Good time to catch the Raiders. We're fading down the stretch. We've lost three straight and now we've lost our point guard (who hasn't played much as it is) for the season to a concussion - again - and our leading scorer for the same reason.

Breathe on Ivory and he gets a concussion. Losing Potts is really damaging because he's been the only consistent outside threat for the most part.

Reality is we have lucked into some wins. We haven't been able to play Kermit's style of defense with the new rules enforcement of ticky tack contact. In spite of having pretty much the exact same team as last year we're giving up seven points more per game this season. That's a huge variance. We have been very fortunate to win as many games as we have.

If we get to 20 we might be the worst 20-win team in the nation. Disappointing close out to what I thought going in would be a very good team and very good season. Bottom line is you want to draw us in the first round (unless you're ODU) and Marshall you couldn't get us at a better time. Good luck to the rest of you. It's time to put MT expectations back in the box.

On top of losing Potts and Ivory; how about a little more salt in our wounds? There are only 2 Universities in the entire country that have a LOWER Free Throw Shooting Percentage than MT!!! We are shooting less than 60% as a team and that is pathetic. Only Harvard and Florida A&M shoot more bricks than the Raiders.

What a shame, both for Potts and for the Blue Raiders.

Much as I'd look forward to the Monarchs someday figuring out how to beat Empty Sue in a meaningful match up, I would like to be with your team at full strength. I hope he is healthy by the tournament.

Reminds me of the late injury bug of...2004 or 2005, Mike Dean breaks his wrist in practice the week before the conference tourny, think Cuffee or someone else went down around the same time.

Sorry MT fans. Unfortunate blows.

That sucks Tech is down 3 starters right now. Hopefully McCree will be able to recover

I feel for you guys, Marshall has been lucky this season. The only injury I can think of is to one of the European players we have. Nothing serious for our starters though( knock on wood).

WKU fans understand, we have been stricken by injuries over the past 4-5 seasons. Did Potts get the injury from the shot to the nose while playing us or was it something during practice? That kid is an amazing shooter.

(02-27-2016 01:00 PM)wkuhilltopperfan Wrote:  WKU fans understand, we have been stricken by injuries over the past 4-5 seasons. Did Potts get the injury from the shot to the nose while playing us or was it something during practice? That kid is an amazing shooter.

Yep it was the (unintentional) elbow to the face... Unfortunate but things like that just happen sometimes. Very disappointing to have him out too. Our season just keeps getting a little bit worse every day. No team rhythm and our two most important players are out. :(

(02-27-2016 01:11 PM)Ole Blue Wrote:  

(02-27-2016 01:00 PM)wkuhilltopperfan Wrote:  WKU fans understand, we have been stricken by injuries over the past 4-5 seasons. Did Potts get the injury from the shot to the nose while playing us or was it something during practice? That kid is an amazing shooter.

Yep it was the (unintentional) elbow to the face... Unfortunate but things like that just happen sometimes. Very disappointing to have him out too. Our season just keeps getting a little bit worse every day. No team rhythm and our two most important players are out. :(

I'm surprised he came back in and played after the elbow then? Trainers should have know better... Either way I hope he is ok and returns soon.

(02-27-2016 01:36 PM)wkuhilltopperfan Wrote:  

(02-27-2016 01:11 PM)Ole Blue Wrote:  

(02-27-2016 01:00 PM)wkuhilltopperfan Wrote:  WKU fans understand, we have been stricken by injuries over the past 4-5 seasons. Did Potts get the injury from the shot to the nose while playing us or was it something during practice? That kid is an amazing shooter.

Yep it was the (unintentional) elbow to the face... Unfortunate but things like that just happen sometimes. Very disappointing to have him out too. Our season just keeps getting a little bit worse every day. No team rhythm and our two most important players are out. :(

I'm surprised he came back in and played after the elbow then? Trainers should have know better... Either way I hope he is ok and returns soon.

Yea, IDK why that happened. I am not that familiar with concussions so I don't know if symptoms could have not shown up for a while or what, but it is a little unsettling. Hope he is back in time for the tournament... but if not I have a feeling we won't be doing so well even if he is -- rather have him stay healthy than getting injured again...

