Figure there isnt enough traffic for gameday threads for each game so figure we can just have 1 big thread for all discussions, in game, post game whatever.

We open our season in the big five classic against La Salle tomorrow 11/7 at La Salle. Fresh season against a bad team, hope we are prepared and put them away quickly. They are projected to finish last in the A10 (15th). Khalil Brantley (6'1") was their leading scorer this past season and he is still around. He did not participate last year against us. Their leading scorer from a season ago against us Anwar Gill (6'4") is also still on the roster. They will be a guard driven team so we will have to close out and defend the 3 point line.

Amari should be able to get anything he wants down low. Same with Lucas Monroe. Will be watching our rotations and be curious how we get into a rhythm. Also how long Spiker has a leash for players having off games. We struggle against Philly teams, so hopefully we come out and change that, but I have my doubts. Also this is a road game.

Drexel- 71
La Salle- 62

i like monroe's leadership possibilities. he seemed to have that potential in the times i saw him for penn last year. did all the little things like defend. the biggest thing this team needs is somebody on the floor telling guys like amari williams to knock it off if they cop an attitude.

rotations are spiker's biggest weakness. he has a lot of pieces to play with and i'm not sure that's necessarily a good thing.

We played pretty well at Gola last year. I see no reason to think we cannot repeat it.

I'll be watching for Williams' alleged attitude. I saw some comments last year on this. I watched a lot of games at the DAC last year, and I frankly have no idea what you people are talking about.

(11-06-2023 10:28 AM)JonP Wrote:  We played pretty well at Gola last year. I see no reason to think we cannot repeat it.

I'll be watching for Williams' alleged attitude. I saw some comments last year on this. I watched a lot of games at the DAC last year, and I frankly have no idea what you people are talking about.

That game still went to OT, which would be disastrous from this team. This is a game we need to take care of business from the jump.

Really? From tv/streaming it is super obvious. His moping around when things aren't going well, seemingly not caring at times, not hustling back etc. I just chalked it up to being who he is and when you are the star player you get a little longer leash for those things. I too hope he is a tad more positive attitude-wise out on the court. But if those types of things are not as apparent on the court, then it may not bleed into other players either, which is a good thing.

Game's been tight all night. Hopefully the Dragons' experience helps down the stretch.

You can tell that the team has no faith in the 3 right now, and it's costing them. Disappointing to have such a sloppy opener.

Brutal loss. Amazing a year later, same team and we look the same. This one is not an acceptable loss at all. La Salle is projected to be the worst team in the A-10. Offense was stagnant and standing around again and we still lack many players who can create their own shot when needed. Amari also disappeared in the 2nd half, and that can't happen. But the lack of progression by anyone is alarming

i'm going to be dramatic and call the temple game tuesday night the most important game spiker has coached at drexel. obviously he's not getting fired on wednesday if we lose and he'll have time to make up for it especially in the caa tournament. i don't see how we position ourselves for a late run without at least 1 big win in the non-conference schedule.

if we had a normal athletic department...two losses to city opponents to start out the season with an experienced team in year 8 would be unacceptable. one of them would be at home with what hopefully will be a great atmosphere similar to the penn game.

have to start winning these types of games. have to.

Absolutely. We escaped at Winthrop. We were losing almost all of that game, but we never quit and hung around. I was proud that our veteran team never folded on the road. Going into the Temple game at 0-2 would have been completely unacceptable, yet we nearly did. Losing to La Salle all but assured we will not be playing Nova for the title, but we need to salvage at a win. I am hoping we have been setting up our home game on campus for quite the crowd. This game warrants it too. In fact it should have been sold out as soon as the game came out. It is definitely important if we are going to be taken seriously in the city as a member. Bringing in an experienced team then going 0-2 in our inaugural season should be a fireable offense.

(11-13-2023 07:43 AM)hiroshimacarp Wrote:  i'm going to be dramatic and call the temple game tuesday night the most important game spiker has coached at drexel. obviously he's not getting fired on wednesday if we lose and he'll have time to make up for it especially in the caa tournament. i don't see how we position ourselves for a late run without at least 1 big win in the non-conference schedule.

if we had a normal athletic department...two losses to city opponents to start out the season with an experienced team in year 8 would be unacceptable. one of them would be at home with what hopefully will be a great atmosphere similar to the penn game.

have to start winning these types of games. have to.

I wouldn't say it's the most important game of his career...that would have been the CAA Championship game a few years back. But it is important...not for how the team will fare this season. A CAA team losing to a AAC team normally shouldn't be that big of a deal. But it's important in terms of the perception in the city. Drexel spent 50 years in the shadow of the Big 5, being told that they weren't good enough or weren't important enough to be part of the group of "bigger" schools in Philadelphia. If Drexel loses this game and cements themselves into the 5-6 game of the Big 5 Tournament, then it will give other Philadelphia fans the perception that maybe Drexel doesn't belong. They missed the opportunity last Tuesday to show that they belong. This would be a chance to make up for that loss.

