had a no show so i watched the rest of the press conference...

-agree we changed defenses well. somebody mentioned not creating turnovers but i thought the 3-2 zone was effective. i thought we could've been more aggressive with the traps.

-disagree with the read on temple. spiker said they want to speed things up. i thought the opposite in the second half. it was sort of like the michigan-psu game on saturday. temple knew they had us stopped on offense so they made sure to at least run clock on all of their possessions.

-they should have piped in titanic music when he talked about everybody huddling around amari after the miss to tie the game. they zoomed in the camera so it just needed the right music to completely set the mood.

9.5 point favorites to kick off the mini tournament against Fairfield. Hopefully students come out and we reward them with a dominant performance thats exciting and lures them back again. (Hopeful)

(11-17-2023 08:23 AM)hiroshimacarp Wrote:  -agree we changed defenses well. somebody mentioned not creating turnovers but i thought the 3-2 zone was effective. i thought we could've been more aggressive with the traps.

Agree on all that (and I was the one with the turnovers comment).

I had wondered if the traps really were just trying get Temple out of rhythm in the backcourt. They certainly didn't give off anything like a VCU Havoc vibe.

I am curious if we use the 3-2 zone more this season. We're so long (outside of the PGs) that we can cover a lot of the court. Certain tall guards may not be scoring many points, but at least they can contribute at the defensive end.

(11-17-2023 07:50 AM)hiroshimacarp Wrote:  i used this $1 deal for the inquirer to read what the ad said.

if i'm tracking...she's basically saying we want to bring in people who are focused on academics so they're more likely to stay for 4 years. so the concern would be she's not necessarily focused on bringing in players that help us win...or winning in general. is that right?

the evidence sure points that way.

the idea that great recruits would stay here due to superior academics seems absurd on its face.

(11-17-2023 03:01 PM)relaxing Wrote:  

(11-17-2023 07:50 AM)hiroshimacarp Wrote:  i used this $1 deal for the inquirer to read what the ad said.

if i'm tracking...she's basically saying we want to bring in people who are focused on academics so they're more likely to stay for 4 years. so the concern would be she's not necessarily focused on bringing in players that help us win...or winning in general. is that right?

the evidence sure points that way.

the idea that great recruits would stay here due to superior academics seems absurd on its face.

We aren't the Ivy League.

didn't know they posted post game press conference so i watched last night's. he was more upbeat after we lost to temple. probably the salesman in him knowing there were more eye balls after the temple game (107 views vs 11 for the fairfield video!).

no theatrics with the camera.

he actually came off as a bit of a jerk last night. sat down and said "what's up? you got me. what's your name again?" doesn't come off very authentic.

i have to be careful how i interpret these things. i reached a point with bruiser where i could get mad at him saying good things about dale earnhardt. also would advise some caution with how i interpret the ad. i'll deflect onto the old ad for as long as i can.

TJ Bickerstaff is playing great for JMU. I wish we didn't lose our good players.

spiker did a nice job adjusting for the second half and getting us to wake up. we played with more energy right out of the locker room. you could say we shouldn't have been in that position in the first place. at least we found a way to straighten things out...unlike st. joe's who lost at home on friday to texas a & m commerce.

turner had a great game. i think we should be playing inside out. we shoot threes poorly because we don't get good looks...or at least that's part of it. oden showed he could play with his back to the basket. the challenge is whether we'll ever see it again because we never seem to attack in a consistent way on offense.

Nice to be champions of the Market Street Challenge. Any good wins? No, but winning home games is important and multiple games in a couple day spread is important for the end of the season. We came out ready to beat down a bad team against Fairfield. We were lethargic against Queens. This team under Spiker has shown time and time again they will fight hard until the end, but it would sure be nice not to dig early holes where you have to fight back.

I also agree I would rather us play 2 bigs and set someone down low and play inside out. The 5 out makes us too predictable and easy to defend. It leads to a lot of standing around vs actual movement, which leads to long lulls in scoring. If we had a big or 2 that we ran through down low, the outside shots would potentially be more open. I also agree we need more of our guards and combo guards to do more smart attacking and not just rely on 3 point shooting. The more we attack the more other shots will open up, but you have to be threatening for that to work.

Spiker had some, uh, interesting things to say post-game. He talked about how they have to find multiple ways to win and be willing play different styles. I guess I don't disagree with that, but then he basically said he thinks we can win without shooting 3-balls because we defend.

https://youtu.be/G2M3oC7UEwY?si=IWYhS6nyXcp5jvt2&t=282

Is there something in the water in the DAC? Spiker is basically coming around to Bruiser-ball in the year of our lord 2023.

hopefully his big key to victory isn't to hold team to 52 points. it's ok to just say we struggle to shoot threes...but figure out why we struggle and then what an alternative might be. you can't win games if you don't have consistent ways to score points and that's our biggest problem.

we should be able to attack different ways. we have bigs. we have wing players like oden with good size. we have guards like moore and butler who (i think) can drive and shoot a little bit. i'm good with attacking a team based on what works. the problem is by now we should be able to figure out what we're using in that particular game to attack a team. that's why yesterday was reassuring that we used the bigs and i'd like to see us do it more.

it could be possible we have pieces to attack in theory...but they're not good enough to do it. i don't think that's the problem.

we went to the delaware-villanova game saturday and a guy behind us was complaining about delaware having talent but not having the coaching to use it. nobody was pressing him for explanation. you have to be able to say what the coach should have been doing different. these press conferences are interesting because they give you a chance to see what spiker's thinking. i'm good with the whole "rah rah defense" thing...but i'd also like to hear him be honest about shooting and talk about how we might get better looks for certain guys. otherwise he's essentially saying we suck on offense, we're not going to get better, and our success completely depends on our defense. being one dimensional has never worked for anybody and the worst part is i don't think we should have to be.

