BASKETBALL Middle Tennessee (4-9) at Old Dominion (4-9), (ESPN+), 6PM Thursday, January 2, 2020

[SpaceRaider]

Old Dominion
Location: Norfolk, VA
Enrollment: 24,672
Arena: Ted Constant Convocation Center (8,472)
Website: odusports.com
Nickname: Monarchs Colors: Slate Blue, Silver & Light Blue
Head Coach: Jeff Jones Record at School: 140-67 (6 Seasons) Career Record: 497-354 (27 Seasons)
2018-19 Record: 26-9, 13-5 2018-19 Finish: 1st C-USA 2018-19 Postseason: NCAA Round 1
Starters R/L: 2/3 Letterwinners R/L: 6/4
Twitter: @ODUMensHoops


Series Record: MT leads leads 9-1
TV: ESPN+
Radio: Blue Raider Network (Game2/WGNS/TuneIn) Talent: Chip Walters (PxP)
Twitter: @MT_MBB, #BlueRaiders


Game Notes

LIVE VIDEO (VS. ODU)

LIVE STATS (VS. ODU)

 

[SpaceRaider]

espn matchup predictor has MT at 22.3%
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/game?gameId=401175947

 

[SpaceRaider]

9 point dog

https://www.vegasinsider.com/colleg...nessee-state-@-old-dominion.cfm/date/01-02-20

 

[MT01]

Interested to see how this board reacts when we lose to a 4-win team by double digits.

 

[MTOleBlue]

Ahh, back to conference play! Chip Walters mispronouncing 2/3 of the opponent's players, Larry Tolbert on the PA screaming and making everyone's ears bleed with his "CEEEEEEEEE-jay JOnes", and losing by 20 to the F_U's

 

[MTLynn]

Interested to see how this board reacts when we lose to a 4-win team by double digits.

Shooting.

If only 1 guy scores 20+ points then the Raiders will lose.

If two guys score 20+ points then the Raiders have a good chance to win.

If three guys score 20+ points then the Raiders will win easily.

 

[MT01]

Shooting.

If only 1 guy scores 20+ points then the Raiders will lose.

If two guys score 20+ points then the Raiders have a good chance to win.

If three guys score 20+ points then the Raiders will win easily.

I'm pretty sure that's true for just about every team.

 

[sWiley]

Interested to see how this board reacts when we lose to a 4-win team by double digits.

It is INSANE how far and how fast this program has fallen.

 

[SpaceRaider]

 

[Raiders_55]

ODU is 4-9, but they've had some close losses this season. They could easily be a 7 or 8 win team going into CUSA play.

I imagine ODU will be pretty motivated tonight. They're coming off a tough OOC schedule, and should be chomping at the bits to play MTSU.

Hopefully McDevitt has the team ready to play tonight, because it could become a blowout early. In my opinion, ODU was one of the best CUSA teams coming into the season and should be an early CUSA challenge for the Blue Raiders.

 

[TrueBlue147]

17 points at the half? All we are doing on offense is chucking up threes. We are being out scored 18 to 2 in the paint and we are bigger than they are. Since we got Scurry back he has been no existent. What the hell is Mcdevitt doing in practice because it's not practicing defense, shooting, or any type of decent offense.

 

[Raiders_55]

Shooting is absolute garbage this game. Bad, bad basketball.

 

[C-Bow]

Ugly basketball no other way to slice it.

 

[JohnDavidBlue]

Well. I was hoping for something better but this team is flat out awful.

 

[Raiders_55]

MTSU didn't even show up to play. What the hell is the coaching staff doing all week? Maybe that's Mcdevitt's game plan now; just throw up an obscene amount of 3 Pointers. McDevitt is over his head, plain and simple.

 

[TrueBlue147]

Eli Lawrence needs to be starting over Green that's for sure.

 

[RaiderDawg78]

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Only 43 days until first pitch!

 

[SpaceRaider]

This is not giving any indication that they are going to win any games anytime soon.

