So Where Are We At ????

[newmexicuse]

Team played great; however, it was against a far less athletic and talented opponent.

Many have said & I agree that Trevor is our offensive linchpin. When he shoots well, we score well, when he struggles, we struggle as a team to score. Was this a breakout game for him or just a return to his early season form when he showed the ability to score against less talented opponents ??? The opponents will start to get much better than WMU, very rapidly from this point on in the tourney. Maybe an easy game against Dayton, maybe not, but definitely tough going after them. As long as Trevor can get three or more treys per game on 40%+ shooting, I like our chances. We might be able to survive one off game from him, but definitely not two.

Ennis - I thought he was simply spectacular yesterday, even by his standards. Not much more to say.

CJ & Jerami - Very solid games by both, particularly by Jerami.

BMX - they do what they do. Good D and good boardwork. I do not understand why X's scoring has regressed so much from earlier in the season when he looked like he was turning a corner. I think we will need one or two ten point outings from X if we are to make a deep run.

G - same old, same old. he had a couple of great drives & dishes, but it is really hard to take zero scoring from a 2G getting 15 or so MPG - please no more of him upfront.

Roberson - I must be a dumb bunny, I just fail to see the harm he does in a 5 to 10 minute stint to get CJ & Jerami some rest. I have posted too many times about this to go into more detail.

A sighting !!! - If we can find Buss & BJ on the court we can certainly find the missing 777. Far too late for them to play in a close game this season, but they showed me enough to wonder what might have been if they were given a developmental minutes throughout the course of the season. Bottom line - I hope Trevor does it game in & game out, but if he falters, it would be nice to have had an o spark option to come off the bench.

Jimmy - Almost zero complaints about yesterday, but it is easy to spread the minutes in a rout. My one concern was that in the first half he put G in the rotations. Hasn't he seen enough of G upfront - I know I have and I hope that is not a portent of things to come ???

 

[Sgt Cuse]

By far the most encouraging sign for me was Cooney hitting. It has rejuvenated the hope and excitement for a run.

I think it is a common mistake to claim TC only hit against less talented opponents. SU had one of its hardest OOC's in years. The dropoff in percentages did not seem to be talent vs non-talent. TC bombed away vs 'Nova, he hurt teams in Maui. The dropoff showed OOC vs in-conference. My concern had been the increase in pressure affecting his performance. Great to see TC hit in a pressure game.

As far as Roberson, please give it up. Yes, JB could have given TR 10 minutes a game all year. Yes, many have been pining for the year NC State has had. Yes, that could have been us. But it's not. And way to up your game, and your crusade, to now include Buss and BJ. Why no love for Nolan Hart though, the guy nailed that 3, if only he hadn't been Boeheimed.

 

[edowd26]

A sighting !!! - If we can find Buss & BJ on the court we can certainly find the missing 777. Far too late for them to play in a close game this season, but they showed me enough to wonder what might have been if they were given a developmental minutes throughout the course of the season. Bottom line - I hope Trevor does it game in & game out, but if he falters, it would be nice to have had an o spark option to come off the bench.

e ???

I was waiting for the door to open. Thank you.

 

[newmexicuse]

Hey Sarge, I know you are in the Jimmy can do no wrong camp. Don't get me wrong, I admire Jimmy, also, but I do not agree 100% with what he does.

Truthfully, I think the 25 & 0 was surrealistic for this group & unsustainable, but I have felt all along that the team could be better prepared for a March run than it actually is, even if the regular season record was a bit worse. Time will tell. Will we go deep & exceed expectations? Will we lose on a bad Trevor game w no backup trey threat ? Will Jerami re-injury himself from overuse ? Will CJ falter near the end of a close game where he has played all 40 ? Will G get more minutes upfront despite failing to score or procure a rebound ?

These are my concerns, I hope it plays out that Jimmy was right and I was wrong.

 

[br801]

Team played great; however, it was against a far less athletic and talented opponent.

I knew you'd find some way to diminish a thoroughly dominating performance in an elimination game setting.

