MU catches huge break. Stainbrook officially ruled out of game for Xavier

[UticaBusBarn]

Still the biggest myth perpetuated on this board.

This team is not nearly as talented as people think. It's Davante and a bunch of role players.

"The whole is (should be) greater than the sum of its parts (talent)" - Aristotle

[Windyplayer]

Still the biggest myth perpetuated on this board.

This team is not nearly as talented as people think. It's Davante and a bunch of role players.

Yeah, Mayo and Burton are role players...

[Dawson Rental]

3 people here made the same comments, you go after one.  LOL

Matchups mean something, and Stainbrook is one guy that can hurt us due to his size. Sorry, Mayo getting suspended is his own problem and the team's...that's self selected stupidity, not a random injury.   I didn't realize Gardner missed any games this year due to injury that we also lost.   

Gardner played his worst game IIRC against SDSU while puking into a bucket on the sideline due to illness.  And we still almost won.

[bilsu]

The thing that will really matter is what kind of game the refs decide to call. We are toast, if they decide to call a foul everytime Christian tries to drive to the basket.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Still the biggest myth perpetuated on this board.

This team is not nearly as talented as people think. It's Davante and a bunch of role players.

Well, people paid to be Big East coaches said two of our guys were talented enough to be preseason All Big East.   At the end of the year, a third was named to the all rookie team.  4 or 5 guys on our team are consensus top 100 recruits....not the end all be all by any stretch, though statistically speaking I would find it a little odd that they all missed on every one of them.

I think the talent is there, doesn't mean they are playing up to that talent level.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Gardner played his worst game IIRC against SDSU while puking into a bucket on the sideline due to illness.  And we still almost won.

Yup, I was at the game about 10 feet from him puking.  In fact, I gave the update here that he was throwing up.  I believe he played a little over half the game. 

No one seems to want to answer the question I posed for reasons I can't fathom why.   

If MU didn't have DG available tomorrow, would we think the other team caught a huge break?   Hmmm.   

[chapman]

If MU didn't have DG available tomorrow, would we think the other team caught a huge break?   Hmmm.   

We would have caught a break.  Full on give up, so no meltdown needed.

[79Warrior]

Gardner played his worst game IIRC against SDSU while puking into a bucket on the sideline due to illness.  And we still almost won.

A loss is a loss. We almost "won" several games.

[ChicosBailBonds]

We would have caught a break.  Full on give up, so no meltdown needed.

No melt down needed.  I just find it funny how fauxraged people get or offended over the absolute obvious.  We are catching a break tomorrow.  It's a good thing for us, let's go get this thing.  I'd rather play them without Stainbrook than with.  I don't care if it is an easier path, that's the way the cookie crumbles.  Others get upset at the mere mention of that reality as if it is deflowering Buzz and the team or something.  Please.

[Lennys Tap]

Well, people paid to be Big East coaches said two of our guys were talented enough to be preseason All Big East.   At the end of the year, a third was named to the all rookie team.  4 or 5 guys on our team are consensus top 100 recruits....not the end all be all by any stretch, though statistically speaking I would find it a little odd that they all missed on every one of them.

I think the talent is there, doesn't mean they are playing up to that talent level.

Preseason coaches polls and high school rankings? LOL You make fun of them and you embrace them - whichever supports your agenda.

[The Equalizer]

Preseason coaches polls and high school rankings? LOL You make fun of them and you embrace them - whichever supports your agenda.

This from the guy who repeatedly trotted out Jimmy Butler's rank as a junior in HS (ignoring that he was a JUCO AA when Buzz finally got around to recruiting him).

Or repeatedly hyped the infalibitiliy of the coaches' prediction of a 12th place finish in 2009.

LOL. He sure a lot of respect for those preseason coaches polls and HS rankings when they suited HIS agenda.  Now?  Not so much. 

 

[Lennys Tap]

This from the guy who repeatedly trotted out Jimmy Butler's rank as a junior in HS (ignoring that he was a JUCO AA when Buzz finally got around to recruiting him).



 

You're a liar. I brought up his ranking from his SENIOR year in high school to compare him to where our and other players were ranked as seniors.

[The Equalizer]

You're a liar. I brought up his ranking from his SENIOR year in high school to compare him to where our and other players were ranked as seniors.

I'm pretty sure that was his rank after his junior year before his senior season. 

But go ahead post the link showing that rank was actually from the end of his senior year, and I'll be happy to issue a correction.

Finally, even if you find the link, its still going to be a HS ranking.  Which means that you are more than willing to cite HS rank when it suits your agenda, while criticizing others when they doing the same. 
 

[Lennys Tap]

I'm pretty sure that was his rank after his junior year before his senior season. 

But go ahead post the link showing that rank was actually from the end of his senior year, and I'll be happy to issue a correction.

Finally, even if you find the link, its still going to be a HS ranking.  Which means that you are more than willing to cite HS rank when it suits your agenda, while criticizing others when they doing the same. 
 

I'm sorry I called you a liar. That was wrong on my part. But c'mon, man, why would I or anybody else here talk about a guy's ranking his JUNIOR year in high school?

[ChicosBailBonds]

Preseason coaches polls and high school rankings? LOL You make fun of them and you embrace them - whichever supports your agenda.

Pretty sure I said they aren't the end all be all....in fact I did, right there in the part you quoted.  LOL.   I also said statistically it would be pretty odd to have all those guys wrong on every single player.  Can they be wrong on one guy...sure....two guys...ok....three guys....starting to wonder.

