I didn't expect a ton out of this year's team. Way too many new faces. I've seen them from the Hilltopper Hysteria to the Homecoming Day scrimmage to every game attended or on tv.

I said after the first time I watched them that we would be able to score but it would be up to Head Coach Rick Stansbury to get them to play defense.

Hasn't happened.

This little 6 second clip is the definition of this team. EKU guy jacks up a shot. It's a kinda long rebound but nobody on Western went after it. 3 of our players then WATCH the EKU sophomore Mayo get the rebound (after it hit the floor)....Look at them and then drive in for a dunk. Not one of the 3 made any attempt to get between him and the basket after he got the rebound.

It nauseated me as an old guy that used to like to get after it on dee. And a guy that detested teammates that wouldn't get after it on dee. I've stated before these guys are like 'I can't help on dee....I might foul and you need me....my scoring....I'm the man'. I've played with guys like that. Maybe these guys don't think that. But that's how it comes across to me. They're too valuable to foul in their All-World minds.

Enjoy.....or if you're a Western fan don't.

So are you still planning on going to S. Fla for the two basketball games? We changed our plans. Unless we decide to stay once we go down for the bowl game...

I'm not driving 14 hours (28 round trip) to see this group play. I don't mind spending my money and time on team that loses but I will not do it for a group that is not investing effort.

Hell I haven't been this disappointed in a group of Western basketball players in ...well I honestly don't remember. I guess I better leave it at that and just back away from the keyboard. As you can see I never used the word team.

I took a peek at the scout board (hadn't even looked at it in almost a year)...is Gary really that stupid? I read 5 of his post and realized why I stopped posting and reading that messageboard

Spot on Beed. When I saw the above play, I thought our coach should impress upon our starters the importance of not standing around. I hope some of our 5th year guys will start to show some leadership soon. At times, I can see some glimmer of what these guys could probably be and I know chemistry is something that takes time, but the last 3 game swing has made me glad we still have 2 football games left

(11-30-2016 11:21 PM)WKUYG Wrote:  So are you still planning on going to S. Fla for the two basketball games? We changed our plans. Unless we decide to stay once we go down for the bowl game...

I'm not driving 14 hours (28 round trip) to see this group play. I don't mind spending my money and time on team that loses but I will not do it for a group that is not investing effort.

Hell I haven't been this disappointed in a group of Western basketball players in ...well I honestly don't remember. I guess I better leave it at that and just back away from the keyboard. As you can see I never used the word team.

I took a peek at the scout board (hadn't even looked at it in almost a year)...is Gary really that stupid? I read 5 of his post and realized why I stopped posting and reading that messageboard

I doubt it Guns. I might anyway just because I haven't visited my cousin since last November. I think right now I'm going to try to make the Boca game and stay with her and her husband. They're great folks. But then I'd be going home for Christmas and then trying to run back down for both hoops games.

If they were in late January or early February it'd space the trips better. I keep trying to tell myself that I didn't really expect much this year. That's my head speaking. But when I see plays like this one (and they've happened all year) I just want to snap. Because even someone as non athletic and stupid as GomerJude (Gary) could slide over and help on dee. It doesn't take high flying athleticism to do that.

It's f*****g embarrassing man. I know you well enough you would have never put up with this mess even playing pickup ball at the Candy Stripes or the Boys Club. You woulda got in someone's assss and told them to play some freaking defense.

Edit: I forgot to answer your question. Yes. Gary is that stupid. I thought was a known factor. Like the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.

Can we (ODU) give you some of the "D" that you guys need in exchange for some much needed "O". We won tonight, but it was our typical ugly defensive struggle. Even at 4-2, and with one of the 2 losses being an overtime loss to Louisville, it is not looking like the team that we were expecting thus far.

For both of our team's needs all I can say is that it is still early and the coaches still have time to get it straightened out and salvage a nice season.

Western is only scoring 67.8 ppg and that was before the 59 points we put up tonight. Believe me ODU or anyone else doesn't want anything to do with the Western offense...

RUN FROM IT...it's first one to touch once you cross halfcourt, shoot. If you pass it you might not see it again

I'm being totally 100% serious when I say this. If Western doesn't have a huge and I mean huge come to Jesus on defense and as a team on offense.

Western probably wont make the CUSA tourney. Right now I wouldn't take 25-1 odd on Western making it

Our offense is worse then our defense....Not just defense we suck at, offense is just as bad with players standing around going one on one with absolutely no PG to speak of....I am giving Stans a pass this season, but before the end of it, I want to see some emotion from Stans, Justin, someone act like you care this year!

