Positive Start to New Season

[bigjimmy]

I guess I'm too used to rooting for teams, i.e. Bradley, Ilinois, Chicago Cubs, who have either underperformed or were just plain bad. Everyone in our section was very impressed with TP. He really has a nose for the ball and looks very comfrotable on the inside. I liked how unselfesh we were on offense and we were pretty agressive on defense. A good first effort and let's hope for more of the same on Monday night.

[Gary the Gargoyle]

Yes, so am I. He was dominant at times, but Eastern was a team a lot like Upper Iowa and Parkside that has no size or athleticism to speak of. They played most of the game with 3 or 4 guards, none of which could dribble, pass, or shoot a lick. Their starting 5 had 2 assists for the game and were 12-32 from the floor, and their subs were even worse. They did not appear to have a center or power forward on their roster- Josh Piper, their biggest player is listed at 6'8", but was closer to 6'6" and rarely went inside near the basket, and their other starting "forward" Blanford also appeared smaller than the 6'6" he's listed at. Bradley had a 36-18 advantage in points in the paint, and a 35-25 rebounding advantage. We may not see disparities like that very often this year, but it's nice to take advantage when we can. I was happy to see a game plan to exploit the mismatches inside. And, a number of other teams we will play in the pre-conference are similar teams without skilled big men, so I hope we continue to take what teams can give us. I don't expect TP to be so dominant against some of the better teams coming up, but I expect the team to show a better perimeter game when needed.

I'd take the Austin kid. I think he's going to be a player.

[Beninator]

It doesn't matter that EIU is not a good team. These are the types of teams we struggled with last year (remember SIU and Loyola anyone?!). This year these are the types of teams we should win easily over at home, at the very least. We may still struggle this year, but at least we need to start beating teams like this consistantly, which we did tonight.

I second the added depth and TP/Will. Just having them could give this team about 5 to 8 more wins this year.

Not just last year but we have struggled against these type of teams for a while! Love to see us blow out teams during the early part of the schedule!

[SFP]

Not just last year but we have struggled against these type of teams for a while! Love to see us blow out teams during the early part of the schedule!

+1 It shows that the team played for 40 minutes. Playing with consistency and purpose regardless of the situation for 40 minutes is a hard concept for most college teams. Its good to see for at least this one that GF is instilling the killer instinct.