McFan

12 minutes ago, UAalum72 said:

Not hard to win 20+ IN THIS LEAGUE? We won more games OOC than in conference.

My point is you have 8 freebies in this league, or should, every year.  It’s a sign of our consistency but let’s be honest there are usually 4 teams that UA shouldn’t lose to every year.  It’s not the same teams  but the bottom half of this conference is not good, every year.

This year we had 3 teams ranked lower tha Siena in the RPI and four ranked 294 or lower.

1 minute ago, UA'08 said:

My god McFan, thank you! Someone who actually sees the same thing as I do. It's almost like the coaching staff will not be held responsible for anything that goes wrong. 

Not one person has said CB should be gone here (don't count scrabblship), but we can certainly question where we are headed. Have we seen our peak? If so fine, I'll know not to expect anything more.

He’s earned some loyalty for sure, but this wasn’t a great year and maybe not even a good year.  Players and coaches take some blame.

Question.

If we don’t think WB should be fired do we have to think he can do no wrong?  Take no blame?

I certainly think it’s insane to think he could or should be fired but I also think he takes some blame for what happened this year.  Did we win 20+?  Yes.  In this conference that really isn’t that hard.  

We didn’t have the talent on the floor to be dominant.  Who’s responsibility is that?  We made zero adjustments to our lineups throughout the year.  Who’s responsibility is that?  Does anybody think Alex Foster was used appropriately?  Was anybody happy that Devonte Campbell stayed on the court for as many minutes as he did?

10 hours ago, Eli said:

I think you're overreacting. Brown is still one of the top 3 coaches in the AE IMO (up there with Becker and Odom). He just got stuck with a bum (at least this year) in Nichols who COMPLETELY derailed UA's season with his petulance and other flaws (I don't need to beat that dead horse anymore). We all knew coming into the year that this team would go where Nichols took it. And he took us nowhere. This is his team for better or worse and he didn't lead it. If he comes back next year and plays like he did in 2016-2017, we'll be fine. If he lays another egg like he did this year...Brown will retool with the likes of Healy, Rizzuto, etc. the follow year. Our future bigs (Hanks, Lulka, whoever else they bring in) look fine...as do our guards (Cremo for one more year, Healy, Rizzuto). And there is rumor that we're recruiting Cremo's heir apparent.

Future is bright. Definitely not doom and gloom. We'll be fine. This year wasn't our year. It was UMBC's. It is what it is.

Wow.  Pot calling the kettle.  "He got stuck with a bum"?  That may be a bit of an overreaction?  Nichols isn't perfect but let's start with that Brown recruited him, signed him, made him his PG and captain (I think).  We also had nobody that remotely could fill his role if he were to sit on the bench as I suppose is where you would have put him.  Costa Anderson as your starting D1 PG?  We also fielded a starting 5 where only 2 players were a threat from greater than 12 feet from the hoop.  And not much off that bench that could extend a D either.  That doesn't work in todays game.  I stayed out of most of the Nichols bashing but it's been over the top.  

You want to bash, there's plenty to go around and WB gets some of it.  Throwing out a starting 3 man out there and having him play 30 minutes a night when he shoots <15% from 3 doesn't and won't work unless you have a big or 2 that can step out and shoot the 3.  Stire and Charles aren't doing that.    Nichols and Cremo were put in a very tough spot this year. By the coach?  Somewhat.  By players not improving?  Somewhat.  Nichols by his attitude at times?  Somewhat.  

So no WB isn't done for.  He's had great success.  Recruits and graduates good kids.  Is no longer a hot ticket.  Love him.  Hate him. Or somewhere in between he's the coach for the foreseeable future.

We got a SportsCenter mention.  “A team that lost to Albany by 44”.

This also made me think of the favorite statement of many “defense wins Championships”.  Garbage.  You need some D but you better be able to score.  

Last event, 4 X 400 relay, got DQd after winning the race. Apparently some other team members ran into the track and interfered with a runner from UNH. Absolutely no effect on the top 4 teams as they had already passed by and were battling down the last few meters. Letter of the law is a DQ. It went to a 3 man committee of coaches not involved. They ruled against us.

Its these incredibly long stretches of nothing that I cant figure out. We can blame the D. We can blame a missed FT, but we made one baske in the last 7:53 of this game (if Im reading it right).

Food for thought guys: do we go smaller rest of the way by benching Campbell and starting a hot Anderson?

I think we have to at least do more of it. Campbell is just such a liability on offense.

Going to give up 90 to UML?? Are you kidding me?

As long as we score 91

WTH is this. Bad O. Bad D. Bad effort. Bad officiating.

