(02-01-2020 04:21 PM)eastisbest Wrote:  

(02-01-2020 04:10 PM)FMRocket Wrote:  Eastern deserved the W... Played better down the stretch than UT...
Also better than their 0-7 MAC pregame record...
I think K has lost this team,

Bout half the team, sitting in the medical ward. I'm not a huge fan of Coach K but "next man up" is a nice theory only. Takes time to fill shoes, particulary any as talented as those lost from last year. Injuries do not give you much time and they take skill sets that might not have depth.

Are we sure the problem isn't the loss in manpower?

You guys just flat out got tired today getting only 16 minutes from your bench. Passing became sloppy, jumpers fell short, we beat you to every loose ball and were blowing by you to the basket with ten minutes left. You had the three best players on the court but you looked slow, I presume mostly due to fatigue. Injuries can kill a promising season but you guys already know that. Guadagni ...

According to TK, we have the MAC’s best PG, big man, and defender(Littleson). One thing for sure, TK is not a good judge of talent.

(02-01-2020 06:33 PM)rockytop Wrote:  According to TK, we have the MAC’s best PG, big man, and defender(Littleson). One thing for sure, TK is not a good judge of talent.

Littleson can’t guard from the bench. I might agree with him on the other two, especially Marreon. There’s just not enough other pieces.

Littleson might have made a difference in this game; not as likely against Kent State. Even at full strength we just don’t seem as athletic. Still a chance for this team to go 5-4 in the final half of MAC play but that won’t get a bye, and it would take a hell of an effort to win 3 straight in the MAC tournament with as short a bench as we have.

Injuries have absolutely impacted—this team would be quite different with Edu, Littleson & Acunzo—but there are other problems, too. Just seems like TK has a perpetual black cloud hovering over him...injuries, bad luck, slow to make in-game changes, some iffy recruiting that results in short benches...season after season. Even in that great season, we were snakebit against WMU. Don’t know why TK has such bad karma, but it’s there.

I just don’t see TK ever getting us over the hump, and that’s gonna sting so much more if Huger takes BG to The Dance this season.

(02-01-2020 08:57 PM)bcunn3128 Wrote:  Littleson might have made a difference in this game; not as likely against Kent State. Even at full strength we just don’t seem as athletic. Still a chance for this team to go 5-4 in the final half of MAC play but that won’t get a bye, and it would take a hell of an effort to win 3 straight in the MAC tournament with as short a bench as we have.

Injuries have absolutely impacted—this team would be quite different with Edu, Littleson & Acunzo—but there are other problems, too. Just seems like TK has a perpetual black cloud hovering over him...injuries, bad luck, slow to make in-game changes, some iffy recruiting that results in short benches...season after season. Even in that great season, we were snakebit against WMU. Don’t know why TK has such bad karma, but it’s there.

I just don’t see TK ever getting us over the hump, and that’s gonna sting so much more if Huger takes BG to The Dance this season.

Lose an All MAC Center, starting QB it's not just BB
this year.

(02-01-2020 08:57 PM)bcunn3128 Wrote:  Littleson might have made a difference in this game; not as likely against Kent State. Even at full strength we just don’t seem as athletic. Still a chance for this team to go 5-4 in the final half of MAC play but that won’t get a bye, and it would take a hell of an effort to win 3 straight in the MAC tournament with as short a bench as we have.

Injuries have absolutely impacted—this team would be quite different with Edu, Littleson & Acunzo—but there are other problems, too. Just seems like TK has a perpetual black cloud hovering over him...injuries, bad luck, slow to make in-game changes, some iffy recruiting that results in short benches...season after season. Even in that great season, we were snakebit against WMU. Don’t know why TK has such bad karma, but it’s there.

I just don’t see TK ever getting us over the hump, and that’s gonna sting so much more if Huger takes BG to The Dance this season.

Yes, there seems to be a curse on the men's basketball program. Whenever the Rockets have a good chance to win the MAC Tournament, there is always a key injury that stands in the way.

The injuries to MAC Player of the Year TreShaun Fletcher and Willie Jackson in back to back MAC Tournaments really hurt their chances. Going back to the Joplin years, an injury to Keonta Howell during the tournament led to the regular season champion Rockets getting upset by Miami. Now, we have the injuries to Edu, Acunzo, and Littleson. When will this curse end?

(02-02-2020 11:24 AM)RocketBBallFan Wrote:  

(02-01-2020 08:57 PM)bcunn3128 Wrote:  Littleson might have made a difference in this game; not as likely against Kent State. Even at full strength we just don’t seem as athletic. Still a chance for this team to go 5-4 in the final half of MAC play but that won’t get a bye, and it would take a hell of an effort to win 3 straight in the MAC tournament with as short a bench as we have.

