[MBB] AE Tourney Game #1: 3/3/18 - 7:00pm - vs Stony Brook

[dslyank]

 

CBI/CIT here we come.

Please no

 

 

If nothing else gives the seniors one more game. Maybe some experience for Clark, Conway & Cochrane. ???mark if Nichols shows up, (actually/metaphysically or not at all); but maybe he's got something to prove?????? Joe will be THERE if we get an invite.

Edited March 4, 2018 by dslyank

[PurpleHoops]

No way attendance was that low. The sections held for SBU fans were pretty empty, but the rest of the arena was packed and very loud.

Even though it was a $ienaty loss, and I'm not ready to comment on it, I thought the crowd was great tonight.

Something is really wonky with how they are reporting attendance this season.

Looking around SEFCU, I felt it was a decent crowd also — I thought around 2800.

[UA'08]

 

 

CBI/CIT here we come.

Please no

I think we need to. This way we can say we have been to ______ consecutive post seasons. They may use it on the recruiting trail. But believe me I don't wanna go.

 

If we are swaying recruits with CIT appearances we are in trouble

[Eli]

Full-season stats:

UAlbany Wins																																	
** Albany stats are the left side in each grouping **																																	
Opponent	Type	PTS		FGM		FGA		FG%		3PTM		3PTA		3PT%		FTM		FTA		FT%		RBG		AST		STL		BLK		TO		FOUL	
Iona		OOC	69	67	24	26	62	59	38.7%	44.1%	4	4	15	22	26.7%	18.2%	17	11	19	14	89.5%	78.6%	47	27	6	14	1	6	0	3	13	7	16	21
Boston U	OOC	88	74	32	29	56	65	57.1%	44.6%	3	8	5	27	60.0%	29.6%	21	8	29	11	72.4%	72.7%	38	27	11	13	2	7	1	4	11	7	15	21
Yale		OOC	80	72	32	28	59	67	54.2%	41.8%	3	7	14	28	21.4%	25.0%	13	9	19	13	68.4%	69.2%	40	30	16	10	4	6	3	5	15	13	15	17
Oneonta		OOC	102	77	37	23	72	57	51.4%	40.4%	7	10	21	25	33.3%	40.0%	21	21	28	28	75.0%	75.0%	48	31	17	13	4	3	0	3	7	14	24	28
Dartmouth	OOC	91	73	34	27	64	49	53.1%	55.1%	8	8	17	17	47.1%	47.1%	15	11	16	12	93.8%	91.7%	28	25	13	11	8	5	0	7	12	20	13	19
Holy Cross	OOC	78	62	31	24	58	48	53.4%	50.0%	10	5	21	18	47.6%	27.8%	6	9	10	14	60.0%	64.3%	32	23	18	11	5	3	1	4	7	9	15	14
Colgate		OOC	75	69	25	25	59	55	42.4%	45.5%	6	8	18	22	33.3%	36.4%	19	11	23	16	82.6%	68.8%	39	24	14	9	7	7	1	1	11	9	15	20
Columbia	OOC	86	82	28	31	62	61	45.2%	50.8%	6	9	13	20	46.2%	45.0%	24	11	29	18	82.8%	61.1%	37	36	13	19	11	3	1	3	9	16	15	25
Bryant		OOC	84	68	33	24	61	61	54.1%	39.3%	9	11	17	26	52.9%	42.3%	9	9	13	16	69.2%	56.3%	40	27	21	21	2	10	2	4	14	9	14	16
Siena		OOC	74	69	26	24	55	50	47.3%	48.0%	5	9	15	20	33.3%	45.0%	17	12	25	17	68.0%	70.6%	30	27	11	10	8	5	1	3	12	16	15	22
Canisius	OOC	68	65	26	28	53	61	49.1%	45.9%	2	6	10	22	20.0%	27.3%	14	3	20	7	70.0%	42.9%	33	29	11	19	2	8	3	1	12	10	11	20
Kent State	OOC	78	68	23	28	46	68	50.0%	41.2%	7	3	18	20	38.9%	15.0%	25	9	32	13	78.1%	69.2%	32	35	20	13	4	4	4	2	11	11	18	25
Stony Brook	AE	78	65	29	25	55	60	52.7%	41.7%	6	10	9	20	66.7%	50.0%	14	5	17	8	82.4%	62.5%	37	28	20	17	2	5	8	5	11	9	11	18
Maine		AE	84	66	21	21	58	56	36.2%	37.5%	7	6	17	22	41.2%	27.3%	35	18	44	27	79.5%	66.7%	43	38	13	14	3	4	6	4	9	12	23	32
UMass-Lowell	AE	70	62	24	25	52	54	46.2%	46.3%	3	7	12	21	25.0%	33.3%	19	5	22	8	86.4%	62.5%	32	29	15	19	10	6	5	3	14	18	14	19
UMBC		AE	83	39	33	17	57	54	57.9%	31.5%	9	2	17	20	52.9%	10.0%	8	3	10	7	80.0%	42.9%	40	23	20	12	8	6	2	4	12	15	14	14
Stony Brook	AE	57	50	18	21	50	57	36.0%	36.8%	4	6	13	22	30.8%	27.3%	17	2	21	5	81.0%	40.0%	41	32	7	6	5	6	3	4	15	13	17	22
New Hampshire	AE	83	74	25	27	48	56	52.1%	48.2%	8	6	17	25	47.1%	24.0%	25	14	33	21	75.8%	66.7%	29	29	13	19	1	3	2	2	8	8	17	23
Hartford	AE	69	63	21	24	48	56	43.8%	42.9%	6	4	16	18	37.5%	22.2%	21	11	32	15	65.6%	73.3%	36	28	9	9	4	7	3	2	10	10	17	24
UMass-Lowell	AE	91	81	34	33	57	60	59.6%	55.0%	10	7	17	21	58.8%	33.3%	13	8	16	15	81.3%	53.3%	32	26	11	16	5	9	4	2	16	12	18	14
Maine		AE	89	79	27	31	65	59	41.5%	52.5%	6	6	16	16	37.5%	37.5%	29	11	37	17	78.4%	64.7%	45	26	12	17	11	6	1	9	14	19	17	27
Binghamton	AE	71	54	28	22	61	57	45.9%	38.6%	5	4	18	22	27.8%	18.2%	10	6	17	11	58.8%	54.5%	45	30	18	13	5	6	4	4	9	11	13	18
																																	
