We've Got Point Spreads

[GODANESGO]

I know many of you may disapprove, and most definitely, the UA coaching staff will, but I'm going to call it as I see it, a la Coach Brown when I say that 2007-08 has been the most disappointing season of UA men's basketball I have ever witnessed. It makes no difference whether I'm looking at Division III or Division II years or more recent times. I knew there would be a slight drop this year without Jamar and Siggers, but the results have been very underwhelming. Granted, except for Duke, we have not been really blown out this year, but I am very disappointed with the overall record.

 

In 2003-04, the team stank, but they tried hard, AND you knew the team would be far better the following season.

 

I know the loss is disappointing (though pretty insignificant at this point in the season), but aren't we still 3rd place in the conference and have been right around at least .500 for much of the season?

 

And since we know we're not in the 8-9 game in the tournament, we still have just as good a chance of winning the AE tournament and making a third straight trip to the NCAA Tournament as anyone else in the conference. We need to win 3 straight..just like everyone else in the conference.

 

I think I just may hold judgement til the season's actually over.

[Clickclack]

If you are gonna complain about being being sent to Buffalo and insinuate that you feel disrespected, you can't turn in a performance like this. We got exactly what we deserved. The team will often take on the attitude of the coach. When the coach was luke warm about the prospects of this game, and talked like he couldn't give two craps, surprise surprise....neither did the team.

 

A season of missed opportunities!

 

I hope they come out pissed at Bingo.....that would be the only fitting thing to do. Pride must come into play, NO?

[olddog71]

I know many of you may disapprove, and most definitely, the UA coaching staff will, but I'm going to call it as I see it, a la Coach Brown when I say that 2007-08 has been the most disappointing season of UA men's basketball I have ever witnessed. It makes no difference whether I'm looking at Division III or Division II years or more recent times. I knew there would be a slight drop this year without Jamar and Siggers, but the results have been very underwhelming. Granted, except for Duke, we have not been really blown out this year, but I am very disappointed with the overall record.

 

In 2003-04, the team stank, but they tried hard, AND you knew the team would be far better the following season.

 

I know the loss is disappointing (though pretty insignificant at this point in the season), but aren't we still 3rd place in the conference and have been right around at least .500 for much of the season?

 

And since we know we're not in the 8-9 game in the tournament, we still have just as good a chance of winning the AE tournament and making a third straight trip to the NCAA Tournament as anyone else in the conference. We need to win 3 straight..just like everyone else in the conference.

 

I think I just may hold judgement til the season's actually over.

 

Perhaps you're correct, but I'm not so optimistic. This team will have to turn around big time really fast to change momentum. We play Binghamton mid-week at their place, followed by a game against streaking Boston. I don't care whether BU(MA) is away or here since we have not been able to defend the home court very well this season.

 

Unless this team turns around fast, I'd just like us to bow out of the first tournament game and call the season over.

 

Sorry, most of the time I don't react this way, but this year this team has really got me going, and I've been following the Great Danes for about 40 years.

[McFan]

So what did Ambrose do this time to warrant 12 minutes of play. 8 points, 3 boards, no turnovers. The offense was stagnent for 30 minutes. Didn't we have 23 points in the first 10 minutes? 37 after that?

 

I know this is a dead horse but I'm ready to beat it.

[S-money]

I know many of you may disapprove, and most definitely, the UA coaching staff will, but I'm going to call it as I see it, a la Coach Brown when I say that 2007-08 has been the most disappointing season of UA men's basketball I have ever witnessed. It makes no difference whether I'm looking at Division III or Division II years or more recent times. I knew there would be a slight drop this year without Jamar and Siggers, but the results have been very underwhelming. Granted, except for Duke, we have not been really blown out this year, but I am very disappointed with the overall record.

 

In 2003-04, the team stank, but they tried hard, AND you knew the team would be far better the following season.

 

I know the loss is disappointing (though pretty insignificant at this point in the season), but aren't we still 3rd place in the conference and have been right around at least .500 for much of the season?

 

And since we know we're not in the 8-9 game in the tournament, we still have just as good a chance of winning the AE tournament and making a third straight trip to the NCAA Tournament as anyone else in the conference. We need to win 3 straight..just like everyone else in the conference.

 

I think I just may hold judgement til the season's actually over.

 

Nothing surprises me at this point, just nothing. We've seen almost everything this season from crazy buzzer beaters to tough road wins to squandering an 18 point lead??? I wouldn't be suprised if we lose the rest of the way or win the rest of the way, through the AE tournament. The only sticking point with that last part is that we would indeed have to win three games in a row, which we haven't done since bloody November.