Hell not having 2 assistants on the bench last night told me all I need to know about this season...The coaches and I think now the players are mailing this one in for next...You would think our 4 seniors would show a little more urgency, but that might be hard to do when they look over and see 2 assistants not even there last night out "recruiting" or begging at this point haha....That tells the players where the coaches heads are too....

I will say it is very hard to complain too much with what talent we have coming in with or without Mr. Robinson, I just feel bad for our future Mr. Kentucky Basketball there watching it all...

CUSA teams get ready, you guys will have a field day this season against us...

(12-01-2016 10:31 AM)WKUFan518 Wrote:  Our offense is worse then our defense....Not just defense we suck at, offense is just as bad with players standing around going one on one with absolutely no PG to speak of....I am giving Stans a pass this season, but before the end of it, I want to see some emotion from Stans, Justin, someone act like you care this year!

Hell not having 2 assistants on the bench last night told me all I need to know about this season...The coaches and I think now the players are mailing this one in for next...You would think our 4 seniors would show a little more urgency, but that might be hard to do when they look over and see 2 assistants not even there last night out "recruiting" or begging at this point haha....That tells the players where the coaches heads are too....

I will say it is very hard to complain too much with what talent we have coming in with or without Mr. Robinson, I just feel bad for our future Mr. Kentucky Basketball there watching it all...

CUSA teams get ready, you guys will have a field day this season against us...

I'm mostly feeling badly for you guys. We are not but three seasons distant from an absolutely disastrous season, and it was miserable.

(But a small part of me is getting an uncomfortable feeling that we might just be getting sandbagged here.)

(12-01-2016 10:31 AM)WKUFan518 Wrote:  Our offense is worse then our defense....Not just defense we suck at, offense is just as bad with players standing around going one on one with absolutely no PG to speak of....I am giving Stans a pass this season, but before the end of it, I want to see some emotion from Stans, Justin, someone act like you care this year!

Hell not having 2 assistants on the bench last night told me all I need to know about this season...The coaches and I think now the players are mailing this one in for next...You would think our 4 seniors would show a little more urgency, but that might be hard to do when they look over and see 2 assistants not even there last night out "recruiting" or begging at this point haha....That tells the players where the coaches heads are too....

I will say it is very hard to complain too much with what talent we have coming in with or without Mr. Robinson, I just feel bad for our future Mr. Kentucky Basketball there watching it all...

CUSA teams get ready, you guys will have a field day this season against us...

Have you watched this team play.....

coaches must not be at practice, either.

I made a comment on HH about my fears of having 3 GT on the team. Some people took it as being negative about our coach. When in fact this is what I was talking about. You could see it in Cosby last year before Harper and Cosby sit down and had a heart to heart.

These kids for the most part are all about...ME

If not they would still be at their former school helping their teammates win. The same goes for the kid that is a JR but will get his degree early. Some of those kids are looking to pad the stats and not play team ball...

they know the GT rule can get them on another team next year

Chris was one of those...trying out for another team, while playing for Western. It's why he was kicked off the team last year.

The GT rule/player is all about ME ME ME. Not all of them, some are just in a bad place for them personally. But most are selfish ME players or they would be playing for the school and fans that invested 3 (sometimes 4) years on them.

Anyone that wasn't blinded by, whatever, could have seen this coming...I did. Lets hope these 3 players will have that same "I see the light" moment that Cosby had. If Not I don't see Western making the conference tourney.

You can bet one thing...Coach Stansbury will not ever have over 1 of these GT's on his team again. If that. He might not be the greatest bench coach but he seems smart enough to see the problem with these transfers.

(12-01-2016 12:11 PM)WKUYG Wrote:  

(12-01-2016 10:31 AM)WKUFan518 Wrote:  Our offense is worse then our defense....Not just defense we suck at, offense is just as bad with players standing around going one on one with absolutely no PG to speak of....I am giving Stans a pass this season, but before the end of it, I want to see some emotion from Stans, Justin, someone act like you care this year!

Hell not having 2 assistants on the bench last night told me all I need to know about this season...The coaches and I think now the players are mailing this one in for next...You would think our 4 seniors would show a little more urgency, but that might be hard to do when they look over and see 2 assistants not even there last night out "recruiting" or begging at this point haha....That tells the players where the coaches heads are too....

I will say it is very hard to complain too much with what talent we have coming in with or without Mr. Robinson, I just feel bad for our future Mr. Kentucky Basketball there watching it all...

CUSA teams get ready, you guys will have a field day this season against us...

Have you watched this team play.....

coaches must not be at practice, either.

