

I am okay with a loss but if we get blown out by Mizzou on our home court, that is a bad loss.  We need to get it under double digits just to have a little hope.

Mizzou is not that good - it would mean we are that bad.

Missouri is a ranked team, and we are 5-10, soon to be 5-11. We are a team that a ranked team should blow out, even on the road.......

 

[Gary]

We are down 2 starters (Frink and Couisnard).   If we could play with those two, Bryant, Lawson and Hannibal,  we could have a pretty good 5.  But we can't.   Frink is out for the season and God knows when Couisnard will return.      If I was the coach, when Couisnard returns, I'd start him, Lawson, Bryant, Leveque and Hannibal.   I'd sub in with Minaya and Minott and Woods (for short minutes just to rest a guard).  That's it.   I wouldn't play anyone else unless someone fouled out.

 

[Longhaul]

We are down 2 starters (Frink and Couisnard).   If we could play with those two, Bryant, Lawson and Hannibal,  we could have a pretty good 5.  But we can't.   Frink is out for the season and God knows when Couisnard will return.      If I was the coach, when Couisnard returns, I'd start him, Lawson, Bryant, Leveque and Hannibal.   I'd sub in with Minaya and Minott and Woods (for short minutes just to rest a guard).  That's it.   I wouldn't play anyone else unless someone fouled out.

Agree

 

[Gary]

Here is what I would do in Frank's shoes:

Start Lawson, Bryant, Hannibal, Leveque and Minaya. Let Hannibal and Lawson shoot all the threes they want. Tell Minaya and Bryant that they will be benched if they shoot a three - drive to the basket or stop and pop, nothing else. Leveque needs to get his own points off offensive rebounds,

When Couisnard gets back, I would put him in for Minaya. Couisnard needs to be on the restricted list for three pointers also - just drive and dish. MInaya. McCreary, Woods, and Minott all play a few minutes per half.

Moss has the world's slowest, loopiest dribble - he needs to play 2G when he is in, and he needs to shoot his little floater instead of threes. But I agree, he needs to be limited on PT.

That's a pretty good plan. I would stop Bryant from shooting 3s. And Woods.   If I played Moss at all, he would be a catch and shoot guy.   His handle is way too loose to be a driver or playmaker.  I'd encourage Lawson, Hannibal and Couisnard to drive to the hoop as often as they could and at least try to get fouled.  Minaya lacks the speed to be a driver and doesn't shoot jump shots well enough to be a catch and shoot guy.   Make Minaya a pick setter.  On defense, I would play man to man with no double teams.  Stay between your man and the basket wherever he goes.  If your man has the ball, don't let him drive by you.  Make him shoot jump shots or pass it.   

 

[kingofnerf]

Moss is one of those players that looks good in OOC play, but is useless in SEC play.

Covid stuff aside, the team leadership went out the door with Kotsar, the last of the Final Four players, last year.  That's why we went to the Final Four.

I got up what was left of the leaves in my front yard instead of watching the game because I have watched Frank's teams disintegrate the past few years and I already knew how we would lose.

Poor defense, clanking jump shots, missed FTs.  All on Senior Day.

Bama and Mizzou changed coaches and are playing much better this year, but part of that is because we would at least take one game each from them until this year.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Moss is one of those players that looks good in OOC play, but is useless in SEC play.

Covid stuff aside, the team leadership went out the door with Kotsar, the last of the Final Four players, last year.  That's why we went to the Final Four.

I got up what was left of the leaves in my front yard instead of watching the game because I have watched Frank's teams disintegrate the past few years and I already knew how we would lose.

Poor defense, clanking jump shots, missed FTs.  All on Senior Day.

Bama and Mizzou changed coaches and are playing much better this year, but part of that is because we would at least take one game each from them until this year.

I didn't even check to see what time the game was on.  I checked my GC app to see what time the baseball game was coming on and seen where the basketball game was already on.  I turned it on and it was half way through the second quarter and of course we were down 10-12 points.

I watched maybe 5 minutes of it and turned the channel.  I just had no desire to sit there and watch as you said,  continued "poor defense, clanking jump shots, missed FTs."   I used to be a season ticket holder for many years, now I have to check to see what time the game is even on.  Depending on what Bryant and Lawson do next year could be even worse than this year.

