We are who we thought we were. We are a small, not deep team with a whole bunch of newcomers to D1 ball. We are going to win some games that we should lose, and we are going to lose some games we should win. We have to play nearly perfect ball to win. Let down for a moment and our weaknesses are exposed. Maybe we peaked against UM and Xavier. ::)
Mo, Cubi, and Lazar have exceeded my expectations, but are maxed out.
Butler, much improved, room for more
DJO, Buycks, as expected, extremely talented physically who have to finish adjusting to D1 ball.
Fulce is recovering from his injury and is on track to contribute. Who knows what his ceiling is?
JMay, Ewill, and Yous are works in progress at various stages. Patience. Ewill never had to guard on the perimeter in high school. JMay was always the biggest and strongest playing in Wisconsin.
10 remaining schollie players leaves no margin for error. And the lineup we usually run out there is smaller than some high school teams. I hope with all my heart that EWill reaches Buzz' minimum level of trust so he can actually start playing.
You and I were on the same wave length....I started down the path of a Dennis Green video montage on Cracked Sidewalks last night before I had major computer issues that killed that idea. But I was generally going in the same direction, we are who we thought they were.
I was thinking of that same speech as I walked to the car from the BC yesterday.
perhaps it would be easier to accept if we could blame it all on youth. But three seniors are getting major minutes and one of our prized freshmen is not ready to contribute at all. We will be better by March but between now and then there are going to be some humiliating thrashings.
The fact that we couldn't keep from turning the ball over the first 6 possessions of the second half killed us. The announcers said the fact we couldn't even get a shot off before giving the ball back did us in. The team is not that young. It wasn't our youth that failed. It was just a complete uncharacteristic break down within. We need to play good basketball 40 minutes. The first 20 minutes is nice, but it's the last 20 minutes that determines the game.
I agree about the 20 min/40 min difference. During the first half on Sat, I honestly kind of sat back and, while I realized the game was far from over, I felt comfortable thinking we would keep it in the 8-10 pt lead range throughout the rest of the game, especially after DJO hit the 3 to end the half. It wasnt till the scoring drought followed by the defensive lapses to about the 10 min mark that I realized it wasn't going to happen. When DJO disappears in the second half, and Lazar struggles uncharacteristically with his handle, we aren't going to win much.