As of right now, the game is basically sold out and will be. There are just singles left in sections 2-4, 7-8. A few seats left in the back row of 6, but there are a decent number of seats left in 9 next to the band. I'm sure those seats will be filled. Drexel always encourages the students to show up for opening night, even if they're playing Bryn Athn. I'm sure they'll have a sold out student turnout tomorrow.

the caa title game was important in that without it...i would have been whining for him to be gone last year or even the year before. it's really the only thing he can hang his hat on.

putting the city's perception aside...the game is important for MY perception of the program...and yours and all the other drexel fans. he has to do something to show we're taking steps in the right direction.

Keep in mind. La Salle picked dead last in the A10. Temple picked 12th out of 14 in the AAC. We were picked 3rd in the CAA. All things being equal, this was the year we were supposed to be the best of the bunch. Instead we are stumbling and confirming everyone's biases. Its a big game and we need to win it to make up for losing to La Salle. Starting 0-2 in this season in the Big Five really does show we havent really done much as far as growing as a program.

I have been questioning how good Drexel will actually be this year. I proposed this question a few months ago....would a mediocre team from last year who brings back the entire team be much better, or still be mediocre? I also think that the CAA has taken such a fall that is a team predicted 3rd in the CAA a very good team? Are they better than the 12th place team in the AAC?

The other thing about the La Salle game, is that it was a Big 5 game. Even though Drexel didn't play well, La Salle's defense had something to do with that. As they always say with City Series games along with most other rivalry games, "you can throw the records out the window". Drexel historically plays well at the DAC and poorly on the road. Hope the home court advantage works in their favor tomorrow night.

Your first question was the question. We shot so poorly last year, despite having some good shooters. Had to figure that would correct itself some this year (or maybe not with our offensive style/playbook). Its also safe to assume that players will progress and be better than the year prior. If your players are not progressing then the wrong folks are in charge of the players. Also, as you alluded to, the league on the whole took a step back losing highly talented players (via graduation and transfer).

But the league is still top heavy, so the top 4/5 teams are absolutely better than the bottom of the A10 or the bottom of the AAC. The conference's bottom is just that much worse than the bottom of those conferences. So yes a top 3 team should be expecting to beat the bottom of those conferences, regardless of the name on the jersey. I think the conference will end up with 3 teams in the top 100 (could be a stretch if we dont start producing).

There's two ways to read the fact that we lost no one to the portal:
- Our players like the program, the coach, the university, whatever. They have bought into what Drexel is offering.
- None of our players were good enough to merit attention from higher level programs.

Far, far too early to say which is right.

House may be our only true outside threat, and that could be a problem. (Sample size is so small right now that it's hard to draw any conclusions.)

so let's say we lose tomorrow and what jb said is true that we were a mediocre (at best) team last year and we're still a mediocre team this year...which is very possible...

wouldn't that be the right time to make a coaching change?

i could make the argument that we've already seen enough to know we're not going to seriously contend for the caa championship with the status quo. i would have put the chance of this happening under zilmer to be 0%. it's a new sheriff though and i understood her to say she wants to be competing for the championship at least every few years.

i still don't think it will happen. the changes at penn state, texas a & m, and mississippi state remind me of what things are like elsewhere. spiker would have been long gone at places like that. not saying that's the right way to do things either.

i just want a reason to stay interested. we talk about attendance and you have to give people a reason to stay in it. i'm debating the men's/women's doubleheader or the villanova-temple women's game after i run the marathon sunday. i'll be more interested in how denise dillon is adjusting to life without maddy siegrist because she has a better chance to figure that out.

Slightly OT: Penn knocked off Villanova tonight at the Palestra. The Quakers have a shot at playing in the Big 5 title game.

Do they though? Nova likely would need to lose to St Joes still. Their pod is also staring down all 3 going 1-1 which then leads to the top NET team advancing (which would be tough not to be Nova).

Our line tonight opened at 3.5 and moved up to 5.5 and has since dropped to 4.5

i was thinking that i don't want to sound too negative. i want us to win. i really do. certain things need to start being considered if we don't. we shouldn't ever be the program that fires a coach after 1 season unless something really catastrophic happens. we also shouldn't be the program that lets things drag on for years before shaking things up.

also big shout out to greg cusick for the promotions lined up this year. the other reason we might go to the doubleheader sunday is the voucher for another future game. that's three games for the price of 1.