OK I've counted to 10 after the 3rd road drubbing in a row. Here is what I'm trying to figure out.
By any measure this team should be much better than last year. Losing Kinsella and Lott was basically losing no contribution. Trading them for Blacklege is a wash. Lazar is MUCH better than last year. Burke, while he isn't great, is better than last year. The big 3 are moving into their prime as juniors this year. We have Acker who has been servicable and is better than not having him. Everybody else is a year older. Why is this team so much worse on the road than last year???
And for those who claim no one wins on the road in the BE I'm not talking about winning. If we had lost by 5 or 6 or a last second shot I'd say. "Oh well that's the breaks, its tough to win on the road." We're getting blown out like a pre-season bunny team playing these guys. Look at it this way, we haven't played any of these road teams as tough as Seton Hall played us. But why?
possibilities to discuss:
The other teams have gotten better?
The other teams have had a chance to figure out how to stop us?
I seriously think we're just not playing well. There's no other explanation for for our poor performances. I don't think we've regressed on the whole - we did struggle mightily at times last year - it's just that we're playing like crap. I'm confident we'll snap out of this. However, the next three games are very, very important. We need to win at 2 at minium, and hopefully all three. We'll see...
oponents know how to beat us. dump it inside, crash the boards, and let us shoot
Quote from: scooter on January 20, 2008, 10:36:47 PM
possibilities to discuss:
The other teams have gotten better?
Ding,ding,ding..........
It's going to be another irrational season. I would not be surprised if we beat Georgetown and Pitt and lose to South Florida and Syracuse.
Quote from: SoCalwarrior on January 21, 2008, 12:22:53 AM
It's going to be another irrational season. I would not be surprised if we beat Georgetown and Pitt and lose to South Florida and Syracuse.
this is something to consider. also, i would not be surprised if we win mb 2 road games and go unblemished @ home. did anyone else hear the stat during the Uconn game, home big east teams are 34-10 this year. 34-10! It's not called the BEAST for nothing
Quote from: Bling on January 20, 2008, 11:17:44 PM
oponents know how to beat us. dump it inside, crash the boards, and let us shoot
EXACTLY,
Beyond Lazar I don't think i've seen anyone on our team make an outside jump shot that wasn't a 3 pointer. Wes used to be able to hit those 15 footers but now him, as well as the rest of the team sans LH, can't hit a 10-15 footer to save their life. The formula for beating us is quite easy, see above.
I'm not trying to watch the sky fall but these last 2 games have been miserable to watch. It's not that were loosing its the fact that we're getting blown out. I don't care if its on the road in the Big East, we should at least be close. When we lost to Duke earlier this year by 4 I was rather impressed, we looked like a good team but now we just look overrated. I hope something turns around and we make some noise in the tourney but looking at our losses (15, 20, 16) I'd say we have a good chance of getting beaten pretty bad in our opening game. Ohhh, anyhow, I'll get over it but hopefully things can turn around and maybe we can find a few shooters.
Quote from: scooter on January 20, 2008, 10:36:47 PM
possibilities to discuss:
The other teams have gotten better?
The other teams have had a chance to figure out how to stop us?
I'll agree with that. Other teams have improved.
Also, keep in mind that MU has missed a tremendous amount of shots in the paint the past 2 games. Part of that is the big men they have been facing, and part of it is just bad luck I guess (not really sure what else you could call it). MU has been finishing strong against most teams, including teams that have had good big men
When MU finishes inside, they are much more competitive. Nobody is going to confuse MU with a great jump shooting team (they will always be streaky), but when they can get to the hole and finish, they are a much better team.
I'm not exactly sure what is going on... but I'm not the head coach... I'm a fan.
Hopefully the boys get it turned around.
I agree with MarquetteVol. Obviously its tough to win on the road, but I think we are also just generally struggling at the moment - meaning it could continue at home this weekend. I guess we'll see, but it looks as if we've got some things to work out ----> Defense!