GAME THREAD - UC Santa Barbara, Weds 12/21 6pm

[AppDub]

Man you know you are screwed when a ball rolls half way across the top of the backboard and falls in. Yikes.

I have played , I have coached and I have watched a lot of basketball and seen some crazy things ...now , one more.

Agreed

[DenverOfTheEast]

yea kinda rough...but lets see how the conference season pans out...i try not to complain about Kearns...we had like 9 or 10 straight losing seasons then he comes in and we at least ending our seasons with winning records...12-6 last year in conference...would be great to do something similar this year and get in some type of post season..but not looking to great right now

We can't even spell his name properly (Kerns) - Facts are this: he inherited some 2000 point scorers (Forrest & Delph) and All Sun Belt caliber players from Fox roster that jump started his tenure a bit - what I haven't seen so far, is his (Kerns) ability to recruit a potentially All Sun Belt or 1000 point scorer type player. Even Gregory was signed by Fox and stuck with his commitment to App. Guard play isn't close to what it was the previous 3/4 seasons and it's showing. Paid $30,oo0 for post season last season and lost to a Big South team, hard to keep justifying that return on investment. But keep giving to that Yosef Club!! if you only knew....

[goapps93]

yea kinda rough...but lets see how the conference season pans out...i try not to complain about Kearns...we had like 9 or 10 straight losing seasons then he comes in and we at least ending our seasons with winning records...12-6 last year in conference...would be great to do something similar this year and get in some type of post season..but not looking to great right now

We can't even spell his name properly (Kerns) - Facts are this: he inherited some 2000 point scorers (Forrest & Delph) and All Sun Belt caliber players from Fox roster that jump started his tenure a bit - what I haven't seen so far, is his (Kerns) ability to recruit a potentially All Sun Belt or 1000 point scorer type player. Even Gregory was signed by Fox and stuck with his commitment to App. Guard play isn't close to what it was the previous 3/4 seasons and it's showing. Paid $30,oo0 for post season last season and lost to a Big South team, hard to keep justifying that return on investment. But keep giving to that Yosef Club!! if you only knew....

Are you saying fans should stop donating to the Yosef Club?

[97APP]

yea kinda rough...but lets see how the conference season pans out...i try not to complain about Kearns...we had like 9 or 10 straight losing seasons then he comes in and we at least ending our seasons with winning records...12-6 last year in conference...would be great to do something similar this year and get in some type of post season..but not looking to great right now

We can't even spell his name properly (Kerns) - Facts are this: he inherited some 2000 point scorers (Forrest & Delph) and All Sun Belt caliber players from Fox roster that jump started his tenure a bit - what I haven't seen so far, is his (Kerns) ability to recruit a potentially All Sun Belt or 1000 point scorer type player. Even Gregory was signed by Fox and stuck with his commitment to App. Guard play isn't close to what it was the previous 3/4 seasons and it's showing. Paid $30,oo0 for post season last season and lost to a Big South team, hard to keep justifying that return on investment. But keep giving to that Yosef Club!! if you only knew....

Are you saying fans should stop donating to the Yosef Club?

Spelling police and suggesting quit giving to the Yosef Club in one post. Way to Go!

[311neers]

It is hard to win when you can’t score.

One of our better shooters saw no PT last night. Eads needs PT. Don't care if he cant play defense. The one guard that is playing over him also cant play D and turns it over far to much.

[Stonewall]

We will be better , if we aren't already , than we were last year .Yes , there are a couple of issues still to be resolved but we are improving in my opinion .

[DenverOfTheEast]

Not saying that, but saying funds that get donated go to some suspicious areas around that place. I would directly put my money into specific places - football tickets only and parking or specific sports foundation accounts so the HC's can use where needed. Although when coaching changes are made - DG takes from Peter to pay for Paul. That is never accounted for. DG runs the YC, he makes it appear that others are in charge, but that's far from what takes place.

Eads has been turned into an outcast apparently.

