Villanova Post Game Thread | Page 10 | The Boneyard
.-.

Villanova Post Game Thread

Have you heard of CTE? It is a horrible disease. NFL players are literally killing themselves due to repeated head trauma. It is fair to question this generation whether they are as tough as the old days, but I would rather be smart than tough. Sports are only a short season of life. Hope they are cautious with Mullins and that he comes back healthy.
CTE isn't caused by the big hit, it's the smaller repeated blunt trauma hits over time. Offensive lineman get it way more than the wide receiver that got knocked out because they're just butting heads every day, every play, over and over and over. Same with boxers. It's just repeated boom boom boom trauma to the head.
 
Getting too old for nail biters!! Reread Hey Adrien’s scout and boy was he spot on! I think Danny might be giving him the game ball for that scout
 
We’re on track to go undefeated in conference. We are 19-1. The defense is absolutely elite.

Yes the offense is hit or miss and way too streaky/inconsistent.

With that said we are an extremely fortunate fan base to have this team to root for this year. We are chasing 3 in 4. Try your hardest to enjoy it. Don’t get lost in the minor details.

We are great. Our coach is great. The players are great. The vibe in this fanbase is way too on edge and nervous right now. I don’t want to classify it as negative. Because thats not fair. But I think the team plays with the same energy that the fan base has right now. If we all, staff, players, fanbase can just get back to having fun, I think that’ll unlock a lot. Remind yourself of the ashes we rose from. We were never supposed to be here. Yet here we are.

Please enjoy it.
 
But no team can win a title missing these many FTs per game. And after 3 months, this is who we are folks. Sucks because we are so solid elsewhere. If I am going to catch s—- for that take, I ask simply this: Name the team that went on to become champs in April that was a poor free throw shooting team. Answer that and I will retract my take.
They're not that bad. They were 17-22 today, 77%. What do you want? 4 of the 5 starters are 80% or better. Reed is 61%. Ross was at 80% before today's 2 misses. Smith and Reibe are bad. They seem to hit them down the stretch and OT when they need to and the right guys are at the line (knocking on wood so it doesn't cost them in a game!). Some misses are bound to cost them at some point but they're just not as bad as you're thinking.
 
.-.
We’re on track to go undefeated in conference. We are 19-1. The defense is absolutely elite.

Yes the offense is hit or miss and way too streaky/inconsistent.

With that said we are an extremely fortunate fan base to have this team to root for this year. We are chasing 3 in 4. Try your hardest to enjoy it. Don’t get lost in the minor details.

We are great. Our coach is great. The players are great. The vibe in this fanbase is way too on edge and nervous right now. I don’t want to classify it as negative. Because thats not fair. But I think the team plays with the same energy that the fan base has right now. If we all, staff, players, fanbase can just get back to having fun, I think that’ll unlock a lot. Remind yourself of the ashes we rose from. We were never supposed to be here. Yet here we are.

Please enjoy it.
Absolutely 100% agree.

For the life of me, I don't know why we still play the Chicken Little "sky is falling" game. We have arguably been the king of the hill for the better part of three decades now. If the fans showed the confidence it would definitely bleed over into the team. Trust me, I'm a Jets fan too.
 
Things I learned in the chat:

Karaban is both terrible and very good.

Reed is lazy. (I would like to see anyone on this board try to defend Duke Brennan)
I don't think he's lazy, but he is inconsistent with his energy. I also don't think he's as great as we want or think him to be. He's very good, don't get me wrong, but he really struggles when he's doubled, mainly because he rarely kick it back out and try to force something through the double team.
 
Silas with the tip steal and then going after the loose ball leading to the Tarris layup. That was a refuse to lose moment. Silas really took the reins late and got us to the win. We had a couple possessions where it looked like no one wanted to shoot before that and wound up with an empty possession. Our bench did not seem to have confidence in shooting today. Ross was struggling but he came up with the block late and defensive rebound. Great credit to Alex for making so many second half plays and Solo for giving us offense in both halves.
 
.-.
They're not that bad. They were 17-22 today, 77%. What do you want? 4 of the 5 starters are 80% or better. Reed is 61%. Ross was at 80% before today's 2 misses. Smith and Reibe are bad. They seem to hit them down the stretch and OT when they need to and the right guys are at the line (knocking on wood so it doesn't cost them in a game!). Some misses are bound to cost them at some point but they're just not as bad as you're thinking.
I think you know that FTs are about when…..Ross had no chance today, i don’t care what his % was coming in.

You gotta make them WHEN they count
 
That's what I thought initially too, but after seeing the replay in slow motion, Brennan went up and grabbed the ball on the 4th Reed foul, while Reed was back peddling and flailing his arms hitting Brennan. Something tells me if it was the other way around UConn fans would not be criticizing. Reed just didn't play a smart game. It is on him.
No, if you watch the play again youll see when they were backpeddling Reed hwas holding Brennans shoulder / upper arm down as the ball was coming towards them. It was dumb and a foul and if Reed just used both hands to jump and grab the ball it would have been a simple rebound.
 
Silas definitely has to get the game ball. He saved us with that turnover at the beginning of OT. He also made two key freethrows. Good job Silas.

Also I hope Braylon is ok.

Refs were against us especially with Tarris' 5th foul.

Good win UConn.
I don't know that I've ever seen a worse whistle than Tarris got in that game...
 
Yeah sorry, they looked amazing. Clicking on all cylinders. Another effortless win. Offense looked like a Ferrari. Let me know if that helps.

