St. Johns (11/16/23) - Charleston Classic

[Shark84]

10 minutes ago, NT80 said:

We should have driven it into the basket for the final shot as well as trying to draw the foul.  Missed opportunity to take down a Big East opponent. 

We weren't going to get a foul call there, so we got one of our best players a shot from the elbow for the win. I'll take it. 

[Shark84]

Hope we have some gas left in the tank. Great opportunity to see how Hodge handles these types of situations. He is doing a great job. Love this team!

[greenminer]

I think some of us believe we should be in a place where we are blowing these mid-tier BE teams by 10+ points.  As if, the first hire after Grant should have leveled us up to that output by default.  I think we could get there, but not in G3 of the Hodge era.  I don't know how fast we should expect to be there.  What is our budget/spending?

Some random thoughts:

We have a coach that is continuing some of the personality that we championed under Grant: we will run through brick walls for our family, we will never ever go away, and our wins will be many and mostly ugly.

We are a roster that is potentially better than previous years, but not BE-level athleticism.  Probably somewhere in between.    We still need a coach to coach us up to have an opportunity against this type of opponent, and that's exactly what we have.  I just cannot believe (in a good way) how we responded to adversity.

[rojomojo]

This is why it's so horrific to experience being a fan of a G5 school like UNT. You'll constantly be competing for the same prestige as P5 universities, but will constantly be reminded of your facility, academic, financial, and recruiting disadvantages that plague victimized athletic programs like UNT.

Sure, you can build something once in a blue moon, but as soon as you appear appealing enough to be raided by a bigger program, you're instantly knocked down to "just another mid major."

There's rarely any hope for a massive turn around and even the slightest of errors (like today's game) can immediately wipe away any preseason hype or expectations

 

 

Nothing good has happened since Wren's departure, admit it... And don't say the NIT team because those elements were built by Wren.

[greenminer]

24 minutes ago, Travis said:

I’m just gonna say it… there has to be someone on our roster better than Buggs. 
he just seems like a liability when it matters most. 

I am more concerned about how Edwards handles the ball.  Seems TO prone.

[Green Otaku]

20 minutes ago, L Ron Studdard said:

He had 5 in the final four minutes including that huge and-1. Really the only mistake was the misread on the Rubin tapout. The play I keep going back to is the Sissoko miss that would've given us a ton of momentum.

Crucial time for sure, but Stone also missed a layup in the 1st, and Buggs should have dove for that loose ball. Scott air balled an open 3, and Jones lost it a couple of times in the lane at the end. Lots of mistakes to go around. 

But the did great to not implode when things were not going well in the 1st half, or when they went down 11 in the 2nd. 

[TIgreen01]

Stat only guy here, but will watch tonight....after 3 games, we look to have already zeroed in on an 8 man rotation.  That is a potential risk area.  Otherwise, this team was loose on defense in game one and appears to be dialing that in.  Next is reducing the turnovers and we could be a serious threat.  I do think the talent is potentially better this year than last.

[rojomojo]

Seriously, you try to tell me this team is capable of winning on Friday OR Saturday when they managed to still lose to a St John's that looked absolutely terrible

[greenminer]

13 minutes ago, rojomojo said:

This is why it's so horrific to experience being a fan of a G5 school like UNT. You'll constantly be competing for the same prestige as P5 universities, but will constantly be reminded of your facility, academic, financial, and recruiting disadvantages that plague victimized athletic programs like UNT.

Sure, you can build something once in a blue moon, but as soon as you appear appealing enough to be raided by a bigger program, you're instantly knocked down to "just another mid major."

There's rarely any hope for a massive turn around and even the slightest of errors (like today's game) can immediately wipe away any preseason hype or expectations

 

 

Nothing good has happened since Wren's departure, admit it... And don't say the NIT team because those elements were built by Wren.

I think some people are intrigued by the Hodge hire, if anything.  This was a Pitino squad that needed a Sissoko and Scott miss to survive the NIT champion.

I really depends on what you WANT to see.  If you're looking for reasons to believe this NIT champ is legit, this is a pretty good start.  If you're looking for excuses to whine and mope about the state of our program, you can find it.

I heard a great analogy today: when you buy a car, you suddenly start seeing the same make and model everywhere.  Point being, our brains are wired to reinforce our beliefs.  If you believe life is awful, you see things that reinforce that view.  If you belief something is amazing, you start seeing many things that are amazing.

Being a G5/Mid major fan can be hard, because it can seem like the big boys have all the leverage.  But I remind myself that this is my team, and surrounding myself by people who find this fun helps a ton.

 

5 minutes ago, rojomojo said:

Seriously, you try to tell me this team is capable of winning on Friday OR Saturday when they managed to still lose to a St John's that looked absolutely terrible

 FWIW, I thought they [SJU] looked so much better than what they displayed vs. Michigan.  Didn't somesay they were a preseason, borderline T25 team?

Does this mean we are that bad? Too soon to tell, but I think our previous wins are a good sign that the answer is no, we are not that bad.

Edited November 16, 2023 by greenminer

[CMJ]

We make a lot of teams look terrible with our defense.  Other fanbases don't give us credit for that, but our own fans should.

