Damn....what a gag job....totally unfortunate

[Lennys Tap]

Yeah, but doesn't it always seem a little more likely when Marquette is playing

Certainly seems like we've lost more than our share of coin flips the last few years. Hopefully it evens out soon.

[Lennys Tap]

Excuses....we should have won.  For every miracle shot there are dozens that should have gone in that didn't which we were the beneficiaries of.

How many "dozens"? Three maybe? Guess we should have lost by 36 then. If that miracle shot happened at the end of the game (instead of the end of the half) in a 1 point loss would it count for more than 3 points? I'm not saying we couldn't or shouldn't have won last night IN SPITE OF being unlucky. But that doesn't mean we weren't unlucky.

[CTWarrior]

I can't bash Buzz about this game.  At the end of the day or game in this instance, our weakness are just too glaring to think Buzz is a bad coach.  His coaching is actually what put us in a position to win instead of lose.  Missed free throws and bad defense only magnifies are teams weaknesses, especially at the end of games where stars shine and unfortunately we don't have many or any true stars.  To judge the last minute instead of the full 40 minutes is very short sighted. 

We lost because:

We are severly undersized at just about every position.  (Not Buzz's fault) 
We are severely short handed as only 7 players are Big East caliber ready at this point in time.  (Not Buzz's fault) 
We don't have a Big East starting point guard.  Acker/Cubillian are subs at best and Buycks is not a point.(Not Buzz's fault)
We don't have any stars that want the ball and shine at the end of games.  Not a dig on Hayward, he is great but he is what he is. (Not Buzz's fault)

Add to the fact that West Virginia is a very good team.  Has a legit NBA lottery pick.  Has a great coach with a ton of experience. And played at home and we should be satisfied with our team's effort.

 

I'd like to point out that there is no way West Virginia is the 6th best team in the country.  While they had a significant height advantage, they didn't have a 6-10 giant we had no match-up for and more importatnly, they don't currently have a single healthy guard. 

This is one we could have/should have had.  (And one I think we really will wish we had gotten when we get to March). Buzz did the right thing resting on offense so we could play pressure defense late into the second half despite our lack of depth.  The missed free throws hurt, but so did Buycks not diving on the loose ball in the lane when we had the 5 point lead with a minute to go, and so did giving up two quick fouls just because we could and then allowng an uncontested drive for a dunk.  It was a complete collapse at the end.  The winning shot was a great basketball play and very lucky, but it shouldn't have gotten that far.   

[chapman]

There's always a flip side to the "bad break" argument.  We shot 10-17 from three and Lazar suddenly found the stroke he hasn't had for awhile.  There will be a game when we go 4-17 against a worse opponent and lose by a lot.  There will be a lot of teams with a huge size advantage, but there likely won't be another that manages just four free throw attempts against us.  It's the conference opener, coming off a blowout that didn't exactly exert the starters, so the lack of depth/7 man argument is nothing right now compared to how much impact it may/will have later.  

We couldn't have been set up much better for a win but found a way to choke it away again.  It'll be more "great effort" than "bad luck" when we keep a game close despite our three pointers just not falling, the other team having a decent game plan and getting to the line, and our 7 players barely able to stand in February, though I'm sure instead we'll hear how terrible our team is and how badly they were coached.

[ChicosBailBonds]

How many "dozens"? Three maybe? Guess we should have lost by 36 then. If that miracle shot happened at the end of the game (instead of the end of the half) in a 1 point loss would it count for more than 3 points? I'm not saying we couldn't or shouldn't have won last night IN SPITE OF being unlucky. But that doesn't mean we weren't unlucky.

I appreciate the explanation because for a second I thought you were saying we lost because we were unlucky.  I'd say the first shot was lucky, the second shot was just a great shot.  But there were also some bunnies that they missed that they should have made...that was my point...far more of those types of shots.

I'd love to see some killer instinct on this team but it isn't there yet.  Someone that will step up (yes, cliche time), want the ball and will make shots.  They are playing hard, Buzz is drawing up good game plans, shame that it is going to waste. 

This isn't a great team, it's a good team that is scrappy, would love to see them enjoy a few fruits for their labor.