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

[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.

 

 

 

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.

 

 

I strongly disagree with the comment that he can clean out his locker and go...it seems mean-spirited. At the end of the day, this is a kid, playing a game...not making a nickel off it. Let's not lose our humanity over a basketball game regardless of how disappointing a year it's been.

 

David IS talented, he WAS a first team selection last year...you don't just throw that kind of kid off a team. I wonder how he'd reflect on his season but we'll probably never know that. At the end of the day that's someone's son, he's a great student...throwing him off the team? This is a team game...not the Nichols show...there was no depth behind him on the bench and that's on the coaches.

 

My frustration with David is that I think his body language and everyone walking on egg-shells around him did a disservice to the entire team. What I'm trying to say is he wasn't a calming influence as a PG getting the team into the offense, doing other things to win etc. As he went, the team went...I could almost sense from the bleachers his demeanor impact the entire team. And that sucks...

 

Now that the season is complete (I really hope they pack it in and not go to a C tourney)...it's clear that the team didn't come together as we all envisioned. They collectively underachieved IMO...out of the gate they stumbled to 0-2 after a stellar OOC portion of the schedule and from there played in fits and spurts. They just never could pull it together as a TEAM. I don't think they had less collective talent than UMBC, Hartford...they just didn't come together. Obviously some of that is on the coaching staff as well. This team didn't have a talent problem...

Edited March 4, 2018 by Clickclack

[Clickclack]

Post game interview video

 

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

I love this kid... Heart of a champion. Hopefully next year they can make a run.

[scrabbleship]

I am so disappointed in this team and this season. We choked so badly and I will forever be ashamed.

 

I wish we cared like Vermont and freaking UMBC or SBU. I would sell my kidney for us to be good again rather than choke and be weak against teams we know we are better than. It's like the bloom is off the rose with Brown.

[Dane96]

 

 

 

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.

I strongly disagree with the comment that he can clean out his locker and go...it seems mean-spirited. At the end of the day, this is a kid, playing a game...not making a nickel off it. Let's not lose our humanity over a basketball game regardless of how disappointing a year it's been.

 

David IS talented, he WAS a first team selection last year...you don't just throw that kind of kid off a team. I wonder how he'd reflect on his season but we'll probably never know that. At the end of the day that's someone's son, he's a great student...throwing him off the team? This is a team game...not the Nichols show...there was no depth behind him on the bench and that's on the coaches.

 

My frustration with David is that I think his body language and everyone walking on egg-shells around him did a disservice to the entire team. What I'm trying to say is he wasn't a calming influence as a PG getting the team into the offense, doing other things to win etc. As he went, the team went...I could almost sense from the bleachers his demeanor impact the entire team. And that sucks...

 

Now that the season is complete (I really hope they pack it in and not go to a C tourney)...it's clear that the team didn't come together as we all envisioned. They collectively underachieved IMO...out of the gate they stumbled to 0-2 after a stellar OOC portion of the schedule and from there played in fits and spurts. They just never could pull it together as a TEAM. I don't think they had less collective talent than UMBC, Hartford...they just didn't come together. Obviously some of that is on the coaching staff as well. This team didn't have a talent problem...

Well stated

[UA1882]

I feel bad for the whole team but of course mostly for Joe. I hope David is back. He is a good player and still gives us our best chance to win. With at least 5 freshman next year, if we wanna be good next year we will need to recruit 2 impact older players. Let's hope that happenes.

 

Disappointing second half of the season. I know many of us (including me) thought this team could be the best ever.

 

Need to reload and get better!!!

Edited March 4, 2018 by UA1882

[DanesRGood]

 

 

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 didnt get many quality/open looks. Even the threes we made they had a hand in our face.

Playing perimeter defense is easy when you don't have to cover one of them. I think Brown and staff made two big mistakes this year. 1) redshirting all the Aussies 2) playing Campbell so much when he showed he was a huge offensive liability and made opposing defenses better and allowed them to double Charles more and close off lanes by playing off Campbell. Our defense was bad enough, how much worse could it get without Campbell. At one point he was 0-6 from the field and 1-4 from the line. That hurts......a lot.

[Clickclack]

 

 

 

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 didnt get many quality/open looks. Even the threes we made they had a hand in our face.

Playing perimeter defense is easy when you don't have to cover one of them. I think Brown and staff made two big mistakes this year. 1) redshirting all the Aussies 2) playing Campbell so much when he showed he was a huge offensive liability and made opposing defenses better and allowed them to double Charles more and close off lanes by playing off Campbell. Our defense was bad enough, how much worse could it get without Campbell. At one point he was 0-6 from the field and 1-4 from the line. That hurts......a lot.

