Ul - Lafayette (2/7/09)

[CMJ]

Out scored 19-8 in the last 3:41. Know that's great game managment.

Way to throw our walk-on Point Guard under the bus on one of the few times he played extended minutes. Christ.

Edited February 8, 2009 by CMJ

[chrisfisher]

I was VERY unhappy with the finish. We need to have a strong game from start to finish. I know we could have put up 110 the way we were playing, but we totally lost momentum at the end.... it is was sloppy too in front of a big crowd.

[CMJ]

If you don't wanna lose momentum, don't play your walk-on PG the last 5 minutes of regulation. Personally, I'm glad we were able to give the kid more than 30 second mop up duty for once.

[UNT90]

We won by 18!! Griping????? Really??? Like any other classy coach, I'm sure JJ had the FAR end of the bench in the game at the end. I'm just thankful for a blow out and even more thankful that the blow out favored us.

[chrisfisher]

Personally, I'm glad we were able to give the kid more than 30 second mop up duty for once.

Not me.

[CMJ]

Not me.

Why? He tries hard in practice. Reward him with some damn time when you can. He's not on a full ride, let him play.

[GreenBat]

Way to throw our walk-on Point Guard under the bus on one of the few times he played extended minutes. Christ.

I was just trying to find out how long it would take for Courtland to respond. I put the over under at 9:52. I took the under. I win!!

[CMJ]

I was just trying to find out how long it would take for Courtland to respond. I put the over under at 9:52. I took the under. I win!!

[e-bone ver2.awesome]

Wait, people are complaining that we were ahead by so much that we emptied the bench? Wow. With the sad state of the football board and now this on the bball board I think I may have to take a break.

[oldguystudent]

Wait, people are complaining that we were ahead by so much that we emptied the bench? Wow. With the sad state of the football board and now this on the bball board I think I may have to take a break.

I couldn't wait to get home and log on to see what people would conjur up to bitch about for this game. There's always something. I pretty much couldn't stop laughing start to finish. It was fun.

[CMJ]

How about 4053 for the evening?

That raises our season average to 2880, with no real "sexy" game on the schedule. That's progress folks.

[UNTFan23]

[chrisfisher]

Why? He tries hard in practice. Reward him with some damn time when you can. He's not on a full ride, let him play.

This isn't a charity event. When our team turns the ball over 8 times in 5 minutes and drops, what was it, 15-20 points, after the bench enters the game.... I say re-bench 'em. We need consistency and strong finishes more than anything right now... even more than dishing out bench time that turned into a mess. I am not against playing these players, reward them, but they have to play up to D-1 standards to stay in....at least, in my opinion. The Pit Crew section was getting very grumpy during this time... even starting yelling at a few of our players... we were all flying high and then watched that catastrophe of an ending.

Aside from this ending, we had a blast. One of our best first halves of the season. I hope that we can continue this momentum into February/March.

[CMJ]

Chris...the game was in hand. Hell, the starters deserved to sit and enjoy the end. It's like you've never watched the end of a blowout before. This is somewhat standard operating procedure - even in the pros really. I remember going to a Mavericks game in the mid 90's when they were awful and the Spurs absolutely crushed them, led by like 25-30 for most of the game. But by the end of the contest I think Dallas lost by 11.

Edited February 8, 2009 by CMJ

[filmerj]

This isn't a charity event. When our team turns the ball over 8 times in 5 minutes and drops, what was it, 15-20 points, after the bench enters the game.... I say re-bench 'em. We need consistency and strong finishes more than anything right now... even more than dishing out bench time that turned into a mess. I am not against playing these players, reward them, but they have to play up to D-1 standards to stay in....at least, in my opinion. The Pit Crew section was getting very grumpy during this time... even starting yelling at a few of our players... we were all flying high and then watched that catastrophe of an ending.

Aside from this ending, we had a blast. One of our best first halves of the season. I hope that we can continue this momentum into February/March.

All I will say is I disagree. Way to go guys. Go Mean Green.

[oldguystudent]

I guess we should be upset that Kansas St, LSU, Tulsa, Rice, ULL, ULM, FIU, Troy, FAU, and MTSU didn't leave their starters in for the whole game during football season. How dare they not finish strong?!?!?!111!!! Eleventy-one!

[chrisfisher]

I guess we should be upset that Kansas St, LSU, Tulsa, Rice, ULL, ULM, FIU, Troy, FAU, and MTSU didn't leave their starters in for the whole game during football season. How dare they not finish strong?!?!?!111!!! Eleventy-one!

