Friday is war

[jsglow]

Belmont is damn good. Get your arse down to the BMO Harris BC.  Tell the Mrs. that it's date night. Every student,  every alum. No freakin' Tennessee 'community college' comes into our house and pushes us around.

[real chili 83]

ARRRRRRRRRHHHHHHHH!

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

I had a sales rep visit me a work last week and her daughter is a Freshman at Belmont.  She thought her daughter may be the only one from Connecticut there. 
I was blown away of photos of the campus.  Apparently a bunch of country music stars are grads and the school has some solid financial donor backing as a result.

[MU B2002]

I had a sales rep visit me a work last week and her daughter is a Freshman at Belmont.  She thought her daughter may be the only one from Connecticut there. 
I was blown away of photos of the campus.  Apparently a bunch of country music stars are grads and the school has some solid financial donor backing as a result.

The pictures are not misleading.  My office was about 3 miles away from the Belmont campus, it is very impressive. 

[Benny B]

Belmont is damn good. Get your arse down to the BMO Harris BC.  Tell the Mrs. that it's date night. Every student,  every alum. No freakin' Tennessee 'community college' comes into our house and pushes us around.

Freaky... even though it was technically phrased as a question, the Mrs. already told me that.

[MUfan12]

Attractiveness of campus aside, I'll be surprised if MU wins this one. Belmont executes incredibly well in the halfcourt, and has shooters that can really punish mistakes. MU was very poor last night with their discipline defensively, both with overplaying and fouling. Plays right into a veteran team's hands.

On the other hand, Belmont hasn't been a great defensive team, and MU has more size and speed. Crucial for Luke to stay out of foul trouble in this one. He and Henry will be a handful for their frontcourt.

[warriorchick]

I had a sales rep visit me a work last week and her daughter is a Freshman at Belmont.  She thought her daughter may be the only one from Connecticut there. 
I was blown away of photos of the campus.  Apparently a bunch of country music stars are grads and the school has some solid financial donor backing as a result.

When I was growing up in Nashville, Belmont was tiny - I mean Cardinal Stritch tiny. The entire campus was basically a square city block,.  I drove through campus a couple of years ago and was floored. 

[MuMark]

Belmont is good but they did manage to lose to Eastern Kentucky,Eastern Illinois, Jacksonville State, Morehead State and Wright State (twice) last season.

If they are hitting 3s and we put them on the line a ton it will be a very tough game. They will have trouble stopping our inside game assuming Luke and Henry can stay out of foul trouble.

ps Maybe we should change our name to Eastern Wisconsin or Marquette State for just 1 game? 

[wadesworld]

Stupid question, but is Belmont the same as Belmont Abbey?  The same school that Al began his coaching career at?

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

Freaky... even though it was technically phrased as a question, the Mrs. already told me that.

But did you get the mushrooms?

[MuMark]

Stupid question, but is Belmont the same as Belmont Abbey?  The same school that Al began his coaching career at?

No

[MerrittsMustache]

Stupid question, but is Belmont the same as Belmont Abbey?  The same school that Al began his coaching career at?

Nope. I believe Belmont Abbey is in one of the Carolinas.

[WarriorPride68]

Consider me shocked if MU loses the home opener to a team (Belmont) predicted to finish behind Southern Illinois - Edwardsville & University of Tennessee Martin in the OVC.


I can't handle another year like the last two. & more importantly neither could Scoop. Kick some ass Friday boys!

[Benny B]

But did you get the mushrooms?

Yes.

[Galway Eagle]

Consider me shocked if MU loses the home opener to a team (Belmont) predicted to finish behind Southern Illinois - Edwardsville & University of Tennessee Martin in the OVC.


I can't handle another year like the last two. & more importantly neither could Scoop. Kick some ass Friday boys!

Don't know where you get your info from but it's not true Belmont was pegged to both win their division and the overall conference.

http://www.tsutigers.com/mbasketball/news/2015-16/6263/mens-basketball-picked-sixth-in-east-division-of-ovc-preseason-coachessid-poll/

[NotAnAlum]

Consider me shocked if MU loses the home opener to a team (Belmont)

Then you might want to prepare to be shocked.  10 years ago a talented but young MU team lost to Winthrop in the second home game of the season.  Winthrop was coming off an NCAA appearance and returned everyone from that team.  Just like Belmont.  Returning everyone is a HUGE advantage at this time of the year and those guys did win 20+ games last year.  I actually wouldn't be "shocked" if MU trailed most of the game.