 

[Gary]

Bryant has no NBA future unless he develops his outside shot - he needs to return to work on that. I personally believe that Lawson should return as well, but he is the likeliest to leave.

Frank's best teams win with defense and rebounding. The defense part needs reputation and team chemistry, things that do not come without practice and game experience. That can also impact the rhythm of shooters as well.

In other words - we are still a very young team with great upside, and would be a much better team with more practice and game time. We have good talent, just not a good team.

The other thing that we do poorly is define roles. Other teams know who their go-to guys are, we seem to have different people jacking it up every night.

Take Trae Hannibal. He went 6-6 from the floor with two threes, and made both free throws (he is the lone bright light on a bad FT shooting team). Does anyone believe that he will start the next game? And if he does, that his teammates will look to get him the ball?

Bryant's biggest weakness is his dribbling.   He does not need to be a shooter of 3's in order to be good.  And he needs to return next season.  I expect Lawson to go pro some way.  And Frank expects that too.   Depending on who returns, we could be OVER the scholarship limit next season.  

We only have one senior,  so yes, we are a young team.   Hannibal is shooting well this season.  Better than anyone else.  But he hasn't taken a lot of shots.   If we could get him at the FT line 8-10 times a game, he would make a big difference.   It doesn't much matter if he starts, but he should be playing 25-30 minutes a game, imo.

In recruiting, Frank needs to concentrate on quality, not quantity.   He likes to have 13 scholarship players, plus a few walk ons.    And Frank likes to play a lot of guys.   Unfortunately, we don't have the quality depth to play more than 7-9 guys.    If you aren't in the "Nifty Nine", or the "Great Eight",  you're probably not good enough to be a very good SEC player.     

We need to get Couisnard back asap.  Even if he isn't making threes, he is still one of our top guards.     Leveque is coming along.  I hope and expect he will continue to improve.  McCreary is not having a good year.   I think he is capable of much more than he has shown.   Continue to put Minott in there for a few minutes every game.  We need his size, and he needs the experience.  It should pay off down the road.  We aren't going to any post season tournaments this year anyway, so let him get some experience.

If Frank should leave after this year, for whatever reason, I expect several of the current players, and incoming recruits, to transfer.   A new coach would have to convince them to stay.     

 

[doublea1971]

Seventh and Nate Nelson participated in Senior Day, so they are likely gone. Lawson did not join in, so he is still not committed to leaving. We look to be loaded wth returning talent - Seventh has helped in three games, hurt us in the other.

If you have good coaches and good players - and I still believe we do - this is the kind of season that wil light a fire. Frank needs to be clear with everyone - if you work hard and improve, you will play. If you don't, you won't.

And auditions for 2021-2022 start with the next practice.

I don’t have any evidence to back this up, but I expect to see at least one player leave the team of his own volition (might be Anderson, might be McCreary), and I think Coach Martin may ask another to leave (could be either Moss or Anderson), based upon the amount of play they’re seeing (combined with talent level not being at SEC quality).  In other words, convincing them the grass is greener on the other side.

Granted, this season may be an outlier, because of COVID related problems, but a major part of our issue this season has been team cohesiveness.  We’re not playing with a TEAM mentality.  It’s too many lone rangers.  IDK if you heard the ESPN announcers talking about the Rick Majeris school of coaching.  They were dead in in the assessment of understanding the strengths and weaknesses of your teammates.  Our players don’t seem to understand one another’s strengths to maximize how we pass and handle the ball.

long story short... @Ace Dilcock is right.  Auditions for next season have begun as of today.  Some will pass that test, others will not, and the pruning of the tree will begin.  We’re too talented right now to be as bad as we have been.  Expect to see changes in player personnel next season.

 

[Gary]

If I understand correctly, this season does not count toward eligibility for next season.  So in essence, everyone is redshirting  this seasons regardless of how much they play this season.   If the NCAA allows a one time transfer without sitting out a year, then that also could affect who is on the team next year.   We have three players signed for 2021 with a fourth player committed but signing in the spring.   If everyone returns and we get 4 new guys, that will be 17 guys on scholarship.   I don't know if the NCAA will allow that.   There are NCAA decisions still to be made that might affect who is on our team next season.   Stay tuned.

