@Villanova, Wed., Feb. 12 , 6p, FS-1

lawmanfan said:
I assumed this game would be a 2-point loss going in so the result didn't surprise me. But it was interesting how we got there.

As I posted mid-game, we (predictably) came in prepared to take the 3 point line away from Nova and they (predictably) came in prepared to clog the lane and make us shoot from the outside.

Both teams were effective at doing that (Nova being more effective at it than I would have expected). We were surprisingly and pleasantly good at taking and making the 3s that they gave us.

Where we broke down in the first half (especially in the first 10 minutes) was defending the lane out of a spread defense, and the main culprit there was RJ who picked up where he left off last time we played Nova by getting cooked repeatedly by Poplar. When Pitino pulled him the defense improved and we made a game of it at the half.

Unfortunately in the second half Nova improved from 3 (at least twice because RJ failed to close out on the shooter and once because Dixon made one over Scott playing truly heroic defense).

The net result of RJ not producing defensively and getting benched for large stretches was - especially with Smith out - not enough offense to overcome the first 10 minutes. Kadary with 3 consecutive turnovers late and Zuby contributing nothing on offense did not help either.

Overall it was just one of those games, chalk it up and move on the Creighton. Win that and we probably hold in the rankings around 12 or something depending on other games. And truthfully I am not that concerned with the number next to our name, it's just about getting to the tournament with a decent seed and hopefully doing some damage.
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I’m surprised , LMF but, you seem to be blowing off winning the BE regular Season and BE Tournament ? Is that correct ?

Maybe I’m reading it wrong but, the Rankings and Seeding are inherently tied together , are they not? And , the better the rankings , the better the seeding

If we don’t win the regular season BE title , we could be playing higher finishing teams , I.e. Villanova again or UCONN or , even Creighton before we get to the semi finals or , finals of the BE tournament .

The idea of winning means not having to play the better teams to get to our Final Objective and best possible seed in the NCAA .

I don’t think Pitino subscribes to not winning every game left in our schedule .

Just getting to the NCAA shouldn’t be our objective . Getting as far as this team takes us , is the real goal . And , to do that , means winning every game left. Must win ?

You bet !

At this point , we could probably limp our way into the tournament but Is that acceptable ?
 
lawmanfan said:
He had a rough night. In the first half he couldn't stop the ball and in the second half he couldn't close out on 3 point shooters. Most games he brings you more in rebounding and offense than he costs you with the few mental mistakes, and he also adds a lot defensively. This just wasn't one of those games and especially with Smith out the team just didn't have enough to pull it out on the road.

As noted it isn't all on RJ - Kadary did not bring his A game offensively plus had a few terrible turnovers, Zuby had one of those games where he was either out of position to rebound because he had to chase Dixon and when he was in position the ball bounced the other way, Glover, Liotopoulos, and Vince can't be put into the game for more than 2 minutes (maybe less for Glover).

But the off night from RJ in combination with no Smith, limited bench, and on the road against a Nova team that played hard was not a prescription for success.
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Lefty cant be put in the game for more than 2 minutes?

Why is that? All I see when hes in there is that hes a pretty good shooter. Ive never seen him make any egregious mistakes.

Ive never seen him play more than 2 minutes so I really cant make the assumption he cant do if.

Id love to see him get some real playing time and see what he can do.
 
CBA69 said:
You're right. I should have said that RJ was about to triple team Poplar near the foul line where Zuby and Wilcher were but he realized Perkins was open behind the three point line but got to Perkins too late. You yourself said that "He gave Poplar an Ole wave as he went by .... He was primarily a spectator." This indicates that RJ was out of position which was exactly my point.
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Got it..,,
 
Mullins Revenge said:
Lefty cant be put in the game for more than 2 minutes?

Why is that? All I see when hes in there is that hes a pretty good shooter. Ive never seen him make any egregious mistakes.

Ive never seen him play more than 2 minutes so I really cant make the assumption he cant do if.

Id love to see him get some real playing time and see what he can do.
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Fully aware that all you see is that he's a good shooter. That's all you saw of Glover, too - until you saw more of Glover.

Stop me if I've said this before, but believe it or not there's a lot more to the game than shooting.

You know who else said that? My hero Shaka Smart!
 
SLYFOXX1968 said:
I’m surprised , LMF but, you seem to be blowing off winning the BE regular Season and BE Tournament ? Is that correct ?

