Can’t say that I agree with that. The first half, yes, felt like we were down 30. But we weren’t, and the second half it felt like we were on the verge of getting back into it on more than one occasion. Had that three from Custer gone in the roof would’ve blown off the Gentile. The crowd was really into it all game, and you don’t get that from a game that feels worse than the score.

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MBB Scholarship Chart

I didn't feel like our comeback attempts were plausible. There was no phase of the game where we outplayed them, except maybe the press, and that came too late-- only very late in the second half. The officiating style favored their aggressiveness, and their length and athleticism was intimidating.

On the plus side, we kept them below 80 points for the first time this year, but it was their first true road game of the year.

Guess we'll be seeing more Uguak...

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Cigarboy sucks!

Looking at Nevada's schedule, they have a legit chance to go undefeated. Realistically, they may drop a few as they don't seem to go very deep. But that offense is something special--they are matchup nightmares at all five positions. All five of their starters are listed as 'forwards' and their roster is littered with guys that will be in the NBA.

Obviously getting in the hole early was our downfall. But, as others have said, I think there are some good things we can take away from this one. Cooper nearly played the entire 2nd half and I thought he looked good on both ends of the floor. Other freshmen looked solid too. Uguak still just does not look comfortable out there...I don't know what it is. He even had trouble catching a pass in the 2nd half...nerves?

But....if we hit a few of those missed wide open 3's and some bunnies from Krutwig..hey, maybe it's a single digit game!

Obviously, it is now imperative that we beat UIC on Saturday. Continue to improve. Learn from these early season battles. We will be ready for MVC play.

A team that starts five seniors (3 potential pros) with a top 20 freshman, and all of the talented transfers they have should beat us. But if we make our open shots that’s an even closer game. We gave them a fight. Shocked mussleman had the twins play the full 40 (unless they came out at some point and I missed it). Caroline almost played the whole game as well. They’ll have to watch that moving forward, that could bite em at some point late in the season if they’re not careful.

Wasn’t a fan of Caroline going for (and blowing) that late dunk. Moser laid into Kaifes for blowing a dunk decided game late against Niagra, not for blowing it as much as for sportsmanship from what I could tell. He was a freshman learning the culture so I get it but Caroline’s a senior, dude should grow up; he also wasn’t playing the team he lost to last year (100% sour grapes but still, didn’t like it).

Loved Kaifes game tho, crazy quick release and frank played well in limited time too! Krutwig struggled with length against Nevada last year as well; Aundre didn’t figure them out til the second half using pump fakes was surprised we didn’t try double pumps more. Clayton had some great drives but the martins are just so long; refs also let so much contact go on both ways; I was shocked based on other crews we’ve had and it helped their massive roster a lot more than ours.

The teams we’ve lost to are a combined 19-1. Lots of youth out their playing pretty well against what I have to think is an elite eight team at worst. Can’t complain about scheduling tough when every year prior the complaints were it was “too easy”. I hate the losses but love what it could mean for the rest of the season and for our underclassman as their careers continue.

Anybody else have empty seats in there section? That was a great crowd but even when they say it's sold out there are 10 empty seats in section 106.

WOW!
It was a terrific atmosphere tonite. Packed house! No bones about it, Nevada is a powerhouse. BUT, apparently thin as they played the starting lineup virtually the entire game, even with a comfortable lead. They are playing for this season, as we are building a program. It will be interesting to see how they hold up over a long season. Our guys played hard the entire game with flashes again, but not a complete game. Nevada's size and athleticism is off the charts.
PM impresses me with his willingness to increase playing time for the newbies. It shows the commitment to getting better, not to stressing out over every game. Coach seems to consistently reward good play and has no hesitancy to sit anyone. Kaifes took a big step forward today with increased minutes, several smart plays with terrific ball fakes, and good decisions making that extra pass, or driving to the basket. Budjoso also got more minutes and made some nice plays. Our guys played a nice second half when they could have thrown it in. That says a lot.
Keep in mind that Nevada has a starting lineup of seniors, I think all transfers, so they are fifth year seniors, if that is the correct term.
We have yet to play up to our ability for an entire game, but I know it is in there. Tough schedule we have been clamoring for, and currently now suffering with, will pay dividends in time, this season, I think.... PM will figure this out, and the shots will start falling.
Downside is the issue with Williamson's hand????? Hope its not serious.
Lets keep showing up and supporting this team. Its got to be tough to play in the shadow of last years team. This team will find its own identity, and chemistry. GO RAMBLERS....

