We are 11-5.
A lot of basketball to be played. Sean is going to be out a long time. Chase is out for an extended period. It gives Tre and Zaide an opportunity that both of the injured above got last year.
Can we please just not be doom and gloom? Yea I know I know...asking Scoop not to be doom and gloom is like asking a snake not to bite. But still...Enjoy what it is we have in front of us. Just be fans that players want to play in front of.
Quote from: GoldenEagles03 on January 10, 2024, 10:22:44 PM
We are 11-5.
A lot of basketball to be played. Sean is going to be out a long time. Chase is out for an extended period. It gives Tre and Zaide an opportunity that both of the injured above got last year.
We need to commiserate with each other. This is the most deflating performance I can remember in quite some time. Monday is beyond vital.
Can we please just not be doom and gloom? Yea I know I know...asking Scoop not to be doom and gloom is like asking a snake not to bite. But still...Enjoy what it is we have in front of us. Just be fans that players want to play in front of.
I agree with your post. Lots of losers posting here and some aren't trolls but actually MU fans. Attack the coach if you want, but FFS questioning if Kolek "found drugs" and ripping on Kam - uncalled for. Both are slumping at the moment, teams have packed the paint and are playing very physically with both Kam and Kolek and they've bee affected.
Quote from: GoldenEagles03 on January 10, 2024, 10:22:44 PM
We are 11-5.
A lot of basketball to be played. Sean is going to be out a long time. Chase is out for an extended period. It gives Tre and Zaide an opportunity that both of the injured above got last year.
Can we please just not be doom and gloom? Yea I know I know...asking Scoop not to be doom and gloom is like asking a snake not to bite. But still...Enjoy what it is we have in front of us. Just be fans that players want to play in front of.
What in the actual *uck are you talking about? "enjoy what it is we have in front of us"? can you tell me exactly what you see that you're excited about? this team is a loss away from dropping completely out of the top 25. They are a long shot to win the league at best, and will not be mentioned as a title contender the rest of the year. everything we wanted going into this year has been erased over the past 3 weeks.
Quote from: goldeneagle91114 on January 10, 2024, 10:27:33 PM
What in the actual *uck are you talking about? "enjoy what it is we have in front of us"? can you tell me exactly what you see that you're excited about? this team is a loss away from dropping completely out of the top 25. They are a long shot to win the league at best, and will not be mentioned as a title contender the rest of the year. everything we wanted going into this year has been erased over the past 3 weeks.
Sometimes what we "want" doesn't align with reality. Reality is that this team was likely fringe top 25 all along. Everything went our way last year. Last year was the year to do something special. They blew it.
They are like the Bucks. Either they're terrible or in a funk. Still basketball to be played, but something has to change soon.
Give people some slack to vent coming the worst home game in years. This is the most lost and shaken team i can recall seeing. it's seems the expectations need to be seriously reduced. I mean it sucks big time. people are just gonna shrug it off and say" oh well more basketball left go MU!" Come on. Something is seriously wrong with this team. They may not be top ten unfortunately. But not THIS bad
Country... it's not just us fans.
Shaka set the bar at a FF. He chose to run it back w / no help.
This team is a total train wreck right now ... and Kolek seems lost
Quote from: goldeneagle91114 on January 10, 2024, 10:27:33 PM
What in the actual *uck are you talking about? "enjoy what it is we have in front of us"? can you tell me exactly what you see that you're excited about? this team is a loss away from dropping completely out of the top 25. They are a long shot to win the league at best, and will not be mentioned as a title contender the rest of the year. everything we wanted going into this year has been erased over the past 3 weeks.
Who cares about the Top 25? We woke up this morning as the last 2 seed in the bracket matrix. Probably be a 3 in the matrix by tip on Monday afternoon.
We probably aren't going to win the league, you're right. But we still get to watch a team that can do damage at its peak.