 

[TheCusian]

Team played great; however, it was against a far less athletic and talented opponent. Many have said & I agree that Trevor is our offensive linchpin. When he shoots well, we score well, when he struggles, we struggle as a team to score. Was this a breakout game for him or just a return to his early season form when he showed the ability to score against less talented opponents ??? The opponents will start to get much better than WMU, very rapidly from this point on in the tourney. Maybe an easy game against Dayton, maybe not, but definitely tough going after them. As long as Trevor can get three or more treys per game on 40%+ shooting, I like our chances. We might be able to survive one off game from him, but definitely not two. Ennis - I thought he was simply spectacular yesterday, even by his standards. Not much more to say. CJ & Jerami - Very solid games by both, particularly by Jerami. BMX - they do what they do. Good D and good boardwork. I do not understand why X's scoring has regressed so much from earlier in the season when he looked like he was turning a corner. I think we will need one or two ten point outings from X if we are to make a deep run. G - same old, same old. he had a couple of great drives & dishes, but it is really hard to take zero scoring from a 2G getting 15 or so MPG - please no more of him upfront. Roberson - I must be a dumb bunny, I just fail to see the harm he does in a 5 to 10 minute stint to get CJ & Jerami some rest. I have posted too many times about this to go into more detail. A sighting !!! - If we can find Buss & BJ on the court we can certainly find the missing 777. Far too late for them to play in a close game this season, but they showed me enough to wonder what might have been if they were given a developmental minutes throughout the course of the season. Bottom line - I hope Trevor does it game in & game out, but if he falters, it would be nice to have had an o spark option to come off the bench. Jimmy - Almost zero complaints about yesterday, but it is easy to spread the minutes in a rout. My one concern was that in the first half he put G in the rotations. Hasn't he seen enough of G upfront - I know I have and I hope that is not a portent of things to come ???

No harm? If he isn't defending or rebounding or scoring points like CJ and Grant - than he's a liability in close games.

 

[newmexicuse]

No harm? If he isn't defending or rebounding or scoring points like CJ and Grant - than he's a liability in close games.

For the upteenth time, you don't substitute because the guy you are putting in is better than the guy you are taking out. You substitute so that your starters will have fresh legs, be well rested, and be at their 100% best during the last 5 minutes of close games. The substitute only has to hold the fort for a stretch. By your logic, why do we even play G - why not just let Ennis and Trevor play all 40 ???? Let's just get down to a 5 man rotation unless X gets into foul trouble before we even bring in the 6th man.

Haven't you seen enough of CJ and/or Jerami playing tired at the end of their 40 minute outings ????

 

[Sgt Cuse]

Hey NMC - you keep harping on the hypothetical what if, concerning Robersons playing time. It's pretty much been decided, and it didn't go the way you wanted.

JB has decided the gap between CJ and Grant more than offsets the rest TR could give them. It looks like JB decided this a while ago, and has tried to have CJ and Grant adapt and learn how to deal with the minutes.

It's an easy life being a second-guesser, just fade away if what you predict doesn't occur (we rarely see the MCW should have played more crowd). But we are 28-5, in the second round, and playing in Buffalo. So far, so good.

 

[newmexicuse]

Hey NMC - you keep harping on the hypothetical what if, concerning Robersons playing time. It's pretty much been decided, and it didn't go the way you wanted.

JB has decided the gap between CJ and Grant more than offsets the rest TR could give them. It looks like JB decided this a while ago, and has tried to have CJ and Grant adapt and learn how to deal with the minutes.

It's an easy life being a second-guesser, just fade away if what you predict doesn't occur (we rarely see the MCW should have played more crowd). But we are 28-5, in the second round, and playing in Buffalo. So far, so good.

Firstly, yes, I agree on what you say JB has decided, but that doesn't make it right. Jerami's back issues introduce a new variable to that equation, even if you wanted to argue JB's point before that injury occurred. To me Jerami's issue was highly foreseeable, maybe not the back injury in particular, but it was foreseeable that something would happen.

Secondly, I am not second guessing anybody. I have said what I am saying all along, even when we were 25 & 0. I proved to be correct then, the team's late season swoon should not have been as bad as it was. We weren't prepared to handle the adversity of BMK & Jerami missing time and Cooney playing poorly. Would my solutions have worked better ?? Nobody can say for sure, but they certainly could not have worked worse.

Just because we have had one strong game against an inferior foe it does not mean that what went wrong is suddenly fixed.

 

[cusetown1]

Firstly, yes, I agree on what you say JB has decided, but that doesn't make it right. Jerami's back issues introduce a new variable to that equation, even if you wanted to argue JB's point before that injury occurred. To me Jerami's issue was highly foreseeable, maybe not the back injury in particular, but it was foreseeable that something would happen.

Secondly, I am not second guessing anybody. I have said what I am saying all along, even when we were 25 & 0. I proved to be correct then, the team's late season swoon should not have been as bad as it was. We weren't prepared to handle the adversity of BMK & Jerami missing time and Cooney playing poorly. Would my solutions have worked better ?? Nobody can say for sure, but they certainly could not have worked worse.

Just because we have had one strong game against an inferior foe it does not mean that what went wrong is suddenly fixed.

Weren't you in the camp that back injuries linger? Grants 100%.

 

[newmexicuse]

Weren't you in the camp that back injuries linger? Grants 100%.

