Western Kentucky (3/14/19)

[NorthTexasWeLove]

 

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21 minutes ago, ChiefTenBeers2015 said:

  For sure, I agree.  Too many losses down the stretch.  Let’s call it a night on this season.  Sounds like too many injuries, need to get these guys in the Cryo chamber and rest em up, get em healthy.  Great start, disappointing finish.  Leave it at that.  

This is blasphemy. To not question an absolute epic collapse is foolish. Name me 1 team with a 16-1 start to end the season like this. And if you want to chalk it up to pitiful scheduling, as do I, then the finger must. Be pointed directjy at the AD for pourous scheduling. This just can't be chalked up to reasons. 

*Didn't help that our Dallas Cowboy QB was sitting courtside with noodle arm Mike White wearing a WKU cap. 

[ChiefTenBeers2015]

Epic collapse it was.  What an absolute disappointment.  Looks like something went wrong between game 17 and game whatever-it-turned-out-to-be.  Too bad MacCasland and company couldn’t figure out how to right the ship.  Need to close the books on this season.  

[Mean Green 93-98]

1 hour ago, UNTLifer said:

30% FG

18.5% 3 pt FG

58.8% FT

Embarrasing. I want to hear something from McCasland that isn’t coach speak to explain this massive collapse. 

Umm . . . aren't those stats the explanation?

[Shark84]

I think you will see two or three on seniors not return next year. Smart, J. Simmons, Draper??? That gives you 5-6 scholarships to rework this roster.

[GMG_Dallas]

5 hours ago, BillySee58 said:

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.

No. Enough of this injuries, lack of depth blah blah speech. The reality is this team didn't falter at all, the team just wasn't that good to begin with. The basketball team had a deceiving record due to cupcake scheduling and once they played better competition, the record corrected itself as best as it could with the amount of games left on the schedule. There would have been no collapse had we played duke or Virginia to start the year because the team didn't collapse, it just wasn't that good from the start.

You're right about roster building. That needs to get better. With a good roster we would have been beating Maine and Portland by 20+ at the beginning of the season. 

[CMJ]

It obviously wasn't just scheduling - give me a break.  I reject that totally.  That may have been a contributing factor, but for the first half of league play we were around the top of the standings. like half a game out of first right before the losing streak started.  So it wasn't like we collapsed the minute we started playing CUSA squads.  

 

This is the second year in a row that going into the back half of CUSA play the team faltered.  Several of JJ's early seasons we had a similar result to where before the 2007 run, it was thought we'd struggle yearly down the stretch.  I don't think there is a single reason why we went on the late season tailspin.  Lots of factors played into it.

[Big Z]

1 hour ago, CMJ said:

It obviously wasn't just scheduling - give me a break.  I reject that totally.  That may have been a contributing factor, but for the first half of league play we were around the top of the standings. like half a game out of first right before the losing streak started.  So it wasn't like we collapsed the minute we started playing CUSA squads.  

 

This is the second year in a row that going into the back half of CUSA play the team faltered.  Several of JJ's early seasons we had a similar result to where before the 2007 run, it was thought we'd struggle yearly down the stretch.  I don't think there is a single reason why we went on the late season tailspin.  Lots of factors played into it.

No the scheduling was horrible and the CBI tournament last season was overrated     and cheap. 

[CMJ]

2 minutes ago, Big Z said:

No the scheduling was horrible and the CBI tournament last season was overrated     and cheap. 

The scheduling doesn't account for the fact that through half the conference slate we were tied in the loss column for first place.  If it were that weak, we would have collapsed from the get go.

Edited March 15, 2019 by CMJ

[Big Z]

1 minute ago, CMJ said:

The scheduling doesn't account for the fact that through half the conference slate we were tied in the loss column for first place.  If it were that weak, we would have collapsed from the get go.

It was weak sauce 

[CMJ]

8 minutes ago, Big Z said:

It was weak sauce 

Oh, it was definitely weaker, but that was not the reason for the late season collapse.

[Big Z]

Just now, CMJ said:

Oh, it was definitely weaker, but that was not the reason for the late season collapse.

It was weak like a flat RC Cola 

[CMJ]

And yet, we were still contending for first for half the league slate.  So, it wasn't just the schedule.  I'm not exactly what is hard to see about that.  

[Big Z]

6 minutes ago, CMJ said:

And yet, we were still contending for first for half the league slate.  So, it wasn't just the schedule.  I'm not exactly what is hard to see about that.  

Contending for the patty cake league with those low rent games?

 

Edited March 15, 2019 by Big Z

[CMJ]

6 minutes ago, Big Z said:

Contending for the patty cake league with those low rent games?

No the CONFERENCE slate.  I am not talking about overall record, but the league record.  In CUSA play we were 6-3 that the halfway mark.  ODU was 7-3 and we were tied half a game out with one or two other schools.  I'm not talking about overall record, simply among the conference brethren.  We were right there in the mix.  Then we collapsed.

