Familiar Patterns

[tornado]

You have to admit, none of what's happening in the Valley and even elsewhere is very familiar or predictable.

this is a really weird season...but it will probably straighten out...
Drake, ISU, and Indiana State lead the Valley at 3-0, and I guarantee those won't be the top-3 teams comer season's end.
Creighton, MSU, and SIU, three of the other top predictions for the Valley are all near the bottom.

Even the Big East is screwy, with DePaul and Notre Dame on top at 2-0 and Pitt, Georgetown, Villanova all trailing.

And who'd have thought Penn State would sit atop the Big Ten, and of course who'd have ever thought Larry Eustachy's Southern Miss would be at the bottom of the CUSA??......oh nevermind...

[squirrel]

Wichita St. was missing their starting point guard also. Wisconsin beat Texas on the road without thier starting point guard and leading scorer. Thier is simply no excuse for this loss, it is absolutely horrible.

Agreed. Didn't Molinari sustain injuries to both AP and Zobrist during their senior years and still net a 2nd place finish and NIT bid? And one reason cited for his removal was going 1-8 with Gilbert out.

[BradleyBrave]

Agreed. Didn't Molinari sustain injuries to both AP and Zobrist during their senior years and still net a 2nd place finish and NIT bid? And one reason cited for his removal was going 1-8 with Gilbert out.

Creighton nearly danced with Funk out for the year and Dotzler missing the 2nd half of the league season. I am sorry, injuries are not an excuse to be this bad.

[squirrel]

Creighton nearly danced with Funk out for the year and Dotzler missing the 2nd half of the league season. I am sorry, injuries are not an excuse to be this bad.

Agreed.

[Toyota12]

Season

Let's all admit one thing the product was hyped the prices were raised and now the product is under acheiveing.....Do we get our $ back? No ! So who is held accountable?
It is very disappointing to see our team loose at home like they have...We have not seen any change at all at the games personell wise or other!!I am not saying fire Jim Les...How about someone calling into the show tonight ask about who is accountatible for this meltdown,him the coaches or the kids he will be honest!!
I do not like the Dan Ruffin excuse!! As far as i am concerned Sam Maniscalco has done his job better than expected for a true freshman!! Look at the numbers.... sorry to ramble!!

[Da Coach]

I disagree. If you are Louisville or North Carolina, you can bring another 5-star off the bench, but midmajors don't have that option.

The fact is that Creighton did not "dance" in 2006 when they should have.
Creighton was the favorite to blow through the MVC and win everything that year, with Funk as a senior. They slumped down the stretch and they were beaten in the first round of the MVC tournament (by Bradley) and they missed the NCAA tournament. They did get invited to the NIT, but got knocked off at home by Miami (FL), a team that would never have beaten them at home if Funk was there. And they did have another All MVC player on that team in Anthony Tolliver.

So do you think Creighton wouldn't have done much better or made the NCAA with Funk that season? Of course they would have.

Nobody is using DRs injury to make excuses. But it is not logical to suggest that an injury to the key player on a midmajor team shouldn't have a negative effect. It always does.

[ER3]

I disagree. If you are Louisville or North Carolina, you can bring another 5-star off the bench, but midmajors don't have that option.

The fact is that Creighton did not "dance" in 2006 when they should have.
Creighton was the favorite to blow through the MVC and win everything that year, with Funk as a senior. They slumped down the stretch and they were beaten in the first round of the MVC tournament (by Bradley) and they missed the NCAA tournament. They did get invited to the NIT, but got knocked off at home by Miami (FL), a team that would never have beaten them at home if Funk was there. And they did have another All MVC player on that team in Anthony Tolliver.

So do you think Creighton wouldn't have done much better or made the NCAA with Funk that season? Of course they would have.

Nobody is using DRs injury to make excuses. But it is not logical to suggest that an injury to the key player on a midmajor team shouldn't have a negative effect. It always does.

DC...
I don't think anyone is denying the fact that losing a player of Ruffin's caliber would have a negative impact on this team. I think the point everyone is trying to make here is that it simply should not have this much of an impact...If we were truly as deep and as talented as we were made out to be by every basketball expert that reviewed us in the preseason, losing Ruffin shouldn't cause us to go from a 2nd place team in the Valley to 2nd from the bottom...
We lost Ruffin, and he has been replaced by Maniscalco...and I would argue that Maniscalco has been our best/most consistent player in the 3 1/2 games since Ruffin has been out...It's not as if Sam replaced Ruffin's minutes and scored 1 point a game and turned the ball over 20 times in 3 games...So why is it that we can't beat UNI at home when they are missing both of their starting guards, and why can't we beat a WSU team at home that is missing their starting point guard? Those are 6th or 7th place Valley teams that were playing short-handed and they both embarrassed us on our home floor...that simply shouldn't happen...regardless of whether Ruff was there or not.

