(10-29-2018 08:09 AM)BigIslandBuc Wrote:  

(10-28-2018 06:32 PM)bucfan81 Wrote:  Is there any news about Buc scrimmages?

Coach Forbes on the radio this morning

-ETSU scrimmaged at Austin Peay this Saturday. Corley didn't travel with team. Basically they played some half court scrimmages and then a final 40 min full court "game." He played 11 of the 12 players that went. Starters were Tisdale, Good, Hodges, Rodriguez and Armas. He said he was impressed by the way that AP defended so he was pleased by ETSU's offense effort. They shot 53% overall, about 40% from 3 and 78% at the line and 5 players were in double figures. He liked the team's offensive balance. He compared them to his 2nd team at ETSU, but said they had more depth and defended better inside. He especially praised the way that the whole team passes the ball. He said that Hodges and Good stood out in the scrimmages offensively. Good had no misses and made 4 3s. Hodges had 11 points playing at the 3 spot. He mentioned their "manageable" injuries. He said that he might have to give them a day or 2 off now and again and couldn't grind them too hard in practice, but that they had both earned that. When asked about Rodriguez he continued to praise his offense, but said that his defense needed work, not so much inside but in defending his man outside.

-When asked about preseason polls he said again that he was surprised by Boyd and Rodriguez being chosen without having played a game yet. He, also, said that he was surprised that Armas wasn't chosen after being on the post season freshman team last year.

- In speaking of Pasta and Practice event this Tuesday at the dome, Coach said that the auction would go to fund their European trip next summer with stops in Belgrade, Vienna and Budapest. Mark Adams will be the speaker. He started the Mid-major alliance which ETSU is now a part of. Coach said that he liked the alliance because once you are tabbed to play someone, you can't opt out of it which will alleviate some of the burden of scheduling.

According to Blue Ribbon Austin Peay is a solid veteran squad. They were 3rd in the OVC last year with 19 wins and are rated 4th in the OVC this year by Blue Ribbon. Supposedly they are one of 4 teams consistently mentioned by OVC coaches as being in the title hunt, along with Belmont, Murray State and Jacksonville State. They were also picked 4th in the OVC coaches poll. Their 2nd year head coach Matt Figger was OVC Coach of the Year in his debut season last year. http://ovcsports.com/news/2018/10/17/bel...-year.aspx

They should have provided a pretty good test for the inexperienced young Bucs.

(10-29-2018 08:09 AM)BigIslandBuc Wrote:  He liked the team's offensive balance. [5 men in double figures] He compared them to his 2nd team at ETSU, but said they had more depth and defended better inside. He especially praised the way that the whole team passes the ball.

Since that team made the NCAA's that's a nice comparison. Also the first hint of praise for defense from this year's team. Hopefully they're improving there.

Thanks SWVA

The Bucs start their season Friday with a home game against a team calculated to give them an inflated sense of their current abilities. Then 5 days later visit a Sun Belt champion Georgia State team ready to knock them down several pegs.

Friday’s opponent Southern Wesleyan was 1-17 in Conference Carolinas (a DII conference headed up by King and Barton) and 2-26 overall.

They were dead last in this DII conference and are picked to finish 10th again. https://www.swuathletics.com/sports/mbkb...1024m5v6wp

What they lack in height (their 3 front court stalwarts are 6-5, 6-5 and 6-6 giving them a -3.8 rebounding margin) they make up for with turnovers (-3.9 t.o. margin) and lack of shooting (.412 from the field and .280 from 3 with 4.8 makes a game). As for defense, their mostly DII opponents averaged .501 from the field and .377 from 3 to give them a -17.4 margin in points per game.
http://www.conferencecarolinas.com/sport...r=1&pos=sh

Key returnees are.

