My Observations/Rants

Xavier is amazing. They are one of the most athletic, disciplined, passionate teams Iā€™ve seen this year on TV or in person.

Iā€™m really sad that we lost, but at least it was to good competition for a change. Give it a few weeks, X will be ranked when they pummel GW.

On our side, we were made to look like the NIT team we might actually be. Xavier is the best team in the conference and they will win this league, so losing to them wonā€™t kill us, but we have to prove we are at minimum 2nd best by beating down the Hawks and Colonials. If we can go 2-1 over this 3 game stretch of top caliber teams, we can still win the league. Xavier might not drop one the rest of the regular season, but if we can get a #2 seed in the conference tourney, we just might beat them on their home court.

MK?

Great point by Mac. This was carry-over from LaSalle game and flashback to the beginning of the season. Offense broke down, we forced shots, and it was all over. Give Xavier credit. They played great defense and got the ball down low and hit big shots. Very nice team!

[QUOTE=jcl49er;148747]The officiating was disgraceful but itā€™s not why we lost the game. Xavier is one of the most athletic, aggressive and physical teams Iā€™ve seen all year. They go after every ball as if their lives depend on it. They just flat out kicked our ass from a physical standpoint. Withers played his butt off but he couldnā€™t do it alone. Didnā€™t help that Nance/Coleman got into foul trouble either because all it did was allow Xavier to bunch up on Curt. Not sure what was up with Mitch but I just didnā€™t feel like he was all there tonight. He played uninspired ball.

They wanted it more than we did tonight, plain and simple. The better team (tonight), won the game, without a doubt. I wish we played that hard every game and weā€™d come out on top more often than not. My hat is off to Xavierā€¦they deserved the win more than we did.[/QUOTE]

Yep, you nailed it. But I cannot resist handing out Xavier game balls to the following people:

  1. Mike Roberts, Paul Faia, Bill McCarthy - for being the most incompetent officiating crew to grace Halton this year. Consistency? We donā€™t need consistency. Mitch Baldwin Jump Stop in lane = travelling, DOellman jump stop in lane = Niner blocking foul (Shot counts + foul). I could go on for days.

  2. Justin Doellman for being the least gifted hack of a player to ever score 15 in a game. The only time this dork isnā€™t shuffling his feet without dribbling, setting moving screens that look like a TE blocking downfield on a run play, throwing a forearm, or using a jump stop that somehow is called a travel on us, but not on him, is when he is on the bench. But heā€™s a genious because he doesnā€™t get called for ANY of it. In all seriousness, I was really impressed with the rest of Xavierā€™s team, but this guy sucks. Heā€™s a freaking goon with a decent stand still shot. If he tried that crap in a Niner uniform, heā€™d foul out faster than Martin Iti his freshman year.

  3. To the Niners frontcourt for being a buncha nancy boys who canā€™t rebound to save their lives (aside from Curtis, when he decides he wants to). Also to the Niners backcourt for not running the damn offense when we get down in a game, and to Curtis for hoisting 4 freaking threes in one game. Two per game Curt. TWO. Any more than that and youā€™re forcing it.

  4. This one desrves special mention - to the Niners foul shooters - despite what Meatloaf sang, two outta three is bad, and sadly, we cant even hit that many. 50% from the line. Wanna come build me a house fellas? :ticked:

1 - Rebounding - We let Xavier get way more offensive rebounds than any team has this year. It looked like we werenā€™t boxing out (and it looked like we werenā€™t boxing out against LaSalle too).

2 - Poor Shot Selection. We forced more shots than we have in recent games. Lee is great when he has an OPEN SHOT. He has hit very few FORCED SHOTS this season, and even if he doesnā€™t shoot he holds the ball way too long and takes us out of our rythem. This could be the reason Mitch and DA seemed to have trouble.

3 - Mitch and DA? See Reason #2. Leemireā€™s poor shot selection could be affecting the play of Mitch and DA. It seems that both play better when Lee does not force bad shots.

4 - Perimeter D - Why do we always leave a hot shooter open? Of course, they also made some of those 3ā€™s while contested.

5 - Officiating - Atrocious. The officiating hurt us but did not cost us the game.

6 - WE ONLY WORKED THE BALL INTO CURT A FEW TIMES IN THE ENTIRE SECOND HALF.

7 - Xavier just simply had the better team last night.

Iā€™ve had a night to think about it and here are my observations. Last night we just really played poorly. We got outrebounded, shot less free throws, shot less shots, shot poorer percentage in general and we probably turned the ball over more. The fact of the matter is that Xavier is a team that matches up very favorably against us. They have the versatile big guys that give us nightmares along with a 2/3 guy who can put the ball in the basket. Teams like that usually give us fits defensively but what Iā€™m most dissapointed in is the poor rebounding on the defensive glass and the poor shot selection. We regressed into pulling the quick trigger hoping to hit the big shot. Our guys have to learn to use more than 10 seconds on the shot clock.