 

[sWiley]

Seasons over guys. No point listening or watching at this point. And I’m dead serious. There is nothing of any value this team can accomplish this year. All that matters now is recruiting going forward and planning for next years roster. Would be nice to flush some of the busts and maybe sign some talented players going forward but not sure who’s gonna wanna come play for this program now.

Things just somehow seem to be getting worse. I don’t even k ow what to say. Everything has been mismanaged since Kermit left. He really was the glue holding it all together. Once he left we had Moron Massaro and a guy way out of his league trying to figure things out. And it obviously ain’t working.

 

[MTLynn]

On the TV broadcast, the color guy pointed out that ODU built their lead when MT was in man to man defense.

When MT switched to zone the Raiders were able to close the gap, but MT went man to man again and ODU built another big lead.

Finally, MT switched to zone and closed the gap again but, with poor shooting, it was not enough.

 

[MTTim]

There are no words to describe how bad this has become.

 

[sWiley]

On the TV broadcast, the color guy pointed out that ODU built their lead when MT was in man to man defense.

When MT switched to zone the Raiders were able to close the gap, but MT went man to man again and ODU built another big lead.

Finally, MT switched to zone and closed the gap again but, with poor shooting, it was not enough.

Interesting. If you can get away with playing zone you take that option 10/10 times. Playing man requires much more energy from your team. If the zone was working like you say it was, I can think of no other reason to switch out of it other than sheer stupidity.

 

[SigmaNuBlue]

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Only 43 days until first pitch!

Glad I'm not the only one counting down to baseball.

 

[FranklinRaider315]

There are no words to describe how bad this has become.

Dumpster Fire.

*Excluding Women’s Basketball

 

[MTBig Blue]

Glad I'm not the only one counting down to baseball.

Hopefully it'll be better but not counting on this either. It literally seems like we have nothing to look forward to as a fan base right now. Unless you are a track and field fan.

 

[MTTim]

Dumpster Fire.

*Excluding Women’s Basketball

You are being too kind.

 

[dukewayne]

The losing is made worse because I see a number of really talented athletic players on the team with good potential.

It has become tiresome watching each game with an analytical eye trying to understand the reasons for the poor performance. At times, I have no idea what the coaches are trying to do to improve. Frankly, it would be nice just to watch some some games for the fun of seeing a strongly performing team achieve some success.

While frustrating and discouraging, I'm not throwing in the towel on this team just yet. There are still quite a few games left this season for the coaches to pull this team together and start fighting for success and some winning. The improvements do need to start showing up soon though.

 

[MTLynn]

There are still quite a few games left this season for the coaches to pull this team together and start fighting for success and some winning.

Hopefully they will make a run in the conference tournament

 

[MT01]

Hopefully they will make a run in the conference tournament

Yeah, let's continue to do that. Hope. Because that's about all the strategy we have.

I'm amazed anyone is holding onto that at this point though.

On one hand, we have an abundance of evidence to suggest that not only is this team bad, it's worse than season one and the program is in a complete nose dive.

On the other hand, we have absolutely no evidence to suggest there has been any improvement anywhere in the program since CNM took over. None. Not even a little to hand your hat on.

The scales are fully tipped.

 

[FranklinRaider315]

You are being too kind.

LOL!

 

[MTLynn]

Yeah, let's continue to do that. Hope. Because that's about all the strategy we have

Good coaches will typically have their team playing best at the end of the season.

Last year, the Raiders were 8-10 in-conference. They went 6-4 in their last 10 games of the regular season. They lost the first game of the CUSA tournament.

I'm looking for improvement with the conference record and I hope to see them make a run in the CUSA tournament.

It's great to see Lawrence have a good game vs ODU (6-9 for 19 points in 22 minutes) but the Raiders need two other guys playing well in the same game too.

