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Post by evilleintentions on Jan 22, 2024 19:19:57 GMT -6
Maybe the coach is looking in the wrong places. He has Dunham, a local kid who would be an upgrade over any guard we currently have, but he’s not good enough? The kid would commit in a minute. He can shoot the ball also, something that is sorely lacking on this team. Hilarious that Lickliter thought the same thing of Isaiah Swope and look at how he turned out. There’s been players to be had. We just keep recruiting the wrong ones. Maybe the coaches haven't been looking in the right places, but I believe this staff knows the type of players they need to compete in the Valley. Ragland had no time to fill roster openings last year and he inherited a roster full of guys who had no business playing Division 1 basketball. He needs some more time. I don't know enough people in the recruiting trails to know who they should be offering. I have not personally seen Dunham play, but I have seen where he has performed well this year and shot lights out. However, Haffner shot pretty darn well last year in his first year of Division 1 play. That has not translated into too much success this year on either side of the ball. Does the increase in competition, size, and athleticism in the Valley every night have something to do with that? It is quite possible. Shooting is obviously something that needs to improve drastically on the recruiting trail. However, the Valley is a physical conference. You need shooting, but you must have guys who also have size, length, quickness, and athleticism to defend and create scoring opportunities for themselves. Some how, UE needs to find these types of players. Whether Dunham is a player that can help UE in the future is up to Rags and the gang. Missing out on Swope was a huge mistake, but I think we can both agree Ragland is a better evaluator of potential and talent than Todd Lickliter. 10 year plans get coaches fired, unless your Chris Ballard and the Indianapolis Colts. The failure of low expectations is why we suck every single damn year.
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Post by E-Villan on Jan 22, 2024 19:32:10 GMT -6
We managed to set a record. 49 points tied Drake’s all-time largest margin of victory. At least we share the honor with Creighton. I hope Ragland hands out a copy of that to every player.
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Post by wildbill on Jan 22, 2024 19:54:25 GMT -6
5 more years in the cellar? I don't know what everyone else thinks, but I don't imagine Ue will be relevant at that point, especially with West Side High School competing in a weak conference. 3 more years (after this one) if we are where we are today, we won't be able to pay rent at the Ford Center. A lot of the fans are getting older. Young folks aren't buying in. It's gotta improve, quickly, or it's over. Is this your "Hold My Beer" moment after bragging about your Bobe boycott? Seriously, I get your frustrations, but you can't think starting over once again next year if Ragland doesn't meet your expectations is the logical way through this? We can Ragland after year 3 and I can assure you not one viable candidate would even pick up the phone. This isn't working. If he doesn't do something next year, he needs axed. Period. This has nothing to do with the BS Bobe nonsense. Anybody who has followed us knows he's not on a D1 level. We're going to have to get better quick. Sorry if that upsets everyone. It's the truth. Maybe Spencer should have never fired Marty. We'd probably be winning more. I thought a change was needed, but it's been a disaster ever since Marty was canned. Oh thrill me, we beat UK, then we lost how many that year after horndog bred the intern?
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Post by aces44 on Jan 22, 2024 20:01:32 GMT -6
Prob important to remember that this is all by design.
Remember last year when they didn’t run an offense? This year he put in an offensive scheme but at this point in the season teams in conference have it all scouted so that your best players don’t get the looks they like, and the worst players are wide open.
At least in the non-con Rags was changing defenses and creating extra chances for the team. That went out the window when Ben got hurt.
I don’t subscribe to it at all, but some coaches (clearly Rags does) think losing by 1 or 51 is the same.
IMHO there are still plenty of levers to pull to give this team a chance to steal possessions and win games. Frankly for Rags career it may not be something he thinks is important right now idk. I like Rags but it’s clear he decides when the game is over and when he should be “coaching” … so be it. It’s his call
The one thing I haven’t quite figured out yet is: What will Rags teams hang their hat on? Crews teams were tough and smart Floorburn U made you hate playing them Jake gives UNI about a dozen points per game by calling plays that get his guys easy shots
Idk but: this team doesn’t play harder than the teams they play, they don’t shoot better than the teams on the schedule… idk haven’t figured it out yet - it might be getting bigger players and hope the other team misses and we can back them down enough to get easy buckets idk
If someone knows what the Aces calling card will be from the coaches or watching I’d be interested in that discussion.
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Post by aces44 on Jan 22, 2024 20:12:25 GMT -6
Prob important to remember that this is all by design. Remember last year when they didn’t run an offense? This year he put in an offensive scheme but at this point in the season teams in conference have it all scouted so that your best players don’t get the looks they like, and the worst players are wide open. At least in the non-con Rags was changing defenses and creating extra chances for the team. That went out the window when Ben got hurt. I don’t subscribe to it at all, but some coaches (clearly Rags does) think losing by 1 or 51 is the same. IMHO there are still plenty of levers to pull to give this team a chance to steal possessions and win games. Frankly for Rags career it may not be something he thinks is important right now idk. I like Rags but it’s clear he decides when the game is over and when he should be “coaching” … so be it. It’s his call The one thing I haven’t quite figured out yet is: What will Rags teams hang their hat on? Crews teams were tough and smart Floorburn U made you hate playing them Jake gives UNI about a dozen points per game by calling plays that get his guys easy shots Idk but: this team doesn’t play harder than the teams they play, they don’t shoot better than the teams on the schedule… idk haven’t figured it out yet - it might be getting bigger players and hope the other team misses and we can back them down enough to get easy buckets idk If someone knows what the Aces calling card will be from the coaches or watching I’d be interested in that discussion. I mean we haven’t run a cross screen for Hughes all year. Dickenson has received 3 in the first 3 min of the Cincy KU game….
