MTOleBlue said:

Agreed. I think this class has the highest upside we’ve ever seen, overall. Really impressive job by the staff. And the big thing (no pun intended)? The size and quickness. P5 roster being built here.

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No doubt. Not many years you can recruit a entire starting lineup. The more tape I see of McClendon, the more I think she'll probably contribute before Dominguez

With only 2 juniors at this point, '26 class is gonna seem dull by comparison

MidTennFootball said:

Easy to get excited, but even for a staff that recruits as well as MT, it's still a guessing game. That said, I'm really excited about Baugus and Blair. I was convinced a better offer would come along for them but surprisingly never did

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Agreed. I think this class has the highest upside we’ve ever seen, overall. Really impressive job by the staff. And the big thing (no pun intended)? The size and quickness. P5 roster being built here.

Blair Baugus, 6’1” G

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I hope some of y’all aren’t as miserable in real life as you are here.

So I decided to tune in tonight. Is Evansville a bad basketball team? I don’t know anything about them but I saw the same things I’ve been seeing for six years so I can only surmise that EU is not that good of a team.

Just really sloppy with the ball. Lots of turnovers. But also lots of plays breaking down because of being careless with the ball. Weston still plays nothing but hero ball after all this time. Hell on one shot (I think porter tried to shoot it from directly behind the basket and hit the back side of the glass). Lazy passes. A lot of dribbling and fumbling. Difficulty catching the ball. I thought the big guy was really effective however and something different I haven’t seen from Nicks previous teams. That was the one bright spot I saw even if he did get away with traveling several times.

On defense just a lot of uncontested shots (most of them missed by Evansville) on the perimeter, terrible transition defense, and a lot of free runners unabated to the basket. This is why I thought perhaps this is a terrible team we played because a decent shooting team would have clobbered this MT team tonight.

Same issues just as I expected. Now the real season begins. Expect us to be 3-3 after the next few games after what I watched tonight.

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jakeboldenbrp said:

Phifer and Blair?

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Yep, brain fart. I meant Phifer and Blair

MidTennFootball said:

Easy to get excited, but even for a staff that recruits as well as MT, it's still a guessing game. That said, I'm really excited about Baugus and Blair. I was convinced a better offer would come along for them but surprisingly never did

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Phifer and Blair?

Jlynn Counter had a very nice first half tonight. Mustafa is a tank down low. Gonna be fun to watch.

MTFAN61 said:

KenPom just moved us up to #130. Murray St. is at #121. Huge game Saturday.
More good things to take out of this than bad. Some unforced turnovers & missed 3's, but for as many players as we use we had a great night at the line.
My takeaway is comparing MT's players who are not considered fully developed compared to our more experienced elder statesmen like Counter, Porter, Mustafa, & Weston. We know their potential, which is great in itself. The two players who came in as untapped question marks were Alston & Lands. They seem to be adjusting & adapting to this team better and better each night. Tonight they combined for 17 points, & are helping to make our interior play dominant. I believe Lands is finally developing the one thing he's been missing with his previous teams, a sense of self confidence. One of these nights I can see him going for a 15-17 point night on his own, & when he does that MT could take that next step into becoming one of this year's surprise G5 teams on a larger scale.

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Team still needs to find wing shooting but if you can get Alec Oglesby back legit healthy, that should help. Team looks a lot better than I thought I'll admit. Team is very good on paper. Need Loofe to take a step forward down low tho

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MidTennFootball said:

We don't play the depth that we have. If Rick wanted to, we could go 8-9 deep. Never gonna go beyond the 2nd round until he trusts his bench

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That’s essentially where I was going with it. Not having the experienced depth because they don’t play.

Attendance: 3,509

KenPom just moved us up to #130. Murray St. is at #121. Huge game Saturday.
More good things to take out of this than bad. Some unforced turnovers & missed 3's, but for as many players as we use we had a great night at the line.
My takeaway is comparing MT's players who are not considered fully developed compared to our more experienced elder statesmen like Counter, Porter, Mustafa, & Weston. We know their potential, which is great in itself. The two players who came in as untapped question marks were Alston & Lands. They seem to be adjusting & adapting to this team better and better each night. Tonight they combined for 17 points, & are helping to make our interior play dominant. I believe Lands is finally developing the one thing he's been missing with his previous teams, a sense of self confidence. One of these nights I can see him going for a 15-17 point night on his own, & when he does that MT could take that next step into becoming one of this year's surprise G5 teams on a larger scale.

ewglenn said:

We have the starting 5 to play with anyone. We just don’t have the depth. We should be able to easily handle our conference but that will be an issue in the NCAAT

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We don't play the depth that we have. If Rick wanted to, we could go 8-9 deep. Never gonna go beyond the 2nd round until he trusts his bench

I’ll take it. Total control in the second half. Big test Saturday!

FranklinRaider315 said:

You folks do know that the Evansville AD, Kenneth (Ziggy) Siegfried is a Blue Raider? He earned his MBA in Sports Admin as a GA in Boots’s office. Also a Former Memphis Tiger Athletics Student Trainer. Great guy.

https://gopurpleaces.com/staff-directory/dr-kenneth-ziggy-siegfried

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Ziggys a big boy now!

Up by 15!

Mcdevitt needs to come out of that halfcourt trap stuff on defense. They have burned us too manty times for lay ups or open threes. We are also 0-9 from three point land and have 9 turnovers at the half. Can't believe we're ahead.

Easy to get excited, but even for a staff that recruits as well as MT, it's still a guessing game. That said, I'm really excited about Baugus and Blair. I was convinced a better offer would come along for them but surprisingly never did