Western Kentucky (2/9/19)

RBTX · February 10, 2019

Looks like UAB loss to UNCC tonight. Depending on the outcome of UTEP vs FIU we should only need 1 win to ensure we get in pod 1.

Edited February 10, 2019 by RBTX

Wag Tag · February 10, 2019

1 hour ago, BillySee58 said:

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.

3 minutes left and Draper is on the floor and Smart is on the bench! That sums it up!

Mean Green Matt · February 10, 2019

3 minutes ago, southsideguy said:

Wait we played a first half this game? We were the team that look tired in the first half. We need to get our hurt players back. Smart stats were very unimpressive , i really thought at the Marshall game things might be turning for him. DJ please take the open shot when u have it. We doomed our self with the first half performance 15 points -Ouch, on the bright side 4th largest crowd in basketball history according to the guys on the radio after the game. But once again big crowd and a loss. I have never heard the pit so loud at one time. To bad it was for a free in and out burger. If the crowd could get that loud during the game it would be one of the loudest places to play in the country.

The crowd was ready to explode a few different times but we missed the shots.

Wag Tag · February 10, 2019

22 minutes ago, emmitt01 said:

Let me offer a bit of a different perspective.

We shot 1-12 from beyond the arc in the 1st half. We turned the ball over too much. Smart took REALLY REALLY bad shots. And we went into the locker room down 15.

Given all of that...

They SHOULD have ran away and hid in the second half, especially given their size advantage. They SHOULD have used their basketball pedigree to make it a wire to wire laugher. We SHOULD have folded up tent and quit if you remember any moment of the Benford debacle.

But they didn’t, and we didn’t. We lost by 3 on a night when Smart was an all-around liability, Duffy sat the bench, and the other team missed a grand total of two (2) free throws.

The result sucks...really bad. But I’m not ready to pretend this team doesn’t have everything it needs to make a run in Frisco.

Best free throwing team I have seen. Every one of them had a smooth stroke

FirefightnRick · February 10, 2019

Boy do we have a knack for blowing it in front of our best crowds. I’m proud of the way we fought back but damn what a shame.

Rick

FirefightnRick · February 10, 2019

45 minutes ago, emmitt01 said:

Let me offer a bit of a different perspective.

We shot 1-12 from beyond the arc in the 1st half. We turned the ball over too much. Smart took REALLY REALLY bad shots. And we went into the locker room down 15.

Given all of that...

They SHOULD have ran away and hid in the second half, especially given their size advantage. They SHOULD have used their basketball pedigree to make it a wire to wire laugher. We SHOULD have folded up tent and quit if you remember any moment of the Benford debacle.

But they didn’t, and we didn’t. We lost by 3 on a night when Smart was an all-around liability, Duffy sat the bench, and the other team missed a grand total of two (2) free throws.

The result sucks...really bad. But I’m not ready to pretend this team doesn’t have everything it needs to make a run in Frisco.

That’s my take as well. We play THAT bad of a first half and still had a chance.

At some point though Z. Simmons and all the rest have got to learn to use the glass and take the 6 to 12 foot jumper. Never seen a team pass up the mid range shot so often?

Rick

greenminer · February 10, 2019

17 minutes ago, FirefightnRick said:

Boy do we have a knack for blowing it in front of our best crowds. I’m proud of the way we fought back but damn what a shame.

Rick

Yeah. This seems like a UNT curse (with some exception)

a big big win tonight could have a propelled us into a new tier of average attendance.

97and03 · February 10, 2019

Sorry. This is just not a good team. 20 wins is an illusion of cheap scheduling.

Green Lantern · February 10, 2019

Props to the AD for syncing up the promotions and delivering a huge crowd for our biggest home conference game this year. Sucks we didn’t deliver a W. The crowd was primed and ready to blow the roof of the place if we’d have hit shots at a couple key moments.

kingwoodgreen · February 10, 2019

On a positive note, I will say this team has no quit in them. Just want to post something other than my negative rant. But nuts still a bit sore...

drex · February 10, 2019

This team is all fight...it got beat by a team of giants who could hit their free throws. By the way, C-USA be afraid of Mo Gibson, very afraid. Cannot wait for the tournament when anyone can win the thing.

FirefightnRick · February 10, 2019

One of the highlights of the game for me was seeing some of our past greats introduced at halftime. This is going to become an annual tradition I’m told. Many I knew like Wendell Williams, Deon Hunter, George King, Chris Davis etc.. But many I didn’t. One I got to meet was Kennith Williams who led the nation in rebounding during the 77-78 season.

He told us about one incredible game he had that year in which he pulled down 29 boards against a Billy Tubbs coached Lamar team. Holy shit I wished I could have seen that.

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Rick

NorthTexasWeLove · February 10, 2019

Great crowd delivered by the Denton community tonight. Followed up with yet another nut punch. For the people always whining about attendance and not enough support from the community. Well, see why....great crowd vs LaTech in football an we get our throat slashed. Great crowd in a pivotal conf game tonight and we get gutted. So you peeps can simmer that down. Championship college basketball caliber crowd tonight and JV basketball. 15 points in a half. Geeeeez

And for the love of basketball...bench Smart. Dude is 100% a liability.

Mean Green Matt · February 10, 2019

32 minutes ago, greenminer said:

Yeah. This seems like a UNT curse (with some exception)

a big big win tonight could have a propelled us into a new tier of average attendance.