Tot. W		OOC	973	846	351	317	707	701	49.6%	45.2%	70	88	184	267	38.0%	33.0%	201	124	263	179	76.4%	69.3%	444	341	171	163	58	67	17	40	134	141	186	248
		AE	775	633	260	246	551	569	47.2%	43.2%	64	58	152	207	42.1%	28.0%	191	83	249	134	76.7%	61.9%	380	289	138	142	54	58	38	39	118	127	161	211
																																	
Avg. W		OOC	81.1	70.5	29.3	26.4	58.9	58.4	49.6%	45.2%	5.8	7.3	15.3	22.3	38.0%	33.0%	16.8	10.3	21.9	14.9	76.4%	69.3%	37.0	28.4	14.3	13.6	4.8	5.6	1.4	3.3	11.2	11.8	15.5	20.7
		AE	77.5	63.3	26.0	24.6	55.1	56.9	47.2%	43.2%	6.4	5.8	15.2	20.7	42.1%	28.0%	19.1	8.3	24.9	13.4	76.7%	61.9%	38.0	28.9	13.8	14.2	5.4	5.8	3.8	3.9	11.8	12.7	16.1	21.1
																																	
Tot. W			1748	1479	611	563	1258	1270	48.6%	44.3%	134	146	336	474	39.9%	30.8%	392	207	512	313	76.6%	66.1%	824	630	309	305	112	125	55	79	252	268	347	459
Avg. W			79.5	67.2	27.8	25.6	57.2	57.7	48.5%	44.4%	6.1	6.6	15.3	21.5	40.3%	31.0%	17.8	9.4	23.3	14.2	76.3%	64.0%	37.5	28.6	14.0	13.9	5.1	5.7	2.5	3.6	11.5	12.2	15.8	20.9
																																	