So is this like the NFL? MTSU trainers.doctors should be suspended for letting him back in....I know in the NFL if you do you are in serious trouble.....Obviously college basketball operates differently, but looks like would be pretty easy to determine if he had concussion or not especially if they are already ruling him out for the entire season...

(02-27-2016 09:58 PM)WKUFan518 Wrote:  So is this like the NFL? MTSU trainers.doctors should be suspended for letting him back in....I know in the NFL if you do you are in serious trouble.....Obviously college basketball operates differently, but looks like would be pretty easy to determine if he had concussion or not especially if they are already ruling him out for the entire season...

He didn't have any issues until feeling lighted headed at practice Friday. That's what triggered this and the decision to sit him.

MTSU has seemed tougher with Potts than without him. UAB struggled at home when you guys faced us without him. MTSU beat Marshall without him. UAB went to MTSU and dismantled you with Potts in the lineup.

I don't buy that Potts is the key to MTSU's success. You have a talented team. Team ball wins games... just look at UAB.

(02-29-2016 11:02 AM)UABslant Wrote:  MTSU has seemed tougher with Potts than without him. UAB struggled at home when you guys faced us without him. MTSU beat Marshall without him. UAB went to MTSU and dismantled you with Potts in the lineup.

I don't buy that Potts is the key to MTSU's success. You have a talented team. Team ball wins games... just look at UAB.

The team stepped up Saturday. That was probably the best they played all season.

I wouldn't expect that level of play to be sustained.

It's kind of hard to devalue a player who was leading the nation in three point shooting up to this point.

(02-29-2016 11:07 AM)ThreeifbyLightning Wrote:  

(02-29-2016 11:02 AM)UABslant Wrote:  MTSU has seemed tougher with Potts than without him. UAB struggled at home when you guys faced us without him. MTSU beat Marshall without him. UAB went to MTSU and dismantled you with Potts in the lineup.

I don't buy that Potts is the key to MTSU's success. You have a talented team. Team ball wins games... just look at UAB.

The team stepped up Saturday. That was probably the best they played all season.

I wouldn't expect that level of play to be sustained.

It's kind of hard to devalue a player who was leading the nation in three point shooting up to this point.

Not devaluing Potts. I'd take him in a heartbeat. My observation is only really from 3 games. But it's much easier to scheme defensively for a team with one or two primary scorers than 5-6 scorers, especially in tournament play.

I think it's more of the effect of Kermit not subbing players in and out as much, with Giddy not on the floor.

I think sometimes he overthinks things.

Let the guys make more than one mistake before yanking them.

I personally think that once teams started keying on Giddy he really struggled to get open and have a clean shot as almost anyone not named Curry would. I have not looked at stats to see if this theory is right but I would expect his shots per game to have been trending down since mid to late January.

It seems to me the team is more free to create when not trying to get him the ball all the time. Addition by subtraction I guess. Hopefully he can work on some moves in the offseason to get open that split second faster because he is really excellent when he is on.

(02-29-2016 12:25 PM)KAjunRaider Wrote:  I think it's more of the effect of Kermit not subbing players in and out as much, with Giddy not on the floor.

I think sometimes he overthinks things.

Let the guys make more than one mistake before yanking them.

I agree with this. He did NOT do his usual "make one mistake and you're out" style on Saturday against Marshall and it paid off. In the post-game he admitted that he was trying to keep things simple and work with what's going well.

(02-29-2016 03:11 PM)MIDDLEFAN Wrote:  I personally think that once teams started keying on Giddy he really struggled to get open and have a clean shot as almost anyone not named Curry would. I have not looked at stats to see if this theory is right but I would expect his shots per game to have been trending down since mid to late January.

It seems to me the team is more free to create when not trying to get him the ball all the time. Addition by subtraction I guess. Hopefully he can work on some moves in the offseason to get open that split second faster because he is really excellent when he is on.

That is a good point. I do think he was forcing shots more, as of late. But I'd much rather have him in the lineup than not.

We are gonna need him in Birmingham, if not for his shooting his grit and toughness on rebounding and loose balls.