Charlotte (3/4/20)

[FirefightnRick]

And now we follow this performance with the dreaded off week. Crap!

Rick

Edited March 5, 2020 by FirefightnRick

[RiseUNT]

21 minutes ago, GrandGreen said:

I don't believe the game was as unimportant as some.   Every game effects NT's national ranking, a loss to Charlotte will lower that rating and could cost in a national tournament.  

Despite that, I just don't know what NT's offense was trying to do.   Had the tallest player in the game playing around the 3 circle and getting him the ball, only to make another long pass.  At least three times he throw the ball away.   

NT beat this team by going inside in the first game, and this time they didn't even try to go inside until they got behind by double digits.  

Very poor coaching by a very good coach.   Was he trying to make them play bad to send them a message?  Sound far fetched but why did he abandon what worked in the first game.

What McCasland accomplished was giving every team in the league a belief that they can beat NT. 

 

 

 

 

They doubled the post and doubled Hamlet off of screens.

 

[TheColonyEagle]

I hope the players don’t think the regular season championship is good enough. 

party!

they sure looked like they think that tonight.....

[Big Z]

Hangover 

[greenminer]

24 minutes ago, GrandGreen said:

What McCasland accomplished was giving every team in the league a belief that they can beat NT. 

This league is essentially a 3 team dog fight at the top, with Charlotte a close 4th.  They already beat WKU.

IMO The league haD already established this perception and today's loss didn't really change anything except reenforce Charlotte's prowess at home.

[Hunter Green]

33 minutes ago, drex said:

Team looked very tired and uninspired tonight.

Emotional letdown.

[GrandGreen]

16 minutes ago, greenminer said:

This league is essentially a 3 team dog fight at the top, with Charlotte a close 4th.  They already beat WKU.

IMO The league haD already established this perception and today's loss didn't really change anything except reenforce Charlotte's prowess at home.

Anyone who watched this game, perception changed about NT.

In reality, I think NT was just tired both physically and particularly emotionally. 

We will just have to see, how they respond in the tournament, but I expect a much more invested team. 

[Shark84]

If I see another 3 point attempt from Geu or Simmons, I may lose what is left of my mind. They can't make them. Quit shooting them.

[BillySee58]

If there is one takeaway from this game, it’s that no matter how great a season we have had, we absolutely have to improve our bench this offseason. Getting 4 starters and Bell back is great, but with Draper and Rose graduating, we will have just 5 guys from our 8-man rotation back and they’ll all likely be starters (assuming Bell starts).

Mohamed, J Simmons, and Alcindor are complete non-factors and we need guys on our bench who we can turn to. We really don’t have that right now. Even some of our starters are hot and cold, like Gibson and Reese. It would be great if we had guys off our bench who could step up when they’re off, but we haven’t had that.

It’s imperative that we capitalize off of our on-court success and turn that into recruiting momentum. And raise our standard for players we sign going forward. If Mccasland is only going to play guys who can shoot, we have to stop offering guys who can’t. 

[RiseUNT]

This game went exactly as I expected. The commentator who was an ex player even gave props to UNT for even staying in the game.

These guys won a division 1 conference championship on Sunday. Against the best program in that conference. In overtime. Then have 2 days off to play on the East coast against a team with 2 home losses.

Should have let the seniors start and play big minutes.

 

[greenminer]

21 minutes ago, GrandGreen said:

Anyone who watched this game, perception changed about NT.

In reality, I think NT was just tired both physically and particularly emotionally. 

We will just have to see, how they respond in the tournament, but I expect a much more invested team. 

I think you're partly right: there was some tired folks out there.

I like what @BillySee58 says, too, that we just don't have any weapons when one or two of our main guys are having an off-night.

I think the rest of Pod 1 is probably pretty beat up, too.  We are the only one, however, not fighting for a seed anymore.  Unfortunately, that probably played into how we responded tonight to feeling tired.

[Cr1028]

2 hours ago, greenminer said:

no.  You can't be co-champs with someone who ends up one game better than you.

 

2 hours ago, NTEX91 said:

No.  They lost 5.

Thank you 

[CMJ]

Guess I didn't miss much by having something else going on tonight!

[FirefightnRick]

I was thinking opposite than most.

Charlotte had something to play for last Sunday yet FIU drilled them by 15, in Charlotte.  

I figured we would go in there relaxed without any pressure and release the Kracken on ‘em and blow them out of their gym?

 

Rick

Edited March 5, 2020 by FirefightnRick

[NorthTexasSportsNetwork]

24 minutes ago, FirefightnRick said:

I was thinking opposite than most.

Charlotte had something to play for last Sunday yet FIU drilled them by 15, in Charlotte.  

I figured we would go in there relaxed without any pressure and release the Kracken on ‘em and blow them out of their gym?

 

Rick

FIU also had something to play for 

[Wag Tag]

10 hours ago, RiseUNT said:

They doubled the post and doubled Hamlet off of screens.

 

We need establish a pick and roll. The setter is not even looking for a pass once he comes out of the screen. GMG

[NorthTexasSportsNetwork]

10 hours ago, GrandGreen said:

Anyone who watched this game, perception changed about NT.

In reality, I think NT was just tired both physically and particularly emotionally. 

We will just have to see, how they respond in the tournament, but I expect a much more invested team. 

WKU has no depth at all. 