Maybe Tre and Zaide develop confidence that helps us as the season progresses. Maybe the increased minutes for Kam and Tyler make them realize they are depended on. Maybe Chase comes back later in the year and provides a spark we forgot we had. Maybe none of that happens and we are all disappointed, but damnit I'd rather go down swinging as only good fans for this team and program that we all spend hours typing back and forth about for 12 months a year.
While I certainly share in the collective depression and disappointment, it's worth remembering UConn went 2-7 between 12/31/22 and 1/30/23. That turned out alright for them. Wins in March heal all wounds.
Best thing about college basketball is that there can be growth and development over the course of the season.
This team is by no means a finished product.
Expectations were through the roof this year - totally different (and more challenging) set-up vs. last year.
Lots of tape to watch. Plenty of glaring issues to work on.
College basketball has much more parity these days. All teams have a spell like this. Let's see how they respond.
Quote from: GoldenEagles03 on January 10, 2024, 10:36:01 PM
Who cares about the Top 25? We woke up this morning as the last 2 seed in the bracket matrix. Probably be a 3 in the matrix by tip on Monday afternoon.
We probably aren't going to win the league, you're right. But we still get to watch a team that can do damage at its peak.
Maybe Tre and Zaide develop confidence that helps us as the season progresses. Maybe the increased minutes for Kam and Tyler make them realize they are depended on. Maybe Chase comes back later in the year and provides a spark we forgot we had. Maybe none of that happens and we are all disappointed, but damnit I'd rather go down swinging as only good fans for this team and program that we all spend hours typing back and forth about for 12 months a year.
I'll go down swinging when i see a team that does the same thing. Tonight the entire group looked disinterested and lacked any fight.
I don't watch enough other teams to know if they have spells like this. This feels especially bad.
Quote from: Judge Smails on January 10, 2024, 10:45:19 PM
I don't watch enough other teams to know if they have spells like this. This feels especially bad.
This past month has been, how shall I say it, unusual.
Quote from: GoldenEagles03 on January 10, 2024, 10:22:44 PM
We are 11-5.
A lot of basketball to be played. Sean is going to be out a long time. Chase is out for an extended period. It gives Tre and Zaide an opportunity that both of the injured above got last year.
Can we please just not be doom and gloom? Yea I know I know...asking Scoop not to be doom and gloom is like asking a snake not to bite. But still...Enjoy what it is we have in front of us. Just be fans that players want to play in front of.
Can you not do this right now and lecture about how people should fan? Fans can be disappointed and angry when their team underperforms and is a huge disappointment. Just because that's not how you choose to deal with these disappointing losses do not mean others are wrong for expressing their frustrations.
Quote from: Judge Smails on January 10, 2024, 10:45:19 PM
I don't watch enough other teams to know if they have spells like this. This feels especially bad.
Other teams have spells where shots don't go in or the ball bounces the wrong way.
But there was a distinct lack of effort tonight.
Quote from: NolongerWarriors on January 10, 2024, 10:51:07 PM
Other teams have spells where shots don't go in or the ball bounces the wrong way.
But there was a distinct lack of effort tonight.
this is also WAY MORE than a "spell" this is a fundamental issue that needs to be addressed. Sadly its something you can't fix mid-season.
Quote from: goldeneagle91114 on January 10, 2024, 10:45:15 PM
I'll go down swinging when i see a team that does the same thing. Tonight the entire group looked disinterested and lacked any fight.
Agree to disagree.
They look off but they are still out there fighting to breakthrough.
Be negative when the season is over.
Quote from: NolongerWarriors on January 10, 2024, 10:51:07 PM
Other teams have spells where shots don't go in or the ball bounces the wrong way.
But there was a distinct lack of effort tonight.
Tonight wasn't about a lack of effort. The effort was there. Tonight was about being scared of an inferior opponent in your own building. We played with piss running down our leg in the second half. That was the most disheartening thing of all.
Quote from: GoldenEagles03 on January 10, 2024, 10:54:32 PM
Agree to disagree.
