STJ11Redmen
Active member
Depaul went 0-18 in '09 but won a game in the Big East Tournament I believe.
Marquette, Sun. Jan. 24, 3:45pm, 970AM-TV Delayed
- Thread starter Knight
- Start date
Depaul went 0-18 in '09 but won a game in the Big East Tournament I believe.
I don't want to dump on our guys, but our talent doesn't match up right now. And I'm not sure any coach can take upper classmen with modest skills and "coach 'em up" to be studs in a six month period. Can our staff turn freshmen into high-quality juniors and seniors? I believe they will.
And in the interim, I'll be satisfied that they are finding ways to get our overmatched team to compete -- and compete hard -- in the middle of a brutal season and that they can give them a game plan that can turn a 20-point deficit into a chance to tie in the dying seconds.
I think we have to be satisfied with this for now. I'll wait and see if our guys – Yakwe, Mussini, Sima, et al -- are individually better in a couple of years.
Marcus Lovett
Shamorie Ponds
Tariq Owens
Richard Freundenberg
Bashir Ahmed
5 reasons why i don't mind going 0-18
Shamorie Ponds
Tariq Owens
Richard Freundenberg
Bashir Ahmed
5 reasons why i don't mind going 0-18
Don't disagree with you, but rarely has a group of freshman been asked to all carry such a heavy load. And these are basically 3 star recruits, not MCAAs. Usually freshmen are surrounded by upperclassman and are brought along gradually. This group has not had that luxury. Having said that, Mussini has been pretty much what any of us could have asked for. Yakwe joined the team late and has basically been thrust in to a starting roll in the middle. He's certainly shown some improvement on defense and in rebounding. Ellison was slowed by injury and frankly should be no more than a 5 minute per game player at this point. Sima was doing fine before he went down and we would have likely seen some improvement as the season progressed. My bigger issue is not with the players improving individually, but I had hoped for more improvement collectively. But it is what it is. Next season, with the arrivals of Ponds, Lovett, Ahmed, Owens, etc. can't come soon enough.
Which year ?
I think the reason is they are all playing out of position. Tough for Yakwe to show improvement at Center when he's an undersized 4. Tough for Mussini to show improvement at the point when he's a scorer who's best when he spots up. Tough for Ellison to show improvement backing up the point when he should be backing up the 2 guard. And 5th year seniors usually don't get that much better. Put Lovett and Sima on the floor and this is a much better team. Add the other 4 new guys next year and there's no comparison. We'll still be very inexperienced but the talent will be much better, players will be playing in position, and we'll have three or four guys who can carry a team with scoring instead of none.
I'm a big fan forever and for me there is little difference between 0-18 and 2-16 but that's me, others obviously have, and are entitled to, their own feelings. This year to me was never about W's and L's, but rather about putting a reasonably competitive team (read not embarrassing) product on the court and recruiting for the future. In essence, this staff has started a high D1 program FROM SCRATCH with not years, as a D2 program intent on moving to a LOW level D1 league would have, but in months. I enjoy the heart of this team, in my mind a clear reflection of the coaching staff and the type of players they recruited. I suffer with the losses but will keep perspective because I feel this journey is one that I at least find unprecedented. I don't know any program competing at this level that was left with less; one ineligible head case, a pot smoking quitter, and an inexperienced, enthusiastic, but questionable D1 talent. I find this year to be frustrating as heck but it is what it is, IMO, the painful first steps of what I think will be a 30 for 30 story someday. We shall see.............
Agree on the big picture, but difference in winning two games or even one, is giving these scrappy kids a chance to feel good about themselves. This is obviously very tough to endure for them. Staff at least is paid big bucks to take the knocks on road to success.
ZanMan
Well-known member
I am not saying we should moan and groan all the time on here. All I was saying is that sometimes some of us need to.
I am getting sick of the "wait till next year" statements in January in what seems almost like every year.
I never expected us to be an NCAA nor an NIT bound team this year. However, I never dreamed we would be flirting with not getting one win in our conference.
Yes, there are still 11 games left and I do hope they get a few Ws in there. At this point that is all we can root for. These kids seem to work extremely hard and they deserve it.
It's just tough as a fan to be positive, even about the future when this is currently going on. I must admit I sure have enough practice as a diehard who has endured the past 23 years with only a small handful of crumbs of success.
I am getting sick of the "wait till next year" statements in January in what seems almost like every year.
I never expected us to be an NCAA nor an NIT bound team this year. However, I never dreamed we would be flirting with not getting one win in our conference.
Yes, there are still 11 games left and I do hope they get a few Ws in there. At this point that is all we can root for. These kids seem to work extremely hard and they deserve it.
It's just tough as a fan to be positive, even about the future when this is currently going on. I must admit I sure have enough practice as a diehard who has endured the past 23 years with only a small handful of crumbs of success.
Good for you, luckily, “FOREVER” is a relatively short time for all of us. Wallowing in misery “FOREVER” never seemed like an intelligent approach to me so I have tried to avoid it. Finally, for those with reading comprehension problems, I never said I “prefer” 0 wins to 2, I said it makes little difference “for me.”