With two third of the season just about complete, we stand with a 12-8 record. Our only chance to make the tournament is to win the Archmadness tourney.
While I think expectations this year were somewhat too high, based upon in part the fact that we had three starters returning and one key reserve who would be starting.
Examining our record of 12-8, it is tempting to think that we could very easily be 15-5 as we had a last second loss to Furman (a game which we were leading, a loss to a good but not great Ball State team by six points and a tough road loss by three to St.Joe on a last second three pointer. My personal feeling is that last year's team would have won all three games.

If you watch the NCAA tourney games, we had three comeback wins on last second shots. This year the ball did not go in the hoop. I think that is somewhat to be expected. Our roster is only ten deep and three of those players were freshmen (Big Frank, Kaifes, and Budjuso) and one sophomore (Uguak). I think it is a lot to ask those four to step in and learn Porter's system in such a short timespan but because of a lack of an experienced bench they had to do it.
But my key point is that they had to do so after a dream season in which expectations were very high and the margin for error very small.

If you look back we lost three key players, (Jackson, Richardson and Ingram). (note: If Jackson had not been injured in the Michigan game, I think we would have held the lead and gone to the final game against Villanova). Jackson was in his second season but Ingram and Richardson were in their fourth year in Porter's system.
And say what you want but Ingram always had that swagger about him and Richardson had the grit when the chips were down and was the glue that held things together.
I also think the break through win in Florida on the road and without Clayton playing the second half, gave the team the confidence to think they could beat anyone.
I don't see that same swagger and grit this year. There simply has not been the time for all the young players to be tested under fire and to prevail. There was just something about last year's team that it had but it took a lot of experience to build it. And that experience was gained without a spotlight and high expectations.

I am not disappointed in this year's team except for the recent staggering losses to Evansville and to Missouri State. These are teams that we should have beaten and at this point in the season, I would have expected at worse close losses, not staggering blow outs.

Hoping down the stretch that we can take first. However the real challenge will be in asking this team to win three games in three days while in a spotlight.
Lets that the two Valley losses were just blips on the radar.

I’m not feeling confident about the remainder of this year if Williamson is injured again.

Thought this might add a little insight to the discussion.....article on Krutwig in our local paper. hope it posts...
http://online.nwherald.com/html5/reader ... dc2a091383

Last year, we had 8 or 9 guys who were legitimate scoring threats. Often we had five guys who could knock down a three (Krut the exception).

This year we only have 10 scholarship players, and only 5 with decent experience. Now Lucas is hurt, Bruno was hurt and hasn't played well. It's a lot of pressure on the key guys. We can look great when the new guys are making things happen (Cooper, Aher).

I admit I underestimated the effect the overall lack of experience would have.

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MBB Scholarship Chart

You have to have a paid membership to read that article...

There's no way you can replace or synthesize the huge advantage of playing experience with other teammates. I think that's mostly what this team lacks compared to last year.

Richardson and Ingram came into the program together, and last season was their fourth season of playing together on the same team, and both (I believe) had been getting starts and significant minutes since their freshman season. Custer and Richardson had a lifetime of learning how the other played in practice and game situations. Custer and Jackson were each in their second years on the team.

Krutwig took only a few games to solidify his role and his abilities to the other guys on the team. By the UIC game (his eighth game against Division I competition), he had defined his role. Krutwig had such high ability compared to the rest of the MVC big men, so the adjustment wasn't as difficult. Townes was another newcomer, but he had two years of full time D-1 experience, plus a year of being an understudy during his transfer sit out.

Lucas Williamson was the only player who played significant minutes who was asked to do a lot more than expected when the season began. We were lucky he was so athletic and soaked up lessons so easily from practice and Richardson as a mentor.

And one more big thing: we're not going to sneak up on anyone this year like we did last season.

One big difference--there was no quit in last year's team !!!

I don't think there has been any quit in any of Porter's teams here going back eight years. That is what was so disturbing about Missouri state.

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MBB Scholarship Chart

Try this link: https://www.nwherald.com/2019/01/25/jac ... n/acihp52/

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MBB Scholarship Chart

JCT is absolutely correct. The team peaked midway through last year. Several players optimized their abilities playing as one. Combine that with good fortune, good luck, and several players stepping it turned into a magical NCAA run. That is a very hard thing to replicate as it requires a set of players to play together for extended minutes over several years. That implies a couple year wait for another collection. It can work in the NCAA one and done world where a collection of overachieving players who hang around for the full ride can surprise more talented but less polished youngsters who have not developed team chemistry yet.