The Official Beat St Bona in Olean Thread (Schedule now being rewritten by Dr Seuss!)

[rambunctiousrowdyram]

I honestly think if we trend downward Ed gives it until after next year.

VCU is in a critical place. It spent years building this and just a few years can be damaging to the image. The problem is can anyone say we look like we’re getting better? Honestly I think we looked better at the beginning then now. I mean losing by what 10 to the number 14 team when we honestly didn’t play that great? How does that translate to get scares from JMU, GWU, blasted by a mediocre URI, and handily manhandled by SBU after a big lead?

I’m sorry but that’s something more than youth. It looks like we ran out of ideas when things got tough and we saw this last year. Instead we just started jacking up shots and switching off defensively. When we get rattle the wheels don’t come off. The whole train flips over and explodes.

 

[HBK]

I’m sure what you are referring to in March but we won’t be in the tourney if we keep playing like this. We looked bad since jmu and people made excuses of winning ugly and such. Then tonight we had the chance to prove something and instead we got our teeth kicked in over a 20 min span. We won’t be playing any postseason like this.

By March, I was simply referring to the A-10 tournament.

 

[LQuarles]

He was on the floor last night and didn't look great.

BMB did not play last night.

 

[Beirne]

 

[Havoc2Ut2]

They made the adjustment to our trapping strategy. We didn't adjust to their adjustment and kept on trapping with bigs out near the FT line. It's not hard for guards to get to the rack when no one's there. Oh and what also happens when the bigs are out? A lot of O boards. They then proceeded to adjust our jocks and give the wedgie of a lifetime.

If we drop back into straight man to man D we maybe would have had a chance. Who knows.

I actually had to go to my safe quiet place at about the 5 minute mark...

 

[theyaintwantit]

That is excellent news! I can think of a biggie from today, but I don’t want to post anything political. I thought we were looking for game comments.

LOL - smart move on your part.

 

[theyaintwantit]

Don't worry. Our head coach is going to make the necessary adjustments.

Havoc City - I respect you for keeping my receipt.
I hoped that we would play two good halves of basketball and that did NOT happen therefore yes I am pissed.

 

[theyaintwantit]

Ace needs to shoot more. He needs to be some sort of a scoring threat to open up the offense.

This x 1000.
I know that ACE is a work in progress on the shooting game, but if he can't develop a shot then his ceiling may be a slightly better version of Johnny Williams.

PS - I love how hard Johnny Williams played and he was a better PG than a lot of WW circle jerkers give him credit for. But..... in MR first year 2017-2018 opponents defense would give him 5ft and that really kept our offense from being successful.

 

[vcurams2016fan]

Given how much we have invested in Mike Rhoades now four years in, and the fact that we are effectively "pot committed" as a result to use a poker term, there is little doubt at this point that he likely deserves to at least get one more year after this season. The team is indeed very young -- even though part of that is because we lost Santos Silva to a transfer because he lost faith in our program.

However, if VCU fails to make The Big Dance this year, Rhoades will be 1/4, or 25%, at succeeding in what had essentially become our major litmus test each year.

I would love to hear from someone who thinks that we should still keep Rhoades if he were to fail to make the NCAA Tournament this year and next year to become 1/5 in succeeding at what should be his minimum goal. I hope that's not the case that it happens, I'd love to be back in the NCAA Tournament, but it's absolutely possible because we're likely very close to having no chance at an at large this year, which again would drop him to 1 for 4.

What is your rationale? What do you see in this program that the rest of us who are starting to have major doubts about the direction of this program missing?

 

[theyaintwantit]

I don’t believe he told Byrd he wasn’t good enough. From the account I heard, he explained to him that Bones and some others would be getting heavy minutes and that Byrd wasn’t there yet and that he’d get more minutes elsewhere.

Translation ---- you aren't good enough lol.

 

[theyaintwantit]

I get the vibe that you slept like poop too?