I made a comment on HH about my fears of having 3 GT on the team. Some people took it as being negative about our coach. When in fact this is what I was talking about. You could see it in Cosby last year before Harper and Cosby sit down and had a heart to heart.

These kids for the most part are all about...ME

If not they would still be at their former school helping their teammates win. The same goes for the kid that is a JR but will get his degree early. Some of those kids are looking to pad the stats and not play team ball...

they know the GT rule can get them on another team next year

Chris was one of those...trying out for another team, while playing for Western. It's why he was kicked off the team last year.

The GT rule/player is all about ME ME ME. Not all of them, some are just in a bad place for them personally. But most are selfish ME players or they would be playing for the school and fans that invested 3 (sometimes 4) years on them.

Anyone that wasn't blinded by, whatever, could have seen this coming...I did. Lets hope these 3 players will have that same "I see the light" moment that Cosby had. If Not I don't see Western making the conference tourney.

You can bet one thing...Coach Stansbury will not ever have over 1 of these GT's on his team again. If that. He might not be the greatest bench coach but he seems smart enough to see the problem with these transfers.

Opposite direction, if we did not have these 3 GT's where would we be? Instead of losing to EKU by 20 we would be losing by 40 with what we had leftover from Harper regime....

YOu guys might be right about Stans, already printed rumors from 247 sports and Jerry Meyer about him being in line for the LSU job next season and taking all of our recruits with him, if this proves true, I have no idea what direction WKU basketball takes other then the swift kick in the ass for those of us who care deeply about WKU hoops...

(12-01-2016 12:40 PM)WKUFan518 Wrote:  

(12-01-2016 12:11 PM)WKUYG Wrote:  

(12-01-2016 10:31 AM)WKUFan518 Wrote:  Our offense is worse then our defense....Not just defense we suck at, offense is just as bad with players standing around going one on one with absolutely no PG to speak of....I am giving Stans a pass this season, but before the end of it, I want to see some emotion from Stans, Justin, someone act like you care this year!

Hell not having 2 assistants on the bench last night told me all I need to know about this season...The coaches and I think now the players are mailing this one in for next...You would think our 4 seniors would show a little more urgency, but that might be hard to do when they look over and see 2 assistants not even there last night out "recruiting" or begging at this point haha....That tells the players where the coaches heads are too....

I will say it is very hard to complain too much with what talent we have coming in with or without Mr. Robinson, I just feel bad for our future Mr. Kentucky Basketball there watching it all...

CUSA teams get ready, you guys will have a field day this season against us...

Have you watched this team play.....

coaches must not be at practice, either.

I made a comment on HH about my fears of having 3 GT on the team. Some people took it as being negative about our coach. When in fact this is what I was talking about. You could see it in Cosby last year before Harper and Cosby sit down and had a heart to heart.

These kids for the most part are all about...ME

If not they would still be at their former school helping their teammates win. The same goes for the kid that is a JR but will get his degree early. Some of those kids are looking to pad the stats and not play team ball...

they know the GT rule can get them on another team next year

Chris was one of those...trying out for another team, while playing for Western. It's why he was kicked off the team last year.

The GT rule/player is all about ME ME ME. Not all of them, some are just in a bad place for them personally. But most are selfish ME players or they would be playing for the school and fans that invested 3 (sometimes 4) years on them.

Anyone that wasn't blinded by, whatever, could have seen this coming...I did. Lets hope these 3 players will have that same "I see the light" moment that Cosby had. If Not I don't see Western making the conference tourney.

You can bet one thing...Coach Stansbury will not ever have over 1 of these GT's on his team again. If that. He might not be the greatest bench coach but he seems smart enough to see the problem with these transfers.

Opposite direction, if we did not have these 3 GT's where would we be? Instead of losing to EKU by 20 we would be losing by 40 with what we had leftover from Harper regime....

YOu guys might be right about Stans, already printed rumors from 247 sports and Jerry Meyer about him being in line for the LSU job next season and taking all of our recruits with him, if this proves true, I have no idea what direction WKU basketball takes other then the swift kick in the ass for those of us who care deeply about WKU hoops...

My only concerns with Coach Stansbury is his Xs and Os and if he can recruit down. If he stays at Western I don't see him being able to recruit up on the list long term. I will be happy to be wrong on that and his bench coaching.

I would have the recruiting concerns about any coach that only had P5 experience.

I don't know if Stansbury is looking or not....the best way to tell if a coach is happy where he's at is to look at his home. If the wife is happy and there are kids in school. I think that plays a major role in a season coach like Stansbury. Some are to selfish in that area but I don't see that in Stansbury.

