7:36 left (U8 timeout) we trail 61-60. We have not scored a bucket in over 5 minutes

4:30 left, this one is about over. down 69-64. We are 12-21 from the free throw line

1:15 left. Just gave up 2 straight offensive boards. We are spent. Down 71-66

We are 2 for our last 14. We have nothing left.

Trapped in the corner UNCW called their final timeout. 71-68 with 40 seconds left

We played it out vs fouling. We missed the 3 pointer though.

Lost 73-68. Tough way to lose. Should have done better. Blew another double digit lead in the second half and still never learned how to defend Farrar.

Tough loss indeed.

Looking at the big picture....I guess it was the kind of season most of us expected. They finished with their 3rd straight winning season. And despite losing Cam and some others, they slightly exceeded the 7th place coaches poll prediction by finishing 5th. I had minimal expectations for this team, so they slightly exceeded them in my estimation. Yes, they had some terrible losses on the road to some bad teams that could have had them finishing higher, but it's still CAA competition, and there's no guaranteed wins at this level.

(03-05-2023 06:29 PM)J.B. Wrote:  Tough loss indeed.

Looking at the big picture....I guess it was the kind of season most of us expected. They finished with their 3rd straight winning season. And despite losing Cam and some others, they slightly exceeded the 7th place coaches poll prediction by finishing 5th. I had minimal expectations for this team, so they slightly exceeded them in my estimation. Yes, they had some terrible losses on the road to some bad teams that could have had them finishing higher, but it's still CAA competition, and there's no guaranteed wins at this level.

This is all very true. I don’t think anyone would have thought we could win the league back in November.

The issue is…what evidence do we have that Spiker can put together things next year…or even the year after? Every year feels like a rebuild. Can he actually keep this roster intact? If someone like Amari stays…can he get him to play to his potential?

I only saw one play in the first half while we were watching warmups at the big east women’s tournament. Amari brought the ball up like he’s some kind of point guard. Spiker needs to tell him to get his ass in the post and leave that to a guard. He actually did catch a pass in the post later in that possession. The defender dared him to spin baseline…which surprisingly he did…but then he blew the bunny.

A player who ho could score at will isn’t because his coach doesn’t have the guts to take control. Meanwhile the PSU coach called out Cam by saying he plays like a freshman, essentially benched him, and now Cam has hit easily the 2 biggest shots of his career.

I have no idea what style of play we want to use. I couldn’t watch us…Part because the outcome was predictable…but mostly I couldn’t figure out what the hell we were trying to do. Whoever thought we could be a hard nosed defensive team is an idiot. It worked to the tune of losing to Elon and all the other CAA doormats.

Bottom line is we’ll find out what our AD is about in the next year. Spiker doesn’t go now. He’ll go next year if we’re still this scattered and inconsistent team and Maisha Kelly has higher aspirations. You won’t be a power 5 AD if you can’t develop a solid flagship program. If she wants to drop anchor like so many others…things are probably fine…and I’ll keep sticking to women’s basketball.

Towson won big as well last night so we have predictably the top 4 seeds left. Lots of blowouts this tournament. Though here out should be entertaining basketball.

dan10- 8-1
DrachenFire 8-1
Dragon For Life 6-3

For today betting matchups:
Hofstra -6.5
Charleston -6

(03-06-2023 05:26 AM)hiroshimacarp Wrote:  

(03-05-2023 06:29 PM)J.B. Wrote:  Tough loss indeed.

Looking at the big picture....I guess it was the kind of season most of us expected. They finished with their 3rd straight winning season. And despite losing Cam and some others, they slightly exceeded the 7th place coaches poll prediction by finishing 5th. I had minimal expectations for this team, so they slightly exceeded them in my estimation. Yes, they had some terrible losses on the road to some bad teams that could have had them finishing higher, but it's still CAA competition, and there's no guaranteed wins at this level.

This is all very true. I don’t think anyone would have thought we could win the league back in November.

