Bonnies vs. Del Boca Vista (Frank Costanza Classic)

Any chance of an at large bid (whatever the odds are) hinges on this game. This is one we need to have IMO or else its "Brooklyn or bust".

FAU is a very good team and they are not someone we can bully down low with Venning. Their big is skilled and holds his own against top competition. Hes not much of an offensive threat per se, but hes 7' and can throw his weight around. He gets a lot of offensive put backs. I view their team as the very best version of ours so we have to play well. If our guys can hit some shots, we will be in it.
 
Yep, pretty much. If we can't get this one, we need near perfection from then on. Like, 16-2 or 17-1 near perfection. Especially with only getting Dayton and SJU once, and SJU only at home. Which, btw, is weird. We played them twice every year for as long as I can remember, and now we have 2 consecutive years of a singular home game. The A10 looks better, but it's a lot more NIT resume building chances than NCAAT.

That said, at large is still getting ahead of ourselves, IMO. Of course I want one, and will be on board 100% if we win Saturday- but Saturday to me is just as much understanding what we have heading into A10 play.
 
This is the HC's chance to win one that can turn heads.. an OOC, ranked, neutral court opponent coming off a Final Four. Every season some smaller school is turning heads with victories and it's time for something other than a "close, but played them tough" result.
 
I have my doubts about this game for obvious reasons, but there might be a path to an AL with 9-3 + 14-4 + 2-1 Brooklyn, IF the A10 continues to perform well in the OOC.

25-8 is probably NIT, but close to the the play in game in Dayton, IMO. Utah State got in last year off the strength of the MWC. Hopefully we can do the same this year.
 
Yea, there is always some kind of path, it will just be pretty treacherous. We would have to win all 3 of our Q1 games in A10 and then hope we can add 1 or 2 in Brooklyn. VCU might be perfect in the sense that when we play them, they may not be 100% yet but that could turn into a Q1 win if they improve. The good news for us is the metrics have been steadily improving over the last month. We just need to get some meat on the bone to get a serious look. Saturday is where we start.
 
Frustrating game. Great d, but 20+ turnovers, and scoring only 23 pts between 7 to go in the first and 2:22 to go in the game, are both frustrating.

FAU blanketed our guys, forcing their hand to move without the ball to make things happen, and it didn't work. Its the over pursuit and aggression that Lofton & Co famously struggled with for 2.5 years, until a lightbulb went on at halftime of that 2021 VCU second half surge.

It's been discussed ad nauseum, but that remains the biggest weakness of this group. The pressure d took away their usual strategy and flow, and dared them to get creative in space, attacking downhill without the ball. This group has yet to demonstrate the ability to do that with success.

It feels like this team is right there, and that's the one thing missing. I hope they figure it out, because if I'm an A10 coach scouting, I'm game planning to do the same thing FAU did defensively. That said- there's not another team on our schedule except for maybe Dayton who will have the talent to execute such a plan to the level that FAU did. They're legit.

I mean no offense to Banks. He seems like a nice guy. He hustles. He can serve a good supporting purpose as a catch and shoot guy when he's feeling it. But at this point, among our 7 guards and forwards in the rotation, hes rating at number 6. It's time his minutes reflect that, because him getting minutes as if he rates 2 of 7 while guys who are playing better sit, is beginning to hurt us.
 
Community Bank 3Pt Tee said:
Frustrating game. Great d, but 20+ turnovers, and scoring only 23 pts between 7 to go in the first and 2:22 to go in the game, are both frustrating.

FAU blanketed our guys, forcing their hand to move without the ball to make things happen, and it didn't work. Its the over pursuit and aggression that Lofton & Co famously struggled with for 2.5 years, until a lightbulb went on at halftime of that 2021 VCU second half surge.

It's been discussed ad nauseum, but that remains the biggest weakness of this group. The pressure d took away their usual strategy and flow, and dared them to get creative in space, attacking downhill without the ball. This group has yet to demonstrate the ability to do that with success.

It feels like this team is right there, and that's the one thing missing. I hope they figure it out, because if I'm an A10 coach scouting, I'm game planning to do the same thing FAU did defensively. That said- there's not another team on our schedule except for maybe Dayton who will have the talent to execute such a plan to the level that FAU did. They're legit.

I mean no offense to Banks. He seems like a nice guy. He hustles. He can serve a good supporting purpose as a catch and shoot guy when he's feeling it. But at this point, among our 7 guards and forwards in the rotation, hes rating at number 6. It's time his minutes reflect that, because him getting minutes as if he rates 2 of 7 while guys who are playing better sit, is beginning to hurt us.
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Totally agree here. Banks needs to be playing less against teams like FAU. He was a liability out there. Everyone struggled from the point we were leading 41-38 on, but he in particular was brutal. There is no shame losing to FAU, they are ranked for a reason. This was just another game where we had it for awhile and then fell off a cliff.

It was a missed opportunity and at this point we are probably playing for Brooklyn. The A10 could be a 2 bid league with the leap St Joes has made, which would help us.
 
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