chrisfisher

Our 3 point shooting was nothing to write home about...

These 3's WNM are lobbing up are just ridiculous ..... as is our free throw shooting.... this game is getting me grumpy.....

In my initial analysis for this thread, I mentioned that free throwing shooting was a bright spot... scratch that for tonight... we were horrible at the free throw line....

We're going to win this one, but it wasn't pretty....

WNM has been dropping 3's the entire 2nd half.... the score is 77-73 with 1:44 left... Mean Green

They have hung around all game, but never really threatened. But here in the 2nd half, they have turned it into a game.

One of my biggest concerns (Dennis' injury) is partially alleviated....Dennis will likely play tonight, though JJ said his ankle is still very sore....

A few thoughts about this weekend and the upcoming UT game........I am very eager to see how we play over the weekend. I've expressed my concern that, despite our great wins, our overall team shooting has been lousy. I really think this came home to roost at the UTA game, especially since Dennis was out. I REALLY hope Dennis is back in the line up this weekend - not that we do not have capable guards to fill in - they just haven't shot that well save White & Thompson. I also hope that Willingham and McCoy (especially McCoy) find their shot this weekend. Based on our early excellent play against OSU and Indiana State and Texas' slow start, I liked our chances to pull off the upset; however, given our poor performance against UTA, I'm going to have to withhold judgment/predictions until after this weekend. I can't tell you how much I'd love to beat Texas, and how much it would boost support for future games from casual fans. A real bright spot this season: free throw shooting; A real problem this season: turnovers.

Does anyone know how the Lou Classic title game works?? There are only 2 dates on the schedule. Is there a 3rd unannounced game for the winner of the games??

Robert Morris is smacking FIU around like they are their little b*tch!?! South Alabama going shot for shot with Vanderbilt so far. ASU is barely beating Tennessee-Martin?!?

Cowboys rule!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was extremely concerned with the UTA game for a number of reasons I outlined when I initiated this thread. In addition, I posted in another thread after the Indiana State game that Dennis appeared to injure his ankle and may about out for upcoming games. Unfortunately all of my fears materialized for the UTA game where all of our guards, except White, shot extremely poorly. Free throws couldn't save us either because we abandoned the post game and jacked up missed 3's all night. Had Dennis played in this game, I have no doubt that we would have won. Our guards need to find their shot quickly especially with Dennis out, else we face more loses in the upcoming games. I really hope that Dennis recovers quickly..... we cannot win without him in our current situation.

Re-read my concerns (especially the bolded one) given our poor shooting in our loss tonight.

The 'belt is taking beating tonight. One bright spot: Ark-LR beat Centenary. A win over UTA suggests we should be able to beat Ark-LR and Centenary, though it never seems to work out that way.

I want to make clear that this is NOT an attack on individual players, the team, or JJ. Obviously, JJ has done a lot right given our 3-0 record with several nice OOC wins. It is simply an analysis of our guard situation based on the past 4 games. First, I do not understand why Triston Thompson earned the starting role but only plays 15 minutes per game. Thompson shoots 52%/2's, 43%/3's, and 100%/free throws. Dennis' super hot shooting racks up impressive numbers too: 48%/2's, 60%/3's, and 86%/free throws. Yet Triston averages only 15 minutes per game (and still manages to put up 7 ppg), and Dennis only 19 minutes (and average 15 ppg). And of course White is playing extremely good ball, but gets adequate minutes (32 min avg.). Meanwhile, McCoy, Willingham, and Bell have miserable shooting averages (below 30% on 2's and even worse on 3's), though Willingham is clutch on free throws and Bell is our assist leader. We are very fortunate to be 3-0 with half our guards shooting so poorly. Thanks to White, Wooden, and Dennis’ big points, as well as Williams’ (and Wooden and Stewart to a smaller degree) rebounding we have won each game. I believe the Thompson and Dennis should get extended playing time based on their performance thus far. The starting line should be Williams, Woodson, White, Dennis, and Thompson based on their performance in the first 4 games. I realize that Bell is a senior and has done a lot for our program, but this is not charity basketball. You either make your shots or get limited play until you do.

I love to see disgruntled OSU fans. I'm sure they are upset that we didn't lie down and lose like any respectable Sunbelt team does when they play the Big 12. How un-cordial that was of us to welcome them into our house with a smack down!! I think OSU should file a complaint with the NCAA.

I've noticed that the RPI seem to have a more "logical" rating system. I checked out the Sagarin more closely. Sagarin himself actually says his early polls are biased until enough games are played. At least he gives full disclosure to this biasness of his poll in the early games. I guess if I had to make reliable predictive polls early on I might go with more traditional winning programs than inconsistent mid-majors that have a few good early games.

I think New Orleans got the shaft more than we did with their win over a Top 25 team... to not even break into the Top 100 is pitiful. It just goes to show that you must have a history of winning, rather than "what have you done for me lately" for the early polls. Look at Western Kentucky... they have beat a bunch of nobodies this year and are doing quite well in the Mid Major/National rankings... but then again WKU has a history of winning and being competitive year in and year out.

We are #72. Oklahoma State moves to #43, and this isn't a bad thing as now Sagarin shows us as 1-0 against Top 50 competition. Other teams of interest: Western Kentucky (#54), New Orleans (#107), and UTA (#68).

Even worse, we only received 40 votes in the Mid Major Top 25 Poll, which isn't even enough to break into their Top 25. Apparently, the entire B-Ball world needs further convincing that this team is for real. Let's hope they provide this evidence in our upcoming games. Even one loss will have huge set backs for us in the polls....

Fact is, they beat us last year. We shouldn't have had to rely on the presence of monitor even if they did score after time expired. I don't think we are justified in calling them anything until we beat them on Wednesday.

You forgot one important game in the sweet category: UNT vs. ISU

I guess I should be happy with UNT's move in the Sagarin from the high 180's in the to the nineties with our win over OSU. New Orleans didn't even break into the Top 100 with their win over a Top 25 opponent. New Orleans sits at 104 this morning.

That was the opening Mid-Major poll (before any games were played). Wait until Monday, we'll have significantly more votes plus a possible Top 25 entry.

More pointless fun..... we are #31 in the nation in the CBS Sportsline RPI poll.