beast of the east
Active member
Absolutely Paultz, these guys have given us everything they've got and and got off the canvas to give opponents hell. It will only get better. Next challenge is to finish strong however the season ends up.
(POST-GAME) DePaul, Sat., Feb. 20, 7:30p, FS-1 / 570 AM WMCA
- Thread starter Knight
- Start date
Last night was the toughest loss of the year for me to watch in large part because of what it did to our tourney hopes, Having said that, at the start of the seaon I was hoping we could win 9 or 10 conference games and finish in the middle of the BE pack. Before season started I thought that would put us on the bubble, no longer think so. But those two goals are still very doable and would make for a successful year in my book. Upwards and onwards.
boo haarvey
Active member
Amaseinyourface" post=421227 said:
Morning after thoughts:
1. We dropped 8 spots in NET to 78 and DePaul beating us made it a Quad 3 loss. So not a TOTAL disaster, just a near-total disaster.
2. Anyone who thinks Anderson didn't do all he could to get the team ready to play is wrong. But he has a team with a soph, 2 freshmen, and a couple of JUCOs, they've never been in this situation, and they weren't ready for it. Chalk it up as a learning experience. After they were mature enough to beat Providence after the Nova win we figured they were not going to have this stage, but as it turns out they are.
3. There's certainly room to criticize Anderson for not making adjustments. But the one thing that has been clear from the day he was hired is that he's going to play the game his way all the time. He's won doing it before, and he's going to keep doing it. You take the good with the bad.
4. I was critical during the game of him sticking with Dunn when he was clearly out of sync from the beginning. However when you take a step back and realize that Williams isn't right and he doesn't trust McGriff, his only other option was to give big minutes to Wusu - which he eventually did but still not enough.
5. Ultimately what beat us this game are the same things that has been an issue all year long: the guards failed to stop the dribble, the bigs are not post players who can cover for that failure, and if a big rotates there is never a second rotation to cover behind him. It was really a replay of the Butler game - another team with a senior point guard and some athletic players with length. If you don't stop the ball and you don't defend the post, it's hard to win games - especially when your shots don't fall which was bound to happen sooner or later, and we don't have a good post option to go to when that happens.
6. No matter how you slice it this team will still exceed expectations for the season and should improve further next year. For those complaining about a 1-5 start as though that is going to be an annual occurrence, I guess it hasn't occurred to you that there was no preseason or that the players who are now performing much better are doing so because they learned from that start. Next year they will come in with that foundation, and there should be a more normal preseason, so I would expect a better start. To some extent I think Anderson's teams generally tend to improve as the year goes one, but they should start from a higher floor next year.
Big picture, folks, big picture.
1. We dropped 8 spots in NET to 78 and DePaul beating us made it a Quad 3 loss. So not a TOTAL disaster, just a near-total disaster.
2. Anyone who thinks Anderson didn't do all he could to get the team ready to play is wrong. But he has a team with a soph, 2 freshmen, and a couple of JUCOs, they've never been in this situation, and they weren't ready for it. Chalk it up as a learning experience. After they were mature enough to beat Providence after the Nova win we figured they were not going to have this stage, but as it turns out they are.
3. There's certainly room to criticize Anderson for not making adjustments. But the one thing that has been clear from the day he was hired is that he's going to play the game his way all the time. He's won doing it before, and he's going to keep doing it. You take the good with the bad.
4. I was critical during the game of him sticking with Dunn when he was clearly out of sync from the beginning. However when you take a step back and realize that Williams isn't right and he doesn't trust McGriff, his only other option was to give big minutes to Wusu - which he eventually did but still not enough.
5. Ultimately what beat us this game are the same things that has been an issue all year long: the guards failed to stop the dribble, the bigs are not post players who can cover for that failure, and if a big rotates there is never a second rotation to cover behind him. It was really a replay of the Butler game - another team with a senior point guard and some athletic players with length. If you don't stop the ball and you don't defend the post, it's hard to win games - especially when your shots don't fall which was bound to happen sooner or later, and we don't have a good post option to go to when that happens.
6. No matter how you slice it this team will still exceed expectations for the season and should improve further next year. For those complaining about a 1-5 start as though that is going to be an annual occurrence, I guess it hasn't occurred to you that there was no preseason or that the players who are now performing much better are doing so because they learned from that start. Next year they will come in with that foundation, and there should be a more normal preseason, so I would expect a better start. To some extent I think Anderson's teams generally tend to improve as the year goes one, but they should start from a higher floor next year.
Big picture, folks, big picture.
