well that helps take some of the sting out of the wva loss....

we gotta take one on the road now i'm thinking Providence (which I didn't think we would win)...we NEED to win that one now along with EVERY home game.

(01-30-2011 09:23 PM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  Thanks for tethering the crazy-blimp to terra firma, Mark. Your rationality muscles are getting a serious workout recently. Git cher swell on, bro.

What is crazy is a few weeks ago after we beat Xavier and I still was saying we need to wait and see, that we have an inflated record do to an atrocious non-conference schedule, that we don't know if we are as good as even last year and had not proved it yet some of the same posters were getting on me for being negative. Amazing how quickly things can change.

People are so up and down. i've been saying for a while that if I had to guess this team would go somewhere between 8-10 and 10-8 in the Big East and miss the tournament. I think they have the talent to get it done but I like many are not sold on Cronin and want him to and his team to show me before I really believe.

That said it blows my mind the overreaction to one freaking game against a good team led by a great coach who has made a career out of winning with undermanned teams. This team has the talent and plenty of chances left to get it done.

(01-31-2011 10:12 AM)bearcat54 Wrote:  [quote='Bearcatbdub' pid='6177266' dateline='1296423919']
I'M NOT feeling so good about the rest of the season now.

Neither am I.

Seems like the bottom teams in the conference are getting better and playing harder.

The better teams are the better teams for a reason.

And then there is UC, who is living up to it's reputation of getting worse down the final stretch.

Yep to all of that, Mark.

The wild mood swings and hot flashes of the handful are a riot...sane reason I find the UK and Memphis boards entertaining... like dealing with a bunch of menopausal women after losses to good squads. We ain't bearcatspause fer nuttin'.

Just wait till after the loss at Pitt. Someone will be spouting off that Pitt's not that good and demanding an immediate firing for yet another inexcusable loss.

(01-31-2011 11:55 AM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  Yep to all of that, Mark.

The wild mood swings and hot flashes of the handful are a riot...sane reason I find the UK and Memphis boards entertaining... like dealing with a bunch of menopausal women after losses to good squads. We ain't bearcatspause fer nuttin'.

Just wait till after the loss at Pitt. Someone will be spouting off that Pitt's not that good and demanding an immediate firing for yet another inexcusable loss.

I agree, but almost as bad are those who constantly cite their own predictions ( i guess because no one else cares to).

I still think UC will have one big win up their sleeve this year. Too bad
I also think they will have at least one bad loss.

Only bad loss opportunity they have left is DePaul. Every other team they play is rated within the top 100. Average RPI of the remaining schedule excluding the Blue Demons is under 30.

Most people had Providence down as a win.

My prior stance was that this team looked good, but I was not convinced because of the cupcakes they were playing early in the season. Now consider me saying this team has proved it is not for real, will not make the tourney, and will struggle to get 21 wins.

Just tired of being locked out of the tourney for a fifth straight year. Wondering if it is time for a change. Mostly because certain things have remained consistently bad.

And it's not like I am shooting off because of one bad loss- it seems that the play has spiralled (as usual) and we are headed the same way of the last 4 years. I feel like I have given the current regime ample opportunity to prove itself.

we play in the big east with a lot of good teams. we can't just lose to all of them and pound our chests proclaiming that "we have no bad losses!"

well, we have no good wins either.

St John's beat ND, Gtown and Duke all at MSG. We played them at Carnesseca Arena in front of 5,600 (although it was a sell-out).

(01-31-2011 11:55 AM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  Yep to all of that, Mark.

The wild mood swings and hot flashes of the handful are a riot...sane reason I find the UK and Memphis boards entertaining... like dealing with a bunch of menopausal women after losses to good squads. We ain't bearcatspause fer nuttin'.

Just wait till after the loss at Pitt. Someone will be spouting off that Pitt's not that good and demanding an immediate firing for yet another inexcusable loss.

some of us are getting concerned about the direction this team is going. I think that's what message boards are about. a few years back, losing to a unc charlotte would cause an extreme meltdown. Losing to an a10 team now is damn near expected and easily excepted by many of you. this p#ssification of our fan base is frustrating.

some get mad over poor performances, some lose it over attendance.

to each their own.

