McFan

UA's men's bb team is average in a low level conference. The Universities leaders have picked football and women's basketball to be our showcase teams. I would not be surprised to see the women move to a "better" conference.

 

It's quotes like this that drive me nuts. HOW ARE THE WOMEN MOVING TO A BETTER CONFERENCE WITHOUT THE REST OF THE SCHOOL?

 

And as a general rule, and following up on Dane Pound's general post expressing bewilderment, do you guys really think mid-low majors ALWAYS hit well with recruits. Further, most people whining now were praising the coaching job of our staff last year after losing what many thought were the most prolific scorers on the team.

 

It's like a group home for bi-polar on this board lately.

 

Again, I'm not all too happy with the season but let's not let facts get in the way: THIS TEAM HAS BEEN MISSING KEY PLAYERS OR HURT SINCE THE FIRST QUARTER OF THE SEASON. IT ALSO HAD TO REPLACE 6 PLAYERS BY A COACH WHO WAS BASICALLY A LAME DUCK. I can tell you this: When i was being recruited in H.S. if a coach was sitting on 1 year contract...there was no way I would have went that school.

 

We have what is considered to be a very solid four year class coming in that will try to mesh with some nice young pieces we have now. Bet your collective asses on this: When that class is sophs/jrs. with this years crops of frosh, if they aren't winning...Brown will likely be out.

 

That's not emotional, it's subjective but without letting W/L constitute my view of the team, solely. If by then you can't win...then something is seriously wrong.

 

This is all well and good. I'll even go so far as to say I'm probably the most bi-polar poster here. When you look at the reasons with a narrow view they all make sense. When you take a look at the bigger picture it becomes infinitely harder to ignore, 4 winning seasons in going on 13 years granted the first 2 or 3 are probably a write-off, no one was winning here. The complete domination of this program by UVM, SBU and BU before they left has been demoralizing. The recruiting strategy has been flawed for a long time...juco galore. Listen, next year there is no PG and no C on this team who won't be new to the roster. I can already see how this will probably go, you can't win 'ish without a PG.

 

I don't even say he needs to be top 3 every year in conference...I don't. I understand there are dips and there are down cycles but 4 winning seasons? We haven't won the regular season or even been close since Jamar left. He is under .500 in the AE. Think about that...in the AE he is under .500 both overall and since Jamar left.

 

Truth is there is a lot to be concerned about here long term. Attendance hasn't gone up one iota. Brown has an uncanny knack for winning the big game in the AE tourney, when he gets there, he is money! For that he is to be applauded...you can't take away from him. As I said previously, the highs are highs but the lows and struggling to stay .500 are far to frequent.

 

Where have we averaged in attendance compared to the league? Hmmm?

 

Let's face facts: Until we are playing bigger name teams...our attendance will be the same. Sure, if we are dominating you MAY get 500 or so more per game on average...but we will never, ever, ever average near "Sell-Outs" with this schedule in this decade. Too many casual fans unfortunately would choose a Siena game due to history.

 

As for JUCO's. I agree and disagree. I don't particularly love it UNLESS you say, "F IT...I'm recruiting the smartest juco (hoops IQ smart) I can...and I'm gonna live and die by them." I don't like that Brown takes forever to play these kids though I understand they may not get team concepts or even true organized basketball concepts. So, if you recruit a JUCO they better be high IQ guys and "need" guys.

 

That said-- we have a huge amount of JUCO's on this roster because of Brown's lame duck status. Again, I was recruited (in multiple sports). I remember heading up to Bridgeport with my dad and the Coach told us he was on a year-to-year contract. Aside from the poor academics, there was no way we were going to put my college years in the hands of someone who may be gone...especially with only a partial scholarship.

 

UA SHOULD HAVE MADE A MOVE...ONE WAY OR THE OTHER...WITH BROWN'S CONTRACT. Leaving him dangling out there was recruiting suicide. Heck, even in professional sports it's "FREE AGENT" suicide.

I guess my issues w/ this post are we continue to compare (attendance in this case) to a league that is frankly embarrassing. Also, averaging 500 more a game would be awesome. I haven't checked overall attendance but I'd guess that as a 25% increase. Sign me up.

