Mach-E (Rad-Ford) de Sade

[Dr. Blackheart]

It's your opinion, nothing more.

I listed the ragged stats. It's not an opinion. Nervous players, many playing their first game in front of the largest crowd of their lives versus a team of D1 veteran transfers included a McDonald's AA. Joplin is lights out in a closed gym at U of C, yet wasn't even close once tonight.

I got a great idea, let's play our next game in the Al versus preparing for the big boys (now that's an opinion). Now what's your "nothing more" than your usual response to over shout a poster?

[Its DJOver]

Don't want to read too much into the first game of the season but those BEast coaches are paid a lot more $$$ than us to know ball.  Maybe they actually know what they're talking about when it comes to predicted BEast standings.

[Elonsmusk]

Don't want to read too much into the first game of the season but those BEast coaches are paid a lot more $$$ than us to know ball.  Maybe they actually know what they're talking about when it comes to predicted BEast standings.

Well..Creighton got put to the test by a bunch of skinny white guys from St. Thomas in their 2nd year in D1.  So.  There's that.  I believe Creighton was picked first in the Big East coaches poll?

[MuggsyB]

Good teams are going to take away the Kolek/Oso two man game.  Shaka may have found something with Ross tonight.

[PGsHeroes32]

Don't want to read too much into the first game of the season but those BEast coaches are paid a lot more $$$ than us to know ball.  Maybe they actually know what they're talking about when it comes to predicted BEast standings.

This astounding logic is popped the moment I point to those coaches putting us 9th last year as well.

[Its DJOver]

Well..Creighton got put to the test by a bunch of skinny white guys from St. Thomas in their 2nd year in D1.  So.  There's that.  I believe Creighton was picked first in the Big East coaches poll?

Well... As I said, don't want to read too much into one game, but, folks here have been singing Joplin's praises offensively for a while now, as well as talking about how Sean will be a 20 mpg player, and they just combined to go 1-9 from the field with 6 TOs.  Will they get better, sure, will they get better to be difference makers this season, that remains to be seen.

[Elonsmusk]

Good teams are going to take away the Kolek/Oso two man game.  Shaka may have found something with Ross tonight.

Shaka said Ross is a blend guy..he can play with a lot of people.  Watching him tonight, he's as composed of a freshman at MU as I recall watching since Sam Hauser.  Ross made a lot of winning plays tonight, without needing to shoot a lot.  Joplin on the other hand?  18 empty minutes.

[BCHoopster]

Can not wait to see how they guard Zak Edey, Oso is a nice player, showed tonight on the offensive end he can be good, but defensively he is just to small. Trying to understand the best Shaka could find is an undersized player in Wrightsil when he needed a physical body.  This team will have to shot the 3 better if they want to win.  Like Ross, he really can play D.

[Its DJOver]

This astounding logic is popped the moment I point to those coaches putting us 9th last year as well.

I guess we'll find out.  I will say that last year's team had significantly more size than this years, and they were still a bad rebounding team.

[Newsdreams]

Didn't beat the spread = loss, SAD

[Shooter McGavin]

I see a team with no Seniors.  Three Juniors.  I see a lot of upside in Ross, Jones, Gold, Stevie, and Kam.  Radford started 4 seniors and a Junior.  They have some talent. 

We were careless and out of control at times, yet when the lead got cut to 3, we were able to lock down defensively and stretch it out to 19.  Granted, we finished poorly.

To your point on Radford starting mostly upperclassmen. I'm curious to see how they do against other high majors.  They seemed to hit quite a few contested 3s and have some decent talent (someone has to say it every year when we barely win against a low major). They have ND next.  Will be curious how they do against them.  I feel like this will be a better win than we think, especially as it was our first game.  (Again I know this is complete rationalization for a closer than it should have been win.)

[Vander Blue Man Group]

I listed the ragged stats. It's not an opinion. Nervous players, many playing their first game in front of the largest crowd of their lives versus a team of D1 veteran transfers included a McDonald's AA. Joplin is lights out in a closed gym at U of C, yet wasn't even close once tonight.

I got a great idea, let's play our next game in the Al versus preparing for the big boys (now that's an opinion). Now what's your "nothing more" than your usual response to over shout a poster?

I'm doing nothing more than disagreeing with something you claim is a fact. We can agree they played poorly. But there's no discernible way to prove an exhibition against a garbage team would have led to them not crapping away a 21 point lead in the final 5 minutes.

Shaka disagrees with you as well. I think I'll trust his judgment on this over yours.

[Elonsmusk]

Well... As I said, don't want to read too much into one game, but, folks here have been singing Joplin's praises offensively for a while now, as well as talking about how Sean will be a 20 mpg player, and they just combined to go 1-9 from the field with 6 TOs.  Will they get better, sure, will they get better to be difference makers this season, that remains to be seen.

Yeah..personally I haven't seen it with Joplin, yet Shaka is high on him and he's supposedly had a very good summer/fall.  Sean Jones will be fine!  It was his first D-1 game and you could see he was pressing and that the nerves were on overdrive. 

[MU82]

++ After calling the TO when Radford pulled to 53-50 with 13:30 left, Shaka turned up the defense with Oso, O-Max, Ross, Stevie and TK on the court. We then went on a 16-0 run over the next 6 minutes or so. Several steals, a couple 10-second calls, a couple blocked shots, game essentially over!