UAlbany Losses																																	
** Albany stats are the left side in each grouping **																																	
Opponent	Type	PTS		FGM		FGA		FG%		3PTM		3PTA		3PT%		FTM		FTA		FT%		RBG		AST		STL		BLK		TO		FOUL	
Monmouth	OOC	73	81	26	28	54	56	48.1%	50.0%	3	8	11	18	27.3%	44.4%	18	17	28	24	64.3%	70.8%	41	29	5	12	2	7	3	4	15	8	23	24
Memphis		OOC	58	67	21	23	61	49	34.4%	46.9%	4	4	17	17	23.5%	23.5%	12	17	15	24	80.0%	70.8%	38	33	8	10	4	7	2	11	14	12	18	16
Louisville	OOC	68	70	27	24	74	57	36.5%	42.1%	6	9	20	21	30.0%	42.9%	8	13	12	21	66.7%	61.9%	52	37	9	11	2	4	2	10	10	7	19	19
Hartford	AE	64	72	23	25	54	50	42.6%	50.0%	8	9	19	18	42.1%	50.0%	10	13	14	13	71.4%	100.0%	28	30	14	15	7	8	3	9	12	14	16	18
New Hampshire	AE	61	64	20	25	49	62	40.8%	40.3%	4	10	14	24	28.6%	41.7%	17	4	27	6	63.0%	66.7%	34	41	10	13	4	4	2	0	10	10	16	22
Binghamton	AE	66	79	24	24	59	52	40.7%	46.2%	5	6	16	16	31.3%	37.5%	13	25	16	32	81.3%	78.1%	33	35	9	12	4	4	2	4	12	10	22	15
Vermont		AE	50	61	20	22	51	51	39.2%	43.1%	1	6	11	16	9.1%	37.5%	9	11	12	16	75.0%	68.8%	30	35	3	9	2	3	6	6	11	10	17	14
Vermont		AE	67	72	27	24	61	52	44.3%	46.2%	5	4	15	12	33.3%	33.3%	8	20	11	20	72.7%	100.0%	33	30	19	15	4	0	3	4	6	8	19	14
UMBC		AE	60	68	22	24	58	49	37.9%	49.0%	8	7	23	18	34.8%	38.9%	8	13	9	15	88.9%	86.7%	37	25	9	15	3	6	2	2	15	11	15	15
Stony Brook	AET	60	69	18	25	57	59	31.6%	42.4%	6	6	20	19	30.0%	31.6%	18	13	24	19	75.0%	68.4%	41	40	16	10	6	8	11	6	14	10	16	17
																																	
Tot. L		OOC	199	218	74	75	189	162	39.2%	46.3%	13	21	48	56	27.1%	37.5%	38	47	55	69	69.1%	68.1%	131	99	22	33	8	18	7	25	39	27	60	59
		AE	368	416	136	144	332	316	41.0%	45.6%	31	42	98	104	31.6%	40.4%	65	86	89	102	73.0%	84.3%	195	196	64	79	24	25	18	25	66	63	105	98
		AET	60	69	18	25	57	59	31.6%	42.4%	6	6	20	19	30.0%	31.6%	18	13	24	19	75.0%	68.4%	41	40	16	10	6	8	11	6	14	10	16	17
																																	
Avg. L		OOC	66.3	72.7	24.7	25.0	63.0	54.0	39.2%	46.3%	4.3	7.0	16.0	18.7	27.1%	37.5%	12.7	15.7	18.3	23.0	69.1%	68.1%	43.7	33.0	7.3	11.0	2.7	6.0	2.3	8.3	13.0	9.0	20.0	19.7
		AE	52.6	69.3	22.7	24.0	55.3	52.7	41.0%	45.6%	5.2	7.0	16.3	17.3	31.6%	40.4%	10.8	14.3	14.8	17.0	73.0%	84.3%	32.5	32.7	10.7	13.2	4.0	4.2	3.0	4.2	11.0	10.5	17.5	16.3
		AET	60.0	69.0	18.0	25.0	57.0	59.0	31.6%	42.4%	6.0	6.0	20.0	19.0	30.0%	31.6%	18.0	13.0	24.0	19.0	75.0%	68.4%	41.0	40.0	16.0	10.0	6.0	8.0	11.0	6.0	14.0	10.0	16.0	17.0
																																	
Tot. L			627	703	228	244	578	537	39.4%	45.4%	50	69	166	179	30.1%	38.5%	121	146	168	190	72.0%	76.8%	367	335	102	122	38	51	36	56	119	100	181	174
Avg. L			62.7	70.3	22.8	24.4	57.8	53.7	39.6%	45.6%	5.0	6.9	16.6	17.9	29.0%	38.1%	12.1	14.6	16.8	19.0	73.8%	77.2%	36.7	33.5	10.2	12.2	3.8	5.1	3.6	5.6	11.9	10.0	18.1	17.4
																																	
