Consider something

emmitt01 · November 26, 2021

This team lost three senior starters from last year’s squad. That included Zach Simmons who was in Mac’s system for three years (playing a program record 129 games and starting 121 of them), James Reese (who started all 59 games he played here), and Javion Hamlet who was the engine for this team (another guy who started all 59 career games).

We replaced them with talented, but untested, guys in the starting lineup. Ousmane is a TRUE sophomore. So is Rubin Jones. JJ Murray is an excellent effort guy, but he’s no star. And Perry off the bench is a JUCO guy who was playing in his 5th game for us.

Of the players who scored for Miami today, all five of them, they are a 3rd year sophomore, a 6th year senior, a 4th year junior, a 6th year senior, and a 6th year senior.

We are VERY talented. And this season is VERY young. If these guys have trouble putting together full 40 minutes by game #20, then I’ll be concerned about their mettle. For now, I just see a team learning valuable lessons that will pay off later.

greenminer · November 26, 2021

I can see both sides to a coin here: 1) in total agreement with Emmitt's point but, also 2) these OOC wins are the next step (or part of the next step) for Mac and I really want him turning that corner/getting there this year and/or next. I'm burning a little inside because a W today was within reach.

I have never seen him lay into players like he did today (particularly against Bell, but there was another). I think he understands #2 above and really wants to win these types of games, and is not interested in excuses.

Edited November 26, 2021 by greenminer

Mean Green Matt · November 26, 2021

2 minutes ago, greenminer said:

I can see both sides to a coin here: 1) in total agreement with Emmitt's point but, also 2) these OOC wins are the next step (or part of the next step) for Mac and I really want him turning that corner/getting there this year and/or next. I'm burning a little inside because a W today was within reach.

I have never seen him lay into players like he did today (particularly against Bell, but there was another). I think he understands #2 above and really wants to win these types of games, and is not interested in excuses.

He used to lay into Roosevelt Smart pretty significantly. And AJ Lawson.

Andrew · November 26, 2021

5 hours ago, greenminer said:

I can see both sides to a coin here: 1) in total agreement with Emmitt's point but, also 2) these OOC wins are the next step (or part of the next step) for Mac and I really want him turning that corner/getting there this year and/or next. I'm burning a little inside because a W today was within reach.

I have never seen him lay into players like he did today (particularly against Bell, but there was another). I think he understands #2 above and really wants to win these types of games, and is not interested in excuses.

He always lights into people. He wants to win. Were you not at the game where he broke two clip boards in a ten minute span on the right of his knee… he wants to win and I love how fired up he gets. He drilled into Javion last year which led to a broken clipboard on the ground at home.

UNT Texas Hooligan · November 26, 2021

1 hour ago, emmitt01 said:

This team lost three senior starters from last year’s squad. That included Zach Simmons who was in Mac’s system for three years (playing a program record 129 games and starting 121 of them), James Reese (who started all 59 games he played here), and Javion Hamlet who was the engine for this team (another guy who started all 59 career games).

We replaced them with talented, but untested, guys in the starting lineup. Ousmane is a TRUE sophomore. So is Rubin Jones. JJ Murray is an excellent effort guy, but he’s no star. And Perry off the bench is a JUCO guy who was playing in his 5th game for us.

Of the players who scored for Miami today, all five of them, they are a 3rd year sophomore, a 6th year senior, a 4th year junior, a 6th year senior, and a 6th year senior.

We are VERY talented. And this season is VERY young. If these guys have trouble putting together full 40 minutes by game #20, then I’ll be concerned about their mettle. For now, I just see a team learning valuable lessons that will pay off later.

I agree. Grant teams start slow then figure it out in the end. Obviously a frustrating start to the season but I agree with your assessments. I just wish this team had the mental fortitude to close out games. Don't get frazzled when a team starts clawing back. Keep working the ball around like we were early in the game instead of forcing up shots. I'm sure it will come but we just had 3 winnable games slip away.

southsideguy · November 26, 2021

I said before the season start we will know how deep this team is by the minutes Murray gets. He is starting and says a lot about the bench. No way he should be one of the starters. Against elite or very good competition he is a step behind. Yes he plays defense and works hard but we need more scorers out there.