A lot of what's been said would make me feel better if this conference wasn't so horrible. Look we've lost Northeastern and BU since we joined. These were clearly two of the better teams in the conference. One championship in six years, ok. Think what would have happened had we not stumbled up Jacob Iati. Let's remember he was bolted to the bench until there were injuries and wasn't even supposed to play last year.

 

It's a dead horse but I just expected more. More regular season wins. More fans in the crowd. More exciting brand of BB. More consistency.

 

It's tough to go back in time but if somebody would have said that BU and NE are gone from the conference and UA is going to struggle to be a .500 team I would not have believed it. Yet here we are.

Would you rather have a record like BUMA and NU? OK. In the twelve years we were in the conference together, BUMA went to the NCAAs twice. How many did we have again?

BUMA won 4 1/2 regular season championships in eight years ending in 2004, did they 'build' on them, no, none since.

 

Northeastern was a dominant team - from 1980-1993, nothing since.

 

Or would you rather have BUMA's attendance (729 per game this year)? And they've got a lot more resouces and a higher budget than we do.

My point of bringing up those two programs wasn't to compare UA to them, it was to show that the conference as we exist is not very good (understatement). With these two teams out of the conference I expect more than what I am seeing on a consistent basis.

Does BU's BB team have more resources? I know the school and some programs do but not sure if BB gets much attention.

A lot of what's been said would make me feel better if this conference wasn't so horrible. Look we've lost Northeastern and BU since we joined. These were clearly two of the better teams in the conference. One championship in six years, ok. Think what would have happened had we not stumbled up Jacob Iati. Let's remember he was bolted to the bench until there were injuries and wasn't even supposed to play last year.

It's a dead horse but I just expected more. More regular season wins. More fans in the crowd. More exciting brand of BB. More consistency.

It's tough to go back in time but if somebody would have said that BU and NE are gone from the conference and UA is going to struggle to be a .500 team I would not have believed it. Yet here we are.

FT's really costs us the game again. 20-31 including some big misses down the stretch.

How bad was Dallas tonight? I ask because I started watching at the 8 minute mark and I don't believe he saw the floor????

I think player wise I'm most disappointed w/ Puks progress. Shooting % way down. Points only up due to more minutes. Blocks have been solid but he does little on the rebounding side given his minutes and size. 4.2 a game and tied with GJ for 20th in the league.

Looking at the halftime stats. Hooley and Sam have been completely shut down. I know Hooley went out with fouls. Peter has been disappointing in AE play but he's a sophomore, hopefully he can be a bit more then what he is now. When he's on, he's good otherwise he's invisible.

 

Hooley gives me basically the middle finger this half...good for him. That right there was a crazy shot...can't believe it went in.

He did but I think he's been generally good in AE play. Stats aren't everything but he is:

4th in scoring

8th in assist

5th in FT%

10th in 3PT% (inconsistent here for sure)

3rd in 3PT's made

6th in A/TO's

1st in minutes played

All coming into tonight.

Great win. Couldn't make it tonight though. What was the difference? Did we just make shots? Dominate? Push the ball?

He has recruited good players who appear to be good students and good people

This can't be minimized. I'm as big of a critic as any of his in game coaching and his coaching style in general. But I wouldn't sacrifice this part of the equation for winning. I do however think that both can be accomplished.

Who can approach Coach Abe about coaching the men's team?

 

Not to pour on the suffering after a(nother) tough loss, but if I was to suggest that UA is not getting a very good return on investment for the $250-300K it pays Coach Brown every year, would I still get labeled a "fair weather fan" and a "malcontent" that has to be on his best behavior if he wants to sit in the "optimist zone"?

 

I think everyone is malcontent after this game.

 

So who is the first poster to calm down? Because all kidding aside, they could still win the AE tourney! There is definitely talent there.

You just won.

Who the heck wants to watch that garbage?

Without passion, this team will end up last in the conference.

Maybe they'll grow some balls, and realize they're playing like sissies. At least make it competitive girls.

I'm a bit of a one trick pony, but I think the style of play has a lot to do with the lack of passion. No pace. No identity on offense (ie a 3 point shooting team). Limited pressure on D, which seems to provide energy.

Don't forget track and field!

Now there's a winning program and coach.

That's a game for Puk to forget. 1-9 from the field, fouled out, missed two point-blank shots with less than a minute that would've given the Danes the lead. Tough.

