If our offense were struggling because we weren’t getting open shots, I’d be really concerned. But, we are getting shots. Which to me says we’re close, we just have to start hitting them. Sometimes easier said than done, of course.

I think losing Williamson was huge, bigger than losing Richardson last year based on our overall inexperience this year, and getting him back will be huge. IMO he was on his way to a breakout year, a real threat on both ends, and I hope he can get back on that track when he returns.

Hitting half our open looks would help too. If Kaifes continues to start when Williamson is back we have no shooting threats off the bench

A good percentage of our shots are clean, but we aren't getting enough of them with all the turnovers and blocked shots.

And too many of those "open" shots are off balance or off bad passes. Open, but not smooth.

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Updated Kenpom ratings:

Defense - 17
Offense - 210

Defense wins championships, right?

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This one hurt because it felt like we lost more by 1 minute more than three points. We’ve all said it, but defensively, we look great. At this point the missed open looks have become unbelievably frustrating.

The good news is, it’s time to hit the reset button. Everyone in the valley is 0-0 and it’s now officially time to start showing what we are made of. We’ve seen bad teams, we’ve seen middle of the road teams, and we’ve seen what level it takes to be a top ten team.

Custer, kaifus, Townes, Williamson and King Krut are the best starting lineup in the valley. Go look at the others, and I think you would agree. Maybe SIU has a more experienced frontline bit I wouldn’t trade for them if it meant not having Custer and Krutwig. Our core guys are familiar with every team left in front of them from here on out and know what they need to do to win. I honestly think we’ve gotten better since game 1. It’s gonna show in conference play.

Custer is going to lead us, Krutwig is going to dominate down low, Townes if going to fly at the basket and draw fouls, and Kaifus is gonna be good for 3 threes a night that forces teams to come outside and open up the paint.

We got kicked in the teeth in non-con play but I predict we rip through the valley. There is just too much talent on this team for the shots not to start falling.

And just now, Drake knocks off New Mexico State which is one of the best non-conf wins for the Valley this year (Indiana State's win over Colorado today also up there).

Many considered Drake and ISUb to be Thursday teams. They now look like they could be top half teams. To be honest, I think UNI and Valpo are the only teams that look like pretty likely PIG teams. Maybe Missouri State?

That was by far the most encouraging loss. Excited to see how Uguak progresses. Fits in defensively.

Bad passing on offense. Forehead slapping bad passing. I almost knocked myself out. We need to take care of the ball better.

ZERO second chance points. A basic fundamental when you miss shots is you go after the ball. I’m still befuddled by the abandonment of this aspect of the game by Porter. When you are hitting a high percent of field goals it become less of a factor and you can actually beat teams better than you. Nevada is the only team we have played who is actually better. We are a bigger and stronger team than we have been in many years. Crash the offensive boards and get some chance points. The best offense ever designed is the one where you get two shots at the hoop. The only way for that to happen is an OFFENSIVE REBOUND.

I'm with you, Klu. Get after the ball!

About the only positive to take away is that we didn't let our offense dictate our defense. I thought we played hard the whole way even though it was incredibly frustrating on offense.

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