Andrew · November 26, 2021

2 hours ago, southsideguy said:

I said before the season start we will know how deep this team is by the minuted Murray gets. He is starting and says a lot about the bench. No way he should be one of the starters. Against elite or very good competition he is a step behind. Yes he plays defense and works hard but we need more scorers out there.

True but start Perry and what do we have off our bench? 🤷🏼‍♂️

southsideguy · November 27, 2021

I agree Andrew I am just saying we don't have depth at all with Murray being a starter. It tells you how weak our bench is.

BillySee58 · November 27, 2021

The team is going to win a lot of games this season. Also, take into account that due to COVID, a lot of these guys have even more eligibility than their class listing suggests. Ousmane and Jones, for example, are true freshman from an eligibility standpoint.

Mccasland still has to get better with recruiting to truly take the next step. Jahmiah Simmons, JJ Murray, Bell, and Hameir Wright are the only players on our roster with no more eligibility remaining after this season. No reason we shouldn’t be getting players who are an upgrade, at least in the long run, from those guys.

Edited November 27, 2021 by BillySee58

Andrew · November 27, 2021

1 hour ago, BillySee58 said:

The team is going to win a lot of games this season. Also, take into account that due to COVID, a lot of these guys have even more eligibility than their class listing suggests. Ousmane and Jones, for example, are true freshman from an eligibility standpoint.

Mccasland still has to get better with recruiting to truly take the next step. Jahmiah Simmons, JJ Murray, and Hameir Wright are the only players on our roster with no more eligibility remaining after this season. No reason we shouldn’t be getting players who are an upgrade, at least in the long run, from those guys.

How does Thomas Bell have more eligibility?

confusing because it also keeps showing guys like Asoume and Jones as sophomores when they should be freshman with the covid year.

BillySee58 · November 27, 2021

19 minutes ago, Andrew said:

How does Thomas Bell have more eligibility?

confusing because it also keeps showing guys like Asoume and Jones as sophomores when they should be freshman with the covid year.

He doesn’t. I forgot to add his name in that list. Good lord you butcher Ousmane’s name every time. But yeah, everyone’s grade got rolled forward but they still get the extra year if they want when they eventually get there.

BillySee58 · November 27, 2021

8 hours ago, emmitt01 said:

This team lost three senior starters from last year’s squad. That included Zach Simmons who was in Mac’s system for three years (playing a program record 129 games and starting 121 of them), James Reese (who started all 59 games he played here), and Javion Hamlet who was the engine for this team (another guy who started all 59 career games).

We replaced them with talented, but untested, guys in the starting lineup. Ousmane is a TRUE sophomore. So is Rubin Jones. JJ Murray is an excellent effort guy, but he’s no star. And Perry off the bench is a JUCO guy who was playing in his 5th game for us.

Of the players who scored for Miami today, all five of them, they are a 3rd year sophomore, a 6th year senior, a 4th year junior, a 6th year senior, and a 6th year senior.

We are VERY talented. And this season is VERY young. If these guys have trouble putting together full 40 minutes by game #20, then I’ll be concerned about their mettle. For now, I just see a team learning valuable lessons that will pay off later.

Yeah I was much more disconcerted with some of our early season efforts last year knowing that we had 4 seniors and 1 junior starting, with all 4 seniors being key returners. This team has looked better early on than what I was honestly expecting.

I’m going to expect we will grow from these losses until we see otherwise, because every other Mccasland team has grown in that way.

Andrew · November 27, 2021

31 minutes ago, BillySee58 said:

He doesn’t. I forgot to add his name in that list. Good lord you butcher Ousmane’s name every time. But yeah, everyone’s grade got rolled forward but they still get the extra year if they want when they eventually get there.

My phone seems to prefer what ever it spells it as…

i wish they would have just added that year now because it’s going to be confusion as to who has that year and who doesn’t now.

drex · November 28, 2021

Hopefully, the move to AAC will help recruiting, too.

denton_days · November 28, 2021

20 hours ago, drex said:

Hopefully, the move to AAC will help recruiting, too.

Coach Dowling has an Instagram story video of him talking to a coach while recruiting, telling him that we’re not apart of C-USA and won’t take ‘bench players’ or something anymore. Seemed like coaches are really taking advantage of the move while recruiting. I’ll try to find out how to share that video here too.

Edited November 28, 2021 by denton_days