Tot. (all)		2375	2182	839	807	1836	1807	45.7%	44.7%	184	215	502	653	36.7%	32.9%	513	353	680	503	75.4%	70.2%	1191	965	411	427	150	176	91	135	371	368	528	633
Avg. (all)		74.2	68.2	26.2	25.2	57.4	56.5	45.8%	44.8%	5.8	6.7	15.7	20.4	36.7%	33.2%	16.0	11.0	21.3	15.7	75.5%	68.1%	37.2	30.2	12.8	13.3	4.7	5.5	2.8	4.2	11.6	11.5	16.5	19.8
			PTS		FGM		FGA		FG%		3PTM		3PTA		3PT%		FTM		FTA		FT%		RBG		AST		STL		BLK		TO		FOUL	

[UA_MA_2000]

SB is way more athletic tonight.

Exactly. Our guys gave it their best. The more athletic team won. Had the refs not been so bad and our shooting not sub-40%, we would have won notwithstanding SB's athleticism.

[MRSGDG]

Post game interview video

 

https://twitter.com/ByMichaelKelly/status/970135668285419520?ref_src=twcamp%5Ecopy%7Ctwsrc%5Eandroid%7Ctwgr%5Ecopy%7Ctwcon%5E7090%7Ctwterm%5E3

Edited March 4, 2018 by MRSGDG

[S-money]

 

CBI/CIT here we come.

Please no

Agreed. Im not going to even think about thinking about watching any nonsense that prolongs this season. Thanks but no thanks and see you next year...I was actually hoping we would lose once it was evident that we didnt show up for the second half. TGIO

[Dane Pound]

With a couple exceptions, that looked like a team that didn't want to play Vermont one more time. Maybe that's a harsh but I couldn't get the thought out of my head during the game.

 

Stony Brook was better prepared for us and played with more intensity.

 

Joe Cremo is going to go down as one of our all-time great players but they haven't filled in around him very well. I hope next year is the exception to that.

[PurpleHoops]

 

SB is way more athletic tonight.

Exactly. Our guys gave it their best. The more athletic team won. Had the refs not been so bad and our shooting not sub-40%, we would have won notwithstanding SB's athleticism.

I thought that SB played an excellent perimeter defense tonight, which significantly contributed to our poor shooting — we didn’t get many quality/open looks. Even the threes we made — they had a hand in our face.

[Clickclack]

The last straw for me was when Nichols shot was blocked and he jogged back on D.

 

Thats it.

 

And then his dad has the decency to go at fans for not carrying the candle for this kid..all indignant on Twitter that his kid was left off all teams.

 

He has a very talented son who thought he was bigger than the team...sit down young man...you got embarrassed in AE play.

 

This team didn't have a talent problem...this team had a leadership problem...

Edited March 4, 2018 by Clickclack

[Eli]

Congrats to SBU. They played a very good game and had a lot of good plays.

The refs were as bad as ever but even with their issues we had chances to close the gap and pull ahead but we didn't convert. It is what it is. Hats off to SBU for a tough played game. Surprised not many of their fans showed up...considering it's a Saturday night.

--------------------------------

As for UA...

I feel bad for Joe. The kid played his heart out and tried so hard but I imagine it's incredibly hard to be successful when teams can focus on you and double team you constantly because your side-kick is useless and your slasher doesn't slash but jacks up stupid shots instead to the point where teams don't even bother covering him. He only has one more chance to get to the NCAA's...gotta feel bad for him. I hope he gets to experience them next year.

Stire and Charles had GREAT years and played with a lot of toughness and grit. Stire ended up being one of the better bigs UA has ever had, IMO. He developed and got better every year, evidenced by his FT shooting this year and his ability to actually make hooks and post moves around the basket this year. Kudos to them and I truly wish them the best in their future endeavors. I have no doubt they will succeed in whatever they choose to do.

Foster came on late in the season and it's also sad we won't have him for another year. He was my most favorite player this year when he did play. For a big guy, dude has some serious pogo sticks for legs. Can get up there and is really athletic.

I hope the bench next year is much improved with the three Aussies being able to participate and with our, on paper, steller stud recruits coming into the fold (obviously we don't know if any of them will redshirt). It's possible it was a mistake to redshirt all three Aussies this year so hopefully next year the staff makes a better decision in case we find ourselves without a bench again.

If they stick around, hopefully Conway, Clark and Cochran can still find good roles on the team and be more involved next year.

