Werner is absoultely worthless out there. I have no idea what has happened to him, but it is obvious that whatever game he once had is completely lost. As a sophomore, he was a pretty solid player. He averaged 6.5 board per game, could score, could hit a 3 every now and then and battled underneath, gaining some steals, blocks, etc.

Now, all he does is catch the ball and immediately look to give it up – there are times when he receives the ball 6 feet from the hoop with nobody covering him (teams have caught on), yet he doesn’t even think about shooting or driving in. He’s playing like a low-skilled freshman just trying not to screw up too badly.

He is one of the primary reasons this team has no chance. This has to be the shallowest team in history. The starting 5 is solid, but they can’t play 40 minutes. There is simply no bench to give them a rest. Who can Donovan bring in? Shipman? Murphy? Neither of those guys are ready for this level, even in a weak SEC. That’s our entire rotation – the starting 5, Werner and those 2 guys.

Donovan needs to cut the line with Werner – either that or get him a sports psychologist because his mind of totally f-ed up. He played 21 minutes last night – that is more than half the game. He was 0-3 from the field, including 2 air balls – one of which was from the freakin’ elbow! That’s about an 11 foot shot and he wasn’t even close to hitting iron. The only shot that didn’t draw the “airball” chant from the crowd, was a 3-point shot from the corner that he released before he was halfway up on his jump- it looked like a girl shooting. I keep hearing about all the “little things” he does to help the team. I see nothing. He had one of the worst traveling calls I’ve ever seen. He double head faked from a dead stop and then took a step before dribbling. It was pathetic. Plus, how in the hell does a 6’8", 230# guy play for 21 minutes and not get a single rebound??!?!?! You’d think even Even Verne Troyer would have a loose ball bounce his way over that span….

Donovan needs to put someone else in – even if they don’t appear ready at all. Vargas is gone, Allen is taking 2 years to recover from a knee injury and Kadji has the back of a 70 year old man (accoring to mlm). I don’t mind Shipman – he makes a bad play for each good one, but at least he has potential. I really feel like we are playing 4 on 5 when Werner is in the game. I would rather see Nimrod Tishman in there – supposedly he can shoot, and I’m sure he can swing the ball around to teammates as well as Werner. I’d even venture to say he could grab a rebound if he played 21 minutes.

Now the good – I like the starting 5, I really do. Macklin is a severe underachiever, but at least he gives us some size and can grab a rebound and score a put back every now and then. Walker and Boynton are going to be one of the best backcourts in the country before they are done. While I have never been a huge Tyus fan (gets outmuscled too often), he is extremely solid, he hustles and can rebound and score so what else could you ask from the guy? Parsons has really developed this season from a clumsy bit player showing an occasional flash to a super solid athletic forward who can rebound and handle the ball. I have been amazed at his ability to play point – which creates a severe mismatch when a 6’9" guy can handle the rock,

I still think this team had a really good chance to make the tourney. They have the tough out of conference schedule they have always lacked with Syracuse, Mich St., NC St (at least they are ACC), Xavier. They have a signature win over Mich St. As long as they continue to take care of business at home, win one more road game, and win at least a game in the SEC tourney, I think they are in – at least for a round.

Your comments, especially about Werner. Nobody bothers to guard him and his headfakes are ineffective. Looks like he’s thinking about how not to screwup too much.
Billy, if you’re reading this, please teach Chandler the two handed throw-down. His driving, one-handed scoop shot, in a crowd, is worthless. I liked the aggressiveness he and Macklin displayed early on. Didn’t like Macklin’s tentative defensive attitude. People shorter then him should not be making offensive board put-backs.
Once again, we played down to the caliber of our competitors. Boy, did we get spoiled by Noah and Horford.

They beat Richmond by 30. This would be a quality win and a real morale booster BUT we will not beat X with the SC mentality displayed last night. Two days rest shouldn’t be a problem….we didn’t use any energy last night.

Going in, I felt we would lose at USC. It is a tough place to play – ask Kentucky. However, if you would have told me that USC would shoot 20% from the floor, I would have assumed victory . Did we have 20 turnovers? That and less than 50% from the line is no way to win ball games.

We are better at home. If we can get by Xavier, that’s yet another quality win on the resume in addition to Mich St. & FSU. We’ll also need to beat Vandy at home – which won’t be easy, but if we defend our floor and maybe win in Athens, it will be good enough. That would be 22-9 and 10-6. We could even afford one more conference loss and get in at 9-7….assuming we don’t lose our first SEC tourney game, of course.

It could be worse – I just read that the women’s team lost 70-30 at home to LSU….and shot 19.6% from the field. They must have 5 Danielle Werners out there!