Was at the game last night and a season ticket holder. Not sure I will be next year.
Agree with most of the above posts. IMHO this game, and the SI/SLU debacles, are on the coaching staff. This team does have the talent to win, no question in my mind. They are however, consistently unprepared, especially to start games. For so many veteran players to be shell shocked and doe eyed is baffling to me. Not to mention the shot clock wasting offense we employ.
All of those games were lost in the first 10-15 minutes with unforced turnovers and sloppy play. BM says his players are "winners with high basketball IQ's and all know how to pass, shoot and dribble." And yet they so often play like high school kids. Missed layups, missed free throws, poor shot choices etc. The strategy has them out of sync and goes against their natural instincts.
But last night's failure to protect the paint is so glaring, a blind person could see it. The inabilty of the coaching staff to correct it, with talent wasted on the bench, is nothing short of coaching incompetence. The ISU coach knew we were soft down low and to his credit, he pounded it in there relentlessly. BM & Company made no meaningful adjustments until it was too late. And the ones that worked he reversed.
The staff is responsible for this mess and need to admit it. Time for some serious changes or it will indeed, be another long sad season.
Glad they sell beer at Banterena because you have to drink to watch...
March on triumphantly!
What's wild is we went into the season with a very reasonable expectation that rim protection on defense would be a major strength. Granted, the Ebube and Muila injuries have been factors, but you still have a 7-footer and an improving Rupert to deploy, and yet we get the debacle last night.
Mullins was asked a couple weeks ago about the dynamic of do you adjust to other teams or make other teams adjust to you, and he said he likes to make other teams adjust to Southern. Not seeing much evidence of that.
Got to hope last night is a turning point and he shows some growth before this season gets away. And I also hope seeing Indiana State's crisp cutting and player movement sparks some inspiration to get better offensively.
Listening to the post game with Reis, BM seems like he doesn't know what to do. He and Reis argued a bit about when Rupert was in the game and when he wasn't. He does seems to have a fixation on stopping the 3 pointer. Seems like he was a bit lost after this one.
To be fair to Mullins, sounds like they had a relatively rigid match-up rotation with certain personnel and that's what he was referencing in post game. Mullins was correct in that Rupert was in when ISU subbed in Stephens for Avila and once Avila got back in, they subbed Rupert. I think Reis was confused about 5 guards being the substitution pattern and it was more 5 people on the floor who can shoot the 3. I still think the question from Reis is fair. You can't be so rigid with those rotations if they aren't working. Personally, I'd rather Avila have a few open looks from outside vs giving him one on one with a guy 8" shorter in the paint, but that wasn't their game plan (it's easier to say that knowing the results of course).
In the end, you need to win this game. You fought hard, erased that deficit from that horrendous start and had the lead with 5 minutes left. Good teams find a way to close that out. We just aren't a good team right now. Too much inconsistency on both ends.
Side note, Domask looked exhausted down the stretch...gotta get him a breather in the second half at some point. Give his back a rest from carrying this team.
@siu_2011 I agree that Marcus looked gassed in the second half. I hope with Wonders getting more time, it will be easier to find some rest for Marcus. Also, once Lance gets rolling again, that will help. Johnson and Newton are both providing good minutes lately. If they continue, that will give Marcus more rest and make it harder for teams to double him.
I'm even more confused at the staff's big man rotation strategy when I think back to Kyler (who I really enjoyed watching play, and who was a huge asset to the team): how did Kyler get so much runtime as a freshman but Rupert and specifically Cade do not?
I know Kyler was really polished offensively, but it just further muddies the waters as to how one garners playing time down low for Mullins.
I can say with absolute confidence that it wasn't Kyler's defense that earned him so much run. Definitely maddening trying to figure out this coaching staffs rotational choices. Mullins was taken to school last night.
And how many games against quality teams are we gonna start off poorly before Bryan realizes his first 5 are not gonna get it done?
--Insert something witty here--
@siu_2011 I agree that Marcus looked gassed in the second half. I hope with Wonders getting more time, it will be easier to find some rest for Marcus. Also, once Lance gets rolling again, that will help. Johnson and Newton are both providing good minutes lately. If they continue, that will give Marcus more rest and make it harder for teams to double him.
9 games (almost 33% of the season) into his senior year and he's having his worst season statistically speaking, outside of his defense which remains at a high level. He lost his FT shooting last year and never found it, I'm starting to wonder if the same thing didn't happen to his shot. I am confident he will still have multiple games from here on out where he scorches the other team, but what we need from him, a senior leader who expected to be 1st or 2nd team all Valley) is consistent strong performances vs a couple amazing ones.
It's so disheartening that the first year of this staff was so fun. SIU started really poorly as expected and lost Aaron Cook but by January they were winning 7 Valley games in a row. It hasn't been the same since Domask got hurt in the Butler game in 2020-2021 for whatever reason.
I thought year 2 showed some coaching deficiencies with how bad they played when Domask went down. And then last year there were numerous winnable games that they lost, especially in the Valley that was just chalked up to being young and inexperienced.
There is a very simple play. Can't remember what it's called but...
The 5 is in the high post. The PG passed to SG to the right. The 5 sets a screen for the PG and shifts to the left baseline. The 5 then sets a soft screen for the 3 to move to the right wing then shifts to the bucket.
This sets up either an entry pass from a lob to the basket for the 5 and an easy layup, a pass to the PG on the baseline, or to one of the wings for a 3.
It is simple and you can run it over and over.
A 7-footer who has performed reasonably well in limited minutes did not even see the floor last night.
'Nuff said.
(Inflammatory political snark)
"But he's coming along nicely and plays really well in practice."A 7-footer who has performed reasonably well in limited minutes did not even see the floor last night.
'Nuff said.
So we have that going for us...which is nice.
March on triumphantly!
I'm right there with you. I was in my car on the way to the game when I heard Watson & Reis announce Bryan was starting the same old tired, ineffective, undersized line-up. I almost just turned around and went home. I wish I had.
I'm right there with you. I was in my car on the way to the game when I heard Watson & Reis announce Bryan was starting the same old tired, ineffective, undersized line-up. I almost just turned around and went home. I wish I had.
Can't imagine what attendance is going to be for the Alcorn State, Chicago State, D2 Lincoln homestand, especially with the students on break coming up.
It sucks that so much momentum was being built in year 1 and the Missouri State game happened with a packed Arena and Marcus Domask hitting a buzzer beater. And then COVID happened and it just feels like all momentum is gone now. Hard to blame people for not showing after 15 years of not competing for any Valley titles.
I'm right there with you. I was in my car on the way to the game when I heard Watson & Reis announce Bryan was starting the same old tired, ineffective, undersized line-up. I almost just turned around and went home. I wish I had.
Can't imagine what attendance is going to be for the Alcorn State, Chicago State, D2 Lincoln homestand, especially with the students on break coming up.
It sucks that so much momentum was being built in year 1 and the Missouri State game happened with a packed Arena and Marcus Domask hitting a buzzer beater. And then COVID happened and it just feels like all momentum is gone now. Hard to blame people for not showing after 15 years of not competing for any Valley titles.
I might travel the 300 miles to go see one of these games as they are the only games remaining on the schedule that I am confident they will win.
I’ve tried to be positive about everything and have been silent during this mess. One thing I will say…
If I was Cade, I’d transfer somewhere that plays bigs. Better yet, if I was any of the 4 centers on this roster, I’d transfer. This is insane.
Why waste your eligibility as a highly recruited 7 footer at a mid major that splits 8 minutes between 4 guys?
I value all of our bigs and I do not want any of them to transfer.
