The Official Beat the Dayton Fayers at the Stu Thread

[80sRamBaseballRugby]

Right on. I was at the Stu last night as well but in the corner and I maybe didn’t pay close enough attention to worked pays for him (Rhoades certainly had him as a big part of the game plan that’s for sure) but yes, his conditioning is a big problem at this level.

Absolutely agree. Free throws are weird. When I used to play, coaches would make us shoot a ton before and after we did the most intense workouts, to get used to free throws with fresh legs and with tired legs. But it all changed at the line when all eyes are on you and the pressure that comes with that. It was almost easier to hit free throws in an away game with people yelling than it was to shoot at home in silence or the one away fan heckling. Either way at the level, you have to do better than 50%.

I wish the Stu didn’t go whisper quiet during our FTs. Seems more destructing than normal arena noise.

 

[Ramdog]

I wish the Stu didn’t go whisper quiet during our FTs. Seems more destructing than normal arena noise.

The moans after the shot are pretty loud

 

[Yosi Ram]

Dayton lost its backcourt in the Bahamas which most likely cost them some games. SLU lost some they shouldn't but also beat Memphis and Providence. UR had ups and downs in the non-conference but beat Temple 61-49 and destroyed Drake. Embryotic (at the time) SBU beat Notre Dame we before the Bonnies had jelled. UMass won a tournament. GW destroyed South Carolina. Yes, a bad USC. Fordham is 19-5. They lost just a couple non-conference games.

Lots of cherrypicking there just picking out the good.

UR lost to William and Mary, Wichita, Clemson (blow out), Toledo (blow out)
SLU Iona, Boise, SIU Edwardsville

Across the board it was not a good out of conference performance and the neutral statistics point to this.

 

[80sRamBaseballRugby]

The moans after the shot are pretty loud

JJs last FT the bottom of the ball never cleared 10’ elevation. Needs a whole new approach.

But we’re good enough to win with poor FT shooting vs the A-10. It just can’t be combined with poor perimeter shooting and your PG making silly choices in the last few minutes if the game. Combined all of that with curious coaching decisions and you have the recipe for a home loss that should have been a W.

 

[rammed]

Right on. I was at the Stu last night as well but in the corner and I maybe didn’t pay close enough attention to worked pays for him (Rhoades certainly had him as a big part of the game plan that’s for sure) but yes, his conditioning is a big problem at this level.

I don’t want to turn this into Shriver bashing - he is certainly not the only one to disappoint last night. That said, I paid a lot of attention to his movement without the ball. TBH, I didn’t think he worked very hard at all to get open for a decent catch/shoot opportunity.

 

[DNB]

The moans after the shot are pretty loud

If we are worried about the noise, or lack thereof, then you have identified the problem-concentration.

 

[DNB]

We got caught in swtiches on several of those and it was more about Kern or Watkins or even a guard being down there against Holmes or Camara. Against that front line you aren't going to stop them all game, just have to contain them as a group. We actually did that even with the giant game by Camara. Dayton only scored 62 points and a bunch of those from the free throw line and a couple fall away shot clock beating 3 pointers. We cannot walk away from this game and talk about defense or a lack of effort or focus. Even though the two 3 on 1 fast breaks resulted in nothing and we had 2 late turnovers, you can't talk about sloppy play or turnovers as we only had 9 for the game.

Manpower and size on the front line stood out, but we did well enough against that to win.

It is of no great surprise tha we lost due to continued poor shooting overall from everywhere. There was pretty much no way we were gong to beat a Dayton or SLU with everyone being brick cold from outside and the line. Ace was godly vs SLU so it happened, nobody was there to help pick up things last night. Over the last 3-4 games we are shooting about 20% from three pointers and it makes the game so much harder. Changing that is not about coaching schemes, we go open shots for key guys even last night and they weren't made. The denied Shriver any looks or even catches but Ace, Nunn, Zebb, and Watkins had opportunities out of our offense and ball movement and just didn't see them fall.

It seems like a really good time to have a week off, it would have been a happy week if we had won.

Here is what I see about our 3 pt. Shooting. They are typically not high quality shots. When we are not we are getting dribble drives in the paint and dishing it off. Guys have their feet set and shoot well. Last night, and several other nights, we force a shot that just is not there on the dribble drive. Punched it in to bigs and it is either a black hole or a spin pass without looking and god knows where it will end up. Add to this then length of Dayton and it further altered our shots.