------------------------------------

<rant=going off the deep end, skip this if you like to wear your Nichols colored glasses or think this year was an 'okay' season because we won 20 games or you hate broken records or you prefer people to see butterflies and rainbows at all times>

Making the font small so as to not be an eye sore to those who wish to ignore my negativity or to take away from the rest of the team...

I hope UA cleans out its lockers tonight and doesn't consider any other post-season possibility.

Specifically, I hope Nichols cleans out his locker, packs his bags and heads home to Chicago during spring break. And stays there. Permanently.

I also agree on Brown not taking this group to any post season tournament.

Mark my words...every single job but for Cremo’s will be open next year. Every single one.

Absolutely agree that every position aside from Cremo's should be open season. As for PG, I hope Brown tells Nichols that Rizzuto or Healy will be the front runner to be the starting PG next season and he either needs to battle Cremo for SG or come off the bench. As a result, he gets a hot head and transfers. #byefelicia

Not sold that david will be back for his grad year. Played like he had one foot out the door.

God willing!

2016-17= Abberation for Nichols.

Nichols looks unmotivated. Something must of happened this week at practice. His body language shows it that he is checked out.

 

8 seconds into the shot clock and you take that three, David. WTF

 

The last straw for me was when Nichols shot was blocked and he jogged back on D.

Thats it.

Biggest game of the year for the team and you lay an egg with 2-15? And people think he is an All-AE player (on any of the 3 teams)? Nah. No way. I don't even care that he rebounded well or had a few early assists this game. The STAR PG, the CO-OFFENSIVE LEADER of the team, can NOT be shooting that badly game in, game out. Just can't. Bad nights happen...but he's had a bad season. No sugarcoating is needed. He finished the year, if my math is correct, shooting 39.4% from the floor. That's GARBAGE. That's some guys' 3pt %. Kid is not a leader. On the court he is cocky, lacks basketball IQ (too many heat check shots, isolations, doing his own thing) and is hard to motivate/keep motivated. You can't win with players like that. You certainly can't win when they are your starting PG.

 

He needs to be gone. He's a detriment to the team when he's on the floor. It's infuriating to watch. No amount of 'we wouldn't be a 20 win team without him' or 'CB kicked Jamar out of practice too!' will change my mind.

</rant>

Edited March 4, 2018 by Eli

[Dane06grad]

Not sure who counted the attendance but it looked like 2500+ to me. When Joe hit those 3's the place went nuts and was Very loud.

 

Unfortunate ending to a strange season. If I am being realistic, I didn't think this team could take down Vermont in the next round. I was really hoping for an upset in the early games because I thought that was our only shot. Then we lost today so it all doesn't matter.

 

A lot of people are being extremely hard on David. I saw a kid who was on the bench cheering hard for his teammates, hustling and playing hard. Does his decision making drive me nuts sometimes, sure, but a lot of those 3-1 fast breaks he used to find a way to finish or get fouled. I remember him putting us on his back to close out UML a few weeks ago, with deep threes and aggressive play. When he takes the 3's today, and they don't fall, he is open to criticism. I don't know what the next step is for him, but this team is better with him than without.

 

I left the gym angry and annoyed because we didn't win but more because there was and is a lot of talent on that team. I feel like Alex Foster could have had such a great season. He was awesome the last 2-3 games and I wanted so much more of that this year. But do you sit Travis or Stire to start Foster? I don't think so.

 

The refs were bad but they don't win or lose the game for you when you don't score the ball. The missed back court call was about as bad as I have seen. The turnovers were outrageous. just giving the ball to them. For all the great things Cremo does, and its a lot of great things, he turns the ball over a lot and begs/flops for calls.

 

Hopefully next year the team gains some toughness. It needs more mental and physical toughness. There needs to be a guy who isn't afraid to get chippy and assert himself. There needs to be a guy who can lead. I feel like Joe could lead in the same way that Jacob Iati did. Tenacious, tough, vocal, heart and willing to do anything. He wasn't a total in your face guy but he played hard, didn't beg for calls, and made no excuses. And the guys around him played harder for it.

 

I am disappointed in the way the season ended but hopefully the pieces coming back have learned something, grow up more and help the younger guys coming in. And hopefully in that group of younger guys emerges someone ready to take this thing over and lead in a way no one has for a few years now. There has to be a next Cremo, Hooley, Rowley, Lillis, and so on in this group of redshirted guys from this year.

