I would tend to disagree with this to some extent: Expectations are high for sure and we have yet to play our best 40 minute game. That said, we fell behind by 14 vs ODU in first 10 minutes then proceeded to outscore them by 29 the final 30 minutes; Air Force we had an awful 5 minute stretch in 2nd half on both ends but that was a 15 point game for 35 minutes. Last night we played without our best player and his replacement was in foul trouble all game\. Lets give some credit to the other teams–they are D1 players as well. I don’t read much into any MAC teams OOC games to be honest. Most tend to be mismatches one way or the other. Coaches tinker with lineups and trying to get new players acclimated to college game so they are prepared for MAC play. We know what Miami has in their top 7 players when they are all playing to their potential. Elmer and really Suder too haven’t hit their stride yet if being honest. Water will find its level as Steele likes to say. hopefully one or two of the freshmen get their sea legs and can give us 10 minutes of solid play in MAC action. Lets just enjoy the ride a bit. In a 32+ game season there will be some games that are awful and every game will have periods of poor play and every player will have multi game slumps–that’s sports. Not the end of the world. This team is talented and fun to watch. They will be in the mix at the end.
Here is the value of 50-50 non-conference games. They test your ability to win on a bad night. They test your ability to cleanly close out games … or come from behind. They test your ability to play 35-40 good to great minutes as a team.
Winning games where you only need to dominate for 10 minutes, then cruise, is false success in my eyes. Playing a bad team close for 35 minutes, then giving a spurt to the finish is false success. Yes, it’s better to win these games than lose them (look at Ohio) but over the long haul, in MAC play, whatever potential warts any team has will be exposed sooner or later.
Miami just won without Suder, so that’s a plus. But no need for the injury bug to his this team, either.
I’m not worried about the freshman. They have already contributed significantly. And will continue to do so.
One of our starters has scored 32 total points this year. That funk goes back to the last 5 games of last year where he scored a total of 35 points. We need him to get going before MAC play starts.