Injuries have absolutely impacted—this team would be quite different with Edu, Littleson & Acunzo—but there are other problems, too. Just seems like TK has a perpetual black cloud hovering over him...injuries, bad luck, slow to make in-game changes, some iffy recruiting that results in short benches...season after season. Even in that great season, we were snakebit against WMU. Don’t know why TK has such bad karma, but it’s there.

I just don’t see TK ever getting us over the hump, and that’s gonna sting so much more if Huger takes BG to The Dance this season.

Yes, there seems to be a curse on the men's basketball program. Whenever the Rockets have a good chance to win the MAC Tournament, there is always a key injury that stands in the way.

The injuries to MAC Player of the Year TreShaun Fletcher and Willie Jackson in back to back MAC Tournaments really hurt their chances. Going back to the Joplin years, an injury to Keonta Howell during the tournament led to the regular season champion Rockets getting upset. When will this curse end?

If you really want to go back a long way, Kevin Baker hurt his ankle and couldn’t play in the final against EMU Larry Gipson’s last year.

Or Justin Hall and a couple of other guys getting benched at an away tournament loss at OU 1998ish? Violation of team rules?

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Not making excuses for injuries as every team goes through them, but Littleson's absence yesterday was huge. His specialty, the 3 point corner shot was open all game yesterday against the Eastern's zone, but we couldn't take advantage of it. Also, we got double digit scoring games from our role players (Alderson and Saunders) but none of our Big 3 hit their season scoring averages. With Littleson's injury, our margin of error is minimal, so we need a combination of our Big 3 and role players playing well on the same night for us to be in position to win these close MAC games. With 9 games left, it looks like the best we can do under these circumstances is to finish between a 5-8 seed in order to get a 1st round home game. But that will depend a lot on whether or not Littleson is able to come back and play to his previous level, not only offensively, but also defensively where he is our best one on one defender!

One year a few players got food poisoning in Cleveland. And then there was Triplett developing back spasms.

(02-01-2020 06:33 PM)rockytop Wrote:  According to TK, we have the MAC’s best PG, big man, and defender(Littleson). One thing for sure, TK is not a good judge of talent.

1) How does a team/program, that consistently plays little or no defense have the best defensive player?

2) If TK doesn't nominate WJackson as MAC Defensive POY then he's crazy. Now let's all understand, unless there is a lock-em up MAC perimeter player (Demetric Shaw) with a rep to go with it, the MAC DPOY will probably go to the Top rebounder or top shot-blocker.

WJackson's rebound numbers definitely put him on the DPOY short list. And if TK opts to nominate Littleson over that he is not only oblivious/delusional he is doing both UT and Littleson a disservice.

(02-02-2020 01:43 PM)cleveland Wrote:  

(02-01-2020 06:33 PM)rockytop Wrote:  According to TK, we have the MAC’s best PG, big man, and defender(Littleson). One thing for sure, TK is not a good judge of talent.

1) How does a team/program, that consistently plays little or no defense have the best defensive player?

2) If TK doesn't nominate WJackson as MAC Defensive POY then he's crazy. Now let's all understand, unless there is a lock-em up MAC perimeter player (Demetric Shaw) with a rep to go with it, the MAC DPOY will probably go to the Top rebounder or top shot-blocker.

WJackson's rebound numbers definitely put him on the DPOY short list. And if TK opts to nominate Littleson over that he is not only oblivious/delusional he is doing both UT and Littleson a disservice.

Per your Number 2 we have the top two candidates for DPOY. Color me a deep shade of skeptical. I’ve seen Knapke and WJackson play defense. I will be stunned if either gets DPOY.

(02-02-2020 03:34 PM)H2Oville Rocket Wrote:  

(02-02-2020 01:43 PM)cleveland Wrote:  

(02-01-2020 06:33 PM)rockytop Wrote:  According to TK, we have the MAC’s best PG, big man, and defender(Littleson). One thing for sure, TK is not a good judge of talent.

1) How does a team/program, that consistently plays little or no defense have the best defensive player?

2) If TK doesn't nominate WJackson as MAC Defensive POY then he's crazy. Now let's all understand, unless there is a lock-em up MAC perimeter player (Demetric Shaw) with a rep to go with it, the MAC DPOY will probably go to the Top rebounder or top shot-blocker.

