I have to admit

[tee1222]

Lot of positivity still on this board amidst the outrage over the What loss. I get it, we lost a game we shouldn't have and I understand people being concerned. I however, am not. We lost 4 out of 6 games during one stretch last season. And my oh my look where we ended up.

This team is still destined for greatness. And I know some of you still believe. Proud of the boys, proud of my board posse that keeps up the love.

Don't worry. I still believe our dancing shoes will be all polished and shiny come March.

 

[zeekay]

Lots of positivity because 80% of the threads got (and still are getting) deleted by mods. I think overall the fanbase is pissed. We'll see what happens at Duke though especially as far as our effort.

 

[longislandcuse]

Difference between this year and last year is our defense went beast mode in the Tournament. The way Ennis and Cooney are playing on defense means we're going to have to actually score some points.

 

[dollarbill44]

Difference between this year and last year is our defense went beast mode in the Tournament. The way Ennis and Cooney are playing on defense means we're going to have to actually score some points.

Ennis and Cooney aren't the problem on defense. The wing play of late has been horrible. Grant and Fair have been out of position a lot lately and with BMK out, Rak can't be as aggressive as he likes to shut down dribble drives.

 

[Orangemen]

What it comes down to is that the regular season doesn't matter as much as we all think it does sometimes. And most people on this board know that.

This year we were getting caught up in being undefeated and #1 overall seed talk. But basically none of that really matters. Being ranked #1 is great, and we got that. Getting a #1 seed is great, and we've still got a great shot at that.

But look at last year. We got sent to California and played a team playing 20 miles from its campus in the second round, then got everybody's #1 team in the sweet 16, and we still easily made the final four.

Buffalo and NYC would be nice for the fans, but ultimately meaningless for our chances. We need a great draw, and we need to play well in March and April. Last nights loss didn't change anything about what really matters.

 

[longislandcuse]

What it comes down to is that the regular season doesn't matter as much as we all think it does sometimes. And most people on this board know that.

This year we were getting caught up in being undefeated and #1 overall seed talk. But basically none of that really matters. Being ranked #1 is great, and we got that. Getting a #1 seed is great, and we've still got a great shot at that.

But look at last year. We got sent to California and played a team playing 20 miles from its campus in the second round, then got everybody's #1 team in the sweet 16, and we still easily made the final four.

Buffalo and NYC would be nice for the fans, but ultimately meaningless for our chances. We need a great draw, and we need to play well in March and April. Last nights loss didn't change anything about what really matters.

I just dont see us losing to anyone in Buffalo or MSG to be honest. Thats why I want it.

 

[longislandcuse]

Ennis and Cooney aren't the problem on defense. The wing play of late has been horrible. Grant and Fair have been out of position a lot lately and with BMK out, Rak can't be as aggressive as he likes to shut down dribble drives.

I think theyre definitely part of it. Teams dont get open looks like that when G is up top. How many times do we see kickouts for wide open threes and Cooney or especially Ennis are standing almost under the basket. Let your man go, hes not getting that shot up over our shot blockers, and even if he does...we're not losing to a team on contested 2 pointers. BC beat us with the 3 ball. Thats the only chance teams have against us.

 

[Garbs]

I think because the level headed realize in the grand scheme of what we are trying to do this game doesn't mean anything, and could help this team learn a great lesson.

 

[Eric15]

Lot of positivity still on this board amidst the outrage over the What loss. I get it, we lost a game we shouldn't have and I understand people being concerned. I however, am not. We lost 4 out of 6 games during one stretch last season. And my oh my look where we ended up.

This team is still destined for greatness. And I know some of you still believe. Proud of the boys, proud of my board posse that keeps up the love.

Don't worry. I still believe our dancing shoes will be all polished and shiny come March.

I feel like this could be a billboard for Viagra.

 

[Garbs]

I just dont see us losing to anyone in Buffalo or MSG to be honest. Thats why I want it.

really because I think Cincy and Louisville have done it very recently

 

[longislandcuse]

really because I think Cincy and Louisville have done it very recently

I dont know what this means since im talking about this team, this year.

 

[Eric15]

really because I think Cincy and Louisville have done it very recently

Garbs would you still be shocked if we lost at Virginia? I'm not asking that as a gotcha question at all, I'm genuinely curious.

 

[Marsh01]

Garbs would you still be shocked if we lost at Virginia? I'm not asking that as a gotcha question at all, I'm genuinely curious.

I would be surprised yes.

 

[Garbs]

Garbs would you still be shocked if we lost at Virginia? I'm not asking that as a gotcha question at all, I'm genuinely curious.

Yes, I have thought our first loss would be of the What variety, I thought it would be Maryland though. I think we will be ready for this game because it is the most important game left, we can lose to Duke and still win the ACC at UVA.

 

[Garbs]

I dont know what this means since im talking about this team, this year.

it means we could face Cincy/Ville/Nova/UConn at MSG all teams who have beaten us there before

 

[newmexicuse]

Losing a game does not matter. What does matter is how we are playing, and we have been playing very poorly of late.

