The “Feb. Fade”

[Lennys Tap]

When we beat Georgetown on Wednesday, tranquility will be restored in Scooptown.

You must be new here.

[Scoop Snoop]

Have you read the Texas board? ALOT of posters have said they felt our Jan. success would be short lived and that our coach would "Shaka it up". Now we've lost 3 of 4 and are coming off our worst defensive performance since 2008... under a coach that emphasizes team defense.

Not sure how any of this qualifies as dumb/stupid to bring up and question.

Listen, I think we'll find a way, but this month has  given me pause.

Let's play a game that allows us to switch wins and losses around in any order you want to for any BE team:

Nova plays Marquette in two consecutive games and loses both. Then they win a BE game (you choose) followed by blowout loss to Creighton. There! Now we have 3 out of 4 losses. Note that unlike your 4 game Marquette sample, Nova lost one of the games on their on- campus court where they were 44-1. Also note the loss to Creighton is a blowout, unlike our Butler game. But wait! It gets better. The next game, Nova gets stomped by Baylor! This is fun, isn't it? Then someone on the Nova board writes "Have you read the Baylor board? You should see what they are saying about Jay Wright!"

[TallTitan34]

just had their worst performance since 2008.

Defensively.  But last I checked we were pretty good in 2008.

[UWW2MU]

Have you read the Texas board? ALOT of posters have said they felt our Jan. success would be short lived and that our coach would "Shaka it up". Now we've lost 3 of 4 and are coming off our worst defensive performance since 2008... under a coach that emphasizes team defense.

Not sure how any of this qualifies as dumb/stupid to bring up and question.

Listen, I think we'll find a way, but this month has  given me pause.

Sure, and half the posters on that thread are confusing the Big East with the A10...  take what they say with a grain of salt... because that's what most of them are.  There's a few level headed posters there, but mixed in with a whole lot of bitter folks who only watch basketball in March and are still reeling from their ACU loss.

[BM1090]

Nothing to be concerned about yet. If we drop the next two or look uninspired, then I'll be a bit worried. As of now, we're in excellent position to be in the 5-7 seed range and every single one of us would have taken that prior to the year.

[GoldenEagles03]

Wednesday against Georgetown is gonna be a rock fight.

Georgetown is hungry for their 1st win. They've hung around lately with a few teams but just haven't been able to finish the job. They are getting close.

They've got shooters and size needed to pull off an upset.

[mubb3434]

I am not concerned at all. We dropped our first bad game of the year. Happens almost every year to every team. We lost to Green Bay in 2013 the year we went to the E8. Hinkle has our number and we ran into a buzzsaw. Butler has been playing halfway decent as of late. Lost on the road to Creighton by 2, on the road to Xavier by 2, and by 3 to St. John's. Let's take care of business the rest of the way and lock in that 5-7 seed.

[panda]

Wednesday against Georgetown is gonna be a rock fight.

Georgetown is hungry for their 1st win. They've hung around lately with a few teams but just haven't been able to finish the job. They are getting close.

They've got shooters and size needed to pull off an upset.

Georgetown stinks and they're playing like they've quit on Ewing. They're the perfect get right home game.

[GoldenEagles03]

Georgetown stinks and they're playing like they've quit on Ewing. They're the perfect get right home game.

Butler also stinks.

[panda]

Butler also stinks.

Not like Georgetown.

[Uncle Rico]

Wednesday against Georgetown is gonna be a rock fight.

Georgetown is hungry for their 1st win. They've hung around lately with a few teams but just haven't been able to finish the job. They are getting close.

They've got shooters and size needed to pull off an upset.

Georgetown is one of the worst major teams of all-time.  They can be as hangry as they want.  If Marquette loses, it'll be because of Marquette playing down to them

[MU1980]

Butler also stinks.

Not even a close comparison between those two teams this year. 

[BM1090]

Butler also stinks.

Butler has been solid for the last month. Georgetown has not.

[muwarrior69]

February fade is a stretch that is exacerbated by the wojo years, that's not fair to coach Shaka.

That said, playing down to competition is a legitimate comparison imo.
That is because we have see in from this Shaka squad several times this season.

Now, plenty of those were early before this team became this team and we saw the basketball we saw over the last month.
Losses @Providence and @UConn, close losses at that, are of ZERO concern. Those are two top 4 league teams on the road. That's why the idea of a "February fade" is silly.

