Stepping Up

[Piratz]

It’s here. With Memphis on Thursday and likely Oklahoma if we win that first game, then at Kansas the following Thursday, the big tests are here.

I’m not sure this team is ready but sometimes the best way to develop and gel is in these spots.

Feels like we lose the first game of these Thanksgiving tournaments every time. Would be nice to win one for a change. I don’t think Memphis is as good as Iowa so this could be our best chance.

 

[TheHall87]

It’s here. With Memphis on Thursday and likely Oklahoma if we win that first game, then at Kansas the following Thursday, the big tests are here.

I’m not sure this team is ready but sometimes the best way to develop and gel is in these spots.

Feels like we lose the first game of these Thanksgiving tournaments every time. Would be nice to win one for a change. I don’t think Memphis is as good as Iowa so this could be our best chance.

I'm not going to go back through the history (I've done it before) but over the years we've cost ourselves some potential resume building opportunities not only in games we've lost but the opponents we didn't get to play. That can be the difference between playing in the 8/9 game in March and the 7/10 or 6/11 game. To me, that was one of the great fails of Willard's tenure.

This field is decent but nothing special. Our side of the bracket looks to have the better teams with us, Memphis and Oklahoma. Ideally we play those two and meet Stanford in the championship game on Sunday since that likely maximizes our strength of schedule opportunity.

 

[NYC Pirate]

The guys need to learn from the Iowa game. They need to understand that this November and early December make March a possibility.

 

[SHUSA]

It’s here. With Memphis on Thursday and likely Oklahoma if we win that first game, then at Kansas the following Thursday, the big tests are here.

I’m not sure this team is ready but sometimes the best way to develop and gel is in these spots.

Feels like we lose the first game of these Thanksgiving tournaments every time. Would be nice to win one for a change. I don’t think Memphis is as good as Iowa so this could be our best chance.

agree. this team feels a lot different in good ways (and some bad) from our typical squad, so maybe the thanksgiving tourney will yield some different results. the coach is still green too for this.

 

[HallLine69]

I’ll be pleased if we win 1 of those 3. Winning 2 would be a giant step forward. If we stay within 20 at Kansas I would be ok. Our chances at winning that one are less than 1% imho.

 

[Pirates13]

Memphis is talented but nowhere near as cohesive as Iowa. That’s really what stood out to me about the Hawkeyes. They were a team that had been together and knew how to work in unison.

Penny is a celebrity coach who has struggled to mold talent into a team. I like our chances a lot better vs. Memphis than I did vs. Iowa.

 

[NYC Pirate]

The bottom line is that SHU would do themselves a big favor by beating Memphis and then hopefully Oklahoma in Florida. That would certainly douse out some of the Iowa loss.

Although it was only Wagner on Sunday, Dawes stepping up his shooting along with Jackson could really propel the team if it continues into the Memphis game. Hopefully, Sha and the coaching staff are elevating the team’s sense of urgency a notch or two.

 

[Seton75]

Dawes, Jackson, Richmond and Harris are good three pt shooters. Hope two of them can make some shots. (And maybe Femi make one or two as well.) Hope Ty plays a game that will make every reader who saw my posts criticize his post play think I am out of my mind. But mostly, I hope the offense gels, and gets us good looks. I will accept 50% from three and a less gelling offense though...Does a quiet Kadary step up?

Defense and a deep bench, probably these tournies are where they are most meaingful. And lets show that the D vs Iowa was not who we are.

I think of the holiday tournies and that ridiculous flagrant T on of all people Auda comes to mind. And hearing Myles score his 40th pt as I took one of my sons to his train back home.

 

[SHUHoopsFan]

Memphis is talented but nowhere near as cohesive as Iowa. That’s really what stood out to me about the Hawkeyes. They were a team that had been together and knew how to work in unison.

Penny is a celebrity coach who has struggled to mold talent into a team. I like our chances a lot better vs. Memphis than I did vs. Iowa.

This game scares me. In our 3 wins we just used our athleticism to run lesser teams off the court. We don't have the athleticism to do that to Memphis. If this turns into a track meet I think we will be in trouble if we can settle this into even a medium pace game, I like our chances a lot.

 

[cernjSHU]

We must beat the livin crap out of Memphis for a little payback for Ty-Laur Johnson.

 

[VIPIRATE2010]

I already got burned once this year by making a prediction with my heart instead of my head. I wont let that happen again. These games will be a solid litmus test to see what we are made of. But I need to be more tempered with my expectations. Memphis 77 Hall 74. I hope im wrong though.

 

[NYC Pirate]

Dawes, Jackson, Richmond and Harris are good three pt shooters. Hope two of them can make some shots. (And maybe Femi make one or two as well.) Hope Ty plays a game that will make every reader who saw my posts criticize his post play think I am out of my mind. But mostly, I hope the offense gels, and gets us good looks. I will accept 50% from three and a less gelling offense though...Does a quiet Kadary step up?

