Wow...we lost to UNC-Ashville! Just when I was starting to get excited about the prospects of this season...sigh.

You're right 01. I hope they learn from this past week because this crap won't fly once we get into league play.

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Cigarboy sucks!

Losing at New Mexico and to Toledo on a neutral court aren't bad losses. Last night was a bad loss, but the bigger issue is how we've played. Since the trip to ABQ, we have played one good half in four games. We have dropped 60 spots in the Kenpom.com ratings. We are not getting easy baskets in the paint, and we are turning it over like crazy and in key spots.

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MBB Scholarship Chart

And that Hunte is why at the moment we are a bad team PM is a good Coach--I go NOT think his team is. Ashville should have been an easy win--It was for Ashville--A disgrace.

I guess the game plan was to insert Ingram for Christian Thomas. I think this just again shows what a sound fundamental player CT was. He really knew how to position. I dont think this is Dantes strength, I am guessing that PMs plan was that the kid that went to Bradley would be our inside presence. Kirby is a mystery. This makes me go back two years when I thought PM was so concrete in his thinking strategically and in his lack of trust in new guys.
If Kirby is not going to be part of this then I think PM has to look at what he has and come up with a different strategy. Hopefully these first games show PM what he has and he adjusts to what he has this year. I have always thought of PM being kind of stubborn so we will see.

Yes. Couldn't agree more. During UNCA's run, when they were reeling off 15 unanswered points, it was capped by two straight stolen inbound passes-- the first finished in a layup, the second in a dunk. That kind of mental lapse, low-effort, low-energy, careless slop has nothing to do with talent, it's all effort, attention to detail, and fixable with focus.

Doyle's turnovers are just crazy-- we're undefeated when he has four or less turnovers in a game, which if it held true throughout the year ordinarily would make us a pretty amazing team with only five or seven losses. But he's AVERAGING 6.25 turnovers PER GAME in the past four games.

Ingram's shooting can't continue as it is, either. He's shooting 22.8% from the field over the past six games, and 7% from three in that span. Last year he averaged 5.0 points and shot 44.7%. He was a 37% three point shooter as a freshman. We really need him to average about 8 points per game, and he hasn't scored 8 yet this year. He scored 8 points or more eight times as a freshman, and did it while averaging 6.3 fewer minutes per game.

The effort should be there. And these are two players in particular where you'd expect the execution to improve-- Doyle because of his health, and Ingram because of strength and experience.

" --Its all effort ..." This smacks of two seasons ago--you know, the frozen foot era !!! Coincidence ?? Ingram and Doyle ?? If they do not care or concentrate. sit them--put some people who care into the lineup .
If ever there was a conference for the taking, this is it, but apparently not by us. Pity !!

This team must now earn respect--IF they want to, which I am now starting to doubt. PM had the confidence to schedule us into the Shootout this season and the V I ( Para-Jam) next year-- Maybe he can pull us out of that one--At the moment, this aggregation does not deserve the trip.