If the wife is not happy...you wont keep that coach, if he can get another job. Not unless he's being paid a bucket of money. Western is not and can't afford that bucket...well maybe 1/3 full. But that's it.

I read a lot of blame going around for why Western needed the 3 GTs...

none of it isn't being thrown at the real reason. That is two people that I respect a lot. But also think, they are sh!ty, for doing what they did and the reason they did it. But there was always the JUCO route instead of the GT. I just had a bad feeling about having 3 me players on a team

My source tells me LSU may make Stansbury an offer but he would stay at WKU as he pretty much said LSU is where basketball coaches go to die (which you cannot say that is not true), this was this past summer with someone who was there in the know...Not sure what this 247 guy is wanting to do, I guess click bait, may need to worry about his crystal ball predictions which are usually not accurate either...

(12-01-2016 02:20 PM)WKUFan518 Wrote:  My source tells me LSU may make Stansbury an offer but he would stay at WKU as he pretty much said LSU is where basketball coaches go to die (which you cannot say that is not true), this was this past summer with someone who was there in the know...Not sure what this 247 guy is wanting to do, I guess click bait, may need to worry about his crystal ball predictions which are usually not accurate either...

I don't think click bait is the reason....

127 Western fans and 2127 CUSA fans will not get you very many pennies. If this has legs or not this person does have a lot of connections in college basketball. But I bet he's still wrong on 35-50% of the time.

Things like this are better left alone till it plays out more. The only thing it will do by even commenting on it is a negative. We have enough of those in basketball right now to add any more.

Guns, i agree with you about the GT players. There's a reason they're leaving their old school. After watching this group I'm afraid their old coaches asked them to play defense. Lol.

I understand why Stansbury went with 3 GTs instead of jucos or freshmen. One, you're not going to get a freshman worth a shtt at Western Ky in the spring. We have to get our freshmen in the fall. Two, he didn't want to go full blown juco either. Three, it boils down to plugging a hole in the dyke and then having those 3 schollies available right away when you've had time to work some kids. Not in 2 years when the jucos go away and not in 4 years when the freshmen leave.

Of course he could have recruited jucos and freshmen and just kicked them to the curb like he did the 7 footer Englishmun and Phabian Glasco. But if you remember all the hystericals were crying about player turnover under Ray. This way the GTs leave and you don't have that.

Ima make a prediction right now and you've alluded to it in the past. Justin Johnson will be a GT somewhere else next year.

That clip is pretty bad. Hope they can fix it.

(12-01-2016 03:23 PM)dahbeed Wrote:  Guns, i agree with you about the GT players. There's a reason they're leaving their old school. After watching this group I'm afraid their old coaches asked them to play defense. Lol.

I understand why Stansbury went with 3 GTs instead of jucos or freshmen. One, you're not going to get a freshman worth a shtt at Western Ky in the spring. We have to get our freshmen in the fall. Two, he didn't want to go full blown juco either. Three, it boils down to plugging a hole in the dyke and then having those 3 schollies available right away when you've had time to work some kids. Not in 2 years when the jucos go away and not in 4 years when the freshmen leave.

Of course he could have recruited jucos and freshmen and just kicked them to the curb like he did the 7 footer Englishmun and Phabian Glasco. But if you remember all the hystericals were crying about player turnover under Ray. This way the GTs leave and you don't have that.

Ima make a prediction right now and you've alluded to it in the past. Justin Johnson will be a GT somewhere else next year.

I think we are probably hearing the same thing on JJ and if it happens...there's not a 1 year player out there that can make up for that loss.

Stansbury didn't even have to go with the GT or anyone if he did not want to. Don't know if it's 100% true or not but I was told if Stansbury wanted those 3 back they would still be at Western. Todd and Gary used those kids to do what they wanted done...3 years ago. But if Stansbury wanted them they would be at Western. Hell I even understand why he made the choice he did on that...

but in my opinion he made a mistake because those 3 kids showed 100x more heart than we have shown up till now.

And as you said earlier...if I was playing someone would have had to kicked my ass. Because if I'm giving 100% effort I never had a problem telling someone else to. Hell with 5 fouls to give I would have used 2 of mine on that kid from EKU last night on that one play. I would have got a intentional foul but he would have thought twice before coming in like that again.

This should have been JJ's team and it's not..I know Fant would have been all over those players for just watching.

(12-01-2016 03:56 PM)MonarchManiac Wrote:  That clip is pretty bad. Hope they can fix it.

