BASKETBALL Middle Tennessee (5-6) vs St. Mary's (6-5), (ESPN+), 9PM, Tuesday, December 19, 2023

[MT01]

No comment.

 

[SpaceRaider]

As of 12/19/2023

2023-24 NET

CUSA
Liberty 58
LaTech 66
Delaware 95
Western entucky. 145
Kennesaw St. 192
Jacksonville St. 198
Sam Houston 227
UTEP 251
New Mexico St. 303
Middle Tennessee 305
FIU 314

 

[MidTennMtneer]

Out of 5 wins, our highest NET win was 117. Worst loss was 238.

What's sad is CM has said he bases things on conference record. McD was 13-5 and 11-9 the last two years. As bad as our conference is this year (currently 16th in NET), he might just pull off a winning one again. Winning conference record or not, you can't justify an overall resume of a losing record after 6 years.

 

[DisgruntledAlum]

Out of 5 wins, our highest NET win was 117. Worst loss was 238.

What's sad is CM has said he bases things on conference record. McD was 13-5 and 11-9 the last two years. As bad as our conference is this year (currently 16th in NET), he might just pull off a winning one again. Winning conference record or not, you can't justify an overall resume of a losing record after 6 years.

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Conference vs non-conference in basketball is not same as in football, IMO.

I know squat about basketball, so I could be completely wrong.

 

[Brew_Raider]

Conference vs non-conference in basketball is not same as in football, IMO.

I know squat about basketball, so I could be completely wrong.

I agree with you, not sure Massaro will.

If we hit 14 or 15 overall wins with 8 or more wins in conference, then Massaro may excuse this year as dealing with the Cam injury and we still hit .500.

Plus, I am not sure Massaro has the testicular fortitude to tell McPhee he was wrong and CNM needs to go. Even if it’s obviously the right move.

 

[JohnDavidBlue]

Ole piss is undefeated since Kermit’s departure.

 

[Brew_Raider]

Ole piss is undefeated since Kermit’s departure.

Chris Beard is a heck of a coach.

 

[FranklinRaider315]

After reading the box score pdf from last night, I’m gonna go watch Belmont and Arky St. tangle tonight at 6:30 in The Curb.
RealTime RPI
#10 Missouri Valley vs. #20 SunBelt

Real 3pt. shooters. 😂

$15 a ticket.

 

[FranklinRaider315]

I agree with you, not sure Massaro will.

If we hit 14 or 15 overall wins with 8 or more wins in conference, then Massaro may excuse this year as dealing with the Cam injury and we still hit .500.

Plus, I am not sure Massaro has the testicular fortitude to tell McPhee he was wrong and CNM needs to go. Even if it’s obviously the right move.

Do we actually know for sure that CNM was McPhee’s hire alone? I may be wrong but, I’m just curious where this information originated from.

 

[ewglenn]

Do we actually know for sure that CNM was McPhee’s hire alone? I may be wrong but, I’m just curious where this information originated from.

Me too

 

[sWiley]

Do we actually know for sure that CNM was McPhee’s hire alone? I may be wrong but, I’m just curious where this information originated from.

Yes. McDevitt wowed McPhee (sounds like similar to what Mason did) with his in-person interview. He was also cheaper.

Odom was asking for a chartered plane for away games as part of his contract. I guess he didn't want to travel with commercial airlines. It would have been a respectable expense, and McPhee balked.

Massaro for sure wanted Odom, there is a connection there to his father and South Carolina. He was overruled. McPhee went with the cheaper option that had the better interview.

Odom ended up at Utah State and went a cool 44-25 there with trips to the NIT and NCAA.....

McPhee is an idiot. He thinks he's know what he is doing but doesn't live in reality. He has no insight, and he has no grasp of what it takes to be excellent at the athletic level. And it appears he's never going to relent or admit he is wrong or allow others to take the reigns. Classic case of the Dunning-Kruger effect.

 

[mtfblue]

or maybe he was tired of the south carolina connection. on paper both records were about the same. I really didn't like either. I liked Earl Grant, RicK Pitino,

 

[ewglenn]

Yes. McDevitt wowed McPhee (sounds like similar to what Mason did) with his in-person interview. He was also cheaper.

Odom was asking for a chartered plane for away games as part of his contract. I guess he didn't want to travel with commercial airlines. It would have been a respectable expense, and McPhee balked.

Massaro for sure wanted Odom, there is a connection there to his father and South Carolina. He was overruled. McPhee went with the cheaper option that had the better interview.

Odom ended up at Utah State and went a cool 44-25 there with trips to the NIT and NCAA.....

McPhee is an idiot. He thinks he's know what he is doing but doesn't live in reality. He has no insight, and he has no grasp of what it takes to be excellent at the athletic level. And it appears he's never going to relent or admit he is wrong or allow others to take the reins. Classic case of the Dunning-Kruger effect.

