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Post by wudynasty2002312 on Jan 27, 2020 16:30:39 GMT -5
Tricky couple of games coming up....CSU is on a 4 game winning streak and Fleming is playing lights out recently. We are going to have to play well to win on the road there Thursday night. Much like Radford, we really need to limit the role players from hurting us as Fleming will get his, but if you can stop everyone else they have trouble.
Then, we have to take that long drive home and get ready to play the next day what will probably be a super fast paced affair against Asheville. They don't scare me like they do the other poster, it's more the travel back from CSU and the crazy pace that does on tired/bus legs. We should win the rebounding battle by 30 if we hustle, so just don't need to turn it over 30 times and shoot at least decently.
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CSU/UNCA
Jan 27, 2020 20:41:18 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by WinthropEagleFan on Jan 27, 2020 20:41:18 GMT -5
Good news is that Asheville doesn't have a ton of depth, and they'll be playing GWU on Thursday, so they won't likely be at full energy on Saturday either.
CSU is going to be a tough test. Never an easy place to play. WU needs to take advantage of CSU only dressing 7 or 8 scholarship guys at this point
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Post by winthrop on Jan 29, 2020 15:15:16 GMT -5
I definitely think going into CSU and playing in their middle school gymnasium is going to be a challenge. They will probably pack the place for us, too.
My weird feeling/prediction for this game: Russell Jones Jr. breaks out of his semi-slump, and plays a great game.
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Post by Eagle Fan on Jan 29, 2020 18:43:51 GMT -5
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Post by rockthrilleagle on Jan 31, 2020 22:59:17 GMT -5
I'm loving undefeated streak and the league lead, but the pessimist in me worries about the slow starts and the poor free throw shooting.
DJ is a force and opponents are having to resort to doubling him, but he's still getting his ~12 ppg. When they double him, somebody is open for a 3 or backdoor. He flashed a bit of anger/emotion against Chucky South the other day, but that's OK; just don't go over the top like Cooks did a number of times and pick up "T's" and potentially hurt the team. He's shooting only 62% FT's, might we see some "Hack-a-Burns" in the future?
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CSU/UNCA
Feb 1, 2020 11:27:48 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by Wudybasty999 on Feb 1, 2020 11:27:48 GMT -5
I'm loving undefeated streak and the league lead, but the pessimist in me worries about the slow starts and the poor free throw shooting. DJ is a force and opponents are having to resort to doubling him, but he's still getting his ~12 ppg. When they double him, somebody is open for a 3 or backdoor. He flashed a bit of anger/emotion against Chucky South the other day, but that's OK; just don't go over the top like Cooks did a number of times and pick up "T's" and potentially hurt the team. He's shooting only 62% FT's, might we see some "Hack-a-Burns" in the future? If no one is hacking a Vaudrin then no one is going to hack DJ. DJ is making enough that it isn’t really a viable strategy anyway (and I’d be interested to know his percentage lately which I think is up). You really need to have someone shooting sub 50 percent for that to work other than a possession or two here or there. Eke for radford is where they would really work. |
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Post by Wudynasty999999 on Feb 2, 2020 8:31:29 GMT -5
Well.....we drubbed both of them in convincing fashion. This team is damn good. Couple gimme games coming up with Campbell and long wood coming up before a chance to lock up the title early against Redford after that.
Just need to stay healthy and focused. This team is deep and talented, and has great chemistry.
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Post by winthrop on Feb 3, 2020 9:10:13 GMT -5
Probably a stupid question, but I can't recall: Does Hunter Hale have another year of eligibility after this, or will he be done? Our site shows grad transfer, but ESPN shows Junior. Was a bit confused on his eligibility status.
Also, can Winthrop get some students to games? The community has been out, but the students are non-existent as usual. Kind of hard to believe. The way this team has been winning, they should be packing out the student section.
Lastly, is it possible that a Big South team can earn an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament in any scenario? Wasn't sure if that's just a general rule of thumb for our conference, or if you're good enough they will take you.
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Post by wudynasty20023121 on Feb 3, 2020 9:56:07 GMT -5
Hale is one and done. He's a grad transfer and this is his only year.
The students have been an issue for the last 4-5 years. Before that the students showed better than the community. It looks like the community interest has picked back up which is great. Now if we can only get the students back we can finally have an atmosphere again.
And uh, yes, a Big South team can get an at large, but historically the only team that has only put up a resume that would be worthy of it was Winthrop in the '07 season---where we only lost 4 games and those were to basically top 25/50 teams and we had a couple of Top 50 wins. If we hadn't won the automatic bid my guess is we would have been in, but it would have been right on the bubble.
The only remote possibility that it would happen this year is if we went undefeated until the conference championship game against Radford (and we would probably need them to go undefeated the rest of the way besides us) and even then it would be a very, very, low chance. The losses to bad teams like Tenn Tech and Coastal hurt the resume. We have 1 good win in St. Mary's but that's not enough to overcome what would be considered 3-4 bad losses to Tenn Tech, Fresno, Coastal, and the hypothetical loss to someone in the championship game.
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Post by WinthropEagleFan on Feb 3, 2020 11:06:08 GMT -5
Yeah, Hale's definitely done after this season. He played as a true freshman at Western Michigan, then redshirted the following year. Transferred to Grand Valley State (D2), played two years there. So this is his fourth year of playing and fifth overall.
And I'm worried there will be confusion with Adonis Arms, but he'll only have one year of eligibility on the floor next year with WU (even though they have him listed as a JR on the roster)...he played two seasons at Mesa Community College, then one season at Northwest Nazarene. So next year will be his fourth year of playing, fifth overall.
As for an at-large, there's nothing that specifically prevents it from happening for a Big South team other than no team has been good enough to earn one (except possibly for 2007 WU, but we'll never know). The OVC got an at-large team (Belmont) and there's nothing drastically different about those the two leagues that makes me believe the same couldn't happen in the Big South if circumstances existed for one to deserve it, though it would be tough. You almost need a second or third really good Big South team in the same season to help give the teams some 'good wins' on the resume, kind of like what Belmont had last year with Murray State. The same would have likely happened for Wofford last year if they lost in the SoCon tournament as well.
But no, WU has no chance for an at-large this season. You can maybe afford one really bad loss, but that Tennessee Tech loss is REALLY bad, and it would be coupled with a loss to another 'bad' team in the tournament (even Radford isn't a 'good loss' really when trying to make a case for an at-large). And the Saint Mary's win is really nice, but likely would have needed at least one, maybe two, more signature wins to really have a case...especially with the bad loss on the resume.
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