(12-01-2018 10:57 PM)Mrs. Got Ribe Wrote:  

(12-01-2018 08:30 PM)tribeinexile Wrote:  Guys, help me here. How many team fouls did we have going into the last minute?

I thought it was only 2 or 3. If that was the case, we would have had to foul 4 o 5 times to get GMU to the foul line. That would have eaten up most of the clock.

I thought the GMU player making that layup gave us a chance. He could have pulled the ball out and run out more clock.

There were three team fouls going into the last 36 seconds. LJ’s foul was number four with 13 seconds left. So yes, we would have had to foul a lot of times before putting the on the line. Foul number five was just after the inbounds. And it looked like we tried to foul again before they got the layup.

This is correct. I want to clarify my earlier post: Shaver was definitely telling the team to foul after LJ's "foul" with 13 seconds left. We were playing straight defense prior to that because there was about a 7-9 second differential between game and shot clock.

OUR players shot 80% FT, 50% FG, and 40% from 3pt. Sounds like a formula for success to me. We had 21 assists to 10 TO also. We lost because we had the wrong players on the court in the final two minutes of each half.

in the first half Rowley, Milon and Lowe sat at the scorer table for 2:15 of game time starting at the 2:20 mark while we threw up two wild shots and missed a layup-Coach should have burned his first half time out around 1:50 when we had possession to get the players into the game to finish the first half strong vs calling it with :05 left (yea I know we did get a layup off the time out as a consolation).

In the second half with 3:46 left on the clock Coach subs out Rowley and Milon to put in Nathan and Owens. No question that Nathan needed to get back into the game but Owens was clearly having an off night shown by his 4 fouls and 0-2 shooting at that point in this game. Coach stuck with the lineup until the foul by Owens with :13 left which gave us three Freshmen on the floor with Nathan and Pierce and our lack of experience hurt us in the final 3 minutes of the game. If Rowley and Milon needed a rest then sub one of them back it at 2:17 when GMU had a turnover to give us better experience on the floor. This was a winnable game but Coach also is to blame as he has not gotten a good rotation down and is not adjusting to the players Mojo

Long road ahead but great talent to work with!

(12-01-2018 10:56 PM)wmmii Wrote:  

(12-01-2018 09:03 PM)Zorch Wrote:  To answer tribeinexile's question: according to Jay and Charlie, the foul on LJ Owens was the 6th foul and the next foul (which never got called) would have been the 7th and put Mason in the one-and-one.

Sorry Zorch the foul called on LJ was only the 4th team foul of the half as Rowley fouled again a few seconds later and they did not shoot FT. Sadly our second half fouls were 2 on Nathan and 2 on LJ until Rowley was forced to foul to try to get the ball back.

I don't dispute wmmii, Mrs. Got Ribe, or TribeInTheBurg about how many fouls there actually were. I do remember, though, that Jay and Charlie clearly said that any foul on that last inbounds would put Mason in the bonus. Since they had stats right on their screens and more stats handed to them, I assumed they knew what they were talking about.

This is a very talented, freshman laden team, that is learning to play together...as well as the coaching staff is learning the right combinations. Other than the Marshall road game the team has been in every game with a chance to win.

Some observations:

*Yes, the defense is very spotty and sometimes totally absent. Last night we left some three point shots wide open with nobody near, but the fact is that several GMU baskets came on tightly contested shots that went in. Also, Knight was obviously hampered at times late in the game due to his foul situation and could not contest layups and one putback.

*If Milon is off shooting he will continue to come off the court quickly since his defense against speedier opponents is poor.

*Thornton Scott is winning, slowly but surely, the lead spot at point guard. He takes control,
has a three-point shot that he has to get the confidence to shoot more often, plays decent defense, and is already playing at times like an upperclassman. Luke Loewe is tough on the court
but, in my opinion, does not have Scott's skills.

*Audige has to play...he is an aggressive defender, shooter and ballhandler. He is going to be a very good player.

*Paul Rowley is much more aggressive on the court and, as he gets in top shape, needs 30+ minutes a game on the court. He appears to have added some muscle. He is edging out Mehkel Harvey as first sub for Knight.

*The refs somehow were picking on L.J. last night with several phantom or ticky-tack foul calls.
He is going to be a very good player and needs to play. (writer's note: I usually don't harp on the refs but the smaller guy last night was awful and totally out of his league in a DI game).

This team's psyche is fragile right now and might lose three of their next four games (although they should beat Hampton on the road) to go 3-9 into CAA play. Tony and staff's biggest job is to keep everyone positive...this team has exceptional skills and several of the most talented frosh every at W&M at one time.

What i want for Christmas for Tribe hoops

1. Stay healthy
2. Knight quit taking himself out of the game with silly fouls

If Santa sends us both of these, it will be a happy new year.

Go Tribe!

PS: The only defense that I can see for Nathan on the fouls are some of the ones he gets on screens. His teammates need to get closer to him so that they bring their defender right into his body, if they run too far wide of him he winds up moving or trying to stick a hip out to slow the defender down. But that technical yesterday was inexcusable.

Nathan is lazy on defense. He let's folks get by him and then bumps them or holds them. He just needs to decide to either play no defense at all and let everyone go by or play some defense and make his fouls hard fouls where the opposition takes notice. The in between stuff looks ticky tack, but needs to know that he has a bulls eye on his back. The last thing an official wants is a whiner.