I get that is the story but where did it come from? What was the source other than hearing it on here?

 

[sWiley]

I get that is the story but where did it come from? What was the source other than hearing it on here?

I don't know the original source but it's been attested to by multiple people including MT01 and McDevitt's right hand man Kingaling, who seems to have disappeared.

I heard it from someone who I know and trust as well but wouldn't appreciate me putting their name on here as they are a public figure.

Odom and McDevitt were 100% the two finalists for the job. McPhee is on record how enamored he was with McDevitt. Exactly like how the recent Mason hire went down. McPhee ran the whole thing.

 

[MTFAN61]

I think as long as McPhee is here Massaro is his puppet who reports whatever decision McPhee decrees. I believe the president has zero interest in the AD's input whatsoever on anything MT sports related. My thoughts are McPhee has developed an inner circle of confidants that he now includes in his athletics decision making. As strictly an academician he has no clue on making wise decisions concerning athletics policy or hiring practices. I'm not sure who he's including on his decisions concerning MT athletics, but I wouldn't be surprised someone or some small faction has already approached him concerning the men's basketball department.
May be conspiracy theory, but out of the 10's of millions raised for Build Blue recently there are probably a few larger donors who have been pushing their own wants & desires for the athletic department on McPhee. No matter who you think is the biggest fish, turns out there's always one somewhere a little bit bigger.

 

[MidTennFootball]

I'm a big fan of letting people do the job they were hired to do. Either let Massaro do that or find his replacement.

 

[sWiley]

I think as long as McPhee is here Massaro is his puppet who reports whatever decision McPhee decrees. I believe the president has zero interest in the AD's input whatsoever on anything MT sports related. My thoughts are McPhee has developed an inner circle of confidants that he now includes in his athletics decision making. As strictly an academician he has no clue on making wise decisions concerning athletics policy or hiring practices. I'm not sure who he's including on his decisions concerning MT athletics, but I wouldn't be surprised someone or some small faction has already approached him concerning the men's basketball department.
May be conspiracy theory, but out of the 10's of millions raised for Build Blue recently there are probably a few larger donors who have been pushing their own wants & desires for the athletic department on McPhee. No matter who you think is the biggest fish, turns out there's always one somewhere a little bit bigger.

Precisely. McPhee & Steve Smith are running the show....or ruining the show I should say.

I know everyone is optimistic about Mason, and that's fair. I have a little optimism too. But deep down inside there is a strong feeling of pessimism. I want to be hopeful, but I can't help but wonder how badly things will go.

Is Mason seriously going to try and come to MT and run a pro style offense ? All signs seem to point to that. Do we really believe that can win at a CUSA school ? I'll remain open with my thinking but I'm going to be very sad if Mason plans to run the same pro style stuff he did at Vanderbilt. I really, really hope his internal thought process is NOT "Well the pro style didn't work at Vanderbilt because it's Vanderbilt and everyone else had better athletes....here at MT things are a level playing field so it will work!"

I absolutely do not believe, under virtually no circumstances, that a pro-style ball control type of offense can dominate CUSA. The simple reason being, there's no way we will consistently have the linemen on both sides of the ball to do it year in year out. Even if we managed to find lightning in a bottle and won the LOS in every conference game we played, those players are 100% gone to the portal after that season and lets be honest you are not replacing them easily....and that's if you can even get them there to begin with. Since being D1 we've never had a season where we dominated the LOS in all our conference games.

 

[MidTennFootball]

Precisely. McPhee & Steve Smith are running the show....or ruining the show I should say.

I know everyone is optimistic about Mason, and that's fair. I have a little optimism too. But deep down inside there is a strong feeling of pessimism. I want to be hopeful, but I can't help but wonder how badly things will go.

Is Mason seriously going to try and come to MT and run a pro style offense ? All signs seem to point to that. Do we really believe that can win at a CUSA school ? I'll remain open with my thinking but I'm going to be very sad if Mason plans to run the same pro style stuff he did at Vanderbilt. I really, really hope his internal thought process is NOT "Well the pro style didn't work at Vanderbilt because it's Vanderbilt and everyone else had better athletes....here at MT things are a level playing field so it will work!"

I absolutely do not believe, under virtually no circumstances, that a pro-style ball control type of offense can dominate CUSA. The simple reason being, there's no way we will consistently have the linemen on both sides of the ball to do it year in year out. Even if we managed to find lightning in a bottle and won the LOS in every conference game we played, those players are 100% gone to the portal after that season and lets be honest you are not replacing them easily....and that's if you can even get them there to begin with. Since being D1 we've never had a season where we dominated the LOS in all our conference games.