Defense and a deep bench, probably these tournies are where they are most meaingful. And lets show that the D vs Iowa was not who we are.

I think of the holiday tournies and that ridiculous flagrant T on of all people Auda comes to mind. And hearing Myles score his 40th pt as I took one of my sons to his train back home.

We have had heartbreaking and tough losses in these tournaments. The Oklahoma debacle at Barclays. I believe Xavier beat us very late one year. Ohio St. was very frustrating. Going back we lost to Duke in Hawaii?? It’s endless.

 

[Seton75]

We have had heartbreaking and tough losses in these tournaments. The Oklahoma debacle at Barclays. I believe Xavier beat us very late one year. Ohio St. was very frustrating. Going back we lost to Duke in Hawaii?? It’s endless.

OMG, OK, what a disaster. I can see Sina throwing that inbounds pass to the Ok guy who hit the shot. I think that happened so fast it actually took negative time off the clock...Yeah, Duke in Hawaii, was that Orr's first year, and an awful call in Duke's favor to seal it? I think one of their terrific guards was involved, maybe Duhon?

But my fave holiday memory in that tourney in Nolo in the 88-9 season. I had to go to a party, for some reason didn listen ion the way home, turned on sou, and there were about threee minutes left and the sou guys were so relaxed and out of juice I KNEW we were gettign killed. Wrong again. We beat the crap that night out of Depaul I thnk and a great season seemed a little more realistic.

 

[MBF72]

I know it is early, but I see the Memphis game as key moving forward. If we play an Iowa-type game---after three blow outs against mid majors---- I see us shaping up to be a good mid major squad with little hope of competing against the top two-thirds of the Big East.

 

[TheHall87]

We have had heartbreaking and tough losses in these tournaments. The Oklahoma debacle at Barclays. I believe Xavier beat us very late one year. Ohio St. was very frustrating. Going back we lost to Duke in Hawaii?? It’s endless.

You can go all the way back to losing to Florida in the Pre-Season NIT Championship game in 1987. If I recall a questionable (maybe just in my view) call did us in.

The ones that stick in my craw:

Losing to Long Beach State in Charleston in 2015. We would have lost to Virginia next but I would have rather beaten LBSU, lost to Wahoo and then taken my chances with whomever on Sunday than lose to LBSU, than beat Bradley and Mississippi, neither of whom were any good.

The loss to URI at Barclays on Thanksgiving 2017 with, again, Virginia next up. Instead we get and beat Vanderbilt the next night.

Finally, the loss to Oregon in Atlantis in 2019 after blowing a big second half lead. That ensured seeing Southern Miss and Iowa State, the two worst teams in a stacked field instead of matchups with Gonzaga and one of Michigan or North Carolina.

 

[shu09]

The Oregon one was the worst. Fools gold shooting early, then we sat on the lead and let them right back in it.

 

[mbraue]

The Oregon one was the worst. Fools gold shooting early, then we sat on the lead and let them right back in it.

We shot lights out and then the lights went out in more ways than one.

 

[dehere23]

I know it is early, but I see the Memphis game as key moving forward. If we play an Iowa-type game---after three blow outs against mid majors---- I see us shaping up to be a good mid major squad with little hope of competing against the top two-thirds of the Big East.

I think Iowa is better than Memphis. Now I don’t know as much about Memphis preseason as I have in the past when they were more high profile. But Penny’s teams have disappointed overall with the level of talent he’s had.

 

[ivyhillparkk1963]

If we play that tough man to man pressure D and switch the way we have been doing it we should be able to turn them over alot...

 

[TheHall87]

If we play that tough man to man pressure D and switch the way we have been doing it we should be able to turn them over alot...

They might do the same to us. We've been prone to the turnover so far.

 

[MBF72]

I think Iowa is better than Memphis. Now I don’t know as much about Memphis preseason as I have in the past when they were more high profile. But Penny’s teams have disappointed overall with the level of talent he’s had.

I saw Iowa has moved up to #25 in polls. Agree that Iowa is better and McCaffrey is a much better coach; Memphis might have better athletes.
Thus far---- I realize it is early and our performance has been uneven--- no one can be overly impressed with our bb smarts and coaching.

 

[HALL85]

I saw Iowa has moved up to #25 in polls. Agree that Iowa is better and McCaffrey is a much better coach; Memphis might have better athletes.
Thus far---- I realize it is early and our performance has been uneven--- no one can be overly impressed with our bb smarts and coaching.

This is one of those times we need to be a little patient. McCaffery has close to 500 wins as a HC and Sha just coached his fourth game at a high major. Sha is learning on the job and I do expect it to be a learning experience on some nights, especially looking at the experience of many of the BE coaches.

 

[NYC Pirate]

These next 10 days will give us a much better idea of what to expect this season. I’d like to say 2-2 would be a good sign, but not if we lose to Memphis. The season can go into a lot of directions. Not enough data yet to give a great opinion.