Duquesne from da'Couxh .......

[Taj79]

... we took care of what we needed to take care of.  We won our home matches and now head off to the Great White North to skewer the Snow Bunnies.  I won't lie, it's going to be tough.  What did kshoe post?  Like a 19% chance or so of winning that one?  It's their Senior Day with a lot of Senior cachet in Stockard and Grifffin.  We've lost 8 in a row there.  They don't like us, we don't seem to respect them.  Going to be tough.  But at the end of the day (which will be the first game of Saturday afternoon) we will know what awaits in Brooklyn.  Last night at Davidson, Stockard scored one point.  ONE!.  Griffin was better with eight.  Team only had one double digit scorer in freshman Welch.  Here's hoping that's the new Bunnie norm. 

Yes, we got off to a rocky start last night, down 7 zip out of the gate.  Yes, you wish Welmer would have scored on that bunny to start things off (and end it).  But 40 minutes is a long time and everything is all about runs so while frustrated, I knew we were okay for a while as long as we didn't get down by 20 or so.  And then we caught up.  Marcus Weathers scored the first five for the Dukes.  He ended with five.  Nice to see Michael Hughes do an very good impression of our guys on the foul line.  Love the kids in the student section letting him know 'Oh-for-six" and things like that.  Really nice to know someone can be as inept as we tend to be at times.  Frankie Hughes was a no show.  I thought Dambrot really limited him in terms of playing time but he did log 29 minutes so he was out there, hiding in plain sight.  Carry was limited I thought.  Just back off meniscus surgery he didn't seem to be what I had seen times before.  But he beat Bess a lot at least on penetration drives but his scoring was limited.  Their bench just plain sucks and it was really nice to see Thatch manhandle the midget Dunn-Martin at times.  How that kid scored 30 the other night I don't know.

Which, of course, leaves Eric Williams, Jr.  Kid took 30% of their shots.  Accounted for over 50% of their entire makes.  Made 70% of their threes.  As noted after the St. Joe's game, sometimes you're the windshield sometimes you're the bug.  Williams was the windshield last night   On TV, Troy Robertson noted on Williams first shot that letting him make the first one did not bode well.  Man, was he right.  That was about the only positive I have on Troy's announcing (and Fox Midwest's overall job) but that's another story.  The good news was that we had Tramaine to answer.  The better news is that we shut just about everyone else down after halftime.  They scored 41 points in the second half: Williams had 27 of them.  That is 66% of the points by one guy!  I think one can only sit back and marvel at the game that kid had last night.  And while we had Tramaine, Williams only went to the FT line 3 times (made all).  Tramaine went 16 times and only made ten (which if he did more would have given him the record for Chaifetz no problem).  I don't know how pro football does its QB rating and I don't know if there is a metric to measuring the same on the basketball court but if there were ever a 'perfect' game,' Williams had to be close to it.  Four turnovers hurt but even with four fouls as negatives, I think two of those were done in the desperation part of the game.  I can't think of any more perfect game then what Bill Walton did to Memphis State in a NCAA Final Four game in St. Louis back in the early 70s.  And ... WE WON!

Tramaine was the man and we all know that.  Looked to me like he saw Dunn-Martin, said pygmy meat, and exploited that as best as could be expected.  I am amazed that Dunn-Martin plays for free tuition and room and board.  I guess speed and underestimation allow him to do so.  I wish Tramaine had made the last layup so his name, a Billiken name, was on the record and not Williams but he lost that really down the stretch with tired legs and six missed free throws.  That was indeed the Isabell I thought we were getting from the start.  Nice to have that heading into Brooklyn.  Plus, the Bunnies start two freshmen at guard.  Hmmm.

The rest of the lineup did what they had to do.  Special note I'd give to Thatch for his contribution from the bench along with that stellar defense.  French was a second half monster on the boards and had three blocks.  Michael Hughes had the foul trouble I expected.  Kelly's injury was bad for the kid but he isn't a major contributor that was going to be missed.  Looked like the knee buckled but since he came back out to sit on the bench, I'd say knee sprain.

Bad shite going forward:  Bess' shooting and inability to cut off that foot/ankle seem pretty obvious now.  He is just not himself.  If we do somehow win in Olean then here's hoping the six days off work in his favor.  We need the old Bess bad.  We left 17 points on the free throw line last night plus any that were one-and-ones.  Another putrid, barely 50% performance.  I predict this shortcoming will eventually end out season ala Goodwin against Davidson.  In another thread, we talked about expectations and I can't help but come back to that with Goodwin.  Someone noted another near triple double.  Sure.  But you just cannot have your main ballhandler continually go 2-of-10 from the charity stripe.  Male those 17 free throws and the game is 102 to 75.  Goodwin makes his 8 and it's 93 to 75.  My new expectation for Goodwin is to learn how to shoot.  In a win, this is easily overlooked but c'mon man!  I even felt Goodwin ran away from the ball in the closing minutes because of the horrid shooting.  Duquesne was looking for him and French and luckily, French only inbounded the ball most times to Bess and Isabell.  By the way, no Jacobs sighting whatsoever.