Great stuff. Team and coach deserve this. One flaw, the trophy case is too small.?

Maybe he'll figure it out more as we get deeper into conference play..but Xavier looked absolutely lost in the few games he played during OOC. Not sure if posters here are forgetting that play or just want to see it again? If he was forcing Coach Brown's hand through practice, etc..then he'd be out there. I will trust that more than a "he's so athletic" narrative from 2 years ago. Hopefully we can stretch it out in a game soon to get him some low pressure play. But it's not productive to have him learn on the go during important gametime in AEast games.

 

Campbell is underrated on D by too many on this board..IMO. He always guards the opposing team's best 1-3..whether he's 5'11" or 6'6"..whether he's a fast driver or a big body shooter. Total points isn't always a good measurement. Against Kent St., his guy scored 20 points..but on 8-27 shooting. I'll take that every single game. And no matter how good he is..he can't cover for Nichols' or Cremo's deficiencies on D.

Who was his responsibiiity vs. Hartford?

Just for clarity, I am not blaming the loss on them offensively. Not an issue at all. And I am not blaming them as the sole reason for the loss. Charles wasn't as aggressive...Foster missed some bunnies that he will make, etc.

 

However, It's about our guard play on defense. It's absolutely awful. And it puts all of our bigs in bad situations.

 

If you used the +/- system used in hockey to evaluate on court performance (balancing out offensive input against defensive liability), all of our guards would have been in a negative last night. And frankly, for most of the season.

 

All that said, I think we will turn it around quickly. From what I can see, every single player has pride...stems from the coaching staff...and there is no doubt that guys like Joe and David will step up the defense. I have no doubts about it.

Most of the statements were about their D, fair enough, but not a lot of mention of the other issues and players. It just seemed as a group the board in general was placing the blame on these two.

The starting bigs for Hartford scored 25 on 13 shots in limited (for Attia) minutes. Im no expert but comfortable that some of that is on our bigs.

Both had decent box score stat lines, the blame has been going their way because it didn't feel like either of them played with any urgency during the game. Even in the end of the game when Nichols hit the 3 to bring the team back closer (I think it was the shot that brought the team 64 points?) it seemed like Nichols just kind of walked up the court then nonchalantly launched the three (which landed). Maybe it was confidence and swagger, but even my wife asked what was going on.

 

When you are a team captain the mentality of the team follows your mentality. If you are pushing and pressing on every play the team will follow. If it looks like you are jogging and going through the motions, the team will follow. I saw no urgency from anyone outside of 8 minutes in the second half. I'll take that back, Foster looked like he was pushing hard. Not sure why he didn't play at all in the second half.

He certainly takes (and sometimes makes) questionable shots. I think at times hes (and Joe) forced to. Travis has helped this but nobody else has any consistent offense.

Not to regurgitate a box score but are we really laying the blame on these two?

15-31 from the field. Rest of the team 8-23.

8-15 from 3. Rest 0-4.

43 point. Rest 21.

5-5 from the line. Rest 5-9.

4RB vs 24RBs.

8 assists vs 6 assists.

3 steals vs 4 steals.

6 TOs vs 6 TOs

Hartford 2 leading scorers were a guard that was too fast for our guards and a big that we had no answer for.

Started like garbage again. Cant seem to solve a 1-3-1 consistently. And the Cremo to Nichols pass/TO late in the game bothered me most. Both take some blame on that one.

Unhappiest 11-2 coach and fan board.

Were 11-2. Tough schedule? No. But weve had similar schedules and not been 11-2.

section 120 row A

 

forecast for light snow (dusting to 2 inches) starting late afternoon

Right behind you in row B

WTH was that?

Good to still have the lead after that stretch. That was ugly. TO's. Missed shots. Missed (2) front ends. Still up by 3.

Could be a foul shooting competition as this goes on.

Did Monmouth really just go 13 deep in the first half?

Cremo in bounding the ball and throws it out of bounds...and we still get the ball? Can't say I've ever seen that before.

It was deflected by the guy covering him on the end line.

I've heard worse announcers but I like the "Cremo's been quite tonight" when he had 13 points (now 15) w/ 12+ minutes left.

I think they are working on ticket prices. A 4th quarter blackout.

Is this a confirmed "white out"?

And as far as ticket prices, they are ridiculous. Lowest seat price (not on the berm) is $25. I know you don't want to give them away but let's build a fan base, then raise the prices. I fit the "casual" category for football and am going today but must admit I was shocked when I saw the prices. Decent seats start at $35. Trust me if you aren't a diehard or have ties to the University you aren't paying those prices. Hopefully the perfect weather will entice people to walk up but there are still a lot of seats available.