I am changing my mind on Porter to a degree . For what it is worth-not much-- He IS earning it--
-- He obviously has turned his gang loose --a departure of ALL DEFENSE, run the clock down so the other guys cannot score.
-- He now trusts his offense as the guys REALLY defend as he teaches
-- Making far fewer bad bench decisions
-- A product of above--he now always seem to have time-outs left near the end
-- The truly brilliant decision to have his normal starters sit at the beginning which leads to a NINE or even TEN man rotation which--
-- Wears the opponents down--See Panthers and almost the ACES
-- Our guys have truly bought in ( good coaching, this
-- He IS almost there except-----

----- His almost total disdain for playing and his inability to recruit BIG MEN--This appears to be the one piece that is missing. Almost every team we play has BIGS who are integral parts of their games.. WHY is this ???
-- I venture to say that what with our waves of good fast and quick players plus maybe two really able BIGS , we would rule the VALLEY , no question .
-- Our team IS now confident. GOOD on Porter !!

GO RAMBLERS !! RUN !!

With regard to Big Men....

As far as I'm concerned, the issue isn't whether he goes out and recruits big guys (let's say, 6'8" or taller). The issue is whether we can win without them. You saw VCU, Dayton, and Louisville play without traditional big guys (prototypical centers and power forwards) and go very deep into the tournament. You've seen them wipe the floor with teams that have classic centers and big power forwards. The difference between us and those teams is they've got a bit more athleticism all around, and their shooting guards and guard/forwards are often 6'5" or 6'6". Their forwards are 6'7" or 6'8", but they have guard ball handling skills and run the floor like guards.

If Moser wants to go with a smaller, faster unit that denies entry passes and uses energetic help defense, a la VCU, Dayton, Louisville, and the route many other teams are going these days, fine. Go for it. But he'll have to answer for the wins and losses. Having the OPTION to go with a center/power forward rim protector in situations gives us a lot more flexibility to change if the plan isn't working, and Rajala isn't quite there, and tends to get confused or thrown off a bit when he's asked to play energetic switch off help defense.

I'm getting quite concerned about next year when we have to play without Montel James.... I shudder to think where we'd be without him this year.... challenging Drake for the cellar.

U R right .JCT...u can win playing small ball but everyone has to be as u said athletic, shooters and ball handlers. It is fun to watch. But a good big guy really dominates I think in the MVC. Credit to Montel James as he has managed to do a pretty good Christian Thomas imitation the last half of the season.
We will know pretty soon as the next signing period is APril 13th. .

Sorry guys but good athletic BIG teams usually beat small swift teams ! Oh, we are one good small team .but I would rather have a BIG intimidator to go along with--eg the ACES big guy. That being said, I am really enjoying watching our TEAM.. We run around--the bad guys do get tired --Maybe Rajala will keep getting better--He IS getting more minutes. Albeit he did look bad a coup;e of times--BUT he IS learning.