My goodness this team sucks ballsack, especially Worster and Gach, awful

[chinngiskhaan]

There are very VERY few players on this team with even one reliable D1 level skill. 

Gach is as inconsistent and STUPID as ever, just like he always has been. Just like I said at the beginning of the year. Comes in the game, immediately turns the ball over on a terrible pass out of a full court press/trap (Battin, Mr. Worst D1 basketball player ever himself never should have passed him the ball there)… Washington somehow misses the layup, Gach gets the ball on the other side of the floor and promptly turns it over AGAIN. Such a useless basketball player.

Then there is Worster… HO LEE SHeeeyit that dude is bad right now. He is just like Rylan Jones. Plenty of skill, barely enough athleticism… but he’s way bigger than Jones… Yet somehow, he is completely devoid of any kind of confidence in his game. There was several times when he had the ball in position to score and he dribbled the ball straight into double teams that weren’t even attempting to double team him. Just the the MFing ball or get the hell of the court!! He also had several telegraphed lazyass passes that turned into easy layups for Washington.

_________

So… Who exactly are the players on this team that have a reliable D1 skill? * not including injured/redshirting guys

Carlson: Size, stretch 5 shooting, surprisingly excellent passer (I don’t want him to transfer but he really should if he knows what is best for himself).

Madsen: The only reliable shooter on this team.

Anthony: Defending, rebounding. Terrible offensive player (shooting, passing, IQ in general. stopped the ball for half the shot clock nearly every time he touched it.

Jenkins: Shooting I guess, but he’s so so so bad in every other area he is almost unplayable.

So we have 4 guys that have legit D1 skills in at least one area… and two of them are so unbelievably flawed in other areas that they are net zero players on a good day.

MAYBE: Lazar. I mean, I haven’t watched the team much this year. He’s allegedly been pretty good this year, but he was completely useless tonight.

Not D1 players: Gach, Brenchley, Worster, Thioune… all those dudes wearing warmup shirts on the bench.

LOL: Riley Battin

Don’t worry though guys… We have one whole commit ready to join the team next year… It gets better. He’s unranked and had offers from perennial powers George Mason and East Carolina. WOOHOO!!!

I’m not going to or watching a single game next year unless Battin and Gach are shown the door. I’m willing to give everyone else another chance, but can’t stomach watching those two dopes again.

 

 

[SOWhat]

Hey man take a deep breath and settle down.
Calling these players and coaches stupid, they don’t deserve that.
I my eyes they played hard, are they good young men trying to do a difficult job.
Was this a good team, obviously no, but I think we will see improvement next year.
In the mean time relax, with that rant I think you’re on the verge of a coronary.
Chill man.

[SOWhat]

My statement should say” they are good young men”.

[Charlie]

I don’t believe I share your panic. I actually look forward to when Smith has pieces that are as good as the other Pac teams. I wish we could have held on to a few more players from ’21 but Smith started with very little. The Jazz owner bought our first great recruit, now Smith needs to find more pieces. What I did like this year was the better defense we played even with the weak hand of cards. The defense frustrated every other team noticeably we just didn’t have an offense to keep up. Our injuries, the backup 5 we lost, and the mystery of what happened to Jenkins, all kept us from finishing games. Despite that, I enjoyed watching the team that I feel was better coached. I do agree that we have had a great number of minutes from players that would not find time on other league teams. I hope very much that that factor will be reduced next year. I would like to see some Pac-12 level forwards added to the team.

[chinngiskhaan]

did I mention smith? Nope

he is doing the best he can. He was left with a program in shambles. I don’t know what is going on with recruiting, but if his plan is to run it back we are screwed. 

i’d love to believe that we’ll get helpful transfers, but the evidence suggests we won’t. I can’t find anything to suggest that any good players not currently on this team want to be here… to be fair, we haven’t heard anything about recruiting, so maybe they just haven’t done much yet, but I find that hard to believe. Collin Chandler was his loveridge, and he blew it hard.

You all tell me to calm down. I am calm, and I am also right. Someone please tell me where I am wrong. What have I said that is wrong?

[MacKidsAlumn]

First off, this team is not rolling out a bunch of DII players. Every player getting minutes is a DI player. Most of the players on this year’s team would be welcomed on most of the teams in the PAC12. Though, they probably would be asked to play smaller/different roles. I think this is a really important thing to note when examining this year’s team. With the addition of a few players, particularly scorers, this roster could move into the middle of the conference next year. Some years the middle of the conference is good enough to make the tournament. 