Front Court:
#25 6-6 Sr. DJ Dobson, 23 min., 14.7 ppg on .250 from 3 (0.1), 2.8 reb, 0.7 blk
#32 6-5 Sr. Jeremy Wert, 26.3 min., 9.4 ppg on .238 from 3 (0.7), 3.9 reb, 0.7 stl
#33 6-5 Sr. Zalan Richards, 24.4 min., 6.0 ppg with no 3’s, 4.4 reb

Guard:
#5 5-8 Sr. Javon Hunter, 25.1 min., 8.0 ppg on .238 from 3 (0.7), 3.3 ast, 2.0 reb, 0.7 stl
#22 6-2 So. Jalen Lowery, 25.3 min., 8.9 ppg on .287 from 3 (1.2), 1.7 ast, 2.4 reb
#23 6-1 So. Kylie Blackett, 20.8 min., 4.6 ppg on ..310 from 3 (1.0) 1.8 ast, 2.3 reb
#3 6-1 So. Jacob Smith, 13.1 min., 4.1 ppg on .298 from 3 (0.8)

I have no idea what their few new additions might bring. 6-2 Jr. transfer from Tusculum Diego Poore did hit a few threes in the 7 games in which he saw limited action: going 3-7 on the season. They also add 3 freshmen.

Their brand new coach Nick Pasqua has his work cut out for him.

The Bucs meanwhile will have to stay disciplined and focused to get something out of this game and not let things totally degenerate. We’ve got one of our toughest OOC challenges coming up only 5 days later in Georgia State and we don’t want to get into bad habits. It will still be awfully good to see the team on the floor.

Does anyone know if the exhibition game vs Southern Wesleyan will be broadcast anywhere? As of now I don't see it appearing on the ESPN+, ESPN3, or Socon Digital Network schedule. In the past the exhibition games have been on either ESPN3 or Socon Digital Network, it would be a shame if this one isn't.

Cool on the scrimmage. Regarding first game coming up, I don’t like to criticize our coaches’ scheduling, but...sheesh, really nothing to get out of this game other than some crowd pleasing plays. Unless, of course, somehow the unfathomable...

(10-29-2018 04:37 PM)shampoo Wrote:  Cool on the scrimmage. Regarding first game coming up, I don’t like to criticize our coaches scheduling but...sheesh, really nothing to get out of this game other than some crowd pleasing plays. Unless, of course, somehow the unfathomable...

Dude it is an exhibition game, we used to play traveling church groups for goodness sake, if this one counted it would suck but it is fine for what it is. .

(10-29-2018 05:39 PM)RodShaw2 Wrote:  

(10-29-2018 04:37 PM)shampoo Wrote:  Cool on the scrimmage. Regarding first game coming up, I don’t like to criticize our coaches scheduling but...sheesh, really nothing to get out of this game other than some crowd pleasing plays. Unless, of course, somehow the unfathomable...

Dude it is an exhibition game, we used to play traveling church groups for goodness sake, if this one counted it would suck but it is fine for what it is. .

lol. Is this true?

(10-29-2018 06:36 PM)brock20 Wrote:  

(10-29-2018 05:39 PM)RodShaw2 Wrote:  

(10-29-2018 04:37 PM)shampoo Wrote:  Cool on the scrimmage. Regarding first game coming up, I don’t like to criticize our coaches scheduling but...sheesh, really nothing to get out of this game other than some crowd pleasing plays. Unless, of course, somehow the unfathomable...

Dude it is an exhibition game, we used to play traveling church groups for goodness sake, if this one counted it would suck but it is fine for what it is. .

lol. Is this true?

We played Crossfire Ministries a bunch and other faith based teams. Marathon had a few teams traveling (Their gold team Beat Michigan State one year) teams from Europe. We used to have all kinds of interesting exhibition games.
A lot of former Bucs played on those teams as well. I still have the bad memory of Talford on the bench with two icepacks on his knees most of the game and Greg Stephens just posterizing him on a dunk in Brooks.

Yes we played those traveling types of teams all time and most other schools did also. They ranged all the way from terrible to pretty darn good. I remember some big name schools getting beat by them. Usually they would do some type of witnessing to the audience during half time.

(10-18-2018 01:12 PM)posterformerlyknownasthedoctor Wrote:  

(10-17-2018 01:55 PM)Bucster Wrote:  

(10-17-2018 11:21 AM)posterformerlyknownasthedoctor Wrote:  I have a pic I've been wanting to post regarding UNC coming to play ETSU in JC, but can't figure out how to do so. Apparently, one can only do that if it's a web link?