So better be prepared.  By the way the team that lost to Winthrop, a few weeks later beat #2 UCONN and went on to go the NCAA tournament.  So if we lose, as I fear we will, don't go crazy.  Young teams take time.

[keefe]

Freaky... even though it was technically phrased as a question, the Mrs. already told me that.

Looks like you were texting national security intel. Are you married to Hillary Clinton?

[brewcity77]

Then you might want to prepare to be shocked.  10 years ago a talented but young MU team lost to Winthrop in the second home game of the season.  Winthrop was coming off an NCAA appearance and returned everyone from that team.  Just like Belmont.  Returning everyone is a HUGE advantage at this time of the year and those guys did win 20+ games last year.  I actually wouldn't be "shocked" if MU trailed most of the game.

So better be prepared.  By the way the team that lost to Winthrop, a few weeks later beat #2 UCONN and went on to go the NCAA tournament.  So if we lose, as I fear we will, don't go crazy.  Young teams take time.

Belmont and LSU are the two games I am most worried about losing in the non-conference. This is a very, very tough team to start a season with. Also, don't expect this Belmont team to be intimidated by the Bradley Center. These guys have gone into both North Carolina and Stanford in the past few years and come away with wins.

Defense will be the story of this game. We need good man-to-man defense to limit their shooters and need to take advantage of mismatches against their defense. Fouls will be huge. Can't be sending them to the line all night long. I'm hoping for a win, but this is likely to be the toughest season opener in a long time, at least since IUPUI, who had a lead midway through the second half against Crean and the Three Amigos in 2007.

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

So what if we blow them out by 25 then. Is that a testament to the "we're back" mindset or belmont just had an off game.

[MUfan12]

So what if we blow them out by 25 then. Is that a testament to the "we're back" mindset or belmont just had an off game.

Why does it have to be one of those things?

[source?]

I had a sales rep visit me a work last week and her daughter is a Freshman at Belmont.  She thought her daughter may be the only one from Connecticut there. 
I was blown away of photos of the campus.  Apparently a bunch of country music stars are grads and the school has some solid financial donor backing as a result.

Looked into this and it is a pretty impressive list. Florida Georgia Line (both members), Canaan Smith, Josh Turner, Lee Ann Womack, Trisha Yearwood, Steven Curtis Chapman (not country, but was huge in the Christian music scene a little ways back). That's just some of the more notable ones. What are they doing in their music school?

[keefe]

Looked into this and it is a pretty impressive list. Florida Georgia Line (both members), Canaan Smith, Josh Turner, Lee Ann Womack, Trisha Yearwood, Steven Curtis Chapman (not country, but was huge in the Christian music scene a little ways back). That's just some of the more notable ones. What are they doing in their music school?

Where the hell did you get this?

[MerrittsMustache]

Belmont was a 15-seed last season with an RPI of 105. If MU wants to avoid a disappointing Selection Sunday, this is the type of game that they need to win.  Obviously, there's a lot of basketball to play but a home loss to an OVC school could end up being the difference between the NCAAT and the NIT at season's end.

[JamilJaeJamailJrJuan]

Looked into this and it is a pretty impressive list. Florida Georgia Line (both members), Canaan Smith, Josh Turner, Lee Ann Womack, Trisha Yearwood, Steven Curtis Chapman (not country, but was huge in the Christian music scene a little ways back). That's just some of the more notable ones. What are they doing in their music school?

Pretty sure that's what the school is known for, hence likely attracting talented performers. 

[brewcity77]

So what if we blow them out by 25 then. Is that a testament to the "we're back" mindset or belmont just had an off game.

Not necessarily either of the above, nor would a loss (even by double-digits) a sign that the season is over. But this is the type of team known for springing early season upsets and has done it (with these players on the roster) to bigger and better teams than we are putting on the floor Friday. Simply, this isn't a game we should take for granted.