(12-02-2018 07:19 AM)bubbadog57 Wrote:  This team's psyche is fragile right now and might lose three of their next four games (although they should beat Hampton on the road) to go 3-9 into CAA play.

Everyone on this board has already written off the ODU game as a loss. We have owned them for the last 5-7 years or so and we know it -- and they know it!

If everyone wants more defense then I think Harvey should get more minutes. He is too timid offensively (always looks to pass instead of shoot) but his defensive stats are good --- especially for the limited minutes that he has played.

I admit that I am impressed by Rowley's development this year. As someone said, he does look more muscular. His missing those first five games probably cost us at least a couple of wins.

So, apparently, the Daily Press is so low staffed that no one was available to make a short ride to Williamsburg. We need to start winning to get somebody to cover us.
I knew the R-TD wouldn't care, but I figured the DP would feel they could sell a couple extra papers if they had a game story. Guess not.

(12-02-2018 11:36 AM)billymac Wrote:  So, apparently, the Daily Press is so low staffed that no one was available to make a short ride to Williamsburg. We need to start winning to get somebody to cover us.
I knew the R-TD wouldn't care, but I figured the DP would feel they could sell a couple extra papers if they had a game story. Guess not.

Bet if you volunteered to be an ad Hoc writer for them of Tribe BB games that they would jump at the chance! Your got the creditability but do you want to take the time?

(12-02-2018 11:36 AM)billymac Wrote:  So, apparently, the Daily Press is so low staffed that no one was available to make a short ride to Williamsburg. We need to start winning to get somebody to cover us.
I knew the R-TD wouldn't care, but I figured the DP would feel they could sell a couple extra papers if they had a game story. Guess not.

It’s actually a pretty big deal and very frustrating. That ranking of the CAA jobs has us as 7th in the league for media coverage. It’s one of the factors holding us back.

Part of this is the demise of the local newspaper model. Newspapers simply can’t afford to do local reporting. In Tidewater, I imagine Va. Tech, UVa and ODU bring eyeballs. The Tribe must not. The merger between the DP and the Virginia-Pilot didn’t help.

FWIW, the schools ranking behind us are JMU, Delaware and Elon.

(12-02-2018 11:36 AM)billymac Wrote:  So, apparently, the Daily Press is so low staffed that no one was available to make a short ride to Williamsburg. We need to start winning to get somebody to cover us.
I knew the R-TD wouldn't care, but I figured the DP would feel they could sell a couple extra papers if they had a game story. Guess not.

My lovely wife insists on keeping our subscription to the Va Pilot (which I detest for their decades of failure to cover WM sports, among other things) so I've maintained a subscription to the Daily Press for their WM coverage. Since the VP/DP merger, the DP's coverage of the Tribe has become noticeably worse (except for the lead-up to JL's retirement and the Mike London hire). Looks like I'll be dropping the DP soon. Sad.

(12-02-2018 02:50 PM)tribeinexile Wrote:  

(12-02-2018 11:36 AM)billymac Wrote:  So, apparently, the Daily Press is so low staffed that no one was available to make a short ride to Williamsburg. We need to start winning to get somebody to cover us.
I knew the R-TD wouldn't care, but I figured the DP would feel they could sell a couple extra papers if they had a game story. Guess not.

It’s actually a pretty big deal and very frustrating. That ranking of the CAA jobs has us as 7th in the league for media coverage. It’s one of the factors holding us back.

Part of this is the demise of the local newspaper model. Newspapers simply can’t afford to do local reporting. In Tidewater, I imagine Va. Tech, UVa and ODU bring eyeballs. The Tribe must not. The merger between the DP and the Virginia-Pilot didn’t help.

FWIW, the schools ranking behind us are JMU, Delaware and Elon.

I emailed the sports editor at the Pilot a few years back (Tom White?) to complain about the VP's lack of Tribe coverage. His response was basically that their resources were being cut and they could no longer afford to send anyone to Williamsburg. Somehow I suspect there were multiple VP and Daily Press representatives at the "Buy your way into the Bowl Season" football game in Blacksburg...but I digress.

(12-02-2018 02:31 PM)wmmii Wrote:  

(12-02-2018 11:36 AM)billymac Wrote:  So, apparently, the Daily Press is so low staffed that no one was available to make a short ride to Williamsburg. We need to start winning to get somebody to cover us.
I knew the R-TD wouldn't care, but I figured the DP would feel they could sell a couple extra papers if they had a game story. Guess not.

Bet if you volunteered to be an ad Hoc writer for them of Tribe BB games that they would jump at the chance! Your got the creditability but do you want to take the time?

Yes, but then Billymac would have to report it the way it really is and not just the way this board wants it to be (you know, report things like bad defense, dumb fouls from Nathan, etc). Probably more trouble and grief than Billymac wants or needs.

Is there a journalism school at Wm & Mary? Maybe journalism related? If so, why not offer the job to next DTeel who is presently at student?

(12-02-2018 05:20 PM)Zorch Wrote:  Yes, but then Billymac would have to report it the way it really is and not just the way this board wants it to be (you know, report things like bad defense, dumb fouls from Nathan, etc). Probably more trouble and grief than Billymac wants or needs.

I actually considered doing that, back in the 1990's, when the Times-Dispatch basically put us on the back burner, unless we were playing UR or VCU, but never worked it out.

Now, as Zorch so succinctly put it...it is "Probably more trouble and grief than Billymac wants or needs."