As for Mitch, I personally donā€™t think he deserves to start. I think his inconsistent play is hurting the team and that heā€™s better suited coming off the bench and spelling Lee and Marcus. I know to many of the purists that sounds insane, but Lee and Marcus are actually both decent man to man defenders.

My final gripe is over the defenses we play. I understand the dumptruck and Nance are a little undersized defensively, however if we are going to play zone to help them then Bobby needs to keep Courtney Williams out of the game. I saw 3 or 4 times tonight where the zone breaks down and instead of rushing out to the next open shooter he just stands their like a statue. That gave Xavier at least 8 or 9 points alone. We canā€™t play guys who donā€™t know how to rotate defensively. If we do we will continue to give up easy open jumpshots to good teams like Xavier and Indiana. When we play man to man we are a better defensive team. Heck at times we actually look good defensively.

Overall we are fortunate to played them as close as we did. They flat out were better in every aspect. Iā€™m glad we didnā€™t lose by 20.

The reason we lost tonight was for a few reasons: 1. We have no size. Down low we didnā€™t have anyone that could handle the big guys that Xavier kept throwing at us. Nance getting in foul trouble killed us. Donā€™t blame that on the refs, he had about one questionable foul but with 4 fouls to fly over someones back is his own fault, you have to be disciplined and charlotte clearly isnā€™t.
2. Withers is inconsistent. He will play his butt off for 2 minutes, and take the next two off. He took a lot of stupid shots tonight. Get away from the 3 point line please Curtis!!
3. Our offense is awful. Bobby wonā€™t let them push the ball. They constantly have to set up and run one of his set plays, instead of running which was obviously what we needed to do against Xavier last night.

I am so frustrated with this team. I drive almost two hours to watch this team play at home, and every time I leave with a frustrated feeling.

The reason we lost tonight was for a few reasons: 1. We have no size. Down low we didn't have anyone that could handle the big guys that Xavier kept throwing at us. Nance getting in foul trouble killed us. Don't blame that on the refs, he had about one questionable foul but with 4 fouls to fly over someones back is his own fault, you have to be disciplined and charlotte clearly isn't. 2. Withers is inconsistent. He will play his butt off for 2 minutes, and take the next two off. He took a lot of stupid shots tonight. Get away from the 3 point line please Curtis!! 3. Our offense is awful. Bobby won't let them push the ball. They constantly have to set up and run one of his set plays, instead of running which was obviously what we needed to do against Xavier last night.

I am so frustrated with this team. I drive almost two hours to watch this team play at home, and every time I leave with a frustrated feeling.

Withers had 2 shots in the second half. How is that a lot of stupid shots. He took 10 and made 5. Thatā€™s 50%. I disagree with you on point number 2 and 3. Bobby has no issue running the ball. Unfortunately you canā€™t push if they hit shots. Otherwise you turn the ball over. You want disciplined or do you want reckless. You canā€™t have it both ways. This is D1 basketball. Not the YMCA. Give Xavier credit. They played well on both ends of the court.

I still think that we will beat St. Joeā€™s and GW and go 5-1. We match up favorably against both of these teams, and Bobby should be able to fix some of our problems, such as shot selection and (the amount of minutes that Bennett gets > the number of minutes than Baldwin gets).

Although, here is one observation that has stood true most of the year. If Lee is hot = win, If Lee is cold = loss.

Hopefully one of the teams like St. Louis, or GW has the matchups to beat Xavier so we can still get a shot at 1st place.

Looking forward to St. Joeā€™s our biggest fear should be that Jalloh gets hot and torches us from 3 because our perimiter D is atrocious.

1 day later,and iā€™ll be brief with my thoughts since most have been posted.I said 2 weeks ago,and iā€™ll repeatā€¦Mitch is done,stick a fork in him! I agree with whoever posted that Lee and Marcus should start.This,I believe is part of that longstanding Lutz pattern of being too scared to make the necessary changes with his own players.Mitch is not a scoring threat,plays TOTALLY UNINSPIRED bball,and is no great defensive stopper. When we had Eddie last year he made everyone look better on D,especially Mitchell.How many steals does he have this year.I do have to throw out 1 positive on last nightā€¦I thought Curtis played hard all game,he really fought and was visibly tired at the end,but he got very little help.I also agree that Alexander is a total puzzleā€¦he just flat out disappears sometimes.My final comment is the same 1 iā€™ve had for yearsā€¦I DO NOT UNDERSTAND LUTZā€™S SUBSTITUTION PATTERNS! I swear I can predict when he is going to substituteā€¦whenever a guy gets hot he takes him outā€¦it always happens with Curt,Leeā€¦etc.Than he puts in a guy like Jerrell or Williams who couldnā€™t score if they were playing the halftime mascot teamā€¦our offense goes ice cold as the opponent just concentrates on the 1 or 2 remaining off. threats! Finally,since I donā€™t want to start a new postā€¦is anyone else going to the MLK BASKETBALL TOURNEY IN GREENSBORO MONDAY? Looks like a blast and among the games is Oak Hill(as in Michael Beasley) vs. Dudley,a Greensboro powerhouse.Also,MT. Zion is playing.