[BradleyBrave]

I disagree. If you are Louisville or North Carolina, you can bring another 5-star off the bench, but midmajors don't have that option.

The fact is that Creighton did not "dance" in 2006 when they should have.
Creighton was the favorite to blow through the MVC and win everything that year, with Funk as a senior. They slumped down the stretch and they were beaten in the first round of the MVC tournament (by Bradley) and they missed the NCAA tournament. They did get invited to the NIT, but got knocked off at home by Miami (FL), a team that would never have beaten them at home if Funk was there. And they did have another All MVC player on that team in Anthony Tolliver.

So do you think Creighton wouldn't have done much better or made the NCAA with Funk that season? Of course they would have.

Nobody is using DRs injury to make excuses. But it is not logical to suggest that an injury to the key player on a midmajor team shouldn't have a negative effect. It always does.

With all due respect, BU was expected to contend for a MVC crown and NCAA berth with DR. Without DR, of course expectations are lessened to a degree. I certainly didn't expect to win every game he missed, but I expected us to show up at home, beat lesser talented teams, and tread water until he gets back. I had 3rd-5th place in my mind, which is quite a drop from contending for a league title IMO. I thought this group was more than talented enough and deep enough to still do that. I certainly wasn't giving up the season. No way. A teams that's supposed to contend for a league title and supposedly has depth and a great recruiting class should be able to do that, it's not asking the world of anyone. If we're sitting here a month from now and BU has won 4 of 5 and gone 4-6 or so in DR's absence, then perhaps my comments will look knee-jerk or reactionary, but today they are not. I have been eye-witness in the last 4 games to some of the worst basketball I have seen in the last 6 years, and a lot of it has very little to do with one of our better players being injured. I have also seen other teams sustain similar injuries to similar-caliber players and at least have been able to tread water against tougher competition.

The Creighton argument holds a lot of water in this situation. They lost Nate Funk for whole year, and Josh Dotzler for the 2nd half of the league season. They still went 12-6 in MVC play (in one of the toughest MVC's in the last 20 years), won 6 of their final 10 games, and earned an NIT bid. Yes, they still had an all-league caliber player in Anthony Tolliver, but not much else. Yet they found a way to not only tread water, but have a successful season by just about anyone's standard. Now we have BU this year - BU has lost Dan Ruffin, is 7-8, 0-3 in the league (a watered-down MVC no less), and has lost 5 straight games (4 in a row at home for the first time in 16 years) in embarrassing fashion with no end in sight. They still have an all-league caliber player in Jeremy Crouch, an all-league freshman team player in Andrew Warren, an all-freshman/all-newcomer lock in Sam Maniscalco, and a recruiting class that was touted by several national publications as being among the nation's best. I am sorry, but there is NO EXCUSE for how poorly BU has played the last 3 games, specifically the last 2 home games. This injury is not an excuse, not the way we've been getting embarrassed by sub par competition on our home floor.

We have 16 games to get this thing fixed. Right now, it's hard to pencil in a win anywhere. But this is a crazy game, and so far it's been a crazy season. 2 wins this week and everyone is singing a different tune. All we can do is play at this point. Let's hope for a miracle tomorrow and hopefully a little basketball magic to try and save this sinking ship.

[Buddy Lee]

So why is it that we can't beat UNI at home when they are missing both of their starting guards, and why can't we beat a WSU team at home that is missing their starting point guard? Those are 6th or 7th place Valley teams that were playing short-handed and they both embarrassed us on our home floor...that simply shouldn't happen...regardless of whether Ruff was there or not.

These are things that should never have happened to this year's team...what can be done to stop this snowball from getting even bigger and engulfing the rest of the season? The SW16 will be a distant memory to everyone but the people on this board.

[Braves4Life]

I really, really, really hope BU wins the next two games just to get rid of some of the negative posters who have suddenly decided to join and post, or who have come out of hibernation. This negativity is really a bummer..........Geez!