Yes and no. These things don’t happen overnight. The CBI win last year didn’t automatically propel us to 4,000 per game. We are probably going to average in the 3400 to 3500 range this year. Using VERY round numbers that would be 2 years in a row of increasing average attendance by around 30%. Do that two more times and we are basically at 6,000.

greenminer · February 10, 2019

2 hours ago, Mean Green Matt said:

Yes and no. These things don’t happen overnight. The CBI win last year didn’t automatically propel us to 4,000 per game. We are probably going to average in the 3400 to 3500 range this year. Using VERY round numbers that would be 2 years in a row of increasing average attendance by around 30%. Do that two more times and we are basically at 6,000.

I don’t think this would have been a huge leap, but there were surely some people that came out for the first time in a while...motivated to see a 20 win team beat WKU and start a serious run into the CUSA tourney. Now the AD will have to work their butt off to get them back again.

I think a mid-season win over WKU has a different weight than a post season title. We are already a 20 win team, and we still have games to go after this.

the CBI run seemed to come out of nowhere and the off-season was right there.

GMG_Dallas · February 10, 2019

5 hours ago, Cooley said:

Jackson was one of the top players in Texas and had a New Mexico offer. Wallace had a UTA offer

You're telling me one of the state's top players in the recruiting hotbed of DFW had 2 offers, one of which was from UTSA? Because to me that doesn't scream future star if we're going based on offer lists. The truth is he was a proven scorer and UTSA went after him despite him only having 1 other offer because they trusted their scouting. Here's an article about him and how they found him (all-star game in New York). https://www.expressnews.com/sports/college_sports/utsa/article/UTSA-s-Jackson-making-his-mark-as-a-freshman-12510951.php

Regarding Wallace, that's great that he had a Sun Belt offer and UTSA offer. I doubt UTSA looked at him and said "wow check out that UTA offer. He'll be a star!" Again, found a proven scorer and trusted their scouting.

Most of the guys we've been getting lately seem like they were averaging around 15ppg before coming here (and some good rebounding numbers). Jackson had two 50 point games in high school. We need to find the guys who can do that. If we can't trust our ability to find talent, that needs to be addressed but this isn't a video game where you just offer everybody who has other offers and find success. Have to evaluate talent better regardless of what the other 17-15 programs are doing.

Mean Green Matt · February 10, 2019

6 hours ago, greenminer said:

I don’t think this would have been a huge leap, but there were surely some people that came out for the first time in a while...motivated to see a 20 win team beat WKU and start a serious run into the CUSA tourney. Now the AD will have to work their butt off to get them back again.

I think a mid-season win over WKU has a different weight than a post season title. We are already a 20 win team, and we still have games to go after this.

the CBI run seemed to come out of nowhere and the off-season was right there.

Oh I’m certainly not going to argue this wasn’t an inconvenient time to lose. I think it was very important (from a getting people back perspective) that we ultimately made somewhat of a game of it.

Big Z · February 10, 2019

Playtime is almost over

CUSA tournament in a couple of weeks and we have the home court advantage. Time to man up and stop doing stupid stuff.

southsideguy · February 10, 2019

Lets face it the only thing that really matters for the CUSA teams is who wins the tournment. We are one bid conference right now. Hopefully we can get a few into the NIT. The crowd last night makes us look more attractive for the NIT, attendance is important to home games for the nit treams.

GreenEggs&Ham™ · February 10, 2019

1 hour ago, southsideguy said:

Lets face it the only thing that really matters for the CUSA teams is who wins the tournment. We are one bid conference right now. Hopefully we can get a few into the NIT. The crowd last night makes us look more attractive for the NIT, attendance is important to home games for the nit treams.

UNT has lost 9 straight to WKU so if we face them in CUSA championship game in doesn't look good for an NCAA automatic bid.

15 points in the first half is unacceptable at div 1 men's college bb. Very drastic improvement is needed,

GrandGreen · February 10, 2019

NT came out nervous and WKU came out on a mission to beat the team with the best overall record in the conference. The shots didn't fall in the first half for NT partially because they were afraid to challenge Bassey.

Smart was a liability but the two games before he looked the best he has all year. NT must have a more consistent Smart, but he is way too valuable to give up on even if NT had the depth they needed.

NT is hurting for depth and with Duffy and J. Simmons both out, they are in trouble. NT was playing with Gibson, Smart, Draper, Z. Simmons, Miller and Woolridge. Those waiting for Arikawe to be anything other than a severe liability on the court will continue to be disappointed.

That is 6 players and only one over 6'3. Yet some of you seem to think NT should have run over the most physical tall team in the league.

Yes, it was a blown opportunity and any of a myriad of factors could have easily turned it into a win. I am as disappointed in the loss as anyone, but I really admire a team that just does not give up.

CMJ · February 10, 2019

2 hours ago, southsideguy said:

Lets face it the only thing that really matters for the CUSA teams is who wins the tournment. We are one bid conference right now. Hopefully we can get a few into the NIT. The crowd last night makes us look more attractive for the NIT, attendance is important to home games for the nit treams.

It used to be important. Now that the NCAA runs the NIT, I'm not sure attendance matters as much.

greenminer · February 10, 2019

5 hours ago, southsideguy said:

Lets face it the only thing that really matters for the CUSA teams is who wins the tournment. We are one bid conference right now. Hopefully we can get a few into the NIT. The crowd last night makes us look more attractive for the NIT, attendance is important to home games for the nit treams.

If you're suggesting that this loss is nothing to worry about because we're not getting an at-large bid anyways, I would say the worry is more about CUSA tourney positioning.

If we want to win the CUSA tourney to get into the NCAA, seeding couple play a big factor.