BillySee58

I wouldn’t worry too much about downvotes. I have someone who downvotes (or gives the eye-roll emoji) on almost all of my posts, positive, negative, or indifferent.

I think it’s much too early to say that, but these questionable signings are turning into subpar players. I was not a fan of signing Shakeem Alcindor, who had no other offers out of a prep school, and now he’s a player who the coaches show they see him as unplayable. Jahmiah Simmons is a 6’4” player who was 0-7 from three in conference play and barely hit over 30% of his free throws in conference play. A 6’4” player who is a bad shooter looked questionable at the beginning but it really looks bad now. You can go on down the list. The coaches have to recruit better if we want to compete for CUSA titles and not falter down the stretch anymore. If everyone on here just wants us to be better than we were under Benford then there’s no reason to be upset about the way anything is going right now.

I don’t see any posts on here denigrating a 20-win season. Also not sure who your question is directed at since you didn’t quote or tag anyone, but I am a season ticket holder. Which does not preclude someone from being able to honestly evaluate this team or coaching staff.

We are almost two full seasons into the Mccasland era and we paid a lot of money to get him. We can take a step back and give him fair and honest evaluations instead of acting like he can do no wrong just because he’s better than the train wreck of a coach that came before him. It’s a fan forum, not the official team site.

What I am upset with the most right now is not that we lost with a ridiculously short bench. It’s that we get 13 scholarships to use and 3 of those 13 being out relegates us to having 6 playable players. Yes, I know Tikhonenko is also out so technically it’s 4 players out, but he has played in 13 minutes against D1 opponents in two years. Guys who struggle to get off the bench probably wouldn’t help much even when we’re this depleted. Mccasland and his staff do not get a pass because of being short-handed. They are short-handed because they have not made effective use of all of their scholarships.

Yeah, I really wish Smart would take advantage of the mid-range game. So many times he pump fakes a three and goes all the way to the basket only to lose it or flip up a bad shot. He’s supposed to be a good shooter. Pull up for that open 14-footer instead of crashing into the trees. Use the floater he has in his arsenal. Mid-range shots are not statistically the most efficient shot in basketball, but when you’re struggling to get 25 points in a half, you just need to find good looks, not perfect ones.

Yeah, the defense the last two years is what makes it so frustrating. If we could just be above average offensively we’d probably be in first place. Two years in, I just don’t like how many guys we have redshirted and how many guys are supposed to be quality depth yet have been well below average CUSA level players.

Two straight years we look bad offensively all season, never really get it together, and falter down the stretch once we start getting exposed and have almost no bench production. The season isn’t over, but Mccasland can’t hide the truth of this season behind our win total. I get that Duffy is hurt (which we already knew he was injury prone), but in two years the only bench player who has brought consistent scoring is Gibson who has now been forced to start, leaving us with almost zero bench scoring. Why is that? Because we’re not deep. Why are we not deep? Because we have used a lot of scholarships on guys who give us nothing. Wise and Mohamed are redshirting. Tikhonenko has played zero conference games in 2 seasons under scholarship. Alcindor came in with no scholarship offers and picked up more fouls than points this year, and Mccasland doesn’t even trust him with essentially no bench. Mccasland is showing that he sees Alcindor as unplayable. So right there you’re down to just 9 scholarship players. Of those 9, one of them is spent on a former walk on who is a 5’10” shooter but is shooting barely over 20% from three in conference. Another is spent on a player in Duffy missing time for his fourth different injury in two seasons. Another is spent on a 6’4” forward (Jahmiah Simmons) whose shooting splits in conference play were 34.6%/0%/31.3% before he was injured. 0-7 from three and 5-16 from the free throw line on conference play. That leaves six players. One of those is Tope Arikawe who has a -7 offensive box plus/minus, which is the second lowest only to walk on John Weger. Then lastly, we have Roosevelt Smart who seemingly hasn’t recovered from his preseason injury, and is almost single-handedly sinking us in these losses. Smart is a combined 4-32 (12.5%!!!) in our last three losses. Our single-season school record holder for points in a season has a shooting percentage that looks like a pitcher’s batting average in these huge conference games. The truth is, he has been a bad basketball player this season and we don’t have any other options because of our lack of depth. The good news is that if this is the worst that it gets, that’s not so bad. The problem is this is the second straight year, and we only have two scholarships left and we have quite a bit to replace in Miller and Duffy, plus we need to add some quality size. I really don’t think Mccasland can just stick with the status quo this offseason. He has to make some tough decisions, really make good use of the scholarships instead of spending it on guys who don’t play, and get the guys we have right (mainly Smart). I don’t know how much can be done before the season is over but the offense can’t look this bad and our bench can’t still be this shallow next year.