(01-31-2011 01:58 PM)b Wrote:  

(01-31-2011 11:55 AM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  Yep to all of that, Mark.

The wild mood swings and hot flashes of the handful are a riot...sane reason I find the UK and Memphis boards entertaining... like dealing with a bunch of menopausal women after losses to good squads. We ain't bearcatspause fer nuttin'.

Just wait till after the loss at Pitt. Someone will be spouting off that Pitt's not that good and demanding an immediate firing for yet another inexcusable loss.

some of us are getting concerned about the direction this team is going. I think that's what message boards are about. a few years back, losing to a unc charlotte would cause an extreme meltdown. Losing to an a10 team now is damn near expected and easily excepted by many of you. this p#ssification of our fan base is frustrating.

some get mad over poor performances, some lose it over attendance.

to each their own.

I'd get mad over a loss when Huggs was here, but really didn't question effort or want to fire Huggs.

My gripe with Huggs was his one-on-one offensive schemes. Great defensive and effort coach (which I miss). Mediocre offensive coach. But he didn't take crap from his players and would yank them in a heartbeat. That used to bug me, but now I miss it. Mick seems to let the inmates run the jailhouse.

Mick coached under Pitino, and I had hoped that rubbed off on his offensive philosophy. But since BE play has begun, it seems our team is standing around more and more and passing it around the perimeter to jack up 3's.

The defense is pretty good. It's hard for me totally believe the stats since a good part of the schedule was against suckass teams. But it's kept us in BE games for the most part. We just can't score.

My concern is that Mick seems to let the players do whatever they want, the offense has become stagnant, and I'm sensing another late season implosion. And only because of the great record beefed up by a piss poor OOC schedule, does it look like they have a chance to back into the NCAA Tournament.

I gotta say I'm approaching disillusionment mode. But, I'm not there just yet. As in another thread, I say four more wins, which deviates one from my original 23-8 pick (I THINK I said 23).

Quote:My gripe with Huggs was his one-on-one offensive schemes. Great defensive and effort coach (which I miss). Mediocre offensive coach. But he didn't take crap from his players and would yank them in a heartbeat. That used to bug me, but now I miss it. Mick seems to let the inmates run the jailhouse.

Huggs had his flaws, but you knew he was in charge. Mick is more of a big brother then a father figure. He's also probably that rare and sad big brother who gets beat up by his younger brother.

Quote:The defense is pretty good. It's hard for me totally believe the stats since a good part of the schedule was against suckass teams. But it's kept us in BE games for the most part. We just can't score.

people don't get that you can't be one dimensional. our defense is better when you have good offense. it's sets up the d.

a win sat would go a long way in easing my mind.

(01-31-2011 02:10 PM)Vottomatic Wrote:  

(01-31-2011 01:58 PM)b Wrote:  

(01-31-2011 11:55 AM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  Yep to all of that, Mark.

The wild mood swings and hot flashes of the handful are a riot...sane reason I find the UK and Memphis boards entertaining... like dealing with a bunch of menopausal women after losses to good squads. We ain't bearcatspause fer nuttin'.

Just wait till after the loss at Pitt. Someone will be spouting off that Pitt's not that good and demanding an immediate firing for yet another inexcusable loss.

some of us are getting concerned about the direction this team is going. I think that's what message boards are about. a few years back, losing to a unc charlotte would cause an extreme meltdown. Losing to an a10 team now is damn near expected and easily excepted by many of you. this p#ssification of our fan base is frustrating.

some get mad over poor performances, some lose it over attendance.

to each their own.

I'd get mad over a loss when Huggs was here, but really didn't question effort or want to fire Huggs.

My gripe with Huggs was his one-on-one offensive schemes. Great defensive and effort coach (which I miss). Mediocre offensive coach. But he didn't take crap from his players and would yank them in a heartbeat. That used to bug me, but now I miss it. Mick seems to let the inmates run the jailhouse.

