Taj79

ESPNU @ 3:30 pm EST. That's where I'll be. Bills by 3.5.

Helloooooo ... Rutgers is Big Ten. Dayton lost at Auburn 82 to 72. The ten point game was not really that close. Auburn went up by 20 at half and while Dayton did eventually cut it to six, Auburn took the air out of the ball the last three minutes and it didn't matter. Dayton remains who I thought they were ---- they will beat some folks in Dayton and can't be taken lightly. But they play seven guys and are limited across the roster. #17 Buffalo handled the Bonnies 80 to 62 despite Courtney Stockard in the Bonnies lineup. I erroneously reported LaDarien Griffin was back; he's not and isn't expected back until maybe the turn of the calendar year. Also, western NY career HS scoring leader and Bonnie freshman Dom Welch broke his foot and is redshirting this year. Nova shut down the Joeys 70 to 58. Another contest not as close as the score would indicate. The Joeys were down by 22 beginning essentially the fourth quarter and went on a 16 to 0 run to make it close. They played without Charlie Brown who sprained his ankle late in the win over Princeton earlier this week. Rhodey went to Holy Cross and got a nice win 79 to 63. Dowtin, Russell and Langevine continue to be that three-headed monster as both Langevine and Russell scored 19 while Dowtin had 18. Russell still has shooting woes, going 1-of-6 from three. Valpo won in DC over Geedubya, 82 to 79 and Penn kept La Salle on the schneid 83 to 65 at the Masoleum. Pookie Powell still out injured. And as noted, Fordham did beat Rutgers 78 to 70. Freshman Nick Honor scored a career high 30. Also freshman guard Jalen Cobb added 17 so Fordham has the makings of a decent backcourt for the next four years. But they'll transfer. They all do at Fordham it seems. Paschall. Sengfelder. Fontan. Sever. Chartouny. On and on .....

Hall 84 to 83!

Oops 28.

Powell had 3 at half. Now 25.

The birth of the legend of Keldon Johnson. Powell nutz too.

Madness! End of Hall/Ky. Ot.

A very big day today (12/08) for the A10 as a whole ..... Rhodey (NL) is at Holy Cross (6 and 3). Dayton (+14.5) is at #8 Auburn. The Joey's travel up the Main Line to face Nova (-11.5). Fordham (+8.5) actually plays 'someone' although its only hosting Big Ten doormat Rutgers at Rose Hill. The Bonnies continue the Western NY run with hosting #17 Buffalo (-7). Foggy Bottom has Valpo (-4) coming to town. And La Salle host Penn (-5.5) at Gola. Can they get off the schneid? Tomorrow, besides us and Oregon State (6 and 1), Duquesne host a decent Longwood team (7 and 3) and VCU goes cross state to Charlottesville and #4 UVa. That's five games against so-called P5 or P6 foes.

Mason downs Madison, George overJimmy, 66 to 53.

Umass goes to Providence and downs the Friars 79 to 78. Pipkins with game winner with six ticks on clock.

05 --- you may be very well right but that then begs to the question what depth did Anthony provide? He played in 32 of 33 games with an average of just under 8 minutes a game. The seven other guys on the roster (six after JG got shut down) averaged 27.8 mpg. The guys that were suspended were guards ---- Henriquez, Bishop, Graves --- meaning the likelihood of Anthony's bench time increasing even with them on the roster was nil; he was there to spell the bigs --- which he didn't do in the least bit. Rashed didn't provide much if anything. And maybe that IS on me --- I kind of expect a fifth-year senior to come in and offer more --- more than a wet-behind-the-ears Hankton, or Gudmundsson or Jacobs. More than a former walk-on or a current walk-on. Kwan Fore is doing okay at Louisville. Joseph Chartouny at Marquette. Not great but okay. So too is Isabell and Wiley. Okay but not great. Rashed was well short of okay. willie --- Kassius Robertson was considered one of the jewels of the 2017-18 grad transfer class coming out of Canisius. The fact that he led Mizzou in scoring and minutes played does not surprise me. I kind of expect the same from Isabell as one of the jewels of the 2018-19 class. I didn't know enough about Robertson and his planned role at Mizzou so I can't comment but will agree that some guys do and some don't. But right now, as the arrow meter goes, I am still not completely sold on grad transfers as of now as they pertain to us. But th ebook I snot closed on Isabell and Wiley. Still lots of time to shine through.