++ Oso, O-Max and Kam each got nicked up. Kam got off to the hot start but then was flexing his back repeatedly midway through the first half and I don't think he scored another point. Oso was short on 2 FTs after seemingly hurting his right elbow. O-Max looked like he tweaked a hammy but he came back in shortly thereafter and seemed fine. Obviously, MU fans hope they're all OK.

++ Ross looks like a "Shaka player." Long, active, disruptive. Even hit a 3. Nice debut, better than I expected considering that he wasn't the freshman folks were talking about all offseason.

++ Way too many TOs, mostly because we often got going too fast -- Sean, Stevie, O-Max, etc. And for all of the talk about our pressure D, Radford had more points off TOs than we did. But it's the first game and I think some of that will calm down.

++ Oso is our only irreplaceable player because of his height, length and skill set, as well as our lack of a backup 5. We were killing them on the boards ... until he had to sit down with fouls. In addition to being our only height, he plays decent help defense, and he is good with the basketball. If I'm coaching against Marquette, one of the main things I want my team to do is get Oso in foul trouble. It's my biggest concern about our team.

++ Needed more from Joplin. Obviously, just Game 1, so we'll see.

++ Solid all-around games from O-Max, Stevie and Kolek, though Kolek's shooting wasn't pretty. His last 3 try almost broke the backboard.

++ Kolek, Stevie and Kam combined for 21 rebounds -- nice work, and we'll need that kind of effort from them on the boards all season.

++ Creighton, favored to win the Big East and a 25-point favorite over St. Thomas, struggled for much of the night before  winning by 12. Oklahoma blew a 14-point lead and lost to Sam Houston State. UNC-Wilmington made UNC sweat. #14 TCU needed a great rally to beat Arkansas-Pine Bluff by 1. So I'll take the win.

++ Can't go undefeated unless you win the first one!

BOX SCORE:

https://gomarquette.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2022-23/radford/boxscore/9322

[wadesworld]

If Radford wound up with all this great upper class talent, including a former burger boy, why can't, say, Marquette get that type of transfer?

[Elonsmusk]

To your point on Radford starting mostly upperclassmen. I'm curious to see how they do against other high majors.  They seemed to hit quite a few contested 3s and have some decent talent (someone has to say it every year when we barely win against a low major). They have ND next.  Will be curious how they do against them.  I feel like this will be a better win than we think, especially as it was our first game.  (Again I know this is complete rationalization for a closer than it should have been win.)

I agree. They hit some really tough contested 3's and mid range twos.  Oddly the one guy who got off for them and hit some of the tough ones was a freshman - Giles.

[BallBoy]

First game of the season isn't a test of the team. Games are closer than they should be. Nerves are higher and coach is tinkering with line ups he likely won't play regularly.

Blowing out a lower opponent might be fun for us to watch but I am sure the coaching staff is working certain areas for future growth. 

What is for certain is Emarion unfortunately won't see much playing time until after the non-conference season at best.

[MuggsyB]

Shaka said Ross is a blend guy..he can play with a lot of people.  Watching him tonight, he's as composed of a freshman at MU as I recall watching since Sam Hauser.  Ross made a lot of winning plays tonight, without needing to shoot a lot.  Joplin on the other hand?  18 empty minutes.

I agree with a lot of your points and  I believe this team has some talent but we're really thin up front.  The question is can we play four guards in significant stretches and what is our best Osoless line-up?  I actually thought Ross looked comfortable out there on both ends of the floor.  Very composed. 

[Vander Blue Man Group]

First game of the season isn't a test of the team. Games are closer than they should be. Nerves are higher and coach is tinkering with line ups he likely won't play regularly.

Blowing out a lower opponent might be fun for us to watch but I am sure the coaching staff is working certain areas for future growth. 

What is for certain is Emarion unfortunately won't see much playing time until after the non-conference season at best.

Are you aware he's hurt and might redshirt?

[BallBoy]

Are you aware he's hurt and might redshirt?

Look at when he is expected to be back at the earliest and ask the question to yourself.

[wadesworld]

By the way, their Pitt/Murray State/Nova transfers shot a combined 9/32 and 3/13 from 3.  8 rebounds and 2 assists between them.

[cheebs09]

Was 4ever in the student section with the Crean Big Head?

[Vander Blue Man Group]

Look at when he is expected to be back at the earliest and ask the question to yourself.

It would likely be well after the conference season ends and he's more likely to redshirt than not considering his injury and the depth in the backcourt. Apologies for giving you the benefit of the doubt when it turned out your post was just dumb.

[Elonsmusk]

If Radford wound up with all this great upper class talent, including a former burger boy, why can't, say, Marquette get that type of transfer?

Believe we swung and missed on a couple.  Another big body would have been helpful for this team this year.  However, Shaka's overriding strategy and theme are to invest in the players in the program and give them the opportunity to develop/get additional playing time. His style of wanting to play fast isn't very conducive to brining in a bulky big, however.

[BallBoy]

It would likely be well after the conference season ends and he's more likely to redshirt than not considering his injury and the depth in the backcourt. Apologies for giving you the benefit of the doubt when it turned out your post was just dumb.

Says the guy who couldn't put two and two together.

What you said about his injury is true and can be summed up with "at best". The only certainty with this line up is he, unfortunately, won't be in it. Everything else is just keyboard coaches' opinion about a one sided game.