33.1%

+10.5

7:25 first half

32-6

Team Comparison

MTFAN61 said:

Noticed 11 am tipoff. Rutherford County student appreciation day?

Click to expand...

Indeed it is. My 5th grader is there. He was actually kind of excited to go too 😂. Hoping I can build upon it and get him to a few games with me this year. He needs a pro to teach him proper heckling techniques.

II am not suggesting we end football only that we prioritize men's basketball as that gives us the best chance to make a dent nationally and build our fanbase, that will hopefully overflow into football. The problem with concentrating on football is that you need too many players to be good. We don't have the budget to buy that many players. If we do get a good player for one year, he will just leave for more money after one good season, so why waste the money in the first place? I hate that college athletics have come to this, but our leaders should be looking at this trying to find a way to game the system. We should be stretching our dollars as far as possible.

sWiley said:

It's a valid strategy and it's why I have been saying just shut football down and go all in on basketball.

I have no interest in being a farm team for the big football schools. With basketball, at least in the current environment, I think we could have a chance if we put all our resources into it.

Click to expand...

+1

MTFAN61 said:

Hope you're right. We won't have long to find out. Tennessee has a fairly soft schedule to begin with. That could be a plus for us. Our size up front will be nothing like anything they will have faced so far this year. Our perimeter D must be on point. They have some real shooters this year. The transfer Whitehorn can really fill it up. I imagine coach will have Scott on her all night.

Click to expand...

That's the game plan to beat the Grinnell offense. Limit turnovers, Challenge the Perimeter (they will shoot nearly 40 3s/night), and limit second chance opportunities.

ewglenn said:

I can adamantly say, if they got rid of football they would lose me. I know we suck but I would not be able to be 100% invested without it. I know there are a lot of others they’d lose as well.

Click to expand...

I'm absolutely in that boat. I follow basketball of course and would still wear blue.
But I don't spend 12 hrs on a Saturday watching it like I do football. For me, college sports is football. I'd most likely end my BRAA membership if they dropped it.

jakeboldenbrp said:

Her system struggles when they play good defensive rebounding teams (aka teams that can control pace). Team also lives and die by the 3 with the platoon method.

Her only real competition at Marshall LY was Virginia Tech in the NCAAT. Lost 92-49 and out defensive rebounded 38-20. That system works well in lower levels with less height disparity. I personally don't see that system panning out well in the SEC. She may recruit for that style (the Grinnell system), but there is too much talent and discipline at the higher level for it to be successful. I don't see it translating, personally.

Click to expand...

Hope you're right. We won't have long to find out. Tennessee has a fairly soft schedule to begin with. That could be a plus for us. Our size up front will be nothing like anything they will have faced so far this year. Our perimeter D must be on point. They have some real shooters this year. The transfer Whitehorn can really fill it up. I imagine coach will have Scott on her all night.

It looks like this NKU team has a lot of upper classman, but they also lost at least 2 starters from last years team that lost 80 something to 40 something at MTSU. I agree that Insell will want to work hard on defense, so I see them trying to keep them under 50. I agree he is working with depth, but Insell is about his starters working together to score as much as possible and play as good of a defense as possible. With Tennessee coming up, he wants to optimize for that, but not lose one in the mean time. MTSU 70 - NKU 45

Just avoid the Mercer upset they experienced 2 seasons ago. The even had an early season 3-quarter scare against SIUE on the road last year. Always seems to be one non-conference road game that gives us trouble. Win the games you're supposed to. Play strong defense and you'll be in every game this year. I want to see a dominating defensive effort tonight.

I think worst case scenario this team losses 6 non-conference games (@ UT, Iowa St, Kansas St, @ Belmont, @ Cal Bap, and @ Princeton). That's worst case scenario. I think they are better than 4 of those 6 and playing their best basketball regardless of bench usage and will go undefeated in CUSA. Only game on that schedule that could be an issue is @ Lynchburg. This team is good, and may even be better than last year's in a different way.