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Post by stanm on Jan 22, 2024 20:15:43 GMT -6
OK, for those of you grasping your pearls and having the vapors, take a breath. The predictable beatdown should have been 20. With the full team up and available on a neutral court Purdue couldn't beat us by 49. A very comfortable and confident Bulldog team shot 75% from field, 66% from 3 first half..... game-over, fluke. Let's see how it goes Feb. 13th. Hopefully nobody from this forum can convince UE to abandon sports or get the entire team to jump into the portal before then.
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Post by aces44 on Jan 22, 2024 20:23:00 GMT -6
OK, for those of you grasping your pearls and having the vapors, take a breath. The predictable beatdown should have been 20. With the full team up and available on a neutral court Purdue couldn't beat us by 49. A very comfortable and confident Bulldog team shot 75% from field, 66% from 3 first half..... game-over, fluke. Let's see how it goes Feb. 13th. Hopefully nobody from this forum can convince UE to abandon sports or get the entire team to jump into the portal before then. Such a weird take after a 49 point beatdown
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Post by purpleaces on Jan 22, 2024 20:52:38 GMT -6
OK, for those of you grasping your pearls and having the vapors, take a breath. The predictable beatdown should have been 20. With the full team up and available on a neutral court Purdue couldn't beat us by 49. A very comfortable and confident Bulldog team shot 75% from field, 66% from 3 first half..... game-over, fluke. Let's see how it goes Feb. 13th. Hopefully nobody from this forum can convince UE to abandon sports or get the entire team to jump into the portal before then. What?🤣🤣🤣
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Post by wildbill on Jan 22, 2024 21:54:03 GMT -6
Y'all will see another UE beat down tomorrow..
We're going to lose by at least 20 points.
This team has collapsed, their ship has sailed.
Go UE, hope I am totally wrong, but I have no faith in this team.
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Post by purpleorange on Jan 22, 2024 22:09:51 GMT -6
Here is what I see our issues are in the present without Humrichous. We miss his leadership and steady hand the most and the best example I can think of was the 9-0 run Drake went on before the first media timeout. We started solid, 6-6 and then Drake rattled off 9 quick points where the Aces turned it over with sloppy passes and took some quick shots without more than a pass or two. Ultimately our downfall has often been stretches where over 90 seconds/two minutes we have 3-4 quick possessions with poor shots or a turnover that just derail things.
I think some of that is guys forcing a little too much, trying to cover for Ben being out and feeling they need to produce more so they force some shots they might not normally take or take the quick shot to try and stop the run that just leads to a transition opportunity for the opponent. Evansville did not play well and Drake shot lights out to start....a lot of that was good offense/bad defense but they still had to hit the shots and showed how dangerous they are if they can find their way into the NCAAs again this season.
As to what we hang our hat on.....that's a great question. The staff has talked about playing with pace and I think that can really hamper us at times and lead to those stretches I mentioned above where we equate playing with pace to just taking a quick shot vs pushing the ball and trying to get an easy look, mismatch and if it's not there running something vs forcing a quick shot. We seem to offensively be a collection of guys who for the most part struggle to create their own shot. Certainly Humrichous does with his size over smaller defenders, both in the post and the ability to shoot overtop from 3. Cuff can work in the post vs smaller players and Chuck can get separation in the mid-range. As far as shooters....I think we have rhythm catch and shoot guys and that's about it, meaning if they have to dribble or don't catch it and go right away, it's not a good shot. Now that's 99% of shooters but when our guys don't have their feet set on the catch or hesitate, it's usually not a good thing.
Defensively we switch a lot and although I think guys like Hughes move well at his size, sometimes just because we have some agile big guys doesn't mean we need to always switch. I think all the switching can have us in a bad defensive mentality where we can relax a little expecting the switch vs playing the switch as a last resort. At times the press has caused some trouble but it's also led to easy buckets.
Ultimately from an outsiders point of view our upperclassmen are quiet guys and we really lack Humrichous on the floor being that guy to keep us on the same page in addition to what he allows Toumi to do inside, Kenny to be more of a stat sheet stuffer vs scorer. Unfortunately Humrichous's injury is that double whammy....best player and the on the floor leader. We've seen the talent upgrades moving Bobe to the bench to start the season, Strawbridge not averaging as many points, not asked to be the guy to lead us in scoring every single night, etc. As far as the overall state of the program...this part I've re-written a time or two trying to find the right balance as to how I feel and not violate certain board policies......
Last season Evansville finished 350th in the NET out of 363 teams. We were the 14th worst team in the country last season according to the metrics.
