Taj79

Go Weave! Every A10 team stands at the foul circle for the first theee passes of our offense. Everyone knows what CTF teams do on offense. Athletes like VCU have no issue defending it. And there is no plan B until Parker and Dalger and Hargrove decide to go one-on-one.

If ever there was a game to press, tonight would be it. Let’s see how CTF approaches it. With Medley, Meadows, Hughes, Thames, Jimerson, Parker and even Hargrove, we have the number of horses needed to do it. Shulga and Bairstow are not ballhandlers.

Sounds more like Vtime.

Could've sworn my broadcast said concussion. But okay.

I don 't think there are any transfer limitations in NCAA sports other than football and basketball. I don't follow college hockey or lacrosse but my daughter dated a soccer player at High Point University who made All Big South his first two years then walked out the door to NC State, no questions asked. Full ride.

VCU's engine now runs through Utah State transfers Sean Bairstow and Max Shulga. VCU is 10 and 7, 2 and 2 in the A10 and both A10 losses have come at Siegal against the Bonnies and the Revs. Zeb Jacskon is tge lone holdover from last year's team and is second in scori g but did miss the second half od the win at La Salle with a concussion concern. I'll wait fore the Wiz to reveal his status for tonight. Joe Bamisile, much like Brad Ezewior, had to wait for the court injuntion to play this year --- this was his fourth school in four years --- and is averaging 10.4 ppg in his seven games. He is an uber-athletic guard. All four aforementioned players are listed as guards and the starting center is Toby Lawal who has a 49-inch vertical. Head coach Ryan Odom goes ten deep. VCU is no longer HAVOC and really doesn't press at all under the new Odom regime. They still seem to rely on overt athleticism over basketball skills to beat teams. FanDuel has the Bills as 8.5 point underdogs.

@willie: Mrs. Taj and I went down with COVID some time after New Year's Eve. Have no clue where it came from. And it wasn't the cheap COVID, it was the heavy duty kind. Took the full ten days quarantine and then some, expecially fore her. She's still fighting deep rooted coughs. I'm back but the fatigue was so much it made me not care to post much. That and the fact the board is pretty much unreadable and constantly combative tells me I don't need this shite. Piss ants hiding behind the anonymity of a message board going all bravado on other folks is pretty useless and juvenile. Why share my amazing insights here (wink-wink). On the national scale, the A10 is a bunch of middling to low D1 players, including Dayton. Some will say (Jeff Rothstein) that their OOC record was great, something like a .669 winning percentage. I say go look at who they played. They lost every game of consequence with ranked teams except the Joeys beating Villanova. And that's a rivalry game. I don't see the A10 getting more than one bid unless Dayton runs the regular season table and then gets upset in Brooklyn. But Dayton is a loooooong way from running the table and DaRon Holmes is no Obi Toppin.

I'm not saying some players don't improve over time but no one was launching a parade down Olive when CTF signed Gibson Jimerson. Not like when we signed Douglas and Gray. Or Claggett, Highmark, Bickel and Winfield. Or Hughes and Baniak and Tatum. Granted these are not CTF examples but Bess, Goodwin, French and Collins were. Gibson was an afterthought that has exceeded expectations. But as some point out, his numbers will be skewed by six years of playing (how about that Miami TE getting his ninth year of college eligibility?). Sure, Ezewiro may be an exception as well but no recruit over the last two or three years eliminates the blind squirrel looking for nuts joke. Of course, let's all opinionate on a given individual or two when I asked the question about which if CTF's three traits is the good one. The good ones stepped right in and contributed, even Gordon. Maybe the 145 minutes will qualify Ezewiro as well. Unless you want to move into the strategy and teaching fundamentals as noted by Mrs. thunderdan. Then go ahead.

@willie: La Salle got smoked at St. Joes. Why only ask me about them when they win wills? Fun Phy is a great coach and he is playing a man down w/o Anton Gill but Gill ain’t THAT good. They played a weak OOC. Have had the chance to watch Duquesne a few times. Dumb basketball team with low basketball IQ. Clark and Grant shoot way too much and Mahorcic is awful. Tre Williams playing out the season quite disinterested. But we get them at Palumbo. Davidson looks like a basketball team from the Deep South pre-integration. Not good when Grant Huffman is your go-to guy. Fordham plays good defense. The Bonnie’s are still searching for themselves. Still think this goes Dayton/Joes/Bonnies but VCU has some good athletes and Geedubya has two good freshmen in Johnson and (some 6’7” guy who’s name start with Bee). We already lost to Mason. We are a PIG team for sure —-likely with La Salle there Willie.

@thunderdan: which one of the three are you giving CTF credit for? I am guessing recruiting but if that is the case, can you say that now after the last two or so years. He got Bess, Isabell, Goodwin, French, Perkins and Collins but since then the recruiting pelts seem light. In the New World Order of NIL and the portal, is CTF adept at this new aspect of recruiting? Pickett. Dalger. Ezewiro. Meadows. Plus his freshmen seem light. Thames. Hughes. Zhang. van Bussel. Medley. Magassa. His roster construction skills seem to be in need of help.

That time the pass back to the post became too predictable. Fun while it lasted.

Pretty sure we’ve won at Dayton before.

Travis yanks Hargrove.

