68Alum

Wrong team on the floor again. JB and AM constantly beaten on defense and add no offense. Let TL, JM, and MC get some minutes.

Where's Mudcat when we need him most?

AM beaten twice in a row!

BillRich: it really troubles me that my comments piss you off. Just another sign of how little you know about the game.

I'm not going to fault the team. I'm not feeling too good about JC's game management. Starters consistently on the floor too many minutes. Now they're worn out and beat up and the bench had the talent to contribute much more. Could be a short tournament run. Now the seniors graduate and we start out next year with green starters.

GW up with 33 seconds to play

Same old story. Second half-short bench.

The weakest link is predictability. Whether it is JJ's drive down the lane on his left hand, or DE's low post moves, or RL's 3's from the key, all of these earlier successful tactics have become predictable 20 games into season. Our opponents have learned how to counter these tactics. This is the second reason why I was early to comment about the importance of playing the bench. An opponent can design a defense and offense to defeat one team profile or set of composite skills, but you can upset that design by changing the composite skills on the court even if the team on the floor doesn't represent the 5 best athletes on the team.

Mudldog: Look at your FG percentage. The Havoc no offense team. First game on the road in the tournament and they send you and your boys home in a box.

Small guard Match-up: Mason vs McBroom: Both played 26 minutes. Mason 6/8 for 22 points. McBroom 1/8 for 2 points. This coupled with, in my opinion, the Dukes producing the best half court defense we've seen in the last 10 minutes of a game this year resulted in our defeat.

Watched a ton of games this year, coast to coast. This late in the season there is plenty of tape on every team and in-conference familiarity. I think the road record is critical evidence, and any one of the top 50 teams can beat another depending on the match-up dynamics on a given night, particularly on a neutral court. The only other important variable is the degree of bias by the refs.

Mud: have a couple of beers. Lot of ups and downs in college BB. You guys are in the tournament...but the rivalry with us continues.

We'll take any praise but you have to consider the source.

Chaz Williams trying to help VCU speed up the game. Playing right into their game.

As I've commented on often, the days of iron man basketball among major teams is over. Saw somewhere that we were ranked 222 in NCAA for bench minutes. Now the problem is that late in conference play, games get tighter as opposition better knows how to play each other. However, MC and TL look like their poise is improving and with more minutes can fully participate on both ends.