This isn't the SEC. Labeling an offense 'pro style' casts a pretty wide net since the difference bewteen an NFL and College offense gets smaller every year. I see far too many college teams get cute with it and snap it from the gun on short yardage situations and near the goal line. Mason has proven himself to be a really good DC and when given time to examine his failings at Vandy, should be given the benefit of the doubt of what should work

The college game will always be about recruiting. Who can remember the last time Middle secured a top 3 class in the conference, with a potential to move higher? If Mason can recruit at a high level when compared to the rest of the conference and is an effective developer & evaluator of talent, it won't matter what Middle runs on offense as long as his personnel is a good fit for it

 

[sWiley]

The college game will always be about recruiting. Who can remember the last time Middle secured a top 3 class in the conference, with a potential to move higher? If Mason can recruit at a high level when compared to the rest of the conference and is an effective developer & evaluator of talent, it won't matter what Middle runs on offense as long as his personnel is a good fit for it

Well if recruiting is your biggest concern then ours is going to have to get much better. I realize people are happy about a top 3 class or whatever (Which I don't understand, we don't have a single 3 star prospect.....I think it's just the number of prospects we signed that is juicing our rank...actually, I know it is.)

Meanwhile Liberty is literally signing Power 5 players including a Top 100 4 star QB that had 11 Power 5 offers. You'll learn the name Jayden Bradford here sooner than later, amongst many other Power 5 level players LU signed.

There is a significant gap between the talent we are signing and what some of our conference mates are signing, which makes me even less excited about any pro style type of offense we may try to run. We are not winning the LOS when we play the top teams in this league (WKU, Liberty) so it's going to have to be smoke and mirrors. Not buck & belly and blowing your man off the ball.

 

[ewglenn]

CDM said in an interview that he would like to be able to get under center when needed. I think we will see a modified pro style offense. I think the main thing he is looking for is the ability to be physical and win at the point of attack. Our recruiting class shows he wants to be bigger, stronger and faster across the board.

 

[sWiley]

CDM said in an interview that he would like to be able to get under center when needed. I think we will see a modified pro style offense. I think the main thing he is looking for is the ability to be physical and win at the point of attack. Our recruiting class shows he wants to be bigger, stronger and faster across the board.

I love his desires and it's music to my ears......if he can pull it off.

I have followed this program for 20 years and I've never seen a team that consistently won at the LOS for an entire conference season.

I am highly, highly suspect that it's possible. Especially to do it on a consistent basis, much less even for 1 season

 

[SpaceRaider]

 

[SpaceRaider]

 

[sWiley]

Looks like it is time to start tagging people on twitter and calling for his firing after each game.

McDevitt experiment is over.

 

[SpaceRaider]

 

[SpaceRaider]

 

[SpaceRaider]

 

[MidTennFootball]

Well if recruiting is your biggest concern then ours is going to have to get much better. I realize people are happy about a top 3 class or whatever (Which I don't understand, we don't have a single 3 star prospect.....I think it's just the number of prospects we signed that is juicing our rank...actually, I know it is.)

Meanwhile Liberty is literally signing Power 5 players including a Top 100 4 star QB that had 11 Power 5 offers. You'll learn the name Jayden Bradford here sooner than later, amongst many other Power 5 level players LU signed.

There is a significant gap between the talent we are signing and what some of our conference mates are signing, which makes me even less excited about any pro style type of offense we may try to run. We are not winning the LOS when we play the top teams in this league (WKU, Liberty) so it's going to have to be smoke and mirrors. Not buck & belly and blowing your man off the ball.

Liberty is a P5 program in disguise, I got no problem finishing 2nd to them in any year

Pick whatever scheme you want, what will always be true is whoever is better in the trenches usually wins the game. Teams that play physical are usually the ones that are better but that doesn't mean they're running it 70% of the time either, it's a mindset

 

[sWiley]

Liberty is a P5 program in disguise, I got no problem finishing 2nd to them in any year

Pick whatever scheme you want, what will always be true is whoever is better in the trenches usually wins the game. Teams that play physical are usually the ones that are better but that doesn't mean they're running it 70% of the time either, it's a mindset

Yeah well I am never going to be OK with finishing second fiddle to anyone in our conference. I don't care what the circumstances are. We are a G5 league, not Vanderbilt in the SEC. Just shut it all down now if that's going to be the mindset.

And yes, winning the LOS wins games, but it's one thing to line up under center in a pro style offense and run power and predictable play action....and it's a totally different thing to go 4 wide and use zone blocking concepts, play in space, have RPO options, etc. The latter style has proven FAR more successful at the G5 level. I can just never see a MT team CONSISTENTLY overpowering the opponent on the OL. It's happened here or there, the Georgia Tech game was insane to watch and such an outlier.....but on a week in week out basis......No.

 

[FranklinRaider315]

Ark St played their tails off tonight but Belmont pulled it out at the end 74-70.
Helluva game for $30 (2 tickets) and a “date night” dinner afterwards.

Both teams played and shot well enough to win.