WJackson's rebound numbers definitely put him on the DPOY short list. And if TK opts to nominate Littleson over that he is not only oblivious/delusional he is doing both UT and Littleson a disservice.

Per your Number 2 we have the top two candidates for DPOY. Color me a deep shade of skeptical. I’ve seen Knapke and WJackson play defense. I will be stunned if either gets DPOY.

Willie Jackson wins the Windex Glass Cleaner award hands down.

(02-02-2020 01:16 PM)RocketJeff Wrote:  One year a few players got food poisoning in Cleveland. And then there was Triplett developing back spasms.

Correct if I'm wrong, but, didn't Mareon hurt his shoulder before the MAC Tourney last year? And the year prior to that when we lost to Buffalo, didn't Fletcher hurt his knee?

(02-02-2020 04:42 PM)Michigan Rocket Wrote:  Correct if I'm wrong, but, didn't Mareon hurt his shoulder before the MAC Tourney last year? And the year prior to that when we lost to Buffalo, didn't Fletcher hurt his knee?

Yep. No Fletch for the title game vs. UB.

(02-02-2020 05:21 PM)UofToledoFans Wrote:  

(02-02-2020 04:42 PM)Michigan Rocket Wrote:  Correct if I'm wrong, but, didn't Mareon hurt his shoulder before the MAC Tourney last year? And the year prior to that when we lost to Buffalo, didn't Fletcher hurt his knee?

Yep. No Fletch for the title game vs. UB.

Marreon hurt his shoulder last year at the end of the Quarterfinal game against NIU, which the Rockets lost. Had the Rockets won that game, they would have had to play the semi-final game without Marreon or Willie.

(02-02-2020 03:34 PM)H2Oville Rocket Wrote:  

(02-02-2020 01:43 PM)cleveland Wrote:  

(02-01-2020 06:33 PM)rockytop Wrote:  According to TK, we have the MAC’s best PG, big man, and defender(Littleson). One thing for sure, TK is not a good judge of talent.

1) How does a team/program, that consistently plays little or no defense have the best defensive player?

2) If TK doesn't nominate WJackson as MAC Defensive POY then he's crazy. Now let's all understand, unless there is a lock-em up MAC perimeter player (Demetric Shaw) with a rep to go with it, the MAC DPOY will probably go to the Top rebounder or top shot-blocker.

WJackson's rebound numbers definitely put him on the DPOY short list. And if TK opts to nominate Littleson over that he is not only oblivious/delusional he is doing both UT and Littleson a disservice.

Per your Number 2 we have the top two candidates for DPOY. Color me a deep shade of skeptical. I’ve seen Knapke and WJackson play defense. I will be stunned if either gets DPOY.

Right!!! ... The point is - Knapke or WJackson - by any measure beyond TK's ... it ain't Littleson.

Littleson is an excellent defender. Watch hism on defense instead of watching the ball. he's good. one thing people don't always get with Coach K's defense is that he chooses to minimize help defense and reaching. Players are coached to force the opponent into fairly tough shots and not depend on help. They are coached not to reach or risk silly fouls and give up free throws. So, other than our center doing a little rim protection it's mostly one on one d. this means the opponent will get off contested shots that are makeable but not easy, yet won't get many wide open looks. other teams tend to play more aggressively which results in creating more turnovers but also giving up more wide open layups and 3 pointers. the approach worked well last year when AJ and Luke combined to protect the rim and navigato and sanford joined littleson and marreon as solid one on one defenders. this year we have less rim protection and alderson and willie get beat one on one more often than sanford and navigato. hence, weaker defense.

coach k has always struggled to trust in his bench and it's hard to expect change this year with such a young bench. still, i think it's the only option now. our bench guys are inexperienced but motivated and excited for their opportunity. they will blow some assignments but might make up for it by infusing us with some energy. coach k is going to have to give it a shot and not shrink the bench. we've seen a dip in energy mid second half of almost every game since december. bench energy and minutes would have helped with that.

Coach K seems like a nice guy but I question whether he or his staff are good at player development. When he was interviewed after the Akron win he said the team's play was affected by key injuries. Edu was hurt before the season even started. Shouldn't a replacement be developing to take his place or prepare for next year? Marenka?????? I've also heard him say that Littleson was the best shooter on the team. He may be a hustler but he certainly isn't the best shooter on the team. If he was, we'd certainly would have more wins. I'd like to know Coach K's recruitment philosophy. From year to year we seem to recruit players that rarely ever get an opportunity to show why they're on the team! The result: a pretty tired starting 5 by the time tournament time arrives.