USC falls to Oregon St. in OT
by Paragon SC on Jan 4, 2009 7:00 PM PST
in USC Basketball
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PrintIts not that they lost but how they lost...
I have never claimed to be a basketball expert. It simply isn’t one of my interests and I did not plan to really get into hoops until the football season was over but after what I saw this evening I may not get into it at all. This was terrible loss to Oregon St. not just because we lost but how we lost. Why in gods name did USC allow OSU to shoot that three at the end of the game? Why is anyone defending the basket? They should have been defending the perimeter or fouled making OSU get to them line not giving up the open shot for 3 at the top of the key…that’s coaching and that’s all on Tim Floyd.
I missed most of the 1st half but in the 2nd half it looked like SC was starting to focus but it was also clear that they were having trouble with the 1-3-1 zone that OSU was throwing at them. SC was up 15 in the 2nd half and then OSU started to slowly chip away using a lot of pick and roll that SC looked like they were just standing still and looked completely out of focus. Once again, turnovers killed us. SC had 10 turnovers in the first half alone and it didn’t get much better in the second half with Daniel Hackett committing two costly turnovers late in the game, one a 10 second violation. I love Hackett, he is great on defense and has a tremendous amount of energy, but it was very clear that he has not grabbled the title of THE leader on this team this year nor is he a true point guard. I realize that I may be getting late to the party here but this team is not progressing as they should have at this point in the season.
Dwight Lewis was absolutely cold out there tonight and he should have been pulled in favor of Marcus Johnson. Lewis looked disinterested and it’s not like plays a lot of defense anyway so why not make the switch? Lewis either didn’t take the shot when he should have or he took the shot he shouldn’t have. He isn’t bringing anything to the table for us right now. Hackett and Lewis combined to miss 10 free throws and committed 11 turnovers, that is just terrible.
SC seemed afraid to attack the zone; it was like they were intimidated. If you aren’t going to attack the zone then you need shoot effective from the outside and with SC being one the worst teams in shooting in the Pac-10 that didn’t happen either. Is it just me or does it look like this team panics when they get double-teamed or trapped on the perimeter? And when the do penetrate not protecting he ball form a costly steal seems to happen more often than not.
For a team to be supposedly one of the better defensive teams in the Pac-10 they got schooled in the paint. OSU ran that pick and roll all night and SC didn’t know how to defend it, especially Lewis. I have a hard time believing that SC will be competitive next week against ucla with what I saw tonight. There needs to be a lot of improvement and fast if SC expects to even sniff an invitation to the big dance.
That’s pretty much all I have for now on this loss…
Feel free to unload as you see fit.
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Wolf summed it up perfectly
Just Like Football.
USC’s loss to Oregon State today is different because it is debatable who really cares? As I explained two weeks ago, this is not Chapel Hill, N.C., or Lawrence, Kan., or Westwood. If it were, there would be accountability.
So the indignation will be reserved to a few die-hards and that’s about it. Frankly, more people are interested in whether Randall Carroll comes to USC.
Yes paragon this was a really bad lost, but can these players learn from it yes if I was the coach.
But the problem is that Tim will never get past this kind of performance, see NC lost in quarter finals after being up at half. Don’t get me wrong I actually like TF but I am seeing he is just not that guy. I will coach team for 1/4 of what TF is ripping us off for and will get these kids to become MEN.
OK you actually touched on some of the negative points and USC is desperately in need of a PG even Percy Miller could have worked the stiffs at OSU. But no Tim does what he does every time in this situation is panic and forget about his bench, he looks like he did in NBA. I’m sure that these players believe in him so if they change coach’s it will have to be a complete change. Danny and Dewitt are good players but they completely chock against zones, but that is really coaching.
The other problem is that the AD doesn’t get it to busy driving new Lexus and thinking of Football, so he has to go. The alumni seems to only care about Football as well. With these kinds of circumstances it will probably never change, so as I said earlier the Galen Center was a complete waste of time and money.
Actually Hacketts Dad and Poolee could coach this team.
Paul D. Kelley
by so.cal.native1952 on Jan 4, 2009 9:52 PM PST reply actions
Yes it sucks for you
to lose to these guys when there’s little doubt that USC is a better team. Hackett was bad down the stretch as was Lewis. But come on, a) upsets happen b) the streak wasn’t going to last forever and c) the 1-3-1 is an unusual defense that is hard to prepare for and hard to execute against. Not that I’d expect you guys to pay close attention, butUCLA has played teams using this defense very year IIRC in the Howland era (West Virginia and Michigan) and even when we’ve won, it has usually been hard. I can remember only one blowout and that happened against a really sub-par Michigan team last year.
Floyd may not be an elite coach, but he is a good coach. Everyone gets upset from time ti time-UNC just lost to an unranked BC team at home last night. USC is still on track for another NCAA appearance, and IIRC my history correctly, USC has never made the tournament three years in a row. That would be a solid accomplishment for a team and coach that so.ca.native1952 accurately points out receives precious little in the way of support from the administration and your alums. A little better recruiting and USC will be well on the way to establishing a consistently good program. Considering where USC is coming from, that’s a major accomplishment and a necessary precursor to contending for the PAC-10 title and ultimately an NCAA title.