[Clickclack]

Not sure who counted the attendance but it looked like 2500+ to me. When Joe hit those 3's the place went nuts and was Very loud.

 

Unfortunate ending to a strange season. If I am being realistic, I didn't think this team could take down Vermont in the next round. I was really hoping for an upset in the early games because I thought that was our only shot. Then we lost today so it all doesn't matter.

 

A lot of people are being extremely hard on David. I saw a kid who was on the bench cheering hard for his teammates, hustling and playing hard. Does his decision making drive me nuts sometimes, sure, but a lot of those 3-1 fast breaks he used to find a way to finish or get fouled. I remember him putting us on his back to close out UML a few weeks ago, with deep threes and aggressive play. When he takes the 3's today, and they don't fall, he is open to criticism. I don't know what the next step is for him, but this team is better with him than without.

 

I left the gym angry and annoyed because we didn't win but more because there was and is a lot of talent on that team. I feel like Alex Foster could have had such a great season. He was awesome the last 2-3 games and I wanted so much more of that this year. But do you sit Travis or Stire to start Foster? I don't think so.

 

The refs were bad but they don't win or lose the game for you when you don't score the ball. The missed back court call was about as bad as I have seen. The turnovers were outrageous. just giving the ball to them. For all the great things Cremo does, and its a lot of great things, he turns the ball over a lot and begs/flops for calls.

 

Hopefully next year the team gains some toughness. It needs more mental and physical toughness. There needs to be a guy who isn't afraid to get chippy and assert himself. There needs to be a guy who can lead. I feel like Joe could lead in the same way that Jacob Iati did. Tenacious, tough, vocal, heart and willing to do anything. He wasn't a total in your face guy but he played hard, didn't beg for calls, and made no excuses. And the guys around him played harder for it.

 

I am disappointed in the way the season ended but hopefully the pieces coming back have learned something, grow up more and help the younger guys coming in. And hopefully in that group of younger guys emerges someone ready to take this thing over and lead in a way no one has for a few years now. There has to be a next Cremo, Hooley, Rowley, Lillis, and so on in this group of redshirted guys from this year.

 

I get all this...yes, people are very hard on Nichols. Nichols was a 1st team selection at the end of last year, he was pre-season first team if memory serves. He had a horrendous year, extremely inefficient and most of all he was clearly frustrated and could not get out of the tail spin after that wrist injury. His highs were very high and his lows were scary...game to game you never knew what you'd get from your PG on the court an extension of the actual coach. That's a scary proposition and resulted in a team that could beat anyone and could lose to anyone. Tonight he couldn't get anything going ending up with 2nd lowest orating on the team after Stires. He shot 2-15 ...was it all him, ABSOLUTELY not but you needed something, anything out of your starting PG and he gave you almost nothing. Even his assists were early...a terrible season ends for him.

 

Hopefully he takes the summer, gets his head on right and comes back a different man. He is extremely talented, I don't want him run off...however you need to have more depth at this position and kids to push him. He's not a horse we can hitch our wagon to next year. If he turns in a stellar senior campaign, GREAT...I just don't trust him going forward.

 

Another guy that should look hard in the mirror is Devonte...every game out it's 4 on 5 on offense. Today SBU was playing 7 feet off him because he isn't a treat AT ALL. That makes it a LOT harder for everyone else on the court. Hopefully DeSousa can push him next year.

 

As for next year, this is going to be a VERY different team...Only Cremo is a proven commodity...he has two very limited pieces around him in Nichols and Campbell and almost nothing else proven around him. Difficult to project what kind of team it's going to be, if the redshirted kids aren't ready to go, could be a rebuilding year as you never know what you are going to get out of true freshman. Need some size with the last 2 or 3 ships. At best probably looking at a 3-5 type team next year. UVM and Hartford have a lot coming back.

Edited March 4, 2018 by Clickclack

[Dane06grad]

 

Not sure who counted the attendance but it looked like 2500+ to me. When Joe hit those 3's the place went nuts and was Very loud.

 

Unfortunate ending to a strange season. If I am being realistic, I didn't think this team could take down Vermont in the next round. I was really hoping for an upset in the early games because I thought that was our only shot. Then we lost today so it all doesn't matter.

