The Line in the Sand

[MrSec224]

It is clear at this point we aren’t as good as we looked in November.

I also believe that we aren’t as bad as we have looked over the last 6 game stretch.

So what are we?

When do we find out for sure?

Sunday - Butler at the XL
Weds - Xavier at Gampel

We have shown we aren’t a good road team…but will we know what this team truly is this time next week?

 

[FfldCntyFan]

There was a cliche that'll many coaches (including JC) used to throw around a lot: "imposing your will on the opponent".

This is something that we've allowed far too often in all of our conference games to date, including our wins.

We let them push us around. All too often we let them dictate the pace. When they press us 3/4 court or full court we never have an answer that could punish them for doing this and we often don't have an answer to cleanly get the ball past midcourt and effectively run our offense.

We've had moments in each of our losses (and in a couple of our wins) where we were in position (mostly in the first half but a couple of times in the second) to put the game well out of reach and destroy any hope the opponent had of competing with us and each time allowed them to fight their way back in the game. We don't have the will (or the stomach) to step on their throats when the opportunity is there.

This team needs more heart, more grit, more courage and a bit of a killer's mentality.

 

[Rakkasan]

Butler will be a tough gauge as they are just not a good team. However, work on getting offensive cohesion and direction back. Restore some confidence. And then play better vs X.

It's usually not the W or L but HOW you got the W or L. Regardless of outcome lets work on the HOW right now. If they play like crap and get a W vs Butler not sure that restores confidence anywhere.

 

[RichCTBB]

I’d rather play X next. A win vs Butler will erase the pain of a bad loss and could likely give them an in-earned confidence against X. They need the pain of that loss going into X.

 

[XLCenterFan]

I’d rather play X next. A win vs Butler will erase the pain of a bad loss and could likely give them an in-earned confidence against X. They need the pain of that loss going into X.

Disagree. We need to get our legs back and learn to win again. Butler gives us that opportunity at XL. Then we get the crowd rocking at Gampel to avenge our first loss of the season. Plus X lost last night. I don’t want to play them immediately after that.

 

[AntG168]

I’d rather play X next. A win vs Butler will erase the pain of a bad loss and could likely give them an in-earned confidence against X. They need the pain of that loss going into X.

Nah they need confidence going into the Xavier game. That game can turn all of this around. We are mental midgets. We need all the confidence we can muster to be effective

 

[NotADime89]

I’d rather play X next. A win vs Butler will erase the pain of a bad loss and could likely give them an in-earned confidence against X. They need the pain of that loss going into X.

The pain of our losses hasn't helped much at all. Let's just get W's I don't care who we're playing next

 

[Marbles90]

I do not see this team as a bubble team or even a low 8 or 9 seed. It will either continue with this free fall and drop right out of the tournament completely or will figure things out, turn it around and end up like a 4 or 5 seed. Continuing on this path, finishing 19-13 and 8-13 in conference will not make the NCAA regardless of how the season started.

 

[AntG168]

I do not see this team as a bubble team or even a low 8 or 9 seed. It will either continue with this free fall and drop right out of the tournament completely or will figure things out, turn it around and end up like a 4 or 5 seed. Continuing on this path, finishing 19-13 and 8-13 in conference will not make the NCAA regardless of how the season started.

I mean it might. Two top 10 wins and 5 Q1 wins and top 10 in almost all metrics would be hard to keep out. Unless you use recent play, which the committee claims it doesn’t.

We’re an interesting case. I don’t know if an historic parallel exist

 

[Umami Zen]

Beating X will be a valuable win on Selection Sunday

 

[Jaydumo20]

I like this thread. Proof that 'save the season" optimism continues to crawl back a mere night's sleep later.

If we beat B and X , we'll be pumped again and back on board. The pain will melt away like concession stand nacho cheese.

 

[Hoophound]

Butler will be a tough gauge as they are just not a good team. However, work on getting offensive cohesion and direction back. Restore some confidence. And then play better vs X.

It's usually not the W or L but HOW you got the W or L. Regardless of outcome lets work on the HOW right now. If they play like crap and get a W vs Butler not sure that restores confidence anywhere.

I think posters need to stop saying Team isn’t good. It doesn’t matter. We aren’t good either. It’s embarrassing. In the chat last night a couple people kept saying “Seton Hall is terrible” etc. in the first half. I noted that they probably get it together because everyone we play seems to figure it out.

We suck. We need to beat any team we can. In this conference, no team is truly terrible. Not even Georgetown. Terrible is a relative term. We don’t have the guards, the D or the coaching acumen to call anyone else lousy.

 

[aburks41]

I mean it might. Two top 10 wins and 5 Q1 wins and top 10 in almost all metrics would be hard to keep out. Unless you use recent play, which the committee claims it doesn’t.

We’re an interesting case. I don’t know if an historic parallel exist

The only thing I can think of in recent memory would be Xavier last season. They never peaked as high as we did in the poll or metrics, but they completely collapsed in the conference after starting 14-3. They finished 18-13 and went to the NIT

 

[temery]

I think posters need to stop saying Team isn’t good. It doesn’t matter. We aren’t good either. It’s embarrassing. In the chat last night a couple people kept saying “Seton Hall is terrible” etc. in the first half. I noted that they probably get it together because everyone we play seems to figure it out.

We suck. We need to beat any team we can. In this conference, no team is truly terrible. Not even Georgetown. Terrible is a relative term. We don’t have the guards, the D or the coaching acumen to call anyone else lousy.

Was UConn a bad team when they won their first 14 games?

 

[huskyinfl]

I think with all these transfers Hurley did a great job at getting them to communicate and get on the same page quickly and now the other teams have caught up and comfortable in their schemes

 

[FfldCntyFan]

As Mike Tyson famously said: "everyone has a plan until they get hit in the mouth".

Earlier in the season when we were blowing out everyone, including some very good teams, nobody was defending us before midcourt and they were often so worried about our inside game they would give our perimeter players room to operate, anticipating the need to sag into the lane.

Conference play began and teams started defending us differently. They became more aggressive pressuring our ball handlers, more physical in half court sets (where we very often got the wrong end of a foul call) and we haven't yet responded to this.

With our size, depth and athleticism we should be able to find some positive response to everything that gets thrown at us but that hasn't happened yet. This is primarily on the coaching staff with a small amount of blame to our veteran leaders on the court.

Once again we appear all too often to be a team without much of a basketball IQ.

 

[NC_Uconn_Fan]

Was UConn a bad team when they won their first 14 games?

No. But they sure look like a bad team now. I honestly don't know who they are. Very odd season. After the next 4 games, we'll know.

 

[MrSec224]

I like this thread. Proof that 'save the season" optimism continues to crawl back a mere night's sleep later.

If we beat B and X , we'll be pumped again and back on board. The pain will melt away like concession stand nacho cheese.

Yeah this kicked in about 4 hours post game for me. I have no idea what this team is. I know right now they stink but what will they be in a month? Im scared and maybe even excited to find out

 

[Rocktheworld]

We are less than the sum of our parts

Isn’t coaching supposed to achieve the opposite outcome?

 

[CheshireCat]

I mean it might. Two top 10 wins and 5 Q1 wins and top 10 in almost all metrics would be hard to keep out. Unless you use recent play, which the committee claims it doesn’t.

We’re an interesting case. I don’t know if an historic parallel exist

The historic parallel is Syracuse anytime they have 17 or 18 wins. It’s laughable. Jimmy Boeheim made a deal with the Devil.