 

If we had been sooooo unprepared, we couldn't have ever been in contention at all.

Edited March 15, 2019 by CMJ

[NorthTexasWeLove]

15 minutes ago, CMJ said:

And yet, we were still contending for first for half the league slate.  So, it wasn't just the schedule.  I'm not exactly what is hard to see about that.  

Bc we're also in a pretty weak conference with a fair amount of shotty teams to feast on. 

[CMJ]

1 minute ago, NorthTexasWeLove said:

Bc we're also in a pretty weak conference with a fair amount of shotty teams to feast on. 

Then having a weak conference slate hardly "didn't get us ready" - if everyone else was also questionable.  It's a circular argument.

[BillySee58]

3 hours ago, GMG_Dallas said:

No. Enough of this injuries, lack of depth blah blah speech. The reality is this team didn't falter at all, the team just wasn't that good to begin with.

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

Quote

The basketball team had a deceiving record due to cupcake scheduling and once they played better competition, the record corrected itself as best as it could with the amount of games left on the schedule. There would have been no collapse had we played duke or Virginia to start the year because the team didn't collapse, it just wasn't that good from the start.

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.

Quote

You're right about roster building. That needs to get better. With a good roster we would have been beating Maine and Portland by 20+ at the beginning of the season. 

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.

Edited March 15, 2019 by BillySee58

[BillySee58]

Just now, CMJ said:

Then having a weak conference slate hardly "didn't get us ready" - if everyone else was also questionable.  It's a circular argument.

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

[BillySee58]

8 hours ago, ChiefTenBeers2015 said:

  Hate to say it, but we would have collapsed playing Duke and Virginia, whenever we would have played them...

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

[Big Z]

This is how our season ended 

 

[GMG_Dallas]

8 minutes ago, BillySee58 said:

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

I just don't understand how starting 8-3 with 3 games being won by 4 points or less and 2 7-point wins against 8-21 UTEP and Charlotte is a positive. Those are 5 early games that a good 16-1 team would have each won by 10+. Our conference isn't strong enough for barely 8-3 in conference play to be indicative of a good season. This is the problem with saying a win is a win. When you think you're a competitor, style points matter. Especially in our conference.

[CMJ]

4 minutes ago, GMG_Dallas said:

I just don't understand how starting 8-3 with 3 games being won by 4 points or less and 2 7-point wins against 8-21 UTEP and Charlotte is a positive. Those are 5 early games that a good 16-1 team would have each won by 10+. Our conference isn't strong enough for barely 8-3 in conference play to be indicative of a good season. This is the problem with saying a win is a win. When you think you're a competitor, style points matter. Especially in our conference.

You mean like 24-8 Old Dominion blowing out UTEP by two and Charlotte by six?

[BillySee58]

9 minutes ago, GMG_Dallas said:

I just don't understand how starting 8-3 with 3 games being won by 4 points or less and 2 7-point wins against 8-21 UTEP and Charlotte is a positive. Those are 5 early games that a good 16-1 team would have each won by 10+. Our conference isn't strong enough for barely 8-3 in conference play to be indicative of a good season. This is the problem with saying a win is a win. When you think you're a competitor, style points matter. Especially in our conference.

8-3 to 8-10 is a collapse. I’m not saying 8-3 was pretty, or that we appeared to be legit as a 20-4 (8-3) team. Just saying that’s where the collapse happened. Not once the non-con cream puffs stopped showing up.

Not going to argue that style points don’t matter, but I think what’s more important is that your team is good enough to accumulate style points. We weren’t.

Edited March 15, 2019 by BillySee58

[NorthTexasWeLove]

37 minutes ago, CMJ said:

Then having a weak conference slate hardly "didn't get us ready" - if everyone else was also questionable.  It's a circular argument.

It was for sure a combination of many things.

Angelo State - Not D1

Humboldt State - Not D1

Portland - 7-25 

University of Arkansas at PB - 13-19

Texas A&M - Commerce - 14-18

Maryland Eastern - 7-25

Maine - 5-27

Saint Peters - 10-22

Indiana State - 15-16

Best OOC win was vs 18-13 Hawaii. 

So it wasn't enough we were playing cream puffs, we were playing bad cream puffs. And if we would've played a decent schedule we wouldn't be able to hang our hat on "20 wins". But do we want to hang our hat on this, this way? 

 

[Big Z]

5 minutes ago, NorthTexasWeLove said:

It was for sure a combination of many things.

Angelo State - Not D1

Humboldt State - Not D1

Portland - 7-25 

University of Arkansas at PB - 13-19

Texas A&M - Commerce - 14-18

Maryland Eastern - 7-25

Maine - 5-27

Saint Peters - 10-22

Indiana State - 15-16

Best OOC win was vs 18-13 Hawaii. 

So it wasn't enough we were playing cream puffs, we were playing bad cream puffs. And if we would've played a decent schedule we wouldn't be able to hang our hat on "20 wins". But do we want to hang our hat on this, this way? 

 

Thank you!