 

A lot of people are being extremely hard on David. I saw a kid who was on the bench cheering hard for his teammates, hustling and playing hard. Does his decision making drive me nuts sometimes, sure, but a lot of those 3-1 fast breaks he used to find a way to finish or get fouled. I remember him putting us on his back to close out UML a few weeks ago, with deep threes and aggressive play. When he takes the 3's today, and they don't fall, he is open to criticism. I don't know what the next step is for him, but this team is better with him than without.

 

I left the gym angry and annoyed because we didn't win but more because there was and is a lot of talent on that team. I feel like Alex Foster could have had such a great season. He was awesome the last 2-3 games and I wanted so much more of that this year. But do you sit Travis or Stire to start Foster? I don't think so.

 

The refs were bad but they don't win or lose the game for you when you don't score the ball. The missed back court call was about as bad as I have seen. The turnovers were outrageous. just giving the ball to them. For all the great things Cremo does, and its a lot of great things, he turns the ball over a lot and begs/flops for calls.

 

Hopefully next year the team gains some toughness. It needs more mental and physical toughness. There needs to be a guy who isn't afraid to get chippy and assert himself. There needs to be a guy who can lead. I feel like Joe could lead in the same way that Jacob Iati did. Tenacious, tough, vocal, heart and willing to do anything. He wasn't a total in your face guy but he played hard, didn't beg for calls, and made no excuses. And the guys around him played harder for it.

 

I am disappointed in the way the season ended but hopefully the pieces coming back have learned something, grow up more and help the younger guys coming in. And hopefully in that group of younger guys emerges someone ready to take this thing over and lead in a way no one has for a few years now. There has to be a next Cremo, Hooley, Rowley, Lillis, and so on in this group of redshirted guys from this year.

 

I get all this...yes, people are very hard on Nichols. Nichols was a 1st team selection at the end of last year, he was pre-season first team if memory serves. He had a horrendous year, extremely inefficient and most of all he was clearly frustrated and could not get out of the tail spin after that wrist injury. His highs were very high and his lows were scary...game to game you never knew what you'd get from your PG on the court an extension of the actual coach. That's a scary proposition and resulted in a team that could beat anyone and could lose to anyone. Tonight he couldn't get anything going ending up with 2nd lowest orating on the team after Stires. He shot 2-15 ...was it all him, ABSOLUTELY not but you needed something, anything out of your starting PG and he gave you almost nothing. Even his assists were early...a terrible season ends for him.

 

Hopefully he takes the summer, gets his head on right and comes back a different man. He is extremely talented, I don't want him run off...however you need to have more depth at this position and kids to push him. He's not a horse we can hitch our wagon to next year. If he turns in a stellar senior campaign, GREAT...I just don't trust him going forward.

 

Another guy that should look hard in the mirror is Devonte...every game out it's 4 on 5 on offense. Today SBU was playing 7 feet off him because he isn't a treat AT ALL. That makes it a LOT harder for everyone else on the court. Hopefully DeSousa can push him next year.

 

As for next year, this is going to be a VERY different team...Only Cremo is a proven commodity...he has two very limited pieces around him in Nichols and Campbell and almost nothing else proven around him. Difficult to project what kind of team it's going to be, if the redshirted kids aren't ready to go, could be a rebuilding year as you never know what you are going to get out of true freshman. Need some size with the last 2 or 3 ships. At best probably looking at a 3-5 type team next year. UVM and Hartford have a lot coming back.

 

 

 

I am with you on needing more from Nichols today. Outside of Cremo, no one scored in double digits. Not Nichols, not Charles, not foster. None of them. We needed another guy to step up and David should be counted on to be that guy, or Travis Charles. With Charles injury, it kind of needed to be Nichols and he didn't do it. But the level of nastiness towards a kid who carried this team last year, bailed us out on numerous occasions this year even though he was up and down, doesn't seem to cause trouble off the court and is an unbelievable student is wrong. "I hope Nichols cleans out his locker and doesn't come back" Really? Thats how you treat your guys? With fans like you who needs enemies.

 

Its a game and he is a kid playing basketball. If he were killing the team that badly, CB would take him out, like he has before. There is a reason he leaves him in. There is a reason he starts him and lets him play a significant amount of minutes even after tossing him from practice. I can get behind Click saying that competition at the PG spot and other spots will be a great thing for next year. There wasn't enough of that this year. But I can't get behind and agree with the really harsh things being said about David Nichols. Its over the top and unnecessary.

[UA'08]

Charles took 4 shots and played 29 min. Let that one sink in.

Edited March 4, 2018 by UA'08