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How many

Lakeview Brave said:
How many guards will have thier best games of the year or ever against us? Add Gabe Moore to the list.
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Wasn't he guarded by Dan Ruffin, the messiah? The one who was going to change everything? Gabe Moore is an OK senior guard, but come on. He torched our 'all-world' guard, as have several other guards this year who have had far less fanfare. I guess the writing was on the wall with Josh Mayo's game in the opener.
 
My post was not to blame Ruff just pointing out that somehow guards on other teams have had much better than normal nights against us. We are seeing a pattern at this point.
 
I'm just saying that I thought Ruffin pretty much played a very good game. It's not enough when this team is gonna go 3-297 or whatever from 3 pt range.
 
thefish7 said:
I'm just saying that I thought Ruffin pretty much played a very good game. It's not enough when this team is gonna go 3-297 or whatever from 3 pt range.
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He played average at best. He didn't shoot well, and the man he guarded most of the night had a near-career high. He also had several drives to the baseline and lane where he got hung up and either passed the ball to a player who was in position to turn it over, or turned it over himself. He's averaging 5 turnovers the last 2 games, shot 7 for 23 from the field, and yet some people are saying that he's played great in both games. What games are you guys watching?
 
Lakeview Brave said:
Maybe he is still hurt?
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No one was saying that when we were winning 6 in a row. He sure hasn't looked hurt. He was quoted as saying he's slowed down his game and not jumped in the air as much because of the injury, but I have seen a lot of that the last 2 games, which would indicate he's getting healthier. He was healthy enough to play all 40 minutes tonight. No excuses.
 
I don't think he's hurt. He didn't shoot well, though I thought he did a fair amount of creating with passes. What I said above was referring to defense (though that wasn't clear). You say the "guy he was guarding," but I don't think defense is that easily understood. Ruffin didn't stick with one guy all night, and I was just saying, I don't remember him getting lit up all night, but instead remember him as playing some of the better defense of the game-- it's a team effort though, and I'll agree with you, Bradley's was substandard tonight.
 
We lost this game because we could not make 3 pointers and yet we just kept on shooting them, we started out the game by going inside and getting 2 dunks by T.Wilson and then hardly went inside again; because we choose not to try and pound the ball inside we are pretty much stuck with mostly 3 point shots and when you have a bad night shooting just about anyone can beat you, there is no excuse for a team that only has a couple of good players on it to beat Bradley . We are also playing our guys way too many minutes and when your legs are gone your shots come up short, Cole-Scott should be getting at leat 5 to 6 minutes a game if only to get Ruffin, Crouch, and Warren a breather ; I also thought that we should have went to Warren more in the 2nd half as he was beating his man off the dribble consistently.
 
BU RICK said:
I would also like to see us go more inside, don't know why we don't try it a little more.
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Our bigs are disgraceful. That is why. They have ping-pong paddles for hands. Making uncontested layups is as difficult as solving the Rubik's Cube to them. They are completely inept, and Merfeld should be run out of town if, in fact, his primary responsibility on this coaching staff is "developing" the bigs.
 
ER3 said:
Our bigs are disgraceful. That is why. They have ping-pong paddles for hands. Making uncontested layups is as difficult as solving the Rubik's Cube to them. They are completely inept, and Merfeld should be run out of town if, in fact, his primary responsibility on this coaching staff is "developing" the bigs.
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If the bigs aren't very good to begin with, why should Merf be run out of town? I personally don't think they're overly talented. Good enough to play better than we are? Maybe. It's game to game with them. Unfortunately, the best big man on the roster is redshirting.
 
BU RICK said:
I think we're going to have to wait until next year to see how that plays out and how well Merf is doing with the bigs.
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Well, I guess the one thing he has going for him...it certainly won't be difficult for his 'stable' of bigs to show improvement next year....there is only one way to go from where they are right now.
 
ER3 said:
Well, I guess the one thing he has going for him...it certainly won't be difficult for his 'stable' of bigs to show improvement next year....there is only one way to go from where they are right now.
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What bigs for next year. We need some to commit. AT needs help and all I see we are recruiting is guards. We need 2 good bigs with our remaining schollies.
 
