Southgrad07
The Renn Level
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebas...souri-valley-enters-new-era-without-Creighton
I'd be alright if worked out this way next season!
I'd be alright if worked out this way next season!
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CBS's Conference Catchup: Missouri Valley
- Thread starter Southgrad07
- Start date
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BankShot
The Kleuh Level
We'll see how Arop is after his Cnuck National Team exp. Also hope Gant "beefs up" to handle the inside knocks, how well the NW FL transfer adapts to the Lansing offense, and the frosh "pups" (Ethrington & Scott) mature. We need scoring.
THIS, x 1,000,000 We need some serious scoring. The way we tanked last season I am nowhere near as optimistic as CBS, I would pick us about 5th next year, just enough to stay away from Thursday.
C
Coach
Guest
Nice article but last year's team did not live up to pre-season prognostications & hype and was a sorry contender (pretender) particularly during the last month of the season and that end of the season swoon is now two years running. Has there been enough change with the roster & coaches to make the upcoming season any different ?
Weren't we picked seventh by just about everyone last year? Except this board, of course! As frustrating as last season was, I don't see any way one can argue that we didn't live up to expectations. A better argument could be made that we exceeded expectations in a big way. Three wins over top 25 teams, two away from home, two by double digits, tied for first in the MVC in mid-February, national attention for most of the first two thirds of the conference season, I don't see how that missed expectations. Yes, the total and utter collapse in the last three weeks was enough to make one want to scream (or drink, or hurt someone, or kick the dog), but from an objective point of view, last year's team exceeded preseason expectations.
We need scoring, leadership, more aggressive game planning, and fewer off the court issues than last year. We were exposed in several areas, but we are also going to be a year older, with another year's worth of experience this season. That usually translates into good things for a team that has already proven that they can literally beat anyone. With this bunch? Your guess is as good as mine.
What I do know is that there will be sky high expectations for this edition of the Fighting Sycamores. Anything less than a trip to the NCAA tournament will be considered a failure by most fans. I hope the boys have their heads on straight, because they're gonna need it. No sneaking up on people this year, no moral victories. The hunter becomes the hunted. I hope they are mentally strong enough to handle it.
Southgrad07
The Renn Level
Dang. Not a lot of optimism here lol. Couple of point to make towards some of the negative comments. Number one we had no preseason hype last year and were picked to finish as a Thursday night team. Secondly I don't see any reason we should not be picked 3rd or higher for next year. The league is losing Creighton along with tons of important players. We lost the least amount of guys out of everybody in the league and will be a very experienced bunch for the most part. Wichita should be the favorite but after that I'd like know who you would fill in spots 2-4 ahead of us.
Our poor end to the season is something to be worried about but the team showed what they were capable of last year. Hopefully going through the experience of losing a golden opportunity (ncca berth) will result in a focused bunch for the upcoming season. We do need a bunch of guys to step up though if we want to go dancing in 14'.
Our poor end to the season is something to be worried about but the team showed what they were capable of last year. Hopefully going through the experience of losing a golden opportunity (ncca berth) will result in a focused bunch for the upcoming season. We do need a bunch of guys to step up though if we want to go dancing in 14'.
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Gant has already put on 20 + pounds just to ease any concerns that the coaching staff and weight training staff have somewhat of an idea they know what they are doing...
I'd also be shocked if AE doesn't redshirt. You have to figure he is behind Arop and KSmith as far as depth at his position. No insider on that, complete speculation on my part.
I'd also be shocked if AE doesn't redshirt. You have to figure he is behind Arop and KSmith as far as depth at his position. No insider on that, complete speculation on my part.
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Who are you the donkey in Winnie the Pooh?
We had enough scoring last year to beat the SEC tournament champ and the ACC tournament champ, etc.
You are being very unreasonably pessimistic.
I'm predicting first or second without hesitation.
Daveinth
The Wade Level
Backer I would throw these stats at you to say yes we need more scoring ,the team scored the following points in a game :
40s-1 time
50s-10 times
60s - 14 times
70s- 7 times
80s - 1 time in OT
Now we lost from a team who really struggled to score last year the 3rd leading scorer on the team as well as the player who hit the most 3 pointers was 2nd on the team in both 2 and 3 point fg% . I would argue that this team needs improved scoring in order to reach top 2 in the league next year.