I’d argue the whole season. Outside of the first Rice game and the games against D2 schools

Getting players with no other offers because you like them is one thing. Getting players with no other offers because you can’t out recruit other schools is an issue. We have too many players who no one else wanted and are either net minus players in conference play or can’t even get off the bench. We basically have three guys redshirting. We don’t have near enough players who are proving that they are worthy of holding a scholarship on a good CUSA team. Or any CUSA team for that matter.

This Roosevelt Smart thing is the storyline of the year. Went from our leading scorer and the most prolific three-point shooting season in school history to almost single-handedly sinking this team offensively in key conference games. Shooting less than 30% from three in conference play and jacking them up at an astronomical rate. It is becoming very hard to envision him returning to form at any point this season. Not impossible, but doesn’t feel likely. Also, Mccasland and crew have some big decisions to make this offseason. We definitely need more quality size, we definitely need more shooting, we definitely need a stretch four with size, and we only have two scholarships left. Alcindor looks like an absolute waste of a scholarship (no other offers) and Tikhonenko hasn’t looked much better two years in (granted, injury and eligibility issues). Jahmiah Simmons has been terrible offensively. J Simmons is here for defense but it really stands out when the guys who are supposed to be the offensive specialists are not playing like it Draper has been terrible in conference play. Muhammad and Wise should help but Wise’s shooting stroke concerns me. Doesn’t look very fluid. Two spots left and a lot left to improve. Have to either get production out of players who we have not yet been able to or move on. Recruiting has to improve. We need more players who other schools actually wanted. Good news is if this is the worst it ever gets going forward then it’s not that bad. But man it is disappointing seeing these type of offensive performances so frequently in conference play almost two full years into the Mccasland era.

Gibson and Smart both being 0-6 each from 3 is terrible

Tope is statistically the worst offensive player on the team outside of John Weger. We only gave up 30 points. Offense is the problem and has been all year. He isn’t contributing Jack offensively.

Guessing JUCO and transfers/grad transfers. Abdul Muhammad told NT03 that a big reason he signed with us was our CBI run. I think our coaches saw a big year coming and realized it would open up more options in recruiting.

Yeah I think we get one JUCO and one grad transfer. I think the staff really likes James Reese, who is a JUCO guard (6’4”). He’s a really good shooter and I do think we need that with the way we have struggled shooting most of this year, and with Duffy and Miller leaving. And I do think we add one big, maybe a stretch big who could play next to Zachary Simmons, not just rotate with him. With Muhammad coming off a redshirt, that’s another plus-sized player. A big key will be if Tikhonenko and Alcindor can actually be trusted to give us key minutes next year. We should have solid depth next year. We can’t have guys taking up scholarships for multiple years who aren’t contributing.

Having a tremendous senior year. Not shooting the ball great from outside but he’s doing everything else extremely well. h/t to @TheReal_jayDfor retweeting

If I had to guess I’d say that Mccasland knew back in the fall signing period that we would be better off holding onto those last two scholarships until after the year when we could recruit with the extra pitch of a good 2018-2019 season

Yeah, plus they already have a short bench.

It would require winning on the road to jump the teams in front of you, which is the most fair. And is the most likely way that the 1 seed going to go 4-0 and boost their NET so they could maybe get in without winning ge tournament. Although that isn’t happening anymore. Your way makes sense too. Just means the 1 seed has to play the 3 seed on the road, which might not be seen as that favorable for the conference trying to setup an at-large bid.

Double OT is probably exactly what we wanted.

Where did you see that? I posted that it’s the most likely way they’ll do it but I haven’t seen it posted anywhere

Didn’t get 20 regular season wins last year

Last did it in 2009-2010. Last time before that was 1977-1978

I’d still prefer it to be in Denton

Unfortunately UAB is looking helpless against ODU. Really needed help from UAB there