The whole presser conference sounded defensive. Which I get as a coach who has had limited success, but I agree with you that good coaches find ways to be successful. Spiker has his way and and if its not successful, he seems lost. Yes teams have to score multiple ways, that is always the case, but proper coaching adjustments to the players is a massive part of it too. Throughout his tenure, it seems we are far too late to adjust and we anticipate our opponents adjustments very poorly. What wasn't said, unless I missed it, was when a player is not playing well, that the minutes dont seem to reflect that.

He mentioned our depth and its nice to have, but he sure didnt seem open to stating he is going to put the best players that game out there. Talking about Hargrove reminded me of this. Stated how hard he works and how he just needs an opportunity, yet as the coach, isnt he the one who gives those opportunities? I get injuries happen and he got his chance with Amari out, but is seems to me we plan to use our depth only when needed from injury and not when needed due to poor play

I’m just happy we defended Market St from the dregs of D1.

i haven't been thrilled with his demeanor. he gives josh verlin a hard time to the point where he made a comment in his big 5 power rankings...

https://www.cityofbasketballlove.com/new...ow/1291934

sure...maybe he's joking and there might be side conversations that are friendly. you probably have like 2 journalists that show up with any consistency. if you can't take questions from them about 3 point shooting...how would you react if you have to deal with a real media pool?

verlin is right...this has been a disappointing start. we've been peddling our big 5 membership like the new video board last year. apparently we're just happy to be here if the 0-2 start is good enough.

(11-21-2023 08:47 AM)hiroshimacarp Wrote:  i haven't been thrilled with his demeanor. he gives josh verlin a hard time to the point where he made a comment in his big 5 power rankings...

https://www.cityofbasketballlove.com/new...ow/1291934

sure...maybe he's joking and there might be side conversations that are friendly. you probably have like 2 journalists that show up with any consistency. if you can't take questions from them about 3 point shooting...how would you react if you have to deal with a real media pool?

verlin is right...this has been a disappointing start. we've been peddling our big 5 membership like the new video board last year. apparently we're just happy to be here if the 0-2 start is good enough.

Not sure which presser you're responding to here. I could take or leave the Fairfield presser, but there was a lot I liked in the Queens one:

* He talked about where he has legitimate concerns
* He talked about how he wants the team to be seen, basically copying and pasting from what Jim Curtin did with the Union, hard to find fault in that, but more importantly for the first time in seven years it looks like he is trying to claim an identity for his team.
* He refused to talk about injuries - nothing new here, but I like that Verlin has grown up a bit and called out his HIPPA line since its BS.

Yes he has his needles of people and he likes to have fun and stick out an elbow from time to time - its a defense mechanism for him that he uses like a crutch... I can't hate since I do the same thing, often without thinking about it. It's something he should likely work on, but for now I just consider it his shtick. Is what it is.


Most important thing to me, is for the first time in a long time if ever, he came off as authentic. Easier to do after a win, but compare it to the Temple presser where he was more full of sh*t than a port a potty at the philly marathon start line, and I'm very happy to see it.

Didn't watch the ODU game, but we were 3-for-21 from 3.

We're gonna be in the bottom 7 or so among all DI programs after today for 3-point FG percentage.

That's horrific.

3 point shooting has been bad for some time. The turnovers lost us that game without a doubt. That many turnovers is unacceptable no matter the opponent. We also need to do something different, and not sure I care what. But what we are doing doesnt work. We have to stop believing we are a good shooting team, when data doesnt support that at all. We are a terrible shooting team. We are just not good right now

As I've said before, Drexel is a 3 point shooting team that can't make 3 pointers. It's one thing to accept that you have no 3-point shooters and run an offense that doesn't rely on them. But Drexel continues to run their offense around looking for that open 3-point shot. It's a risky proposition. Some games, the guys are going to be on their game and will be hitting shots and they'll win games....sometimes they'll win games they're not supposed to win. But most of the time, like we've seen, it can be costly.

Which is why I would like them to do anything different. Yes hot shooting got us to the NCAA's but some type of consistency would be better. And what we are doing is not working. I dont think we could outshoot anyone in an empty gym with no pressure right now

i don't even feel like we do a good job shooting threes. most of them are contested or guys trying to create their own shot.

i like that metsox used the word authentic. i promised myself i would never be the type to break down press conferences word by word...but there's not much else interesting going on with our program...so what else do I have? spiker didn't come off as authentic in that first presser against temple and now he's lost me. especially because he was completely different the next one i watched i think against fairfield. maybe our team doesn't have an identity because our coach won't let himself have one.

i want to really like him. somebody should just tell him to be himself.