The unofficial online home for fans of the UAB Blazers. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

(02-01-2014 09:49 PM)BlazerPhil Wrote:  

(02-01-2014 09:39 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  

(02-01-2014 09:23 PM)BlazerPhil Wrote:  

(02-01-2014 09:10 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  So in your mind, every year we don't go to the NCAA is a failure. If so, wow.

In the conference we are in now, yes I have high enough expectations that I think our guys should vie for the conference title and be an NCAA automatic bid , at large invitee, or be an NIT host, every year.

Might as well start looking for the next coach, and the one after that one too. And probablyt he one after that one, because if those are fan expectations, we will be going thru them quickly.

In CUSA, there won't be that many at large bids and we haven't won a conference tournament in 27 years?

So in your mind we should lower expectations and be thankful we can still beat most of the SWAC. Thanks, got it.

I didn't say that at all. I agree that we should compete for the nCAA's MOST years, but the question asked was whether every year that we didn't make it was a failure. We aren't going to make it every year and if expectations are that we do, then we will go thru a lot of coaches.

Try reading before responding. It helps communication.

My expectations are to beat bad teams on our home floor. If Haase can't do that, then yes, he needs to go.

(02-01-2014 09:51 PM)Blazer85 Wrote:  Bottom line is that we lost to a bad team. We may not be so good ourselves, but I sure as heck expect to beat teams like ECU. Bad games happen, but Lebo for whatever reason gets the most out of his players when he plays UAB.

Officiating absolutely played a part in this loss. I'm not going to be "that guy" to pin the loss entirely on officiating because it is up to our players and coaches to find a way, but if you don't think it played a role then you don't understand basketball. For whatever reason, the officials decided they were going to swallow their whistle in this game. Guys were flying all over the ground and no fouls were called either way. UAB has come to rely on physical play inside and getting to the foul line. Well the physical play was there. ECU was bumping and knocking us around inside which succeeded in making us miss a lot of inside points, but without the foul calls we weren't going to the line half as much as we should have. In turn, that changed our whole strategy because we weren't getting the foul calls on the inside. We shifted to a perimeter style for most of the game (which obviously is not our strength).

This wasn't the type of game where one blown call here or there made the difference. The officiating caused UAB to fundamentally change our style to one which we are not very adept. Conversely, a perimeter oriented game was more than welcome by ECU. And if this were in the past, I wouldn't have as much to say about it because games had more variability in officiating. The new rules are supposed to be much tighter and ere on the side of calling too much, and heaven knows we've seen most of our games where breathing on someone resulted in a foul. Hand checks are supposed to be a point of emphasis, but I guess to today's crew body checks are acceptable.

It doesn't really matter though. It's one game. We will move on and hopefully learn something. ECU can beat their chests all they want. Historically, they are a worse program and even this year they are a worse program. We shouldn't feel like we have anything to prove to them because we don't.

If they had called more fouls, we would have lost by more, because we are no longer a team that can hit free throws. I guess that's the refs fault too

(02-01-2014 09:57 PM)tibber Wrote:  My expectations are to beat bad teams on our home floor. If Haase can't do that, then yes, he needs to go.

I'm pretty sure Mike Anderson led us to some home losses vs. ECU and Marshall (when they were even worse then they have been in recent years). Not saying these losses are okay, but it doesn't make Haase a bad coach.

ECU won this game at the line - both the free throw line and the three point line.

ECU went 13-18, 72% FT and 9-22, 41% 3pt.
UAB went 12-21, 57% FT and 5-25, 20% 3pt.

And that was the game, right there.

Officiating had nothing to do with this loss.

(02-01-2014 10:00 PM)Blazer85 Wrote:  

(02-01-2014 09:57 PM)tibber Wrote:  My expectations are to beat bad teams on our home floor. If Haase can't do that, then yes, he needs to go.

I'm pretty sure Mike Anderson led us to some home losses vs. ECU and Marshall (when they were even worse then they have been in recent years). Not saying these losses are okay, but it doesn't make Haase a bad coach.

And Tibber was probably calling for his head too.

Loss = Tibber thinks coach should be fired.

(02-01-2014 09:23 PM)BlazerPhil Wrote:  

(02-01-2014 09:10 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  So in your mind, every year we don't go to the NCAA is a failure. If so, wow.

In the conference we are in now, yes I have high enough expectations that I think our guys should vie for the conference title and be an NCAA automatic bid , at large invitee, or be an NIT host, every year.

Let's not give Haase two full recruiting classes and just run him out of town. In case it hasn't been noticed Haase guys are carrying our team. They have their flaws but good god. Swing is a 5th or 6th option now because he isn't that good. I said that when he came from wku. Think about that.. A guy who couldn't crack the lineup there became our star. Everybody needs to relAx. Take a step back. Things look good next year and from there on. The team is in good hands, u guys just need to give Haase time.

I'm not calling Haase a bad coach or calling for his head, but his results have been underwhelming thus far. At best he met expectations in year one. The team is a disappointment in year 2. He may not have all his players here yet, but you can start to draw some conclusions. People said the exact same things about davis in year one and two, and I was hesitant about him like I am about Haase to this point.

(02-01-2014 10:27 PM)blazers9911 Wrote:  

(02-01-2014 09:23 PM)BlazerPhil Wrote:  

(02-01-2014 09:10 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  So in your mind, every year we don't go to the NCAA is a failure. If so, wow.

