Bill Russell
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Prettaaaaay, prettaaaaaay big game.
ESPN2 at 7:00. Winn.
ESPN2 at 7:00. Winn.
I think this is bigger than Rhody 2018. A win here and we also basically lock up an at large but also a stranglehold on an outright conference title. That game locked up an at large and the 2seed in A10's.
I could not agree more with your comments on the game. We needed this game to solidify our hold on chances for winning the conference title. It was also important for this group to take the next step. I thought VCU succeeded in disrupting our style of play with their aggressive grabby defense. We are supposed to be the more experienced team. Much like we saw with SLU game this style of play tests the mettle of this team. They went 10 deep versus our 6. More fouls to give allows their style of play. Where we failed in my mind was ball protection and allowing VCU to get 9 more offensive rebounds along with too many easy baskets. For the second game in a row Lofton gets T. Can’t have it from our floor general. Holmes gets a T after nice 3 is another head scratcher. He looks to be out of synch. OO had another great game defensively but we need more offensively from him. I am not seeing growth in that part of his game. Team always gives effort but will need to play smarter down the stretch and into the tournament.This will be a long one. Not an overly positive one. Bear with me.
That one hurts. We're not dead in the water, but we're once again in a position where, realistically, our ceiling is a last 4 byes/last 4 in scenario coupled with winning out- or close to it, depending on who we end up with and how many games left we actually have. I've resided myself to not winning the A10.
That's already hard enough. Its damn near impossible to win 3 games in a row with a team who has an aversion to using its already appallingly thin bench.
I'm frustrated by a lot tonight. It's hard not to think using the bench more (last Saturday, also) couldn't have hurt. Even mixing up lineups can help. It's hard not to think that Roberts or Winston couldn't have come in handy for 10-20 minute plugs It's hard not to be pissed about those 2 bailing on their team early on, and what doing so might be holding us back from. It's hard not to be pissed at COVID for fucking this season up, especially to the extent that having more game experience and opportunities early on could have given them the push they needed to figure out a way to win a shit fest like tonight. I can't figure out if I find it encouraging or enraging that we came a rimmed out three away from OT in a game that we played like fucking shit in.
Kyle has rarely left room for critique by the final horn- even in slow starts he seems to always make up for it. He didn't tonight. Your first team all conference PG cant be only taking 6 shots and dishing out 3 assists. That's not an acceptable output in a game this big. He got rattled by Bones tonight, in every way. Holmes was downright bad tonight. Welch, God Bless him, at least he went for it out there. Tonight drives home that we truthfully wouldn't be improved much over last year if Adaway wasn't here. Also, what an incredible performance by Shoon defensively. We got beaten off the dribble like it was January 2020 all night. His 5 (!) blocks and general presence at other times bailed us out in incalculable ways. Also very pleased with the way he stepped up in the second half on offense.
We need to cut this shit out of getting T'd up and letting guys get in our heads. I get it , VCU's (and St Louis, and Duquesne, and etc) method of defense is foul so much they cant call all of it, but we clearly let that get to us We're not a young team anymore. Being rattled by that- both in terms of our temper and the way it affects we play- is no longer able to be chalked up to youth.
To quote Carmine Lupertazzi Jr. "Historically, historical changes have come out of war". All my bitching above aside, we've shown an ability to rise to the challenge in years past with our cliched backs against the wall. Hope we're up for it now.
Dont beat me up. This is just my manifestation of my unhealthy obsession with an Atlantic 10 basketball program.
My bad on the Lofton T. The elbowing foul in 2nd half is a the trend of retaliation. Needs to play through this. Regarding OO I don’t see the growth offensively. Why doesn’t Schmidt run a few more plays for him? What shot has he developed in 3 years? His play defensively has been great.When did Lofton get a T? I disagree on Shoon, he played a good offensive game in teh 2nd half when he was able to get the ball in the low post. Had a nice spin layup and a turnaround jumper that got goaltended to go with a couple dunks.
A loss on the road to a team ranked as high as VCU is not a death sentence but it was definitely a missed opportunity to solidfy. Every bracket I see has us in that high 30s seed list range and I cant see us falling 10 spots like that. Boise St lost twice at Nevada and fell about 10-12 spots and I would say their resume isnt much different than ours. If we take on a bad loss then its time to panic.
The officiating had too much of an effect on the game. We were forced to go zone and that is when the offensive rebounds started happening. That is not a coincidence. If you would have told me the refs were calling a tight game I would have predicted a 10 point win. That was some shit we saw. Playing VCU on the road is hard enough without having extra shit thrown at you. We certainly could have played better but that was not a level playing field.
I gave you 2 examples in the above post. Why didnt he get the ball more in the 1st half?. They played at VCU pace and that was probably why.My bad on the Lofton T. The elbowing foul in 2nd half is a the trend of retaliation. Needs to play through this. Regarding OO I don’t see the growth offensively. Why doesn’t Schmidt run a few more plays for him? What shot has he developed in 3 years? His play defensively has been great.
From my very uneducated opinion, 32 of the possible 36 seeds are pretty much set in stone barring a major collapse. I get we are still so far away from Selection Sunday, but the bubble is now starting to take shape.We're not dead in the water, but we're once again in a position where, realistically, our ceiling is a last 4 byes/last 4 in scenario coupled with winning out- or close to it, depending on who we end up with and how many games left we actually have. I've resided myself to not winning the A10.