Nova a good team, but that was a home game after a number of close wins against bad teams. GTwon beat PC at PC today. NC caliber teams have a close win from time to time, but they don't eek out a series of games against lesser competition.

Nova solid but not a second weekend team.
Ruff, who cares? Enjoy the journey buddy. NC will take care of itself.
 
.-.
Loved seeing Solo Ball be "Player of the Game" today.

Alex coming alive in the last 10 minutes showed why he such a valuable player. He has off nights, but he keeps his head in the game and has the confidence to make plays when he has the opportunity.

Tarris with a quiet double-double was also a highlight (though we could do w/o the TO's), and it's good to see his free throw shooting has been very solid since that 5-13 game.

I was once again very impressed with our defense, giving the opponent few easy shots. Great to see numerous hustle plays, including diving for balls.

Villanova proved to be a formidable opponent, just as I figured. Willard definitely has this team on the right track. Brennan was a considerably bigger problem than I anticipated, and Perkins was particularly troublesome, but overall, the Huskies determination, discipline, and resolve prevailed.

A struggling Providence team (up by 18 at the half today vs. Georgetown before a 2nd half collapse) which gave the Huskies all they could handle a couple of weeks ago will be in town on Tuesday. Hopefully, they win this one convincingly.
 
It's honestly pretty remarkable we still just have the 1 loss to #1 with two starters out. We've been living on the edge and we've been asleep for large portions of the past 4 games and the offense is a mess...

There's something to be said about finding ways to win when so much is going wrong and this was an extremely important win. Nova is tough and our schedule gets a lot tougher especially with Braylon possibly missing some time. This was a 1 seed win.


We all know Solo's shooting struggles but so many things are out of sorts lately. AK was amazing late in the game but he can't be taking off the first 32 minutes like we're seeing. The bench was so good in our out of conference but they're giving us very little offensively lately, poor Malachi is all out of sorts. Jayden got that huge block and had some other very good defensive possessions but they all have to play better. The offense isn't nearly good enough lately, we're missing layups like crazy and we aren't controlling the glass like we should.

The good, we always play great defense and we find ways to win when it seems like nothing is going right for us. Defense travels and we have that clutch factor, we always think we'll win. Solo hit big shots and he backed it out late in overtime which eventually set up Silas for the driving layup. In the past Solo would've put his head down and gone straight to the rim and it would've gone very badly. That was a smart veteran move by him and the play of the game, IMO.

Nova is very good, Willard is going to have that thing humming soon.
Would you rather be 7-2 with 7 wins with margins over 15 points and 2 losses that are absolute head scratchers or be 9-0 and a lot of wins by 6-7 points? I’d rather be 9-0. It would be nice to put up 117 points on Providence this week…
 
I don't think he's lazy, but he is inconsistent with his energy. I also don't think he's as great as we want or think him to be. He's very good, don't get me wrong, but he really struggles when he's doubled, mainly because he rarely kick it back out and try to force something through the double team.
Ah he's great.
 
I have a feeling that this post will not be well received. But I owe it to all to be honest and true to how I am feeling. I no longer feel that this team is NCAA title worthy. We are certainly stout defensively, and our offensive sets safeguards us when we go cold, like today when we could not make bunnies from 3 feet. And I am aware that we are not always going to be hot from 3. But no team can win a title missing these many FTs per game. And after 3 months, this is who we are folks. Sucks because we are so solid elsewhere. If I am going to catch s—- for that take, I ask simply this: Name the team that went on to become champs in April that was a poor free throw shooting team. Answer that and I will retract my take.
The rebounds is another thing altogether. I alluded to this after the Georgetown game. Rebounding is about effort. About consistency. And seeing guards out-hustle our guards for lose balls just pisses me off badly. And this is a pattern now; this is not the first game this happens.
And better news, we have a Solo sighting. Without him we lose by 20. Great game by him.
These kind of posts, while totally realistic, are not allowed around here! I hear what you're saying, but not there yet. There is no doubt the product we are seeing now is not inspiring, at all. What I'm watching against some of the title contenders doesn't feel like it could win 6. Tarris is a talented, yet sluggish 5. I don't know what it is about him - I think we all expect more than he can deliver based on his physical skills. He's good, but he's not that much of a difference maker. There is no way we should be this poor a rebounding team with him in the middle. I'm actually somewhat surprised we've drifted off using Eric. AK is what he is. Solo is what he is. I've felt throughout this process, seeing Silas and Braylon pop in a more integrated offense is what would flash our ceiling, that's been in drips and inconsistent. I still feel like there is another gear in there that we haven't seen, but now with Braylon potentially missing time, less confident. Most of what I've see out there has put us in a "Tier 2" contender bucket.
, which I'm starting to get onboard with but not there yet. Holding out for that 5th gear.Would you rather be 7-2 with 7 wins with margins over 15 points and 2 losses that are absolute head scratchers or be 9-0 and a lot of wins by 6-7 points? I’d rather be 9-0. It would be nice to put up 117 points on Providence this week…
Not the point - winning is nice, but seeing a product that you can see advancing deep is what we're looking for.
And in '23 we would have lost this game during the January slump.
That BE was so much better than this one. We played really good teams in that slump, between Xavier (2X), Creighton and Marquette. Xavier was a S16 team, Creighton Elite 8 and Marquette was a 2 seed. We lost our WTF game to SHU and StJ.
 
.-.

Online statistics

Members online
425
Guests online
23,907
Total visitors
24,332

Forum statistics

Threads
166,668
Messages
4,488,883
Members
10,361
Latest member
TJHooker


Top Bottom