It never changes

[TheRealVille]

It's so hard to sit here and watch the same stiff happen every single time when we play a good team on the road. You would think the law of averages would even out just a little? Yet it's the same thing over and over and over and over and over. That's one over for Michigan State, UK, Clemson, Duke and Notre Dame.

Just like the Duke game, the loose ball just continues to find its way to the opponent. We can block a shot, deflect a pass, force a tough shot, and yet the ball goes back to the other team. The Cards are of course guilty of helping out by mishandling the ball when they do get their hands on it.

The postseason ban has nothing to do with this. This stuff was happening before the ban. This particular team just can't get a break or make a break on the road against good teams. Against the Irish when we had the 10 point lead, for some reason Nanu and Ray thought they were outside shooters. We slowly let ND get back in the game and when it got down to crunch time, the usual antics happened once again.

It's so frustrating not knowing how this team would fare in the NCAA tournament. However, if we could participate, we would most likely exit just like we have lost these road games. We're a young team despite the two graduate transfers. This season for that reason is not that surprising.

Don't expect anything to change at Miami and Virginia. We may be able to beat PItt on the road but I wouldn't be surprised if we lost that one too. Hopefully we can win the three home games and salvage a promising season with a decent overall record.

 

[nccardfan]

My concern with this team is the inability to hold or maintain leads. It's like they don't value each possession. One thing I noticed is that once Lee starts struggling offensively his defense suffers also. Instead of helping out on D, he sometimes just stands there hoping we get a rebound and a lead out to a fast break. Also I'm sick of Snider getting to the rim only to have his shot blocked. Great guards are able to draw the big over and then dump it to a guy for a dunk. Twice I saw opportunities for Mahmoud and Spaulding to get dunks. Lewis does this as well.

 

[Louisvillian]

We were fantastic on the road the last few years but those teams knew how to finish with defense. This team completely collapsed on defense today letting ND finish at the rim at will in the 2nd half.

The loose balls that we didn't get were almost comical too.

 

[VILLN]

I knew we were in trouble today when the announcer stated that Jackson had been in a shooting slump from the three. It seems opponents always find their stroke against us.

 

[kozmas]

I don't think our problem was defense today I think it had more to do with not scoring. I think we went 6 minutes or longer without scoring at the end.

 

[thecycle21]

I think it is a lack of a real play maker or a really talented offensive player. At the end of the game especially tight games the other team is locked in at some point someone has to make a play either by creating their own shot or by creating shots for someone else. Jackson and the other kid are both offensively talented they went and got theirs. Louisville's only player that can make those individual offensive plays is Mitchell. Both Lewis and Lee are catch and shoot guys neither are very good at creating their own shot. Snider is getting much better but he has trouble finishing.

The margin for error is very small and defensively this team isn't very good. They can't get stops against good offensive teams. UNC had great looks all night they just missed and are proving to be a bad shooting team. Look at everyone that has had a good offense Louisville hasn't been able to stop them down the stretch.

 

[nccardfan]

As I have said before, none of the three, Lewis, Lee or Snider were willing to sacrifice their offense to become a playmaker for this team. It made more sense for snider to be this guy but it seemed to make him more determined to prove he could be a scorer. Hell in hindsight, I actually think Levitch would have done an effective job of getting the ball to our bigs and then being able to hit a open 3 on occasion.

 

[BPGhost]

As I have said before, none of the three, Lewis, Lee or Snider were willing to sacrifice their offense to become a playmaker for this team. It made more sense for snider to be this guy but it seemed to make him more determined to prove he could be a scorer. Hell in hindsight, I actually think Levitch would have done an effective job of getting the ball to our bigs and then being able to hit a open 3 on occasion.

Don't agree with this for a couple of reasons. First off, Lee and Lewis were specifically brought in for their offensive ability and because they have both spent the better part of the last two years being the go to guy offensively on their respective teams. I actually think that for the most part, they've done a good job of playing within Pitino's system. Does that mean that they've not taken any ill advised shots? Of course not but, there have been several games where without them carrying the offensive load, UofL doesn't win.

Secondly, Pitino wants / needs his guards to be offensive threats - not merely facilitators. This is why he has the guards play the hybrid 1 - 2 position rather than the traditional point guard - shooting guard. Snider getting into the lane and to the basket should open up the pick and roll - why it hasn't is more on the bigs than Q. As for Levitch, I'm glad that he's on the team but, he doesn't do enough well on the offensive end to make up for how badly he gets abused on defense.

 

[zipp]

Two things I've noticed about this team ability-wise...

Lee and Lewis are not the dead-eye shooters that we were hoping. All shooters go through streaks good and bad. But you watch some of the shooters we're playing against, and our guys are not measuring up. I don't think it has anything to do with coaching. Might be a little system-dependent in that these guys don't get 20 shots a game, but they're all encouraged to shoot when they're open.

We're not as quick as we would like, which explains so many missed 50-50 balls. L&L are only average in that regard, the rest of our guys are deficient on defense, and we allow too much penetration and open shots. Yes, footwork is very important, but your feet need to be quick too.

I like that we have 4 or 5 guys who can score in the game at any one time. But that scoring is not as much based on outside shooting as we were thinking/hoping, at least from L&L. I have as much confidence in Mitchell and Snider firing from three. And I've resigned myself that we will continue to be a project defensively...

 

[BPGhost]

I freely admit that I haven't watched any Drexel tape but Lee seems to me like the classic guy who saves most of his energy for the offensive end. If you are the go to guy for points at a Drexel, I get where you could slip into that mindset but here, there have been many times where he doesn't rotate over to provide backside help when someone has been beaten off of the dribble for example.