Maybe I’m reading it wrong but, the Rankings and Seeding are inherently tied together , are they not? And , the better the rankings , the better the seeding

If we don’t win the regular season BE title , we could be playing higher finishing teams , I.e. Villanova again or UCONN or , even Creighton before we get to the semi finals or , finals of the BE tournament .

The idea of winning means not having to play the better teams to get to our Final Objective and best possible seed in the NCAA .

I don’t think Pitino subscribes to not winning every game left in our schedule .

Just getting to the NCAA shouldn’t be our objective . Getting as far as this team takes us , is the real goal . And , to do that , means winning every game left. Must win ?

You bet !

At this point , we could probably limp our way into the tournament but Is that acceptable ?
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Whether you're #9 or #12 you're still a 3 or 4 seed, depending on how closely the committee's view hews to the AP's view (which is not a lock). There's a difference between being #9 and being #25 but that isn't this conversation.

TBH I expected this team to be in the 20-30 area this season, so we are already playing with house money here.

Beat Creighton on Sunday, that's the next task. Win that and we're fine. Lose that, and it's a bad time of the year to have a little tailspin.
 
lawmanfan said:
Fully aware that all you see is that he's a good shooter. That's all you saw of Glover, too - until you saw more of Glover.

Stop me if I've said this before, but believe it or not there's a lot more to the game than shooting.

You know who else said that? My hero Shaka Smart!
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Glover has had his chances and has played his way out of the rotation. Id like to see Lefty get a 4 or 5 minute stretch and see how he does.
 
lawmanfan said:
Whether you're #9 or #12 you're still a 3 or 4 seed, depending on how closely the committee's view hews to the AP's view (which is not a lock). There's a difference between being #9 and being #25 but that isn't this conversation.

TBH I expected this team to be in the 20-30 area this season, so we are already playing with house money here.

Beat Creighton on Sunday, that's the next task. Win that and we're fine. Lose that, and it's a bad time of the year to have a little tailspin.
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I think where we are now and still aspire to be is higher than 9 or 12 and that only comes with winning

Winning the BE Regular Season Title and BE Tourney would , if equity exists within the NCAA, result in possibly a 2 seed for tournament . This would result in being ranked 5 , 6 , 7 or 8.

A much better opportunity to Advance than being 9 or 12 for seeding purposes ..

We have 3 tough games to win , Creighton , Marquette and UCONN at MSG .

Win those and the BE Tourney andwho knows maybe a 1 seed ?

Improbable but , possible .

Pitino talks about winning the NCAA Tournament , not just making the Tournament .
 
Mullins Revenge said:
Lefty cant be put in the game for more than 2 minutes?

Why is that? All I see when hes in there is that hes a pretty good shooter. Ive never seen him make any egregious mistakes.

Ive never seen him play more than 2 minutes so I really cant make the assumption he cant do if.

Id love to see him get some real playing time and see what he can do.
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Defense isn't there yet. He's not just a pretty good shooter, he's really, really good.
 
Marillac2 said:
Defense isn't there yet. He's not just a pretty good shooter, he's really, really good.
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He's an excellent shooter. Unfortunately in every other aspect of the game he's currently toodling along at 35 MPH in the right lane while cars are passing him by doing 70.
 
Marillac2 said:
Defense isn't there yet. He's not just a pretty good shooter, he's really, really good.
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I have not seen him enough out there to say the defense isnt there yet. Nova had a 5'8 pg. That was a great opportunity to let Lefty chase him around and see what he could do. But he did not get that chance.
 
lawmanfan said:
He's an excellent shooter. Unfortunately in every other aspect of the game he's currently toodling along at 35 MPH in the right lane while cars are passing him by doing 70.
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And Glover is doing 150 then.

I actually haven't seen any obvious weaknesses from Lefty yet...and I watch him like a hawk when he's in.
 
mkras99 said:
Crap - we lost it already. Season’s over.
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Maybe my Must Win declaration sounds more final then I mean it to sound. I just don't want to be choking for a win the rest of the season. 2 loses to Creighton is bad on our resume.
 
mkras99 said:
Crap - we lost it already. Season’s over.
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No...not really a must win...especially with Smith out. Define season. Is it making the tournament...getting through the first weekend...or a big run. To me, anything short of a sweet 16 would be a disappointment. You? Anyone?
 
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