Lamar Head Coach Quotes
Head Coach Pat Knight
On returning to Manhattan to play…
“It is good to be back. I was glad we drew them in the preseason because my kids needed to be around this atmosphere.
The fans have gotten better every year. This has really become a basketball school, so it is good for my guys to experience this since we won’t be in front of crowds like this in our league."
SmilesWill got his groove back! 
Freshman Will was back! OVER 50% from 3! 14 POINTS! AN ALLEY OOP THROW! YAY!
"Good to see you Freshman Will!"
"Is it safe?""Yes, Will. The angry yelling man is gone forever and now there will be positive reinforcement, and popcorn and chicken nuggets and smiling faces!"
"What about the point?""When Angel is out of the game, you have permission to bring the ball up. Honest. Good to have you back Freshman Will."
Earth Angel, Earth Angel, the one I adore Almost a point a minute, a dominant force for good in the world and ZERO fouls. I was unhappy he didn't play more, but am no longer worried about his playing time.
JO is going to look like Wilt tomorrow He may have a triple double (points/boards/blocks) against the pud front court of Bama-Hunt. He is taking terrible shots and looks over confident on offense, but he exudes Mutumbo-esque swag on D. If he is like this all year it will be a huge asset.
Nino aka Rev-Honey (the best energy yet!) he looked solid, scrapped as much as could be expected and flashed a baseline J. If that thing is legit we may need to re-evaluate a little. Hurdles to me believing in him: creating his own shot, proving his size will play, his ball handling or face-up post moves as relevant.
DJamer is the new freshman Gip He plays with great energy. He understands how to position himself for putbacks, he rebounds well and he is strong and consistently strong finisher. Had a really, really nice reverse layup off an interior pass from Gip. He doesn't bring the ball down, he doesn't panic when he gets contact, he is a really nice body to throw in to the post. His man-to-man post defense is still poor without help.
Tay has a solid effort. Normal tay stuff.
CriesMcGruder looks like crap Do not know why, he isn't.
Diaz and Southwell look like crap Know why, they are. This was a perfect opportunity for Southwell to come in and pass against a zone, but he couldn't resist showing off the worst shooting touch of any of the dozens of players that suited up for any of the four teams tonight.
Omari does not look like a contributer Not even in an instant offense, instant defense, instant energy. Nothing. He's like leftover mashed potatoes with no microwave. What do you have? Uncertain potential. They might be dry, they might be lumpy, they might turn out perfect, maybe there is some gravy back there in the corner of the fridge, none of it matters because the microwave is broken and unless there is a zombie apocalypse you aren't going to touch those taters when its time to eat.
Orris looks like he has potential but he isn't ready to contribute this year. An optimist would see what he's doing and think he's going to be a better Will Spradling. A pessimist would say that he basically has the same line as Ryan Schultz. Reality says Freshman Will Spradling averaged 20 minutes a game.
Gip'll flip looked mostly like he normally does, didn't finish well though. Rebounded reasonably well, but didn't handle contact as well as DJamer. Had the second best pass of the night to DJamer. Not worried yet, but it was a bad game by his standards.
GAME TWOWeber is goofy he chowed on some popcorn watching the first half. Nothing about him said high-major hoops coach. Looked like he was a 10 year old at his first Yankees game while watching horrific basketball with two hundred or so other people. I am endlessly amused by him in a completely different way, but equally strong was as with Frank.
The Bama-Hunt no O-boards on FTs strategy seemed to work as they shot 78% from the line. It was completely bizarre to see them in the last minute not send any one down to rebound when it was a one point game. Their zone was pretty nasty in the first half, they hit 7 first half 3's and then held on to win. Their strategy was really weird as they clearly were doing everything they could to avoid any transition points for North Texas and wanted to work the clock on D, but they jacked up shots on O all the time and actually scrambled for O-boards and loose balls pretty aggressively. They didn't work the clock until late in the second half on O. Their coach seems super weird. I bet we destroy them by eleventy-billion.
North Texas looked like they did not want to be there Especially Tony Mitchell. He looked awful. While his fifth foul looked like a terrible call, he deserved to sit because he didn't do anything on either end of the court the entire game. They panicked when they were never down by double digits for more than a minute or two. They fouled too much, didn't work the ball inside or do a good enough job crashing the O-boards. Awful showing for them. For us? Meh, doubt it means a ton either way as if we win the tourney it will negate the difference between beating this crap team and beating North Texas. I doubt they upset many teams this OOC anyway. The look like they are a bunch of babies.