The guys who have scored 20+ points previously but shot poorly vs ODU:

Donovan Sims 1-16
C.J. Jones 2-6
Antonio Green 3-10

Shooting inconsistency is killing the team right now

 

[RandallThomason]

Hopefully they will make a run in the conference tournament

We have to make the tournament first. That’s far from a sure thing right now. If anything, it’s more likely than not that we miss the tournament. I don’t ever give up hope though.

 

[dukewayne]

Shooting %s are for losers.

They can be informative of aspects of a game. Generally if you are using shooting % to explain losses, you are not a winning program in the first place.

Most teams are going to have some variation in fg% with each game. I imagine shooting % are going to decrease a little on the road vs home games. That is why other aspects of the game must be strong and stable to keep you in games when your shooting % are off, i. e. defense and rebounding.

Also, good disciplined offense & shot selection can help those normal statistical swings to not be as drastic downward as otherwise randomly occurs in individual games.

 

[sWiley]

Shooting %s are for losers.

They can be informative of aspects of a game. Generally if you are using shooting % to explain losses, you are not a winning program in the first place.

Most teams are going to have some variation in fg% with each game. I imagine shooting % are going to decrease a little on the road vs home games. That is why other aspects of the game must be strong and stable to keep you in games when your shooting % are off, i. e. defense and rebounding.

Also, good disciplined offense & shot selection can help those normal statistical swings to not be as drastic downward as otherwise randomly occurs in individual games.

This is a good post, and it's why we were so good under Kermit.

Unfortunately, with our current squad, we suck at everything. Defense, rebounding, shooting, the whole enchilada. Just bad basketball players and a bad team.

 

[JohnDavidBlue]

I find optimism in our comeback from being down 25 or so.

 

[dukewayne]

This is a good post, and it's why we were so good under Kermit.

Unfortunately, with our current squad, we suck at everything. Defense, rebounding, shooting, the whole enchilada. Just bad basketball players and a bad team.

Yep, Kermit, exactly. That is one of the main reasons I loved the job he did. He knew any given game was going to see shooting %s on the low side of your avg. You're going to lose about half of your games before the season even starts if you are going to rely on good shooting nights for your success. Obviously aspects such as good shot selection is something you can try to do to help with the nightly averages, but it is still beyond your total control if you are missing or hitting more of the shots you are taking in any given game.

Mostly, defense and rebounding are about attitude & effort. Attitude & effort are something you can control each game. With that outstanding effort and attitude, you can still compete in those games when "the shots are not falling."

Before Kermit's tenure, it would sicken me to hear the excuses for losses, especially on the road, blamed on "poor shooting" that night. I loved it when Kermit arrived as he would rightly blame losses on attitude and lack of effort on the boards etc etc or whatever the case for that game. He did not let himself or the players off the hook for losing just because "you had a poor shooting night."

 

[MTLynn]

Shooting %s are for losers

This is what I have found in research:

When the teams top 2 or 3 scorers, in a game, are shooting a poor percentage, the team typically loses.

When the teams top 2 or 3 scorers, in a game, are shooting a high percentage, the team will win.

 

[dukewayne]

Well yea, and if your team scores more points than the other team, you win. Some stats are redundant and others obvious. If all your key players are hitting their shots for x points a game, you win. Rarely does each player finish each game with a prescribed number points, or hitting above a certain %. If so, then each coach would be a winner. So the problem in front of the Blue Raiders is how to be competitive even when your key players are not hitting x points in a game, or their shooting % is below average? Some of the key answers show up on defense and rebounding. Just to name a couple.

 

[MTLynn]

I've heard Kermit say many times that when a kid plays tough defense they play better offense.

His early MT teams would pass the ball around and throw up a last second shot. They really struggled to score.

The Raiders didn't start winning 20+ games each year until 2 or 3 guys were scoring 20+ points per game.

 

[sWiley]

We also get literally zero production from our bench (and not much from our starters either).

When we were successful under Kermit, we had 7-8 guys that could score 15+ points on any given night and you never knew who that might be. We are nowhere near that right now. We are suffering from a severe lack of offensive talent.