40s-1 time
50s-10 times
60s - 14 times
70s- 7 times
80s - 1 time in OT
Now we lost from a team who really struggled to score last year the 3rd leading scorer on the team as well as the player who hit the most 3 pointers was 2nd on the team in both 2 and 3 point fg% . I would argue that this team needs improved scoring in order to reach top 2 in the league next year.
Southgrad07
The Renn Level
We do need to improve our scoring. It honestly comes down to making open shots and limiting stupid turnovers. If we improve in those two areas we will improve our scoring by 5-7 points a game. Improving FT shooting will help some too but I was amazed at how many good looks we missed last year along with how careless we were with the ball. We got good looks last season (unlike prior seasons) but we just did not have the consistent ability to knock them down.
Sycamore Proud
The Nicks Level
We need a shooter and a scorer. The shooter could open the middle up a little to let a big be a scorer, garbage counts if we can get it. It will be hard to pick up garbage if the bigs are out throwing up 3's.
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Those stats really don't mean too much without the opponents'. Our opponents did score 5 more pts than we did. But we did outscore our opponents 18 times and everyone would agree that should have been about 22. We were not a good outside shooting team and we probably won't be with Odum and Brown playing guard. All of our guys need to improve their shooting and I know we have several that can do that. If we take away about half of our unforced TO's, we will look a lot better and score more.
I've been chewed out and told not to make assumptions about Scott, but I can tell you that I've seen most of our recruits play in HS and/or the top 40 and he is the best I've seen, BY FAR, at the top 40. I also saw him play one HS game on TV when he had 8 3's.
If you've actually seen him play then I'm not sure who would have told you not to make assumptions. That said, a lot of people were quick to crown DBrown after they saw him play in the blue white game - so as with everything on SP, reader beware.
Not sure how you can be so quick to dismiss someone stats as meaningless - so by your definition your a good scoring team as long as you out score the other team? Is that what I'm seeing? Some how I don't think it works like that. A valid point was raised on replacing the scoring and shooting of RJ, who will replace him??
Of course, all of these discussions will be void if 13 hasn't developed as a leader both on and more importantly off the court. You don't take a team to the door step of success and have them shy away because they are making poor choices off the court - don't let that define your career 13. He's been too good to be remembered like that.
BankShot
The Kleuh Level
Will that "20 lbs" still be around at the end of the '14 season??? Last year, our guys didn't look too bad in the beginning, but clearly lost muscle mass as the season progressed. I'll withold judgment re: whether or not our "strength training staff" knows what they're doing until the '14 season is over. What good is adding 20 lbs if it's gonna disappear by mid-season? ISU Strength Training has shown me NOTHING so far...
My guess would be that 'backer is pointing out that the number of points you score isn't that important if you don't look at the number of points you give up. People aren't happy with the offense we had this year and the amount of points we scored, but lets say we score 95 points a game next year and lead the country, but we give up 94 points a game on average and we have a record of 13-17. Sound good? At least the offense would be good.
As long as we outscore our opponents and win games, I don't care how many points we score or what rank we are in the total scoring offense.
'Backer, if I am wrong and that wasn't the point you were trying to make, then forgive me.
You were ok. I don't want people to get me wrong because better shooting and better offense is always a good thing. But saying we scored X points and that's not enough, my next question is "How many points did our opponent score?" Some of our low outputs were when we played down to our competition.
Bottom line is the first to 70 doesn't win, we play with a clock and the team that has more points at the end of the game wins.
We have some guys that can score from certain areas on the floor. It's the goal of the offense to get those shots.
And I'm betting that at a minimum, 3-4 players will shoot better than they did last year and extend their range. And I expect more than that.
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Sycamore Proud
The Nicks Level
One of the most hated phrases in all of sports. Many issues with this team would be eliminated if a killer instinct existed. Sadly I'm afraid that doesn't exist in the make up of this entire team, from top to bottom and all points in between.
B
BlueSycamore
Guest
If this team doesn't finish top three in the Valley with our large senior class leading the way, including a couple of them being 5th year seniors, this will be a real "downer" season in Terre Haute. The "killer instinct" mentioned in Proud's post that has been missing the last couple of seasons does need to be found to achieve that level.
Gotta Hav
The Wade Level
Now that you've dropped this nugget on us, what the heck is going on off the court?
Nothing new to report here. Just talking about the issues are past 2 teams have had - with late season suspensions and such, that shit can't happen this year and I'm putting it on the All MVC Sr to make sure it doesn't.