I am in the camp that back injuries need to be treated carefully. Grant may appear to be 100%, but the question is for how many MPG ?? He is at risk - one bad twist or awkward fall could re-injure him. When have you ever heard of an athlete missing time from a back injury & then coming back as fast as Jerami has come at absolutely 100% ?? It takes time for back injuries to totally heal.

 

[newmexicuse]

I knew you'd find some way to diminish a thoroughly dominating performance in an elimination game setting.

You can't handle the Truth.

 

[br801]

Firstly, yes, I agree on what you say JB has decided, but that doesn't make it right. Jerami's back issues introduce a new variable to that equation, even if you wanted to argue JB's point before that injury occurred. To me Jerami's issue was highly foreseeable, maybe not the back injury in particular, but it was foreseeable that something would happen.

Secondly, I am not second guessing anybody. I have said what I am saying all along, even when we were 25 & 0. I proved to be correct then, the team's late season swoon should not have been as bad as it was. We weren't prepared to handle the adversity of BMK & Jerami missing time and Cooney playing poorly. Would my solutions have worked better ?? Nobody can say for sure, but they certainly could not have worked worse.

Just because we have had one strong game against an inferior foe it does not mean that what went wrong is suddenly fixed.

What went "wrong" is that the team suffered though some injuries and some players failed to perform at their best for a few games. Look around and you'll notice those things often happen in competitive sports.

Few teams stay completely healthy over the course of a long season, regardless of how the coach allocates minutes. Few teams dominate all their opponents. Few teams manage to come out on top every time they're in a close game. Few players play close to their average stat line game after game.

Stop expecting perfection and you might enjoy following this team a bit more.

 

[Sgt Cuse]

Firstly, yes, I agree on what you say JB has decided, but that doesn't make it right. Jerami's back issues introduce a new variable to that equation, even if you wanted to argue JB's point before that injury occurred. To me Jerami's issue was highly foreseeable, maybe not the back injury in particular, but it was foreseeable that something would happen.

Secondly, I am not second guessing anybody. I have said what I am saying all along, even when we were 25 & 0. I proved to be correct then, the team's late season swoon should not have been as bad as it was. We weren't prepared to handle the adversity of BMK & Jerami missing time and Cooney playing poorly. Would my solutions have worked better ?? Nobody can say for sure, but they certainly could not have worked worse.

Just because we have had one strong game against an inferior foe it does not mean that what went wrong is suddenly fixed.

You say you are not second guessing and then say "I proved to be correct then". Not only are you second guessing you are claiming you were right. You have no proof. You are spinning off into hypotheticals again.

Your alledged solutions certainly could have been worse. We are currently 28-5, in the second round, and playing in Buffalo. It seems safe to say we would not be in this position if your strategy had been employed.

Previously, proof of the failure of JB's strategy was if we lost in the first round. Now since that is no longer the case, one game against an inferior foe doesn't mean anything.

 

[kirbivore]

I knew you'd find some way to diminish a thoroughly dominating performance in an elimination game setting.

Well Iggy and Blue Curtain aren't around anymore, so next man up!

 

[Harley912]

I agree with NM. Play Roberson 10 minutes a game to sub for Fair/Grant to keep their minutes around 35. That helps to keep fresh legs and sometimes a few minutes on the bench with a coach can be a good thing. I don't think he is suggesting to take away meaningful minutes.

 

[newmexicuse]

You say you are not second guessing and then say "I proved to be correct then". Not only are you second guessing you are claiming you were right. You have no proof. You are spinning off into hypotheticals again.

Your alledged solutions certainly could have been worse. We are currently 28-5, in the second round, and playing in Buffalo. It seems safe to say we would not be in this position if your strategy had been employed.

Previously, proof of the failure of JB's strategy was if we lost in the first round. Now since that is no longer the case, one game against an inferior foe doesn't mean anything.

I never made that my standard about JB's strategy. In fact, I specifically said I expected us to beat WMU. Why would you think that anybody but a talking head thought we would lose to those guys ? For the record, I fully expect us to beat Dayton regardless. The proof of the pudding will really be in the Sweet Sixteen second weekend games.

My standard for JB's strategy is the FF. I have said all along that this group has FF potential though a FF is far from a given.

If we fall short for one of the reasons cited in my concerns above then I would say JB did not get this team to play up to it's potential. If we get there then kudos to JB & non-kudos to NMC. If we should lose short of the FF in a tight well-played game where none of my concerns comes into play then so be it & I would call it a draw.

And, unlike Iggy or BC (who IMHO would rather be right then see us do our best), I would love us to get to the FF & I would be the first to congratulate Jimmy on a job very well done should that occur.