Game story from the UT site -

https://utrockets.com/news/2018/11/29/wo...78-69.aspx

(11-30-2018 05:02 AM)pono Wrote:  ESPN-Disney has Belmont #2 in their mid-major rankings[/i]

I was a little surprised how mistake prone Belmont was yesterday. I attributed some of that to UT's swarming perimeter defense. But I would have expected a team with #2 mid-major ranking and coming off a 31 win season to be better than that.

I noticed during the game yesterday that Belmont had four freshmen in their nine player rotation. I checked the website this morning and they graduated their leading scorer (Kylie Smith 18.7 pts/game) and third leading scorer (Sally McCabe 14.6 pts/game). That's a lot of offense to replace. IMO these early season rankings are almost entirely driven from last year's performance. Time will tell how significant this win is for UT. But in any case I thought the rockets played excellent defense and made a bunch of 3's for once.

From the Belmont Bruins WBB site.
https://www.belmontbruins.com/sports/w-b...1129meoivy

(11-30-2018 08:16 AM)kazoorocket43 Wrote:  

(11-30-2018 05:02 AM)pono Wrote:  ESPN-Disney has Belmont #2 in their mid-major rankings[/i]

I was a little surprised how mistake prone Belmont was yesterday. I attributed some of that to UT's swarming perimeter defense. But I would have expected a team with #2 mid-major ranking and coming off a 31 win season to be better than that.

I noticed during the game yesterday that Belmont had four freshmen in their nine player rotation. I checked the website this morning and they graduated their leading scorer (Kylie Smith 18.7 pts/game) and third leading scorer (Sally McCabe 14.6 pts/game). That's a lot of offense to replace. IMO these early season rankings are almost entirely driven from last year's performance. Time will tell how significant this win is for UT. But in any case I thought the rockets played excellent defense and made a bunch of 3's for once.

Fair enough points. My earlier post was in large part a reaction to certain posters (not you) who have already decided that the program is a failure and at this point seem to be hoping for the team to fail. When the Rockets look bad, the game thread draws a lot of comments calling for Cullop's head. After a good performance, virtual silence. Then, when I point that out, the next post is an entirely negative comment that both teams looked bad, which strikes me as a strange statement after a road win against a highly touted team.

We have played four good teams this year - Maine, Dayton, Belmont, and Duquesne - with three of those games on the road. True, time will tell how good each of those teams is, but I would predict somewhere between respectable and very good for each. I don't like the manner of the Maine and Dayton losses, but 2-2 in those four games is no disgrace.

On a separate note, I was surprised to see in the season statistics that Jaela Johnson, with only 31 minutes played, is fourth on the team in assists and tied for second in steals. She has seven assists and only three turnovers. It's a small sample size to be sure, but I wonder what the future holds for her.

(11-30-2018 09:16 AM)SylvaniaRocket Wrote:  From the Belmont Bruins WBB site.
https://www.belmontbruins.com/sports/w-b...1129meoivy

2,000 school children helped set the attendance record of 2,400? We certainly have a great fan base.

Quote: Fair enough points. My earlier post was in large part a reaction to certain posters (not you) who have already decided that the program is a failure and at this point seem to be hoping for the team to fail. When the Rockets look bad, the game thread draws a lot of comments calling for Cullop's head. After a good performance, virtual silence. Then, when I point that out, the next post is an entirely negative comment that both teams looked bad, which strikes me as a strange statement after a road win against a highly touted team.

I get what you’re saying but the criticisms are fair of the program. I don’t think many of us are calling for Cullop’s head. Her value to this program is immense but you have to, at some point, look at where you want the program to grow. If you want to be a consistent 20 win team with a trip to the WNIT every year and maybe an NCAA appearance every 7-8 years hen Cullop is your guy. If you want your program to make it to the NCAAs 2-3 times every five years then perhaps you may have to look at going in a different direction. After the WNIT title, the program right now should be similar to what BG experienced under Curt Miller....multiple NCAA appearances coupled with a Sweet 16 run one of those years. Toledo’s facilities, fan base and location should attract solid recruits year in and year out but I along with many others don’t believe that is the case and it certainly shows.