[Wag Tag]

10 hours ago, BillySee58 said:

If there is one takeaway from this game, it’s that no matter how great a season we have had, we absolutely have to improve our bench this offseason. Getting 4 starters and Bell back is great, but with Draper and Rose graduating, we will have just 5 guys from our 8-man rotation back and they’ll all likely be starters (assuming Bell starts).

Mohamed, J Simmons, and Alcindor are complete non-factors and we need guys on our bench who we can turn to. We really don’t have that right now. Even some of our starters are hot and cold, like Gibson and Reese. It would be great if we had guys off our bench who could step up when they’re off, but we haven’t had that.

It’s imperative that we capitalize off of our on-court success and turn that into recruiting momentum. And raise our standard for players we sign going forward. If Mccasland is only going to play guys who can shoot, we have to stop offering guys who can’t. 

This needs to be handled like last year. Sign a similar class and have some guys move on. Zach has taken a step back IMHO!

[BillySee58]

1 hour ago, Wag Tag said:

This needs to be handled like last year. Sign a similar class and have some guys move on. Zach has taken a step back IMHO!

If we were to move on from J Simmons, Alcindor, and Mohamed that would bring us up to 5 open roster spots, in addition to Rubin Jones coming in. In previous years Mccasland has not always filled those spots with quality players and has reached on guys just to fill the roster. Coming off of a conference championship we shouldn’t need to reach anymore.

The quality of players who will come here now should provide for clear upgrades to the guys currently on our bench, except for Bell. Look at the guys we signed right after the last two times we made the NCAA tournament. Immediately after the 2007 run we signed Josh White and Tristan Thompson, then in the fall after the 2010 tournament appearance we signed Chris Jones, Jordan Williams, Forrest Robinson, and landed Tony Mitchell. We should have similar momentum in recruiting now so we should be able to turn those spots into really good players.

Edited March 5, 2020 by BillySee58

[RiseUNT]

49 minutes ago, FirefightnRick said:

I was thinking opposite than most.

Charlotte had something to play for last Sunday yet FIU drilled them by 15, in Charlotte.  

I figured we would go in there relaxed without any pressure and release the Kracken on ‘em and blow them out of their gym?

 

Rick

Charlotte had just come off a huge win at WKU by 2. FIU had something to play for also.

Relieved maybe but there is no way the team is relaxed after playing an overtime thriller to a team we lost to 11 times in a row to clinch conference.

 

[Coach Andy Mac]

9 minutes ago, BillySee58 said:

If guys move on then it won’t be a smaller class though. If we were to move on from J Simmons, Alcindor, and Mohamed that would bring us up to 5 open roster spots, in addition to Rubin Jones coming in. In previous years Mccasland has not always filled those spots with quality players and has reached on guys just to fill the roster. Coming off of a conference championship we shouldn’t need to reach anymore.

The quality of players who will come here now should provide for clear upgrades to the guys currently on our bench, except for Bell. Look at the guys we signed right after the last two times we made the NCAA tournament. Immediately after the 2007 run we signed Josh White and Tristan Thompson, then in the fall after the 2010 tournament appearance we signed Chris Jones, Jordan Williams, Forrest Robinson, and landed Tony Mitchell. We should have similar momentum in recruiting now so we should be able to turn those spots into really good players.

Spot on. The way to handle this is to say we owe it to these guys on the bench to help them find a home where they will get to play.  

[greenminer]

52 minutes ago, RiseUNT said:

Relieved maybe but there is no way the team is relaxed after playing an overtime thriller to a team we lost to 11 times in a row to clinch conference.

I can absolutely imagine a relaxed, energized mind frame after you finally get over that WKU hump.

this is all speculation, but IMO they were in a great place mentally but we are just underestimating how physically tired the team was.

Edited March 5, 2020 by greenminer

[RiseUNT]

4 minutes ago, greenminer said:

I can absolutely imagine a relaxed, energized mind frame after you finally get over that WKU hump.

this is all speculation, but IMO they were in a great place mentally but we are just underestimating how physically tired the team was.

They had class on Monday then flew to Charlotte Tuesday. They didn't even have time to relax. 

I totally think people don't know how hard it is to be a student athlete.

Edited March 5, 2020 by RiseUNT

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

---McCasland won the national Junior College championship (as the head Coach) at Midland College several years ago  .....  A few years earlier with a different Coach they had made the NJCAA finals and had been well ahead in the semifinals but kept the starters in the game... Near the end of the semi-final game a player (I think Mookie Blaylock, future NBA player) screwed up his foot and was not available for the final and MC lost the final...barely ... No doubt McCasland knows that...   It likely is a factor in his decision to not play starters so much when near nothing is at stake.  Midland should have won their second and consecutive title [also had Spud Webb the previous year] if he had not been injured .  Three players on that defeated team played in the NCAA final two years later .. OU vs. Kansas, including Mookie Blaylock... ---------    It is tough to not play your best players but there are risks. 

 

Edited March 5, 2020 by SCREAMING EAGLE-66

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

16 minutes ago, RiseUNT said:

They had class on Monday then flew to Charlotte Tuesday. They didn't even have time to relax. 

I totally think people don't know how hard it is to be a student athlete.

--I think basketball is the most difficult team sport for student/athletes ... football one game per week and on a weekend...  basketball is usually more than  one game each week ... with travel involved on class days ... and worse, it occurs in both semesters.. Football and baseball occurs in only one semester  but baseball does have an excessive amount of games. 

. You are right most people do not realize how difficult it is for college basketball players to be students. 

Edited March 5, 2020 by SCREAMING EAGLE-66