The issue is…what evidence do we have that Spiker can put together things next year…or even the year after? Every year feels like a rebuild. Can he actually keep this roster intact? If someone like Amari stays…can he get him to play to his potential?

I only saw one play in the first half while we were watching warmups at the big east women’s tournament. Amari brought the ball up like he’s some kind of point guard. Spiker needs to tell him to get his ass in the post and leave that to a guard. He actually did catch a pass in the post later in that possession. The defender dared him to spin baseline…which surprisingly he did…but then he blew the bunny.

A player who ho could score at will isn’t because his coach doesn’t have the guts to take control. Meanwhile the PSU coach called out Cam by saying he plays like a freshman, essentially benched him, and now Cam has hit easily the 2 biggest shots of his career.

I have no idea what style of play we want to use. I couldn’t watch us…Part because the outcome was predictable…but mostly I couldn’t figure out what the hell we were trying to do. Whoever thought we could be a hard nosed defensive team is an idiot. It worked to the tune of losing to Elon and all the other CAA doormats.

Bottom line is we’ll find out what our AD is about in the next year. Spiker doesn’t go now. He’ll go next year if we’re still this scattered and inconsistent team and Maisha Kelly has higher aspirations. You won’t be a power 5 AD if you can’t develop a solid flagship program. If she wants to drop anchor like so many others…things are probably fine…and I’ll keep sticking to women’s basketball.

I'm just not sure if Ms. Kelly is much different than Dr. Zillmer from the perspective of "win at all costs". The school is kind of in that same situation that they were in with Bruiser in the middle of his tenure. Both coaches had won them just enough games and are competitive enough to not warrant a firing. It took Bruiser a few years of awful to finally get replaced. Hopefully it doesn't come to that. I have no control over who they hire or fire so I just go along for the ride.

Youre right, it feels very much similar. Only difference was Bruiser's success was more consistent and sustained until the end. Zach has been average all along but managed a title that alluded Bruiser. Not sure with Zach I have ever truly felt like we were at the top. Lots of potential that never seems to pan out. Another coach where we felt we should have more to show than we do, but knowing we could definitely have worse too. Good enough is the right phrase for the past decade plus.

We're 7 years in and I have no idea what our identity is as a program. I know it was supposed to be a faster and more dynamic product going by how he ran things at Army and the #ThinkBigPlayFast of Year 1, but now we're slower (comparably) than we were under Bru. We don't have anybody to "swing back" when the opposition hits us and the coach doesn't like calling TOs during negative phases which allow runs to grow out of control. I very much want Spiker to be the guy, but I kind of feel like 4-5 seed, 1-1 in the CAAT, 0-3 games over .500 is the ceiling we can reach. Last year, experienced team coming off a tournament bid goes 5-4 home and away and gets the 4-seed.

Ms. Kelly may end up not being much more than Dr. Zillmer, but I'd guess that if things get/stay stagnant, she'd want to make her own hire. If you have greater ambitions beyond being the AD at Drexel you're going to need to show you can keep a flagship program above water

I have the same reservations as most about Spiker. He deserves one more year but, I have little faith in him. His recruiting has been pretty average at best and if players do well it is an accident i.e., Yamme( who should have been playing since day one). Bruiser atleast recruited consistent. If Spiker was a really good coach he wouldn't have had so many transfers over the past few years especially coming off a NCAAT birth.

I think Spiker is simply not a great X's and O's coach. He's an okay recruiter but the upside is always going to be limited with him at the helm. I don't think we'll ever be bottom feeders with him, but I can't see us being front-runners either. His in-game coaching just isn't good enough to get us to play above our talent level.

I don't hold the transfers against him, though. That's the reality of basketball in 2023 at this level.

UNCW advances in OT.

Charleston and Towson tied at 20 so far at the U8

Towson playing to their potential. up 38-33 at half.

Charleston hitting shots now this half. U12 58-47 Charleston leads now.

Charleston held on. What a game what a night. Great showcase for our conference