[Shark84]

8 minutes ago, rojomojo said:

This is why it's so horrific to experience being a fan of a G5 school like UNT. You'll constantly be competing for the same prestige as P5 universities, but will constantly be reminded of your facility, academic, financial, and recruiting disadvantages that plague victimized athletic programs like UNT.

Sure, you can build something once in a blue moon, but as soon as you appear appealing enough to be raided by a bigger program, you're instantly knocked down to "just another mid major."

There's rarely any hope for a massive turn around and even the slightest of errors (like today's game) can immediately wipe away any preseason hype or expectations

 

 

Nothing good has happened since Wren's departure, admit it... And don't say the NIT team because those elements were built by Wren.

How in the heck does losing a one point game to St. John's wipe away any hype or expectations? If anything it increases it. People around the country see this score and know North Texas is for real. This tournament will help get us ready for conference play. St. John's is as physical as any team in the AAC. 

[rojomojo]

2 minutes ago, greenminer said:

I think some people are intrigued by the Hodge hire, if anything.  This was a Pitino squad that needed a Sissoko and Scott miss to survive the NIT champion.

I really depends on what you WANT to see.  If you're looking for reasons to believe this NIT champ is legit, this is a pretty good start.  If you're looking for excuses to whine and mope about the state of our program, you can find it.

I heard a great analogy today: when you buy a car, you suddenly start seeing the same make and model everywhere.  Point being, our brains are wired to reinforce our beliefs.  If you believe life is awful, you see things that reinforce that view.  If you belief something is amazing, you start seeing many things that are amazing.

Being a G5/Mid major fan can be hard, because it can seem like the big boys have all the leverage.  But I remind myself that this is my team, and surrounding myself by people who find this fun helps a ton.

You're right... It just gets so frustrating feeling like we have a strict limit in how much of our potential we can achieve.  

Edited November 16, 2023 by rojomojo
grammar

[Shark84]

5 minutes ago, rojomojo said:

Seriously, you try to tell me this team is capable of winning on Friday OR Saturday when they managed to still lose to a St John's that looked absolutely terrible

Troll somewhere else!

[CMJ]

Winning a round in the NCAAs and taking an NIT title in the last three seasons points to quite a bit of potential.  I mean, maybe not Final Four potential, but Sweet 16 potential for sure.

Edited November 16, 2023 by CMJ

[greenminer]

3 minutes ago, rojomojo said:

You're right... It just gets so frustrating feeling like we have a strict limit in how much of our potential we can achieve.  

I might be nuts, but I;m hoping for a S16 appearance before Hodge is done.

But it's not reasonable to expect us to comfortably win versus a solid BE (T25?) team right now.  That's not where we are.

[Green Otaku]

2 minutes ago, rojomojo said:

You're right... It just gets so frustrating feeling like we have an strict limit in how much of our potential we can achieve.  

Now rankings and stars aren't the definition of a player, but if you take it as a baseline you can see we are competing with some of the best classes in the country. 

https://247sports.com/college/saint-johns/Season/2023-Basketball/Commits/

[GMG_Dallas]

That 6-7 minute stretch in the first half where both teams went scoreless really killed us. St John's has more fire power than we do so holding them scoreless for that long needs to be taken advantage of. Ultimately, we fell by 1. I know we can't win every game but this is one I wanted. Hopefully we can win the next 2 in the tournament and come out of it 4-1. I'd take that as an overall success.

This 1 loss won't define our season and at-large chances but we need to beat Boise State and Mississippi State or those chances become slim without the AQ.

[Green Otaku]

For the next game I'd roll out a starting 5 of 

Scott

Allen

Noland

Jones 

and then a toss up between Buggs and Edwards

[GMoney]

Frustrating to lose in that manner.  It was a sloppy game, early in the year and a lot of stuff to clean-up.  Hate seeing so many unforce dribbling errors and missed shots at the rim.  We need a little something on the offense from our big.  This will open things up for the rest.  Also, still a lot of players 

This team will get better and I'm looking forward to seeing what they will look like around xmas time! Remember, a lot of new faces trying to build chemistry!

Edited November 16, 2023 by GMoney

[greenminer]

Gonna dump Twitter reactions here, if I find them.
 

 

[greenminer]

 

[Travis]

39 minutes ago, greenminer said:

I am more concerned about how Edwards handles the ball.  Seems TO prone.

So does Jones. But I have come to terms that Jones is a package deal. Lol

[Censored by Laurie]

no one on our roster has been asked to close out a game and it shows.
 

I thought it during the UNI game…the team didn’t get tired at the end of regulation, it got tight and sloppy in holding on to a lead. Tonight we got right and took a poor shot at 53-52. 
 

TP and Kai and Javion spoiled us with n clutch moments. The team will grow from this and get better…I love that we leaned on our defense late to fight back, but someone needs to show they’re nails late. 

[Travis]

14 minutes ago, Green Otaku said:

For the next game I'd roll out a starting 5 of 

Scott

Allen

Noland

Jones 

and then a toss up between Buggs and Edwards

I just don’t know what to think about Allen. 

[Ross Hodgeson]

I like the effort but make no mistake, Tylor  would have put that game on ice at the end.  Not having him is tough,