I have watched most of the games this year, this is a team on the rise. They have improved throughout the year. I get watching your team lose sucks. But I don’t feel at all like I have at the end of the past few years. At the end of the last few years, I was frustrated because I felt the talent was squandered, not developed, and there was no strategy to improve. This year I think players were developed, players were stretched as they had to step into roles they were not quite ready for, and I believe there is a plan for next year. 

Finally, when you get on a message board and call a 20-something stupid, you look dumb and immature. I’m talking to you @chinngiskhaan. 

[chinngiskhaan]

I don’t feel bad about calling Gach stupid. I know nothing about his intelligence off the court, but he’s been making the same STUPID mistakes for years. If making the same stupid choices repeatedly over several years doesn’t make you stupid, I don’t know what does. I know, stupid is a stupid word that stupid 9 year olds use. Maybe im just stupid.

[Ute2]

You should though.

Gach has made tremendous progress in the back half of the season cutting his mistakes down and playing within himself.

It’s obvious that he’s getting coached up.

He’s not all P12 yet. But a lot of progress, for sure

[chinngiskhaan]

Lol… you are probably right. I should. I have nothing against any UofU athlete or coach as a person. This is strictly sports talk.

[Ute2]

You should in a sports talk sense is what I mean…

He’s not the same player he was when he started the year.

He doesn’t make nearly the amount of bad plays he used to.

[RustyShackleford]

Gach is a senior! We aren’t talking about a younger player. He’s made very little improvement on his game since he was a freshman. I really like Gach as a freshman but he is a transition player with low Bball IQ, doesn’t defend as well as he should for how athletic he is. He is an average player

[Ute2]

They didn’t honor him at senior night which means he’s very likely taking a Covid year and coming back.

he’s had one year with Smith and has absolutely showed improvement.

and smith is a developer of talent!  

[SOWhat]

Chin…
I finally found something that you said is worthy of reading.
Your self assessment is right on, as it’s been said “stupid is as stupid does”.

[RustyShackleford]

Battin, Brenchly, thione would get no minutes at any of the Pac-12 schools Rollie and Gach would play bench minutes

[palos_verdes_ute]

Totally agree with this.  These are all MWC players with the exception of 4 players.

[chinngiskhaan]

You Gach defenders need to quit relying so much on your very much flawed eyeball test. Take a look at his per 40 minute stats (the fairest way I can think of to compare his averages over the years since his role has changed a bit over the years). He averaged 3.5 turnovers per 40 as a freshman, he now averages 3.6. Is that an improvement? You do know a turnover is a bad thing right? His FG% was 47%, it is now 41%. His 3pt% was 31%, it is now 29%. FT% was 85, now it is 83. 15.4 points as a freshman, 14.7 now (per 40 of course). He increased his rebounding and steal per 40 percentages by a combined total of 3 tenths of a percentage point.

If you want to look up his raw averages go right ahead, it tells the same story. I was only trying to be fair. Any argument that he has improved is laughably indefensible.

The one guy on here (don’t know his screen name, don’t care) gave me tons of flack when Gach had a stretch of a few games when he was pretty good (somehow in his mind a few games meant that he was no longer inconsistent). The season stats tell a different story. He was just as mediocre-bad as he has always been, if not a little more bad than mediocre.

[MontanaUte]

I disagree about a lot of this. This team might not be winning and they might not have all the talent but they never quit. The teams the last 4 to 5 years would have packed the season in starting in February. This team has something to build on in the future. Give Smith a few more years to build this team. What do you want to do, fire him?

[chinngiskhaan]

Good hell dude, read what I wrote… like what I actually wrote, not what you are telling yourself I wrote.

I didn’t so much as say a single negative thing about smith, or the effort of this team. This team is making progress mentally. They still suck, as did our teams of the last few years.

If you want to keep arguing about things I didn’t say, be my guest.

[utefansince79]

Going to sit back and stop worrying about our beleagured hoops squad for a bit and enjoy March Madness.  Next few weeks are my favorite time of the year as lesser known teams get their chance in the spot light and the big teams have to keep their guard up to avoid watching a cinderella celebrate at their expense.

Always funner if Utah is part of it of course, but will enjoy it nevertheless.

 

   

[RustyShackleford]

Marco Anthony is the best player on this team. Best defender, best rebounder, really the only player that can create his own shot we would be lucky to get him back next year. Battin plays hard but is absolutely terrible not a scholarship player. Gach is a streaky transition player with low Bball IQ when he isn’t on is unplayable. Madsen and Lazar are good pieces for next year. Thione is a project that hasn’t planned out, not a scholarship player. Rollie tries way to hard but could be a backup PG. Brenchley plays hard but is a end of the bench player. I’d like to see Carlson play the 4 with a dominant low post center