Butler, Thur. Dec. 29, 7pm, FS1/970AM

By the numbers we had no business winning this game.
The team had 16 turnovers.
The team had a total of 5 assists.
The bigs were schooled inside.
Lovett had a mediocre game.
The greatest shooter since Chris Mullin was on the bench.
However, we have a slick cool as a cucumber freshman Shamorie Ponds who made up for all of the above.
Bashir Ahmed also had a good game and I'm happy he may be turning the corner.
The Bronx and Brooklyn kids beat the Indiana kids.
However, we made the Hoosier comeback tonight.
Now on to the Vincention Bowl. :cheer:
 
Looking at the box, looks like a loss. They got 11 more shots. We turned it over 16 times. Williams was 3/3 FG overall 54% and the FTs were the difference.
 
Malik and Bashir both forced things at times and then sat. I applaud the staff for that. A lot of open shots by Butler but I applaud our d. We do not have a great team , but I never thought we did. But when we get contributions from multiple players and try hard on d we can win like we did tonight.
Congrats to the staff and the players a great win for the program. Let's keep up the improvement. Last 2. Games have to be a boost for recruiting.
 
Just returned from the Arena. Wow what a great win! There was not an empty seat in the house and the atmosphere was very intense. We overcame much and hung in there and pulled out an improbable win.

Ponds was definitely the best player on the floor tonight and he was the difference. Also the defensive intensity by our whole team was excellent. It is hard to imagine winning any kind of Division one basketball game where you only get five assists, but somehow we pulled it off. Butler's ball movement was excellent and ours was not nearly as good but with Lovett and Ponds as our guards we can be a match up problem for most teams.

Twelve days ago I walked out of the Garden after the Penn State game disheartened by our performance and not particularly optimistic about how we might do the rest of the season. Now after blowing out Syracuse by 33 in the Carrier Dome and beating the number thirteen team in the country in our Big East home opener the optimism pendulum has swung the other direction.

This is the emotional ups and downs you get with a young growing team. I believe if the effort is there then we usually will be competitive. Intense efforts like tonight always makes it fun to be a fan. It was really great to be in the first row when Marcus Lovett was giving us all high fives after the win. Hopefully we will build on this and continue to grow.
 
An atypical win. Did not shoot the 3 great, but a lot of heart. D looks improved. We are lucky Ponds is only 6 1., hopefully we will have him for a while, talented and poised. Bash overall had a nice games. It looks like either Mullin underestimated Williams or his health was a problem. Nice minutes from him. The bigs are our Achilles heal, not too many rebounds between Yakwe and Owens and Owens didn't score. While watching the game thought we would get a nice moral victory, but ecstatic for the real W against the 13 the ranked team.Lets not let our guard down against DePaul. Was a little worried when Lovett didn't start.
 
I cringed when Owens went down with what looked like a sprained ankle. He's our only true big.

But credit to DW, he played pretty well in extended minutes tonight. His defense is suspect at times. But he was efficient and hustled.
 
An atypical win. Did not shoot the 3 great, but a lot of heart. D looks improved. We are lucky Ponds is only 6 1., hopefully we will have him for a while, talented and poised. Bash overall had a nice games. It looks like either Mullin underestimated Williams or his health was a problem. Nice minutes from him. The bigs are our Achilles heal, not too many rebounds between Yakwe and Owens and Owens didn't score. While watching the game thought we would get a nice moral victory, but ecstatic for the real W against the 13 the ranked team.Lets not let our guard down against DePaul. Was a little worried when Lovett didn't start.
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Ponds may still grow as he is only 18. The downside is there were a dozen NBA scouts in the house. He may have opened some eyes tonight. :unsure:
 
Shamorie Ponds is a very good[strike] Freshman[/strike][strike][strike] Small Guard [/strike][/strike]basketball player.

Did a lot of screaming as I was ecstatic. I saw the new AD on the way out and wished him luck.
 
According to the article, there were 12 NBA scouts in attendance. Hopefully they have their eyes on Amar and Ellison.
 
An atypical win. Did not shoot the 3 great, but a lot of heart. D looks improved. We are lucky Ponds is only 6 1., hopefully we will have him for a while, talented and poised. Bash overall had a nice games. It looks like either Mullin underestimated Williams or his health was a problem. Nice minutes from him. The bigs are our Achilles heal, not too many rebounds between Yakwe and Owens and Owens didn't score. While watching the game thought we would get a nice moral victory, but ecstatic for the real W against the 13 the ranked team.Lets not let our guard down against DePaul. Was a little worried when Lovett didn't start.
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Ponds may still grow as he is only 18. The downside is there were a dozen NBA scouts in the house. He may have opened some eyes tonight. :unsure:
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After the game, he shook hands with some people I assume were friends, or maybe just fans, then stopped and took a pic with a young kid. Looks like a great kid and a pleasure to coach. If he stays all 4 years, could be on the top of our scoring list and go down as a Johnny legend.
 
I cringed when Owens went down with what looked like a sprained ankle. He's our only true big.
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Me too and I like his hustle but he's not really a true big. I cringe almost as much when he takes those long jumpers. 3 I think (all misses) in this game.
 
Fun game, great crowd & was my nervous self driving my guy Monte crazy all night!
 
Great win - best since Dwight Hardy beat Pitt at the Garden, I think.

Very surprising, but very encouraging sign that we won without a strong game from 3 point land. Williams showed why he can be an important contributor.

Many signs of progress by the staff. Much better on-ball and help defense. Good judgment on pulling players at the right moment and talking to them (not just the pull of Ahmed late). Good use of timeouts when things started to get helter-skelter and the every man for himself tendencies kicked in, team play restored after those timeouts. Overall I think they are slowly bringing Ahmed under control. His ability is not in question, he just needs to play more team ball and they are clearly working on that.

Ponds is simply lights out, nothing else to say about him. Enjoy the best show since Marcus Hatten.

Next big step from a developmental standpoint is to avoid a letdown at DePaul. If we do that, and play Creighton tough, then we will be clearly headed in the right direction.

Given the hole we dug, 15 wins would still be a miracle this year. But 13 wins and this kind of continued improvement could let you dream big for next year.
 
Great freakin' win!! Best part for me was how we just sheer outhustled them--something we have failed to majority of games this season. Ponds is off-the-charts good, but Ahmed was so key tonight. JUCO star from the Bronx...where have I seen that before?
 
I cringed when Owens went down with what looked like a sprained ankle. He's our only true big.
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Me too and I like his hustle but he's not really a true big. I cringe almost as much when he takes those long jumpers. 3 I think (all misses) in this game.
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Not really long jumpers, doesn't look like a bad shot to me.
 
Williams showed why he can be an important contributor.
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You definitely called it before the game re: Williams

He was big for us in 1st half. I think they would have run away without his contribution.
 
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