someoneelse

As a counterpoint, Toppin turned 24 last week, and Highland turns 22 in September. Perkins also turns 24 this year in August, meaning that if he does come back, he would start his professional career at 25. I don't see an NBA GM taking that kind of chance with a draft choice, which would put him in the G League, or overseas. Nothing wrong with that, or course.

FT took TJ’s starting role from him and FT, to me, has deservedly become a coach favorite. I would understand if TJ wanted more minutes next year.

I love Thatch’s game tonight, but we won, in large part, because they shot 10-22 FTs. I’ll certainly take the W, but things must improve to make some noise in DC.

Fordham is 7-8 in conference after losing their best player. Either the field is down or the coach is doing a lot of the right things. Maybe both. Not top four any time soon, but perhaps not a perpetual cellar dweller either.

I'm cautiously optimistic as I believe the phrase that you learn more from losing than winning. I don't want to learn too much, of course.

I remember Pat Riley saying that his job as a Laker player was to push Jerry West in practice to make West better. So, maybe the skills needed to be a good practice player are different than being a good game player. Maybe Goodwin has (not quite good enough) game skills, but not the practice skills. You saw this with covid and people called up, getting minutes and sticking. While the bench players were by passed for playing time. It may have been bad talent evaluation on behalf of the front office. I don't have any inside knowledge about Goodwin, or anyone else, or anything, really. Just my thoughts.

If something happens a lot of the time, can we really be that disgruntled when it happens again? Especially with different refs and different opponents. I try not be Charles Foster Kane who gives two headline choices, 'Kane Wins' or 'Fraud at the Polls.' I don't think there are secret zebra meetings trying to figure out how to hose the Bills, without being too obvious about it.

I wanna see a Strickland dunk.

I'm hoping we can get Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed doing the Charleston as the floor opens.

I like Linssen’s moves at the rim. He fouls, yes. He hits his FTs. I think TF is managing just fine. Officiating like at GMU can’t really be planned for.

Another request to the statistically gifted--What home court foul advantage was had, if any, for games without any fans? I thought I reading somewhere that refs, psychologically, want to get cheered, not booed, so they give the calls to the home team on a toss up. Without fans, there is no psychological benefit/detriment. And, I remember somewhere on this board that Linssen was noted to have a foul rate, before he stepped foot on campus. Some people foul more than others.

It does answer my question. Thank you. I don’t have the analytical tools that you. I see a team that beats (most of) the teams on its schedule, enough of the time that a single loss to a PIG opponent would be sloughed off as an off night occurrence. They are running out of games vs quality and non-quality opponents to show their true colors, which means maybe their true colors are pretty good. They live up to the mantra ‘Just Win Baby’. I’m not smart enough to dispute your math, just mystified at the discrepancy.

Davidson gets a lot of love in the rankings, 19-3, 9-1. Toughest remaining games are hosting the Bills on 2/19 and going to George Mason on 3/2 to Dayton on 3/5. They have a win over Alabama, splitting vs VCU. Do your numbers see their luck running out? I just don’t understand the discrepancy between the two valuations.

Bills by 4? I'd settle for 1.

If the coach can’t design a play to get you a good shot in 10-12 seconds, you don’t have a skill set that good coaches have. Designing last second shots is part of the job description. Of course, things can go wrong when dealing with 20 year olds, and the best designed plays can go to s**te, but I didn’t see any deliberate attempt to treat it as a 2 for 1 opportunity. That’s my beef.

This is why I sometimes question The Coach. :47 left in first OT, Bills coming out of a timeout, tie game. Get a shot off in 10-12 seconds and get the ball back. Tomfoolery ensues, Bills turn it over at the :27 second mark. Bills make the stop and all’s well that ends well, I suppose, but the clock management was beyond terrible.

I can't trust this team to win a close one. Yes, Iona, but they have let too many slip away in the homestretch. I do have faith; faith is belief despite the evidence.

Oddball stat—three times in the past four games, Billiken opponents have made more FTs than the Billikens have taken. I can’t see the relevance easily, admittedly.

I wonder if Coach is 'showcasing' Strickland. I don't see him getting significant minutes here, possibly ever, so this gives Strickland a chance to show other programs what he can do.

Does that move the Wiz Prediction line?

On Thatch’s putback, did anyone else see the Iona guy move like he got pushed? Watching the replay, I just don’t see him getting stuck under the basket without some help. I was ok with the officiating for about the first 30 minutes, as it was fairly consistent. Then it got inconsistent. Still a good game and great win!

They’re letting him shoot it, perhaps for a reason l.

I'm not saying that I need the Wiz to write up an analysis, but I need the Wiz to write up an analysis.

I wonder if Iona with an elite coach like Pitino is given even more of an advantage as the Billikens can't really scout/practice for Iona on such short notice. It may come down more to in game coaching. I don't think I'm insulting our coach to say that Iona's coach is better. So maybe the statistical models don't hold up, as much, in a rapidly scheduled game. I doubt there is enough of a sample size to test my theory. Heck, it's hard to determine what a 'good in game' coach is.

The average age in the NBA is 26 and change. I couldn't find the median. Thinking you can begin at 25 seems overly optimistic. Don't try, don't succeed. I get it, but I hope he is using basketball for non-basketball goals as well.