Dave Reynolds PJS...

[ph]

at least to me, the win was more bitter than sweet just because of the Dodie injury.

This has been a maddening start to the season. JW's not playing or signing (no one is) now, TB sat out, CR's not 100%, lost to BYU, DD is out for the season. It is near impossible to be positive on anything, now.

[SFP]

at least to me, the win was more bitter than sweet just because of the Dodie injury.

This has been a maddening start to the season. JW's not playing or signing (no one is) now, TB sat out, CR's not 100%, lost to BYU, DD is out for the season. It is near impossible to be positive on anything, now.

I feel you man!

But there are four things to feel good about we won on Sunday, TB will be back, DSE looks like the real deal and ISU red still $UCKS!

[ph]

I feel you man!

But there are four things to feel good about we won on Sunday, TB will be back, DSE looks like the real deal and ISU red still $UCKS!

OK, you got a smile on #4

[FutureBrave2013]

idk if you are referring to me, but I can't remember ever saying it's only about wins. Unless you mean by me saying I think we play to the level of competition...and don't get me wrong I'm glad we won, but I do not believe it is clearly black and white. There are grey areas and we seem to be a team that lets inferior competition give us a run for our money. It's not really a good method of playing basketball. Am I glad we won...of course I am DC. Do I think we could have and should have pounded them...of course I do, and that comes back to the "combinations" of people we had on the floor. DSE, EM, and SM all at the same time....is that REALLY necessary?

Do you think we would have won by a larger margin playing SM, AW, CR, AT, and WE rather than SM, DE, AW, CR, and WE?

Because I sure don't.

Les had no choice. That speaks to a problem with recruiting but playing four guards gave us the best opportunity to win. A bigger lineup with the choices available would have resulted in a loss in my opinion.

[BradleyBrave]

No, it's saying the coach felt we had a better chance to win the game with DSE, CR, and SM in the game than with SS, WE, and AT down the stretch. I agree with him. What good would getting a few more rebounds do if we don't have anyone on the floor that can make a basket?

There's no doubt that it's what JL 'feels' is more effective; it's whether or not that is the truth which is what in question. I personally do not think it is the truth. More size may have kept Idaho St from dominating the paint (42-22 point advantage, +10 on the boards). Will Egolf has shown himself more than capable of making a shot and a free throw. Playing 2 bigs at the same time also means that any 3 of AW, CR, SM, and DSE would still be playing. I think we'd be just fine in the scoring department with any 3 of those 4 on the floor. Plus, we may not have needed to score as much if we weren't giving up so many layups and 2nd chance points!

[SFP]

There's no doubt that it's what JL 'feels' is more effective; it's whether or not that is the truth which is what in question. I personally do not think it is the truth. More size may have kept Idaho St from dominating the paint (42-22 point advantage, +10 on the boards). Will Egolf has shown himself more than capable of making a shot and a free throw. Playing 2 bigs at the same time also means that any 3 of AW, CR, SM, and DSE would still be playing. I think we'd be just fine in the scoring department with any 3 of those 4 on the floor. Plus, we may not have needed to score as much if we weren't giving up so many layups and 2nd chance points!

Boy I hate to admit it but I miss Matt Salley! Did you see how they slammed DD and did we ever foul someone hard. In baseball if a pitcher plunks someone you plunk them right back. We need to own that paint and if someone dares to go down the paint we need to make them pay for it! Make them think twice about going for a layup.

[Out of Balance]

Boy I hate to admit it but I miss Matt Salley! Did you see how they slammed DD and did we ever foul someone hard. In baseball if a pitcher plunks someone you plunk them right back. We need to own that paint and if someone dares to go down the paint we need to make them pay for it! Make them think twice about going for a layup.

I can agree with that I have said it before, put them on their butt's. If Sam would do that once or twice early. I am sure they would be thinking about coming back in

[AZ BU Fan]

Jim Les doesn't make excuses, and I am not either.
I am just explaing the reason for the player and substitution pattern that you and others keep complaining about. If we would have gone with a big lineup, I suspect a few people here would have cheered that, but then would probably would have lost that game.
But thank goodness Coach Les knows what he's doing, and we won the game. I don't understand why all the fretting and consternation when we won?

DC is right, bad W's ARE better than good L's...Just win baby....

I suppose all the fretting and consternation on this forum comes from the growing realization BU's best players this year ARE all its guards, except for TB, and that BU will live/die again this season by outside shooting whenever TB isn't playing.

