Nothing is ever guaranteed, but if the NCAA Tournament played out last season the Pirates had final 8 talent and most likely that's where they would have ended their season.
Inbounds or out of bounds
Inbounds or out of bounds
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Feel the same way. Concussion of knee; Myles was not completely back. Thought we had a good shot at sweet 16, but gun to my head elite 8 was 25/75.We had the talent, but we were not playing well at the end. I was not as bullish as most Pirate fans were re the post season. Not being able to put away Nova at home, then getting blown out at CU in the second half were very concerning to me and made me fear we were spent. Maybe getting away from the BE would free Myles like so many thought. I thought we may be upset prone. I am straddling the line on this one.
InNothing is ever guaranteed, but if the NCAA Tournament played out last season the Pirates had final 8 talent and that's where they could have ended their season.
Inbounds or out of bounds
very easy for people to say inbounds and feel good.
i say out of bounds. we were trending down, we lost 2 outright chances to win the Big East. Myles was completely dogged by the end and im not sure the schedule of postseason tournaments really help that.
at that time we had 3 major advantages. big time advantages that were actually turned around into disadvantages. somehow. 1) powell 2) Ro 3) defense
Powell got double and triple teamed. we often had no answer for the high pressure myles recieved... game after game same thing. the only breakthrough was the Pick n Ro. thats great, take out one guy the defense has to sacrifice another... well somehow they also took away the pick n roll, and powell, without any counter punches. when you have advantages like that you force the defense to pick their poison. somehow willard let teams make our advantages our disadvantages. any tournament team would have followed the playbook to guard us.
lastly, our bread and butter defense turned into knife through hot butter. letting guys to thr rim at ease.
i have no idea how a good coach, amazing talent, and some pretty big advantages were turned into the playbook to beat us.
i was very hopeful the tournament would snap us into shape but based on the way we were playing elite 8 was way out of bounds. in fact id put my money on losing first round before elite 8 at that time.
The question was “could” they reach final 8. Much diff than saying they were a lockvery easy for people to say inbounds and feel good.
i say out of bounds. we were trending down, we lost 2 outright chances to win the Big East. Myles was completely dogged by the end and im not sure the schedule of postseason tournaments really help that.
at that time we had 3 major advantages. big time advantages that were actually turned around into disadvantages. somehow. 1) powell 2) Ro 3) defense
Powell got double and triple teamed. we often had no answer for the high pressure myles recieved... game after game same thing. the only breakthrough was the Pick n Ro. thats great, take out one guy the defense has to sacrifice another... well somehow they also took away the pick n roll, and powell, without any counter punches. when you have advantages like that you force the defense to pick their poison. somehow willard let teams make our advantages our disadvantages. any tournament team would have followed the playbook to guard us.
lastly, our bread and butter defense turned into knife through hot butter. letting guys to thr rim at ease.
i have no idea how a good coach, amazing talent, and some pretty big advantages were turned into the playbook to beat us.
i was very hopeful the tournament would snap us into shape but based on the way we were playing elite 8 was way out of bounds. in fact id put my money on losing first round before elite 8 at that time.
as i said those answers turned into questions. if ncaa tournament opponents didnt scout wed have a lot better record in the postseason.SHU had all the answers. Height, defense, an All American 2G who could take over at game's end, depth and most importantly getting away from teams that know you as well as you know yourself.
Leaving conference play along with all the assets at the disposal of Willard leads me to believe this particular team would have reached the final 8 before falling.
There is no substitute for playing against. Scouting is fine but then you have to take that on the court.as i said those answers turned into questions. if ncaa tournament opponents didnt scout wed have a lot better record in the postseason.
defending us was very simple towards the end.
We beat Marq both times last year, had McKnight to play well against their best player. Had Gill domimating in the paint. Also playing at MSG. Why do you think we would have lost to Marq? I bet if you did an honest poll with Marq fans they would mostly say they would have lost to Hall.I generally agree. We did not play well against Villanova and were awful against Creighton down the stretch. I believe we would have lost to Marquette in the first round of the BET and been knocked down to a 4 seed in the NCAA's. From there we would have been dangerous as I do believe getting out of the Big East would have been a good thing. But I do believe the team peaked too early and it was the win at Villanova in February.
We beat Marq both times last year, had McKnight to play well against their best player. Had Gill domimating in the paint. Also playing at MSG. Why do you think we would have lost to Marq? I bet if you did an honest poll with Marq fans they would mostly say they would have lost to Hall.
by the end of the season we were the ones getting punched in the mouth. whats our excuse, didnt we play against the other teams earlier in the season?There is no substitute for playing against. Scouting is fine but then you have to take that on the court.
Remember what Mike Tyson used to say? "Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth."
