I get what you are saying. However, I would argue that it also says something that the fan base feels this way. To me it says the brand of basketball we are playing is not fun. If that is the case, you better be winning meaningful games.
At times our offense was more up tempo this season and it was fun. Why can’t we do that consistently?
I “watched” the gamecast on the ESPN app for both games. I did not and will not subscribe to FLO. But I will watch the next game, and the one after if we are in it on ESPN. And guess what - if we lose and are not in the final - I won’t come on here bashing the team and calling for heads. That does not mean I won’t point out my opinion on areas of improvement but to go on and on and on about it is ludicrous.
So if we win this thing we pocket 40k is that right?
Some of our players are better on offense than others and some move better and move the ball better.
Some play defense better than others. There are two ways to win, out score the other team or keep them from scoring as much.
We need our better defensive players to spend their summer working on their shooting, ball handling drills, weight room and our better offensive players to hit the weight room, watch game film, practice defensive positioning. Then we might see a more balanced performance.
Keep in mind, the other team is also trying to keep us from scoring at the same time.
Most of our droughts revolve around turnovers (including charges), missing wide open shots (or players passing up wide open shots within the offense), missed layups, not being able to or wanting to finish through contact, getting shots blocked, missing free throws and the other team ramping up their defensive effort. Most teams have them.
Its a valid point, just for me some of these post are both sides trying to troll the other and for me I just want to read peoples thoughts on the games, not whether we should be playing them or not, or whether Sanchez should be fired. Those have or had their place is all I wanted to say.
Could do without all the divisive personal attacks and finger pointing. It’s possible to have an opinion without making it personal against each other.
Most teams have droughts, what makes us unique in some way is often times our droughts last 5-8 minutes and during that time frame our coach rarely calls a timeout and in the event we do we almost never come out of the timeout with something that works. I know he likes to see the kids “play through adversity” but that seems to go down to Ron being more concerned about building character than winning a game.
What Ron has to figure out is how to stop the drought at a few minutes vs 5+ then how to actually play solid defense rather than rely on a slower pace to keep the score low. I said before I think the pack the line defense is a defense for a previous era as it is way to easy to beat with todays shooters. One hot shooter wrecks the entire defense.
Our last two games we have had a 4 and then 3 min drought in a 10 or so minute window in one game then against western we opened the game with a 5 min scoreless run. The issue to me is if you play a slow pace of ball where you limit possessions you put a lot of pressure in your offense to not have droughts because you aren’t getting as many possessions. You have to make each one count.
Maybe more than anything out the the CBI exhibition Ron will get better at managing these types of games and have a better grasp on what to do and when for next season.
Tonight will be a good challenge as Radford is playing really well lately. I was looking at their schedule and they have some very close losses to some tough teams!
10 point loss to Marquette
3 point loss to Notre Dame (yes, ND was down but still)
8 point loss to VCU
8 point loss to Kansas State
3rd in their conference with some close games against UNC Asheville
They do not have a loss by more than 13 points
I know I am going to get the tuesday tough guys commenting about who is UNC Asheville and the Big South sucks but Radford has played everyone tough and it should be a close game tonight!
Go NINERS!
NIL funds
Agreed. But he did yesterday. And it made a difference.
That is as close as Milwaukee got to tying the game or taking a lead yesterday. In the ebb and flow of the game, that timeout felt critical. Maybe even a tad late, but highly necessary.
In ended up fueling a small run that maintained our separation.
I’ve been highly critical of Ron, but this was the right move.
Think he should receive credit when he shows growth in his role. As long as he is going to be our coach, I hope he continues to improve in his judgement, and will note when he does.
Amen NA - maybe we have been looking at CBI wrong it’s not for the players or to pad wins it’s to give Ron more tournament like experience. If a 30k investment helps him be a better coach and we win some of the close games we lost by refining his coaching style a bit - I’ll take it.
My big request for this game is if we hit a drought or the game is on the line you put the ball in the hands of the best players - Aly and Brice. Don’t try to outsmart the other side. Play to your strength and trust those two.
In 2023, the CBI introduced NIL funding of $40,000 to be distributed in the following manner: $25,000 to the Champion, $10,000 to the Runner-Up, and $2,500 to each Semifinalist.
Not gonna lie, I am enjoying this CBI tournament more than I expected and I think it was the right decision to play. That being said, my point about Coach Sanchez and the program subsisting off cupcakes still stands. Let’s see what we can do against an ok Radford team.
IMO, we’ve made it this far so we might as well try to win the damn thing. But please, no banner.
Win it and give the banner to the tournament MVP to hang in his room - thus far Williams.
Did ECU hang a CIT championship banner?
Cupcakes? Conference USA is 9-1 in tournament play
Hopefully 11-1 after tonight. North Texas at OK State in NIT action.
FWIW - just confirmed with my son - current student at UNCW that won the CBI last year - they hung their banner.
