Memphis-USC: Beyond Ugly
Uncategorized December 5th. 2007, 11:58am
Been waiting to see Memphis against an upper-echelon team, and it happened last night, but the result was not a good one. Why can’t the Tigers handle the basketball (21 turnovers)? Why is everyone a chucker? Does Robert Dozier (6-for-15) know how to do anything besides jacking a shot whenever the ball finds his stone hands? How can freshman Derrick Rose look so good handling the ball against inferior teams, but crumble (five turnovers) and perform tentatively against an aggressive D? The free-throw shooting speaks for itself (7-for-18). We have all these complaints and yet the Tigers beat USC, 62-58 in overtime. Chris Douglas-Roberts (10 points), supposedly one of the best wing players in the nation, appeared passive and reluctant to takeover. USC was pesky and scrappy once again, but won’t win any of these close games without Taj Gibson, their foul-a-minute PF, who has compiled these stats over the last three games: 4-for-18, 9 points, 16 rebounds, 15 fouls, seven turnovers.
11 Responses to “Memphis-USC: Beyond Ugly”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
December 5th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
No t buying the Rose hype. At least not to make the jump to the NBA. He’s only had two games where he’s had more assists than TO’s and those games were against Austin Peay and UT-Martin. I realize he’s more of a scoring PG, but I’m not buying it.
Mayo isn’t much better.
December 5th, 2007 at 12:13 pm
Memphis looked like they could barely hang with Northwestern, let alone USC. And it’s all coaching. With all the insane amount of talent they have, why is ROBERT DOZIER taking 15 shots? Crude comparison, but that’s like Ron Harper taking 15 shots a game on the ‘96 Bulls. Rose was clearly overwhelmed, but I don’t think that lasts long… he’s too good not to eventually get it.
December 5th, 2007 at 12:14 pm
Both games were ugly last night.
Douglas-Roberts kind of sucked last night. Passive is acurate.
December 5th, 2007 at 12:14 pm
I think it’s a little early to be selling on either one. It’s not even Christmas. Has either team played 10 games yet? One thing I was impressed with was Mayo’s D on Rose. He didn’t lock him down, necessarily, but he was in his grill for most of the night. I do think both will be fine. They have to much talent to struggle for an entire season.
December 5th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
Right on point, TBL. I thought this was one of the most atrocious games I’ve ever seen, and from what are suppose to be good teams. I mean, you don’t make a field goal in OT until a triple putback with a minute left? You foul up two with 8 seconds left 80 feet from the basket? I’m still trying to figure out what kind of offense USC runs. Half the time I don’t even know if Mayo is on the floor because he stands back at midcourt, out of the picture until about 8 seconds left on the shot clock. And his shot looks U-G-L-Y. He does play good defense though, I’ll give him that.
And can we stop with the “super-frosh” gimmicks? Beasely is a beast, but somehow his team sucks. Mayo has let to do anything jaw-dropping. Rose is steady, but when you only play quality competition three times during the year, you need to show up in those games. Kevin Love is a better passing Big Country. Eric Gordon—well, he’s the shit.
Anyway, you probably shouldn’t have wrote UNC off after their close victory over a tough Davidson team. With Lawson on the floor and Ellington now taking over, they’re the team to beat. Texas would be tough too if they weren’t coached by Rich Barns. And as a UNC fan it pains me to say it but, Duke can stroke it. Those guys are sick.
December 5th, 2007 at 12:20 pm
It warrants mentioning that both Michigan State and Tennessee looked bad last night too.
Some great games tonight: WSU/Zags and Creighton/Xavier.
December 5th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
Gordon is the best Freshman I’ve seen this year, and I despise Indiana basketball. I do think he’s got more help than the other guys though.
Beasely has been impressive but he is an absolute black-hole. So many times last night he’d get the ball in the post and have guys cutting WIDE-OPEN to the hoop, and Beasely never saw them.
Love’s been solid, but he disappeared against Texas.
December 5th, 2007 at 2:43 pm
Freshmen, especially point guards, are inconsistent. Rose, Mayo and (maybe) Beasley need at least another year in college.
December 5th, 2007 at 10:37 pm
Here’s an under the radar freshman. Terrence Oglesby of Clemson. I just watched him go 6-7 from beyond the arc against ECU with the only miss being a halfcourt heave at the first half buzzer. ECU picked him up at halfcourt and didn’t leave him open at all…all 6 threes were close to NBA range or further. Dude can’t shoot a layup though.
Oh, and Clemson’s the biggest fraud in the nation right now. They’ll get chewed up by Duke and the rest of the ACC.
December 6th, 2007 at 1:38 am
Quin Snyder– “Super Frosh” gimmick? There is a long list of freshmen doing extraordinary things in Division 1 college basketball. (See previous threads for more details.) These guys are getting attention because they’re earning it. Mayo looked pretty jaw-dropping when he took over the Oklahoma game in the second half. Kevin Love is a double-double machine. The only reason he “disappeared” against Texas (in response to NSR’s post) is because the UCLA guards couldn’t figure out how to get him the ball against the Texas zone.
And Rose will play a lot more than three games against quality competition: non-conference games against Oklahoma, Connecticut, USC, Cincinnati, Georgetown, Arizona, Gonzaga and Tennessee.
December 6th, 2007 at 1:39 am
Oh, and one more thing: USC’s performance might have had something to do with the fact that it was the Trojans’ third game in six days (Oklahoma/Kansas/Memphis) with a cross-country flight in-between.