ASU game

[PG]

GET OFF OF HOP'S [deleted]!!! This loss was not his fault. Don't blame him for everything that goes wrong. The OFFENSE was NOT the problem at all. The interior defense was. Yes, we are incredibly soft. I'm guessing at least 70% of their offense in the 2nd half (especially after the 10:00) mark came from 10 feet or closer. They beat us to every loose ball, every rebound. We just stood, watched and took the ball out of the net after they scored. We gave up 18 offensive boards. Unacceptable. There is no fire, no intensity, no hustle. Same crap as usual. It's games like these kill our season. I'm thinking we will be under .500 once this weekend is over. I don't mean to knee-jerk but there will be no postseason once again for this team. We have no idea how to finish a game. Lost late leads tonight and at SD. Didn't get a bucket in the last 4:00+ vs. Tech. We get a lead and put it on cruise control. There's not a single team in the current state of college basketball that can do that, much less us.

I think it's clear that this team feeds off the emotion of the crowd. There wasn't a crowd tonight so they didn't show up. They came out incredibly flat, let ASU hang around, and suffered yet another REALLY BAD LOSS.

[Mike Damone]

Time to start Atkins.

[LA_Mustang]

Time to start Atkins.

That might be the dumbest post I have ever read on PF.com.

[Diehard Pony]

PG, I agree that this game does not lay at Bhop's feet....it was a team effort. I do look for leadership from Bhop, but I haven't seen it thus far. Perhaps he will mature and it will manifest itself.

The effort by the entire group was extremely poor and uninspired. As the game headed toward closure you could sense that ASU really wanted the win. That sense of urgency was not apparent with the Ponies. Our talent level gave us more than a chance, but the effort (or lack thereof) undermined our chances.

As I said earlier, we still have an opportunity to turn this around, and I very much hope we do, but tonight was a major setback any any post-season plans we might have had.

Let's all hope they bounce back big time at Purdue.

<small>[ 12-18-2003, 08:38 PM: Message edited by: Diehard Pony ]</small>

[Mike Damone]

I would trade zero points for zero turnovers from my point guard any day of the week.

[Charleston Pony]

I agree this is not one to blame on Bhop. He had a pretty good game overall and in addition to being our leading scorer and shooting a good percentage, had 5 assists against only 3 turnovers. That's a more acceptable ratio from the PG position. What about Lowe and Isham combining for 1 assist and 7 turnovers? Those are experienced guys and it wasn't like they were playing against top 25 talent! What about getting out-rebounded and giving up 18 offensive boards? Castro had a nice offensive game, but only 4 boards? Looks like Pearson is the only guy we have who attacks the boards...he had 3 in only 6 minutes including one offensive board. He needs more minutes to see what he can do.

Of course, one reason why our guys don't play with as much energy as we'd like just might be the fact they always have to play in front of the usual 1500...despite the fact we were practically giving tickets away last night! Ever wonder what difference it might have made this week (in both games) if there were 8500 Moody Maniacs supporting this team? We have absolutely NO HOME COURT ADVANTAGE!!!

[Pony_Fan]

The only way this team sees the post season is if they win the WAC tourney - likely? I don't see an at large bid again for the WAC.

Yes, Moody was dead last night with 1500 but I don't think that should be an excuse. I saw no energy or any player being "fired up". Someone pointed out there is no leader and that is evident. You could actually "feel" the losing energy coming on and the game fading away...there was a huge momentum shift.

<small>[ 12-19-2003, 06:06 AM: Message edited by: Pony_Fan ]</small>

[EastStang]

Come March, this game and the San Diego game will be huge losses when bids are offered. You can excuse a loss to a top ACC team by a small margin, but this loss and San Diego, don't cut it.
Do the guys even get it?

[Diehard Pony]

CP, their was a clear home court advantage for the Wake game. 5k and change in attendance, with maybe 500 Wake fans. Moody was loud and hostile all night.

The team knew what they were facing coming into this game in terms of the importance of getting this win, the quality of opponent, the likely size of the "crowd" (e.g. no students); etc.

While I too would like to have 5k or more at every game, I blame both Dement and the team for this failure.

[Red Horse]

Ranked reasons for this loss.

1. A shorter, more aggressive team got too many offensive rebounds - Dement's comments were right on, They got 18 offensive boards - 6 more than we did.

2. We had too many turnovers again. Sloppy ball handling and soft passes.

3. Lack of 40 minutes of effort - we coasted when we got leads instead of increasing our intensity to put the game away.

The players were guilty of the turnovers and in not blocking out or getting rebounding position.
The coach can't do these things; however, Dement must bear some of the blame for lack of sheer fundamentals.

The referees were actually ridiculous and made so many ludicrous calls it was laughable. They were actually talking to, joking with, and almost fraternizing with the ACS players and coaches. That was especially painful to see, especially in our own gym. I'm not saying they were a factor in our losing because they were equally ridiculous on both sides. The box score shows fouls almost even and both teams made 20 free throws.

By the way - the official crowd was listed at 2,100 and I would say that was fairly accurate but the place was quiet and certainly not an advantage for us. The alumni band mixed with a few regulars like Mustang Sally and Barbara Anne
did their best to provide spirit.

Any way you cut it - this was a bad loss and I went home frustrated.