Not an ideal time to be skidding. Playing teams the second time is always harder I guess
Fire travis
In other news Toledo loses at home to ball state
Or not. Ball states buzzer beater wasnāt off in time
NIU pushes Akron to the end - trailed by 6 with a minute left.
OU beats Central by two after blowing big lead.
Despite an incredibly busy day for my family, we made it to the game tonight. The biggest positive was the behavior of my boys, they were excellent, which isnāt always the case at sporting events. But they were great tonight and it made the night more enjoyable.
Obviously, watching live, you donāt get to pick up as much as you do when you can hit the back button on ESPN plus. So Iāve already rewatched the first 28 minutes or so and they confirmed what I thought watching it live, for what itās worth.
First, credit to Dan Luers for being ready and playing his butt off. I know his role well, being the 10th guy and itās really hard because you just never know if youāre going to play.
I thought Elmer had a nice bounceback game, at both ends. I like it when heās aggressive and searches for the mid-range instead of settling for the 3. I still think the skyās the limit for him. And he was the only guy that finished through contact tonight. Everyone else shied away from it.
Those were my two standouts. We need to get tougher as a team. Eastern made some shots they usually donāt make, but toughness helps you make some of those. We have too many contortionists around the basket. Finish through contact and get to the foul line. Youāre more likely to get a call if you take it up strong.
We did have some open looks early in the game, but the rhythm wasnāt there. In the 1st half, watching the ball flight, you look to see if shots are on line. Short or long misses are ok because they donāt require as much of an adjustment. We had a lot of short and wide misses. That didnāt bode well.
Typical MAC officials tonight. They decided to let everything go, especially in the 1st half. Fine, adjust to it and we didnāt. The adjustment shouldāve been more of an emphasis on ball reversal. When we did that, we got great looks. But too often, it was one shot and jack. Thatās fine if youāre hitting, and I know everyone has the green light, but with a slow start, there should be more of an effort to move the ball. Too often the ball stayed on one side of the floor, making it easy on the defense. Once we got away from the wing pick and roll where they got a trap and often a turnover against us, that allowed for some ball reversal and success.
I donāt want to see the combination of Cooper, Craft, Byers, Woolfolk, and Potter again. Too easy to guard. I donāt want to see another game in which Woolfolk gets 1 shot attempt.
And how can we give up a 3 in our matchup zone late in the 1st half when all they did was a rescreen flare screen.
Most teams go through a tough stretch at some point in conference play. Weāre obviously in ours. The really good teams get out of it quickly. Letās see if we can do it Friday against a Kent team that looks to be getting themselves together as they usually do this time of year.
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Not Note Bene, but rather, ānota beneā (note well). Best way to avoid that mistake is simply using the acronym, N.B.
As indicated before, this team will have the necessary depth next year. But of course everyone will disagree.
At the same time, go on a run in the MAC Tourney, and theyāre in. Thatās when the magic happens.
Still doing your depth bit?
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Just throwing this out there but losing to successive directional Michigan teams that all analytics say you are supposed to beat is not the way to keep momentum flowing towards rebuilding a fickle and apathetic fan base.
Enter free tickets
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Well, it was fun while it lasted!
After the game I got a text from a friend who is a big Xavier fan:
āWelcome to my world.ā
I got one from a Xavier friend which said, ājust waitā.
I donāt know if you are saying we are building this team brick by brick OR that we are shooting brick after brick.
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I think heās saying use a type S mortar for its high compressive strength when building walls.
So in looking at Eastern, they are a team put together for one year based on the transfer portal. Nelson and Terry were stars for DePaul last year and when their coach got fired they entered the portal and Stan Heath picked them up for their Sr. Season. Henry came from a juco in Texas. Those guys carry the offense for EMU. They finally seem to be coming together and figuring how to play and win. Terry and Nelson had 59 points between them vs Toledo, and 49 between them last night. Meanwhile, our shooting efficiency, our biggest team strength, was very subpar. We were only 6 out of 36 on threes. We also shot poorly from the floor and from the line. They killed us in all three shooting categories.
From Friday to Tuesday we made four 4.5 to 5 hour bus trips. School is going on and they have that on their minds. These things make life more difficult and is something which all MAC teams have to fight through. It is also a long season and all teams go through peaks and valleys.
I am not making excuses, but I am giving explanations of what is happening, and I am not surprised. We are also still a very young team compared to the rest of the league, and the older players are more accustomed to these things and generally handle it better. Somewhere along the way this was what I expected to happen. We have a couple of home games coming up, so an opportunity to get going again, but I would point out that Kent went through a bad stretch earlier and gave more playing time to 3 young athletic players and have gotten it going again. NIU is also playing better than they were when MAC play began.
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Sounds like Coach Steele hacked Dickās account.
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Shit happens, itās a long season and playing on the road is never easy. But given Steeleās track record at X it would be comforting to come out strong and beat Kent on national TV to show that weāre improving/adapting late into the season.
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I donāt think you can compare him from x to now. Heās a different coach in a different situ. (Well, I should say, you can compare him as you can do whatever you like) but then you have to factor in that he beat several top 25 teams when he was there so by that regard maybe heās underachieving here? Heās gotten us better every year weāve been here.
We will be fine. Losing sucks but we still have a chance for March.
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