Yes, last year we had a FF run, but the team was upswinging going into the Dance.

Can that happen again this year - maybe, but I for one would rather have a team gathering some momentum going into March. I don't care that we are 25 - 1. I would rather be 22 - 4 & have fresh starters and a contributing bench and be a team that is starting to find itself rather than a team that looks tired and is playing not to lose as opposed to playing to win as we did earlier in the season.

 

[Marsh01]

Losing a game does not matter. What does matter is how we are playing, and we have been playing very poorly of late.

Yes, last year we had a FF run, but the team was upswinging going into the Dance.

Can that happen again this year - maybe, but I for one would rather have a team gathering some momentum going into March. I don't care that we are 25 - 1. I would rather be 22 - 4 & have fresh starters and a contributing bench and be a team that is starting to find itself rather than a team that looks tired and is playing not to lose as opposed to playing to win as we did earlier in the season.

It can change in a snap. We were at our lowest point of the season after Georgetown last year (which BTW was waaaaay lower than what happened last night) and I remember people saying we had 2 games left. One in the BET and one in the NCAA's. Worked out pretty well.

 

[tee1222]

It can change in a snap. We were at our lowest point of the season after Georgetown last year (which BTW was waaaaay lower than what happened last night) and I remember people saying we had 2 games left. One in the BET and one in the NCAA's. Worked out pretty well.

Ah, someone with his memory still intact. Kudos, brother. Not sure why people so easily forget how down and out we seemed last year.

 

[Trueblue25]

I am a beacon of positivity.

Rally around me Orange nation.

 

[Marsh01]

Ah, someone with his memory still intact. Kudos, brother. Not sure why people so easily forget how down and out we seemed last year.

It was awful. I was walking around DC in a freaking daze wondering What is happening to our team. I could barely even drink (well not really I think I got bombed that night) but you get my drift.

 

[orangetrojan]

Contrary to some people's "the sky is falling" attitude, I actually think the season gets more interesting as I believe we are going to learn a lot more about what this team is made of. If this game wasn't a kick square in the jimmies, I dont know what is. But I'm way more interested to see how this team reacts to the loss. I think to an extent some of the sunshine pumpers were hiding behind the zero in our record pretending that this team has no issues and we just play down to the competition.

Well all of that has changed now, the flaws are staring this team straight in the face, what they do about it will determine how far we go in the tourney.

 

[Orangemen]

Losing a game does not matter. What does matter is how we are playing, and we have been playing very poorly of late.

Yes, last year we had a FF run, but the team was upswinging going into the Dance.

Can that happen again this year - maybe, but I for one would rather have a team gathering some momentum going into March. I don't care that we are 25 - 1. I would rather be 22 - 4 & have fresh starters and a contributing bench and be a team that is starting to find itself rather than a team that looks tired and is playing not to lose as opposed to playing to win as we did earlier in the season.

Yeah, but that upswing started about halfway into our first BET game. We stumbled into the BET, and opened looking like crap against SHU. It wasn't till southerland starting going off in that game that we got on an upswing.

Our run to the FF wasn't all that different in structure than uconns run to a title a couple years back. The regular season is nice, but if you get hot in March and April, that is literally all that matters in regards to a run or a title.

 

[newmexicuse]

It can change in a snap. We were at our lowest point of the season after Georgetown last year (which BTW was waaaaay lower than what happened last night) and I remember people saying we had 2 games left. One in the BET and one in the NCAA's. Worked out pretty well.

Yes, but structually this team has a major flaw in that there is no offensive catalyst that comes off of the bench for a spark in the present rotation. Last year we had guys who could fill that role. That has finally caught up with us against BC. The current mindset seems to be to have every game be in the 50's and that we will prevail more often than not in the end due to our D and experience. I absolutely agree that that will happen - most of the time. However, if we are to get to the FF again, we need another piece, and I believe that we have some talent on the bench that could help if they were given the opportunity and a role.

 

[Marsh01]

Yes, but structually this team has a major flaw in that there is no offensive catalyst that comes off of the bench for a spark in the present rotation. Last year we had guys who could fill that role. That has finally caught up with us against BC. The current mindset seems to be to have every game be in the 50's and that we will prevail more often than not in the end due to our D and experience. I absolutely agree that that will happen - most of the time. However, if we are to get to the FF again, we need another piece, and I believe that we have some talent on the bench that could help if they were given the opportunity and a role.

Well in defense we really didnt get many point production off the bench last year post Georgetown. I just looked at all the box scores. Keita was a big contributor. Cooney was a couple points here and there and Grant gave us nothing.

 

[Madbiker]

It can change in a snap. We were at our lowest point of the season after Georgetown last year (which BTW was waaaaay lower than what happened last night) and I remember people saying we had 2 games left. One in the BET and one in the NCAA's. Worked out pretty well.

Yep. Hope we can draw Montana and Cal again (lol). A lot of it is just who you get matched up with...teams you can handle or teams that can exploit your weaknesses.