BU v.s. The Valley

[BradleyBrave]

As much as I agree with you by the time DR started his antics our O stalled out big time and there was no one else willing to take the shots the last 5 minutes. MSU already tightened up their D and we were going to have to go inside to score. Well with no big to score or rebound, DR must have felt he was it. JC needs to ask for the ball also towards the end of the game and maybe not pass it back so fast. We need another consistant scoring threat if we are going to take the Valley period. Only time will tell who will step up.

DC has the most potential
AW may not like being the go to guy
SM & Egolf are to young
TW is more of a role player

DR isn't good enough to do that. It's Jim's job to get through to him that he's at his best when he's getting others involved by running our offense, or playing off the ball and letting it come back to him in a position to succeed. Ruffin's antics haven't cost us the games, but they have taken away any chance we've had to come back and win. Quite frankly I am tired of it. Oh for the calmness and cool head of Will Franklin...

[ghunt]

3 or 4 more losses and that's it

I had this in the poll thread (basic jist, BU and SIU in a tier above the rest with Creighton and Missouri State just behind at 3 and 4):

Barring any severe lapses or injury, I really think we finish strong in terms of wins. I think we drop the Butler game there, lose at SIU and at Creighton. We can't know about the Bracketbuster pairing yet, but that one and the Missouri State road game could be wild cards. However, I do not think Missouri State is that strong this year in terms of matching up with us, and given the level of talent in the Bracketbusters, I do not see any team of that caliber taking us down at home.

Although I think we may wind up with the best overall record since either '96 or '88, we will be lacking a marquee win. And, although the conference RPI may be decent right now, I really do think that us and SIU will domniate when it's said and done. So, the weaker conference and the lack of the big win will hurt our seeding--I was really hoping to see us breakout and we'd be in the top 25 with SIU by the time the conference season started. Oh, and by the way, given SIU's lack of depth this year and weak guard play, I think we win the regular season conference title.

P.S. Has anyone else noticed how much national and or regional TV we have down the stretch? It's pretty good. That will have to help indireclty with drumming up some attention come selection Sunday, I would think. If the record from here on out goes well, hopefully that type of coverage can compensate a little for no marquee victories early on, and maybe help our seeding just a little. (I'm trying to stay positve, but yes, realistic). (And, if we do pull off the Butler win, thank goodness).