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Oh and on #5 I left out another bad habit that reared its ugly head - our short guards putting their heads down and thinking they will get to the rim against guys 6'9" and up. Both of them need some stop-and-pop in their game, they make themselves too easy to defend.
Not using Cole , Earlington and even a injured Williams when Wusu and Dunn not performing is a valid in game and post game critique . It doesn't mean that CMA isn't appreciated . But , I will say this , if this was Mullin Coaching a game like last Night , we would be hearing about it for months . Mike had a bad game on the sidelines , it happens . One thing missing was our Guards , notably Wusu and Dunn driving to the hoop and dishing off to Moore or Champy for the dunks we saw in prior games . They both continued to throw it up recklessly . And , that is why they should have been pulled .
Where is EAkadima15 with his post game recap video?
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We don't know the extent of Williams's physical condition. It was being reported at halftime that he was in pain. He gave it a go for about 2 possessions in the second half, then sat. If he can't move, then he can't play.SLYFOXX1968" post=421256 said:
Earlington was just as bad as anyone last night. The worst shot of the night was that 3 pointer he took, down 14. That was the airball, to end all airballs, and I didn't like some other stuff he did last night too.
I agree that Cole should have been in at the end for 3 point shooting. However, if we were to bench all the guys who didn't play well last night, then we would not have been able to play 5-on-5.
Newsday
[URL]https://www.newsday.com/sports...ul-julian-champagnie-mike-anderson-1.50160424[/URL]
"My job is to keep them in the moment," Anderson said. "Sometimes, you know, you read your clippings and then people show up to play you."
[URL]https://www.newsday.com/sports...ul-julian-champagnie-mike-anderson-1.50160424[/URL]
"My job is to keep them in the moment," Anderson said. "Sometimes, you know, you read your clippings and then people show up to play you."
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Quite a few bubble teams suffered bad losses yesterday. Ours was the worst, but also Seton Hall and Indiana, to name two others. In fact, one of the bracketology guys (I think it might have been DeCourcy), had UCONN as one of his First 4 Out prior to yesterday, then at the end of the day, they were among his Last 4 In, even though they lost. It was just that their loss was not nearly as bad as some of the others.lawmanfan" post=421249 said:
Just one of those days.
There is no excuse for this game. When you are scratching and crawling for a NCAA tourney bid, you must find a way to beat an inferior opponent.
For all of the steps forward this team made, a loss like this moves them one giant step backwards.
And it hurts even more after Seton Hall lost.
This team has zero margin for error now. Win out, and win at least two games in BE tournament, just to have a prayer.
Yes, sorry folks, I am still salty.
For all of the steps forward this team made, a loss like this moves them one giant step backwards.
And it hurts even more after Seton Hall lost.
This team has zero margin for error now. Win out, and win at least two games in BE tournament, just to have a prayer.
Yes, sorry folks, I am still salty.
Ray Morgan
Well-known member
kranmars" post=421265 said:
Disappointing to say the least but after thinking about our interior defense with De Paul getting eighty eight I wonder how did we win the number of big east games we did. Luckily the big east is having a down year and this is a lack of big man scorers throughout the league or things would be much worse.
If the recent big man brought in was eligible to play and had the talent to provide some defense he should have played even if he lost a year of eligibility. He could have been the difference in getting a bid and even winning a tournament game or he might just be another Toro.
The staff better beg borrow or steal a defensive big prior to next season or a pretty good offensive unit will face a similar fate. As far as Roberts and Moore putting on muscle in the off season I don't think they will gain five pounds between them based on their frames. Somehow some tough big man or men have to be secured.
If the recent big man brought in was eligible to play and had the talent to provide some defense he should have played even if he lost a year of eligibility. He could have been the difference in getting a bid and even winning a tournament game or he might just be another Toro.
The staff better beg borrow or steal a defensive big prior to next season or a pretty good offensive unit will face a similar fate. As far as Roberts and Moore putting on muscle in the off season I don't think they will gain five pounds between them based on their frames. Somehow some tough big man or men have to be secured.
lawmanfan" post=421252 said:
Or drive and kick. Dunn was drawing three and four defenders into the paint on his drives. Not sure why we haven't added the kick-out to our repertoire. I am a broken record on this, but it's an obvious opportunity to get open looks when Dunn (especially) is not going to be able to finish.
Can't beleive I am saying it, but Lavall Jordan and Leitao are the only two that eploited our weakness by giving up on their game plan and having their kids relentlessy (almost exclusively) go to the rim. For whatever reason, Cooley and Wright stuck to their typical game plan. Marquette took advantage, to an extent, with Theo John.
I suspect we will see more of this approach as coaches watch film.
I suspect we will see more of this approach as coaches watch film.
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