My biggest concern..

[akaGatorhoops]

We have, at times, shown a tendency to allow in-game struggles... Whether that be our own poor shooting, bad officiating or lucky opponent shots...effect our defense. We can, we have and should be able to win games with our defense. But we can't let that slip away when things in the game are not going well.
We did that today, and if we do it again..... our season will end.
But, if we commit to defense... I still think this team can go very far.

[Swampmaster]

the fla D in the second half was terrible--they got abused inside

[GatorPlanet]

We looked tired. I'm not using that as an excuse, but that's the way it looked to me. A half-step slow the entire second half. You could see it in the offense in the leg-less and short-armed jump shots, too.

[Jonas]

yeah, I got to wonder if it was affecting Murphy. He was air balling shots.

[SM1010]

Defense has been our strong point all year. I don't think we can blame that.

We can't win close games.

You should be more worried about that IMO. We've lost low scoring close games because we've played well on defense.

Our shot selection (falling in love with the 3) and mental toughness in close games are clearly our biggest weakness.

[qwghlmgator]

Originally Posted by akaGatorhoops

We have, at times, shown a tendency to allow in-game struggles... Whether that be our own poor shooting, bad officiating or lucky opponent shots...effect our defense. We can, we have and should be able to win games with our defense. But we can't let that slip away when things in the game are not going well.
We did that today, and if we do it again..... our season will end.
But, if we commit to defense... I still think this team can go very far.

I completely agree aka, but ultimately I think our shooting cost us the game. Ole Miss took the only chance they had - make us shoot jumpers and hope we have a season-worst or near season-worst shooting day. They rolled the dice and won. If we hit even a reasonable number of our open looks today (we were equally bad from both sides to the three line: 11-29 from two and 11-30 from three) we coast to the win.

(although those two three shot fouls on Henderson were among the worst calls I've ever seen...and that's not mentioning the two goaltending non-calls - including one off the glass )

[akaGatorhoops]

Originally Posted by SM1010

Defense has been our strong point all year. I don't think we can blame that.

We can't win close games.

You should be more worried about that IMO. We've lost low scoring close games because we've played well on defense.

Our shot selection (falling in love with the 3) and mental toughness in close games are clearly our biggest weakness.

Yes... I know defense is our strong point. This is why I think it should be the reason we win games even when struggling in other aspects. We have done it often this year, but we have had a tendency, at times, to lose our defense when shots don't fall or calls don't go our way. We are too skilled defensively to concede a lead like today and give up 40 + second half points.
We can... We have and we should win with defense. Today, we allowed other aspects of the game to impact the defensive end of the floor. And the should be our identity.
We need to get it back and keep it.

[xenythx]

This might sound obvious but our defense is best when we make shots. It doesn't allow for fast breaks on long rebounds when we miss threes and it allows us to set up our press.

[Jonas]

It really annoys me when one of our players get caught in a bad situation in the paint and then try throwing it backwards toward the middle of the court. It gets intercepted and leads to a run out and an easy transition 2. Same thing happens sometimes when we are trying to save the ball from going out of bounds. It's like never worth the risk.

[ThePlayer]

Originally Posted by SM1010

Defense has been our strong point all year. I don't think we can blame that.

We can't win close games.

You should be more worried about that IMO. We've lost low scoring close games because we've played well on defense.

Our shot selection (falling in love with the 3) and mental toughness in close games are clearly our biggest weakness.

Back to that Oz theme PD was writing about...we still need courage and a heart.
Don't blame it on the Tin Man.

[jmoliver]

We lost because they owned the paint. Young scores in the first minute and disappeared. Kennedy saw our weakness with the defense and adjusted to kill us.

[tegator80]

What I saw were tired legs. But the OP is correct and I have said that all season long. If we become a 3 point shooting team (no looks inside) and we begin to miss them then we can easily get into a defensive funk. This team can not survive without tenacious D.

If I can complain about the coaching decisions yesterday it is why didn't Billy use Casey more? He is our x factor going forward. Scottie should be but I think he has too much on his plate right now.

[GothamGator]

I agree with those who say we looked tired.

I also think a lot of our defensive problems were due to Henderson. Even when he wasn't scoring, his threat was distracting our players from their usual jobs and leading to Ole Miss getting good looks. Guys were hedging a lot to help out on Henderson, and it led to points, especially down the stretch.

[your_perfect_enemy]

Originally Posted by Jonas

It really annoys me when one of our players get caught in a bad situation in the paint and then try throwing it backwards toward the middle of the court. It gets intercepted and leads to a run out and an easy transition 2. Same thing happens sometimes when we are trying to save the ball from going out of bounds. It's like never worth the risk.

This. We're good for at least one of these plus at least a lazy pass or two it seems like every game. The saving the ball ones are at least hustle plays but there's no excuse for the other ones.

[theologator]

Signs of disaster:

Lazy passes
Wilbekin dribbling around in circles then throwing up circus shots
Young falling asleep on offense because they aren't getting the ball to him
Yeguette trying to dazzle with his low post moves
Neither Boynton, Rosario or Wilbekin hitting 3's to force teams out
Murphy out of sync
Inability to handle the press

I think it drives Billy nuts when these guys fail to respond to the other team's intensity. Looked that way yesterday. And the less intense team fouls more and doesn't get calls.

But I think they can make the Sweet 16 & have a rematch with Georgetown for the elite 8. The final four isn't out of the question. But it would take a sustained wake up call and hot shooting to go further. Not impossible but unlikely. As soon as they fail to match intensity they are coming home.

It's been a very good year. An SEC title is special. It could be great, but I haven't seen great in over a month.

[rburnett]

Originally Posted by Jonas

yeah, I got to wonder if it was affecting Murphy. He was air balling shots.

He did leave the game at some point with the ankle or knee tweak...

[108]

OP is spot on....we have some weaknesses, but this is the one area that we can control.

[TampaGatorFan]

Hey, all we have to do is just blow out every opponent...no worries!