Heck, even a loss at Butler typically isn't a big concern imo- but this Butler squad isn't quite as good as they have been and it was another game where Marquette played down to competition this season.

Coach Shaka has a recent history of fumbling some big time games to teams he shouldn't have lost to (mostly at his previous stop) so that is a legitimate concern for the time being.

I came into this stretch that began against Butler thinking to myself that it might end up being one of the hardest of the season for Shaka, not because the opponents are the hardest but because the expectations are.

This team has way exceeded expectations and now gets a month full of games it's expected to win before the conference tournament and big dance, and that's not the easiest thing in the world to coach up.

Lets keep the big picture in mind- still need two more wins to get to 10-9 in conference and clinch a bid- everything after that is "gravy."
Have 3 home games versus lower half competition so that should be doable fairly comfortably.
Sure 2-3 with an early exit in the conf tournament would have everyone here reeling but a bid is a bid, and anythings possible in the big dance.

One win in the NCAA tournament is the goal I've set, a goal I considered pretty unlikely before the season started.
Need Marquette and Shaka to get the recent monkey off the back this season

This has been a very entertaining season and the team has performed wildly beyond my expectations. There are few close games that went our way and a few that didn't.  We know the team is better than what we played last Saturday. We ought to win our home games and split our two road games, but even if they don't that would make us 16 and 14 for the season which is better than I would have expected.

[Scoop Snoop]

Wednesday against Georgetown is gonna be a rock fight.

Georgetown is hungry for their 1st win. They've hung around lately with a few teams but just haven't been able to finish the job. They are getting close.

They've got shooters and size needed to pull off an upset.

Rock fight? OK. If you say so. Well, we agree on the "haven't been able to finish the job" part, so there's that.

As Panda pointed out, it looks like they have quit on Ewing. I'll give you this much- anything is possible. But probable? No.

[MU82]

[MDMU04]

Sir, this is Scoop an Arby's

[1SE]

If we lose Wednesday, this place will be a



and rightly so.

But we ain't gonna lose Wednesday.

[muwarrior97]

If we lose Wednesday, this place will be a



and rightly so.

But we ain't gonna lose Wednesday.

Isn't it already? 

[tower912]

Isn't it already? 

Testify.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Isn't it already? 

I don't understand the use of teal here

[CTWarrior]

Nothing to be concerned about yet. If we drop the next two or look uninspired, then I'll be a bit worried. As of now, we're in excellent position to be in the 5-7 seed range and every single one of us would have taken that prior to the year.

I am concerned about a few things. 

1.  Kolek was really a driving force behind the offense when we were rolling and moving the ball so well.  The past couple opponents wised up and did not abandon their man when Kolek drove, thus taking away his passing angles and forcing him to take tough shots when help finally came from a big under he basket (whoever was guarding our C).  We have to counter that.  Also, as others have mentioned, Kolek's drives into the lane are now leaving us susceptible to runouts.
2.  Teams have also wised up to our defensive style which is prone to allowing putbacks.  Providence and UConn particularly saw the value of getting the ball up on the rim and attacking the glass. 
3.  We are back to taking those early 3's that are not the step in rhythm kind that have high probability of success.  I'd like more patience, probe the lane a little and hopefully get more kickouts to jump shooters, who will have to be coming off of off the ball screens now.

Again, no new ground above, but I haven't seen what we're going to do as countermeasures, either.  A convincing win over Georgetown won't do much to ease my concerns, but we have some winnable tests coming.  I suspect we'll try some new wrinkles, and I'll be interested in them.

[Goose]

CT Warrior

I am pretty sure Jay Wright knew how to stop Kolek and our defense and we never trailed in the second game. It is a long season and a couple of bumps in the road is bound to happen. I still have confidence in a strong finish and at least one victory at the NCAA.

I say if all the time, this should be the least talented Shaka led team he has during his team here. Better teams will be judged differently IMO, this is a fun team, but flawed.

[CTWarrior]

CT Warrior

I am pretty sure Jay Wright knew how to stop Kolek and our defense and we never trailed in the second game. It is a long season and a couple of bumps in the road is bound to happen. I still have confidence in a strong finish and at least one victory at the NCAA.

I say if all the time, this should be the least talented Shaka led team he has during his team here. Better teams will be judged differently IMO, this is a fun team, but flawed.

Well, Nova does not attack the offensive glass with multiple athletes, which is a big reason why I think they are a good matchup for us.  They get back to prevent easy baskets.

[MU82]

Some might say it's Shaka's first test.