Stuhoo

After four games Al Durham, a freshman playing with the ball in his hands alot, is: 1st overall on the team in Assist/Turnover ratio 1st overall in lowest TO % 2nd in combined/'True Shooting' % (1st among guards) 2nd in Steals per turnover (1st among guards) 2nd in Win Shares (1st among guards) 2nd in Assists/40 min (2nd among guards) 2nd in defensive rating (2nd among guards) 3rd in Points per game (2nd among guards) 4th in FG% (2nd among guards) 5th in pts scored per 40 min (2nd among guards) For these categories, Al is first among our guards in five categories and second in the other five. In other words, him and DeRon Davis, followed by RoJo have been the overall best players on the team.

Hey, I’ve been really hard on CuJo this year until tonight. He wasn’t especially confident tonight, but let’s compare his “guard stats” (assists +steals- turnovers) tonight to DGreen and Newkirk: CuJo: +2 DGreen: -3 Josh: +2 None of those guys shot it well, and CuJo defended far far better than the other two tonight. It is fairly obvious that RoJo and Al are our two best guards; tonight CuJo was the third best. Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

Let’s not get too crazy again now, Hoosier Guy ;) Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

DeVonte Green consistently makes poor defensive decisions. Tonight at least, CuJo was far better. Jones is currently a non-factor on offense, but at least he valued the ball. Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

CuJo 17 minutes and zero turnovers. Al Durham 31 minutes, four assists, and zero turnovers. Any more questions why CuJo was on the court instead of DeVonte and Newkirk during the last five minutes of the game? Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners

Umm, guys; We held them to 19 points in the second half. Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners

CuJo’s best game this year BY FAR! Didn’t shoot it well but....... Defended. Active hands. Played with real effort. Not sloppy with the ball. Much, much better Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners

I’m the conductor of that train, But by now you should ALL be on board. Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

Another reason for optimism: Hopefully, in the not too distant future, Archie can trim the rotation to seven primary players: RoJo, Al, DeVonte, Juwan, Justin, DeRon, and Collin, with some Freddie and Josh when needed. Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners

Three relatively easier games in a row, and then a five game stretch of Duke, Michigan, Iowa, Louisville and Notre Dame. If we, by some combination of a miracle and marked improvement could win two out of that five game stretch, the ship will officially have been righted. Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners

Us: 79 Not us: 63 Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners

Okay. NOW they’re going to survive. Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners

Ahhmmmm??!?? Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

Yes! But ETSU has shot a zillion threes, and hasn’t made many. Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

So far, E Tenn St has Peter Jurkin, and UK is peter jerkin

Peter Jurkin enters against Kensucky and promptly dunks and then drains a three, followed by three quick rebounds. That was fun. Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners

Kensucky about to battle with the team which features Peter Jurkin ;) Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners

ISU's shooting against us was no aberration! It was because we played lazy, disorganized defense against ISU, let them get comfortable, and let their confidence soar.

Of course there’s no such rule. I would speculate that the inference was that ranger trashes IU in many boards. Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

A minor fix for you.

Archie is till giving him a ton of minutes. To me? That means that Archie feels that out of RoJo, Josh, and CuJo, Archie feels that Robert has the best mindset and potential to be a positive looking forward this season.

While this year is looking like a work in progress at best and more likely a rebuild, I thought I'd try to spell out a real reason for optimism: Players on current roster who are generally/likely positive contributors: Al Durham - Freshman Justin Smith - Freshman DeVonte Green - Sophomore DeRon Davis - Sophomore Juwan Morgan - Junior Colin Hartman - Senior Players on current roster who are generally/likely NOT positive contributors: Tim Priller - Senior Freddie McSwain - Senior Josh Newkirk - Senior Robert Johnson - Senior Curtis Jones - Sophomore Too soon to tell - Clifton Moore, Race Thompson. I believe this explains a lot of the patience and 'silver lining optimism' expressed by the board.

I kinda agree, but with this team Archie is kinda screwed. We have five guards on the roster, and only two of them are contributing in a positive way. Three of 'em really kinda suck.

Lol... Give him more minutes?!? I get the point, but he's coming off a hammy and he just got 30 minutes against Howard. Another way of saying it? Archie is gonna keep maxing him out.