since Sidney and then won the tournament. Now that would be something. Not counting on it, but it would be a hoot.

It is a long shot, but I'm telling you that we are not all that far behind the better teams in the conference right now.

(01-03-2010 10:46 AM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  It is a long shot, but I'm telling you that we are not all that far behind the better teams in the conference right now.

After watching a lot of games in person, I'm sad to say, I think we are.
And I haven't even seen Western and Denver yet. But who knows. In sports, anything can happen, so I won't say we can't sneak in and upset someone, but I don't see much hope for any kind of decent season. Too late for that.

We play hard, but are restricted, because, IMO, we aren't employing our talent to the best of their abilities. But that obviously isn't going to change, at least with our present situation, so I'm resigned to the fact that we just have to suffer through the rest of this season, be appreciative of good effort, and then see what the future brings.

By "all that far" I meant as far as our record would indicate. We played NT tough, and they might be the best team in the league.

(01-03-2010 10:58 AM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  By "all that far" I meant as far as our record would indicate. We played NT tough, and they might be the best team in the league.

Didn't they just get waxed by ASU last night?

(01-03-2010 10:58 AM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  By "all that far" I meant as far as our record would indicate. We played NT tough, and they might be the best team in the league.

I don't know if there is a "best team in the league". Maybe WKU when they get Kerush back. UNT has a long way to go to be the best in the league. A home loss to FIU and a loss to a very depleted ASU team doesn't impress me at this point. USA looks good, although they were "lucky" to squeak out an OT win against FAU yesterday. But of course, that's what good teams do- win close games. Just like we did last season.

(01-03-2010 11:06 AM)mjs Wrote:  

(01-03-2010 10:58 AM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  By "all that far" I meant as far as our record would indicate. We played NT tough, and they might be the best team in the league.

I don't know if there is a "best team in the league". Maybe WKU when they get Kerush back. UNT has a long way to go to be the best in the league. A home loss to FIU and a loss to a very depleted ASU team doesn't impress me at this point. USA looks good, although they were "lucky" to squeak out an OT win against FAU yesterday. But of course, that's what good teams do- win close games. Just like we did last season.

If you lose every game by one point, you're a lousy team. Close means absolutely nothing. Granted if you're winning games at your level, and play a high major close, yes that would be good. But if you're losing nearly every game against your level of competiton, no matter how close you get, you're a bad team. We don't have bad players. But we're a bad team right now. You can make out of that what you wish.

Who knows and who cares. I can imagine that certain people would still not be happy with Steve Shields if he did get this bunch to win the tournament. All it means is grinder ball will get a stay of execution just because we got lucky down the stretch. I can hear the grumbling now. It will be like Dickie Nutt in 1999.

(01-03-2010 11:12 AM)outsideualr Wrote:  

(01-03-2010 11:06 AM)mjs Wrote:  

(01-03-2010 10:58 AM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  By "all that far" I meant as far as our record would indicate. We played NT tough, and they might be the best team in the league.

I don't know if there is a "best team in the league". Maybe WKU when they get Kerush back. UNT has a long way to go to be the best in the league. A home loss to FIU and a loss to a very depleted ASU team doesn't impress me at this point. USA looks good, although they were "lucky" to squeak out an OT win against FAU yesterday. But of course, that's what good teams do- win close games. Just like we did last season.

If you lose every game by one point, you're a lousy team. Close means absolutely nothing. Granted if you're winning games at your level, and play a high major close, yes that would be good. But if you're losing nearly every game against your level of competiton, no matter how close you get, you're a bad team. We don't have bad players. But we're a bad team right now. You can make out of that what you wish.

We don't have "bad" players. We have some "nice" players, some of which could even start on other Sun Belt teams (Bozeman? Garcia?). But we clearly don't have the talent of even a UNT team who was missing its best player and its starting point guard. I don't know how we were in that game, when I looked at the talent on the floor. So the only thing I can come up with is coaching. Now if you want to criticize our recruiting, go at it. Why we end up with a boat load of undersized guards and no real low post threat I don't know. But, from what I can tell the coaches continually get the maximum out of the talent we put on the floor.

My gut tells me that Brady will have ASU in the postseason tournaments before Shields will or at least more often over the long haul. Steve has had 7 years, state of the art facilities, a vibrant urban setting (relative to say, Monroe, BG, Jboro, etc.), decent fan support for the SBC (again, relatively speaking. I mean ULM men's attendance looked less than our women's last night) and a highly effective AD and support staff. He's turned over his staff completely with two major overhauls, some of whom were defections (Flanagan, Robinson). I see this as a place at which as an athletic director you decide if getting your once-dominant revenue sport back into postseason is a worthwhile goal. Also who does not want UALR to succeed on it's own merits? I think there are people who don't want to help, but would be just as tickled to see them succeed anyway--and that includes the often-mentioned talkers in the media like Rainwater and Hall. Except Rick Schaeffer of course. He's got that Broyles mindset that just won't allow it. He may give credit grudgingly, though.