Yes, but we need to beat someone decent.

Our wins are against UMKC, Niagara, Grambling, and Richmond. They're a combined 5-16 against D1 competition. UIC (2-3) visits St. Joseph's (3-3) tomorrow before they face us on Saturday.

My takeaways from the game:

1. DON’T LET THE NAME FOOL YOU – THOSE GUYS ARE ONE OF THE BEST TEAMS IN THE COUNTY –

It doesn’t matter that their name is “Nevada” instead of Duke, North Carolina, Kansas, Michigan, Michigan State, etc. The Wolf Pack are loaded with size, talent, athleticism and experience. Additionally, if you look at their schedule, we are probably one of the top 3, if not the best, teams they have on their schedule. While those other big names are beating up on each other in conference play, Nevada is going to roll the rest of the way through the season. Undefeated, or a season with 1 or 2 slip-up losses, is almost a definite. Translation – We played the team last night with the highest likelihood of being a #1 seed in the tournament come March.

2. FEEL BAD ABOUT THE LOSS, BUT THERE’S NO REASON TO BE JEALOUS OF NEVADA –

It would have been great if we were rolling through our non-conference schedule, were 7-0 and ranked in the Top 25, but unfortunately that didn’t happen. We’re not a top 25 teams right now. Nevada is. The problem with Nevada though? This season is as good as it gets for them. With those 5 fifth-year seniors, three NBA prospects, etc., while this year is going to be great, in all likelihood, after this season, it’s all over. All of their guys will graduate, go to the NBA draft, etc. – and even bigger – their coach will be gone. Eric Musselman will know that if he comes back to Nevada next year, he will have a completely depleted roster with virtually no returning starting lineup – and his stock will never be higher for a high major program to take him than the end of this year. If you are a little disappointed with the way we’ve started things out this year after the Final Four run, you would really hate to be a Nevada fan next year.

For us, we are going to have a good season and a legitimate shot to win the Valley and keep building our program for years to come. We’ll lose Custer and Townes, but we will have solid returning talent in Krutwig, Williamson, (maybe Uguak), and our freshmen right now who are coming along faster than I expected. Couple that with the best recruiting class coming in that we’ve had in the past three decades, and we’re looking great. Porter will be back, sustaining and improving his system. The loss sucks, but the overall state of the program is great.

3. THE NUMBERS PAINT A BETTER PICTURE ABOUT THIS GAME THAN THE SAD OUTCOME –

We lost by 14 points (in November) to a probable 1 seed in the tournament (in March). If we didn’t play the foul game at the end, it would have been more like 10 to 12 points. 14 points is a semi-blowout, but this was not a typical blowout that should give an educated fan cause to be depressed about our team. If we got shellacked by 20 or 25, and you looked at Nevada’s box score and saw that their starting lineup barely played the last ¼ of the game, that would be cause for concern. But that wasn’t the case – All of Nevada’s top talent played THE WHOLE GAME. This means we got a 40-minute, full-game, sample of where we’re at in the end of November compared to one of the very top teams in the country – and that sampling showed us that we are about 12 to 14 points deficient to an elite NCAA team.

So if you break it down using this game as a sampling of our team’s current state against an elite squad, at a 12-point deficiency, we needed to play better on six possessions (any combination of offense and defense) in a game to complete. We get 3 more defensive stops (rebound, draw a charge, get a steal) than we had, and his 3 more shots than we hit (i.e. go 9-20 from three instead of 7-20, or miss 3 less shots in the paint), and we are in that game. We are not a bad team right now – we just need to get a little bit better to be a great team.

4. THE GAME SHOWED US WHERE WE OBVIOUSLY NEED IMPROVEMENT –

We have three losses. All three losses have been the result of SLOW STARTS. The first ten minutes of all three of those games have been atrocious. We need to score often out-of-the-gate, get a lead, and settle into our offense to improve. When we start to have better starts, the overall improvement of this team will happen.

My suggestion is mess with the starting lineup and start Kaifus. Try to get some quick strikes from outside with him while the other team isn’t warmed up defensively and see if it works. If Kaifus gets exposed defensively early, yank him. I understand that this was a tough sell vs. Nevada because of their ridiculous amount of height down low, but for the rest of the season I think it’s worth a shot. For whatever reason, Uguak has been our weakest starter, so why not try to plug someone else in at the very beginning to see if it works?

We have December, January, and the first part of February to fix just a few things that will make us a great team like last year. These guys absolutely can do it.