Are we better than last year?
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ISwamRam
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comparing the two teams at the same time of year...
There are two elements I'd base a response from/on; talent and team. I think we're slightly less talented for obvious reasons of having the 15th round NBA draft pick on the team last year. But I think we're better than last year from a team perspective. The guys are starting to gel (so it seems) and are learning that being down or allowing the other team to make a late run isn't the end of the game...we're grinding it out for the W's when we need them. This team, if it continues to improve at the same rate as it has over the last several weeks, might be one of the better ones we've had from a W's & L's perspective.
Go Rams!
There are two elements I'd base a response from/on; talent and team. I think we're slightly less talented for obvious reasons of having the 15th round NBA draft pick on the team last year. But I think we're better than last year from a team perspective. The guys are starting to gel (so it seems) and are learning that being down or allowing the other team to make a late run isn't the end of the game...we're grinding it out for the W's when we need them. This team, if it continues to improve at the same rate as it has over the last several weeks, might be one of the better ones we've had from a W's & L's perspective.
Go Rams!
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So obviously this is entirely subjective until all the results are in, but I think we have more potential to be great this year.
1) We seem to be improving/gelling overall (as ISwamRam said). Last year there seemed to be a lot more discord, with most of it centered around Larry shooting 3s and auditioning for the NBA, Gavin's situation, etc. We have none of that this year.
2) We have a large batch of freshman that are talented and contributing - - they will be/should be peaking in March, when we head to the brown spaceship on Leigh St. We have already have one "special player" candidate in Brandenberg.
3) We are missing a key inside player (Veal) and are still on a mini-run. We should be better/tougher when Veal can log some minutes, assuming there is no chemistry adjustment, etc.
4) The halfcourt D is heading in the right direction. So is the rebounding.
5) Coach is making adjustments (Theus logging #1 minutes, etc.) as effectively as ever.
All that said, we have yet to reach the meat of our schedule in conference. A setup win over GSU and then a road win over ODU would make me feel really good about this team.
1) We seem to be improving/gelling overall (as ISwamRam said). Last year there seemed to be a lot more discord, with most of it centered around Larry shooting 3s and auditioning for the NBA, Gavin's situation, etc. We have none of that this year.
2) We have a large batch of freshman that are talented and contributing - - they will be/should be peaking in March, when we head to the brown spaceship on Leigh St. We have already have one "special player" candidate in Brandenberg.
3) We are missing a key inside player (Veal) and are still on a mini-run. We should be better/tougher when Veal can log some minutes, assuming there is no chemistry adjustment, etc.
4) The halfcourt D is heading in the right direction. So is the rebounding.
5) Coach is making adjustments (Theus logging #1 minutes, etc.) as effectively as ever.
All that said, we have yet to reach the meat of our schedule in conference. A setup win over GSU and then a road win over ODU would make me feel really good about this team.
We won't know until March. But I see positive signs of week to week improvement as well, things that show really good coaching. Looking back at the Georgia State loss, I can now look back and call it a "good loss". I hope it taught us to respect every opponent we have, because as others have said, this is a tough/good conference.
districtballer
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Depends on your definition of better. I think we were more talented last year. We have better chemistry this year. I'll take the latter.
We still haven't really played anyone in conference and could be let down big-time when we play some of the other top dogs. Maybe, maybe not. I hope we do hold our own and that the improvement we've shown carries over to those games.
If we hold serve in our home games, win @Delaware and @Towson, and then go 2-4 in the @JMU, @ODU, @Drexel, and @NU games, we can win the league. That would put us at 15-3 which would do it for sure and I believe 14-4 will be probably good enough this year. The schedule broke favorably for us this year. Much easier said than done in this league, but it certainly looks doable if we play the way we can play.
We still haven't really played anyone in conference and could be let down big-time when we play some of the other top dogs. Maybe, maybe not. I hope we do hold our own and that the improvement we've shown carries over to those games.
If we hold serve in our home games, win @Delaware and @Towson, and then go 2-4 in the @JMU, @ODU, @Drexel, and @NU games, we can win the league. That would put us at 15-3 which would do it for sure and I believe 14-4 will be probably good enough this year. The schedule broke favorably for us this year. Much easier said than done in this league, but it certainly looks doable if we play the way we can play.
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We will certainly be able to answer this question better come the 23rd of this month. DB's analysis is very similar to the way I am currently thinking.
VCUFTW
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ViCtorioUs said:
Agreed...after @ODU we will have a much better idea. I hope our bigs come to play a hard fought game on Saturday. We could really use the experience of Toby and Brandon but their absence is giving the chance for DJ, Rob, and Juvonte to get some nice developmental minutes. I like where are freshman are so far this year more than where Darius and Troy were at this point last year.
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we really need to get this question settled quickly, because subjective semi-informed speculation is far more entertaining than actual basketball played out on a game-by-game basis... real-world real-time results are just so messy
if we can decide, we can just fill out our spreadsheets and call it a season
if we can decide, we can just fill out our spreadsheets and call it a season
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artRAMinMN said:
OK Mr. Crankypants, do we feel better now that we've gotten that out of our system?
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ViCtorioUs said:artRAMinMN said:
OK Mr. Crankypants, do we feel better now that we've gotten that out of our system?
what I really want to know is if we are better this year than we a hypothetical team made up of Bond villains
districtballer
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artRAMinMN said:ViCtorioUs said:artRAMinMN said:
OK Mr. Crankypants, do we feel better now that we've gotten that out of our system?
what I really want to know is if we are better this year than we a hypothetical team made up of Bond villains
Hard to go against the bond villains. They are a bunch of badasses.
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districtballer said:
Hard to go against the bond villains. They are a bunch of badasses.
Is Razor in this collection?
districtballer
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I said badasses. He does not qualify.