The recent NCAA years (2004, 2007, 2009)

[MozingoWasFilthy]

Some history................

In 2003-2004 (when we danced), our starting lineup for our first loss of the season (against UR) included Doles, Reid, and Harper. By Game 11 (Hofstra), they were out and JPR, BA, and Nick were in (permanently). Jeff spent the first eleven games of that season tinkering heavily with the starters/rotation/minutes.

In 2006-2007 (when we danced), our starting lineup for our first loss of the season (against Toledo) included Calvin Roland. By Game 6 (Elon), he was out and Fameni was in (permanently). Anthony spent the first six games of that season tinkering with the rotation/minutes.

In 2008-2009 (when we danced), our starting lineup for our first two losses of the season (against Rhody/ECU) included Rozzell and Nixon. By Game 5 (New Mexico), they were out and Kirill/J-Rod were in (permanently). Anthony spent the first five games of that season tinkering with the starters/rotation/minutes.

Fast forward............2009/2010. Starters for our first loss of the season (Sanders, Gwynn, Burgess, Gavin, J-Rod). It is highly unlikely that this starting lineup will remain intact. Shaka needs some more "data points" (i.e. games) to gather the necessary info and make the proper adjustments. Then, of course, the "Skeen factor" in mid-Dec lingers............and Saintil's return in Jan.

I predict our Jan 2 starting lineup for Game 11 (vs UNCW at Siegel) will be markedly different than the one we used yesterday. Our rotation/minutes distribution will also likely be quite different..............and even our style of play may be different. We shall see.

Oklahoma, Nevada, URI, UR, ECU, Tulane, Hampton, W&M..................these eight games will shape/determine our starters/rotation/minutes/style of play when January rolls around. I actually hope Shaka does a lot of "tinkering" w/ lineups, playing styles, minutes, strategies, etc over the next six weeks (prior to January). I'd really like to see what each kid (Theus, Daniels, Grayson in particular) can bring to the table and if they are starter-rotation worthy.

 

[Ramdog]

We need to find ourselves on defense ...we are way to easy to score against and cant rebound...bad combo

 

[Wigglytuff]

i don't want to be a debbie downer, but OOC losses don't really matter as much when we win the CAA tournament, as VCU did in 2004, 2007, and 2009. a loss like Western Michigan does matter, a lot, when we don't punch our way through. 2007-2008 is a much better year to contemplate. VCU, for the most part did what it needed to do OOC, but messed up against WandM. we were a bubble team, and like this year, the CAA was fairly down. but looking back at that schedule, would we have been in had we won against Hampton in the OOC portion? i remember that year clearly and think that we would have. i love the optimism around here to think we can win a bunch of games, and i hope the Rams do, but even if we did, this loss is one that just bites you in the ass later if we don't take the CAA.

 

[Sometimes]

i don't want to be a debbie downer, but OOC losses don't really matter as much when we win the CAA tournament, as VCU did in 2004, 2007, and 2009. a loss like Western Michigan does matter, a lot, when we don't punch our way through. 2007-2008 is a much better year to contemplate. VCU, for the most part did what it needed to do OOC, but messed up against WandM. we were a bubble team, and like this year, the CAA was fairly down. but looking back at that schedule, would we have been in had we won against Hampton in the OOC portion? i remember that year clearly and think that we would have. i love the optimism around here to think we can win a bunch of games, and i hope the Rams do, but even if we did, this loss is one that just bites you in the @$$ later if we don't take the CAA.

But that all gets erased if we beat OU this weekend. Everything is fluid. We can't say "We lost to WMU, we can't make it to the dance unless we win the CAA tourney." It's simply too early to say that.

 

[vcu70]

I agree, we really need Skeen and Santil bad at this point and no doubt our lineup is going to change by 2 or possibly 3 people.