All the great expectations BU has given fans over the years about AT, WE, JP, and MK are evaporating and the consensus so far is the only way BU has a chance to win, is with an undersized perimeter shooting line up which so far has struggled to rebound and play defense.

Posters are kind of like the stock market, the stock market is always looking forward for the outlook for future successful performance...not at the just completed session (last win)...hence the fretting and consternation that the future of the 'market' may not be good based on past performance.

Of course, like the stock market, past performance is not an indication of future performance

I'd love to post comments about how great BU played, how the rotations are working perfectly, that an experienced BU team is balanced and playing good fundamental basketball, how well BU is shooting from the field and the FT line, that its a given BU will dramatically improve its defensive effort and rebounding as the season proceeds, that having TB back will turn everything around for BU, but I can't

[dogsrus]

I haven't seen the toughness JL talked about a few weeks ago......in fact we look soft...real soft.

[BradleyBrave]

I haven't seen the toughness JL talked about a few weeks ago......in fact we look soft...real soft.

I really hate the lip service we give things sometimes. I hear 'defense, defense, defense' all the time, yet we play terrible defense most of the time. Now we hear 'toughness, toughness, toughness', and even get to see a bunch of weightlifting videos in the montage. I see a team that's been pushed around by 3 teams now - one of which is DII, the other a low major. To quote the great Toby Keith - "A little less talk and a lot more action" please.

[amckillip]

To quote the great Toby Keith - "A little less talk and a lot more action" please.

Toby Keith? Really? You couldn't at least gone Elvis' 'A little less conversation?' Really?!?!? Ugh...

[BradleyBrave]

Toby Keith? Really? You couldn't at least gone Elvis' 'A little less conversation?' Really?!?!? Ugh...

"There was a time, back in my prime..."

[ser_solace]

Would y'all call last year's team tough? I thought they were. They were competitive for most games after dealing with the loss of WE and AW. Last year's team played UNI fairly close. We beat SIU pretty bad in the tourney.

Now, we return most of those same players and gain AW and WE. Yet, we seem to be struggling worse than last year, especially defensively. Was the loss of Theron that significant?

Our rebounding, even last year, wasn't this bad. Don't get me wrong. I'm definitely in favor of trying out a bigger line-up, but even with last year's smaller line-up, they seemed to do okay on the boards.

[BradleyBrave]

Would y'all call last year's team tough? I thought they were. They were competitive for most games after dealing with the loss of WE and AW. Last year's team played UNI fairly close. We beat SIU pretty bad in the tourney.

Now, we return most of those same players and gain AW and WE. Yet, we seem to be struggling worse than last year, especially defensively. Was the loss of Theron that significant?

Our rebounding, even last year, wasn't this bad. Don't get me wrong. I'm definitely in favor of trying out a bigger line-up, but even with last year's smaller line-up, they seemed to do okay on the boards.

A majority of teams I see play more than 1 big man at a time. I don't know why we're so special that we can't. I would love to see what a lineup of SM, AW, TB, WE, and AT could do. That team is athletic enough to run the floor, and has 4 guys that can legitimately score. Our rotation still stays the same with EM, DSE, and CR spelling the guards, and SS spelling the bigs. We can still go small with TB at the 4 if we feel like we need to. I'm not saying that we go with that lineup for 35 minutes a game, but jeez what are we afraid of? That it might work? That we might still be able to score, while at the same time being competitive inside? Right now we aren't even competing inside on either end.

[ser_solace]

A majority of teams I see play more than 1 big man at a time. I don't know why we're so special that we can't. I would love to see what a lineup of SM, AW, TB, WE, and AT could do. That team is athletic enough to run the floor, and has 4 guys that can legitimately score. Our rotation still stays the same with EM, DSE, and CR spelling the guards, and SS spelling the bigs. We can still go small with TB at the 4 if we feel like we need to. I'm not saying that we go with that lineup for 35 minutes a game, but jeez what are we afraid of? That it might work? That we might still be able to score, while at the same time being competitive inside? Right now we aren't even competing inside on either end.

Yeah, I definitely want to have a bigger line-up myself. I was just trying to raise a point that going bigger isn't the only thing this team needs to address. One of the previous posts mentioned toughness, and I think this team is definitely lacking that right now.

Last year, I thought we were tough and did decent on the boards with a small line-up. Going big + being tough would be a top 3 finish in the MVC, I think.