Wing was another position with zero depth... Zero...

[Dane06grad]

 

 

 

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 didnt get many quality/open looks. Even the threes we made they had a hand in our face.

Playing perimeter defense is easy when you don't have to cover one of them. I think Brown and staff made two big mistakes this year. 1) redshirting all the Aussies 2) playing Campbell so much when he showed he was a huge offensive liability and made opposing defenses better and allowed them to double Charles more and close off lanes by playing off Campbell. Our defense was bad enough, how much worse could it get without Campbell. At one point he was 0-6 from the field and 1-4 from the line. That hurts......a lot.

 

 

 

I can understand redshirting the guards. I don't think anyone thought Ahmad and Costa would give you as little as they did. If you don't redshirt the freshman ball handlers they don't really start seeing significant time until they are Juniors. This way they can start to fill in next year and get their feet wet as Joe and David close out their careers. If you look at big man depth it was thin to start. Maybe the staff thought more of Conway than he showed, which I hope is the case, but even after him there wasn't much. A big guy would have gotten time this year, no doubt.

 

But maybe they weren't ready and didn't change any minds. Stire changed minds when he showed up on campus and earned his way onto the court as a freshman and avoided getting redshirted. We were lucky to avoid a major injury this year too with all those guys sitting on the bench.

[alexfamous]

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bf43yg9BKoG/

 

Sooooooooooo SB decided to hard core celebrate the win in the visitor locker room. This got me back to the anger level and then some after the calls they were getting/not getting (backcourt).

 

I need a baseball break from UA sports until CAA media day.

Edited March 4, 2018 by alexfamous

[jimbo]

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bf43yg9BKoG/

Sooooooooooo SB decided to hard core celebrate the win in the visitor locker room. This got me back to the anger level and then some after the calls they were getting/not getting (backcourt).

I need a baseball break from UA sports until CAA media day.

Good for them! Why shouldn’t they celebrate? They deserved the win.

[nysteve661]

I understand some celebrating but that looks like they won a 1/8 matchup vs UVM at Patrick, not the 4/5 quarterfinal game vs a underachieving team they have had some success against the past few years.

[UA'08]

At what point do we put some of the blame on the coaching staff???

 

If we already have the talent that everyone has said it comes down to the coaching staff to get them to play with energy and effort. I have always heard you can not teach talent, but Im pretty sure energy and effort can be.

 

Two quarterfinal losses at home in the past three years and right now next year is not looking good either.

[godanesgo99]

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bf43yg9BKoG/

 

Sooooooooooo SB decided to hard core celebrate the win in the visitor locker room. This got me back to the anger level and then some after the calls they were getting/not getting (backcourt).

 

I need a baseball break from UA sports until CAA media day.

Looks staged to me

[Dane Pound]

 

 

 

 

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 didnt get many quality/open looks. Even the threes we made they had a hand in our face.

Playing perimeter defense is easy when you don't have to cover one of them. I think Brown and staff made two big mistakes this year. 1) redshirting all the Aussies 2) playing Campbell so much when he showed he was a huge offensive liability and made opposing defenses better and allowed them to double Charles more and close off lanes by playing off Campbell. Our defense was bad enough, how much worse could it get without Campbell. At one point he was 0-6 from the field and 1-4 from the line. That hurts......a lot.

Wing was another position with zero depth... Zero...

 

I agree with this. I also think it is a talent/recruiting issue. We haven't filled in the roster around Cremo and we were figured out this year in conference.

[UA1882]

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 didnt get many quality/open looks. Even the threes we made they had a hand in our face.

Playing perimeter defense is easy when you don't have to cover one of them. I think Brown and staff made two big mistakes this year. 1) redshirting all the Aussies 2) playing Campbell so much when he showed he was a huge offensive liability and made opposing defenses better and allowed them to double Charles more and close off lanes by playing off Campbell. Our defense was bad enough, how much worse could it get without Campbell. At one point he was 0-6 from the field and 1-4 from the line. That hurts......a lot.

Wing was another position with zero depth... Zero...

I agree with this. I also think it is a talent/recruiting issue. We haven't filled in the roster around Cremo and we were figured out this year in conference.

It was a combination of Nichols and Campbell killing us. Nichols was inconsistent at best but Campbell was the real problem. I kept saying early in conference play that teams were sagging off Campbell. Anyone with a baseball IQ could see it and Brown finally admitted it last night.

 

But as Click said it's a depth thing. We did not have anyone to replace him. All kidding and emotion aside, unless his offensive game improves, he is a 15 minute a game guy next year .