BillikenButch Posted December 15, 2003 Share Posted December 15, 2003 Not including the Grambling game, we have a pivotal 4 game stretch heading into conference play. I think the team can win three of four. If they get less than that I will have some stronger concerns. If you want to see a real cupcake schedule check out K-State. They took a page from the football program. Birmingham S., Lipscomb, Gardner Webb, Wyoming, Oregon State, Wichita State, Texas AM Corpus Christi, Bethune Cookman, UMKC, SLU, Savannah State. Dreadful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billiken Law Posted December 16, 2003 Share Posted December 16, 2003 I didn't think it was THAT bad. Wyoming, Oregon State, Witchta State, SLU are all solid programs and UMKC isn't that bad and is pretty close to K-State geographically. As for SLU, we need to take care of business at home (which we should be able to do) and get that first big road win. Dayton perhaps?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NashvilleBilliken Posted December 16, 2003 Share Posted December 16, 2003 Yeah, I really think we need to hit a little winning streak. Although we lost, I think we saw some good things at the GT game. Darren is finding his shot and hit some big 3's. If he can start scoring 8-11 pts per game, that would be huge. IMO, that is our biggest problem. We are a great defensive team and can keep our opponents right around 60 pts for the most part. However, we can't really score much more than that ourselves. With Darren putting up some numbers and JJ coming around, I am really optimistic about the rest of the season. Even though they may have some defensive problems, their offense could more than offset it. They are not BAD defenders, they just have a tendency to look that way on such a great defensive team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted December 16, 2003 Share Posted December 16, 2003 Beating K-State and Butler is doable at home. SMS is doable but we always seem to stumble there. Dayton - top 25 team away - boy I don't know. 2 and 2 is a must - 3 and 1 would be very good and winning all 4 would GREAT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billiken Law Posted December 16, 2003 Share Posted December 16, 2003 Doh! Forgot we have SMS first. A win there would be a big one for momentum and confidence purposes. I think K-State will be the tougher of the 2 home games we have (them and Butler). Butler just lost too much from last year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillikenButch Posted December 16, 2003 Author Share Posted December 16, 2003 Six n-c games against bottom teams, and five games against nice programs of which 3 may make the post season, makes for a rather poor pre-conference record. I know there is nothing to do in Manhattan, but I would consider that schedule an insult if I was a season ticket holder. I am not sure how that schedule prepares them in any way for the Big 12. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted December 16, 2003 Share Posted December 16, 2003 imo, if we want to be ncaa contenders, 3-1 is the minimum and 4-0 would be better. if not, it will require quite the cusa season and it appears cusa is a notch better than it has been in recent years so that will be tough order. if we are capable of having a top 4 conference usa season, we should also be capable of going 3-1 in those 4 out of conference game. for now, i just want to see an excellent game versus grambling on weds. stumbling in that game really would bite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillikenButch Posted December 16, 2003 Author Share Posted December 16, 2003 That is exactly what I was thinking. Our win at Dayton this year will be a big feather in our cap on Selection Sunday. 4-0 sets us up well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted December 16, 2003 Share Posted December 16, 2003 you are correct. i didnt realize that both of those nice guards graduated. and it appears the highly acclaimed freshman, nick brooks is hardly playing. why i dont know. he looked like a stud last year at the shootout. they currently are 3-4 and are averaging less than 60 pts per game as a team. looks like we can send out a little revenge if we come to play. kstate though is 5-1 and that is with two of their better recruits suspended pending ncaa investigation. (our luck they will be back for us.) they just beat witchita state, which many "experts" have tabbed as a top contender for the mvc title. sms just got stomped by witchita state. they currently are 5-4. the best team they have beaten is weber state. they nearly beat kent state as they lost by one to kent at home. btw, jason edwin only played 3 minutes in that game and had 0 points. looking at kent's stats, it doesnt appear jason has "seen the light". dayton is 8-0 right now, however imo they havent played the most challenging schedule yet. they beat san diego state and they also beat iupui which has went to the tourney a couple years now, but other than that, nothing on their schedule jumps out at you. 8 days before playing us they go to cincy to play. and two days before us they have a gimmee with wofford. (where the hell is wofford). the thing about dayton is their two best players are agile inside guys with some height. not power guys, but still big guys. i would expect chris sloan could handle one, the other i dont know. would have seemed like a nice physical matchup with izik, but apparently he hasnt decided to show up this season yet. i fear varner or frericks trying to chase one of them, however frericks could turn the tables on them and be too much strength to handle at our end as well. of course with the right focus, justin johnson could undoubtedly matchup physically with either. dayton's other top scorer sounds like a twin of reggie bryant. same size and looks like nearly the same stats. so the point is, we can win all of these games. i think the toughest matchup might be k state. not dayton. but those are probably the two toughest games of the 5. we need to go 4-1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted December 16, 2003 Share Posted December 16, 2003 Projecting high school players onto the college stage is always tricky. Nick played power forward in high school and only has an ok outside shot. Since he has a decent handle (Sloan-like), I think a lot of recruiting gurus just assumed he would be able to make the transition to small forward in college. They may be right but it's going to be a difficult transition. Luke Meyer was in the same position until Sky Frazier blossomed last season