(POST-GAME) @Indiana, Wed., Nov. 17, 9p, FS-1

We handed them 20 points on weak passing and that awful flagrant 2. The ejection of Mathis was absurd but it forced Smith to finally play up to his potential. Anderson was HOT last night and I loved seeing it. His choice to give major minutes to Pinzon down the stretch will benefit us in the long run. Soriano is far from polished and still learning how to play against elite players. He will improve. 

it feels like every year some ridiculous 5 point play or in this case 7 point play bites us. Why is it always against us. 
 
I know the eligibility and transfer rules are crazy now but according to picture in Post this morning Shamori Ponds played last night
That is a good pickup for us
 
I know it’s only one game and the guys clawed back and almost pulled it out at the end. I give them all the credit in the world for that. Mathis looked really dialed in at the start and if he doesn’t get thrown out I think we win. 

Still moral victories don’t help us now. I know it’s early but because of our extremely weak schedule this was a damaging loss. I know most doesn’t see it that way but it is. Losing to Indiana on the road in a close game does absolutely nothing with regard to developing an NCAA resume. If we don’t beat Kansas now our only hope is to totally kill it in the Big East regular season or win the Big East Tournament. Look at Seton Hall’s schedule. The NCAA Selection Committee rewards teams for scheduling aggressively and penalizes teams who don’t. The Pitt game can only hurt us it can’t help us because they’re garbage this year. That game does nothing for our NCAA resume. With this schedule we can wind up winning 23 games and still be a bubble team. Seton Hall can win 21 and be solidly in the tournament based on their SOS and the fact that they will win a couple of those tough OOC games. This game last night put us in a hole NCAA wise whether you want you admit it or not. I don’t expect a win against Kansas which means we have to massively show out in conference or we’re done. This is the problem with CMA teams. They don’t gel until later in the year and they schedule soft early and in today’s NCAA landscape you just can’t have that happen because you’re digging yourself out of a hole every year. Going 12-8 in conference will not even be good enough with our weak schedule. That means an overall 21-10 record. We’re not making the tournament at 21-10 with a weak SOS. If we don’t beat Kansas we are going to have to go 14-6 in conference and win a couple BET games to get in the tournament. It’s all about the metrics now in college basketball. The only saving grace is that this team is deep and does have talent and I can see them gelling as CMA teams do and winning the BET. I just don’t want it to have to come down to that. Just very depressed after last night. Everyone be well and stay safe. 
 
Just a great game to watch, even if a frustrating outcome. I had a tough time calming down enough to fall asleep and suspect I wasn't alone.

Interesting to read postgame comments. Appears that CMA wanted Champ down low on last play so that Pinzon could drive towards basket and either pass to Champ for an easy two or take the shot if defense stuck with Champ.
Clear that Coach justifiably has lots of faith in two frosh. Onwards and upwards.
 
It's all been said about the game.  All I can add is we better enjoy Julian this year.  This kid epitomizes smooth class in the way he plays and conducts himself on the court.  He reminds me of Malik in so many ways.
 
Thought they did great job making a game of it. Could have easily went the other way in 2nd half.
Need to figure out 2nd scorer or going to struggle in close games.
 
Mean Gene, you're not wrong that last night's game could have been really positive to our SOS.  BUT, you're overstating it.  If we go 14-6 in conference or anything near that, we dance. Heck, if we're 11-9 we're probably in fair shape.    Our SOS would be very strong due to the fact that our conference will be very strong.  So, we would not have to go anywhere near 14-6 and still have a great shot at the tourney.  Have faith.  
 
usguard post=442962 said:
It does but it was an away game and the bad call on Mathis ,,! The way it finished you have to think if it was a home games and we would have shoot just a little better in the 1st  half we win so think many would think we are a better team
givqe them credit to come back from a terrible 1/2 we didn’t lose anything by this away loss

 
Click to expand...
That wasn’t a bad call on Mathis. That was a cheap dirty play and he deserved a flagrant. 
 
redmanwest post=443015 said:
Mean Gene, you're not wrong that last night's game could have been really positive to our SOS.  BUT, you're overstating it.  If we go 14-6 in conference or anything near that, we dance. Heck, if we're 11-9 we're probably in fair shape.    Our SOS would be very strong due to the fact that our conference will be very strong.  So, we would not have to go anywhere near 14-6 and still have a great shot at the tourney.  Have faith.  
Click to expand...


To go 14 and 6 we would have to sweep at a minimum 4/10 big east teams. We know how hard it is to win on the road. And that’s if we don’t get swept by anyone ourselves. To rely on going 3/4 games over .500 in the big east is a precarious situation.
 