[QUOTE=jcl49er;148754]MK = Voice of reason[/QUOTE]

MK = Voice of discontent

Badā€¦no. Average, maybe a little above averageā€¦probably. Potential to be a tournament teamā€¦sure. Even though it MAY be the NIT. Let me see last I counted there were 300+ Division I teams. I would consider the bottom 100 to be ā€œbadā€. I would not consider Lasalle, Rutgers, Davidson or Dayton to be anywhere near the worst 100 teams in the country. In fact I believe Rutgers almost beat an eventual 1-2 seed and potential national championship team in Villanova last week. We beat them soundly.

We lost to a very good Xavier team last night in game where nothing went our way. We had plenty of open looks but couldā€™t knock them down. Xavier was very hungry and very physical and they got away with it all game long. Iā€™m sure that was there strategy. They are also much deeper than we are and were able to throw multiple big bodies in the game and not lose much production. Our lack of depth and innability to hit FTā€™s were our achiles heel. I also never understood why we donā€™t get favorable treatment (home cookin) by the officials at Halton arena. The charge call with 6 min to go down by 4 was absolutely aweful. We never recovered after that.

We put this game behind us and start another 5 game win streak. What are we suposed to doā€¦quit? Yeah you guys are rightā€¦the heck with trying to reach potentialā€¦this season is over because we are so ā€œbadā€ā€¦why even play it out?

[QUOTE=EJNiner;148871]MK = Voice of discontent

Badā€¦no. Average, maybe a little above averageā€¦probably. Potential to be a tournament teamā€¦sure. Even though it MAY be the NIT. Let me see last I counted there were 300+ Division I teams. I would consider the bottom 100 to be ā€œbadā€. I would not consider Lasalle, Rutgers, Davidson or Dayton to be anywhere near the worst 100 teams in the country. In fact I believe Rutgers almost beat an eventual 1-2 seed and potential national championship team in Villanova last week. We beat them soundly.

We lost to a very good Xavier team last night in game where nothing went our way. We had plenty of open looks but couldā€™t knock them down. Xavier was very hungry and very physical and they got away with it all game long. Iā€™m sure that was there strategy. They are also much deeper than we are and were able to throw multiple big bodies in the game and not lose much production. Our lack of depth and innability to hit FTā€™s were our achiles heel. I also never understood why we donā€™t get favorable treatment (home cookin) by the officials at Halton arena. The charge call with 6 min to go down by 4 was absolutely aweful. We never recovered after that.

We put this game behind us and start another 5 game win streak. What are we suposed to doā€¦quit? Yeah you guys are rightā€¦the heck with trying to reach potentialā€¦this season is over because we are so ā€œbadā€ā€¦why even play it out?[/QUOTE]

The word bad fits, MK is right on. We are a Bad defensive team, we take bad shots, we are bad from the FT line. I see a trend. At face value 10-6 isnā€™t a bad record, but the fact we were expected to be a very good team makes 10-6 feel more like 6-10.

Hello, we're [B]not[/B] a good team ... They are bad, plain and simple ... We're bad. Don't let yourself get fooled into thinking otherwise.

Iā€™m thinking otherwise.

I believe the toughest part of the schedule is between the Indiana game and our home game versus GW. We entered the Indiana game a 5-4 team.

Indiana 10-3 Loss
Rutgers 10-4 Win
Asheville 2-10 Win
Rhode Island 8-6 Win
Dayton 7-9 Win
LaSalle 10-4 Win
Xavier 11-2 Loss
St. Joeā€™s 6-7 - TBP
GW - 12-1 TBP

So far in these 9 games, weā€™ve won 5 of 7 to improve to 10-6. Xavier is a strong team and a loss to them is not the end of the world.

After this rough 9 game stretch, we start playing the Richmonds, Bonnies, and Dusquenes of the conference. Weā€™re 3-1 in the conference and itā€™s not unreasonable to still think we can end up with a nice conference record. Not bad for a team the lost Basden and Plavich.

