@Creighton, Tue., Dec. 31, 4p, PEACOCK

Additionally, whenever we did get dribble penetration the only guy coming off his man to help was the Big K, all the other defenders locked down on there guy and thus we got no open kick out 3's which are the highest % 3 point shots
 
We shot 14-24 from three against Baylor

6 weeks later, not only do we look terrible from 3, it looks like the team has given up on them entirely. 9 attempted threes today to Creighton’s 26. Our only made threes today were from our center.

I posted this at halftime, something’s gotta change re- our confidence on offense. Creighton sniffed out that no one had any intentions of hitting an outside shot and packed it in. we got a key bucket late because kalkbrenner had to vacate the lane to guard Zuby in the corner because ZUBY was the only one who showed a pulse when it came to outside shooting.

I’m not saying our guys need to go to bed and wake up sharpshooters. But they are handsomely paid high level D1 basketball players, you need to at least get to a point where the other teams respects you enough that they can’t sag off of you and pack the paint
 
dk423 said:
I'd just remember that the team last year looked totally different/much better by middle of February. I'm not going to get down on the team in a big picture way. But Rick is going to have to earn his paycheck to really reach the potential this team has.
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I could be way wrong on this but this time last year the team felt like they still had so much more room to grow. This team feels like it's far closer to their finished product
 
Even with 10 turnovers, Ashworth owned Smith tonight! Smith had ONE assist!
Wilcher wilted under the big tent in Omaha. Horrendous offensive effort.
The stat of the day: Zuby hit two 3s in the first half......the only 3s of the game!!!!
Except for Zuby everyone sucked on offense. Aaron Scott especially!
Final seconds and no timeout by Pitino? Too lazy to draw a play? RJ final touch was a DRIVE instead of putting it up again!!! Forget whether he got fouled.....he should have shot the ball immediately.
Kadary Richmond has yet to earn his check as he is no threat on offense except for drives.
 
I don’t have Peacock so I didn’t see the disaster. The box score tells me RJ Luis killed us. 4/15 from the field. He played significant minutes so what exactly was he doing? His stat line is empty. I assume it was a group effort but that’s what jumps out at me.
 
MugCostanza said:
I know this will perceived as one of those cliched sky is falling posts after a close loss on the road that could have gone either way and I don't think the season is over or anything like that but this game has shown that we may be a good team but are well short of being a really good team. This Creighton team is ok at best and this is a game we should win.

It'll be easy to say we should be somewhat optimistic because we had a chance to win despite literally all of our best players playing poorly but they didn't just have off games. Creighton figured out how to make it difficult on us and our guys just didn't or couldn't respond.

The worst part is, the biggest flaw we have is not fixable and it's something we knew about in the summer but kind of hoped it wouldn't be a big deal. We have no shooting. Teams can clog the lane on us with impunity because nobody on our roster is a legitimate threat from 3. That would be a major problem for anybody but especially when our best players - Kadary, Smith, and Luis thrive when attacking the basket. Just not easy to be second weekend threat in the tournament in 2025 without being a good shooting team let alone a literally nonexistent one like we are.

To this point, it's pretty inarguable that Kadary has been a MASSIVE disappointment. The supposed number 1 player in the portal and potential All American looks like pre senior year Dom Pointer. For me it's now gone from "He'll pick it up and look the part soon" to thinking that time is just not going to come. It's not completely his fault either as this roster doesn't really complement him.

Sim is just clearly not ready for big situations like this. He looks great against the Fordhams and Delawares of the world but shrinks physically and mentally in real games. When the margins in games like this are so thin you can't have a guy like him getting big minutes without performing.

Depth is also a problem. There's just nobody beyond the top 6 you can put in there and trust to give you decent minutes. Glover gets lost on D frequently, Vince is obviously a massive drop off from Zuby, and obviously Rick doesn't just Prey yet for whatever reason.

Again I think we'll be a good team that makes the tournament reasonably comfortably and finishes in tier 1 or 1B in a weak Big East. But hard to see this team reaching the achievable ceiling we had for them going into the season.
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Excellent post Mug, especially regarding our depth, shooting and Wilcher. In terms of depth, where was Prey? If Pitino really believed in him wouldn’t he have gotten some burn?