I'll have to disagree with those worried about the bench depth. I would like to see more playing time for everybody, sure, but we made it to the Second Round after 16-0 in CUSA with 7 players. The top talent improved with Arike and Blakely, a big freshman campaign from Davis would put this team over the top. I'll give CRI benefit of the doubt. 28-3.

MTFAN61 said:

Watched Tennessee preseason game. Caldwell full court presses whole game while swapping 5 for 5 every 5-7 minutes.
Will not serve us well to think a 7 player rotation can play well against that.
Agree with prior posts about Monson being the backup 4. She has plenty of playing time against Power schools & she needs more time in lineup building chemistry before taking on the heavy hitters.

Click to expand...

Her system struggles when they play good defensive rebounding teams (aka teams that can control pace). Team also lives and die by the 3 with the platoon method.

Her only real competition at Marshall LY was Virginia Tech in the NCAAT. Lost 92-49 and out defensive rebounded 38-20. That system works well in lower levels with less height disparity. I personally don't see that system panning out well in the SEC. She may recruit for that style (the Grinnell system), but there is too much talent and discipline at the higher level for it to be successful. I don't see it translating, personally.

I think those games are great, I don't go, but I think its a great idea to spread MT basketball. What sucks is its the first game of the year. So it's more like an exhibition game that counts.

IMO, MT could go anywhere from 0 wins to 2 wins. I don't see them winning all 3.

SpaceRaider said:

If MT manages to win two of the three and gets to five wins on the season it will be an improvement with arguably less talent than Stockstill's final, 4-8, team.

Click to expand...

Way less talent when you factor in injuries (which we all know Rick loved to do).

I can adamantly say, if they got rid of football they would lose me. I know we suck but I would not be able to be 100% invested without it. I know there are a lot of others they’d lose as well.

I think it will be lower scoring than some expect as they try to figure out depth but I think they come out with a win

SpaceRaider said:

If MT manages to win two of the three and gets to five wins on the season it will be an improvement with arguably less talent than Stockstill's final, 4-8, team.

Click to expand...

This is my takeaway as well

SubwayAlumni said:

I've had conversations with friends about whether we drop down to FCS and commit to basketball. I've been thinking this for last 4-6 years, at least. We're fighting for bread crumbs. I'd much rather be a top 10 fcs school than competing for some 3rd tier espn bowl every year.

Click to expand...

Until the thugs in charge of this university are removed, baseball, football, men's basketball, and any decision that raises the university's profile will be minimized.

SubwayAlumni said:

I've had conversations with friends about whether we drop down to FCS and commit to basketball. I've been thinking this for last 4-6 years, at least. We're fighting for bread crumbs. I'd much rather be a top 10 fcs school than competing for some 3rd tier espn bowl every year.

Click to expand...

I would rather stay FBS or just drop it all together. Downgrading would remove all interest for me and I'm guessing most of the fans. Either keep it FBS/D1 or get rid of it. No point in half-assing it in my opinion.

sWiley said:

There are no rules that forbid this, yet. It's a valid strategy and it's why I have been saying just shut football down and go all in on basketball.

I have no interest in being a farm team for the big football schools. With basketball, at least in the current environment, I think we could have a chance if we put all our resources into it. That could very well change in the future, but there's certainly an opportunity window right now for us in my opinion.

Click to expand...

I've had conversations with friends about whether we drop down to FCS and commit to basketball. I've been thinking this for last 4-6 years, at least. We're fighting for bread crumbs. I'd much rather be a top 10 fcs school than competing for some 3rd tier espn bowl every year.

Liberty is a guaranteed loss. They’re going to be mad and we’re going to get their best. The Kennesaw game was a classic letting a team beat you twice.

FIU is improved and will be a likely loss.

NMSU is a toss up and one we need to win.

MTFAN61 said:

Still making too many mistakes offensively for me to think we can finish season 4-0. Does anyone know how serious the Holden Willis injury is, & if he's expected to return? Without him I could see us match last year's 4-8 record. With him 5-7 could be in play. A month ago I would have never thought that possible.

Click to expand...

Holden should be back next week.