While their Home Court Performance this season is not acceptable, Toledo now holds the Tiebreaker for the 8th Seed and last 1st Round Home Game for the upcoming MAC Tournament. If Toledo wins their 4 remaining games @CMU, Ball State, @NIU, and EMU, they will finish 9-9 and would have beaten the other team (Ohio U) that could still finish with the same record as Toledo. In looking at the previous games against these 4 teams this season, Toledo was in position to win all 4 of them coming down to the Final 5 Minutes and lost all 4 of them. Now with having a bye to Cleveland out of their reach, they have to find a way to beat these 4 teams and get the next best thing which would be a 1st Round Home Game. While it might not seem like such a big deal, I would rather take my chances playing in Savage Arena rather than in Athens or Ypsilanti! Get to Cleveland and anything can happen!

yes, i noticed this after the WMU games and Ohio's loss at BG (which, like ours, including Turner getting a gift phantom call in the final minute resulting in crucial free throws and 1 point OU loss).

the 2 key things here are avoiding a road trip before a 3 games in 3 days cleveland run (unlikely, but the best case scenario), as asking this thin roster to road trip to mount pleasant or athens on monday night, get back to toledo early tuesday morning, go to class, prep for a thursday game and road trip to cleveland wednesday, is unlikely to result in the team having 2nd half legs thursday much less friday and saturday. while we do seem to play better on the road, having a monday home game would be much better in terms of rest and prep time for cleveland.

the other thing is staying in the 1/2 vs 7/8/9/10 portion of the bracket. this team matches up better with likely 1/2 seeds akron and bg than likely 3/4/5 seeds buffalo, kent and NIU, although kent is fading a bit and NIU isn't a terrible matchup. i think we beat BG in a thursday cleveland matchup and we've already shown we can beat akron. i doubt we'd beat either kent or buffalo who have the best depth and athleticism in the league, neither a strength of the rockets.

i don't think this UT team is that good anymore, unfortunately, but we can clearly play with anyone in the league. there's no killer games left on the schedule, but every team we play to close out has beat us. i think @CMU is our toughest matchup. so a win there would be huge. closing out 2-2 might get us a home game and finishing 3-1 would almost certainly do it. a 4-0 finish would move us up a seeding line or 2 but that would probably mean a cleveland opener against buffalo which to me is worse than the 1/2 of bg and akron.

marreon has shown he can carry us for game or two in cleveland and i'd imagine willie and luke will be as motivated as can be to keep playing. littleson is banged up but playing his best ball in a while and saunders is finding his role a little more each game. so, the starting (and ending, and mostly in between) 5 looks as good as possible. i got little expectation of the bench even though i love maranka and his energy. alderson is capable of helping us if he somehow lets himself go and just has fun out there, but he's been so timid most games that it would be silly to expect otherwise.

still, even as the 7th or 8th or 9th best team in the league there's no reason not to hope for a run and an ncaa tourney. we've had better teams catch bad breaks in cleveland. maybe this is the year a lesser team gets lucky and has our opponents top guy get hurt or gets in a bracket full of upsets and more beatable opposition.

(02-23-2020 06:33 PM)pono Wrote:  yes, i noticed this after the WMU games and Ohio's loss at BG (which, like ours, including Turner getting a gift phantom call in the final minute resulting in crucial free throws and 1 point OU loss).

the 2 key things here are avoiding a road trip before a 3 games in 3 days cleveland run (unlikely, but the best case scenario), as asking this thin roster to road trip to mount pleasant or athens on monday night, get back to toledo early tuesday morning, go to class, prep for a thursday game and road trip to cleveland wednesday, is unlikely to result in the team having 2nd half legs thursday much less friday and saturday. while we do seem to play better on the road, having a monday home game would be much better in terms of rest and prep time for cleveland.

the other thing is staying in the 1/2 vs 7/8/9/10 portion of the bracket. this team matches up better with likely 1/2 seeds akron and bg than likely 3/4/5 seeds buffalo, kent and NIU, although kent is fading a bit and NIU isn't a terrible matchup. i think we beat BG in a thursday cleveland matchup and we've already shown we can beat akron. i doubt we'd beat either kent or buffalo who have the best depth and athleticism in the league, neither a strength of the rockets.

i don't think this UT team is that good anymore, unfortunately, but we can clearly play with anyone in the league. there's no killer games left on the schedule, but every team we play to close out has beat us. i think @CMU is our toughest matchup. so a win there would be huge. closing out 2-2 might get us a home game and finishing 3-1 would almost certainly do it. a 4-0 finish would move us up a seeding line or 2 but that would probably mean a cleveland opener against buffalo which to me is worse than the 1/2 of bg and akron.

marreon has shown he can carry us for game or two in cleveland and i'd imagine willie and luke will be as motivated as can be to keep playing. littleson is banged up but playing his best ball in a while and saunders is finding his role a little more each game. so, the starting (and ending, and mostly in between) 5 looks as good as possible. i got little expectation of the bench even though i love maranka and his energy. alderson is capable of helping us if he somehow lets himself go and just has fun out there, but he's been so timid most games that it would be silly to expect otherwise.

still, even as the 7th or 8th or 9th best team in the league there's no reason not to hope for a run and an ncaa tourney. we've had better teams catch bad breaks in cleveland. maybe this is the year a lesser team gets lucky and has our opponents top guy get hurt or gets in a bracket full of upsets and more beatable opposition.

