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BracketForecast
Nope.
The state of Ramnation
- Thread starter rambunctiousrowdyram
- Start date
Nope.
Havoc City
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Lol. It's time to get honest with ourselves. Our real issue is can we compete against fur this weekend. Winning a game in the NCAA tournament should be the least of our concerns right now.
theyaintwantit
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Potential NCAA team but hold up on the lock status LOL.
If Dayton wins the A10 tournament, not a single A10 team will be a lock until Greg Gumbel says that their name between 6pm-7pm ET on Selection Sunday night.
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theyaintwantit
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This. We can alter the A10 seeding with a win or loss this weekend. Huge, winnable game.
How did it come to this? We lost to Dayton who have arguably the best player in College Basketball this year and a solid cast of teammates, plus a very good head coach, we lost to a Rhody team that is also having a surprisingly good year and seems to have our number, and the we laid an egg.
1 bad loss and now the question is can we compete. We smashed Davidson, UR and others in the A10 but now its can we compete. Give me a break.
We'll put it on UR like always.
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Is it something is off, or maybe the team just isn’t that talented? We had a good year last year, but also lost to every single decent team that we played except Dayton....who we played while they were missing a key starter and had a very thin bench because of several red shirt transfers taking space....we could wear them down, more than beat them.
The key this year has always been a fully recovered healthy and explosive Evans. If you have a PG that can get downhill and finish regularly—-everything else lines up well for this team. It is built around an active and aggressive PG, because we are not big and our shooters (save bones) are streaky at best.
ME is physically beat down though—there is no telling what impact two successive achilles injuries have done to his mechanics and there is a point where the body just says enough....then add a new knee injury, illness and the not unexpected hit to confidence and we are a thoroughbred without a jockey.
Our two core front line players are great stories of hard work and determination— but they are undersized, have limited range and are unreliable at the line. In transition and in quick sets MSS is the best 5 in the league offensively, but if we don’t strike quickly, his advantages are lost and frankly he doesn’t seem to set any off the ball screens.
DJ is our most reliable two-way player right now, but i suspect he’d be better situated in an offense where he is the main option—sort of like Riler at CoC.....he needs volume to maximize his effectiveness. Sure he’ll shoot you out of a few games, but he is the one guy (maybe Bones), who could put the team on his back and drive.....our “everybody shoots” style doesn’t seem congruent with that though.
In moments of clarity, its obvious that our underclassmen are superior across the board from a talent standpoint (other than DJ), but they lack experience and do a lot of young player stuff that costs games. Would love to see more of them, but i’m not quite there on giving up on the season.
RamCrazy
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I think you’re spot on. Without the high level play ME displayed last year this team just looks lost. The swag has disappeared.
Not really responding to you Prock but more expanding on your point(s). I know there will be the "they haven't played a game crew" and that is true but the talent level goes up significantly next year. Every single incoming freshmen had P6 offers and could have been playing high major ball.
Deri is the most talented Sr on the team. My own personal opinion is that he is too nice on the court. If he wanted to, he could get his shot from any spot at any time. ME has been hampered by injury since he set foot on campus and that has not allowed us to see the real ME(that is for anyone who wants to "debate" my statement about Deri.)
Two of next years freshman should be ready to contribute from day one. They are ahead of normal high school players defensively and they just need to learn our sets. Next year will also be the return of the broad street bullies. We have potentially 8 players returning next year( I thought for a few weeks that we might have our first non transfer year but now I am rethinking that possibility)
I have not given up on this year but the eye test tells me we some seniors that have suffered distractions( be they injuries or other life problems), we have some seniors that have reached there potential and are playing the best they will and no one who has made the team there own. Someone( Deri, MSS or Bones, If ME was healthy I would add him to the possible list) is going to have to take the reigns and lead from the front.
A lot of basketball is still left to be played. I remember that the year we went to the final 4 is the same year that UCONN went .500 in conference and had to win all 5 tournament games to make the tournament. They ended up winning the National Championship. Also, we have never won the conference championship when we had the double bye. Last night was ugly but its up to the team if they want to let one game define them. I don't believe they will
This team looks exactly like the one that lost to UCF in last year's tournament.
RamLover
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The real issue can't be winning the game in the tournament until we solve the issue of qualifying for that tournament...
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Our ppg and fg% are improved from last year. Our offensive efficiency is 127th this year. 1.009 (in the black). Last year it was 210th. 0.995 (in the red).
Statistically we are a better offense team this year. The league is better.
Statistically we are a better offense team this year. The league is better.
duncanlamb
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VCU Finance 2008
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Well now I am worried that Vann will be gone after this year.
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Dont worry, they WILL be gone after April
mrA10
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I'm not 100% positive the "elephant in the room" reference was directly only at coach.
Could be a situation with certain players where the coach isn't handling it right, but not simply X's and O's. I have issues with some of the lineups and bad time clock management, but the problem this year is immaturity of certain player(s) that couldn't handle things not going exactly their way.