In terms of Wilcher…. Yes he’s had a few good games but I too find him weak with the ball and physically weak as a player as reflected in his weak errant passes. The only thing he has going for him af this point is his shot, when it’s on which it has not been of late.

Many of us questioned the overall shooting of the team from the get go but at least Scott gave us a lift early on. We lost this game cause we couldn’t shoot and were afraid to take it to the hole cause of Kalk.

This Creighton team is far inferior to last years Creighton team. Had this group played last years team, it would not have been as close.

So it’s on to the next game. We either have to find some outside shooting or hope the next team does not have a rim protector.
 
MugCostanza said:
I know this will perceived as one of those cliched sky is falling posts after a close loss on the road that could have gone either way and I don't think the season is over or anything like that but this game has shown that we may be a good team but are well short of being a really good team. This Creighton team is ok at best and this is a game we should win.

It'll be easy to say we should be somewhat optimistic because we had a chance to win despite literally all of our best players playing poorly but they didn't just have off games. Creighton figured out how to make it difficult on us and our guys just didn't or couldn't respond.

The worst part is, the biggest flaw we have is not fixable and it's something we knew about in the summer but kind of hoped it wouldn't be a big deal. We have no shooting. Teams can clog the lane on us with impunity because nobody on our roster is a legitimate threat from 3. That would be a major problem for anybody but especially when our best players - Kadary, Smith, and Luis thrive when attacking the basket. Just not easy to be second weekend threat in the tournament in 2025 without being a good shooting team let alone a literally nonexistent one like we are.

To this point, it's pretty inarguable that Kadary has been a MASSIVE disappointment. The supposed number 1 player in the portal and potential All American looks like pre senior year Dom Pointer. For me it's now gone from "He'll pick it up and look the part soon" to thinking that time is just not going to come. It's not completely his fault either as this roster doesn't really complement him.

Sim is just clearly not ready for big situations like this. He looks great against the Fordhams and Delawares of the world but shrinks physically and mentally in real games. When the margins in games like this are so thin you can't have a guy like him getting big minutes without performing.

Depth is also a problem. There's just nobody beyond the top 6 you can put in there and trust to give you decent minutes. Glover gets lost on D frequently, Vince is obviously a massive drop off from Zuby, and obviously Rick doesn't just Prey yet for whatever reason.

Again I think we'll be a good team that makes the tournament reasonably comfortably and finishes in tier 1 or 1B in a weak Big East. But hard to see this team reaching the achievable ceiling we had for them going into the season.
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Mug, I always respect your hoops knowledge and objectivity and you are certainly not a doom and gloomer by any stretch. I happen to concur with your assessment and prognosis for the most part. I too would like to not only make the Dance, but fare well there. That is hard for a one dimensional team easy for solid coaches to prepare for, relative to our abysmal outside shooting. One game in tough environment, we’ll continue to battle, but unless outside shooting evolves to a reasonable level not confident about our bottom line this year. On to Butler at CA.
 
One final thought. Our centers shot 8-11 for 20 points and 10 boards. The rest of the team shot 17-57. Almost all two point shots.

See everyone in the New Year.
 
I don’t mind losing. But it’s the way we’ve lost these 3 games this year that is maddening. Rather get blown out by 20 then the way we’ve lost these 3.
 
Complete kick in the nuts. We turned them over a ton and still couldn’t get any fast break opportunities. To me that was the killer.

Seemed like we ran the same set with a few different variations all game and 57 points tell the whole story. A lot of contested long 2’s. We need to find a way to score a modest 6-7 3’s a game moving forward!

Lowkey I hate Creighton fan base more than any other. Those losers groan at any call that doesn’t go their way yet they get away with murder with the officials. The refs aren’t the reason why we lost but they certainly hurt our cause.
 
Frustrating for sure. We will learn all we need to know about this team in the next 8 games that we will likely be favored in every one of them. We need to get fat with the conference being so weak this year.
 
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