Love your optimism !!
I have been very critical of K over the years, especially with years of lofty expectations and more or less disappointing results... Until then, I probably will reserve judgement after the first week of March...
Would like to be pleasantly surprised !!

(02-23-2020 10:10 PM)FMRocket Wrote:  

(02-23-2020 06:33 PM)pono Wrote:  yes, i noticed this after the WMU games and Ohio's loss at BG (which, like ours, including Turner getting a gift phantom call in the final minute resulting in crucial free throws and 1 point OU loss).

the 2 key things here are avoiding a road trip before a 3 games in 3 days cleveland run (unlikely, but the best case scenario), as asking this thin roster to road trip to mount pleasant or athens on monday night, get back to toledo early tuesday morning, go to class, prep for a thursday game and road trip to cleveland wednesday, is unlikely to result in the team having 2nd half legs thursday much less friday and saturday. while we do seem to play better on the road, having a monday home game would be much better in terms of rest and prep time for cleveland.

the other thing is staying in the 1/2 vs 7/8/9/10 portion of the bracket. this team matches up better with likely 1/2 seeds akron and bg than likely 3/4/5 seeds buffalo, kent and NIU, although kent is fading a bit and NIU isn't a terrible matchup. i think we beat BG in a thursday cleveland matchup and we've already shown we can beat akron. i doubt we'd beat either kent or buffalo who have the best depth and athleticism in the league, neither a strength of the rockets.

i don't think this UT team is that good anymore, unfortunately, but we can clearly play with anyone in the league. there's no killer games left on the schedule, but every team we play to close out has beat us. i think @CMU is our toughest matchup. so a win there would be huge. closing out 2-2 might get us a home game and finishing 3-1 would almost certainly do it. a 4-0 finish would move us up a seeding line or 2 but that would probably mean a cleveland opener against buffalo which to me is worse than the 1/2 of bg and akron.

marreon has shown he can carry us for game or two in cleveland and i'd imagine willie and luke will be as motivated as can be to keep playing. littleson is banged up but playing his best ball in a while and saunders is finding his role a little more each game. so, the starting (and ending, and mostly in between) 5 looks as good as possible. i got little expectation of the bench even though i love maranka and his energy. alderson is capable of helping us if he somehow lets himself go and just has fun out there, but he's been so timid most games that it would be silly to expect otherwise.

still, even as the 7th or 8th or 9th best team in the league there's no reason not to hope for a run and an ncaa tourney. we've had better teams catch bad breaks in cleveland. maybe this is the year a lesser team gets lucky and has our opponents top guy get hurt or gets in a bracket full of upsets and more beatable opposition.

Love your optimism !!
I have been very critical of K over the years, especially with years of lofty expectations and more or less disappointing results... Until then, I probably will reserve judgement after the first week of March...
Would like to be pleasantly surprised !!

best case, without being totally unrealistic, March is motivation and matchups to a degree. this team has enough shooting and talent to play with anyone on a good night. they haven't found a confidence to close people out. coach k hasn't had a ton of march success. a couple good runs that fell short in the final. some solid teams go down too early. a good team banned because of the coach Cro-hisssssssss APR issues. and some terribly timed injuries. it's a mixed bag at best. so, my hope is on a year when expectation are understandably low the rockets could sneak up and win a couple game and make the semis. play fearlessly move the ball and make a run at least and realize some of that potential. if we can harness the marshall akron bg version of this team we'll have a shot every game. first we need to play better and close strong. go into the tournament at home with some confidence. get top cleveland with some fearlessness and let it ride. the quarters are all about motivation and energy. the semis is where the top players either take over or not. and then you gotta beat the other hot team in the final. the mac tourney is a grind. there's a lot of decent teams playing their hearts out. if ut can get a draw like ohio at home bg in the quarters and niu in the semis they could make a run.

Expectations of a win streak from a team that gets all scoring from five players is fantasy at best. Circle the wagons and get back to class and be ready for next year.

I have my wife convinced on the Bahamas trip already


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(02-24-2020 02:41 PM)indianasniff Wrote:  Expectations of a win streak from a team that gets all scoring from five players is fantasy at best. Circle the wagons and get back to class and be ready for next year.

I have my wife convinced on the Bahamas trip already


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Is that where the Football National Championship is next year?