(02-26-2018 09:44 AM)Bucster Wrote:  Forbes just said on the radio that it's NCAA or bust and that we won't be accepting a CIT or CBI invitation if we lose the Socon tourney. Good call in my opinion. I don't want any part of those tournaments.

THANK YOU

(02-26-2018 09:44 AM)Bucster Wrote:  Forbes just said on the radio that it's NCAA or bust and that we won't be accepting a CIT or CBI invitation if we lose the Socon tourney. Good call in my opinion. I don't want any part of those tournaments.

Within reason, imo, this should be the player's call. I'm sure it depends on 'financing' by the university to support it, of course. What I suspect has transpired is that Forbes has taken the pulse of the team, and this is their decision, or expressed desire. Got to respect that, and admittedly I'm just guessing this is how it's gone down.

Further........purely reading between the lines........this may be indicative that the players are indeed 'worn down', as players like to play. Other than obviously wanting to go to the Dance, they're ready for the season to be over. Not a good sign, actually. And to emphasize, just playing (moreso than not) amateur psychologist here. But I think there could be some truth there.

(02-26-2018 02:14 PM)posterformerlyknownasthedoctor Wrote:  

(02-26-2018 09:44 AM)Bucster Wrote:  Forbes just said on the radio that it's NCAA or bust and that we won't be accepting a CIT or CBI invitation if we lose the Socon tourney. Good call in my opinion. I don't want any part of those tournaments.

Within reason, imo, this should be the player's call. I'm sure it depends on 'financing' by the university to support it, of course. What I suspect has transpired is that Forbes has taken the pulse of the team, and this is their decision, or expressed desire. Got to respect that, and admittedly I'm just guessing this is how it's gone down.

Further........purely reading between the lines........this may be indicative that the players are indeed 'worn down', as players like to play. Other than obviously wanting to go to the Dance, they're ready for the season to be over. Not a good sign, actually. And to emphasize, just playing (moreso than not) amateur psychologist here. But I think there could be some truth there.

I think you're ready way too much into that.

(02-26-2018 02:35 PM)Running_Fool15 Wrote:  

(02-26-2018 02:14 PM)posterformerlyknownasthedoctor Wrote:  

(02-26-2018 09:44 AM)Bucster Wrote:  Forbes just said on the radio that it's NCAA or bust and that we won't be accepting a CIT or CBI invitation if we lose the Socon tourney. Good call in my opinion. I don't want any part of those tournaments.

Within reason, imo, this should be the player's call. I'm sure it depends on 'financing' by the university to support it, of course. What I suspect has transpired is that Forbes has taken the pulse of the team, and this is their decision, or expressed desire. Got to respect that, and admittedly I'm just guessing this is how it's gone down.

Further........purely reading between the lines........this may be indicative that the players are indeed 'worn down', as players like to play. Other than obviously wanting to go to the Dance, they're ready for the season to be over. Not a good sign, actually. And to emphasize, just playing (moreso than not) amateur psychologist here. But I think there could be some truth there.

I think you're ready way too much into that.

I don’t. I think there’s something going on here. They’ve never said that up front like that before. Time will tell over the next few weeks.

EDIT: And let me also add, I hope I’m wrong.

I think Forbes has taken the pulse of his athletic department. It was clear that Sanders was not a fan of the minor tournaments, and we tried to experiment with the Vegas one because of the promise that bigger names would be involved. I bet our current athletic department's culture is just one that doesn't put much stock in those minor tournaments. You could win them and literally nobody would notice. If you had a young team, you could make the argument that the extra practice time would help. That clearly isn't the case with this team.

Not that it is any shock, but we have been replaced by UNCG in Ludardi's ESPN bracket playing #3 Auburn as a #14 seed.

The post-season tournaments other than the NCAA and NIT are "pay-to-play," and as ETSUBUC said, are good when you have a relatively young team that can keep playing competitive basketball together for another two or three weeks as preparation for next season. We start 5 seniors, including several that will get paid to play next year somewhere or other, so that's not the case with us -- we are not a young team (even though we have a couple of really good freshmen). That means it's NCAA, NIT, or bust for us. It really makes perfect sense not to play in a post-season tournament such as the CIT this year. Next year it may make sense if we don't get a NIT or NCAA invite.

I had hoped this year we would be assured of at least the NIT leading into the SOCON, but it obviously didn't work out that way. As coach said, the NIT is actually now unlikely given our RPI, and we are going to have to play our way into the NCAA if we want to keep playing. I expect we will see both a sense of urgency and maximum effort from this group -- at least that is what I am hoping for.