Quote from: HutchwasClutch on November 18, 2025, 07:23:18 PMWe're not beating either.  They're both going to roll us.

Purdue yes. UW's SOS is currently 338th nationally.

Quote from: HutchwasClutch on November 18, 2025, 07:18:54 PMSo are we

We'll beat Xavier twice.

If James is Big East all freshmen caliber, Ross is all conference, Zaide has no weaknesses, Ben is nba prospect solid, Parham is about to bust out, the coaches have Owens 'right', Hamilton gives a strong 10 minutes, Sean's wing is ok, and Stevens is a Rosenberger sharp shooter off the bench, all our collective angst has been for naught. Worry about Red Panda on the unicycle, not Marquette winning. Shaka sets the tone.

Quote from: JWags85 on November 18, 2025, 07:27:28 PMLast couple games were with a grain of salt cause even thought Paraguay, Australia, Ecuador are WC qualifying squads, none of them are top 20 in the world kind of squads.  But womping on Uruguay, with 3-4 starters who I want nowhere near a WC roster next year, is pretty decent.  Its not full strength Uruguay (no Valverde, Gimenez not starting), nor is it the Uruguay of Suarez, Cavani, and Godin...but its still a top 4 team in SA and a nice win.

Yeah it's not that any of the wins/draws were particularly impressive, but unbeaten in 5 against 5 world cup teams is the type of run we haven't seen in awhile and the first time Poch seems to have some real traction. It seems like we're back as a good (but not great) soccer team, which is more than we could say for the last couple of years.

Quote from: The Sultan on November 18, 2025, 09:09:24 PMAnd now Curaçao qualifies too. While Costa Rica and Honduras stay home.

That's cool. They've been close to a breakthrough for a while. Nice to see them get it. Haiti, too.

Quote from: The Sultan on October 13, 2025, 01:00:26 PMCape Verde qualifies for the World Cup today. I believe they are the second smallest country ever to qualify.

To put this in perspective, they didn't even qualify for this year's version of the Africa Cup of Nations.

And now Curaçao qualifies too. While Costa Rica and Honduras stay home.

Quote from: jfp61 on November 18, 2025, 08:42:53 PMHe isn't our best defender. Chase is.

We don't play exceptional defense when he is on the court.

Our team Adj. Defensive efficency is 96.5 with him on the court this year, average for this team. Last year it was 95.8 3rd worst last year.

Zaide doesn't generate anything in the defensive box score. He has a -0.02  box BPR this year. An average defensive box BPR this year for a bad defenisve team. He had the 4th worst box BPR last year.

Lastly he isn't a matchup defender.

Ben Gold, Nigel James, Royce Parham, and Chase Ross are all better defenders than him.

Ryan Mela gets his hands on the basketball defensivly.

Blake Harper would start over him because he fits the balence of the team better.

Gonna have to agree to disagree here. He routinely gets put on the guy who is hot and routinely shuts him down. Coit on Saturday being the most recent example.

I do agree that Chase over his career has been a better defender and our best defender. He's been getting beat pretty consistently this year though.

Quote from: cheebs09 on November 18, 2025, 08:37:27 PMDon't you need to make the Qualifying Offer for a draft pick? I honestly don't know if he was expected to accept.

I believe a QO has to be made and declined by the player in order for the team to gain a Compensatory Pick. I also think the placement of the comp pick depends on whether or not the club participates in revenue sharing, (16 teams?), and whether or not the player ultimately signs for over/under $50 million.

Basically, the Dodgers sign whomever they want and are ruining MLB.

Quote from: DoctorV on November 18, 2025, 02:15:40 PMI'll agree with this sentiment, although with low confidence on the tourney bid part because of the slim margin for error.

I'll second the sentiment that Royce hasn't been great, and I'll take that a step further and say that I was expecting more out of Zaide too.
To their defense, much more is expected of them and it takes time.
Additionally, I think that Zaide has been talked about in a positive light because, compared to the others, he's usually a step above in positioning and making the right play, or at the very least being active/engaged and not getting lost on the court.

The metrics seem to like Royce much more than Zaide though, which is also interesting.

All in all I will agree that those two look primed to make the next step, if/when the game slows down just a bit for them.
Ditto with Nigel and Adrien but they are ahead of the curve rather than on the other side of it.

As an aside- it seems to me like Parham has really been embracing getting stronger and playing stronger inside and I think Shaka should push that. I think once Parham feels like he can belong down low it might open things up for him from the outside or in other parts of his game. That goes hand in hand with moving Ben back to the 5 and having Caedin be a 10 min backup, which I suspect we will see soon.

...soon, as in tomorrow night, please.

Quote from: BM1090 on November 18, 2025, 07:47:58 PMI think you're severely underrating Zaide here. He's our best defender and doesn't really have weaknesses in his game. I don't think he starts for SJU or UConn, but he's a better option than what the other schools have. If you don't think he's starting over Blake Harper or Ryan Mela, I don't know what to tell you.

He isn't our best defender. Chase is.

We don't play exceptional defense when he is on the court.

Our team Adj. Defensive efficency is 96.5 with him on the court this year, average for this team. Last year it was 95.8 3rd worst last year.

Zaide doesn't generate anything in the defensive box score. He has a -0.02  box BPR this year. An average defensive box BPR this year for a bad defenisve team. He had the 4th worst box BPR last year.

Lastly he isn't a matchup defender.

Ben Gold, Nigel James, Royce Parham, and Chase Ross are all better defenders than him.

Ryan Mela gets his hands on the basketball defensivly.

Blake Harper would start over him because he fits the balence of the team better.