Nothing is ever guaranteed, but if the NCAA Tournament played out last season the Pirates had final 8 talent and most likely that's where they would have ended their season.
Inbounds or out of bounds
haha this question was clearly designed for one answer only.I feel Howard and Marquette would have been fired up to beat us after losing twice. I just think we weren't playing well heading into that game and a bit overconfident in our inflated #8 AP ranking at the time.
how is unfamiliarity an advantage?? are we not as unfamiliar with the team we play? our advantage in the early rounds would be we had better talent and bigger size.Inbounds, with potential for more. One advantage we would have had is unfamiliarity...whereas BE teams knew us up and down, teams around the country didn't. Sure, there is film, etc., but it is not the same as playing someone twice every year. You know tendencies, traits, etc., that other teams would not know.
Now, match ups are of course paramount in the Tourney, so that could/would impact this, but all things being equal, definitely inbounds to me
All opinions are welcome and I completely understand that they are no more than opinions.by the end of the season we were the ones getting punched in the mouth. whats our excuse, didnt we play against the other teams earlier in the season?
our tournament history has us getting punched in the mouth. remember gonzaga? wofford? are we also not facing a team we havent played before?
its all relative, i dont think your reasoning holds up
it seems like you dont want to accept out of bounds as a possibility? i gave the most context and analysis to support my answer.
You are entitled to your opinion, just know you are in the minority of this viewpoint. Losing to two top 15 schools while probably dealing with a Covid outbreak on the team is nothing to be ashamed of for almost any team.by the end of the season we were the ones getting punched in the mouth. whats our excuse, didnt we play against the other teams earlier in the season?
our tournament history has us getting punched in the mouth. remember gonzaga? wofford? are we also not facing a team we havent played before?
its all relative, i dont think your reasoning holds up
it seems like you dont want to accept out of bounds as a possibility? i gave the most context and analysis to support my answer.
im not ignoring the last two. we played poorly for the same reasons vs providence and butler.All opinions are welcome and I completely understand that they are no more than opinions.
Two poor games down the stretch of a very long season does not a trend make. Over the course of 30 games. losing the last 2, one by 2 points and the other a blowout was preceded by winning 15 of 18 games. Why ignore that and just concentrate on the last 2?
I'll stand by my comments that once leaving the confines of conference play this current Pirate team would have been a very difficult match up for whomever we played.
my expectations probably were elite 8. we really had tons of weapons vs almost every team. but at the time i felt like we'd miss those expectations. it just wasnt playing out at the most important time. unfortunately our best advantage was absolutely gassed. im really basing this answer remembering how i felt at the time.You are entitled to your opinion, just know you are in the minority of this viewpoint. Losing to two top 15 schools while probably dealing with a Covid outbreak on the team is nothing to be ashamed of for almost any team.
Even with all the negative pts you referrred to we were in a good place to do damage in the tourney...besides the obvious about our team comprised of tenured players with depth at every position, we would have had practically home court advantage if we were a top 4 seed, which is huge as your referred most of our Ncaa losses were to teams that were used to or located near that court location.
Two poor games down the stretch of a very long season does not a trend make. Over the course of 30 games. losing the last 2, one by 2 points and the other a blowout was preceded by winning 15 of 18 games. Why ignore that and just concentrate on the last 2?
Wed Feb 19 | Butler | W, 74-72 | Home | 19-7 | 11-3 | |||||
Sun Feb 23 | St. John's | W, 81-65 | Home | 20-7 | 12-3 | |||||
Sat Feb 29 | Marquette | W, 88-79 | Away | 21-7 | 13-3 |
that actually makes me remember another point, we were giving up 2nd chance points out the wazoo some of those games. if there is one recipe for an upset in rd 1 its giving up 2nd chance points.These were our three games prior to losing our last 2.
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Wed Feb 19 Butler W, 74-72 Home 19-7 11-3 Sun Feb 23 St. John's W, 81-65 Home 20-7 12-3 Sat Feb 29 Marquette W, 88-79 Away 21-7 13-3
Only in the Butler game did we play poorly, yet still won. The other games were blowouts.
Then we lost by 2 to Nova. Disappointing, but Nova was playing well at that time. And then the stinker at Creighton were we played our worst contest (at full strength) of the year.
my expectations probably were elite 8. we really had tons of weapons vs almost every team. but at the time i felt like we'd miss those expectations. it just wasnt playing out at the most important time. unfortunately our best advantage was absolutely gassed. im really basing this answer remembering how i felt at the time.
also, idk if i buy that teams were located near the court location. they were certainly closer than us all times, but they werent exactly in their backyard. some were 10-15 hrs away. (for reference creighton is 18 hrs away and we play there every year)