 

[Mr X]

Lots of cherrypicking there just picking out the good.

UR lost to William and Mary, Wichita, Clemson (blow out), Toledo (blow out)
SLU Iona, Boise, SIU Edwardsville

Across the board it was not a good out of conference performance and the neutral statistics point to this.

Leon Rice.

 

[MarylandRamFan]

The A10 is such a mess.
The Bonnies beat us, Dayton, and UR, then lose at home to LaSalle.
We beat St. Louis, Dayton, and Davidson on the road, then lose to the Bonnies and Dayton at home.
Strange.

 

[RamStrut]

I don’t want to turn this into Shriver bashing - he is certainly not the only one to disappoint last night. That said, I paid a lot of attention to his movement without the ball. TBH, I didn’t think he worked very hard at all to get open for a decent catch/shoot opportunity.

I agree. I’m really not trying to come down on him or anything. I did that early in the season and said I wouldn’t go there again. His head just didn’t seem into it or something. Not sure if you noticed his body language but he would not high five the bench when being subbed out or hardly would. He was extremely frustrated.

 

[ssvcu90]

We'll have to agree to disagree there, Sparky.

You obviously haven't noticed that the bottom and middle of the A10 are better than they've been in years. The A10 is rated a few spots lower than normal, but it's still in the top 1/3 of conferences in the country. The A10 underperformed in the OOC, but that doesn't make it weak in the absolute sense. The A10's last place team (Loyola) beat one of the ACC's first place team (Clemson) by 18 on a neutral floor. The A10's current leader (VCU) beat one of the ACC's first place teams (Pitt) on a neutral floor. The ACC is down from where it normally is, but that doesn't make the ACC a weak conference.

Finally, based on the NET, VCU is in the top 22% of all teams in the country. That's not average. It also isn't great. It's just good.

As I said above, we'll just have to agree to disagree, Sparky.

Yes we will, Sparky.

 

[Celticguy]

It's obvious the top of the league is dragging down the conference this year. If the top of the league had of performed better, the A-10 would very likely be looking at multiple NCAA Tournament bids. The middle and bottom portions of the A-10 have not impacted the top of the league's performance, or lack thereof, at all. The top of the league has no one to blame but themselves for the A-10 being a one bid league this year.

There is far less separation top to bottom in the conference this year. The usual top tier is not as top as it used to be and neither is the bottom as bottom. Ergo, one bid conference.
And I'm not so sure that's going to change much in the brave new world UNLESS coaches get a lot better at getting re-built teams to actually play like teams a whole lot quicker.
Before you get too worked up, even the P6 has the problem of being more competitive top to bottom. Look at SEC and ACC etc.

 

[HBK]

Yes we will, Sparky.

Excellent!! Well done, sir.

 

[SteveMM]

On another note, I'd like to ensure everyone that I did, in fact, wear the correct shirt to this game. I wore my home gameday shirt under an older gold VCU shirt. At halftime, I took off the gold shirt. This was the first time this season that when I wore the correct shirt, we lost. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned. You can see me circled in this picture, generally making a fool of myself because I knew the camera was on me. And, you can see the correct shirt is on my body. I'm so confused.

 

[vcu2016]

Three things from Tuesday. These guys have shot thousands of free throws in their lives and shoot hundreds a week in practice. The result showing on the court is just mind-boggling. I can't figure it out, lack of focus? I have no idea. It's definitely not for a lack of practice and reps though that's for sure.

Second, if Johns doesn't contribute defensively, which he did not Tuesday night, he's borderline useless out there. You get the really good and the really bad with him. It was the same thing in the Temple game. If he isn't guarding, he is causing more harm than good out there.

Shriver is finally seeing what real high level DI defense looks like and he is STRUGGLING. He either needs to adapt his game to get himself different opportunities by maybe driving or cutting or find ways to get himself open more. He should literally never stop moving, period. He does a lot of jogging and standing around and that's not going to cut it (granted, could very well be the offensive scheme). His playing time is way down now too because although he has improved defensively, if he isn't contributing offensively, he is also virtually useless out there.