Success starts at home

[muguru]

I have railed on this before, but it needs to be pointed out again..MU is just not good defending their home floor. Yes, they have played tough opponents at home, but so have a lot of other teams in the country..yet of the top 80 RPI teams in the country from power conferences, ONLY Notre Dame has lost(and they have injury issues) the same amount of games at home. With the emphasis the RPI puts on home wins, it is PARAMOUNT that you defend your home floor..I get that three of their four home losses have been to teams ranked in the top 10(and yes that plays a role), but my goodness they just haven't been particularly good at home the last number of years.

[Newsdreams]

Lol calm down

[Marquette4life]

Simmer guy. No we aren't the same as we were when we had the streak for most wins at home in a row but still. Lots of great teams we play

[cheese ball chaser]

I haven't looked at our previous years' home records, but this year we've had 2 home losses since Big East play started: both to elite teams (Xavier and Nova). We even stole one against a very good team (Seton Hall) and beat Georgetown and DePaul. So, I would say we've done a good job protecting the home floor this year. That said, we have 2 home games coming up against Butler and Providence (two very good teams), which will give us good opportunities to protect our house.

[tower912]

Oh, you're talking about the basketball team. 

[MerrittsMustache]

I have railed on this before, but it needs to be pointed out again.. MU is just not good at defending their home floor. Yes, they have played tough opponents at home, but so have a lot of other teams in the country..yet of the top 80 RPI teams in the country from power conferences, ONLY Notre Dame has lost(and they have injury issues) the same amount of games at home. With the emphasis the RPI puts on home wins, it is PARAMOUNT that you defend your home floor..I get that three of their four home losses have been to teams ranked in the top 10(and yes that plays a role), but my goodness they just haven't been particularly good at home the last number of years.

FIFY

[Marcus92]

According to KenPom.com, our home losses are to teams ranked #3 (Purdue), #69 (Georgia), #12 (Xavier) and #1 (Villanova).

Purdue has lost a grand total of 2 games this season and is 10-0 in the Big Ten. If we played Georgia today, I think we beat them easily; we didn't have Harry Froling and our 3 freshmen had exactly 7 games of experience. Xavier's lost just 3 games and is 7-2 in the Big East. And Nova is 20-1, which means 19 other previous opponents (including Tennessee, Gonzaga and Xavier) are in the same boat as us.

Looking at the rest of the schedule, we're favored in the rest of our home games. Win 3 out of 4 and we're probably in the NCAA tournament again. I'm happy with that, and see better days ahead for the program.

[WayOfTheWarrior]

If we lose the next two, then I think this thread would be relevant. Unless that happens (which I doubt it does), I'm not sweating too much for reasons already stated.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Yeah, I'm not worried about losing to Villanova, Purdue, or X at home. Georgia was a blah game and definitely should have been a win, but those other three are "good" losses. I don't think it has anything to do with being bad at defending home court. I think we had one bad game and then played three of the best teams in basketball this season.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

[tower912]

Don't post that.   Potty mouth.   

[Newsdreams]

Don't post that.   Potty mouth.   

Should go hangout in the student section, hey?

[MU82]

Didn't see muguru here after we thrashed Seton Hall.

Must have missed it, because surely he wouldn't just get his jollies posting after a loss.

And sorry for calling anybody "Shirley."

[cheese ball chaser]

Didn't see muguru here after we thrashed Seton Hall.

Must have missed it, because surely he wouldn't just get his jollies posting after a loss.

And sorry for calling anybody "Shirley."

Don't worry, he'll think of some reason to argue that Seton Hall is "overrated" and that it wasn't a good win

[muguru]

Don't worry, he'll think of some reason to argue that Seton Hall is "overrated" and that it wasn't a good win

Seton Hall was a VERY good win...No disputing that, but..Georgia should have been a win, and Xavier and Nova very well could have been..(possibly should have been the way the games played out).

[MU82]

Seriously, guru. Curious on why you mostly beyotch but only rarely have good things to say.

You obviously know and appreciate good basketball. So easy to jump on the pile after a loss and be negative.

[MuMark]

We were never winning either the Nova or Xavier game late.......how anyone could say they should have been wins is beyond ridiculous.


By this logic the Providence game should have been a loss.

We didn't blow either game....we got beat by better teams......deal with it.

[JamilJaeJamailJrJuan]

guru is a big time MU fan.  He's just a negative guy. 

[GGGG]

I feel very confident that if things continue to develop the way they have, that MU will be able to close out against the likes of Nova and X. Getting more experience with this group is going to be fun to watch.

[tower912]

Guru loves MU basketball.    Maybe too much.     Takes every loss as a personal affront.   

[GGGG]

Guru isn't as much negative as he is impatient. 

[Dr. Blackheart]

We were never winning either the Nova or Xavier game late.......how anyone could say they should have been wins is beyond ridiculous.


By this logic the Providence game should have been a loss.

We didn't blow either game....we got beat by better teams......deal with it.

Two things in common:  M2N and Pat Driscoll had bad games in both.

[Its DJOver]

The Georgia loss hurts, but if I were offered 1-2 at home against Nova, X, and SHU at the beginning of the season, I would take it, especially considering the only blow out was the win over SHU.

[MUfan12]

Xavier and Nova very well could have been..(possibly should have been the way the games played out).

You definitely have a stronger argument about the X game.

XU led for 24:13. MU led for 09:26. Game  was tied for 06:21.
VU led for 37:48. MU led for 01:09. Game  was tied for 01:03.

[Goose]

Guru

You are correct. You have to win at home to be a successful program. Not going to bash Wojo for this year's home record, but definitely need to improve on that starting next season. Home cooking makes the road a lot easier.