Nova vs WVU Thread

[Mangtangeer]

i would hate to see the reactions of some of you if we were lets say texas...texas was #1 and has lost 5 out of 7,i could imagine if that happened to us.does anybody think that getting home from new york city yesterday afternoon and then going straight into practice might have made our team a little tired and sloppy tonight?maybe thats why we got beat on the glass by the smaller team,and maybe that why our guys couldnt defend the way they have been or why the free throw percentage was horrible!teams lose,it happens.would you guys rather be 14-9 or 13-10 on the bubble like belien always had us,or would you rather be ranked top 10 and sitting at 19-4?march is coming soon...we will find out what we are made of...until then,enjoy the ride.
by the way,for the people thats acting like the season is over because we now have 4 losses....michigan state has 5 losses and are one of the favorites to win it all!

I don't see anyone hearing acting like the season is over... Nova played at Georgetown over the weekend and had just as many travel issues as we did so unfortunately that's not a viable excuse for why they had the upper hand on us.

I know you have a soft spot for Ebanks as you go off anytime anyone criticizes him but I just can't see how you can possibly defend him at this point without really stretching.

[gameface25]

+1 ^

[Mojotones]

something we can all agree on:

ebanks>smalligan

anyone want to refute that?

[EERCrazy]

What an overall piss poor performance last night....Forget about, tap a lap, and get ready for p*tt....

It's like this team is never gonna find quite find itself, if it would I agree with Jay Bilas (amazingly!) that if we could put it all together we'd be a final four caliber team, but we just can't quite do it....We had plenty of opportunities to take control of that game last night and failed to do so...

[wvmtneeringa]

I just wish we would come out with fire in our belly for an entire game.  This sh*t of playing good for the 1st 5 then getting lazy for the next 10 then closing the half down double digits is getting old.  If we could play the 1st half as good as the 2nd we would likley be undefeated.

If Huggs can't figure out how to get these guys motivated I am not sure it is doable with this group this year.

Ebanks needs some work for some reason this year and Butler just needs to relax.  When he presses it shows.

All in all we are still in line to close strong and be seeded well.  In basketball things do not really count until March anyways.  We will keep getting better as Denniz and boys gel and March should be fun.

Now on to beating p*tt.

[EERCrazy]

I'd like to thank Jim Clements for completely neutering our student section   as well. I'm all for "keeping it classy" and yeah some of the antics have been embarassing, but there was absolutely no evidence of a home court advantage last night.....great job administration...

[used2bgeno]

Reynolds wasn't even looking to score most of the night. Why should he when Fisher has a 6-6 guy on him. When we were in man, they set high screens and picked us apart. Pick and roll, drive off the screen, take advantage of bad switches and ran their offense all night. They dictated the flow.

When Fisher came off the screen and the Tyrk switched, Fisher paused, licked his chops 7 times, hard drive step, pull up and cotton. For those readons, you play the only zone we have and force them to make open jumpers. Nova was too quick for us and we didn't match up with them and couldn't.

[gameface25]

I disagree EC.  I thought the crowd as a whole, not just the students, were crazy at times.  In a good way.  Maybe it was just the way ESPN kept panning around showing it, but there were 3 or 4 times when my eyes widened and I said "Wow!"

When you have ppl up near the top jumping up and down and yelling with the rest, thats a good thing.


We lost the game like I said, during that stretch when we cut it to 5 with about 10-12 min to go in the game, and while we stopped Nova 5 or 6 straight times from scoring, we stopped ourselves too.  We wasted the whole shot clock standing around, then with 6-8 seconds to go, they would panic and throw it to Butler and expect him to fire it up like he is Kobe Bryant or something.  Standing around watching.  It was pitiful.  Our offense went to hell for 5-8 minute spurts at times.  

You wont beat a final 4 caliber team like that.

[gameface25]

Reynolds wasn't even looking to score most of the night. Why should he when Fisher has a 6-6 guy on him. When we were in man, they set high screens and picked us apart. Pick and roll, drive off the screen, take advantage of bad switches and ran their offense all night. They dictated the flow.

