BillySee58

But we still would have started conference play 8-3 then lost the last 7. That’s the collapse. Not non-conference play.

You’re dead on but probably aren’t going to convince anyone you’re responding to

This team was better when we had Woolridge and Duffy than when we were missing at least one of them. That’s not an excuse, just fact. But they could have and should have been only to overcome that if they had spent scholarships on good players this offseason instead of a bunch of guys who gave us nothing As CMJ mentioned, we started 8-3 in conference play. Starting 8-3 in conference play then finishing 0-7 is a collapse. Even if we had a losing record coming into conference play, that’s where the real collapse occurred. Yes, the signs were there early on that the offense wasn’t good. But most of us felt like it was just a matter of time before Smart and Duffy got going, but they just never did.

People need to realize that we didn’t falter down the stretch because of easy early competition. We faltered down the stretch because of poor roster building moves that gave us no depth, a couple injuries, and Roosevelt Smart shooting us out of almost every game down the stretch. Duffy and Smart never got going this year and they weren’t even when we were winning. That collapse would’ve happened even if we were playing Duke and Virginia at he beginning of the year.

They have been even since back when we had a good record

This roster needs an overhaul. Period.

We had two players go off last night to muster up 71 points. It’s not like we were firing on all cylinders last night.

Will we catch WKU(‘s current score)?

I cannot get over how many traveling violations we commit. Why?

Gotta be the biggest on-court regression I’ve ever seen

Turnovers, can’t shoot, and picking up way too many fouls. Not looking good.

We are the lowest seed remaining yet have the second most overall wins of the final eight teams in CUSA. Pretty fitting given the season we’ve had.

Yup. Fun to see the band back together

Advanced stats are not the end all, be all. But they provide great support that is, most importantly, completely unbiased. You have extreme bias for Arikawe. In a game where he goes 1-6 from the field you’re singing his praises for doing the dirty work. Not saying he didn’t do dirty work, just pointing out the unwavering bias. Speaking of bias, you are a guy who was incorrectly told by someone you trust that Zachary Simmons wasn’t good early on in his career and your perception of him has clearly been affected by that. So much so that after two years of him establishing himself as the best big on the team, and one of the best young bigs in the conference, and after a game where he goes for 19 points and 16 rebounds you are talking about our other bigs who give us almost nothing. Two guys who have failed everyone’s eyeball tests but yours and who we tell you are objectively not good, and have ample stats to back that up. And your response is that stats aren’t everything, once again confirming your bias. This is painfully false. It’s 2019, we’re not just relying on the five major stat categories anymore. Also not true, from an advanced stats standpoint.

I know I complain about our players not having enough offers, but this is absolutely a dude who I don’t care what his offer list looks like. Please get him. That stroke looks like James Harden

Umoja Gibson and Duffy are combo guards, to a degree. They can run the offense in spurts, but are seemingly more comfortable off of the ball. An NBA example of a combo guard that I would give would be Malcolm Brogdon from the Bucks. Often times you will see a player who is 6’3” or shorter described as a combo guard just because their height more closely resembles that of a traditional point guard, but in reality they are not players who you would want running your offense. Like former Mean Green guard Brandan Walton. He was 6’2” and may have been described as a combo guard in his recruitment but he was not a player who was going to run the offense. He was strictly an off the ball player who was best served catching and shooting as opposed to setting players up. When I watch Voyles film he looks like an off the ball guard. I wouldn’t describe him as a combo guard and I don’t expect us to have him bringing the ball up the court if we get him. I would expect him to play off the ball and be tasked with scoring the ball, while a guy like Jalen Jackson sets him up.

16-1 but yeah, this is on him and it’s on him to take responsibility and realize this collapse wasn’t a fluke, and on him to figure out how to fix it.

He’s also not a point guard

Absolutely. We really need a 4 who can actually spread the floor the way Mccasland wants and can rebound. With Miller graduating our internal options are Jahmiah Simmons, who is 6’4 and does not stretch the floor, and Abdul Mohamed who we haven’t seen yet but didn’t have an offer list like this.

New offer out. 6’7” JUCO forward from Navarro college, averaging 13.4 points per game and 7.8 rebounds per game, shooting 54% from the field and 36% from three. Originally from Montreal. Holds 6 other D1 offers including Oregon State, East Carolina, and San Diego. Seems like a good candidate to play the four in Mccasland’s system. https://247sports.com/Player/James-Jean-Marie-46079055/ http://njcaaregion14.com/sports/mbkb/2018-19/players/jamesjeanmariecsq5?view=splits&pos=sh http://www.verbalcommits.com/players/james-jean-marie

Chance for UNT to get back over .500 in conference play on Senior Day

I think the biggest issues in Mccasland building the program have been recruiting and over-estimating players we have. Much like Littrell’s first few recruiting cycles, Mccasland has just not been winning head to head recruiting battles against noteworthy schools. And he thought our roster was set and deep enough to take a guy in Shakeem Alcindor who no one else wanted and who put up pedestrian stats at a prep school that played very questionable competition. And at the beginning of the year he thought we had quality enough depth to be able to redshirt Mohamed and Wise when in reality his depth was made up of guys who have proven to be well below average CUSA level players in guys like J Simmons, Arikawe, and Draper.

If this were the case then how were we so good and sharp in the 36th-40th games of the season last year? Also, we haven’t been good offensively all year. Early in the year we struggled to get 68 points against a now 5-24 UMES team, then followed that up with a game where Maine, also now 5-24, took us to overtime as we scored just 60 points and only 25 in the second half, then couldn’t separate against St Peter’s, who is now 8-20, as we beat them by just 9 points. Then our next home game we needed a furious come back just to reach 63 points to beat UTA, now 14-15. The issue to me is talent. Mccasland has done a good job winning games early on with average talent but as the season goes on teams are able to exploit our lack of talent and glaring player deficiencies. Plus the schedules have gotten harder in these cases as well. I think this was more true last season and in Grant’s year at Arkansas State than this season. I think we had the talent at the top of our lineup, but Duffy and Smart have looked nothing like they did in the CBI run and we used too many scholarships on guys who can’t make up for those guys not being as good.

I was not particularly excited about Jahmiah Simmons when Mccasland brought him with him. My optimism was that Mccasland really liked him. Mccasland still really likes him but I have no idea how it is warranted.

What happens when you waste scholarships on guys who give you nothing. I really have no explanation for Smart, but it is frustrating how we keep having these preseason injuries that seemingly hamper us the rest of the season. Duffy and Miller last year, Smart/Wise/Mohamed this season.