Richmond will not be easy. They slow it down, backdoor cuts. Just think Northwestern or NCSU. No Bueno

Xavier had a week to prepare for this game.And they were well prepared.They were bigger at every position.Even though the niners jump out to early lead they stuck with their game plan of covering the three point shooters.Niners didnā€™t have many open looks all night.Xavier played a tight man to man and double Withers hard after he had score easy earlier in the game.Niners donā€™t have any body that can break a defense down one on one.They must run the offense to perfection to get open shots against good defensive teams.And thatā€™s where Mitchell Baldwin comes in.He has played poorly of late

[QUOTE=ninerrbl;148879]Xavier had a week to prepare for this game.[/QUOTE]
No excuse what so ever.

[QUOTE=ninerrbl;148879]And they were well prepared.They were bigger at every position.[/QUOTE]
True and true.

[QUOTE=ninerrbl;148879]Even though the niners jump out to early lead they stuck with their game plan of covering the three point shooters.[/QUOTE]
Not sure if we watched the same game. They had a ton of open 3ā€™s all night.

[QUOTE=ninerrbl;148879]Niners didnā€™t have many open looks all night.Xavier played a tight man to man and double Withers hard after he had score easy earlier in the game.Niners donā€™t have any body that can break a defense down one on one.They must run the offense to perfection to get open shots against good defensive teams.And thatā€™s where Mitchell Baldwin comes in.He has played poorly of late[/QUOTE]
True x 7

Try a space after each sentence, much easier to read.

I'm thinking otherwise.

I believe the toughest part of the schedule is between the Indiana game and our home game versus GW. We entered the Indiana game a 5-4 team.

Indiana 10-3 Loss
Rutgers 10-4 Win
Asheville 2-10 Win
Rhode Island 8-6 Win
Dayton 7-9 Win
LaSalle 10-4 Win
Xavier 11-2 Loss
St. Joeā€™s 6-7 - TBP
GW - 12-1 TBP

So far in these 9 games, weā€™ve won 5 of 7 to improve to 10-6. Xavier is a strong team and a loss to them is not the end of the world.

After this rough 9 game stretch, we start playing the Richmonds, Bonnies, and Dusquenes of the conference. Weā€™re 3-1 in the conference and itā€™s not unreasonable to still think we can end up with a nice conference record. Not bad for a team the lost Basden and Plavich.

How does any of what you just said indicate weā€™re not a bad/mediocre team? Beating teams that are a little bit worse than you doesnā€™t in turn mean weā€™re a good team. Weā€™ve lost to every decent team weā€™ve played. Rutgers perhaps being a one exception.

Iā€™m not saying we wonā€™t end up with a decent conference record, especially since the vast majority of our conference suck out loud.

When I say we are a bad team Iā€™m saying in respect to what expectations of this team were and what weā€™ve been in the past. Compared to past Niner teams, this team is bad, with the exception of the year we donā€™t speak of.

EJ you are an excuse machine.

We got beat in EVERY facet of the game last night by a team that will make the tourney, but probably not much more after that. On our home court. And, in fact, we werenā€™t ever really contending in the 2nd half.

The losses at home bother me, but whats unacceptable is that we are getting DRUBBED at home in front of our fans. Save for the Valpo loss, all others are just unbearable to watch.

Everyone, coaches included, gets an F last night except for Withers. He was the only one who acted like rebounding and scrapping for loose balls is important.

Outcoached and outplayed again at Halton. Miserable.

How does any of what you just said indicate we're not a bad/mediocre team? Beating teams that are a little bit worse than you doesn't in turn mean we're a good team. We've lost to every decent team we've played. Rutgers [I]perhaps[/I] being a one exception.

Iā€™m not saying we wonā€™t end up with a decent conference record, especially since the vast majority of our conference suck out loud.

When I say we are a bad team Iā€™m saying in respect to what expectations of this team were and what weā€™ve been in the past. Compared to past Niner teams, this team is bad, with the exception of the year we donā€™t speak of.

Maybe we have different definitions of ā€˜badā€™.

I accept the fact that we were a bit over-hyped. That was actually a nice change from being under-hyped for many years.

I see a team that flat out sucked at the start, but hasnā€™t performed badly lately. We lost to Xavier, yes, but weā€™ve won 5 of our last 6 and should win twice as many games as we lose this year. Thatā€™s not as good as we were with Eddie and Plavich and not as bad as ā€œthe year we donā€™t speak ofā€ but itā€™s not bad compared to what weā€™ve been in the past

'06 10-6 (3-1) RPI #80

'02 10-6
'01 9-7
'00 9-7
'99 10-6

Performing well against horrible competition isnā€™t a mark of success in my opinion.
Yes weā€™ll win some games, but until we beat some teams that are good, Iā€™ll maintain that weā€™re just bad.

Incidentally Iā€™d love nothing more than for them to prove me wrong.

Am I the only one thinking weā€™re probably looking at a NIT bid? Bad teams do not go to the NIT. I know weā€™ve had better years, but there are over 200 other teams out there that would love to go to post season of any kind but will stay home.