Rationalization Thread

[Timonen]

It might be like football where there are ten very good teams and everybody else is meh and could win/lose on any night.

Ok, what else we got?

 

[dasher]

It might be like football where there are ten very good teams and everybody else is meh and could win/lose on any night.

Ok, what else we got?

It's early

 

[721Comstock]

Better for the team and Red to learn from a hard-fought W, than a L.

 

[sufan59]

Slight chance this is a Q2 win at the end of the season?

 

[Noexcuse]

We’re already +1 in wins over last year.

 

[pokercuse08]

Ok, what else we got?

1. We came back from down 24 against a tournament team.

2. This team proved it has no quit.

3. If you look at the full schedule, there are a handful of games that will determine whether we get into the dance or not, assuming we're a bubble team. Obviously if we go win a couple games in Maui and turn into a Top 5ish ACC team, that's great and we aren't a bubble team. But assuming we are about what people think we are - a fringe tourney team - then we probably go win one game in Maui and don't knock off LSU, and to get to 19 regular season wins we need 6 of 10 in the winnable but not easy games: Colgate, @Oregon, Pitt x2, @Wake, FSU, NC State x2, Clemson x2.

It was going to be tough to pull off 6 of 9 if we lost to the mid-major at home and had 5 of 9 remaining on the road. Now we can win the home games and steal one of the road games (I guess technically Oregon is neutral), and we should be at a pretty impressive 19-11.

Hopefully the team keeps getting better, pulls a big upset or two along the way, and gets to 20+ wins... But on paper, IMO this was about as close to a "must-win" as you can get in Game #3.

 

[SigChiChef]

1. We came back from down 24 against a tournament team.

2. This team proved it has no quit.

3. If you look at the full schedule, there are a handful of games that will determine whether we get into the dance or not, assuming we're a bubble team. Obviously if we go win a couple games in Maui and turn into a Top 5ish ACC team, that's great and we aren't a bubble team. But assuming we are about what people think we are - a fringe tourney team - then we probably go win one game in Maui and don't knock off LSU, and to get to 19 regular season wins we need 6 of 10 in the winnable but not easy games: Colgate, @Oregon, Pitt x2, @Wake, FSU, NC State x2, Clemson x2.

It was going to be tough to pull off 6 of 9 if we lost to the mid-major at home and had 5 of 9 remaining on the road. Now we can win the home games and steal one of the road games (I guess technically Oregon is neutral), and we should be at a pretty impressive 19-11.

Hopefully the team keeps getting better, pulls a big upset or two along the way, and gets to 20+ wins... But on paper, IMO this was about as close to a "must-win" as you can get in Game #3.

Very very deep post at this point. Wow. Well thought out! Let's see how it ages...I'll keep track

 

[OrangeinBoston]

Depends. If they play defense like their hair is on fire, they could be pretty good. Not great, but pretty good. Need better conditioning to do that for the entire game.

 

[mark79]

1. We came back from down 24 against a tournament team.

2. This team proved it has no quit.

3. If you look at the full schedule, there are a handful of games that will determine whether we get into the dance or not, assuming we're a bubble team. Obviously if we go win a couple games in Maui and turn into a Top 5ish ACC team, that's great and we aren't a bubble team. But assuming we are about what people think we are - a fringe tourney team - then we probably go win one game in Maui and don't knock off LSU, and to get to 19 regular season wins we need 6 of 10 in the winnable but not easy games: Colgate, @Oregon, Pitt x2, @Wake, FSU, NC State x2, Clemson x2.

It was going to be tough to pull off 6 of 9 if we lost to the mid-major at home and had 5 of 9 remaining on the road. Now we can win the home games and steal one of the road games (I guess technically Oregon is neutral), and we should be at a pretty impressive 19-11.

Hopefully the team keeps getting better, pulls a big upset or two along the way, and gets to 20+ wins... But on paper, IMO this was about as close to a "must-win" as you can get in Game #3.