They look off but they are still out there fighting to breakthrough.
Be negative when the season is over.
People can be negative whenever. The team deserves a level of criticism right now. Stop policing everyone's fandom.
They held Butler to 0.95 PPP. Defense was largely fine outside of a few open looks in the second half. No effort issues from what I saw.
It is really hard to play through a shooting night like tonight. Each miss has you thinking more and more.
And unfortunately the check is coming due on our tremendous injury luck last season. Really tough to see.
Quote from: El Guerrero 2 on January 10, 2024, 10:42:34 PM
While I certainly share in the collective depression and disappointment, it's worth remembering UConn went 2-7 between 12/31/22 and 1/30/23. That turned out alright for them. Wins in March heal all wounds.
Did they lose 2 guys from their 8 man rotation to season ending injuries? Does MU have anything close to the talent UConn had last year.
Nobody needs to be reminded about what UConn did last year. It has no relevance to MU's current situation. It is much more likely that MU misses the NCAA tournament entirely than that they win the tournament.
I think maybe Shaka was a little high on his own supply going into the season. The milkshakes, all the "relationship" talk, pooh-poohing the transfer portal, skunks and kills, tracking deflections on the scoreboard at home. And a team is a reflection of its coach. All that stuff is fun when you're winning, insufferable when you're not.
This is starting to feel a lot like Buzz's last season or the Sam and Joey year, where it became increasingly clear that something wasn't quite right behind the scenes.
Seems like folks are extrapolating from arguably our worst game, which we still easily could have won if just a few 3s drop and a couple bounces go our way. What would we be saying then? Probably "take this game and run" and we'd all quickly move on.
I see a team that is pretty similar to last year's version, albeit without the "us against the world" mentality (perhaps that changes now). We also lost Omax (no one comparable this year) and our current big three are producing in line with last year's numbers. Usually we've seen material improvement from at least someone. We haven't seen it yet, and the injuries are not going to help.
That said, all that matters is how we're playing in March. Even without visible improvement this year, we could still do better in March with good match-ups, a few more shots that fall, etc.
What I'm having the most trouble with is our two best perimeter players have looked like they're pressing which leads to really poor decision making and almost launching with the mindset that eventually I have to make a shot. The discipline and patience in our half-court offense breaks down when players are mentally frustrated. I don't know if we're playing a click fast but I do believe we rush a lot of our open looks. Whether it be in the h-c or transition. Nothing is particularly smooth in our sets and we seem to ovetdribble.
I'd be more optimistic if it weren't for the two big injuries.
I'm not buying the effort argument.
Lack of effort tends to result in poor defense and rebounding. Butler is better at offense than defense. We held them to .95ppp (under 1 is typically considered good). We forced 18 turnovers, 12 of them steals. We grabbed 15 offensive boards to their 6 (even accounting for how many more o-rebound opportunities we had, we still had a much better o-rebounding rate). All of these are effort plays.
Where we were terrible was on the offensive side, specifically shooting. I do think something mentally is going on with the offense, but I don't think it has anything to do with effort. I think it's more that each miss, especially on wide open threes, weighs on you more and more.
Quote from: El Guerrero 2 on January 10, 2024, 10:42:34 PM
While I certainly share in the collective depression and disappointment, it's worth remembering UConn went 2-7 between 12/31/22 and 1/30/23. That turned out alright for them. Wins in March heal all wounds.
Agree
Quote from: MuggsyB on January 10, 2024, 11:11:40 PM
What I'm having the most trouble with is our two best perimeter players have looked like they're pressing which leads to really poor decision making and almost launching with the mindset that eventually I have to make a shot. The discipline and patience in our half-court offense breaks down when players are mentally frustrated. I don't know if we're playing a click fast but I do believe we rush a lot of our open looks. Whether it be in the h-c or transition. Nothing is particularly smooth in our sets and we seem to ovetdribble.
Read and react offense is far less fun when you're aren't loose and are second guessing themselves.