Splash!!! Brooke Flowers was a decent piece to the puzzle. A bona fide needed role player. But hardly the star player. She benefitted from the one thing you can’t teach —— height. She was no Brianna Stewart or Caitlin Clark.

I think Fordham is a bad team. They rode two scorers last year who are gone. La Salle is still the same …. Brickus and Brantley with a little help from Shepherd. But the really bad thought? Both look at least twice as good as us. Watched Geedubya beat VCU in Richmond. We can’t play with them either.

In a five-minute overtime in Foggy Bottom, Fordham scored 34 points!

C'mon guys. Tell me you are surprised at this. Even if Brad Ezewiro was the second coming, we don't have the talent to compete. And who recruited that talent? Okay, Parker is hurt. I don't expect the Sincere Parker of Myrtle Beach to come waltzing out into play his first time back. Highmark said he is "a few weeks away." A couple is two, a few is more. Maybe three? That puts us with him end of January. That could mean 0 and 8 in conference by then. Our inside game is Ezewiro and pray. Dalger is out of control. Zhang is still a project. How many rebounds did he grab, and lose tonight. van Bussel is a no show. Our point guard play is suspect, small and not an offensive option on either account. Jimerson can't break free and every team in the conference will throw multiple defenders at him, clutching and grabbing all the way. Hughes got out of my doghouse making three triples but two were veritable prayers. Plus his defensive miscues shown brightly. Thames is decent but a role player. I think after four years of being dogged, Hargerove has essentially said "fuok it" and is doing it his way. When you add all the ingredients up, you still throw them in the CTF unexplainable offense. Weave. A few back cuts. High post entry passes. And the defense. What defense? Maybe it's mano-a-mano and never switch because the switching ain't working. A second big man (Mwanba, Adelekun and Welch and Austin present a parade of matchups that TJ can't handle down low. Loyola's four guards ate our two up. Hughes is not a ballhandler. Our free throw shooting was at Hasahn French levels, sub .500. On the January 2, 2024 power rankings on A10 Talk, they listed us at #13, ahead of Rhode Island and Fordham. Both won their openers tonight with the Rames over Geedubya and Rhode over St. Joes. Des Watson was so-so at Davidson, we made him a star tonight. Right now, Alexa Datt is terrible.

From a reliable source, Nova's NIL bank sits at $3 million for its current roster.

Collectively, the A10 just finished the 2023 OOC schedule with 131 wins versus 60 losses, a .686 winning percentage. Mason, Geedubya, Dayton, Davidson and Richmond are all undefeated at home. Everyone opensthe conference season on Wednesday with winning streaks except us and La Salle. The Bonnies are the only undefeated team in true road games. Against ranked teams, the A10 is a dismal 1 and 9 with the only win being St. Joe's over Villanova who was #15 at the time. That was done on Nova's true home court, the Pavillion, not the Palestra or Wells Fargo Center. Dayton is the highest A10 team in the KenPom at #38, followed by the Joey's at #70; the Bonnies #77; VCU at #86; Duquesne #91; Richmond #99; Mason at #100; Umass at #105; Davidson at #117; Loyola at #126; Geedubya at $174; SLU at #203; Fordham at #209, La Salle at #212, and finally Rhode Island at #225. Let the self-cannibalization begin!

In the mail. Assume address is still the same.

Injuries happen. We just have no depth and the talent is weak to begin with.

Our problem seems to stem from that noted inability to adjust ..... anot not so much defensively. We get shut down offensively in the second half. Stop me if you've heard this before ...... get out to (large) halftime lead and see it all evaporate almost immediately in the second half. Many nights, it a double-digit lead; last night it was only three points. The opposition seems to be able to immediately decipher our strengths at half time and then adjust right away. Since we have no scorer who can create his own shot and score, we miss a few, they make a few, we start to press and panic, and boom, we are on the short end. Ford's entire offensive scheme seems predicated on that gawd-awful weave. Last night, NCState's guards were so physical that they manhandled Medley, Meadows and Hughes all over the back court and then the frontcourt. We were trying to start our pitiful offense at the halfcourt line! Zhang had a few high post posts well outside the three point arc. NCState knew if you shut out Jimerson, we are in deep trouble. Not once did we set picks or screens to help the inbound ball receiver. Not once did we run at Burns and force him to pass the ball out (well, maybe once and they got a three out of it). Ford (and his teams) do what they do and that is it. We don't have anyone we can rely to get us a score when we need it. I think NCState will be a bottom feeder int he ACC when all is said and done. As Mrs. Taj said, that game was painful to watch.

As I saw the game, the 22's didn't really meet up, did they?

@Soderball you reply to me and then you state "good grief man .... he sounds like the second coming of Anthony Bonner according to this analysis." What analysis? I surely didn't make one. I'm taking a "wait-n-see" approach with Ezewiro hoping (against likely hope) to be Wowed.

@HoosierPal: why four games? The guy has been practicing since the summer. Being in shape should not matter. Speed of the game might be an issue but this is not a Zhang/van Bussel clone but rather a guy who has been there before. His numbers at his two previous spots were mediocre to say the least but that's kind of why you transfer. All season I have heard ..... "if we only had Brad." Well, now we do. So I am watching him this game with great curiosity. Not setting the bar too high; focused on his rebounding and defensive presence to start. Are Meadows and Hughes playing?