That may be...
but we really were exposed last night. Like I said I am less concerned about losing to OSU than I was in how we lost to them.
They, SC, couldn’t shoot or penetrate and they really seemed confused and scared out there.
I am not calling for Floyd’s head like I have seen elsewhere…but this was clearly not his finest hour either…
I can understand that
but after watching UCLA looked baffled nearly every time out against the same 1-3-1 defense, even with Farmar, Westbrook and Collison at the point, you have to figure that the unusual defense posed more problems than anticipated. Agree that this was not Floyd’s best, but when Howland’s teams have as much trouble as Floyd’s and look nearly as bad even when winning, ya gotta figure that the defense has a lot to do with it, not bad coaching.
Down... but not out
Yeah, it was a horrible loss, but life goes on. USC hoops seems to have at least one absolutely horrible, inexcusable loss every year. Two years ago we lost against an 0-15 or 0-14 ASU team when the team was trying to get enough wins to make the tournament, and last year they lost to Mercer in the opener. I guess we’ll get to see how they respond when they get your bruins this sunday.
by Laughing Stock on Jan 5, 2009 9:35 AM PST up reply actions
Floyd's a good coach?
I demand proof.
Why does everyone say this? Because of what he did 20 years ago at New Orleans? Or what he did over 10 years ago in the Big 8 (before it was the Big 12) and before Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma began to get serious about basketball?
Barry Switzer won National Championships 20 years ago. Anyone want to him to replace Pete Carroll?
Maybe it was Floyd’s 93-235 record as an NBA coach that has everyone excited.
Or is it the recent victory of 8-5, unranked, bottom-of-the-ACC-former-power Georgia Tech?
Or that fact that USC still plays at a half-full arena unless UCLA, Stanford or Cal comes to town, then it’s at least 25% visiting team fans.
Pink’s best year was his 2nd, when he took players developed by Jim Saia and recruited by Henry Bibby to the Sweet 16. Since then, it’s been steady flatline with a slight downward trajectory, even though he has been able to attract two five-star recruits.
I will say. He is a brilliant self-promoter. He has everyone thinking he’s a great coach, despite a body of work that says otherwise.
As I’ve said, and as Wolf notes, there is no accountability in USC Basketball.
Reading between the lines
While I was still bummed about loosing to OSU I decided to read around the local fish wraps. When asked about what happen to his team Tim said, maybe they paid more attention to the first half rather than the second half. So I guess Tim doesn’t feel responsible for this problem that has been around all season. He went on to say this: Leading, 54-51, with 14 seconds left, the Trojans were supposed to foul but didn’t. Gibson was supposed to stick with Schaftenaar. He didn’t, and went to double-team Haynes. “You have to give Oregon State the credit,” Floyd said. “Their shot selection was better than ours. Their defense was better than ours.”
So I guess I was wrong he did tell them to do the right stuff, but why was it not taken seriously. Well that should give this unit of players some serious line time the rest of the week, but to make a statement the whole team should run.
Here is another quote that says Tim doesn’t have control of this model: You’re always concerned about that," said Floyd of the problem of getting his team motivated to play OSU. "You always think about worst-case scenarios. But you can talk until you’re blue in the face
And now he goes on to say this: They did a lot of good things out there. They kept us in the half-court all night. And they were more intense than we were! OK I get his problems they happen in all games all the time. But not figuring out how to combat this is beyond belief, I could understand a young coach but this cat is a well paid experienced coach. Also he has a hand picked staff and somebody should be able to figure it out period.
Paul D. Kelley
by so.cal.native1952 on Jan 5, 2009 11:59 AM PST reply actions
Questionable Coaching
From all accounts it certainly seems as though there may have been poor decisions by players and coaches going down the stretch. A tough and frustrating loss to be sure, but I still think we need to let the season play out before we start discussing accountability with Floyd when going purely by the numbers he has the best three year record of any coach in SC history.
The problem with this season is expectations. We were expecting Demar to be OJ, we were expecting Daniel and Dwight to be completely ready to be the go to guys, and we were expecting that Alex Stepheson was going to play. So this team is not where we thought they would be, oh well we might be facing a bit of a down year. However let’s remember that one of our better players is still injured and that its still early, we’re still 10-4, and we still have ucla this sunday at home to go with 16 more conference games. Basketball is a whole different animal from football, and the season is far from over.
by Laughing Stock on Jan 5, 2009 9:07 PM PST up reply actions
Totally agree LS just was pissed we had to be the team to Obamas relative and osu rookie coach
Paul D. Kelley
by so.cal.native1952 on Jan 5, 2009 11:29 PM PST up reply actions
Oh yeah
AN inexcusable loss is still an inexcusable loss no doubt.
by Laughing Stock on Jan 6, 2009 11:53 AM PST up reply actions
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