You still haven't answered the question...if DG was out tomorrow, would our opponent catch a huge break?  Hell, if Jamil Wilson was out tomorrow, would that be a break for the opposition?  Come on, you can answer it.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Preseason coaches polls and high school rankings? LOL You make fun of them and you embrace them - whichever supports your agenda.

Lenny, I love ya, you are fellow member of the optimist club...and Chicos definitely asks for it sometimes...but I don't think this is one of those times. Xavier losing Stainbrook is indeed a huge break for us

[Jay Bee]

Chicos is upset that there will be one less traditional on the court tonight.

Perhaps he is also angering himself by repeatedly bring up preseason "picks" for MU, even though he thinks they are absurd.

Guy would fit in well with California politics. Unprincipled bs; bi-polar tendencies; quick to attack on separate topic if a topic is brought up that "hurts" him

[4everwarriors]

Maybe McDermott will come down with crotch rot or somethin', a'ina?

[The Equalizer]

I'm sorry I called you a liar. That was wrong on my part. But c'mon, man, why would I or anybody else here talk about a guy's ranking his JUNIOR year in high school?

Apology accepted.

My recollection is that it was cited in an article where Buzz Williams was trying to show how far Jimmy had come--and he used the junior rank becuase it was his low point and showed more progress from that point to becomming a JUCO AA and continuing on that path at MU.  Thats why people talk about it.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Chicos is upset that there will be one less traditional on the court tonight.

Perhaps he is also angering himself by repeatedly bring up preseason "picks" for MU, even though he thinks they are absurd.

Guy would fit in well with California politics. Unprincipled bs; bi-polar tendencies; quick to attack on separate topic if a topic is brought up that "hurts" him

Stainbrook a traditional?  Why?  Define what it means to you, since you obviously believe you have a definition from me.

I think preseason top 25 picks are absurd, please try to get your "facts" straight.   The idea that prognosticators can settle on 25 teams out of 350 and decide who the top 25 are is silly.  Now, the idea of getting coaches in your own league decide who is good and who isn't and to rank order them 1 through 10 (not pick 25 out of 350), is not nearly as hard, but still runs a risk of error...no doubt. I'm surprised they got MU wrong by 5 spots in a 10 team league.  That's why I don't care for them, but that's not what rail against.  Also, what Lenny is getting upset about is the PLAYERS picked in the preseason that I brought up, not the teams.  I guess relying on paid coaches, professionals..experts in their field to opine as to who the best players are in their small league is too tall of an ask and should be discarded.  To each their own.

The rest of your diatribe would make more sense if you actually got the facts right in the first place....try again.

[Jay Bee]

lol, sorry your guys lost again today. You'll still get a banner if the NIT invite comes through - don't be so down.

Coaches can be smart when it comes to their own teams... CAN be.

To think they're experts on how their own conference will play out? Pushing it. Depends.

Many paid professionals in a variety of fields are bad at what they do.

Some are excited by big letters like "espn" and award instant credibility to anything said by anyone associated with them... I know better.

[Lennys Tap]

Apology accepted.

My recollection is that it was cited in an article where Buzz Williams was trying to show how far Jimmy had come--and he used the junior rank becuase it was his low point and showed more progress from that point to becomming a JUCO AA and continuing on that path at MU.  Thats why people talk about it.

I Have no idea where Jimmy was rated after his junior year in high school, but he went to a JUCO after his senior year even though he was a qualifier because no D1 programs came knockin'.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Those coaches often recruited those same kids to play for their own school, but didn't land them. Furthermore, they study film of those players to determine how to beat them.  It is what they are paid to do, evaluate strengths and weaknesses of teams and individual players.  That is one of the main tenants of their profession.

But let's not get into your apples to oranges comparison, or that of Lenny's.  The preseason top 25 polls by a bunch of writers who don't know jack squat is not credible and has been proven time and again.     I'm sorry, but I don't find that on the same level as merely picking your league that you coach against year in and year out, knowing the teams inside and out.  Same for the players within that league.  They certainly have room for error, and I have issues with them, but what I rail against is the dumb preseason polls and the legitimacy some people put against them.  Human polls don't mean squat for most of the year, especially early in the year.  Late in the year they are better, but still have problems because no one can remember who beat whom to get there, plus they reward teams for not losing even if they play in a crap conference....that's how SDSU got to #3 this year, Gonzaga #1, Wichita State #2, etc.  All fine programs, none of them truly deserving of those rankings.

On your other nonsense.  I'm not down about anything, this was a rebuilding year for them....I'm much more concerned about MU since this wasn't a rebuilding year for us.  We lost one guy of note, they lost 4 guys of note.  Though the seas have parted now and we have a much much easier rode to BET then we did 36 hours ago, so things are looking up.  Question is if the team plays differently in the last 3 games of the year than they did in the first few months.  Hopefully so.  If the guys don't know what has been presented to them on a golden platter the last 36 hours, I don't know what to tell you.  Go get it.

[Lennys Tap]

Though the seas have parted now and we have a much much easier rode to BET then we did 36 hours ago, so things are looking up.  Question is if the team plays differently in the last 3 games of the year than they did in the first few months.  Hopefully so.  If the guys don't know what has been presented to them on a golden platter the last 36 hours, I don't know what to tell you.  Go get it.

Chicos at his passive aggressive best. The worse the Hoosiers/TC perform, the more you revert to Bad Chicos. Villanova losing  makes the probability of MU winning the tournament maybe 8% instead of 5%. Only you would characterize that as being presented on a golden platter.

The only other possible explanation for this is you know nothing about odds and probabilities.

[JTBMU7]

Stainbrook is available tonight according to numerous sources... Fun.