It really is. I was getting pretty frustrated watching ODU last night missing multiple lay ups but they play with heart and hustle on D and after loose balls whether the shots are falling or not.

Well, hiring a "name" worked out for you pretty well for football.

Maybe it will for hoops, as well.

Did RayRay leave the cupboard bare ?

And you Western folks know damn well it takes time for the "chemistry" to gel with new players.

The year we lost to Martin Methodist in an exhibition (2014-15), we were boatraced by 19 by the Murray Mules shortly thereafter. Started out 2-and-4. We ended up in the finals of the Coosa Tourney.

(12-01-2016 04:39 PM)KAjunRaider Wrote:  Well, hiring a "name" worked out for you pretty well for football.

Maybe it will for hoops, as well.

Did RayRay leave the cupboard bare ?

And you Western folks know damn well it takes time for the "chemistry" to gel with new players.

The year we lost to Martin Methodist in an exhibition (2014-15), we were boatraced by 19 by the Murray Mules shortly thereafter. Started out 2-and-4. We ended up in the finals of the Coosa Tourney.

Lets put this in simple terms. The next set offensive play, will be the first one. Well I take that back..our bigs might make a screen on the ball defender 10% of the time. And the next defensive rotation, will be the first one. Other than a reflex action

Some will say coach Harper left it bare and some of those will say what he left was "D2 players". I will say and go to my grave saying it that the Western AD & President left it bare at the guard spot.

If it gets any worse I'm going to start blaming the other CUSA schools. Because with Western's history ...a TRUE NATIONAL history top 10 in most stats with 38 wins over UofL and giving uk their worse tourney beatdown. We don't belong in this conference and it's the reason Western is losing

(12-01-2016 04:18 PM)WKUYG Wrote:  

(12-01-2016 03:23 PM)dahbeed Wrote:  Guns, i agree with you about the GT players. There's a reason they're leaving their old school. After watching this group I'm afraid their old coaches asked them to play defense. Lol.

I understand why Stansbury went with 3 GTs instead of jucos or freshmen. One, you're not going to get a freshman worth a shtt at Western Ky in the spring. We have to get our freshmen in the fall. Two, he didn't want to go full blown juco either. Three, it boils down to plugging a hole in the dyke and then having those 3 schollies available right away when you've had time to work some kids. Not in 2 years when the jucos go away and not in 4 years when the freshmen leave.

Of course he could have recruited jucos and freshmen and just kicked them to the curb like he did the 7 footer Englishmun and Phabian Glasco. But if you remember all the hystericals were crying about player turnover under Ray. This way the GTs leave and you don't have that.

Ima make a prediction right now and you've alluded to it in the past. Justin Johnson will be a GT somewhere else next year.

I think we are probably hearing the same thing on JJ and if it happens...there's not a 1 year player out there that can make up for that loss.

Stansbury didn't even have to go with the GT or anyone if he did not want to. Don't know if it's 100% true or not but I was told if Stansbury wanted those 3 back they would still be at Western. Todd and Gary used those kids to do what they wanted done...3 years ago. But if Stansbury wanted them they would be at Western. Hell I even understand why he made the choice he did on that...

but in my opinion he made a mistake because those 3 kids showed 100x more heart than we have shown up till now.

And as you said earlier...if I was playing someone would have had to kicked my ass. Because if I'm giving 100% effort I never had a problem telling someone else to. Hell with 5 fouls to give I would have used 2 of mine on that kid from EKU last night on that one play. I would have got a intentional foul but he would have thought twice before coming in like that again.

This should have been JJ's team and it's not..I know Fant would have been all over those players for just watching.

There were people bitching last year about us forcing it down low into JJ like we did with Fant before. Yes, boring. But inside out ball is effective. JJ can still be effective down low this year. We just have to do it. There's plenty of time left in the season.

As for the lack of dee. The play in the clip that drove me nuts. There's not one thing physically limiting those 3 guys from breaking that guy in two on his drive. It's in their mental approach. I'm disappointed that JJ doesn't bring that with him. So that can be changed as well. I just don't know if Coach Stansbury has that in him. I simply don't know because he's new to us.

We lost by 30+ to Murray and 30+ to Evansville in McDummy's first year. We still went to the NCAA and won a game. So a new regime with new players can start rough and still win some games.

I know Justin is on course to graduate this year or that's what i've been told. I also know he plays very little defense. His guy at Belmont torched the hell out of him. But I also know that many schools will want his 15 and 9 that he'll probably end up with by the end of the year. I've heard too many things even before Ray left and Rick came so I'd be in no way surprised if he leaves. Too many other kids are doing the same right now.