Don't forget that we play in a really tough league.

That gets factored in with our strength of schedule. Thus, it's tough but
we will have a good chance. All things considered they should give more
weight to late season performance and that's when we come alive.

All of this shoulda done this/that in the last seconds is just Monday Morning  Q-backing.
Coach thinks of the best chances from a multitude of  different options.

He has to contend with the possibility that both Champ and Posh getting double teamed. Maybe an
open Pinzon or Smith is a better choice.

It's not the simplistic decision that we think it is.

The Hall beats us a couple of years ago with a last second shot from a sub who
still had wooden splinters in his pants and Willard is a genius.


 
 
,Yes,this team was full of shooters with 10 sec left should not have been drawn to just let champ shoot,. pinzon should have been instructed to get  down and hit the open man or shoot it himself .Can’t
second guess coach should not have come down to Last play if we just did an ok 1 st half not a bomb
 
We need to be honest with ourselves.

Late game offense has never been, and will never be, Coach Anderson's strength.  It's just something we're going to have to live with, IMO.

Ideally, he would have used his staff opening this summer to get someone in here who can fill that gap, although Shoes appears to be a good fit, too.
 
Pinzon handles and bring up the ball great,talking secs in difficult  if we play them again on a neutral ct we beat them
team should u der the circumstances of a 1st 1/2  debacle the should hold their heads up let’s win the next few and give a full effort to Kansas
 
Indiana came out very aggressive defensively in the first half, played tight defense.  I  thought maybe we could have done better job using that aggressiveness against them by penetrating or with back door cuts.  It seemed like we were either settling for long contested jumpers or carelessly turning the ball over in the first half.  I would have liked to see Soriano get a few touches in the paint, he’s got some offensive ability and is a good passer.  Maybe get a couple of fouls on their star player or he can find an open man if defense collapses on him.  We played better in the second half when guys started  to take the ball to the hoop.  I don’t think it was a coincidence that the two guys that played the best outside of JC were Pinzon and Smith who used their handle to penetrate and make things happen.  Losing our 2 best defenders Mathis for the game and Posh in first half due to foul trouble really hurt us.   Overall, disappointed with the loss but I feel like this team will come out of this game better than it went in.  I think they learned a lot from this game.
 
If Champ passes to an open Wusu and he clunks a 3, then the board would be throwing a collective fit. Same is if Champ doesn't get a touch at all. The play was just poorly designed and executed, and really never looked like it would work. I thought we took a few seconds too long to foul on Indiana's last possession. Would have had 11 seconds instead of 8 to run something the length of the court.

The key on those last few second rushes is to get the defense on their heels. Take the extra half second and find the open man. We just didn't give that a chance to happen. We needed Shamorie Ponds last night for a length of the court drive.
 
It was one game, and in truth it was one half of one game.  This team is going to be just fine.

Many of them came out tight, which isn't surprising on the road in a big-time atmosphere against a good team in the third game of the season after playing vastly inferior competition, at home, before that.  Unfortunately they dug too big a hole to get out of, and losing Mathis (one of the few players who have been there / done that) didn't help.

However, Wusu, Stanley and Stef Smith showed you that they are ready to play against high-level competition.  Pinzon shook off the tentativeness from his first couple of games and the talent shined through.  Champ was Champ in the second half, and that was almost enough to put us over the top.  With a little more help from Posh or with Mathis not getting tossed, we might have gotten there. 

Soriano played as well as he could - he is not designed to play against a quicker, mobile All-American and future pro.  When matched up with a big body like Obiagu or Nate Watson his size and rebounding will be crucial, but last night was just not a matchup for him.  Unfortunately it wasn't a matchup for Wheeler either, which it should be.  And it was a lot to ask of Stanley in his third college game - but by the end of this year I think he will be very effective against that type of matchup.

Nothing to take away from Coburn's game other than that he didn't play well and the other guards all played better, so he sat.

Anderson does many things well as a coach, but halfcourt offense and designing got-to-get-a-good-look plays are not at the top of his skill set.  However I had no problem with the last play. He probably figured Posh would be pressured immediately and that Pinzon would get more of a free run, which turned out to be correct.  Posh was also not exactly lights out handling the ball last night.  I believe the idea was for PInzon to get the ball to Champ and then set a screen for the 3 to win the game.  Unfortunately the freshman rushed a bit and threw a bad pass at Champ's feet.

We move on - I assume Kansas will be favored by 8 or 10 and I also think we will have a shot at the upset. 
 
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