[Stonewall]

yea kinda rough...but lets see how the conference season pans out...i try not to complain about Kearns...we had like 9 or 10 straight losing seasons then he comes in and we at least ending our seasons with winning records...12-6 last year in conference...would be great to do something similar this year and get in some type of post season..but not looking to great right now

We can't even spell his name properly (Kerns) - Facts are this: he inherited some 2000 point scorers (Forrest & Delph) and All Sun Belt caliber players from Fox roster that jump started his tenure a bit - what I haven't seen so far, is his (Kerns) ability to recruit a potentially All Sun Belt or 1000 point scorer type player. Even Gregory was signed by Fox and stuck with his commitment to App. Guard play isn't close to what it was the previous 3/4 seasons and it's showing. Paid $30,oo0 for post season last season and lost to a Big South team, hard to keep justifying that return on investment. But keep giving to that Yosef Club!! if you only knew....

"Knew " what ? I have invested a ton of money .What is going on?

[ncman071]

Really...you're calling out my mispelling...lol

[311neers]

yea kinda rough...but lets see how the conference season pans out...i try not to complain about Kearns...we had like 9 or 10 straight losing seasons then he comes in and we at least ending our seasons with winning records...12-6 last year in conference...would be great to do something similar this year and get in some type of post season..but not looking to great right now

We can't even spell his name properly (Kerns) - Facts are this: he inherited some 2000 point scorers (Forrest & Delph) and All Sun Belt caliber players from Fox roster that jump started his tenure a bit - what I haven't seen so far, is his (Kerns) ability to recruit a potentially All Sun Belt or 1000 point scorer type player. Even Gregory was signed by Fox and stuck with his commitment to App. Guard play isn't close to what it was the previous 3/4 seasons and it's showing. Paid $30,oo0 for post season last season and lost to a Big South team, hard to keep justifying that return on investment. But keep giving to that Yosef Club!! if you only knew....

Kerns landed Harcum, Abson, Mantis and Littleton, all should be great players for us. We are living in the portal a little too much, but happy with the additions he's made. Just needs to coach better at the back end of games. We really lose games in the last 5-10 minutes way too much after controlling the game the first 20-30 mins.

Next year we should be solid still with depth, as long as those 4 continue to develop with the help of walker, huntley, brown, and Eads.

Is there any way Gregory and Boykin can return next year? If so, I think we would be pretty dangerous.

[agentpaul001]

Kerns is the best coaching I’ve seen at App in last 15 years. Let’s not forget our long LONG tournament dry spell that ended just a couple years ago.

He’s shown the last few seasons that he’s taking most tye ooc slate to dial in the lineups. I imagine the starting lineup is pretty much in place but we’ll continue to see more movement on bench as some guys come back in & couple make room.

Not going to name names, but I imagine we’ll see the guard minutes continue to consolidate on the guys who can be consistent on both ends of floor…

[311neers]

Kerns is the best coaching I’ve seen at App in last 15 years. Let’s not forget our long LONG tournament dry spell that ended just a couple years ago.

He’s shown the last few seasons that he’s taking most tye ooc slate to dial in the lineups. I imagine the starting lineup is pretty much in place but we’ll continue to see more movement on bench as some guys come back in & couple make room.

Not going to name names, but I imagine we’ll see the guard minutes continue to consolidate on the guys who can be consistent on both ends of floor…

Guard minutes definitely need a shakeup. One is probably on bench for remainder of the year.

[app97]

yea kinda rough...but lets see how the conference season pans out...i try not to complain about Kearns...we had like 9 or 10 straight losing seasons then he comes in and we at least ending our seasons with winning records...12-6 last year in conference...would be great to do something similar this year and get in some type of post season..but not looking to great right now

We can't even spell his name properly (Kerns) - Facts are this: he inherited some 2000 point scorers (Forrest & Delph) and All Sun Belt caliber players from Fox roster that jump started his tenure a bit - what I haven't seen so far, is his (Kerns) ability to recruit a potentially All Sun Belt or 1000 point scorer type player. Even Gregory was signed by Fox and stuck with his commitment to App. Guard play isn't close to what it was the previous 3/4 seasons and it's showing. Paid $30,oo0 for post season last season and lost to a Big South team, hard to keep justifying that return on investment. But keep giving to that Yosef Club!! if you only knew....