 

[HBK]

I honestly think if we trend downward Ed gives it until after next year.

VCU is in a critical place. It spent years building this and just a few years can be damaging to the image. The problem is can anyone say we look like we’re getting better? Honestly I think we looked better at the beginning then now. I mean losing by what 10 to the number 14 team when we honestly didn’t play that great? How does that translate to get scares from JMU, GWU, blasted by a mediocre URI, and handily manhandled by SBU after a big lead?

I’m sorry but that’s something more than youth. It looks like we ran out of ideas when things got tough and we saw this last year. Instead we just started jacking up shots and switching off defensively. When we get rattle the wheels don’t come off. The whole train flips over and explodes.

To be fair, early in the season, there wasn’t any real video or even scouting about what many of our guys can or cannot do. There was zero college video of 4 players and limited video of some others, including guys in different roles. For example, the video and stats of Vince over two years showed him as a guy to let have a 3 point shot because he didn’t shoot well. You didn’t want to leave him wide open, but our opponents could live with Vince shooting a 3. Now that he’s proven to be a very good shooter, he is being guarded differently. Teams are trying to run him off the 3 point line.

Ace has some tendencies that are now easy to see on video; there wasn’t video of that in South Dakota. It’s not a coincidence that Ace has struggled more in conference play. He hasn’t had more than 2 assists in a conference game except against GW, but he’s also had at least 2 turnovers in each conference game. He was at something like a 3 to 1 assist to turnover ratio in the non-conference. In conference it is just slightly better than 1 to 1. Why? Playing teams with comparable athleticism is one, but now there is ample video of Ace, so teams understand how to guard him more effectively. Is it up to Mike to make some adjustments? Sure, but it is also up to Ace to develop other aspects of his game and to vary what he does. Fatts Russell, as an example, has developed other parts of his game over his time at Rhody. He almost never aggressively attacked the rim in his first two seasons like he’s done in the last two seasons. He gets to the line more, which also allows him to get more open looks from 3, as teams guard against the drive.

Believe me, I understand the frustration as much as anyone. I feel it at times, too. However, unless you have Duke or Kentucky freshmen, most years anyway, then experience usually wins in college basketball. If talent is basically equal, then experience wins out at this level more often than not. The future of VCU is bright, but it’s going to be frustrating to deal with some things this season, like the epic collapse in Olean.

Peace all.

 

[GarseIronjade]

Well that was pretty darn bad. A complete collapse.

There are many things that a coach can be unfairly blamed for when a team loses. Poor shooting, an off night by a key player, etc.

My chief concern is the absolute lack of discipline that this team shows frequently.

When a team lacks discipline, the fault is squarely on the Coach. There is no reason for us to tolerate T's. Flipping out about bad calls is never a good look or a winning move.

Bones (or any other player) needs to be benched for a significant period every time this happens. If any player does it repeatedly, have them sit out an entire game.

 

[HAVOC still lives here]

I wouldn’t worry about Will. He’ll be fine. He has finished first or second in his league every year except his first at LSU, and they were coming off a last place finish. Turned them around. He turned UTC instantly, and did well here. MR has one good season and.a bunch of 7, 8, 9 finishes. If MR was getting it done this would not come up constantly. People wouldn’t feel the need to defend MR and be so sensitive if they had real confidence in him.

I don’t believe in complimenting a man who gets to buy a team of seasoned 5 stars and talk about his victorious past and accolades.

 

[HAVOC still lives here]

My last comments on this game are still directed to Coach in that he should have made adjustments. However, it takes several years for P5 transfer coaches to right the ship with 4 and 5 star players so I find it a bit interesting that many expect Coach Rhoades to pull a rabbit out of his hat in less time. We have seen him find diamonds in the rough and the best of the best in his recruiting efforts. He just needs to be more animated on the sidelines to show he is in the game too. If it takes Coach getting a technical to get momentum, so be it. The P5 coaches do it all the time.