Zman89 wrote:I listened to the game and it was one of the better games played by the ponies at cincy. We just can't win there can't stand that place lost all three there during Nic's time at SMU
I think Cincy had an elite team during Nic and LBs time. Cincy is always good so losing by 5 there is pretty good nod towards Tank but this not Cincy we normally dealt with. If we were still on pace, this would have been a big win. Sadly bad timing.
Much, much closer than I could have anticipated. Lack of interior defense killed us in the game, but the offensive efficiency in both of these games has been really good. Mike is coming into his own, really taking a step forward. The team really fought fard - you could tell they were getting gassed at times, but fought through it.
Bad shots by Whitt and McMurray. Both players settled for shots well outside of their comfort zone. On one hand, could be upset about not calling time out and drawing up a play after the turnover. But on the other, our set plays don't really work very well anyway.
The thing to realize as we go through this - it is a really down year for the conference. There aren't really any great non-conference wins, and Cincy is even more beat up than we are. Even though the team is fighting hard and it is great to see the effort, if all of these teams weren't in rebuilding mode, things would look really bad.
I thought the players really hung in their, didn't give up, made a great showing. I thought the in-game coaching and the Xs and Os--particularly during the last minute of each half--was galling. The "play" they drew up that amounted to "McMurray hero-ball ISO three and maybe we tie" with a TO in the bag is insulting. Same with not calling a TO after Douglas forced the TO to get Mike back in the game.
JasonB wrote:The thing to realize as we go through this - it is a really down year for the conference.
The American is actually a stronger conference top to bottom this season. Not sure that I agree with your comment "it is a really down year for the conferrence". No disrespect intended, I agree with a number of your comments, but not this one. National Media is predicting that The American might get as many as 4 teams in the NCAA Tournament. If memory serves, The American has historically been a 2 bid league.
JasonB wrote:The thing to realize as we go through this - it is a really down year for the conference.
The American is actually a stronger conference top to bottom this season. Not sure that I agree with your comment "it is a really down year for the conferrence". No disrespect intended, I agree with a number of your comments, but not this one. National Media is predicting that The American might get as many as 4 teams in the NCAA Tournament. If memory serves, The American has historically been a 2 bid league.
Sorry - but SMU, UCONN, Memphis, Wichita, Tulsa and Cincy are not as strong as in previous years. American will not get 4 teams in unless there is a surprise conference tourney winner.
The top is not at all as strong as 5-6 years ago (recall that our conference mates in CT won the National Championship the year SMU beat them 2x). Granted UCF and Houston are better. But I don't even think Houston's team this year is as good as last year's version. You do have a point that I agree with fully - the bottom couple of teams are not as bad as they once were.
I agree the AAC is more balanced than in the past, with several average to above average teams...just not many top 25 caliber teams like we have had in recent years. Houston would have to implode to not get into the NCAA Tourney at this point and I agree we will likely see at least 2 bids and possibly more, depending on how everyone finishes and who wins the AAC Tourney.
I thought coming into the season there would be a lot of teams finishing between 10-8 and 8-10 in conference play and that we would be one of them, with an 8-10 AAC finish most likely. After losing Jarrey and with the minimal contributions from our bench, we will have to win all of our remaining home games to even get to that 8-10 finish. I guess we will find out this week if that will happen because the games against UCF and USF will probably be the toughest remaining home games.