Despite that fact the passion for the Aces is still here in the community, evident by the nearly 8000 tickets sold for the Murray game and especially on this board. Although with the portal and NIL player movement is at an all time high, it's really tough to jump 200 spots in one season. My expectations were to hopefully have 15-16 wins overall, 6-7 conference wins which is about the pace we are on. To me that signifies pretty significant progress, although I didn't envision 40+ point losses being a part of that.
I texted someone after Rags was hired that it would be Rags to Riches in 25, meaning year 3 is when I was looking for the team to make a jump into the top half of the conference standings and in contention for a 1st round bye at Arch Madness. Can we get there....who knows but if you're going to compete in this league at the highest level you're going to be in the conversation for an at-large and getting to that level after where we were last season is a huge huge jump that cannot take place in one offseason unless someone like Coach K unretires and signs a recruiting class like that school has never seen.
Saturday sucked, full disclosure I didn't make it all 40 minutes because of how disappointing it was. But I'll tune in on Tuesday and I'll be in Ford Center the rest of the year as well. The program even after a 49 point loss is in better shape than it was a year ago and if you can't see that, I don't know where to start a conversation. I'll concede that the hard work is only beginning as not being one of the worst 100 programs in the country should be the floor for anyone in The Valley and that making the next jump, into the Top 100 and contending for MVC titles will be a much tougher road.
I'm proud of the history of this program......I might be biased but I think the history of UE basketball is the most underappreciated college basketball story in the country when you go back to what Arad accomplished, the tragedy, rebirth and into the 90s. But the truth is we haven't been at that level in 20 years and Rags needs more than just next year to see if he can be the guy to get us back to where the program once was.
To read doom and gloom, get the ax out next year is pretty silly but maybe I shouldn't be surprised due to past comments.
I'll leave with this....come support this program. Our support makes a difference and for those who stuck around after the season finale last year Kenny mentioned it in his speech, not knowing if he was coming back or not that he was used to playing in front of 800 people but despite the results there was always a crowd there to support the team. Just like we expect the team to grow from adversity and get through this, we need to be there as fans to support them.
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tjwx4
Role Player
Posts: 122
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Post by tjwx4 on Jan 23, 2024 7:17:38 GMT -6
Well said purpleorange.
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Post by ad1770 on Jan 23, 2024 9:06:51 GMT -6
youtu.be/2nR3reKPE5YSorry for the length of the video, but something to ring true for this team. Maybe they should watch this scene on repeat. A lot of similarities from the two teams. For context, this is the scene from Miracle after the tie against Norway in Norway. And the best quote: “When you pull on that jersey, you represent yourself and your teammates, and the name on the front is a hell of a lot more important than the one on the back. Get that through your head!!”
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Post by 65pointgame on Jan 23, 2024 10:37:29 GMT -6
youtu.be/2nR3reKPE5YSorry for the length of the video, but something to ring true for this team. Maybe they should watch this scene on repeat. A lot of similarities from the two teams. For context, this is the scene from Miracle after the tie against Norway in Norway. And the best quote: “When you pull on that jersey, you represent yourself and your teammates, and the name on the front is a hell of a lot more important than the one on the back. Get that through your head!!”
I think occasionally you will find this type of sentiment today, but in the era of the portal and NIL a different culture amongst players has been created. In general, players don't feel like they are playing for something larger than themselves. They are moving around too much and have other "options" rather than sticking with a program and becoming an integral part of the community they are playing in.
Between the "one and done" implemented several decades ago and the transfer portal....team basketball at the college level will never be like it was in the 70s-90s. Players have better individual skills today, but they could not compete with the complete teams that existed 20-40 years ago.
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Post by austinace on Jan 23, 2024 10:56:32 GMT -6
Y'all will see another UE beat down tomorrow.. We're going to lose by at least 20 points… This prediction is like saying the sun will come up tomorrow. The odds are in your favor on this one. We all know this will likely be another tough game. The only MVC teams with a better conference record than UNI are Indiana State, Drake and Bradley - those are some really good teams. UNI is not going to be happy after we beat them at the Ford Center. That was by far our best win of the year. Hoping the team and coaches come out with more fight tonight but it will be an uphill battle (with or without Ben) as UNI is playing much better and belongs in the top half of the conference. Hopefully we can keep it close and give ourselves a chance.
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Post by acesslover on Jan 23, 2024 12:49:03 GMT -6
OK, for those of you grasping your pearls and having the vapors, take a breath. The predictable beatdown should have been 20. With the full team up and available on a neutral court Purdue couldn't beat us by 49. A very comfortable and confident Bulldog team shot 75% from field, 66% from 3 first half..... game-over, fluke. Let's see how it goes Feb. 13th. Hopefully nobody from this forum can convince UE to abandon sports or get the entire team to jump into the portal before then. We have five winning seasons in over 30 years of MVC action. Enough of "take a breath" - do something to better the program - switch to the OVC or Horizon. We clearly can't and haven't been able to compete at the MVC level aside from a few years. Those who say we are too good for the OVC or Horizon I implore you: based on what ? and Purdue just beat Indiana at home by 20 - they could absolutely beat us at Mackey by 70.
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