It's about finishing strong, which has absolutely killed us this season... we've been in nearly every game, except Houston, only to give it away at the end. Can we please have 1 dominant game where we play a complete game from start to finish. That's all I'm saying. I would have put in the back ups when JJ did. However, given the current circumstances, I would have pulled them after their lousy performance.... everyone, even the back ups, should be held accountable. No one should be allowed to stink it up. We do not have that luxury with our closing problems.

Guys, you know me. I don't complain much, but we really need to learn how to finish strong... we did not do that tonight.

Edited February 8, 2009 by chrisfisher

[filmerj]

It's about finishing strong, which has absolutely killed us this season... we've been in nearly every game, except Houston, only to give it away at the end. Can we please have 1 dominant game where we play a complete game from start to finish. That's all I'm saying. I would have put in the back ups when JJ did. However, given the current circumstances, I would have pulled them after their lousy performance.... everyone, even the back ups, should be held accountable. No one should be allowed to stink it up. We do not have that luxury with our closing problems.

Guys, you know me. I don't complain much, but we really need to learn how to finish strong... we did not do that tonight.

Seems to me that we were pretty dominant. Over and out.

[GrandGreen]

You really have to search for something to bitch about in that game. Almost any coach is going to play it the way JJ did. You want to keep your starters in and beat a conference club by 50. Those type of things tend to come back to bit you.

[NT03]

Chris, what if one of our starters got injured with 2 minutes left in a game in which we were up by a very large margin ?? Then people would say , why was he even in the game ???

If you want to be successful everyone on the team needs to be prepared to due their part and you can't do that sitting on the bench. We might need someone who never plays big minutes to one day step up in a big role due to a injury or foul trouble and contribute. They can't gain any game time experience sitting on the bench

[CMJ]

Chris, what if one of our starters got injured with 2 minutes left in a game in which we were up by a very large margin ?? Then people would say , why was he even in the game ???

JJ would be skinned alive if that happened....with good reason.

[foutsrouts]

No bitching from me on this game. I'm absolutely ecstatic that we finally had a blowout win against a pretty decent team. Hope it carries over for the rest of the season. Didn't get there until near the end of the first half so I missed most of the blowout part. From what I saw, the crowd was OK but wasn't really all that impressive. Guess I'm greedy. I know I'm dreaming, but I wish we could get a student turnout like they had at WKU today. Our pit would really rock with that kind of a student crowd. Not bitching, but Mangrum had a terrible game and I hope that was a one time event. He still looks a bit gimpy. Otherwise, I didn't see a lot worth mentioning other than that I had a great time. Let's make this a late season turnaround like we had two years ago! Amazing that we are still hanging on to second place in the West. Go Green!!!

[aprice]

There is no argument for keeping the starters in the entire game. That would be insanity. The game was closed out after the first half. There's no need to question JJ's judgment when the game was out of reach well before the end of the game.

[chrisfisher]

Chris, what if one of our starters got injured with 2 minutes left in a game in which we were up by a very large margin ?? Then people would say , why was he even in the game ???

If you want to be successful everyone on the team needs to be prepared to due their part and you can't do that sitting on the bench. We might need someone who never plays big minutes to one day step up in a big role due to a injury or foul trouble and contribute. They can't gain any game time experience sitting on the bench

The problem with this analysis is that JJ cleared the bench at around 8:00 minutes, not 2:00 minutes. All that bench needed was another 3 or 4 minutes and ULL would have pulled out the win. It was embarrassing. I wonder how many people who are saying it wasn't that big a deal actually watched the game versus listening on the radio. That last 8 minutes were downright ugly, and I wonder how the radio guys reported it. Why is it so bad that I want to have a strong game from start to finish? I don't mean a 40 point win, but not allowing it to get so ugly. My god, ULL started doing ally-oop dunks, steals, blocks, out-hustling us... it was not pretty.

Edited February 8, 2009 by chrisfisher

[calvin]

We were up 74-36...................How much more of a finish do you want? Did you want us to close them out by 70 ?????????????? It was a sloppy end to the game but it happens all the time, who cares ? I could see if we were up by 15 or 16 the whole game and then he lets the bench come in and ULL cut it to 5 or 6 but no. We were up by 38 points. I would have been pissed if Eric or Dominque would have been in there with 6 minutes left and tweaked an ankle or something.