In the conference we are in now, yes I have high enough expectations that I think our guys should vie for the conference title and be an NCAA automatic bid , at large invitee, or be an NIT host, every year.

Let's not give Haase two full recruiting classes and just run him out of town. In case it hasn't been noticed Haase guys are carrying our team. They have their flaws but good god. Swing is a 5th or 6th option now because he isn't that good. I said that when he came from wku. Think about that.. A guy who couldn't crack the lineup there became our star. Everybody needs to relAx. Take a step back. Things look good next year and from there on. The team is in good hands, u guys just need to give Haase time.

Our prior success has given us a demanding fan base. I don't think that's a bad thing, although you can certainly take it too far. ECU is a bad program, and worse than that, they've got a bunch of obnoxious fans that think they've arrived and surpassed UAB basketball. I don't disagree with you, though, in principle. I think folks are crazy to be blaming Haase to the extent they are.

This year isn't over, and we've already almost equalled our W-L total of a year ago. We still can do some good things, even if we don't make the NCAAs.

I'd be more willing to cut him some slack if this wasn't nearly a word for word repeat of the beginning of the Mike Davis era. Who I defended, actually, when people were giving him way less benefit of the doubt than they are giving Haase. So that means I'm probably wrong. Hopefully I am. If I'm not the program will stagnate further and programs like ECU really will be ahead of us.

(02-01-2014 10:44 PM)tibber Wrote:  I'd be more willing to cut him some slack if this wasn't nearly a word for word repeat of the beginning of the Mike Davis era. Who I defended, actually, when people were giving him way less benefit of the doubt than they are giving Haase. So that means I'm probably wrong. Hopefully I am. If I'm not the program will stagnate further and programs like ECU really will be ahead of us.

UAB has one of the best signing classes we've had in years thanks to Haase. The surest way to make sure we lose that class and truly stagnate would be getting rid of Haase. Haase has done a good job IMO. I doubt there will be a more talented team in CUSA next season than UAB assuming everyone makes it to campus and there are no departures: Frazier, Washington, Mehinti, Watts, Brown, Lee, Sullivan, Madison, Calhoun. That's a ton of talent and it's going to be a battle for playing time.

Last year: RPI 142, SOS 104, worst loss 239, record 15-17/7-9

This year: RPI 141, SOS 175, worst loss 200, record 12-7/3-4

Didnt count the d2 wins bc they didn't go into calculating those numbers. At this point in the season, are we really that much better than last year by the numbers? Maybe last years team would've won 14 games by now with this weak schedule. Quite sad. We haven't improved as much as everyone likes to think. This is in a weaker cusa too.

(02-01-2014 09:07 PM)The Answer UAB Wrote:  

(02-01-2014 08:21 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  He isn't meeting your expectations, but they were higher than others. Most thought if this team made the NIT it would be a success. We are still on track for that.

You really think we're still on track to make the nit?

I'm sorry if I think not making any postseason play besides the tourney where everyone gets invited is a disappointment.

UAB would not be in NIT if it started today. Good thing it doesn't tomorrow either.....lol

More than likely, we are talking about 1 NCAA bid & at most 3 NIT bids.

We aren't close right now.

(02-01-2014 10:54 PM)Blazer85 Wrote:  

(02-01-2014 10:44 PM)tibber Wrote:  I'd be more willing to cut him some slack if this wasn't nearly a word for word repeat of the beginning of the Mike Davis era. Who I defended, actually, when people were giving him way less benefit of the doubt than they are giving Haase. So that means I'm probably wrong. Hopefully I am. If I'm not the program will stagnate further and programs like ECU really will be ahead of us.

UAB has one of the best signing classes we've had in years thanks to Haase. The surest way to make sure we lose that class and truly stagnate would be getting rid of Haase. Haase has done a good job IMO. I doubt there will be a more talented team in CUSA next season than UAB assuming everyone makes it to campus and there are no departures: Frazier, Washington, Mehinti, Watts, Brown, Lee, Sullivan, Madison, Calhoun. That's a ton of talent and it's going to be a battle for playing time.

This class isn't going to mean anything if Haase is not the coach many of you think he is.

(02-01-2014 09:11 PM)Smaug Wrote:  

(02-01-2014 05:24 PM)Blazer_pidelta517 Wrote:  I really just want to beat the **** out of Swing.

Yeah, well I'm sure Swing thinks you're no prize, either.

I regret posting that. The alcohol combined with the heat of the moment got to me. Swing has done a lot for our program and obviously I was upset at our performance as was everybody else.

We went 2-15 against the top 150 last year. We are 3-4 against the top 150 this year. Not good, but...far better . Our problem is that we already have 3 losses against 150 RPI or worse teams this year (Temple, UNT, ECU). We only had 2 last year.

My main concern is that it may easily be year 4 or 5 before we even see the NIT/NCAAs with a Haase team and by then everyone will probably be calling for him to be fired . Next year will likely be a wash, but who knows, the new guys could contribute immediately along with Brown and we could be a decent to good team. Who knows

What are people's expectations? NCAA's by Year 3? 4? 5?

There are at worst, 10 games left in the season. I think a worst case scenario would be to finish 5-5. That would mean we finish 19-12. Not great, but much better than the last two years and what a lot of people predicted this season.

I think a Top 4 CUSA finish and an NIT bid were the consensus expectations for this year. We are 2 games out of 4th place now, instead of 1 after today's WTF. Still 9 conference games to catch everyone, but 4 of those are vs USM, LT, Charlotte, and MT (again).