 

Both of you are correct--the results have been a disappointment, but we could still take the whole thing. I must admit UMBC seems like a team of destiny, just like we were in 2006. But nothing and nobody is going to surprise me from this team, short of Carl Ross returning and putting up a triple-double or something.

 

Crazy, exasperating times,

S€

[soup]

I'll recoup with Boise State tonight...

 

 

 

How'd that go for you?

[danes05]

I dont care if this was non-league. To be up 18 and lose to a 4 win team is just awful. You never know what your gonna get with this team. They look great sometimes and look terrible as well. We need some consistency.

[haggyland]

I'll recoup with Boise State tonight...

 

How'd that go for you?

You didn't see the score? I was 0 for 2.

The only positive I can find tonight is that the coach's wife didn't enter herself into the post-game commentary.

[JustDrastik]

I know many of you may disapprove, and most definitely, the UA coaching staff will, but I'm going to call it as I see it, a la Coach Brown when I say that 2007-08 has been the most disappointing season of UA men's basketball I have ever witnessed. It makes no difference whether I'm looking at Division III or Division II years or more recent times. I knew there would be a slight drop this year without Jamar and Siggers, but the results have been very underwhelming. Granted, except for Duke, we have not been really blown out this year, but I am very disappointed with the overall record.

 

In 2003-04, the team stank, but they tried hard, AND you knew the team would be far better the following season.

 

I know the loss is disappointing (though pretty insignificant at this point in the season), but aren't we still 3rd place in the conference and have been right around at least .500 for much of the season?

 

And since we know we're not in the 8-9 game in the tournament, we still have just as good a chance of winning the AE tournament and making a third straight trip to the NCAA Tournament as anyone else in the conference. We need to win 3 straight..just like everyone else in the conference.

 

I think I just may hold judgement til the season's actually over.

 

Obviously we are still in 3rd place. However, much can be said about a team when they are up by 18 at a given point, and lose to a team that was 4-22 coming in (a 4-22 team from a subpar conference). It's not like we lost to a 4-22 Georgia Tech team or something like that. Canisius.

 

And Coach Brown put his foot in his own mouth on this one. Being around .500 for the season is not great, considering we started out 4-1 and have BLOWN SEVERAL double digits opportunities to win.

 

If you can explain to me what positives there are regarding the team moving forward this year, I'd be more than happy to feel somewhat confident going forward. And no, it is not a positive to say "they are inconsistent - you never know what team is going to show up.. who knows, we could win the AE tournament". The beauty of the AE is that the tournament is for all the marbles, but I just don't see them doing what they have to do to win 3 in a row - since we havent done that since NOVEMBER.

 

At this point, I'm starting to question a few things. In the past, our lineups/rotations were pretty clear. But I just don't understand how some players can play 30 mins one game, and 12 the next etc. It is a recipe for disaster. Basketball is a game of flow and rhythm and when you can't get into one, it affects your whole team. I think Coach needs to put his best starting 5 out there, keep his bench to a formula, and ride or die with it. It's too late in the season to keep switching stuff and hope something syncs together. Any thoughts?

[Dane Pound]

Obviously we are still in 3rd place. However, much can be said about a team when they are up by 18 at a given point, and lose to a team that was 4-22 coming in (a 4-22 team from a subpar conference). It's not like we lost to a 4-22 Georgia Tech team or something like that. Canisius.

 

I wouldn't say the MAAC is subpar. They're about 10 places better than us in RPI this year as a conference. Nobody here might want to hear it but they're having a pretty good year. I still think we should have beaten Canisius but as proven we can't take anything for granted this year.

 

For positives I'd say I like our freshman class a lot. If next year's class is on par athletically and basketball-wise we have a pretty bright future down the line. We're recruiting in a whole different neighborhood from where we were a few short years ago.

 

It seems to me teams have figured out if they pack their defense in they can take away our players who drive to the hoop and negate some of our size advantage. When we can shoot them our of their defense from outside we can score, when we can't (2-15 last night) we struggle to score.

 

One thing to keep in mind. Two years ago Vermont lost 4 in a row going into the tourney in Bing and were given up for dead. They won two games there including a most enjoyable win over the host Bearcats to get to the AE final.

[OrangeDane]

Yes..this has certainly been a frustrating season since most of our losses have been close ones that seem to turn on: a missed opportunity here, a streak of crazy long distant shooting by opponents there, and just plain bad luck elswhere resulting in us being on the wrong side of some "woulda/coulda/shoulda" outcomes. That all said...last night's loss was just plain bad...there's no other word to describe a loss to a 4-22 club....the team's gotta put it behind them and move on with the sands in the hour glass getting down to a precious few...