Mick coached under Pitino, and I had hoped that rubbed off on his offensive philosophy. But since BE play has begun, it seems our team is standing around more and more and passing it around the perimeter to jack up 3's.

The defense is pretty good. It's hard for me totally believe the stats since a good part of the schedule was against suckass teams. But it's kept us in BE games for the most part. We just can't score.

My concern is that Mick seems to let the players do whatever they want, the offense has become stagnant, and I'm sensing another late season implosion. And only because of the great record beefed up by a piss poor OOC schedule, does it look like they have a chance to back into the NCAA Tournament.

Passing the ball around the perimeter and jacking up 3's has become a big problem all around college basketball. Mick doesn't get a pass for the timid offense-turn 3-point shooting contest that we see at times, but if they same thing can happen to Jim Calhoun and Coach K in one weekend then it can happen to anyone.

UConn spent the last 5 minutes of regulation and the entirety of the overtimes jacking up 3 pointers. They attempted 12 in those final 15 minutes. They have the best PG in the country and rarely even attempted to penetrate UL's zone. Yesterday Duke made one of their first 11 3 point attempts and they just kept firing up bricks the rest of the game.

Quote:Passing the ball around the perimeter and jacking up 3's has become a big problem all around college basketball. Mick doesn't get a pass for the timid offense-turn 3-point shooting contest that we see at times, but if they same thing can happen to Jim Calhoun and Coach K in one weekend then it can happen to anyone.

agree with that completely. It's all over college hoops. I think mostly because any decent big man goes pro early so they rely on the veteran perimeter guys.

(01-31-2011 01:58 PM)b Wrote:  

(01-31-2011 11:55 AM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  Yep to all of that, Mark.

The wild mood swings and hot flashes of the handful are a riot...sane reason I find the UK and Memphis boards entertaining... like dealing with a bunch of menopausal women after losses to good squads. We ain't bearcatspause fer nuttin'.

Just wait till after the loss at Pitt. Someone will be spouting off that Pitt's not that good and demanding an immediate firing for yet another inexcusable loss.

some of us are getting concerned about the direction this team is going. I think that's what message boards are about. a few years back, losing to a unc charlotte would cause an extreme meltdown. Losing to an a10 team now is damn near expected and easily excepted by many of you. this p#ssification of our fan base is frustrating.

some get mad over poor performances, some lose it over attendance.

to each their own.

Well, UC is 2-0 versus the A-10 by a combined margin of victory of about 60 points - those folks should be doing cartwheels.

I do think it will be fun to check out that preseason expectations thread for those who went on record of what they thought was reasonable and acceptable for this squad. Personally, I'm still playing with house money this season. That could obviously change in this conference (and quickly).

Do the math.

St. Johns beats Duke.

UC beat St. Johns.

UC is the best b-ball team in the country because of this.

Quote:Well, UC is 2-0 versus the A-10 by a combined margin of victory of about 60 points - those folks should be doing cartwheels.

too fat for cartwheels but I was happy.

we sold out the wvu game and the attendance police did not even crack a smile.

Quote:I do think it will be fun to check out that preseason expectations thread for those who went on record of what they thought was reasonable and acceptable for this squad. Personally, I'm still playing with house money this season. That could obviously change in this conference (and quickly).

you've mentioned the preseason predictions in several post. i'm gonna try and find it. but don't you always predict the same thing? it may be a case of a blind squirrel.

I thought that one that got dredged up today was the prediction thread.

There was another one where you and I got into a long debate over what to expect on the floor since I was pretty confident this was going to be a much better defensive team and a team that shared the ball much more effectively than in any previous year under Mick. You - not so much. Much better on both ends is what I said I expected. I've gotten that. Was the one I reference earlier. I thought I went with 21. Guess it was just 19-20 depending on Dayton. Memory is fading with old age. Either way, like I said, I am still on house money since they are ahead in the win column from where I thought they'd be at this point.