You should be able to share it if you upload it to https://imgur.com/ and then paste the link in your post.

Thanks, but that looks like something one has to sign up for. I'm just sort of at my limit on getting new log-in credentials. Not saying I won't - just that that whole process is way distasteful for me these days.
And yes, UNC's archives are wrong; game was at Freedom Hall.

Thanks, Bucster, Buc'ed Up and brock20 for helping/pushing me to do this.


ETSU vs. UNC (twice?) and when Florida came to town

I had forgotten that Florida came to town that next year.
As to the 1983 UNC ticket...…………..I *think* I know the story on that, but I'll let you all "discuss amongst yourselves".

The last preseason rankings are trickling out before actual games start to ground them in a little more reality. Here’s Kenpom, with SI due tomorrow. https://kenpom.com/index.php?s=Losses

SoCon:
#93 UNCG
#121 Wofford
#147 Furman
#163 ETSU
#247 Mercer
#260 The Citadel
#305 VMI
#314 Chattanooga
#320 Samford
#322 Western Carolina

ETSU's Out of Conference Schedule
#33 Creighton
#85 Illinois
#89 Georgia St.
#145 Wyoming
#150 Georgia Southern
#177 Winthrop
#191 Austin Peay
#211 North Dakota State
#278 UT Martin
#344 Chicago State

Not so high on the SoCon! Really lopsided looking OOC versus the discussions on our forum. I would be really surprised if ETSU does not finish top 100.

I'm not that impressed by these rankings, either. Time to leave predictions behind and play the games already.

In the last of the Preseason rankings, SI's Fall 2018 Rankings show no respect for the SoCon. Less respect than rankings which specialize in the mid major area.
https://www.si.com/college-basketball/20...e-kentucky
For a contrasting view see the rankings at https://www.midmajormadness.com/2018-19-...w/archives

SoCon:
#102 UNC Greensboro
#122 Wofford
#123 ETSU
#144 Furman
#217 Mercer
#276 Chattanooga
#298 Western Carolina
#333 Samford
#329 The Citadel
#348 VMI

ETSU's OOC schedule:
#73 Creighton (7th in Big East)
#86 Georgia State (1st in Sun Belt)
#98 Illinois (13th in Big Ten)
#115 Georgia Southern (3rd in Sun Belt)
#155 Wyoming (7th in Mountain West)
#177 North Dakota State (4th in Summit)
#200 Austin Peay (4th in OVC)
#239 Winthrop (6th in Big South)
#272 UT Martin (8th in OVC)
#349 Chicago State (9th in WAC)

Time for games, already.

I don't think this has been posted yet, but here is the first collegeinsider mid-major top 25. Of course Wofford is massively overrated. No idea why they are so much higher than UNCG. ETSU didn't crack the top 25 as expected but getting 31 votes. Georgia State at #12.

1. Gonzaga (30)
2. Buffalo (1)
3. Loyola Chicago
4. BYU 0-0
5. South Dakota State
6. Northeastern
7. Harvard
8. Wofford
9. Saint Mary's
10. Southern Illinois
11. Louisiana
12. Georgia State
13. Toledo
14. Illinois State
15. Rider
16. Montana
17. Belmont
18. Murray State
19. Stephen F. Austin
20. UNC Greensboro
21. Wright State
22. Lipscomb
23. Penn 0-0
24. UC Irvine
25. Yale

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: Eastern Michigan 111, New Mexico State 107, Vermont 89, Charleston 85, South Dakota 53, Bradley 42, Grand Canyon 36, FGCU 33, Bucknell 31, ETSU 31, Northern Kentucky 31, UMBC 28, Jacksonville State 17, Oakland 16, Hawaii 15, UC Santa Barbara 15, San Diego 14, UC Davis 13, Appalachian State 11, UT Arlingtion 10, Cal State Fullerton 9, Indiana State 9, Georgia Southern 8, Weber State 10, Canisius 7, Hofstra 7, Ball State 5, Pacific 5, Saint Francis 4, William & Mary 3, Liberty 2, Northern Iowa 2, Iona 1, UIC 1.

Full Poll
http://www.collegeinsider.com/mens-mid-major-top-25.php