He recruits players that fit his system. It feels like the staff’s numero uno priority is on cultural fit, hence we are not seeing as much hero ball as we did with a couple of previous guards. Boykin is a better decision maker and has more control than many recent guards, we just don’t have a consistent 15-20 point scorer or a Delph-type player who can knock down a shot from anywhere on the floor when needed. Quite frankly Delph wasn’t that type of player until his senior year, largely because our coaches are excellent with player development and Delph was an apparent gym rat. We have more overall balance than we’ve had in at least 12-15 years. Hopefully we will have a player or two emerge as the guy who wants the ball in his hands when we have to have a bucket. As for Eads, he was dealing with a calf strain early in season and might still be having issues…not sure. He showed flashes of being able to defend bigger players last year due to his low center of gravity and strength. The new look sun belt will be tough and I feel like our strength will be reliance on stingy defense.

[mike87]

Not saying that, but saying funds that get donated go to some suspicious areas around that place. I would directly put my money into specific places - football tickets only and parking or specific sports foundation accounts so the HC's can use where needed. Although when coaching changes are made - DG takes from Peter to pay for Paul. That is never accounted for. DG runs the YC, he makes it appear that others are in charge, but that's far from what takes place.

Eads has been turned into an outcast apparently.

We've got some crazy takes on stuff on this site but this pretty much tops them all. Conspiracy theory anyone? Dude, you are nuts.

[appgrad95&97]

I did think we would be much better this year than it looks like we're going to be. Personally, I like this year's team more than the last few years, but these guys don't seem to know how to win. But it's Appalachian basketball.

[HurricaneYosef]

We miss Delph this year. Complain about "hero ball" all you want, but when our offensive system lacks ball movement and set plays we need guys capable of creating baskets for themselves or others off the dribble. Delph was terrific at that last year, Forrest and Almonacy were capable at times as well. This year we only have Donovan who can do so, and as a non 3 point threat and a forward, it's much more difficult for him to consistently put up 17+ ppg doing this.

Offense needs a major shake up, if this was football we'd be calling for a new OC

[DenverOfTheEast]

Hurricane Yosef ----- sums it up perfectly above.

[311neers]

We miss Delph this year. Complain about "hero ball" all you want, but when our offensive system lacks ball movement and set plays we need guys capable of creating baskets for themselves or others off the dribble. Delph was terrific at that last year, Forrest and Almonacy were capable at times as well. This year we only have Donovan who can do so, and as a non 3 point threat and a forward, it's much more difficult for him to consistently put up 17+ ppg doing this.

Offense needs a major shake up, if this was football we'd be calling for a new OC

Where do we go for more offense? We’ve got Eads sitting on the bench. We’ve got Zocko. That’s about it. My thoughts would be start giving both of these some of 1 current guards PT, we all know who this is. Can’t hurt at this point. Eads might still be hurt a little and Zocko is still pretty raw to the college level but can’t be worse than what we are getting. Probably need more Boykin too as he can score from all 3 levels. Without changing the scheme up, those are the simple things I could see happening over the next couple of games.

[BambooRdApp]

It is not necessarily the players on the court. I mentioned this during the WF game. There was a 4 to 6 minute period where the offense did not move. ...and for 1st 5 minutes in 2nd half, offense did not move and it was one player take your guy to basket. There seems to be a lack of motion and setting screens to free people up on a consistent basis. Just my observation.

[Stonewall]

Chris and Terrance are just getting started as is Abson .That is the best young "core" we have had in a long long time. Michael has been injured off and on throughout his career.I am concerned about wearing Don down at point , he is a 3 and one of the best when playing mid to low.Then we have 7 or 8 other guys to plug and play.If we arent in it by February I will be surprised.