Observations..and Don't Blame Jimmy

[mrjoelabs]

First of all, if you look back through my posts I wanted crews out last year..and even year before, and was labeled a troll. So that was just a bit off. I am in his corner after this one.

..games can turn on one play. The BS call on Mamood flipped the momentum. Louisville didn't need help.

Neufeld is going to be a player. By 2017-2018 we might have the next Matt Howard.

I questioned Reggie not playing much in GDT..but I saw why in the 2nd half. He is a bulldog but his footspeed was not getting it done. And he was useless offensively.

It was NOT the size issue that really did us in. Their one big was out. Mango could've had his (as he did first half) if we handled guards. 2nd half we decided to let their guards run to the rim and get easy layups and fouls. The talent was a factor too. Those 2 transfers are going to be HUGE.

By years end this is probably top 10 to top 15 team. The game was closer than the final score which is a positive.

Overall, we are NOT looking at a mess this year. We hung with UL for most of the game while our top scorer was SHUT OUT and UL got a little ref love and our guards simply couldn't athletically match up.

SLU will be a factor in the A10 race. If Neufeld continues to develop, SLU can challenge to win it. Especially with EC Matthews being done. VCU will be down as well. Dayton will be a load, but we can match up.

Also, we have to give Wichita a game and possibly beat them. After handling Morehead of course.

Those are my takes.

[brianstl]

I agree that Nuefeld is going to be a player. That said, he had no business getting 30 minutes tonight.

[JettFlight5]

Gotta do a better job keeping the ball out of the paint.

[johnbj14]

I agree that the officiating played a role in the game and with most of your points, as a whole. Louisville was very physical and seemed to have a bit of an advantage from the zebras. It was indicative of senior intelligence against a younger team. MN looks like someone who will be very useful as an upperclassman, but there will be growing pains.

[jimmy two times]

It is amazing how much whining goes on about the officiating after every game. It played no role at all, we lost by 20.

I was proud of the game we played and this was a nice indication that we're headed in the right direction. You have to like what you saw out of a lot of our guys, especially Crawford. He's a pure shooter and shot the ball with confidence last night. Very efficient.

You also have to concede that were were completely dominated in the paint and on the boards. Louisville is in a different class than we are and we didn't have the size to match, unless you want to put Jolly and AG in, but after five games they still both look tentative, weak and don't have much court sense between them. Hopefully they aren't on the Manning development plan.