But he had 2 rebounds.

Everyone stay away from the ledge.

 

You heard it here first; I'm on the ledge now. I honestly see NO passion out of these guys and some really stupid basketball. Why is Puk taking a 12-14 footer with less than a minute to go. Why wouldn't Peter Hooley keep that ball and drive to the rack.

 

That IS Coaching...as is the passion. Sometimes Coach has been yelled out for being too harsh with his teams. Right now...he needs to be harsh. Lock them out of practice...and let them get pissed off en masse or a leader will emerge.

 

He needs to draw the passion out of them. Injuries or not..this team needs to have passion. And it hasn't in the last few games. I think Coach was able to not have to deal with that with Iati.

 

He doesn't have that now...and it's time to step up. No words held back..

The offense is just awful. I still say we should use our rebounding to start some breaks. There will be more mistakes but it has to be better than that half court offense.

That said we missed a bunch of chippies in transition/push type situations.

I've heard Wyland and one of the guys I sit w/ say "Puk has developed a midrange jumper", No, no he hasn't. He is shooting it more but the percentage is not good.

If there is no feed... No proof of another disaster

It was taunting me. It just kept showing Puk miss jumper after jumper.

Everyone stay away from the ledge.

ESPN has us down by 2 w/ 12 to go.

I keep freezing up. Is it over?

Enough Puk.

Three pointers for UNH, and missed bunnies for UA

Stony Brook can be 14-2 in conference (last year) but I sure did enjoy the NCAA better than their fans did. Just saying, everyone seems tense about not being 5-0.

I get that and enjoyed the trip to Philly too.

But it's not the not being 5-0. It's a long trend of a lack of progress. Maybe we were hoping for too much. But look at this program since Jamar. Do you see any growth. On the team? In the stands? From the community? Why not?

I don't have aspirations to be a top 25 team, but in this conference we should be better than .500 year in and year out. Substantially better. There are absolute gimmes in this conference.

Solutions were asked for:

Pick up the pace. We are better early in the shot clock than late.

Allow players to make mistakes. Brown threw his arms out after Dallas missed a three.

Develop a bench in the pre conference so we can adjust to injuries.

I'm frustrated that we struggled to beat Binghamton and UMBC at home. I expect more than that from the Men's hoop program at this point. Yes, we can explain away a bad performance in any single game based on almost anything ( injuries, missed foul shots, matchup problems, hot shooting opponent, etc. etc). A large sample of games tells a more meaningful story, and I must admit to being very disappointed with the evolution of the program since Jamar graduated. Since then (6 1/2 years ago), our AE conference record is a thoroughly mediocre 49-53. We should dominate the America East. Vermont is 76-25 in conference play during the same time frame. Beyond that, our attendance is static, community interest is no different than it was 7 years ago, and there does not appear to be any reason to think league dominance is coming anytime soon. There was a feeling in 2007 that the UA hoop program was on the launching pad, and that with a few more good recruiting classes, we would outgrow the AE, and every game would be close to a sellout. That has not happened. I like a lot of our current players, and I certainly appreciate that WB recruits high character freshman who are student-athletes. I like coach, respect what he does, and have supported him when others were " calling for his head" in the past. Mike Brown's layup vs. Stonybrook in the AE tourney, followed by the terrific win at Patrick in the AE final, earned WB another contract, so talk about coaching changes are pointless for at least a couple of years. Coach Abe is a good example of what a talented coach can do for a program. That is a discussion for another time. What we need in the short term is on the court talent (4 year talent, not JUCOs who may give you one productive year) and a plan for growth, not sustained mediocrity.

One of the best posts yet. No real growth in this program. Vermont changes coaches and doesn't miss a beat.

We give reasons/excuses why we struggle against Bing at home. Injured. New players. Listen we have what 5 of our top seven from last year on the floor against a team that was dismantled a few years ago, without their top scorer, w/o another rotation player, on our home court???? Just doesn't add up.

I sure hope he didn't pick the music for his video. Always nice when the n word is used over and over.

Are you implying worse than mediocre?

I am.

Remember the dreams of 06 07 of the Danes growing year after year into a mid-major power?

 

Now we are just ok with whoever is center and just trying to stay competitive in a mediocre conference.

Did you say mediocre conference?