Anthony Thompson may help us some next year but I do not see any other names that we are currently recruiting other then a bunch of guards; I totally understood why we played 4 guards last season but if this is our plan forever then we will have a hard time competing for any championships as you need to have both an inside game and an outside one.I also don"t understand why we did not play more zone defense as Ind.State kept driving down the lane and creating layups or fouls.
 
wily coyote said:
What bigs for next year. We need some to commit. AT needs help and all I see we are recruiting is guards. We need 2 good bigs with our remaining schollies.
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How were Anthony Slack and Dinma Odiakosa performing last year at this time? IMO they are as good as any big in the league including supposed Superman Randall Falker. A lot can change in a year.

I don't like the way our bigs play and I am dissapointed in their performance like everyone else. But, next year could be a different story.

As I have said before many times year two (esp. from a jc player) will show a big difference in a players performance.
 
BradleyBrave said:
If the bigs aren't very good to begin with, why should Merf be run out of town? I personally don't think they're overly talented. Good enough to play better than we are? Maybe. It's game to game with them. Unfortunately, the best big man on the roster is redshirting.
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Well, I guess I was giving the benefit of the doubt to the guy(s) that recruited all of these bigs....or maybe I still have the nonsensical statements about Salley dominating and looking like Falker in pre-season practices in my head.
I don't know...maybe they are all lost causes and Merfeld has nothing to work with...in that case, I guess the recruiters are to blame.
In the end, where the blame lies is not all that important...we're still stuck with a bunch of bigs this year that give us nothing most nights. And now we are left to pin all of our hopes for an improved inside "presence" next year on a redshirt freshman that is 6'10" but weighs less than Andrew Warren? He may have all the offensive ability in the world, but if he comes in next year weighing 195 lbs., I don't see how we can expect him to be much of a physical presence in the post defensively or on the boards...two areas where we need a ton of help.
I don't know, maybe some combination of Austin and Thompson next year will give us what we are looking for.
 
I did not watch the game or hear it last night and if I'm reading the threads correctly we had zero inside game again. My belief is that JL knows that we have no inside game so he is preparing the team for March with what he believes is the only way to make it to the NCAA. Regardless of how much we want the team to go inside if they do not have the bigs to it consistantly then we'll never have an inside game.

On recruiting I wish we could recruit a 6'10" 260 lbs stud but in reality players like that rarely go to mid-majors. We need to win with small ball and get the best basketball players for that type of system. When we get the occasional jewal like POB we'll make our run. Until we can recruit like Memphis and Gonzaga do not expect us to be a top 20 team just be really happy when it happens.

Let's be patient and see what the new facility and a little more time with JL brings us. After all our players are graduating, we have a fun style of ball that eventually will attract the right players and Rome was not built over night.
 
ER3 said:
Well, I guess I was giving the benefit of the doubt to the guy(s) that recruited all of these bigs....or maybe I still have the nonsensical statements about Salley dominating and looking like Falker in pre-season practices in my head.
I don't know...maybe they are all lost causes and Merfeld has nothing to work with...in that case, I guess the recruiters are to blame.
In the end, where the blame lies is not all that important...we're still stuck with a bunch of bigs this year that give us nothing most nights. And now we are left to pin all of our hopes for an improved inside "presence" next year on a redshirt freshman that is 6'10" but weighs less than Andrew Warren? He may have all the offensive ability in the world, but if he comes in next year weighing 195 lbs., I don't see how we can expect him to be much of a physical presence in the post defensively or on the boards...two areas where we need a ton of help.
I don't know, maybe some combination of Austin and Thompson next year will give us what we are looking for.
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Again, not to sound like a broken record, but it goes back to last year's class not having any real quality bigs in it. If we had a capable big instead of Xavier Crawford, we would be in much better shape and perhaps Matt Salley would be in more of a defensive reserve role, where I think he could have excelled.

As far as AT and his weight issues, I will take his height, athleticism, and skill over bulk any day of the week. This is the MVC, and there aren't many skilled bigs to begin with, let alone ones that are 6'10". Even if he comes in at only 200-210, he will give us a significantly improved inside presence.

Some might disagree, but it's looking like Will Egolf should have been the big to redshirt rather than Thompson. But, early on it looked like WE might be able to contribute, so who knows.
 
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