 

[Gary]

I just looked at the stats.   Among the guards, Moss is behind only Hannibal in FG % (.444) and 3-pt % (.400) .  If Frank would make him a catch-and-shoot guy, he might be an asset on the offensive end.   But he is not a PG.   He needs to dribble as little as possible.   

Hannibal's shooting percentages are impressive.   Best among our guards.  Best FT shooter on the team.  Frank needs to play Hannibal at least 25 minutes every game.    And more if he can take it and stay out of foul trouble.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

I just looked at the stats.   Among the guards, Moss is behind only Hannibal in FG % (.444) and 3-pt % (.400) .  If Frank would make him a catch-and-shoot guy, he might be an asset on the offensive end.   But he is not a PG.   He needs to dribble as little as possible.   

Hannibal's shooting percentages are impressive.   Best among our guards.  Best FT shooter on the team.  Frank needs to play Hannibal at least 25 minutes every game.    And more if he can take it and stay out of foul trouble.

Hannibal reminds me of Bianca Cuevas from the women's team a few years ago.  I good player but played a little out of control at times.  Hannibal needs to tap the brakes just a little and play more under control.  

 

[doublea1971]

Agree. Moss is the most likely casualty - Frank appears to be stubbornly giving him minutes to give him a chance to stick, or maybe showcase him for other teams. Another possibility is Benson, who looked solid in a brief appearance but has since disappeared. He has even lost PT to fellow Freshman Minott.

I actually like Anderson and think that he could take minutes away from someone like Minaya because he can shoot the three. On a team that shoots poorly, he is one of the few players that came in with the reputation of being a shooter. He played well as a desperation Covid Center and then started two games ago, but got pulled early.

Don't forget that our starting Center, Frink, has been out - he seems to be able to do some of the things that Kotsar did, like making the offense run smoother.

@Ace Dilcock I thought about Benson too.  That, in my mind, is the typical Frank Martin "you're a Freshman who I want to develop a bit" thing.  That was Anderson last season.  Both Benson and Anderson are quality players who have skills that can be utilized, but someone has to be the scholarship deep bench player.  It seems Benson has that tag this year.  I expect Benson to return next season.

As I mention above, Anderson is a player I like too, but he doesn't seem to fit well in our offense - things don't flow naturally around him, unless the game is being played at a less organized level.  He succeeded when we were pounding the ball inside, being aggressive at the rim, and we haven't done much of that this season.  Plus Anderson is from the other coast - he's pretty far away from home, which is why I think he'll be a high candidate to leave... lower amounts of playing time, one start, and distance from home usually = transfer.

Frink being gone this year has been a huge disappointment.  I wish we had more insight into him not returning to the team.  If it was a COVID-based decision, I'm ok with that, but a little disappointed.  My bigger fear is that it's a larger medical issue which was discovered due to COVID.  Something akin to what happened to Carleton Geathers many seasons ago... a knee injury that sidelined Carleton permanently and ended his playing career.  I'm not trying to start rumors about Frink... just saying that I'm concerned for his well-being.  I don't like things like he's "not returning for medical reasons" - that's too open-ended.

 

[kingofnerf]

Frink being gone this year has been a huge disappointment.  I wish we had more insight into him not returning to the team.  If it was a COVID-based decision, I'm ok with that, but a little disappointed.  My bigger fear is that it's a larger medical issue which was discovered due to COVID.  Something akin to what happened to Carleton Geathers many seasons ago... a knee injury that sidelined Carleton permanently and ended his playing career.  I'm not trying to start rumors about Frink... just saying that I'm concerned for his well-being.  I don't like things like he's "not returning for medical reasons" - that's too open-ended.

Yeah, hopefully it's just something like lingering Covid symptoms and not anything else more sinister.

A small line-up can work if the guys can hit their shots and play defense, but Frank's recent squads have had trouble consistently doing that.

We need at least two good bigs on the court in the SEC: one playing and one in reserve if we can't have two starters.

I will say that, going off of Frank's body language, the kids are still trying to play their own individual games.

Kotsar reigned them in last year, but that also seems to be the void right now.  I also think that is what we're missing with Frink's absence as well.

I also think we may hanging loose in practices to avoid any further Covid issues.