(12-21-2016 06:47 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote: We blocked zero punts, which tied us for 59th (through 128th) in FBS; we had 1 punt blocked, which tied us for 72nd (through 112th). We blocked 1 place kick, which tied us for 71st (though 101st); we had 4 blocked, which tied us for 110th (through 124th). If you take the midpoints of those "tied with" lists, you get 94th, 92nd, 86th, and 117th, and we were a net minus 4 on kick blocks.
Rick, if you're satisfied with that, so be it. If you want Rice to field a winning team, those results won't get it done.
Who says I'm satisfied with anything? I've acknowledged our place-kicking woes. I didn't bring up place-kicking at all in my post.
I brought up punting because I consider one blocked punt in a season as a "one off", that may have occurred due to an outstanding defensive effort, but even if it was one blown block, it's still a one-off.
I still think our play in all sports is a function of the quality and depth of our rosters, and that varies year to year.
You are right, I am satisfied with the coaching of our basketball team.
Are you saying you're OK with us losing games 'to any team with a pulse' due to poor FT shooting? Are you 'satisfied'? What should be 'done' about it?
Rhoades deserves all the credit in the world for putting this team together and we ALL have reason to be optimistic heading into conference play. I make the point because I find the observation about free throw shotting ironic, NOT because I think that our basketball team has problems.
But the knock from some on this board on the 2012-14 football teams was that we beat the dregs of CUSA and that we still were 'sloppy and undisciplined' but we relied on having better athletes. I don't know about 2013 being sloppy and undisciplined, but given our NFL level talent, yes, we did had better athletes.
How precisely is that different than our much deeper basketball roster beating the teams we're beating and presumably beating most of CUSA which will also be ranked low, while losing games to the Top 50? I mean, the game thread from tonight and against some of the teams we're supposed to manhandle (in the eyes of this Board) is full of people noting sloppy play. I think it's understandable for a variety of reasons, and not really an issue.
The key to all this is that we have better players and a deeper roster this year.
I am NOT complaining, and I hope we break our NCAA drought this year. Hopefully we win against the top level of CUSA as well.
Put another way: you heard some time in the past from a coach that the book on Bailiff's teams at Texas State was that they "played hard, but were sloppy (undisciplined)" and you repeat that quite often. Reading our game threads from basketball, that sounds like a familiar description.
I don't know that it's true, but even if it is, if we end the year with 25 or more wins, or if we were to actually win conference and play in the NCAA's, who would care? I wouldn't. Because if we have better athletes who play hard, that's actually a great base to build on.