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VinyVango

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Everything posted by VinyVango

  1. The Missy Elliott repeated rap tune EVERY dead-ball break during a game has reached the Baby Shark level of blood boiling... It's unfortunate, she's not bad, but LHN has done a great job conditioning a break something response every time I hear her now. The lack of content/creativity/motivation/whatever at LHN has turned poor Missy into a pariah to the ears. Can we send Lowell with that Missy song to someplace like UTEP, Lamar University or Sul Ross to be their Dave South?
  2. I get the pessimism. I'm feeling it too. But, our front court is more question mark that grade-able at this point in time. Shaka didn't really give any of the current forwards and centers other than Simms any real minutes in the front court last year. He chose to play 4 guards (with disastrous results most of the time) rather than giving Hamm, Liddell, or Hepa any reasonable or meaningful playing time. I'm more worried about our "experienced" guys forcing stuff. I'm kind of looking forward to seeing a lot of rotation early in the season to see what everyone (including coaches) brings to the table. I think Kai jones, Baker, Cunningham, Liddell, and Hamm will be better than anticipated. I fear Sims, Coleman, Hepa, and Febres will be mirrors of themselves last year (very average). Ramey is the guy most likely to step up. Andrew Jones is dealers money. I feel like we'll be scratching just to get a low seed bid to the NCAA Tournament. If Andrew Jones and one of our front court guys (and Ramey) play inspired, situational savvy, consistent B+ basketball, and one or more of the Simms/Coleman/Febres decide to occasionally show up in crunch time, we could maybe get a win or two in the NCAA Tourney. When the game is on the line this year, Shaka's going to rely on Coleman, Ramey, and Febres (and maybe A Jones if he is back to a semblance of his playing self). The young guys are going to look to them too. If Coleman and Febres look like they did at the end of last year or better, we might be pretty decent. If they peaked last year, it will be another rough year.
  3. Does TO have CTE? ... and how do the few coaches on the staff without permanent brain cell loss not see that this is nonsensical?
  4. Announcers didn’t even talk about the horribly missed strike Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
  5. Absent a newcomer being college-ready and very good, or one of our returning players making a huge improvement, I'm expecting this year to be one where we are at about 16 wins with a handful of games left trying to fight for a 8-11 seed in the NCAA tournament. Mediocrity. I really do hope the NIT last year was a sign of development rather than just a few loose games after shitting the NCAA bed. I am hopeful Liddell and Hamm build off the good stuff they showed in very limited minutes. It would be nice if Cunningham turms out to be a scrappy perimeter defender and a good shooter. It would be great if Baker turns out to be confident and aggressive and a presence in the paint. I am hopeful Hepa has improved his lateral movement and is out of the tall, slow, 2 guard mindset. If we have to rely solely on Coleman, Ramey and Febres to be consistent and carry the scoring load, we'll be looking about 15 - 17 wins max. With growth and familiarity with the "system" we should have a NCAA tourney bound team on paper, but we haven't had a functional system most of the time since Shaka has been here. The play of guys like Coleman, Simms, and Febres (all of whom have gotten meaningful minutes for multiple years) will tell us early where we stand. Those are the guys are younger, greener players will look towards and rely on when the going gets rough. If they look out of control, deflated, and/or lost more often than not, we are in for another fight for middle of the pack in conference.
  6. It's usually due to the fact we have one real d-lineman, a couple linebackers at the ends, and shit load of DBs standing 12 yards deep... I get the "confuse the QB" element and "bend" without giving up the big gain concept, but often the 1-2-8, or whatever it is, give the opposing QB 5+ seconds to wait for a receiver to break free. Blitzing a DB on very rare occasions can be successful when the blitzer comes from outside the end, but when we send a blitzing DB as our 4th rusher on 3rd downs trying to hit a gap in the O-line, the DB too often gets smothered by someone twice his size. Orlando is clearly of the mindset that he wants to play the dime most of the time to make the offense run and use speed to compensate. That works to some extent, but that dime aint doing the trick on third and long like it should because he is getting predictable in when and how he decides to pressure the QB. He makes the big bucks. He needs to be less predictable with his personnel subs, fronts, and blitzes on the 3rd and long plays.
  7. He seems like the former awkward, scrawny, shy kid whose head is taking awhile to catch up with what adulthood, strength and conditioning have turned his body into. Hopefully he develops that killer instinct mentality and gets use of the tools the weight room has provided... This is his first real year on the field, so the verdict to execute should be postponed until at least 1/2 way into next year. If he gets lapped by some of the younger talent coming in next year, we can then sling the outdated produce.
  8. That's a piss-poor (viewing value wise) pre-conference home schedule... It won't get fans in the stands.
  9. That's the recipe to cure a whole lot of what ills.
  10. Poirier has a chance if he can land something meaningful to make Khabib respect him a bit and avoid overcompensating to avoid the takedown or gassing too fast (which has been an issue with him in the past). He will likely end up like McGregor, gassed out early after trying to stay alive on the ground and then finished shortly thereafter. I think Poirier's best hope is to "be first" and land something meaningful very early so that Khabib has to think twice about just waltzing in and imposing his will (easier said than done). I'd be surprised if it get's past 3 rounds, unless they both gas out.
  11. The first couple episodes of season one were somewhat interesting... then it turned into "24" and went downhill.
  12. Bohls is such a petulant, raw-ass with such an inflated perception of self-importance. If you can't loosen up and enjoy the front-row UT football access at this point in your miserable career, time to retire or go work the Food and Fashion column for the Waco Tribune....