I second what 05 is saying --- as I heard the same thing on being a point guard, the NBA, and Isabell. And to defend Isabell, I think he is trying. But after what --- four, five years of playing a certain way, for him or anyone else for that matter, to change overnight is not going to happen. It would be akin to trying to make Dennis Rodman a scorer instead of a rebounder. All in all, its a mindset and I am certain Isabell isn't there yet. He may never get there who knows. But at some point, the man in charge has to decide to either continue with the insanity, or cut bait and move on. I have never been an advocate for bringing in JUCOs. With Rasheed Anthony and now Tramaine and Dion, I am staring to feel the very same way about grad transfers. I thought we had th ebest of the bunch in Isabell and Wiley especially considering our shooting needs. So far -- no good.

Everybody needs to relax ..... it's the OOC and the time for finding out just what we (or any team for that matter) has. The problem is that many of us believe that this is the time at-large bids get sealed up. I don't know how true that may be, but I tend to lean that way as well. So you are stuck with experimenting in what some see as 'must win' situations. It's a tough road to go. I'd like to believe we will be okay but the questions are numerous. That's why Ford gets the big bucks. He has to figure it out. The measure now becomes since we are all so smart an dknow what the problems are, we can sit back and watch Ford's plan to correct them. That's all we can do.

Sure we are but that was a given. VCU beating Texas certainly turns some heads. Dayton is winning at home in buy games. They'll be middle of the road come conference time, might even get a first round A10 bye but that is really because how down the A10 seems to be this year. Lots of ball to be played. Injuries will come into play as well. We've seen Courtney Stockard, LaDarien Griffin and Nick Sherrod all hobbled with some folks out for good this year. Josh Cunningham was limited for a time, ditto Jacob Gilyard, Dion Wiley and Pookie Powell. Every team in this league has one guy who -- if they were to 'blow a tire' -- would make that team's seasons go south quickly: Davidson = Kellan Grady or Jon Axel Gudmundsson, Saint Louis = Javon Bess, St. Joe's = Lamar Kimble or Charlie Brown, Mason = Otis Livingstone, Rhode Isalnd = Jeff Dowtin, VCU = Marcus Evans, Fordham = Nick Honor, Umass = Luwane Pipkins, Dayton = Jalen Crutcher. The others are all somewhat too pitiful to mention right now but you get the idea.

... I got nothing. I asked my questions in the GDT. You all are messaging many of the same things ... what offense? Can we end the PG experiment? Who are the shooters? Can Ford game coach? What I will say is the over-reaction of this board is typical, expected and in most cases warranted. If we come back and beat Oregon State --- which I fully expect we do --- all will be right in the world again as it was post-Butler. I wanted a win at Carbondale but am truly not surprised with the result. I don't know who this team is yet. This is the OOC -- time to find all things out and based on the questions raised, we are still not there. Hobbled or not, Bess shot one-for-10; what's odd there is he took seven of those 10 shots from distance. That's not Javon's game. Goodwin made two threes in a row or so, the rest he was 0-for-6 on. Isabell was 3-of-11. Our starting guards were 8 of 34. And in summation the team shot 33% from the floor. We also left five free points at the free throw line. And missed 20 three pointers. The question might be even though we are athletically gifted, are we basketball skill gifted? Gordon didn't really get involved until the second half and again had two really stupid hedging fouls benching him in the first half just after the ten minute mark. SIU was picked by some to finish top three in the valley even win it. Losing by 5 at their place is not a bad loss. But it should have been a win. We all know hiccups come every year. I guess this one of those games. I now expect losses to Houston and Florida State. Our 6 and 2 is likely going to be 9 and 4 heading into conference play. We have five games to figure something, anything, out. The book is being written --- to beat Saint Louis, zone 'em, pack the lane, clean up the defensive boards and make them shoot from distance.