Very solid post

 

[hoopsupstate]

This team still hasn’t figured out how hard they need to play. They showed it late, but very inconsistent. I was happy to see Red take Judah out several times. Red mentioned post game he has to calm him down. Judah does not like coming out, but Red has to do it. He tries to steel everything and then gets blown by. He also falls asleep and just lets his man go right around him. Red has also taken him out when he takes awful shots. Good to see. Judah might want to figure it out. He was terrific the last 6-8 minutes of the game. He was constantly putting pressure on Colgates defense.

 

[OrangeinBoston]

This team still hasn’t figured out how hard they need to play. They showed it late, but very inconsistent. I was happy to see Red take Judah out several times. Red mentioned post game he has to calm him down. Judah does not like coming out, but Red has to do it. He tries to steel everything and then gets blown by. He also falls asleep and just lets his man go right around him. Red has also taken him out when he takes awful shots. Good to see. Judah might want to figure it out. He was terrific the last 6-8 minutes of the game. He was constantly putting pressure on Colgates defense.

Judah needs to realize that he has a long way to go if he thinks he is going to get drafted.

 

[billsin01]

Depends. If they play defense like their hair is on fire, they could be pretty good. Not great, but pretty good. Need better conditioning to do that for the entire game.

My rationalization: We have figured out how to play well for 15 mins in a game (same thing vs. UNH and Canisius, more or less). Now imagine how good we'll be if we can play well for 40 mins!!!!

 

[Zepharus]

Meh, honestly I just want to see max effort. If we play hard and go down, I can live with that until the pieces all fit. What I cannot stand was the lazy effort we got in the later JB years. I saw this in the first half against colgate. they reversed this with 15 to go in the second half. Play hard and Im good...for now

 

[Newhouser]

Meh, honestly I just want to see max effort. If we play hard and go down, I can live with that until the pieces all fit. What I cannot stand was the lazy effort we got in the later JB years. I saw this in the first half against colgate. they reversed this with 15 to go in the second half. Play hard and Im good...for now

I'm half on board with this - max effort is a must, but playing smart would be nice too. In an early sample this team has the worst shot selection I have seen in a while (and that is saying something since the family reunion years). Bad shots are worse than turnovers and we take a bunch.

 

[Doc5120]

My rationalization: We have figured out how to play well for 15 mins in a game (same thing vs. UNH and Canisius, more or less). Now imagine how good we'll be if we can play well for 40 mins!!!!

That would be great, but I don't think it's realistic to play well for 40 minutes. What I would say is realistic, is putting forth effort on both ends of the floor the vast majority of the game. No matter what anyone says, you cannot give 100% effort over the course of an entire game, every possession. The players are human, so there will be mental breakdowns, lapses and plays where the effort isn't their best. That said, it should not be like that for 25 minutes of game time.

We were clearly the more athletic team and when our backs were against the wall, we saw the effort and superior ability come out. Colgate was overwhelmed the last 15 or so min of the game. That kind of effort should be expected for 80% of a game, not 33% of it. And considering we're deeper than we typically are, we should be able to go to the bench more often and get the energy and effort we need since guys don't need to play 35-40 min a night.

 

[billsin01]

That would be great, but I don't think it's realistic to play well for 40 minutes. What I would say is realistic, is putting forth effort on both ends of the floor the vast majority of the game. No matter what anyone says, you cannot give 100% effort over the course of an entire game, every possession. The players are human, so there will be mental breakdowns, lapses and plays where the effort isn't their best. That said, it should not be like that for 25 minutes of game time.

We were clearly the more athletic team and when our backs were against the wall, we saw the effort and superior ability come out. Colgate was overwhelmed the last 15 or so min of the game. That kind of effort should be expected for 80% of a game, not 33% of it. And considering we're deeper than we typically are, we should be able to go to the bench more often and get the energy and effort we need since guys don't need to play 35-40 min a night.

Agreed -- i was throwing my rationalization out there. The reality is clearly far more nuanced. It's just what I'm telling myself to feel better about that win.