Aside from Bello, Forbes was critical of bench play on the post game interview. That's been and appears to be our strength moving forward, but we got minimal production tonight.

http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/Basketba...m&lp=1&p=1

Does this mean they aren't going to the Final 4? Aren't going to win it all? Oh my, the season is over so quickly.

Unfortunately my prediction of a 3-2 start was correct after all, although I wold have never believed it would happen the way it has. In any event, appears to be a lot of front runners on here. WWIII occurred here when I said I didn't like a players demeanor but it's now ok to call a guy a choker? Wow...no mention of the fact he had the best game of anybody.

I give full credit to CSU...they may not be the better team but they played far superior to the Bucs and deserved to win this one. The Bucs were flat, dead, uninterested for at least 3/4 of the game and paid for it. Use any excuse you want - long road trip, bad coaching, bad gym, etc etc - but the bottom line is players play the game and players are responsible for not under estimating an opponent. This team got out hustled, out executed, and out hearted. You may not always be able to control a hot shooting night by an opponent or a bad shooting night yourself but hustle and heart are always within a players control. At the moment this is not a team, just a collection of individuals, most of whom are front runners as well. Coaches can scream and yell and plead and explain but successful teams figure it out themselves and take ownership. That is still in process here. Maybe they'll figure it out and maybe they won't. Time will tell.

As for the many other ridiculous comments here about individual players, recruiting, etc etc, I'll pass today...its one of those "you can't fix stupid" things....

We have really bad experiences over time playing in these small gyms, I think it is certainly a home court advantage although I am not sure how in the world they get recruits to come and play in front of 500 fans. Last night was a "great" crowd of 905 because they were honoring the football team.

The biggest disappointment for me was the lack of offensive game plan. I really hope that Forbes' offense isn't to set a ball screen at the top of the key and play one on one ball. That offense just seems all too familiar, and it doesn't work.

Every time I see Jurkin in the game, he seems effective. Then we take him out. I am not sure if it is conditioning or what but I think he can help us immediately- seems like less of a project than the rest of our inside guys other than Banks.

Finally, we are down going into the last few minutes, and we have Petey on the floor. Petey being on the floor makes our offense much easier to guard- it is basically 5 on 4 when he is out there.

I actually think that this game will light a fire under AJ. He has to be taking this hard, I think it will increase his effectiveness for the next 2 seasons. He is the best player on our team, and I can't wait to see how he responds.

After digesting this game, this is still the most excited I have been about ETSU hoops in quite a while and AJ is still one of my favorites on this team. He and the team will be fine. The season is young and I have all the faith in Forbes and Co.

(11-25-2015 06:12 AM)Just Buc Wrote:  As for the many other ridiculous comments here about individual players, recruiting, etc etc, I'll pass today...its one of those "you can't fix stupid" things....

Aren't they cute at that age when they are so full of themselves.

(11-25-2015 06:32 AM)etsuBucsFan1988 Wrote:  After digesting this game, this is still the most excited I have been about ETSU hoops in quite a while and AJ is still one of my favorites on this team. He and the team will be fine. The season is young and I have all the faith in Forbes and Co.

Hear hear '88.

JustBuc,

Given your role on the team and the litany of documented things you've disclosed, you're sorely lacking in credibility to deem what is stupid.

I still can't believe that was a loss....and the way it went down.

(11-25-2015 08:19 AM)Bucfaithful Wrote:  

(11-25-2015 06:32 AM)etsuBucsFan1988 Wrote:  After digesting this game, this is still the most excited I have been about ETSU hoops in quite a while and AJ is still one of my favorites on this team. He and the team will be fine. The season is young and I have all the faith in Forbes and Co.

Hear hear '88.

Last night sucked. The team played poorly and (sorry Forbes and Co), they were coached poorly. I think the comments talking about how it looked like a Bartow coached team had some validity - but only in the fact that I thought the reason Bartow was a poor coach was that he was TIRED. Tired of coaching, tired of ETSU and tired of life in general. Last night the team was tired and the coaches were tired. They got beat up on by a pretty decent team who was hungry for a win.

Sure, it's an excuse, but a pretty valid one. I don't honestly think this loss is a full reflection of the program. I think, as Forbes has said many times, this team's best days are coming starting in January. They still have a lot of work to do in many areas and I think the coaching staff is fully aware of this. There's a lot of teamwork still to build and losses like this can show us what they are made of. Are they going to let this break or build them?

I said Sunday that I wanted to give Ge'lawn a hug next time I see him? Well today I want to give AJ a big hug for other reasons. I know that he would have taken this loss hard anyway, but he's likely pretty down on himself this morning about those last free throws. He's always been one to bounce back, but it still sucked for him.

This could very well be one of those losses that brings the team together. I know it was a l-o-n-g busride home last night. This team needs a good crowd Saturday against a good Wilmington team, I know I will be there. I hope our fans will rally around them.

(11-25-2015 06:12 AM)Just Buc Wrote:  At the moment this is not a team, just a collection of individuals, most of whom are front runners as well. Coaches can scream and yell and plead and explain but successful teams figure it out themselves and take ownership. That is still in process here. Maybe they'll figure it out and maybe they won't. Time will tell.

While I agree that it is ultimately in the players' hands, I think coaching is, and will always be, a critical component in a team's success. That's why the good ones are well paid and the bad ones are out of work.

As I said before, with a new coach and new players, it was bound to be two steps forward and one step back. Most of the players on the team have never played a single game with any of the other players on the team. The few returnees from last year's team are learning to play with an unusual number of new players. And all of the players are learning to play for a new coaching staff, and that staff has had only a handful of games to learn how their players perform.

Coming into the season, the players Coach Forbes signed had reputations as strong defensive players possessing great length. My concern was, where will the points come from? That concern has been somewhat allayed. Ge'Lawn Guyn has been a revelation, and I think T.J. Cromer will get better and better. A.J. is consistent and I am hopeful that Deuce Bello will find his niche. However, the defense -- the thing I wasn't worrying about -- is a concern.

Coach Forbes says he likes to recruit offense and teach defense. Apparently, he is confident he can do that. I am, too. As Just Buc said, "Time will tell," but in the meantime, I'm not going to live and die with every victory or defeat -- at least until the SoCon tournament.

CSU coach quote in the Post and Courier this morning:

“The game was a little closer than it should have been, but we needed a win really bad. Sometimes a win like this, when you just hold on, can really help us grow and improve. We weren’t great down the stretch, but we got a win against a really good basketball team.”

(11-25-2015 09:05 AM)Flippmb Wrote:  Coming into the season, the players Coach Forbes signed had reputations as strong defensive players possessing great length. My concern was, where will the points come from?

I had the same concerns as you, I thought we would be great defensively but might struggle getting outside shots. I also thought we'd get most of our points in the post and outside of Ike our post play was non-existent last night. Like everyone else I'd like to see more Jurkin and Bennie but maybe there is a good reason why they weren't out there. I hope we play a full 40 minutes Saturday because we will need to, UNCW is a much better team than CSU.

(11-25-2015 08:28 AM)Bucfaithful Wrote:  JustBuc,

Given your role on the team and the litany of documented things you've disclosed, you're sorely lacking in credibility to deem what is stupid.

lol...Believing that I or anyone else on this board has some role on the team is actually the epitome of stupid. But keep taking your shots...I'll let you know when I give a rat's arse about them.