and allowed him to play outside almost exclusively. Now Meyer is just as comfortable on the perimeter as he is scoring inside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLIKNS Posted December 16, 2003 Share Posted December 16, 2003 K-State must figure the Big XII conference schedlue will give them a good RPI regardless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New2SLU Posted December 16, 2003 Share Posted December 16, 2003 >dayton is 8-0 right now, however imo they havent played the >most challenging schedule yet. they beat san diego state >and they also beat iupui which has went to the tourney a >couple years now, but other than that, nothing on their >schedule jumps out at you. 8 days before playing us they go >to cincy to play. and two days before us they have a gimmee >with wofford. (where the hell is wofford). > >the thing about dayton is their two best players are agile >inside guys with some height. not power guys, but still big >guys. i would expect chris sloan could handle one, the >other i dont know. would have seemed like a nice physical >matchup with izik, but apparently he hasnt decided to show >up this season yet. i fear varner or frericks trying to >chase one of them, however frericks could turn the tables on >them and be too much strength to handle at our end as well. >of course with the right focus, justin johnson could >undoubtedly matchup physically with either. dayton's other >top scorer sounds like a twin of reggie bryant. same size >and looks like nearly the same stats. > >so the point is, we can win all of these games. i think the >toughest matchup might be k state. not dayton. but those >are probably the two toughest games of the 5. we need to go >4-1. Tom was recruited by Dayton last year and we were at the Dayton / Villanova game. Great game! The power forward, whose name escapes me is their best player and Finn, their center is very good as well. the two players play very well as a tandem and will pose problems since they pass the ball inside more and kick it out just as much back to the PF who scores more than not. Tom will handle Finn the center (6'11") since he is not as broad or strong as Tom but Chris Sloan or who ever had better be all over and in the face of the power forward. Dayton has another center who is 7' and will be a factor this year since he was red shirted last year. The Dayton Arena will be packed to the rafters for this game especially since no one in Dayton has a life...a basketball game @ 7:00 pm on New Years. The people of Dayton supports University of Dayton like no one else???!!! The game as I understand it is sold out and people from all over Ohio are looking for tickets. Just remember they serve beer at the Dayton arena and by 10:30 pm that night be very careful driving away from the arena because most of the Ohio State Patrol in the Dayton area will be on hand to scrutinize EVERY driver leaving that game for DUI! They are brutal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillikenButch Posted December 16, 2003 Author Share Posted December 16, 2003 Likely so, but at the risk of getting drilled repeatedly in conference play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonka Posted December 16, 2003 Share Posted December 16, 2003 We had better be 5-0 after these next 5 games. I expect nothing less. This team has proven to me that they can play better than I thought. We are very capable of winning these next 5 games and therefore need to. Hell, looking at the games through the end of January, I think we can/should be 13-5. I am raising my expectations that this team will win 18 games this year, and no reason they couldn't even be 19-8. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted December 16, 2003 Share Posted December 16, 2003 keith waleskowski is the dayton pf. here is his bio and stats per espn http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/player/profile?playerId=4481 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted December 16, 2003 Share Posted December 16, 2003 I worry about you Tonka. The ups and downs we experience this season may cause you have to have a coronary. I think we'll be fine at the end, though. As for Dayton, I never expect to beat a top 25 team on their home floor. Sure would be nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mobile-iken Posted December 16, 2003 Share Posted December 16, 2003 I agree 3 Star, I'm trying to figure out why so many people seem to be looking past Dayton. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted December 16, 2003 Share Posted December 16, 2003 Thank you for the indepth information. This exactly why I said beating Dayton this year is not something anyone can expect - is it possible, sure but not probable. Lets maintain a certain level of objectivity. Grambling - yes , Butler - yes, Kstate - should but it could be a question mark, Dayton - probably not, SMS - should be but our track record there makes it iffy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tonka Posted December 16, 2003 Share Posted December 16, 2003 Because our players have to believe we can and have no hesitation in their mind about it. Brad wants them to think in their heads that they should EXPECT to beat everybody. Because if they start reading the media and they start becoming satisfied with just "hanging in there" or "playing tough", then that becomes the goal whether they realize it or not. Don't get me wrong, looking for the positives and pulling positives away from negative things is great, but their ONLY goal should be to EXPECT to win every game. As Brad would say, he doesn't want to be "cannon fodder" for these top teams, he wants and expects to win those games. That, is the attitude and the only attitude that will take this program to the top. I'd like to take the words and phrases - patience, wait till later, wait till a couple years from now - and destroy them completely. Let's not wait for anything, let's do it now! Because if we focus on that, "a few years from now", we could be devastatingly good! We should have beat Arizona, we could've played better against GT, so I completely expect these guys to take Gay-ton on the road and smash PMS in their house, dismantle Rambling State tomorrow, slash Gay-State in our house, and slap Butt-ler silly. And when that's done, make it our mission to demolish the "big boys" of CUSA and give them send proper slappings this year and next before they abandon us. Okay, a few deep breaths....okay, I am relaxed now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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