The Fox Midwest team was horrible.  The piece with Hughes was really a "who cares" kind of thing.  Biggest game of the season and you are asking how Troy Robertson got to carry Larry's bags for a year.  It has its place but not a whole freaking half (That's what it felt like).  Robertson is a homer, many times calling the team "ours" or "his."  That's okay from a homer point of view but Scott Highmark, a Billiken hall of famer, does a better job being perceived as neutral.  The game was damn exciting and tense .. and we're looking at Chris Pronger, Marcus Allen and Anthony Bonner.  And they insist on showing damn Cardinal hats and jerseys in the stands as they promo all their other programming.  Oh well, at least I saw the game.

Did anyone also hear Chris May at half say they (the Billikens) were positioning for more college basketball even after Brooklyn is done?  As in some other post season tournament?  I assume that would be the NIT/CBI/DOA tournaments for the men and not the women, right?  I ask about the women because while I wasn't totally in tune with what Chris was saying, the comment seem to come very close to a piece discussing the ladies beating Richmond and now going to Duquesne in their A10 tournament.  You know my stance on a post season not inclusive of the NCAAs -- only if we get to train the youngsters and they ain't here yet.

Last game Saturday.  One item that I find extremely exciting is that there will be so much riding on this last game.  Madness has certainly started to reign supreme.  While it's not this one, it is "lose-and-go-home."  Love this time of year.

 

 

[RiseOfTheBillikens]

3 minutes ago, Taj79 said:

Last game Saturday.  One item that I find extremely exciting is that there will be so much riding on this last game.  Madness has certainly started to reign supreme.  While it's not this one, it is "lose-and-go-home."  Love this time of year.

 

 

I was talking about this last night. It feels good to be playing games that matter again. Win or lose both teams are going to bring there all and it's going to be fun to watch. 

[Old guy]

All is well and should remain well as long as we remain loyal to the Bills whatever happens Saturday.

[slu72]

It does feel good to be playing important games in March. Time to end the Snow Bunny's 8 game streak against us at the North Pole. 

[Quality Is Job 1]

1 hour ago, Taj79 said:

We won our home matches and now head off to the Great White North to skewer the Snow Bunnies.  I won't lie, it's going to be tough.  What did kshoe post?  Like a 19% chance or so of winning that one?  It's their Senior Day with a lot of Senior cachet in Stockard and Grifffin.  We've lost 8 in a row there.  They don't like us, we don't seem to respect them.  Going to be tough.  But at the end of the day (which will be the first game of Saturday afternoon) we will know what awaits in Brooklyn.  Last night at Davidson, Stockard scored one point.  ONE!.  Griffin was better with eight.  Team only had one double digit scorer in freshman Welch.  Here's hoping that's the new Bunnie norm.

It's not an 8-game losing streak in Olean, but overall regardless of location (here, there, tournament).  The 2014 team won in Olean.

[billikenfan05]

! 12/29/52 N W 67-59

2/10/53 H W 72-61
2/25/54 A W 77-73

1/3/01 H W 76-63

%11/30/02 N W 56-54

1/3/06 H W 60-58

1/3/07 A L 69-74

3/1/08 H L 50-70

2/25/09 A L 55-72

2/3/10 H W 67-65

2/16/11 A L 73-83

2/1/12 H W 86-62

1/26/13 A W 67-57

1/15/14 H W 66-60

^ 3/14/14 N L 68-71

3/4/15 H L 48-64

2/7/16 A L 62-65

3/5/16 H L 67-76

1/17/17 H L 52-71

2/8/17 A L 55-70

2/7/18 A L 56-79

3/3/18 H L 56-64

[wgstl]

1 minute ago, billikenfan05 said:

! 12/29/52 N W 67-59

2/10/53 H W 72-61
2/25/54 A W 77-73

1/3/01 H W 76-63

%11/30/02 N W 56-54

1/3/06 H W 60-58

1/3/07 A L 69-74

3/1/08 H L 50-70

2/25/09 A L 55-72

2/3/10 H W 67-65

2/16/11 A L 73-83

2/1/12 H W 86-62

1/26/13 A W 67-57

1/15/14 H W 66-60

^ 3/14/14 N L 68-71

3/4/15 H L 48-64

2/7/16 A L 62-65

3/5/16 H L 67-76

1/17/17 H L 52-71

2/8/17 A L 55-70

2/7/18 A L 56-79

3/3/18 H L 56-64

interesting 

[billikenfan05]

8 minutes ago, wgstl said:

interesting 

Going through the Billiken record book is a harsh reminder that we had some horrible years. 

[Taj79]

Edit:  Going through the Billiken record book is a harsh reminder that I've lived thorough most of those horrible years.