  13. I too would have preferred they worked in a few more snippets of BTK's or the Atlanta murderer's backgrounds, preparation, etc... (not including the actual crimes) and dumped some of the FBI agents personal issues.
  14. I think Cook deserves another season or two to be compared to Boyd or Davis of last year. Most guys take a couple years to wrap their heads around college life and get physically/mentally acclimated to starting at the upper tier college level. He should be fine, and if he doesn't improve during his time here, there will be plenty of hungry CBs roster ready to step over him. We (die hard fans) and the twitter/social media knee-jerk universe get spoiled by the freshman/sophomores who get meaningful playing time... That's the exception, not the norm.
  15. rent a car... hit the Brazen Head in Dublin for a Guinness... avoid the Guinness Storehouse unless you love the cruise ship vibe (Jameson Distillery would be better)... hit O'Neill's pub (near Trinity university) for the food on the ground level...walk the Gap of Dunloe... check out the cliffs of Moher... Drive the Dingle Peninsula... stop an Inch Beach for a coffee ... find and check out Minard Castle (what's left of it)... stop in Dingle for some seafood chowder... drive up through the Conor Pass... If you have more time... hit Galway and Connemara/Kylemore Abbey on the west coast or head down south to Cork ... If you get a chance to catch a boat out to Skellig Michael, do it.
  16. Season 2 got derailed for me when they enlisted Villanelle to work with them to infiltrate/catch/kill the CEO psycho... It was hard to digest the sudden partnership, cooperativeness and semi serial-killing sins forgiven BS... The season was much better when Villanelle was gutting Johns in Amsterdam and/or stalking and terrorizing Eve's husband. That said, overall it's still better television the most options and the actors are excellent.
  17. I'm hoping Yaklich can provide lost of insight on the offense side too... by pointing out stuff that confuses/beats defenders and helping with fundamentals (like boxing out). If we can hit the ground this season with the same movement and energy on offense that we showed in the NIT, it would be wonderful... if it takes 30 games before we can implement anything other than the stand around, 1 screen set, we are fucked even if the defense improves significantly. The offense will focus on Ramey, Febres, and Coleman... I'm also hopeful Hepa brings something more that a soft shooting guard game... I'd like to see Liddell, Hamm, and Hepa all get some heavy playing time early to cut to the chase. I'd also like to see Cunningham and some of the freshmen get meaningful minutes in some of the dud games we have scheduled instead of waiting until injury/end of the season to throw them in the fire.
  18. So far the best card I've received in a "pick one" reward pack was the Matt Kemp throwback based on his All-star / 2nd place in MVP voting season about 8 years ago. As for bargain cards, the silver Zobrist is pretty darn good. That throwback Steve Garvey is awesome too... great defense at the corner and makes for a good #2 hitter in a lineup. He and Matt Chapman at the other corner have kept me in a lot of DD games. On the other end of the spectrum, I have yet to get a hit with "99" Joe Morgan leading off. For pitching, I have a lineup of mid to low gold players (Buehler, Bumgarner, Morton, and Bauer or Carrasco)... with Johann Santana being my only Diamond. Love a guy with a good cutter against glove-hand side batters
  19. He's a playground dream... just never seemed able to comprehend and digest all the moving parts of 5 on 5 college basketball, nor the Texas cannibus laws.
  20. He will go to NO... After year 2 he can bitch to be traded... and if he's there through 4 years, he will certainly bolt for a larger market rather than resign. It'll be interesting to see who/what they get for Davis. Perhaps they'll get enough in return to surround Zion with enough talent to keep him distracted and he waits through year 3 or 4 before pitching a fit for brighter lights.
  21. It was a hack episode... those giant metal crossbows on the fleet can't point straight up. Why not fly up and over with Puff#2 and torch the bad guys while they are firing on your fleet? Why not hover high over the wall with Puff#2 when the failed surrender negotiations are going on and just point up when the negotiations seem to be going south? I think the only people I can stand to remotely root for now are Arya and the Hound. I liked Big Red the wildling too, but seems he's retired now.
  22. Ramey is basically the go to guy next year for handling the ball in crunch time. He did that WAY better than Roach and Coleman in the last few games when given the chance. It's mind-boggling that Hamm and Liddell got so little play this year, and Hepa didn't get enough play to benefit from, other than perhaps getting a dose of the speed and strength he will need to play with at this level. I think Cunningham's role, if he gets a chance to play, will be to stand around outside the 3 point line on offense and play as a corner defender in the zone. Maybe the fact he and the Baker played in HS together will benefit them both somehow? We'll be in trouble if someone besides Simms and Hamm is not ready to play some meaningful minutes inside on both ends of the court. I saw encouraging play and encouraging personnel use in the NIT, but can't think of a why it took that long to get things going. The team (and coaching plan) seemed a lot better when there was no pressure to win. They folded multiple times in a row when they needed just one win to make the NCAA tournament. That shit needs to change. As much as I was not a fan of Roach's discipline, pouting, low bball IQ, shit leadership, and turnover propensity, and hated DO's inability to make a 1' shot and his periods of flat out unmotivated, lazy play, the point and rebound totals they put on the boxscore are going to need to be covered by someone else next year. I'd prefer not to see us fall back on the 35, 3-point shots a game strategy for the first 20 games next year. The players on the roster for next year should allow a good coach to hit 20-22 wins fairly easily. Fuck "good losses" and not showing up for scrub games like OSU, TCU and Georgia. And fuck pissing away 19 point leads at the end of games. Since it looks like Shaka is staying, can we send him and his assistants to apprentice over the summer with Izzo?... and, let Jai Lucas go to A&M.
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