When Fisher came off the screen and the Tyrk switched, Fisher paused, licked his chops 7 times, hard drive step, pull up and cotton. For those readons, you play the only zone we have and force them to make open jumpers. Nova was too quick for us and we didn't match up with them and couldn't.

couldnt agree more

As for comparing Reynolds when Ebanks was on him... it wasnt that cut and dry.  He didnt shoot alot in the 1st half, when Ebanks was primarily guarding him.  Plus, with all the screens and things they did, no one was ever really on him for extended periods of time.  It was more of "drive by ebanks and dish back out for a 3 or dish to the block for a dunk" type of deal, not necessarily scoring over Ebanks.  Reynolds got the bulk of his scoring in the 2nd half on fast breaks and flat out blowing by everyone for layups, not really jumpers

[EERCrazy]

We lost the game like I said, during that stretch when we cut it to 5 with about 10-12 min to go in the game, and while we stopped Nova 5 or 6 straight times from scoring, we stopped ourselves too.  We wasted the whole shot clock standing around, then with 6-8 seconds to go, they would panic and throw it to Butler and expect him to fire it up like he is Kobe Bryant or something.  Standing around watching.  It was pitiful.  Our offense went to hell for 5-8 minute spurts at times. 

You wont beat a final 4 caliber team like that.

That was my point too, we had plenty of opportunities to win this game especially the stretch you're referring to, it was painful to watch...

[gameface25]

To sum it up, im really disappointed Huggs is so stubborn as to not play a 2-3 zone, or against this Nova team, a 3-2 zone woulda been better.  Make them shoot 3s and prove they can hit him.  The tight zones stops all the dribble drive and dishes, they shot 65% because half of their FGs were layups.

Hopefully the team will learn from this game.  We need to find a way to consistently score besides Butler jacking up 3s, and need to find a way to stay consistently energized, not just when Mazz gets thrown in the game as a spark plug.

[DAE]

I'm starting to wonder if playing that tough schedule was a bad idea.  One of the advantages to playing a cupcake schedule at the beginning of the year is that it gives you a chance to start gelling as a unit.  It also gives you a shot of confidence.  Straight from the beginning of the season this team has lacked an identity and has lacked passion; Ebanks' off-court problems didn't help either.  I see too much of the same Truck from last year; Ebanks is non-existent, I mean, I don't feel his presence at ALL and I have no idea he is even on the court; Maz is irrelevant more times than not; the Turk makes terrible decisions and fails to take advantage of his size - Huggs should be having him seriously study some Shaq film; Butler is too inconsistent and sometimes he looks too timid; everyone else shows glimpses of greatness and then they fade away.  

[adub23333]

i would hate to see the reactions of some of you if we were lets say texas...texas was #1 and has lost 5 out of 7,i could imagine if that happened to us.does anybody think that getting home from new york city yesterday afternoon and then going straight into practice might have made our team a little tired and sloppy tonight?maybe thats why we got beat on the glass by the smaller team,and maybe that why our guys couldnt defend the way they have been or why the free throw percentage was horrible!teams lose,it happens.would you guys rather be 14-9 or 13-10 on the bubble like belien always had us,or would you rather be ranked top 10 and sitting at 19-4?march is coming soon...we will find out what we are made of...until then,enjoy the ride.
by the way,for the people thats acting like the season is over because we now have 4 losses....michigan state has 5 losses and are one of the favorites to win it all!

I don't see anyone hearing acting like the season is over... Nova played at Georgetown over the weekend and had just as many travel issues as we did so unfortunately that's not a viable excuse for why they had the upper hand on us.

I know you have a soft spot for Ebanks as you go off anytime anyone criticizes him but I just can't see how you can possibly defend him at this point without really stretching.

i go off? ...it just gets old to get on here after every game just to see people cutting down ebanks and the team in some way saying that we shouldnt have won or saying that we dont have what it takes....it looks like the bgn basketball board most of the time.by the way 13points, 6 rebs, 2 steals,and superior defense on reynolds for ebanks`....not a terrible game as you all are once again saying.he isnt exactly playing great imo and i wish that he would do more at times,but hes not as bad as alot of people make him out to be.hes not a 20 point a game scorer,but he is a superb defender and is a pretty good garbage man down low which doesnt always get noticed!

[DAE]

I am so tired of this 3-point game too.  I thought we recruited bigger guys to get more physical and step away from the 3 game?  I understand we're in a rough spot when we're down 10+ points, but we're not forced to play that game either.  I think we'd be better off playing some physical D and going for the inside shots.  

[Tito]

Maybe Huggs actually IS tired. He mentioned to Tony Caridi in the SJ post-game interview that he told his team in the lockerroom at half that they were wearing him out (or something similar) having to beat on them every halftime. It came across as meaning exactly what he said, not an analogy or cliche.