What's "wrong" with this team? I am not sure that's the correct or appropriate question...my sense is that we obviously have good talent but...unfortunately, the group's individual talents do not seem to be totally complementary within the team structure, and this may be due to injuries: some people not available at all to play certain roles: remember no Allen and no Anderson all season basically -- or individual performance levels being altered in some fashion due to the injuries: Iati coming off back surgery and Brent coming off foot surgery....I can not speculate on any other reason because I don't know what goes on within the locker room or within coaches or the kids heads...I know that alot of folks question substitution patterns etc...but I think the substitution patterns could just as plausibly be a symptom of the team's inability to establish consistent performance patterns rather than being a cause of that inconsistency...the result of the personnell issues is that some guys may be playing roles for which they are not ideally cast....cases in point Brent and Brian...Briam's done a terrific job out front this year no question but...the role he has played this year is not his natural one and one get the sense watching him that he is not totally comfortable....similarly, we've needed Brent down low alot more this year when, in prior year's he was most effective for us playing the perimeter...he could do that in those prior years because we had Jamar's rebounding ability to compensate for Brent playing 15 ft and out... I think to some extent Brent's shooting has suffered as a result of the need to put him in closer...these are just random thoughts...I could be right...many may also think I am wrong...I know we can all agree that this is has been thus far a very frustrating campaign...for fans and undoubtedly for the players and the coaching staff as well!!

 

Despite it all...we tend to be "right there" at the end in these games...so..yeah something's not "quite right" but on the other hand there can't be "alot wrong" either...

[Patch]

This team sometimes reminds me of the "Tin Man in The Wizard of OZ"

 

Not to over simplify things - I think we have major ball handling problems and as a group we have no value of the ball - but with that said.....

 

I think Dane Pound hit it on the head

It seems to me teams have figured out if they pack their defense in they can take away our players who drive to the hoop and negate some of our size advantage. When we can shoot them out of their defense from outside we can score, when we can't (2-15 last night) we struggle to score.

 

In our 7 losses since AE play started we're shooting 31-111 from three or 28%. Coming into the season three point shooting was going to be one of our strengths. Well it's been inconsistent at best. When we shoot the ball we're decent - when we don't we fall short.

 

Lillis can only do so much, he's got to be totally frustrated.

 

For an ardent fan this is a very frustrating group

[UAalum72]

I don't worry much about the 18-point lead; we weren't going to keep shooting 71% and they weren't going to keep shooting 8%, that's why they're called shooting 'averages'. Worse was we outrebounded them only 33-31; it sounded like we shot about 1-8 in the last two minutes, most of them open looks.

 

The MAAC is having a good year, but '10 places better' is significant only if you put equal value on each place; they're still almost twice as close to the AE as they to the eighth-place conference. (Sagarin Pac-10 rating 84.4, #8 A-10 rating 77.7, #16 MAAC 70.7, #27 AE 66.8). Basically there's the top 8 or 9 conferences, and then there's everybody else.

[McFan]

I tried to go back and find the preseason prediction thread but was unable too.

 

I think a lot of the dissappointment here was partially caused by some higher than expected results. This was not the case last night but for the season in general I think expectations were a bit high. Not saying I'm a basketball prediction guru, but I went into this year hoping for .500 or better. And we are close with a few games to go. Some big dissappointments in the way we have lost a hand full of games, but I don't think this team has substantially underachieved.

 

Not fair to compare, but hey why not. Compare last years scoring options with this years.

 

1. J.Wilson vs. B.Lillis. All time leading scorer vs. a 7 pt. a game player entering this season.

2. J. Siggers vs. B. Wilson. Driving/slasher that could also shoot the three vs. a three ball specialists (happens to be injured).

3. B. Wilson vs. B. Connelly. A three ball specialists (not asked to visit the paint) vs. a solid third option.

4. J. Iati vs. J. Iati. A three ball sparkplug vs. an injured three ball spark plug.

5. B. Lillis vs. ?????

6. B. Connelly vs. ???

 

This offense is very limited (as stated above too).

 

I know it can't be done this way and I've said it before but I would have sacrificed some on court mistakes this year for some better results next year. This is a rebuilding year, and next year may be too.

 

That said, they have shown the ability to beat anyone on a given night in the AE. Three in a row looks rather daunting however.

[statefan]

One small and mostly irrelevant question about last night - is Jimmie Covington sick?